Renewable Energy

The Price of Large-Scale Solar Keeps Dropping

Posted on February 4, 2019February 4, 2019 by abrahamwien18

JOHN ROGERS, SENIOR ENERGY ANALYST, CLEAN ENERGY | SEPTEMBER 13, 2018, 11:49 AM EST
View the original article here.

The latest annual report on large-scale solar in the U.S. shows that prices continue to drop. Solar keeps becoming more irresistible.

The report, from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and the US Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office, is the sixth annual release about the progress of “utility-scale” solar. For these purposes, they generally define “utility-scale” as at least 5 megawatts (three orders of magnitude larger than a typical residential rooftop solar system). And “solar” means mostly photovoltaic (PV), not concentrating solar power (CSP), since PV is where most of the action is these days.

Here’s what the spread of large-scale solar looks like:

In all, 33 states had solar in the 5-MW-and-up range in 2017—four more than had it at the end of 2016. [For a cool look at how that map has changed over time, 2010 to 2017, check out this LBNL graphic on PV additions.]

Watch for falling prices

Fueling—and being fueled by—that growth are the reductions in costs for large-scale projects. Here’s a look at power purchase agreements (PPAs), long-term agreements for selling/buying power from particular projects, over the last dozen years:

And here’s a zoom-in on the last few years, broken out by region:

While those graphs show single, “levelized” prices, PPAs are long-term agreements, and what happens over the terms of the agreements is worth considering. One of the great things about solar and other fuel-free electricity options is that developers can have a really good long-term perspective on future costs: no fuel = no fuel-induced cost variability. That means they can offer steady prices out as far as the customer eye can see.

And, says LBNL, solar developers have indeed done that:

Roughly two-thirds of the contracts in the PPA sample feature pricing that does not escalate in nominal dollars over the life of the contract—which means that pricing actually declines over time in real dollar terms.

Imagine that: cheaper over time. Trying that with a natural gas power plant would be a good way to end up on the losing side of the contract—or to never get the project financed in the first place.

Here’s what that fuel-free solar steadiness can get you over time, in real terms:

What’s behind the PPA prices

So where might those PPA price trends be coming from? Here are some of the factors to consider:

Equipment costs. Solar equipment costs less than it used to—a lot less. PPAs are expressed in cost per unit of electricity (dollars per megawatt-hour, or MWh, say), but solar panels are sold based on cost per unit of capacity ($ per watt). And that particular measure for project prices as a whole also shows impressive progress. Prices dropped 15% just from 2016 to 2017, and were down 60% from 2010 levels.

The federal investment tax credit (30%) is a factor in how cheap solar is, and has helped propel the incredible increases in scale that have helped bring down costs. But since that ITC has been in the picture over that whole period, it’s not directly a factor in the price drop.

Project economies of scale. Bigger projects should be cheaper, right? Surprisingly, LBNL’s analysis suggests that, even if projects are getting larger (which isn’t clear from the data), economies of scale aren’t a big factor, once you get above a certain size. Permitting and other challenges at the larger scale, they suggest, “may outweigh any benefits from economies of scale in terms of the effect on the PPA price.”

Solar resource. Having more of the solar happen in sunnier places would explain the price drop—more sun means more electrons per solar panel—but sunnier climes are not where large-scale solar’s growth has taken it. While a lot of the growth has been in California and the Southwest, LBNL says, “large-scale PV projects have been increasingly deployed in less-sunny areas as well.” In fact:

In 2017, for the first time in the history of the U.S. market, the rest of the country (outside of California and the Southwest) accounted for the lion’s share—70%—of all new utility-scale PV capacity additions.

The Southeast, though late to the solar party, has embraced it in a big way, and accounted for 40% of new large-scale solar in 2017. Texas solar was another 17%.

But Idaho and Oregon were also notable, and Michigan was one of the four new states (along with Mississippi, Missouri, and Oklahoma) in the large-scale solar club. (And, as a former resident of the great state of Michigan, I can attest that the skies aren’t always blue there—even if it actually has more solar power ability than you might think.)

Capacity factors. More sun isn’t the only way to get more electrons. Projects these days are increasingly likely to use solar trackers, which let the solar panels tilt face the sun directly over the course of the day; 80% of the new capacity in 2017 used tracking, says LBNL. Thanks to those trackers, capacity factors themselves have remained steady in recent years even with the growth in less-sunny locales.

