DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
Renewable Revolution
HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Renewables
*****************************************************
#Post#: 707--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Big Picture of Renewable Energy Growth
By: AGelbert Date: January 20, 2014, 3:15 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
19 Countries Form Africa Clean Energy Corridor
SustainableBusiness.com News
19 countries have committed to developing an Africa Clean Energy
Corridor to help the continent leap frog to renewable energy in
the face of rising energy demand.
Led by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA),
stakeholders believe a regional approach can attract the most
investment and optimize the renewable energy mix.
The corridor will span eastern Africa, from Cairo to Capetown,
where transmission infrastructure is being built to meet growing
energy demand.
Currently, Ethiopia hosts the continent's biggest wind farm and
has plans for 800 megawatts of wind and 1 gigawatt of
geothermal. The Corbetti Project is a new model for developing
large scale power projects in Africa and is part of the Power
Africa initiative that President Obama announced last summer.
[img width=640
height=200]
HTML http://arabbrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/IRENA.jpg[/img]
IRENA
IRENA will facilitate the large-scale, transborder initiative
by:
•identifying renewable energy development zones - areas of high
potential - where solar, wind, geothermal or biomass projects
would be clustered;
•facilitating government planning so that renewable energy has
bigger share of the energy mix;
•fostering new financing models and investment frameworks that
can rapidly get projects on the ground;
•building the local knowledge base and leading public
information campaigns.
Demand for electricity is expected to triple in Southern Africa,
and quadruple in Eastern Africa over the 25 years, making the
region’s current dependence on fossil fuels increasingly
unsustainable both economically and environmentally, says IRENA.
80% of Southern Africa's energy comes from coal, which will
need to expand without the growth of renewables because demand
is growing at 4% a year. East Africa relies on natural gas for
60% of electricity, with demand rising 6% a year.
“Lifting the African population out of energy poverty cannot be
fulfilled if a business-as-usual approach is followed,” says
Mosad Elmissiry, Head of Energy at the New Partnership for
Africa’s Development, an African Union implementing body. “We
need a drastic transformation in our approach to developing
renewable energy, to be sure renewables are fully utilised. The
Clean Energy Corridor can support and further advance the
implementation of the regional and continental initiatives
already on the ground for further utilisation of renewable
energy in Africa.”
Environmental ministers and delegates endorsed this action plan
this week.
Established in 2009, IRENA is the global hub for renewable
energy cooperation, supported by 123 countries and the European
Union. Headquartered in Masdar City, United Arab Emirates, it
supports countries in their transition to sustainable energy,
and serves as the principal platform for international
cooperation, a center of excellence, and repository of policy,
technology, resource and financial knowledge on renewable
energy. The inter-governmental organization promotes widespread
adoption of all forms of renewable energy, including bioenergy,
geothermal, hydropower, ocean, solar and wind.
Last year, South Africa was one of 10 countries that formed the
Renewable Energy Club, which is managed by IRENA. The US did not
joing the Club! The idea is to break the logjam on confronting
climate change by reframing the focus from the negative -
cutting emissions - to the positive - rapidly ramping up
renewable energy.
Also last year, IRENA unveiled the first world atlas that shows
every country's renewable energy potential.
Here's a brief video from IRENA on the Africa Clean Energy
Corridor:
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kbD5g3x52Y&feature=player_embedded
HTML http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/25446
#Post#: 786--------------------------------------------------
Powering the US with Renewables: A State-By-State Roadmap
By: AGelbert Date: February 24, 2014, 2:47 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Powering the US with Renewables: A State-By-State Roadmap
James Montgomery, Associate Editor, RenewableEnergyWorld.com
February 24, 2014
New Hampshire, USA -- What does it take to convert a city, a
state, a nation, to 100 percent renewable energy? Many countries
are giving it a go with very ambitious goals to be 100-percent
powered by renewable energy (islands seem to have a leg up). But
what about right here in the U.S., how could that be achieved
for this nation? And since all politics is local (and most
especially true for renewable energy policies), how could it be
done by individual states?
Back in 2011 Stanford professor Mark Jacobsen envisioned what
that might require, and followed that up with an analysis of how
to accomplish it in New York State. (Our coverage of that, by
the way, was by far our most commented story in recent memory.)
