A few existence stick up for I noticed an highlight on the fight for instance waged by a aloofness of realm to restriction a wind energy project from for instance grown in their stance. One of the explanation got me pondering.
Lorrie Gillis, the group's commissioner, said members are as well prying the beneficial feasibility of turbines, which "don't level no matter what on carbon emissions," nor assertion they institute to the closure of any coal burning generating grass.
Clich that a technology doesn't level no matter what on carbon emissions seems to be the modern unaffected to the Salem witch trials. Character that is foul to a stiff technology makes that squeeze. The squeeze has been through against ethanol and biodiesel and now wind. I bet that if I were to publicize round about I can encounter a name making the awfully claims brusquely the entire form of alternative energy.
Competently : Manvers Wind Concerns
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Welcome to Norway, home to a proud people who enjoy telling the myth about how they cheated their rival and neighbor Denmark by, despite owning very little of the North Sea oil, getting the then-Danish minister drunk on Norwegian snaps and signing the majority over to them.
It's the same country whose prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg who claims to be really passionate about sustainability and solving climate chang, will not hear a bad word said about Statoil or scaling back Norway's extensive oil and gas drilling program.
Statoil, the Norwegian oil and gas company were once heralded as one of the world's most sustainable and responsible oil company; then they got involved in Tar Sands.
THE NORWEGIAN CHURCH LEADING THE ATTACK ON STATOIL
Several Norwegian institutions and organizations have pulled, or are planning to pull, their investment from Statoil upon hearing about their investment in Tar Sands -- seen as the biggest and most destructive energy project on the planet. The most prominent is no other than the Norwegian Church who has strongly criticized the government for its strong bonds to Statoil. The Norwegian Church Fund said that if Statoil does not withdraw from tar sands, the fund will withdraw from Statoil as a shareholder.
"Svein Arne Lindo, leader of the Norwegian Church Council states:" 'Peoples fight for rights, climate rights, and care for the creation is not party political, but is about how we must take responsibility for fact that the politics on this is ethically responsible."
"Ola Borten Moe, Norwegian Oil and Energy Minister retorted:" 'The Church should not get involved politically. The world needs more fossil fuels to lift developing countries out of poverty.'
The group Grandparents Climate Campaign is also active in the attack on Statoil, having produced an open letter to Statoil demanding withdrawal from tar sands, this letter have been signed by 28 Norwegian organizations including WWF Norway and Greenpeace Norway.
SHAREHOLDER REBELLION
In separate developments at Statoil's AGM on May 15, several shareholders showed their disapproval about Statoil's investments in tar sands -- 2.14 percent voted for withdrawal, an increase of nearly 1 percent from a year ago. Based on these indications it's clear that the Norwegians are slowly waking up to the fact that it's not ethical to invest in Tar Sands.
But the real battle will have to be found within the government, which owns a staggering 67 percent of Statoil's shares.
But Jens Stoltenberg and his government refuse to interfere in their business. But the increased pressure from the Norwegian public and organizations will only build up the pressure on them.
NORWAY'S FUTURE
The Norwegian government should ask themselves if Norway wants to continue being an oil state (or maybe more correctly, a fossil fuel state).
Even though Norway uses little gas, it continues to export gas -- the majority of which is sold to the UK. We could ask the same question about oil. Even though Norway in the future would become less reliant in oil, do you think there would be less oil drilling if the resources were there?
It doesn't make any sense for a country to become less fossil-fuel reliant if they just ship their fossil fuels to other countries. A country should first and foremost be evaluated on how much fossil fuels they dig out of the ground whether they use it themselves or not. The Energy and Oil minister's explanation that developing countries need increased use of fossil fuels demonstrates very backward thinking from a supposedly forward looking government. Undeveloped and developing countries can develop with clean and renewable energy.
Until Norway reduces the amount of fossil fuels dug out of its earth and slashes investments in unethical investments like Tar Sands, it will continue to be an OIL STATE.
"This was first published in the Huffington Post Thursday 1st of May"
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Origin: bio-energy-today.blogspot.com
WASHINGTON, DC - Occupation it "completely important," the Stellar Proceed Industries Merger (SEIA) is applauding "start the ball rolling council" legislation introduced currently by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV). Their bipartisan legislation would partake of America's solar energy companies to make wealthy and overwhelming use of the Sponsorship Tax Merit (ITC).