What to watch for

This report looks at large-scale solar’s progress through the early part of 2018. But here are a few things to consider as we travel through the rest of 2018, and beyond:

The Trump solar tariffs, which could be expected to raise costs for solar developers, wouldn’t have kicked in in time to show up in this analysis (though anticipation of presidential action did stir things up even before the tariff hammer came down). Whether that signal will clearly show in later data will depend on how much solar product got into the U.S. ahead of the tariffs. Some changes in China’s solar policies are likely to depress panel prices, too.
The wholesale value of large-scale solar declines as more solar comes online in a given region (a lot of solar in the middle of the day means each MWh isn’t worth as much). That’s mostly an issue only in California at this point, but something to watch as other states get up to high levels of solar penetration.
The investment tax credit, because of a 2015 extension and some favorable IRS guidance, will be available to most projects that get installed by 2023 (even with a scheduled phase-down). Even then it’ll drop down to 10% for large-scale projects, not go away completely.
Then there’s energy storage. While the new report doesn’t focus on the solar+storage approach, that second graphic above handily points out the contracts that include batteries. And the authors note that adding batteries doesn’t knock things completely out of whack (“The incremental cost of storage does not seem prohibitive.”).

And, if my math is correct, having 33 states with large-scale solar leaves 17 without. So another thing to watch is who’s next, and where else growth will happen.

Many of the missing states are in the Great Plains, where the wind resource means customers have another fabulous renewable energy option to draw on. But solar makes a great complement to wind. And the wind-related tax credit is phasing out more quickly than the solar ITC, meaning the relative economics will shift in solar’s favor.

Meanwhile, play around with the visualizations connected with the new release (available at the bottom of the report’s landing page), on solar capacity, generation, prices, and more, and revel in solar’s progress.

Large-scale solar is an increasingly important piece of how we’re decarbonizing our economy, and the information in this new report is a solid testament to that piece of the clean energy revolution.

Eggshells May Power The Renewable Energy Revolution

Posted on February 4, 2019 by abrahamwien18

View the original article here.

Ready for some happy news among all the gloom surrounding government shutdowns, border security, and malfeasance in high places? Here’s something that may put a smile on your face. According to researchers in Western Australia, eggshells may be the key to abundant, inexpensive energy storage.

Dr Manickam Minakshi and his colleagues began experimenting with eggshells in 2017 using eggs purchased at the local supermarket. “Eggshells have a high level of calcium carbonate, which can act as a form of replenishing energy,” he tells the Canberra Times.

“What’s interesting is that the egg membrane around the yolk allowed us to cook it at a high temperature, crush it into powder and bake it at 500 degrees Celsius with the chemical still present.The final baking process changes the chemical composition from calcium carbonate to calcium oxide and allows it to become a conduit for electricity.

For Dr Minakshi’s team, this represents a first step towards work on an alternative battery to store energy from renewable energies such as solar panels and wind turbines. “Renewable energy resources are intermittent as they depend on the weather,” he says. “When we have an excess, we need a battery to store it. Ground egg shells serve as the electrode to store this.” Before being heated, the eggshell is a positive electrode but when heated it changes to be a negative electrode, he explains.

Dr Minakshi says he hopes his research will attract the attention of renewable energy companies. Assuming further tests prove the validity of his preliminary results, abundant and affordable materials like eggshells have the potential to provide energy storage from items that would otherwise be little more than bio-waste.

“You can buy them at a 12-pack from Coles for $4 or pick them up from the food court,” he says. “What’s even more important is that you can use the eggshells that are thrown into landfills. This brings in the potential to reduce the amount of bio-waste we produce.”

The research in the laboratory will continue to determine how much electricity the eggshell powder can store and for how long. Minakshi even has plans to test free range eggshells to see if they have better conductive properties, although why that would be is not clear. Perhaps free range chickens have higher levels of self esteem which lead to chemical changes in their eggs.

If anyone can peck out the answers, it is Dr. Manakshi, who may or may not have watched the adventures of Henry Cabot Henhouse III — a/k/a Super Chicken — as a boy. (There is a slight possibility I am not treating this topic with the seriousness is deserves.)

Warren Buffet’s MidAmerican Energy puts in Iowa’s latest big battery project

Posted on February 4, 2019 by abrahamwien18

Grand Ridge, an existing Invenergy project that combines wind power and energy storage, in Illinois. Image: Invenergy.

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The US state of Iowa got its first grid-scale solar-plus-storage system at the beginning of this year, and this has already been followed by the completion of another, larger battery project in the US state this week.

Energy-Storage.news reported last week on the completion of a solar PV system at Maharishi University of Management equipped not only with solar trackers but also with a 1.05MWh flow battery.

This week, project developer Invenergy said a four month “construction sprint” had been successfully undertaken and the company has begun commercial operations of a 1MW / 4MWh lithium iron phosphate battery energy storage system.

Located at a substation in Knoxville, Iowa, the project has been executed for utility MidAmerican Energy, one of billionaire investor Warren Buffet’s companies as a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy. MidAmerican serves just under 800,000 electricity customers.

In a November press release, MidAmerican’s VP of resource development said the utility-scale storage system would teach lessons about “how best to use an energy storage system, and how it can serve our customers in the future,” adding that the primary purpose of the system will be to help manage peak loads on the utility’s network.

