Green Energy Revolution Megathread

[jimmy olsen]

I don't want this to get lost in the Off Topic Thread where Tyr posted it for some reason.

Sounds absolutely amazing, won't they be vulnerable to rising sea level? And wouldn't it be quite vulnerable to Russian attack in the event of hostilities?

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/artificial-north-sea-island-energinetdk-tennet-dogger-bank-danish-dutch-german-firms-bid-wind-farms-a7622371.html

Artificial North Sea island: Danish, Dutch and German firms launch bid to make 'science fiction' plan a reality

The proposed island, complete with harbour and airport, is designed to act as a hub for vast new offshore wind farms supplying power for more than 80 million people

...

http://www.energymatters.com.au/renewable-news/power-link-island-em5952/

Power Link Island Project To Proceed

March 15, 2017Energy Matters


An ambitious plan to build an artificial island in the North Sea that will act as a renewable energy hub looks set to go ahead.

On March 23, the Netherlands' TenneT TSO B.V., Denmark's Energinet.dk and Germany's TenneT TSO GmbH will ink a deal that will see a large renewable European electricity system established in the North Sea.

Central to this plan is the construction of "Power Link Islands". Between 70,000 MW to 100,000 MW of wind farms could be connected to these islands; with transmission cables running to the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Norway and Belgium.

The alternating current generated by the wind farms will be converted at stations on the island to direct current for transmission. Using direct current connections also as interconnectors will boost the efficiency of these connections from roughly 40% towards 100% says TenneT.

Through the project, wind energy generated long distances from the shore will assume the cost benefits of near-shore wind power.

"This project can significantly contribute to a completely renewable supply of electricity in Northwest Europe," said Mel Kroon, CEO of TenneT. "TenneT and Energinet.dk both have extensive experience in the fields of onshore grids, the connection of offshore wind energy and cross-border connections."

The first artificial island will cover around 6 square kilometres and incorporate an airstrip, harbour, worker accommodation and various workshops. It will be able to support around 30GW of connected wind farms.

The island will be situated on Dogger Bank; a huge area covering approximately 17,600 square kilometres and with a depth ranging from 15 to 36 metres. The shallow nature of the region will reduce the costs of building the island and surrounding wind farms. This part of the North Sea also has significant and reliable wind energy resources.

"In short, an island in the middle of the North Sea offers everything necessary to make offshore wind energy a success," says TenneT.

The artificial islands are part of a larger plan, the North Sea Wind Power Hub project, announced by TenneT in June 2016.

TenneT provides power transmission services for approximately 41 million people. Energinet.dk is the Danish national transmission system operator for electricity and natural gas.

[Eddie Teach]

I don't think anyone else has this thread saved as a reference.

[jimmy olsen]

18 GW of Solar Under Construction in US, another 36GW being planned. It's  just fantastic! Another 54GW of solar would be enough to power around 11 million homes.

http://e360.yale.edu/features/northern-lights-utility-scale-solar-power-spreading-across-the-us

Northern Lights: Large-Scale Solar Power Is Spreading Across the U.S.
BY CHERYL KATZ • MARCH 23, 2017

Once largely confined to the sunny Southwest, utility-scale solar power plants are now being built everywhere from Minnesota to Alabama to Maine. Aided by plunging costs and improving technologies, these facilities are expected to provide a big boost to U.S. solar energy production.

------------------

Drive through the frosty stubble of central Minnesota soybean and cornfields this winter and you'd come upon a surprising sight — acres and acres of solar panels glinting under the northern sun. The 1,000-acre North Star Solar farm, which opened in December, is the largest, most northerly solar power plant in the United States, generating up to 100 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 20,000 homes. Prone to smothering blizzards, subzero temperatures, and scant sunlight for much of the year, this boreal clime seems an unlikely spot for a major utility-scale solar installation. But the North Star facility will soon be joined by a 100-megawatt solar plant in neighboring Wisconsin set to break ground later this year.

Thanks to sharply falling prices for solar photovoltaic panels, rapid advances in harvesting the sun's energy, and support from tax breaks, incentives, subsidies, and state renewable energy mandates, a clean energy technology once largely confined to the desert Southwest is now quickly extending its reach. Idaho and Maine recently opened their first multi-megawatt plants. Alabama, Iowa, Kentucky, and Nebraska are also making their first forays into utility-scale solar, while Floridaand Georgia are in the process of super-sizing their existing capacity.

Throughout the United States, more than 10.5 gigawatts (10,500 megawatts) of utility-scale solar was added to the electric grid in 2016 — enough to power more than 2 million homes — and more than 8 gigawatts are scheduled to come online this year, according to a new industry report. Led by utility-sized projects (generally 10 megawatts or larger and producing electricity to sell), the total U.S. solar capacity — including photovoltaic panels on the roofs of homes and buildings — is expected to nearly triple over the next five years.

"Minnesota is not the first place you think of to build a big solar project, but there have recently been several projects in the 50 to 100 megawatt range built there," says Mark Bolinger, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who conducts an annual analysis of utility-scale solar costs and trends. Bolinger says wholesale power prices from the new Minnesota solar plants are around 6 cents per kilowatt hour — numbers formerly seen only in places like Arizona and New Mexico. "I think that's a good indication that solar is really starting to find its legs and is able to compete more broadly across the U.S.," says Bolinger.

Indeed, electricity produced by new utility-scale solar facilities these days can be as cheap or cheaper than electricity from new conventional coal-fired or natural gas-fired facilities. Government support has helped lead to this "price parity," but increasingly solar energy can compete without state or federal incentives.