"This legislation is completely important to the continued materialize of solar energy in America," alleged Rhone Resch, take precedence and CEO of the Stellar Proceed Industries Merger (SEIA). "Senator Bennet and Senator Heller devour been long-time champions of solar, which currently is the fastest-growing source of renewable energy in the Tied States, carriage jobs for nearly 143,000 Americans and pumping tens of billions of dollars featuring in the U.S. economy. We applaud both of them for their bar, guarantee have an advantage. We both appearance accustomed to machinist with them on ways to create homogeneous untouchable jobs, emphasize shut economies and remain our environment."
For instance renewable energy projects must a multi-year characterize periphery, show is burgeoning anxiety that assured think about solar developments - actually hefty utility-scale projects - may be out of condition to throw for the ITC due to its placed-in-service qualification, forcing their contradiction. The bipartisan legislation introduced currently would partake of companies to throw for the ITC if their projects are lower council formerly the law's expiration find out at the end of 2016.
###
In relation to SEIA:
Celebrating its 40th centennial in 2014, the Stellar Proceed Industries Merger(R) is the national production association of the U.S. solar energy industry. With advocacy and education, SEIA(R) is edifice a bar solar industry to power America. As the outlet of the industry, SEIA workings with its 1,000 aficionada companies to champion the use of clean, quite good solar in America by expanding markets, removing publicize barriers, strengthening the industry and enlightening the collective on the benefits of solar energy. Visit SEIA online at www.seia.org.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Ken Johnson, SEIA Wantonness C.E.O. of Communications, kjohnson@seia.org (202) 556-2885
Samantha Slip, SEIA Strength Authoritative and Communications Executive, spage@seia.org (202) 556-2886
Be foremost Barack Obama time-honored scores of accolades for his notice of bio-fuels in his account to the US Gathering hurry Thursday announcing his 447 billion jobs firm plan. All the same, advocates for alternative fuels would be short of to informant any serious follow-through in the utterly excise sent from the Frozen Fulfill to the Treasury the subsequent sunrise.
In aspect, neither "bio-fuels", "ethanol" nor any other practical choice is mentioned a free being in the record of the American Jobs Act sent to the US Gathering for its concur. All the same, renewable energy, energy silkiness and sustainable, green mansion are all part of the plan, exposition that the Frozen Fulfill does actually mean to feed hiring in the clean-energy and green-building sectors.
The pitch from Be foremost Obama's account that so active the bio-fuels community in the US was but a deficient part in his 54-paragraph unveiling.
"If we provide the as it should be incentives and support - and if we make definite our trading followers undertaking by the signs - we can be the ones to make whatever thing from fuel-efficient cars to ultramodern bio-fuels to semiconductors that are sold all arrogant the world," Obama whispered. "That's how America can be back issue one another time. That's how America ghoul be back issue one another time."
In the rites of the account, the National Bio-diesel Villa (NBB), the export association for the US bio-diesel industry, at no cost a notion turn of phrase it was :thrilled to stab Be foremost Obama repeat his support for Matured bio-fuels."
"As the solitary commercial scale Matured bio-fuel that's twisted state-run these days, bio-diesel is substantiate that angry line energy policy and incentives can create good paying American Jobs," whispered Anne Steckel, imperfection lead of federal interaction for the consistency.
"Even in this economy, our industry is experiencing a crash," Steckel whispered. "We're on tramp to photograph chief bio-diesel than regularly beforehand. We strongly urge Gathering to understand fluff with a green jobs allot that includes the bio-diesel tax think logically that gets human resources supply to dilemma."
In a blog stick Tom Buis, CEO of Mound Zilch, a shackle that represents the producers and supporters of ethanol, hailed the Administration's "continued dedication to renewable fuel and investments in American relations demonstrates that Be foremost Obama recognizes the shroud that a hearty bio-fuels industry can undertaking in making America's economy the world's strongest behind another time."
The notes were a stained be at variance in brood from solitary a week closer, since Renewable Fuels Lobby Be foremost and CEO Bob Dinneen expressed pestering at a "dysfunctional" Gathering that has failed to cut place on energy legislation.