“Energy storage has the potential to allow us to retain energy when customer demand is low and release it during peak usage times. That would give us new options to manage peak loads, enhance overall reliability and help keep electric costs low and affordable for our customers,” Mike Fehr of MidAmerican Energy said.

The utility highlighted four of the main benefits of energy storage that it will explore through the application of the lithium system: flattening and managing peaks in electricity demand through storing off-peak energy for later use, reducing the required run times and capacities of natural gas peaker plants with energy storage, enhancing the value and usefulness of renewable energy through smoothing the output of solar farms before it enters the grid and improving power quality and extending the life of transformers and other grid infrastructure.

“Energy storage is still in the development stages and the economic feasibility on a larger scale is being assessed as well; however, prices are trending downward,” Mike Fehr said.

“MidAmerican Energy wants first-hand experience with the technology so we’re positioned to quickly and efficiently add it to our system in ways that benefit our customers when the price is right.”

For Invenergy, which already owns and operates four other large-scale battery systems it developed, this has been its first project as an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) partner.

“We are excited by the new opportunities for battery storage that we are seeing around the country. We are grateful for partners like MidAmerican Energy who are seeking innovative ways to deliver value to their customers and are proud to have provided them with this solution in such a short time,” Invenergy senior VP Kris Zadlo said.

Siemens Gamesa Pursues Hybrid Wind and Solar Projects With Energy Storage

Posted on August 7, 2018 by abrahamwien18

The company confirms hybrid systems are a growing focus area.

By Jason Deign
View the original article here.

Siemens Gamesa Pursues Hybrid Wind and Solar Projects With Energy Storage

Siemens Gamesa, the leading turbine manufacturer, is looking to go beyond wind — into hybrid systems with solar and storage.

The company’s chief technology officer, Antonio de la Torre Quiralte, told GTM that Siemens Gamesa remains committed to the wind market. However, it is increasingly interested in other technologies to reduce renewable energy intermittency.

“Following the merger about one year ago, we realized that our two former companies were quite interested in resolving the renewable problem, which is discontinuity,” he said.

“As part of our business strategy, there is a clear mandate from our CEO and our board that we will resolve, with a huge investment in new technologies, solutions for the market that will allow, quite soon, stable renewable procurement of energy.”

The development of systems that can provide baseload or near-baseload capacity could involve the hybridization of potentially complementary generation technologies such as wind and solar. But storage is a big part of the equation.

“It definitely is in our roadmap,” de la Torre said.

De la Torre said the manufacturer is focused on solutions rather than products, integrating energy storage with renewable plants at the project level.

He also said Siemens Gamesa is looking beyond today’s existing utility-scale battery storage capacities, which typically run to tens of megawatt hours, to gigawatt-hour levels of storage.

Batteries will remain the company’s technology of choice for standalone hybrid and off-grid systems, which demand storage capacities of between 500 kilowatt-hours and 50 megawatt-hours for onshore wind and PV plant balancing.

But Siemens Gamesa is also investigating a thermal storage system called the Future Energy Solution, which could boast much higher capacities. A demonstration plant currently under construction in Hamburg will be able to deliver 1.5 megawatts of power for 24 hours.

Siemens Gamesa hopes to use this kind of technology for round-the-clock renewable energy generation. “We have to integrate several renewable sources,” said de la Torre. “Currently we are investigating all relevant sorts of storage.”

Recently, for example, Siemens Gamesa started testing a 120-kilowatt, 400-kilowatt-hour redox flow battery at its La Plana test center near Zaragoza in Spain.

The test center had previously been used by Gamesa to put together a hybrid system combining traditional gensets with wind, solar and storage in 2016. Customer interest in hybrid systems with storage has grown in the last six to nine months, de la Torre said.

One example is the Bulgana Green Power Hub project owned by Neoen in Australia, where Siemens Gamesa will be acting as an engineering, procurement and construction contractor, and will be integrating a 194-megawatt wind farm with 34 megawatt-hours of Tesla storage.

Hong Zhang Durandal, a business analyst with MAKE Consulting, said Siemens Gamesa’s growing interest in hybrid systems reflects a wider trend within the wind industry. OEMs are not interested in having storage as a product, he said, but see value in adding other technologies to wind farms, for example to help avoid curtailment or smooth out imbalances.

It also makes sense for Siemens Gamesa to explore thermal or redox flow technologies for bulk, long-duration storage, he said. “For lithium-ion, getting to gigawatt-hours is just cost-ineffective,” he said. “It’s too large a system to justify the cost of the batteries.”

In a recent question-and-answer session published by Wood Mackenzie, Durandal said wind-plus-storage could offer new opportunities for energy production in the U.S.

“Wind farms paired with energy storage can shift energy from periods of low prices to take advantage of spikes and shift energy in bulk when it is most needed,” he said.