Now he's extended his analysis to all 50 U.S. states, laying out
a resource roadmap to how each of them could meet 100 percent of
their energy needs (electricity, transportation, heating)
through renewable sources by 2050 — excluding nuclear, ethanol
and other biofuels. Note that none of these calculations are
geared to optimize for the least-cost mix to get to 100 percent
renewables usage. Levelized electricity costs from that
renewables mix by 2030 are projected to be 4-11 cents/kWh
(including local transmission), compared with 20-25 cents/kWh
from fossil-fuel energy with added health and climate costs.
His latest results include two more deep-dives as he did for New
York, showing how they could achieve all new energy capacity
powered by renewables (under the aforementioned definition) by
2020, 80-85 percent of existing energy converted by 2030, and
100 percent by 2050. California, he finds, can get to a
100-percent renewables footprint with the following portfolio:
55 percent solar (both distributed and large-scale, including a
lot of CSP), 35 percent wind (both on- and offshore), 5 percent
geothermal, and 4 percent hydroelectric, plus a big contribution
from energy efficiency. (Blending wind with solar, and combining
that with hydro and CSP with storage, will largely smooth out
intermittency problems, he concludes.) Ultimately that will
create a net 178,000 permanent jobs, avoid $131 billion in
annual healthcare costs, and pay off the 631 GW of new installed
power within six years.
In Washington State, Jacobson et al calculate a 2050
fully-renewables mix as: 43 percent wind, 28 percent solar PV,
26 percent hydro, 2 percent geothermal, and half a percent each
of wave and tidal. New capacity additions of 137 GW would cost
$228 billion but be paid off in 13 years. Note that Washington
has an abundance of hydro power, and thus has a head-start for
built-in storage to match up with energy demand; no new hydro
will be necessary (more on that later) but he assumes existing
hydro capacity will be updated to improve efficiency.
Change in percent distribution of California energy supply for
all purposes (electricity, transportation, heating/cooling,
industry) among conventional fuels and WWS energy over time
based on the roadmap proposed. Credit: Stanford/Jacobson
Overall the methodologies were pretty much the same: "look at
the footprints and areas, and how many devices of each type we
would need," Jacobson explains. Compared to his previous
calculations, these new findings extend the timeframe out to
2050, instead of just 2030. They're also more updated to account
for current installations, such as an extensive wind energy
buildout since his 2011 study, and the most recent insight into
job creation.
He is also struck by the addition of mortality calculations,
based on air quality data for each state spanning three years in
every county, and illustrating how renewables will reduce air
pollution and its direct connection to mortality. Around three
percent of the U.S. GDP goes into health costs due to air
pollution he says (quick math: the U.S. GDP is roughly $17
trillion, so that's $500 billion in health costs). Quantifying
that at the state level with concrete numbers proves how
renewable energy could address and reduce "a significant burden
on society."
So which states have the smoothest pathway, relatively speaking,
to achieving 100 percent renewables? The key, he says, is
tapping and improving existing large-scale hydro, without adding
any new ones. "Any state with hydro is amenable to making this
easier," he says. Washington State would lead this pack due to
its abundant hydro resources — up to 30 percent of what they'd
need — plus a small but growing amount of wind and solar. He
also notes the state has policies and leadership that are "very
supportive of changing things." Other states that could best
leverage hydro include Idaho and New York. The growing influence
of wind energy in some states (Iowa, South Dakota) will help,
too.
On the other hand, it won't be as easy a journey in the
southeastern states, which have fewer renewables to tap into and
must rely more on interconnection. (Note that his estimates
don't restrict states from obtaining renewables outside their
borders; this brings things like Canadian hydro into play for
some northern states, as well.)
Maybe the biggest takeaway from Jacobson's updates is that
broadly speaking none of it is new. "We don't have to invent a
new technology to get this to work," he says. "We have to get
more efficient from a cost point of view."
HTML http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/02/powering-the-u-s-with-renewables-a-state-by-state-roadmap
#Post#: 834--------------------------------------------------
The Power Grid Might Become The ‘Alternative’ — Off-Grid The Nor
m
By: AGelbert Date: February 28, 2014, 5:43 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
The Power Grid Might Become The ‘Alternative’ — Off-Grid The
Norm ;D
For years, low-cost solar-plus-battery systems were seen as a
distant possibility at best, a fringe technology not likely to
be a threat to mainstream electricity delivery any time soon. By
far, the limiting factor has been battery costs. But thanks to a
confluence of factors playing out across the energy industry,
the reality is that affordable battery storage is coming much
sooner than most people realize. That approaching day of cheaper
battery storage, when combined with solar PV, has the potential
to fundamentally alter the electricity landscape.