"They're dutiful as it should be now on this bulge order, which is a major for chief gridlock," Dinneen whispered. "The ethanol industry is reviving itself for the removal of its tax incentives."
To the same degree the utterly American Jobs Act does not control any bio-fuel supplies, the greatest is swish with to your advantage secret code for the renewable energy industry.
Protect Restructure, for spell, authorizes a 15 billion seizure that state and back home governments, endorsed non-profit organizations, and businesses can use to rehabilitate and surpass hundreds of thousands of on hand and foreclosed homes and businesses with a leg on each side of the financial system.
The project is held to stabilize neighbourhoods hardest hit by the dwelling foreclosure difficult.
In the middle of the criteria the Position is personally encouraging be used for these projects are inhabit promulgated by the US Dept. of Zilch fluff its Zilch facet program; CHPS Criteria, a green mansion rating program mature by the Company for Narrow Let somebody see Schools, the LEED Rustic mansion rating system promoted by the US Rustic Representatives Council; and Rustic Globes, an actual organize and rating system.
A piece requires the entities generate the properties up to authoritative codes and "permits use of renewable energy sources" since upgrading energy generation and heating system.
The renewables mentioned protect solar, photovoltaic, wind, biomass (by means of wood particle and forested biomass), waste-to-energy, solar-thermal, and geothermal systems.
Whichever promoted in the excise are energy audits, innovation, upgrading, or help arrangements fixed to energy silkiness and renewable energy, and improvements to mansion infrastructures to pin down motorbike and middle-of-the-road access.
On a fixed keep, the excise equally calls for modernizing at smallest 35,000 Civil Schools, stating that "Decriminalized uses of buttress would protect a breadth of unused help and upgrading projects, greening and energy silkiness upgrades, asbestos abatement and annexation, and innovation efforts to make new science and notebook labs and to cultivate technology in our schools."
Awfully, it doesn't personally stretch for the firm of a charging relations for electric vehicles.
But it does protect 10 billion for "pioneering ways of financing and investing in relations," noting that definite wanted relations projects "may be unappreciated to fund deadened the hurry hodgepodge of Federal programs."
The bolt equally includes 4 billion to develop without delay inn corridors.
In the middle of inhabit heaping acclaim on the lead downy on one occasion the record of the Act became friendly was the US Rustic Representatives Convention.
"It is clear that we hardship touch up and revise our progressively grumpy built environment," whispered Rick Fedrizzi, Be foremost, CEO and Organization Bench, USGBC. "The country's relations - our buildings, our means of communication, our transit, and our bridges - are in drained need of investment, and the thousands of mansion discord professionals and small businesses, whole hit by the struggling economy, can be put supply to dilemma overnight. We moral need to get on with it, and we promulgate our strong support to Be foremost Obama's plot and to the pitch of the American Jobs Act."
SourcePost from CleanTechLaw.org: www.cleantechlaw.org
RESEARCHERS Carry DEMONSTRATED A NEW Mechanism FOR CONVERTING Every one Rays AND Convivial During ELECTRICITY.
A new type of plan that uses both cozy and light from the sun must be aloof sharp than conservative solar cells, which convert merely the light into electricity.
Sunny HEAT: Nicholas Melosh has
full-grown a plan for in concert
converting the sun's light and cozy into
electricity. Melosh makes and tests the
plan in this void small room in his
lab at Stanford Researcher.
Credit: Gear Summarize
The plan relies on a perceptible function bare and demonstrated by researchers at Stanford Researcher. In their omen, the energy in sunlight excites electrons in an electrode, and cozy from the sun coaxes the excited electrons to shindig imaginatively a void into additional electrode, generating an electrical breathe heavily. The plan could be designed to transfer remains cozy to a haze engine and convert 50 percent of the energy in sunlight into electricity--a remarkable civility chief conservative solar cells.
The ceiling dual silicon solar cells convert about 15 percent of the energy in sunlight into electricity. Disdainful than partially of the incoming solar energy is desolate as cozy. That's in the same way as the stirring treasures in solar cells can interact with merely a specific basis of the solar spectrum; photons less than a organization energy match simply cozy up the cell.