Pairing wind with energy storage also helps with ramp-rate control, can avoid curtailment and could open the door for project owners to compete for ancillary services revenues.

“We are seeing increased interest by wind turbine OEMs across the globe in exploring and developing utility-scale wind-plus-storage systems,” Durandal said. “Not only can the development of such systems strengthen the portfolio of the OEMs in key markets, [but] hybrid systems can also play a significant role in the deployment of more wind energy in the future.”

How Energy Storage Can Limit the Impact of Extreme Weather

Posted on July 1, 2018 by abrahamwien18

John Jung, President & CEO, Greensmith Energy
View the original article here.

Photo Credit: Howard Scott

Last month, the National Hurricane Center reported that Hurricane Maria, the sixth fastest hurricane on record, caused an estimated $90 billion in damage in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This would make it the third costliest hurricane in history, following Katrina and Harvey.

Now seven months later, there are still parts of Puerto Rico that are still without power. I can only imagine how this prolonged outage is making relief and recovery efforts difficult.

For those of us in the energy business, we see a better pathway for communities to avoid prolonged outages that hinder relief and recovery efforts.

One solution – already in the marketplace and in use around the world – is the combination of energy storage and islanded grid systems.

Islanded systems, also known as microgrids, can operate with or without a connection to grid. When you add energy storage, communities benefit from a more flexible, versatile distributed energy resource.

What exactly does that mean?

Traditional grid operators, without adequate energy storage, follow conservative limits on the deployment of distributed energy resources to maintain reliability.

Energy storage enables integration of more renewable energy sources so that grid systems can better respond to dynamic fluctuations in electricity consumption, and lessen greenhouse gas emissions. As solar, wind and hydro become the world’s main energy sources, renewables are no longer an incremental component in energy production.

And, renewable energy costs are the lowest ever. So, with islanding and storage combined, microgrids can safely lift limits on renewables, bringing a substantial benefit in places where electricity prices exceed the cost of electricity for renewables.

The Graciosa Hybrid Renewable Power Plant, located on the island of Graciosa in the northern part of the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal, is a recent example of a Greensmith microgrid project that will combine solar and wind generation, together with energy storage using lithium-ion batteries. When completed, the Graciosa plant will enable 1 MW of solar and 4.5 MW of wind power to be supplied to the grid, reducing the region’s reliance on imported fossil fuels and significantly reducing GHG emissions.

Credit: Howard Scott

Beyond the advanced energy storage technology Greensmith is known for, we help a growing number of power companies and developers integrate and maximize a diverse mix of grid resources using our industry-leading GEMS software platform. Our suite of proven grid-scale and microgrid energy storage solutions delivers renewables integration, reliability and resilience. In fact, more than one-third of all energy storage capacity installed in the United States is running on Greensmith’s GEMS software platform, which provides full visibility into a grid system operation and can pinpoint and isolate any malfunctions.

Faster response time means a greater chance of avoiding power outages. And, as we have seen in Puerto Rico, and the bomb cyclones that hit the northeast in March, extreme weather events were happening much more frequently across the country and the world.

The frequency of natural disasters is an important reason that more of us should look at energy storage and microgrids as a necessary infrastructure improvement for customers and utilities.

It’s clear that, while microgrids are complex systems, when deployed with energy storage solutions, they are essential to the evolution of our power grid.

Mapping the Boom in Global Solar Power

Posted on May 4, 2018May 4, 2018 by abrahamwien18

By Molly Lempriere
View the original article here.

Solar power is growing faster than any other renewable energy in the world, according to new research by the IEA. But where in the world is the technology booming the most?

Solar is growing at speed in several states, including Utah, Arizona, and Nevada, and looks set to continue this trend through this year and beyond.

In 2016, solar power was the fastest growing source of new energy globally, accounting for up to two thirds of new power capacity added, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). This was in part due to China embracing the technology, which represented half of all new solar panels.

The dramatic increase has allowed the IEA to raise its predictions of renewable capacity growth by 12% from 2015, and the agency advises that growth could potentially reach 27% if enhanced policies addressing regulatory uncertainties and grid integration are implemented.

Falling prices and government policies are the main reasons for the increase, but why has solar taken off more quickly in some countries and states than in others?

Australia’s solar power potential

Australia has an awesome solar resource, which it has only recently begun to take advantage of with analysts predicting that solar energy capacity in Australia could double this year alone. In January, 111MW of new rooftop solar panels were installed, a 69% increase from last year. Meanwhile, 30 industrial-scale solar power plants are scheduled to come online throughout the year with more projects due to be approved.

These large-scale projects are expected to add 2.5GW and 3.5GW to the Australian grid, while rooftop solar will add around 1.3GW. These will vastly increase the percentage of solar in the energy mix, with current resources at just 7GW. The solar boom is expected to grow further, as prices continue to drop and it becomes more accessible.