While grid-tied solar has seen dramatic recent cost declines,
until recently, solar-plus-battery systems have not been
considered economically viable. However, concurrent declining
costs of batteries, growing maturity of solar-plus-battery
systems, and increasing adoption rates for these technologies
are changing that. Recent media coverage, market analysis, and
industry discussions—including the Edison Electric Institute’s
January 2013 Disruptive Challenges—have gone so far as to
suggest that low-cost solar-plus-battery systems could one day
enable customers to cut the cord with their utility and go from
grid connected to grid defected.
But while more and more people are discussing solar-plus-battery
systems as a potential option at some point in the distant
future, there has been a scarcity of detailed analysis to
quantify when and where. Until now.
THE ECONOMICS OF GRID DEFECTION
Today, Rocky Mountain Institute, HOMER Energy, and CohnReznick
Think Energy released The Economics of Grid Defection: When and
where distributed solar generation plus storage competes with
traditional utility service. Seeking to illustrate where grid
parity will happen both first and last, the report considers
five representative U.S. geographies (NY, KY, TX, CA, and HI).
These geographies cover a range of solar resource potential,
retail utility electricity prices, and solar PV penetration
rates, considered across both commercial and residential
regionally specific load profiles.
The report analyzes four possible scenarios: a more conservative
base case plus more aggressive cases that consider technology
improvements with accelerated cost declines, investments in
energy efficiency coupled with load management, and the
combination of technology-driven cost declines, energy
efficiency, and load management. Even our base case results are
compelling, but the combined improvements scenario is especially
so, since efficiency and load management reduce the required
size of the system while technology improvements reduce the cost
of that system, compounding cost declines and greatly
accelerating grid parity.
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-280214183502.png
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-280214183705.png
The results of the report show:
•Solar-plus-battery grid parity is here already or coming soon
for a rapidly growing minority of utility customers. Grid parity
exists today in Hawaii for commercial customers, and will
rapidly expand to reach residential customers as early as 2022.
Grid parity will reach millions of additional residential and
commercial customers in places like New York and California
within a decade (see Figures 3 and 4 above).
•Even before total grid defection becomes widely economic,
utilities will see solar-plus-battery systems eat into their
revenues. ;D Factors such as customer desires for increased
power reliability and low-carbon electricity generation are
driving early adopters ahead of grid parity, including those
installing smaller grid-dependent solar-plus-battery systems to
help reduce demand charges, provide backup power, and yield
other benefits. These early activities will likely accelerate
the infamous utility death spiral—self-reinforcing upward price
pressures, which make further self-generation or total defection
economic faster.
•Because grid parity arrives within the 30-year economic life of
typical utility power assets, the days are numbered for
traditional utility business models. ;D The “old” cost recovery
model, based on kWh sales, by which utilities recover costs and
an allowed market return on infrastructure investments will
become obsolete. Utilities must re-think their current business
model in order to retain customers and to capture the additional
value that such distributed investments will bring.
The results are profound, especially in geographies like the
U.S. Southwest. In this region of the country, the conservative
base case shows solar-plus-battery systems undercutting utility
retail electricity prices for the most expensive one-fifth of
load served in the year 2024; under the more aggressive
assumptions, off-grid systems prove cheaper than all
utility-sold electricity in the region just a decade out from
today (see Figure ES3 below).
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-280214183831.png
A CALL TO ACTION
Millions of customers representing billions of dollars in
utility revenues will find themselves in a position to
cost-effectively defect from the grid if they so choose. The
so-called utility death spiral is proving not just a
hypothetical threat, but a real, near, and present one. The
coming grid parity of solar-plus-battery systems in the
foreseeable future, among other factors, signals the eventual
demise of legacy utility business models.
Though utilities could and should see this as a threat, they can
also see solar-plus-battery systems as anopportunity to add
value to the grid and their business models. The United States’
electric grid is on the cusp of a great transformation, and the
future of the grid need not be an either/or between central and
distributed generation. It can and should be a network that
combines the best of both.
Having determined when and where grid parity will happen, the
important next question is how utilities, regulators, technology
providers, and customers might work together to reshape the
market—either within existing regulatory frameworks or under an
evolved regulatory landscape—to tap into and maximize new
sources of value that build the best electricity system of the
future the delivers value and affordability to customers and
society. These disruptive opportunities are the subject of
ongoing work by the authors, covered in a forthcoming report to
follow soon.