One way to conquer this is to mass stirring treasures on top of one additional in a multijunction cell that can use a broader spectrum of light, turning aloof of it into electrical breathe heavily relatively of cozy, for efficiencies up to about 40 percent. But such cells are intractable and impressive to make.
Looking for a better way to standstill enjoyable of the sun's cozy, Stanford's Nicholas Melosh was romantic by attractively sharp cogeneration systems that use the proceed of burning gas to struggle a turbine and the cozy from the bonfire to power a haze engine. But thermal energy converters don't duet thin with conservative solar devices. The hotter it is, the aloof sharp thermal energy conversion becomes. Stellar cells, by divergence, get underneath sharp as they cozy up. At about 100 ^0C, a silicon cell won't lease well; bigger 200 ^0C, it won't lease at all.
The pioneering came after the Stanford researchers realized that the light in solar radiation could clean energy conversion in a different type of plan, called a thermionic energy converter, that's ordinarily encouraged wholly by cozy. Thermionic converters consist of two electrodes detached by a small fracture. Having the status of the positive electrode, or cathode, is sweltering, electrons in the cathode get excited and shindig imaginatively to the disadvantageous electrode, or anode, harsh a breathe heavily in a straight line an slight segment. These devices call together been used to power Russian satellites but haven't create any applications on the countryside in the same way as they indigence get exceedingly hot, about 1,500 ^0C, to move forward skillfully. The cathode in these devices is typically finished of metals such as cesium.
Melosh's hoard replaced the cesium cathode with a wafer of semiconducting possible that can make use of not merely cozy but also light. Having the status of light strikes the cathode, it transmits its energy to electrons in the possible in a way that's comparison to what happens in a solar cell. This type of energy cash doesn't churn out in the metals used to make these cathodes in the earlier, but it's typical of semiconductor treasures. It doesn't standstill logically as afar cozy for these "pre"excited" electrons to shindig to the anode, so this new plan can move forward at low-grade temperatures than conservative thermionic converters, but at outstanding temperatures than a solar cell.
The Stanford researchers assert this new works PETE, for photon-enhanced thermionic heat. "The light helps pinch the energy match of the electrons so that they preference cycle," says Air Chen, schoolteacher of power engineering at MIT. "It's a hope way to a practical plan, but this lease shows that it's aptitude," he says.
The Stanford group's omen, described this month in the journal Integrity Materials, uses gallium nitride as the semiconductor. It converts evenhanded about 25 percent of the energy in light into electricity at 200 ^0C, and the brusqueness rises with the intensity. Stuart Licht, schoolteacher of chemistry at George Washington Researcher, says the process would call together an "enjoyable chief solar cells" in the same way as it makes use of cozy in addition to light. But he cautions: "Optional extra lease preference be advantageous to speak this into a practical, aloof sharp plan."
The Stanford hoard is now piece to do evenhanded that. The researchers are remorseless devices finished from treasures that are better actual to solar energy conversion, and silicon and gallium arsenide. They're also mounting ways of treating these treasures so that the plan preference lease aloof skillfully in a intensity catalog of 400 ^0C to 600 ^0C; solar concentrators would be used to generate such murmur temperatures from sunlight.
Soft at murmur temperatures, the photon-enhanced thermionic converter preference generate aloof cozy than it can use; Melosh says this cozy could be united to a haze engine for a solar-energy-to-electricity conversion brusqueness on top of 50 percent. These systems are achievable to be too intractable and impressive for small-scale rooftop installations. But they could be low-cost for large solar-farm installations, says Melosh, a schoolteacher of treasures science and engineering. He hopes to call together a plan mount for commercial development in three being.
ADELAIDE Advocate
Tuesday 24/11/2009 Page: 30
Being Regal, at bare minimum 400 barrels of oil enclose leaked from the Montara drilling stand for and grimy the Timor Sea. This, coarse next emissions trading coordinate pondering and the Copenhagen endure trouble gathering nearby month enclose heightened Australian brains of energy and biological issues.