This boom has also been supported by Tesla’s 100MW battery in South Australia. The technology has been extremely successful, responding to power outages in milliseconds during the summer and easing power demand.

China reinforces efforts in renewables

China has had one of the most dramatic switches to renewable energy. From 2013 more than half of China’s capacity additions have been from renewable or nuclear sources, as the country tries to reduce its reliance on coal and tackle air pollution.

Today, China has the biggest solar market in the world after adding 34GW of power in 2016, double the amount added in the US. It is also home to the leading solar power farm at present, Longyangxia Dam Solar Park, along with a major floating solar plant, located in Huainan, Anhui Province.

This is only the start, with investments in greater and better projects seemingly unending and 8MW of solar already added in the first quarter of this year. However, despite huge growth, solar still only accounts for 1% of China’s energy mix, with 66% still met by coal. By 2050, this is expected to be a vastly different picture with some government predictions suggesting that 86% of demand will be met by renewables, and a third of that made up of solar.

The US sees steady progress

Following the election of President Trump, many industry experts were sceptical about the role renewables would play in the US energy sector, due to his policies favouring coal and natural gas, and suggestions of redistributing funds away from environmental technologies.

But solar installation has continued to boom throughout America, as mature markets such as California, which boasts 18,296MW of solar, have slowed while younger markets in the middle of the country are continuing to grow. Solar is growing at speed in some states, including Utah, Arizona and Nevada, and looks set to continue this trend through this year and beyond.

This is predominantly due to the dramatic reduction in the cost of solar, which has fallen by as much as 85% since 2009. The drop has made solar installations cost competitive with natural gas in many of the sunnier states.

India ascends the energy market

In March, a vast solar project was launched in Pavagada, southern India. When completed the plant could well be the largest solar project to date as it will span 13 acres and produce 2,000MW – enough to power 700,000 households. This is just one of many new super-sized solar projects that are springing up throughout the sub-continent.

India’s energy transition has been almost as dramatic as China’s, overtaking Japan in 2017 to become the third-biggest market for solar power. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is aiming to reach 100GW of solar energy capacity by 2022, which would be thirty times as much as in 2015.

The country has ambitious goals, and with its quickly growing economy and large percentage of the population still living without power, solar has a lot of potential in India. It currently accounts for about 5% of the energy mix, but 14 solar parks have already been approved for construction and 22GW of solar power are expected to be added to the grid by the end of this year.

Germany’s rise in renewables

Germany has the greatest solar power capacity of any European country, boasting 40.9GW in 2016 and with plans to continue to build its solar fleet. While Germany is more commonly associated with wind power, solar is expected to continue playing a significant part in the country’s Energiewende, or ‘energy turnaround’.

Germany is pursuing an increasingly diversified energy sector with increases in technologies such as wind and solar allowing it to run off of 85% renewable for a day in April 2017. The country is aiming to fulfil about 200GW of energy demand with solar in the future, with annual instillations of 6GW-7GW required to meet this target. If this is achieved, however, Germany could become 100% reliant on renewable energies for its power.

Japan goes large on solar

Despite its small size in comparison to many of the other solar success stories, as of 2016 Japan had an impressive 38.7GW of solar power capacity. Following the meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant and the resultant shutdown of the majority of its nuclear power plants, Japan has become increasingly focused on renewable energy to ensure it will not remain reliant on expensive fossil fuel imports.

This drive towards renewables has led to several new solar projects, increasing the share of solar in Japan’s energy mix to 4.3% by 2016. It is currently the fourth-biggest solar market and despite being overtaken by India continues to boom. In March, the largest floating solar plant in the world officially opened in Japan. The Yamakura Dam reservoir in Chiba Prefecture has a capacity of 13.7MW and was a joint venture between Kyocera and Tokyo Century, an organisation established in 2012 to promote the construction of major solar projects in Japan.

South Africa shows its support

While northern African countries have steamed ahead with solar technologies, in particular concentrated solar power (CSP), sub-Saharan countries have struggled to make the most of the vast resource. But this is slowly changing, with projects both big and small popping up across the continent helping bring reliable and sustainable energy to more people.

South Africa is one of the many countries that has thrown its weight behind renewables, predominantly wind and solar. It has now committed to an Integrated Resource Plan to diversify and strengthen its energy mix between 2010 and 2030 , which includes the goal to achieve 9,600MW of solar power capacity.

Already there are a number of large solar plants in South Africa, such as the KaXu Solar One plant near Pofadder in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. The 100MW CSP plant produces enough power to supply 80,000 homes and offset 315,000t of CO₂ emissions a year.

As of 2016, solar power was providing 1MW of power to the national grid in South Africa. This has already helped improve the notoriously unreliable power supply, and is set to improve it further over the coming years as the resource plan is implemented.