Read more at
HTML http://cleantechnica.com/2014/02/28/power-grid-might-become-alternative-grid-norm/#50xghVWeX8570O9R.99
#Post#: 881--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Big Picture of Renewable Energy Growth
By: AGelbert Date: March 31, 2014, 1:51 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
03/27/2014 02:58 PM
Vermont Raises Support for Solar While Slew of States Consider
Repeal
HTML http://www.websmileys.com/sm/violent/sterb029.gif
SustainableBusiness.com News
Vermont is swimming against the tide of ALEC and other
Koch-sponsored Americans for Prosperity bills that are moving
through the states to make it harder to grow renewable energy.
In Vermont, the legislature voted to increase solar net-metering
to reward homeowners and businesses for installing solar
systems. They raised the net-metering cap substantially - from
4% of a utility's peak load to 15%.
HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/47b20s0.gif
That is, utilities no longer have to compensate customers when
they send solar back to the grid when net-metering payments
surpass 15% of its peak demand from the previous year or from
1996, whichever is greater.
Net metering allows people with on-site solar to first use solar
energy for themselves and then sell any excess back to utilities
at the full retail price. Utilities, in turn, sell the energy to
neighboring homes and businesses.
While Vermont's largest utility and one of the most progressive
in the country, Green Mountain Power, doesn't believe there
should be a cap at all, the situation is quite different in
states where legislation by ALEC is being pushed. >:(
Repeal Bills Sprout in Numerous States >:(
Until this year, we didn't hear much from utilities, but since
ALEC developed a model bill to eliminate net-metering -
"Updating Net Metering Policies Resolution," it's suddenly
become controversial for utilities across the country.
After meeting a measly 1% cap, Missouri utilities say they are
no longer required to provide rebates for solar. Last year,
solar sales surged in Missouri, adding 1,700 jobs in the state
and if it were in place through this year, that number would
double, according to Missouri Solar Energy Industries
Association.
In Kansas, bills were introduced to eliminate net-metering, but
after negotiations, have been watered down instead. They raised
the maximum size of solar arrays eligible for net metering and
cut the payment that people receive.
This week, the State Senate
HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/d2.gif
[img width=060
height=040]
HTML http://www.envisionyourdreamsllc.com/Golden-Pig.jpg[/img]<br
/>voted to repeal the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), but it
was rejected by the Assembly.
HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/19.gif
ALEC
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-311013201314.png<br
/>and Americans For Prosperity
HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/2z6in9g.gif
have made repealing
the RPS a top priority, and the latter has been running
statewide radio and TV ads.
HTML http://www.u.arizona.edu/~patricia/cute-collection/smileys/lying-smiley.gif<br
/> >:(
The RPS - which requires 20% renewable energy by 2020 - has been
driving growth of the wind industry there since 2009. It has
created 13000 jobs with close to 2 gigawatts installed, and
factories that make wind components have sited there. Kansas
gets over 10% of electricity from wind and is benefiting from
lower electric prices. And Kansas City is about to become a
leading city for solar, installing rooftop systems on 80
municipal buildings.
Republican State Senator Forrest Knox says the RPS distorts the
free market and therefore will drive up costs now that the
federal production tax credit has expired, which has
artificially propped up growth. Other senators that voted for
repeal say it's time for the industry to stand on its two feet
and they expect electric prices to rise 40%.
Kansas should be the first in the nation to abandon cumbersome
government mandates on energy production, according to Jeff
Glendening, state director of Americans for Prosperity, reports
Topeka Capital Journal. [img width=80
height=045]
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-241013183046.jpeg[/img]http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-311013200859.png
[move]At the same time the Kansas Senate passed the Promoting
Employment Across Kansas program - which subsidizes companies
that relocate to or expand in Kansas. [img width=050
height=040]
HTML http://images.sodahead.com/polls/000370273/polls_Smiley_Angry_256x256_3451_356175_answer_4_xlarge.png[/img]
[/move]
Bills to kill net-metering and impose fees on solar owners have
also been introduced - and so far have been defeated - in Utah
and Washington. In Utah, however, they passed a bill to study
the value of distributed energy.
Indiana just passed a law that eliminates the state's energy
efficiency standard and ends ratepayer-funded energy efficiency
programs, such as free energy audits and subsidized upgrades, at
the end of 2014.
HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/acigar.gif
Last year, ALEC failed to roll back state RPS after getting some
120 of its model bills introduced. They added net-metering to
their list for this year. Arizona passed a modified bill that is
already having a negative impact on solar sales.
30 states have a mandatory RPS and 7 have a voluntary one. Over
40 states have net-metering laws.