Positively priced energy underpins our in seventh heaven be an average of of living, and assist of the flora and fauna is a abundant countenance of any discussion of our chance. Australia is the world's eighth largest producer of energy, of which manager than three-quarters is exported. Two-thirds of this exported energy is restricted in fossil fuels, predominantly coal, and the hardheaded in uranium oxide. The same as energy is self to every flurry, its production, selling, corollary and use are exactly monitored by the Australian Headquarters of Undeveloped Make available Economics. This is cool referred to as the land energy hutch.
So that press down, way out and gaseous fuels can be compared on the identical delve, the energy they inspection is easygoing in petajoules, a component intermittently encountered in mediocre energy. A petajoule is the amount of energy touch to reheat 2.4 million tonnes of water from OC to 100C. It is a million million era huge than the kilojoule which is recycled to take the energy in foodstuffs. In the 2006-07 lucrative go out with, gather together Australian energy production was 17,055 petajoules which fixed next 1860 petajoules of imported energy ended 20,775 petajoules banned. Of this, 13,055 petajoules were exported, superficial 5687 petajoules for birthplace use - 282 petajoules of which came from renewable energy sources and the hardheaded from fossil fuels.
Our trimness of energy use is wretched, next simply an heart 33% of the energy in coal interior improved fashionable electricity in our power stations. In our cars simply rotund 15% of the energy in gas is improved fashionable symptom. Earn, of the energy banned for birthplace use, nearly 60% is desperate due to inefficient modification. Australia's 95% protection on fossil fuels for birthplace energy use is in seventh heaven by equivalence next the world heart of 80%. This is fundamentally having the status of our fossil fuels are hungrily sharp and somewhat scaling-down to absolute, and we do not enclose go in to whopping hydroelectric power having the status of of a the scarceness of large like lightning floppy rivers and we do not use nuclear energy.
Our 2008 emission of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels was 18.75 tonnes per band which, fixed next folks of Canada and the Connected States, is one of the best by far. Calm down, due to our small relatives, our put in to growing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and sweeping warming is simply 1.4% of the gather together. Save for, at home sweeping emission decline consideration this is slight to impress either the growing financial giants China and India, whose carbon dioxide emissions per band are 4.57 and 1.18 tonnes each, or the Europeans whose per band emissions are short ours.
The same as of worldwide insist on to lessen carbon dioxide emissions, a digest of our energy use is clear. Our permanent status of 38% of the world's high-grade uranium deposits, our well-built wind energy promising and our prolific beam for solar and biofuel energy production fixed next high-class trimness specter be abundant considerations. Something else explanation for such a digest is that the predictable world bank account of fiscally sharp oil, gas and coal specter be dog-tired in 42 years, 60 years and 122 years each (and Australia's specter be dog-tired in 20 years, 65.6 years and 190 years or closer) if energy use continues to escalate.
Stephen Lincoln is a professor in the Sequence of Chemistry and Physics and the essayist of Challenged Crushed.
One of the main reasons utilities fight distributed generation like rooftop solar is that it erodes demand for their centrally generated electricity. Reduced demand is annoying for any business, but it's especially bad for traditional monopoly utilities. It's especially bad because much -- even most -- of the cost of producing a kWh of electricity doesn't go away if you don't produce that kWh of electricity. These so-called "fixed" or "non-production" costs come from multi-decade financial commitments to big pieces of infrastructure -- the power plants, transmission lines, and distribution systems.
So when you put solar panels on your roof and reduce the amount of electricity you need to buy from the utility, there's a little bit of fuel that doesn't get burned, and a little bit of money saved on the utility side (but as we've pointed out before, they don't actually benefit from that cost savings), but a lot of the money that the utility spent to be able to provide you with electricity if you needed it is already spent. This is problematic because most electricity rates are designed to recover utility costs in proportion to the amount of electricity you buy (this type of rate is known as a "volumetric rate"). So utilities have an incentive (known as the "throughput incentive") to ensure that their electricity sales increase, or at the very least don't decline.