Ta’u, American Samoa goes 100%

Ta’u in America Samoa became 100% reliant on solar power for electricity in 2016. The idyllic island uses 5,000 solar panels and 60 Tesla solar packs to provide a reliable and clean source of power to its 600 residents.

Ta’u is one of a few island nations around the world taking advantage of renewables, including Tokelau, a set of three tiny islands between New Zealand and Hawaii which has also made the switch. Islands such as these are some of the most at risk from rising sea levels caused by climate change, a sure encouragement for many to make these dramatic shifts to reduce their CO₂emissions.

Ta’u’s diesel supply was often affected by bad weather, leaving generators short and electricity unreliable. For years, the main island in American Samoa Tutuila has had to subsidise shipments of 100,000 gallons of diesel, costing as much as $400,000 a year.

It took two years to construct the microgrid on Ta’u, and despite some struggles getting it up and running, it has been a success. Although Ta’u is only small, it is an example of solar success and is being used as a pilot project for the rest of American Samoa, which is aiming to transfer to 100% solar power by 2040.

EMERALD SKYLINE TO DEVELOP SOLAR FARM IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA WITH RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FACILITY TO PURSUE ELECTRICAL STORAGE TECHNOLOGY.

Posted on May 4, 2018 by abrahamwien18

“Solar generation and electricity storage technology are rapidly evolving sustainable energy alternatives. The combination of solar power generation and electricity storage is being utilized in projects around the world”

May 1, 2018 from Emerald Skyline Corporation

BOCA RATON, FL, May 1, 2018 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Today, Emerald Skyline announced that it will develop land located in southern Arizona for the purpose of solar generation and electricity storage technology research. The project, Emerald City Solar, recognizes that both solar generation and electricity storage technologies are rapidly evolving and will continue to become more cost effective. The southern Arizona project will include research and development facilities to continue to evaluate new technologies as they emerge. It is expected that the total generation of the solar farm will continue to increase along with the value per kilowatt hour of the electricity generated as new technologies are deployed. Emerald Skyline believes the future of renewable energy is in the storage technology and will be exploring novel ways of delivering and storing energy. They have assembled a world-class team to conduct research and development to drive innovation and advanced sustainable technologies to manage surplus renewable power for use on demand and supply of power.

SOLAR FARM

The site of the solar farm development enjoys the best solar profile in the United States and is near major urban centers including San Diego, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. The electricity generated could be sold to the local electric power utility company at prevailing Power Purchase Agreement rates of about .07 per kilowatt hour (KwH). However, through the use of proven electric storage technology, the value of the electricity could be significantly increased through the selling into the power grid during peak demand periods at much higher spot market prices. Selling power in this manner is called Regulation Services.

ELECTRICITY STORAGE

Deployment of electricity storage is increasing at explosive rates and has been described by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) as a game changer in the industry. Several new companies can provide large battery-based storage units and have the operating systems required to interact with the electricity grid. Through storing electricity and injecting the stored power into the grid during peak demand periods the cost of peaking power can be greatly reduced. By selling power into the grid during peak demand at much higher prices the value of the solar power farm can be greatly enhanced.

“As a sustainability and resiliency consulting and LEED project management firm, this partnership enables us to collaborate with a host of industry partners to not only produce energy but also to test and demonstrate the benefits of solar energy storage technologies. When electricity storage is not available, excess solar electricity is wasted. When storage is installed, the excess energy can be saved and subsequently used to reduce the use of a fossil fuel,” reports Abraham Wien, LEED AP O+M, Director of Architecture & Environmental Design for Emerald Skyline.

To find out more information about Emerald City Solar or electricity generated from renewable sources such as solar and the current development in electrical energy storage technologies for a greener tomorrow, please contact Abraham Wien at [email protected] or call us 305.424.8704.

Costa Rica powers nation sans fossil fuels, serving as example for the region

Posted on April 27, 2015 by abrahamwien18

By Nancy San Martin, [email protected]
View the original article here

NEW POWER SOURCE: Arenal, a dormant volcano, is seen in the town of La Fortuna in the province of Guanacaste, Costa Rica. The power company managed to produce all of the electricity for the nation from renewable energy sources for 100 consecutive days ending in mid-March. The milestone was reached with the use alternative power sources, including hydroelectric power plants. Joe Raedle Getty Images

GUANACASTE, COSTA RICA

In the heart of this western province where scalding water emerges from the earth and peaks of volcanoes kiss the hovering clouds, sunshine, wind and rain have been culled to create a source of power that has earned this nation a gold star in renewable energy.

For 100 consecutive days ending in mid-March, Costa Rica did not use any fossil fuels to generate electricity. Instead, it relied on primarily hydropower plants to light up households across the country, with added power generated from wind, geothermal and solar projects.