[img width=640
height=380]
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-310314141819.jpeg[/img]
Read a really long article on the battle between rooftop solar
and utilities:
Website:
www.scientificamerican.com/article/fight-over-rooftop-solar-fore
casts-a-bright-future-for-cleaner-energy/
HTML http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/25611
#Post#: 925--------------------------------------------------
Just How Off Is EIA’s Renewable Energy Outlook? How About 20+ Ye
ars?
By: AGelbert Date: April 16, 2014, 8:59 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Just How Off Is EIA’s Renewable Energy Outlook? How About 20+
Years? ???
Is the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) forecast for
the future of renewable energy in America wrong? It’s an
important question, considering policy decisions and private
investments are often set by EIA guidance.
EIA’s “Annual Energy Outlook 2014” early release overview
predicted renewables would supply only 16% of US electricity
demand by 2040, but a new analysis of EIA’s own data finds the
outlook is “almost certainly wrong.”
According to the Sun Day Campaign, renewables will make up a
much larger percentage of America’s energy portfolio, much
faster than EIA projects – roughly 20 years faster, in fact. ;D
EIA’s Renewable Energy Forecast “Simply Wrong”
EIA data shows renewable energy sources (biomass, geothermal,
hydropower, solar, and wind) grew from less than 9% of total US
supply in 2004 to nearly 13% in 2013 on the strength of solar
photovoltaic and wind energy’s rapid growth.
[img width=640
height=480]
HTML http://c1cleantechnicacom.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/2014/04/Screen-shot-2014-04-16-at-2.47.41-PM.png[/img]
US EIA renewable energy production chart via US EIA
That expansion rate raised concerns about EIA’s 16% by 2040
projection. “Given the relatively consistent growth trends of
the past decade or longer for most renewable energy sources and
their rapidly declining costs, it seems improbable that it will
require another 27 years to grow from 13% to 16%,” said Ken
Bossong, Sun Day executive director. “Thus, EIA’s forecast is
not just unduly conservative; almost certainly, it is simply
wrong.”
Sun Day’s analysis parsed EIA data for renewable energy sources
within US net electrical generation from 2003 through 2013, and
it paints a vastly different picture. If past trends continue,
Sun Day forecasts, renewable energy will reach 13.5% in 2014,
14.4% in 2015, 15.3% in 2016, and 16% no later than 2018. That’s
five years, not 27, if you’re counting along at home.
Interestingly, even Sun Day’s forecast may be too conservative.
Five years ago, the decline of solar PV module prices as well as
Production Tax Credit (PTC)-fueled boom and bust of wind may
have been impossible to predict. Sun Day notes projections based
on EIA data suggest hydropower, biomass, and geothermal
contributions will remain largely unchanged, even as other
studies suggest significant growth.
Solar And Wind Energy Lead The Charge
So if Sun Day is so bullish on renewable energy’s future, where
will the US generate all this new capacity? Unsurprisingly, the
answer is probably solar and wind.
[img width=640
height=480]
HTML http://c1cleantechnicacom.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/2014/04/Screen-shot-2014-04-16-at-2.11.22-PM.png[/img]
Sun Day US renewables forecast chart via Sun Day
Wind energy made up 4.13% of net electrical generation in 2013,
with the amount of wind power growing by an average of 22,200
thousand megawatt-hours (MWh) annually from 2007 to 2013.
Uncertainty over the PTC means that pace is unlikely to
continue, but Sun Day uses the American Wind Energy
Association’s (AWEA) report of 12 gigawatts in the development
pipeline to forecast wind energy’s contribution to hit 4.5% in
2014, 5% in 2015, and 5.5% in 2016.
Despite record-setting new solar installations in 2013, solar
energy is still one of the smallest overall contributors to US
electricity supply, but that’s about to change. Grid-connected
solar contributed just 0.23% of net electricity in 2013, but
that’s after 50% growth from 2010-2011, 138% growth from
2011-2012, and 114% growth from 2012-2013.
Sun Day combines these growth rates with the number of projects
expected to come online in 2014 and 2015 to forecast an
exponential expansion of net solar generation to .45% in 2014,
.9% in 2015, and 1.37% in 2016. Exciting expectations,
considering EIA only expects solar to generate .5% by 2015.
Other Renewables Hold Flat
The growth of wind and solar looks even more impressive when
compared to other forms of renewable energy, and shows where the
real growth will occur. Hydropower, biomass, and geothermal are
all projected to hold steady over the next few years.