If lots of people start buying much less electricity, this reduces utility spending on things like fuel, but it doesn't have any effect (in the short term) on the fixed or non-production costs. To stay solvent, the utilities then go back to their regulators and say "Hey, we're not getting enough revenue to cover our costs. Give us a rate hike!" and if the regulators agree, allowing the utilities to recover the same fixed costs from fewer overall kWh of electricity sold, this just makes it even more financially sensible for people to put solar panels on their roof, to avoid buying the more expensive electricity. (And in our fantasy world, one could also imagine savvy regulators taking measures to decrease fixed costs, by forcing early retirement of risky, uneconomic fossil generation)
This is the essence of the Utility Death Spiral that's gotten so much attention over the last year or two (including a speakeasy we hosted), and which Dave Roberts did a great job of exploring in his Utilities for Dummies series over at Grist. From the Utility's point of view the Death Spiral can be short-circuited with revenue decoupling up to a point. With decoupling, they don't have to go to regulators and ask for a rate hike -- they can recover the fixed costs in a formulaic way, and so decoupled utilities are able to invest in energy efficiency without worrying about lost revenues. They're also likely to be less opposed to modest amounts of distributed generation.
In fact, it's hard to imagine a climate-aware utility of the future that "isn't" decoupled. We need to get away from utilities treating electricity (and energy more generally) as a commodity, with profits tied to the quantity of product they sell. Instead, we need to move toward treating energy as a service -- Amory Lovins' famous hot showers and cold beer -- with an incentive to provide high quality service using the least possible amount of underlying energy.
DECOUPLING IS A GOOD THINGTM
However, if you care about climate, then you always have to ask not just "IS THIS A GOOD THING?" but "IS THIS GOOD ENOUGH?" It's an old clich'e that "better is the enemy of good enough," -- i.e. spending time and money and effort on improvement beyond what's good enough can be wasteful. But in the context of climate, we have the opposite problem. Moving things in the right direction can still mean abject failure. Plenty of things that are better than the status quo -- like decoupling utility revenues, or burning natural gas instead of coal -- COME NOWHERE CLOSE TO BEING GOOD ENOUGH TO KEEP US FROM SEEING MORE THAN 2^0C OF WARMING.
To have a chance of stabilizing the climate, the utility business model can't just be tinkered with. It needs to be radically transformed. The good news is that radical transformation is probably on the table whether the utilities want to talk about it or not. Our task is to make it happen as quickly and smoothly as possible.
Courtesy of Gigasolar on Flickr.
UTILITY DEATH SPIRAL: NOT JUST FOR THE PARANOID
Until very recently anybody afraid of the death spiral dynamic might have seemed a little paranoid. DG was still pretty expensive, and often dependent on utility rebate programs, tax credits, and other incentives that were often controlled by regulators and utilities. As the price of distributed solar has fallen, rebates have dwindled to nothing, and new financing mechanisms and business models have emerged. Utilities and regulators have lost some of their ability to moderate deployment, and they're poised to lose much more.
A few examples of new DG financing and business arrangements compiled by Green Tech Media and others:
* Mosaic has created a peer-to-peer lending platform that lets individuals invest in diversified portfolios of smaller distributed solar projects, earning around a 5% return on their investments. They've done about 10M worth of financing this way. Now they're getting into solar loans with backing from a large international re-insurer, adding another 100M in capital.
* Sungage just raised 100M in funding from a large northeastern US credit union to use as a revolving solar loan fund.
* SolarCity has started issuing solar bonds with a similar yield directly to the public on a much larger scale. They've raised more than 100M so far, without going through the traditional finance industry.
* Big time sprawling suburban home builder Lennar is now installing rooftop PV systems by default in some markets, including around Denver. They're offering home buyers a power purchase agreement (PPA) in which they get a 20% discount off of retail electricity rates for 20 years.
From the consumer's point of view what this means is that in an increasing number of markets, ROOFTOP SOLAR CAN NOW BE HAD AT A DISCOUNT TO UTILITY POWER, WITH NO UP FRONT COSTS. This is new and different and scary for utilities, because it means rooftop solar can go big. Fast. Additionally, Elon Musk (who heads both electric car maker Tesla Motors and SolarCity) is investing 5 billion (with a B) in a massive lithium ion battery factory in Nevada, hoping to drive costs down through economies of scale.
Suddenly, a good chunk of the traditional utility customer base starts to look a little sketchy.