Experts say Costa Rica’s fossil fuel-free streak is impressive though not a surprise: The nation of nearly 5 million people has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2021 and the country’s electricity matrix, on average, is already nearly 90 percent renewable, making Costa Rica the second most “renewable country” in Latin America following Paraguay in terms of electricity generation, said Juan Roberto Paredes, senior renewable energy specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Paredes points to the country’s diversified sources for renewable energy as its hallmark. By relying on various sources, Costa Rica has been able to both provide electricity and keep costs down by not having to import a large amount of costly fossil fuels.

“The lesson to be learned is in diversification,” Paredes said. “You can have stability in the longer term, as it relates to electricity prices, if you rely on various renewable sources as the fuel price will always be zero.”

Felix Mormann, a University of Miami law professor who teaches and writes about environmental law and policy, said Costa Rica’s achievement is noteworthy.

“Sourcing 100 percent of energy needs from renewables is amazing,” he said. “The fact that they did not have to burn any fossil fuels is outstanding.”

Like other countries relying on renewable energy, Costa Rica gets most of its carbon-free electricity juice — about 80 percent — from hydropower plants operated by the state-run utility provider, Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE). But this year, geothermal, solar and wind energy sources have given the nation an additional boost to limit the use of coal or petroleum to keep light bulbs glowing and appliances humming.

Hydropower

At the ICE hydroelectric plant and reservoir in the shadow of the Arenal volcano near the town of Tilarán, the production of electrical power is generated through the use of the gravitational force of water stored in the reservoir that flows through turbines connected to large generators. This plant provides some 21 percent of energy for the country, said supervisor Alberto Sanchez Fernandez.

“Since we were children, we have been taught to respect nature,” Sánchez Fernández said. “In that sense, this country has gotten better because those lessons go back a generation and it’s ingrained in our children. The fact that my country is producing energy from 100 percent clean sources, makes me very proud and satisfied that we are helping protect this planet, the only place we have to live.”

Sánchez Fernández said when children visit the plant on field trips, “I always tell them that mankind, before dying, should have at least conceived a child and planted a tree.”

Along the hilltops, giant wind turbines like those of an airplane propeller, can be seen circulating at various speeds, depending on the strength of winds that flow through the area. The windmill project began in the 1980s and about 30 wind turbines can now provide electricity to about 26,000 homes.

“This accomplishment is the result of making use of our natural resources and experimentation,” said Carlos Manuel Quiros, a company spokesman.

Tilarán, the town’s name, comes from the indigenous word “Tilawa.” It means place of wind and rain.

Geothermal

Billboards in Bagaces and nearby towns dub the area as the cuna (cradle) of geothermal. Power lines emit a high-pitched sound that can be heard for miles, like crickets on steroids. And the smell of sulfur is reminiscent of the odor that comes from cracking warm hard-boiled eggs.

The geothermal plants Miravalles I y II use subterranean heat to produce electricity. Wells are drilled deep into the earth and the water that comes out of the wells are 85 percent liquid and 15 percent steam. The steam is used to turn large turbines, which run electrical generators. Some 35 wells in the area are used for production, said Darlyn Gutierrez Rodriguez, an assistant engineer.

“The advantages of geothermal is that it’s not dependent on seasonal variations,” she said. “It isn’t dependent on whether it rains or is windy or sunny. It’s constant production.”

Geothermal now contributes about 14 percent of Costa Rica’s energy and will likely grow as the government makes further investments. In a country with six active volcanoes and dozens more inactive, geothermal provides an exceptionally reliable source of power, experts said.

Solar

Just a short drive away, is a solar panel farm built with equipment donated by Japan. The project, comprised of 4,300 panels, began in 2012 and now provides electricity to about 550 homes, said supervisor Mauro Arias.

“For us, it’s been very novel, very important, because it’s an experimental plant,” he said. “Without a doubt, we have a good location for this solar plant…We are able to document, minute by minute, the output of solar energy…We are the pioneers in Central America.”

While the power produced by this method remains small, Arias said similar farms have been built in neighboring Nicaragua and Panama. “It’s cheaper, cleaner for the environment,” he said.

Other countries in the region could follow Costa Rica’s steps about diversification as they also have untapped renewable potential. This is the case of geothermal resources in the Andean countries where volcanic activity is comparable to Central America but no electricity so far is produced with the heat of the earth, said Paredes of the IDB.

But even as the use of renewable energy is applauded, there are potential setbacks. Droughts come from limited rainfall, which can affect electricity production. Wind and solar availability can vary from year to year. And, of course, there’s the issue of climate change.

“The but is maybe the variability of these renewable sources,” Paredes said. “We can’t be 100 percent sure of what will happen next year.”

Storing energy in an efficient manner also is a work in progress that will get better with technology. In Central America, the IDB is supporting the electricity market with Costa Rica and five other nations: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama and Nicaragua.