Hydropower has long been the “baseload” renewable electricity
source, and the dominant percentage of renewables in US energy
supply with 6.63% in 2013, but that sector’s potential may be
tapped. Some small hydro facilities and upgrades at existing
plants are expected to come online, but decreased water supply
due to climate change may offset those additions to hold flat.
Sun Day forecasts hydropower’s share will actually decrease as
other renewables surge, falling to 6.55% by 2016.
[img width=640
height=480]
HTML http://c1cleantechnicacom.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/files/2013/08/shutterstock_101254759.jpg[/img]
Small hydropower facility image via CleanTechnica
That same trend is expected for biomass and geothermal, as
generation increases but overall percentages remain flat,
according to Sun Day. Biomass (wood-based fuels, landfill gas,
municipal solid waste, and other waste) is expected to hold
steady at 1.48% from 2013 through 2016, and geothermal is
projected to remain constant at .41% from 2013 through 2016.
While it’s worth noting EIA estimates both geothermal and
biomass to increase between 2013 and 2015, that discrepancy may
be a direct result of Sun Day’s more aggressive outlook.
Read more at
HTML http://cleantechnica.com/2014/04/16/just-eias-renewable-energy-outlook-20-years/#jY2Eo8FcVQBHJxUl.99
#Post#: 946--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Big Picture of Renewable Energy Growth
By: AGelbert Date: April 24, 2014, 12:03 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
UK Awards First Guaranteed Power Price Contracts to Biomass,
Offshore Wind Projects
Alex Morales, Bloomberg
April 24, 2014
LONDON -- Drax Group Plc, D o n g Energy A/S and SSE Plc will
get guaranteed power prices for U.K. biomass and offshore wind
plants, the first renewable energy projects to benefit from a
new aid program.
A project by Drax to convert a coal-fired unit at the U.K.’s
biggest power plant to burn biomass was on a list of eight that
the Department of Energy and Climate Change said had won the new
contracts. A second unit, that had been shortlisted in December,
was excluded. Five of the projects were for offshore wind,
including three by Dong, one by SSE and a venture between
Statoil ASA and Statkraft AS.
The contracts are the first under a new assistance system for
renewables that will guarantee the price generators will get for
their power for 15 years. The government said today that the
eight projects will lead to as much as 12 billion pounds ($20
billion) of investment by 2020, supporting 8,500 jobs and adding
as much as 4.5 gigawatts of generating capacity.
“These contracts for major renewable electricity projects mark a
new stage in Britain’s green energy investment boom,” Energy
Secretary Ed Davey said in the statement. “They are a
significant part of our efforts to give Britain cleaner and more
secure energy.”
The government is trying to spur 110 billion pounds of spending
on power plants and the grid by 2020, while meeting binding
renewable energy and carbon emissions targets.
Under so-called “strike prices” announced last year, coal plants
that convert to biomass will get 105 pounds per megawatt- hour
of power they produce for 15 years. Offshore wind farms will get
from 140 pounds to 155 pounds, depending on when they are
completed. That compares with the current month-ahead price of
about 41 pounds.
Biomass
Davey told reporters in London today that while the contracts
announced today will add about 2 percent to power bills in 2020,
the net effect of all the government’s energy policies,
including efficiency measures, is to lower bills by 166 pounds
in 2020 relative to what they would otherwise be.
The other projects to win contracts were a biomass conversion by
Lynemouth Power Ltd. and a biomass-fueled combined heat and
power plant by MGT Power Ltd. All of the projects had been
included on a list of 10 that the department said in December
were “affordable” under the new program, except for SSE’s
Beatrice project, which wasn’t on that list.
Drax had two units included in the list in December, while only
one was awarded a contract. The company said in an e-mailed
statement today that the government has since told it that one
of the units is no longer eligible for the contracts, and that
the generator has begun legal proceedings to challenge that
decision.
Drax Slides
“We are disappointed by today’s decision on the ineligibility of
our second unit,” Drax Chief Executive Officer Dorothy Thompson
said in the statement. “Nothing has changed, as far as our plans
are concerned, between being deemed eligible in December and
now. We have, therefore, commenced legal proceedings to
challenge the decision.”
Drax shares today fell 12 percent as of 4:05 p.m. in London
trading, the biggest intraday drop since July 2012.
At a press conference, Davey declined to outline the specific
reasons for ruling out one Drax unit.