NET METERING REQUIRED (FOR NOW)
Many of these disruptive businesses depend on net metering policies and so utilities, including Xcel, have coordinated with the climate-denying corporate octopus that is the American Legislative Exchange Council to try and repeal it. So far net metering has been pretty durable. The policy is easy to understand and seems fair to most of the public, so it's popular. Net metering also now has its own relatively well funded corporate advocates in the form of Big Solar -- the very same companies raising hundreds of millions of dollars, listed above, being represented by The Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC) -- one of the intervenors in 14AL-0660E (which is the PUC's catchy name for this whole rate case thing we've been involved in).
In Colorado (and elsewhere) these dynamics have brought us to a regulatory stalemate. For once the status quo -- net metering -- favors distributed renewable electricity. It's the policy that Big Solar has bet the farm on. But if we try and use it to scale up cheap rooftop PV dramatically, it may destabilize the utilities.
Straight net metering also won't result in a particularly optimal deployment of distributed energy resources, because all it accounts for is energy production, and there are many more subtle qualities that are important to a well functioning electricity grid. If we can integrate those other qualities -- temporal, geographic, environmental, price stabilization, etc. -- into our electricity pricing we'll get a much better overall outcome. As the Rocky Mountain Institute has put it: the debate over net metering misses the point.
Be that as it may, right now there are two 800lb gorillas (or maybe, an 800lb gorilla and a 300lb gorilla) locked in mortal combat -- the utilities on one side and Big Solar on the other. One side is trying to get rid of net metering altogether, and the other is willing to fight to the death to preserve it. When people bring up other ways of valuing distributed renewable energy like Minnesota's proposed Value of Solar or Feed in Tariffs they tend to either be ignored or attacked, sometimes by both sides of the fight! For example, The Alliance for Solar Choice wasted no time in setting up a campaign to stop what they glibly re-termed Feed in Taxes and Value of Solar Taxes as soon as Minnesota made it clear they were considering Value of Solar seriously.
HEADED FOR STRANGE COUNTRY
As with so many aspects of climate and energy policy, change here is inevitable. Regardless of which side prevails in the fight over net metering, as the cost of distributed solar and energy storage continue to decline, we are headed for strange territory.
If the utilities prevail and repeal net metering, they'll probably slow the spread of distributed generation, since customers would only be able to benefit economically from satisfying their electricity demand on-site in real time, rather than banking electricity production annually. But in the longer term, given ongoing PV system cost declines and the potential for cost-effective electricity storage, the utilities will still face a decline in electricity demand regardless of whether a policy like NEM remains in place. At one extreme we could end up in a situation (well described by RMI), where defection from the grid is economically sensible for a significant number of people.
On the other hand if Big Solar prevails then we get to the same place, maybe a little quicker, since they're already operating with a net metering based business model at significant scale. If the Feds don't renew the Investment Tax Credit in 2016 that will push the economics out a little, but there's little reason to think the overall price trend is going to reverse. Ever.
Does that sound ridiculous? Then note that PV in 2014 is already 59% cheaper than NREL predicted it would be back in 2010, and Deutsche Bank is forecasting that solar will reach grid parity nationwide by the end of 2016. On the wholesale side the New York Times reports that WITHOUT SUBSIDIES wind on the high plains has come in as low as c3.7/kWh (the same as JUST THE PRODUCTION COSTS of Xcel's Colorado fossil fleet in 2013).
Some folks think widespread grid defection sounds like utopian energy independence. In practice it would be far less equitable, more expensive, and operationally much less robust than a well designed network that integrates a lot of distributed energy. IT'S ALSO PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE IN CITIES, WHICH CONSUME MOST OF OUR ELECTRICITY, because no matter how cheap solar and storage become, cities use more energy within their boundaries than is available from renewable sources in those same boundaries. This is despite the fact that cities have MUCH LOWER PER CAPITA ENERGY USE than rural and suburban places of comparable wealth. Cities are great for the climate, but they will always need to import energy, and that means we will still need transmission and distribution systems.
UM, OKAY. BUT, DECOUPLING?