“In order to cope with this variability, you can diversify and use complementary renewable sources such as wind and hydro, use smarter grids to manage variations better and have more interconnections to other countries in case you have excess electricity,” Paredes said.

For Costa Rica, the more measurable results of its renewable energy success will be known by early 2016 when a full year worth of data will be available to compare with the previous year. By then, the largest hydropower plant in Central America should be in operation. The Reventazón Hydroelectric Project, located in the eastern province of Limón, is expected to be ready for operation by January.

Whether Costa Rica’s renewable energy model can be implemented in other countries will depend on the topography and climate, said Mormann of UM.

“Costa Rica is a small country and has a very special resource mix,” he said. “Costa Rica did not do this to do the rest of the world a favor. In their particular situation, it made the most sense. This is more about setting an example that it can be done.”
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/issues-ideas/article19542720.html#storylink=cpy

How you can help make Florida the Sunshine State again

Posted on April 21, 2015April 21, 2015 by abrahamwien18

By Julie Lundin, LEED-AP ID+C,
Principal, Emerald Skyline Corporation

Florida is undeniably sunny. “The Sunshine State” was adopted as the State Nickname in 1970. It is used on FL_Sunshine motor vehicle licenses, welcome signs and marketing campaigns. While Florida promotes itself as the Sunshine State we are not utilizing our most abundant and natural resource, solar power.

What is solar power? It is energy from the sun that is converted into thermal or electrical energy. Solar energy is the cleanest and most abundant renewable energy source available. The U.S., including Florida, provides some of the richest solar resources in the world. Only two other states, California and Texas, have more rooftop solar power potential than Florida, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Based on Florida’s size, rebounding economy and growing population our state should be a leader in the generation and promotion of solar energy.

So why isn’t Florida a solar energy leader?

The reason is simple: Florida’s large utility monopolies and lawmakers have worked successfully to block and control who can generate solar energy and what it can be used for; thereby restricting its use by homeowners and businesses. Florida utility monopolies exist today due to a law that was created over 100 years ago which was trying to avoid a tangle of power lines strung up by competing companies. This same law restricts solar companies from installing solar panels on roofs and selling back electricity. It is considered a third party sale and is illegal in Florida.

Florida is now only one of four states in the nation that prohibit citizens from buying electricity from companies that will put solar panels on a building.

Due to the influence and power of Florida’s utility monopolies, there is a large effort to discourage renewable energy in the state. The large utilities are afraid of losing their monopoly and the lucrative profits that the government guarantees them. Recently lawmakers, at the direction of the utility companies, gutted the State’s energy savings goals and entirely eliminated Florida’s solar-rebate program.

Floridians should have access to solar power and free market choices. We should be allowed to contract directly with solar providers to power our homes and businesses with solar energy. We are currently being denied the right to choose solar as a power source. The free market and competition benefits all of us. Solar energy makes financial sense. That is why business leaders in America’s brightest, most competitive companies are increasingly choosing to install solar energy systems at their facilities. The price of solar energy has fallen dramatically over the past few years while the price of fossil fuel generation continues to experience volatility. America’s businesses are turning to solar power because it’s good for their bottom line.

According to a report by the Solar Energy Industries Association, Walmart is the top corporate user in the United States with 105 MW installed at 254 locations.

The average price of an installed commercial PV (photovoltaic) project in 2Q2014 was 14% less than the cost in 2013 and was over 45% less than it cost to complete in 2012.

Electricity costs represent a significant operating expense, and solar provides the means to reduce costs and hedge against electricity price increases.

The Solar Means Business report noted that the top 25 companies for solar capacity had more than 569 MW of solar PV at 1,110 different facilities in a survey conducted last August. These results represent a 28% increase over the prior year and a 103% increase over 2012.

Clearly, solar power is a great untapped resource for the Sunshine State – one that can benefit residents as well as businesses. It is time to enable Floridians to have unfettered access to this inexpensive energy source – and you can help in the process:

The Florida resident-led solar group, Floridians for Solar Choice, is seeking to make solar more accessible in the state. They are seeking your signature on a ballot petition.

The petition seeks to expand solar choice by allowing customers the option to power their homes or businesses with solar power and chose who provides it to them.

Floridians for Solar Choice have reached 72,000 signatures on their petition which clears the way for it to be reviewed by Florida’s Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court will decide whether or not the petitions language legally qualifies it to be a ballot initiative for Floridians in 2016.

Getting its petition on the 2016 ballot is the main goal for Floridians for Solar Choice. They need over 600,000 more signatures to have this critical citizen initiative to be put on the ballot for next year.

Please visit their website to learn about the solar initiative to remove this legal barrier to making Florida the Sunshine State again, and, more importantly, to sign the petition, go to: www.FLsolarchoice.org.