“We applied our published criteria to all the applicant
projects,” Davey told reporters in London. “The decisions we
announced today are based on that. It’s not like Drax doesn’t
have options,” he said, referring to its eligibility for
incentives under the renewables obligation program and so-called
contracts for difference that will be started later this year.
Today’s contracts are precursors to the contracts-for-
difference, or CFDs, that the government is completing. Under
CFDs, utilities will receive a guaranteed price per megawatt-
hour of power they produce, over a fixed number of years,
regardless of the market price.
The exclusion of the second Drax unit may lend some hope to
Eggborough Power Ltd., which said in December that its coal-
fired plant may close if it didn’t secure the guaranteed prices
that would allow it to convert to biomass.
DECC said that the two other projects listed in December have
withdrawn from the process.
The government said it expects the contracts to be signed in
May, when they will also take effect. Further contracts will be
made available in the fall, the energy department said.
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg
HTML http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/04/u-k-awards-first-guaranteed-power-price-contracts-to-biomass-offshore-wind-projects?cmpid=rss
#Post#: 1007--------------------------------------------------
NRDC Partnership Produces First-Ever Stock Index Excluding Fossi
l Fuel Companies
By: AGelbert Date: April 30, 2014, 2:58 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
NRDC Partnership Produces First-Ever Stock Index Excluding ;D
Fossil Fuel
HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/www_MyEmoticons_com__burp.gif<br
/>Companies
HTML http://ecowatch.com/2014/04/29/nrdc-stock-index-fossil-fuel/
#Post#: 1026--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Big Picture of Renewable Energy Growth
By: AGelbert Date: May 1, 2014, 6:29 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TioZ2sVL-E&feature=player_embedded
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUpyD9UHBA0&feature=player_embedded
[move]RMI: Working to achieve a world without WASTE, WANT OR WAR
with Amory Lovins.[img width=30
height=30]
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-141113185701.png[/img][/move]
#Post#: 1028--------------------------------------------------
Rewiring the World With Clean Energy
By: AGelbert Date: May 2, 2014, 1:37 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/earthhug.gifRewiring
the World
with Clean
Energy
HTML http://dl2.glitter-graphics.net/pub/1087/1087832pmq26zqtt4.gif
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Plan involves three interacting strategies which
include:
· In industrial countries, withdraw subsidies from fossil
fuels and establish equivalent subsidies for clean non-carbon
energy sources;
· Create a large global fund -- perhaps through a small
tax on international currency trading -- to transfer clean
energy technologies to developing countries; and,
· Incorporate within the Kyoto framework a progressively
more stringent Fossil Fuel Efficiency Standard that rises by 5
percent per year.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This paper contains a set three interactive strategies
which we believe would reduce carbon emissions by the 80
percent required by nature -- at the same time as it would
create millions of jobs around the world, especially in
developing countries.
To set the plan in its starkest context: the deep
oceans are warming, the tundra is thawing, the glaciers are
melting, infectious diseases are migrating and the timing of the
seasons have changed. And all that has resulted from one degree
of warming. By contrast, the earth will warm from 3 to 10
degrees later in this century, according to the IPCC.
As NASA scientist Jim Hansen said in February, 2006: "We have to
stabilize emissions of carbon dioxide within a decade, or
temperatures will warm by more than one degree -- warmer than it
has been for half a million years."
At the risk of exaggerating their potential, we
believe these solutions could, at the same time, address several
other major problems facing us as well.
The most obvious, given our newfound vulnerability to
guerrilla attacks, is that a worldwide transition to renewable
energy would dramatically reduce the significance of oil -- and
with it our exposure to the political volatility in the Middle
East.
A second security-related connection is that a
renewable energy economy would have far more independent sources
of power -- home-based fuel cells, stand-alone solar systems,
regional windfarms -- which would make the nation's electricity
grid a far less strategic target for terrorist attacks.
Perhaps a more relevant connection is that the
continuing indifference to climate change by the U.S. -- which
generates a quarter of the world's carbon emissions -- will
likely provoke more guerrilla attacks from people whose
homelands are going under from rising seas, whose crops are
destroyed by weather extremes and whose borders are overrun by
environmental refugees.
Conversely, a properly-funded global energy transition
would represent the kind of proactive policy needed to begin to
redress the economic inequity that threatens to split humanity
irreparably between rich and poor. Just as runaway carbon
concentrations are threatening to destabilize the global
climate, runaway economic inequity can only continue to
destabilize our global political environment.