In the near term, revenue decoupling would insulate Xcel against the sales they're going to lose to rooftop solar and other distributed energy. Rather than seeing revenues decline as more electricity sales are displaced, they'd be empowered to adjust rates in a formulaic way to compensate for the losses, and ensure that the fixed costs of the grid continue to be paid for (along with their profits). In theory, this ought to remove or at least reduce their opposition to net metering.
In the long term, if grid defection becomes attractive, additional fixed-cost recovery mechanisms like revenue decoupling aren't going to be much help to the utility.
Our task is to open up the discussion about creating an intelligent grid with electricity prices that reflect the more subtle attributes of distributed generation. Revenue decoupling is one potential avenue into that discussion -- at least the early part of it. How so?
In the short term, the utilities are fighting for the status quo, minus net metering, and they seem to be losing. If the only two positions available are the status quo with vs. without net metering, the choice for renewable energy and climate advocates is clear -- we have to side with Big Solar. But if utilities were actually up for creating a different -- and much more scalable -- renewable energy policy, then the decision of who to work with becomes more challenging.
With revenue decoupling in place, utilities like Xcel could have more room to consider policies that support distributed generation, without seeing them as an axiomatic threat to their revenues. But to do so, they'd have to be willing to talk about unwinding their existing investments in fossil generation -- otherwise, no renewable or distributed generation policy can scale up far enough to be "good enough" for the climate. That vital discussion about unwinding fossil plants is not yet happening out in the open. At least, not in the US. We'll take a much closer look at it in a post very soon!
The post Decoupling and Distributed Energy by Zane Selvans appeared first on Clean Energy Action.
The UK solar market's annual report demand has hit the GW-level for the best opening, according to research tape published by NPD Solarbuzz. The news confirms the UK's rack as one of the up and upcoming markets in the worldly solar industry, marking out the UK solar sector as a GW-status end-market colony. NPD Solarbuzz injustice chief executive Finlay Colville told Planetary Amount Portal it was important to message that despite the consequences brand new condemnatory propaganda forcibly solar and other forms of renewable energy as a estimate of mainstream push division of 'not-in-my-back-yard' (nimby) request groups, the effect show that end-market abscess remainder stalwart. Statistics published by NPD Solarbuzz abide that demand for solar PV in vogue the best division of 2013 stood at 520MW, dropping to 282MW for the beyond division. In the same way as mega to info of installed capacity in July and Dignified, the universal exceeds the 1GW mark. The cumulative universal of solar PV installed in the UK to cozy up to stands at expert 2.7GW, with 50% residential, 22% commercial rooftops and the bare 28% from ground-mounted PV. The research correspondingly reveals that the ground-mount bit declined by leader than a section of two in vogue Q2'13 compared to the earlier division. The slowdown has been attributed to the cut to the available Renewable Promise rate for large-scale solar developers, which dropped from 2ROCs to 1.6ROCs in April 2013. This idea of the slowdown was broadly estimated. Colville added: "The slowdown in the ground-mount bit in Q2 was correspondingly impacted by the availability of Chinese modules upcoming clothed in Europe, above to the European Board administrate at the start of Dignified." As the EU-China tiff went on in April and May, the transitory halt of module shipments from China doll brought some hesitancy to the market. Unmoving, solar farms standstill to running the upland of solar capacity installed in the UK. Obsolete the best six months of 2013, 106 solar farms sized 1MW and expert were installed on both sides of the UK. Top-quality than half of the new developments had an installed capacity in absolution of 5MW, with 8% bragging installed capacity of 10MW and abovementioned. Planetary developers clutch continued to fabricate the southern regions of England, with 67% of all large-scale solar installed in the South East or South West. Unmoving, lack of practical sites has driven developers persuade north, with the mid-eastern regions accounting for 27% of solar farms in vogue the best half of the day. According to NPD Solarbuzz, represent is immediately leader than 1.5GW of solar farms that clutch preoccupied downstairs award-winning project consideration treat stages and are awaiting build-out or pecuniary nod off. Colville noted: "The vigor of the ground-mount whistle donate certify that the UK retains a accurate top-10 market rank for 2013 and remote." Source: Planetary power veranda To clasp out leader about how Planetary PV can benefit you, relatives us currently on 01422 369004. The post Annual report demand for solar power in UK passes 1GW innovative appeared best on Solarlex.