For its own security, the U.S. needs to abandon its traditional
posture toward developing countries -- which has been by turns
defensive and coercive -- and replace that with a new set of
policies which are expansive, inclusive and geared toward real
poverty alleviation. It seems to be an article of faith among
development economists that energy investments in poor countries
create far more wealth and jobs than investments in any other
sector. Were the U.S. to lead a wholesale transfer of clean
energy technologies to developing countries, that would do more
than anything else in the long term to undermine support for
anti-U.S. terrorism.
On the economic front, it seems clear the entire global economy
is susceptible to periods of stagnation, even recession. Not
long ago, some members of the Federal Reserve were even talking
about deflation.
The globally destabilizing credit crisis, the heart-stopping
plunges of the stock market and the crippling uncertainty
surrounding the price of oil in late 2008 triggered paralyzing
fears of a deep and prolonged global economic recession. A truly
floundering economy seems relatively immune to tax cuts and
interest rate reductions. I think any recipe for stable,
long-term economic health must include a component of public
works programs -- in this case, a program to rewire the globe
with clean energy.
HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/301.gif
Few
economists believe the recent capital crisis will be our last. A
substantial global public works program would provide a
much-needed stabilizing ballast to counteract the wild swings of
the market and the resulting instability of the global economy.
Without question, that would be the most productive
investment we could make in our future. Within a decade, it
would begin to generate a major and continuing worldwide
economic lift-off.
HTML http://www.desismileys.com/smileys/desismileys_0293.gif
No global solution, moreover, can ignore the role of the
oil-producing nations -- especially in the Middle East --
without courting major and unacceptable global economic
dislocations. In this regard, it is worth repeating that
hydrogen is expected to be a major fuel in a post-carbon
environment. Hydrogen is most easily produced by putting
electricity into water. So if the nations of the Middle East
were to cover their deserts with saltwater pipelines and
windmills and photovoltaic panels, they could maintain their
role as energy suppliers to Europe, East Asia and Africa.
Finally there is the climate crisis itself:
Unintentionally, we have set in motion massive systems of the
planet with huge amounts of inertia that have kept it relatively
hospitable to civilization for the last 10,000 years. We have
reversed the carbon cycle by more than 400,000 years. We have
heated the deep oceans. We have loosed a wave of violent and
chaotic weather. We have altered the timing of the seasons. We
are living on a very precarious margin of stability.
Against that background, we are offering this set of
strategies. We believe these strategies present a model of the
scope and scale of action that is appropriate to the magnitude
of the climate crisis. To date, we have not seen other policy
recommendations that adequately address either the scope or
urgency of the problem.
Largely because of inaction by the world's
governments, it seems that the Kyoto goals (but not the Kyoto
process) are fast becoming obsolete -- and that it is soon time
to go straight for the goal of 70 percent reductions globally.
Our hope is to get ideas of this scope into the conversation to
help move it to an appropriate level.
The Plan involves three interacting strategies which
include:
HTML http://www.heatisonline.org/contentserver/objecthandlers/index.cfm?id=6320&method=full
Agelbert NOTE: Darwininan church UBERMENSCH convinced that
Caloric Intake defines Morality in our "random" universe are
advised to avoid reading the info at the link because it is too
CORNUCOPIAN for you DOOMER "REALISTS". Have a nice day dreaming
of collapse, disaster and population die off.
HTML http://www.freesmileys.org/emoticons/emoticon-object-015.gif<br
/>
HTML http://www.desismileys.com/smileys/desismileys_1593.gif<br
/>
HTML http://www.pic4ever.com/images/desertsmile.gifhttp://www.websmileys.com/sm/violent/sterb050.gifhttp://www.pic4ever.com/images/mog.gif
[font=times new roman]It is an error of perception to confuse
the perverse joy of masochism with reality because it leads to
the irrational rejection of all practical hopeful future
scenarios (IOW mental box canyons are temporary FUN for doomers
that lead to suicidal ideation). This abysmally stupid behavior
is often disguised as a sophisticated mockery of hope (based on
empirical evidence NOT pie in the sky) filled theists cloaked
with a fraudulent air of objective, hard nosed, science based
conclusions (IOW Intelli-morons claim Brainiac Ubermensch status
when the exact reverse is true). The fate of these Stumbling
Blocks to human progress through moral behavior is grim. Believe
them at your peril.
Anthony G.
Gelbert[/font]
#Post#: 1036--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Big Picture of Renewable Energy Growth
By: AGelbert Date: May 2, 2014, 11:58 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plCL7a_HM5c&feature=player_embedded
*****************************************************
DIR Previous Page
DIR Next Page