The utility-scale solar boom is resounding globally. A just-completed 648-megawatt plant in the southern India state of Tamil Nadu, said to be the world's largest, will power up to 150,000 homes; it will soon be topped by a 750-megawatt solar plant under construction to the north in Madhya Pradesh. China has been building solar at a furious pace, accounting for nearly half of the 76-plus gigawatts added worldwide in 2016. Utility-scale solar is poised to take off in Australia this year, with 11 new facilities being built across four states, and large projects are in the works everywhere from a behemoth 1.18-gigawatt installation in the United Arab Emirates, to a 180-megawatt facility in Peru. Even Russia's radioactive wasteland at Chernobyl may soon be the site of a massive 2-gigawatt solar farm.

With more than $20 billion invested in the U.S., the solar pipeline is now at an all-time high, according to a new analysis by GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). Nearly 18 gigawatts of upcoming utility-scale projects are currently under contract in the U.S., meaning plant operators have signed power-purchase agreements and the facilities are highly likely to be completed in the next two to three years. This surge of large solar energy installations will nearly double the roughly 5 million U.S. homes now powered by utility-scale solar. What's more, projects totaling an additional 36 gigawatts are now in the planning phase, according to statistics compiled by the SEIA.

[IMG]

Some of these projects are being developed by solar energy companies and sold to private investors, which then sell the electricity to public utilities or independent power producers. Other projects are built and owned by utilities or their affiliates. The new Minnesota installations are part of a state effort to meet its 25 percent renewable energy standard, set by the legislature in 2007 and signed by then- Governor Tim Pawlenty, a Republican. The $180 million North Star Solar plant, the largest, was commissioned by Xcel Energy, a utility holding company based in Minneapolis.

Under the U.S. Department of Energy's SunShot Initiative, research and development projects aimed at making solar energy costs competitive with conventional sources of electricity worked so well that the program reached its price targets — 6 cents per kilowatt-hour for utility-scale systems — three years ahead of schedule. The target has now been reset to 3 cents per kilowatt-hour by 2030.

The SunShot program gave a major boost to U.S. solar energy development. But its days, and those of other federal renewable energy programs, may be numbered. The Trump administration is now wholeheartedly embracing fossil fuels, dismantling Obama-era environmental initiatives, and cutting funding for clean-energy research and development. In his 2018 budget, President Trump pulled funds for the Clean Power Plan, a key Environmental Protection Agency regulation reducing carbon emissions from power plants, which would have given an additional boost to renewables.

Loan guarantees and other federal programs that have helped drive clean energy development are also on the Trump administration's hit list. The budget calls for reducing funding for renewable energy projects at the Department of Energy and its national laboratories by 18 percent. While the budget is preliminary and subject to revision by Congress, the climate of uncertainty is unsettling for the solar industry.

"Who knows what's going to happen?" said Daniel Kammen, an energy and resources professor at the University of California, Berkeley. "The situation has put a rush on projects that are in planning... and put a worry in investors in the long-term."

The most damaging impact for utility-scale solar in the U.S. would come if Congress rescinds the 30 percent Business Energy Investment Tax Credit, a key tool for solar energy development. The credit, initially set to expire at the end of last year, was extended another five years by a Republican-controlled Congress in 2015.

Even without government backing, analysts say the costs of utility-scale solar are dropping so quickly that economic realities, rather than incentives and regulations, are now the industry's main driver.

Georgia Public Utilities Commissioner Lauren "Bubba" McDonald can attest to that. The conservative southern state went from having almost no utility-scale solar a few years ago to becoming the third-largest installer in 2016 — with no government subsidies, tax incentives, or renewable energy mandates. "Zero," McDonald says. "Free-market."

McDonald led the effort in 2013 when he noted steep drops in solar panel prices.
The state utility, Georgia Power, was about to issue a request for new generating facilities to meet rising electricity demand.

"They did not have one watt of solar power [included in their plan]," McDonald says. "I went to the power company and said, 'We can do this as partners or we can do it as adversaries — if we're partners, and it works, we both win.'"

The result: "We put in 525 megawatts of utility-scale solar." Georgia has since commissioned an additional 1,200 megawatts, and now has more than $1.9 billion invested in solar of all types, he says. Next-door neighbor Florida has followed suit, switching on three 74.5-megawatt solar plants last year, with four more to come in 2017. North Carolina and Texas also have big projects underway.

Utility-scale solar's progress is so striking that even some former skeptics have changed their minds about the industry. Robert McCullough, a long-time energy analyst, says he used to consider utility-scale solar's prospects as basically hype. "I'd been hearing that all of this is just around the corner, and then one day it was staring me in the face," says McCullough, principal of the Oregon-based industry consulting firm McCullough Research. In the past couple of years, he said, cost shifts have been so astonishing that "now we have really quite a revolution going on... The scary thing is you've now heard this from a cynic."

In the past seven years, the price tag for utility-scale solar in the U.S. dropped 85 percent, as equipment prices plunged, manufacturing techniques improved, and developers gained experience that enabled them to build projects more economically.

While Western states still dominate the industry — more than 77 percent of the solar power generated nationwide last year came from west of the Rockies, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration — solar is marching northward and eastward.

Increased photovoltaic panel efficiency and other technological improvements are leading the way. New designs allow photovoltaic modules to harvest the weak early morning and evening light, making short days longer. Trackers that follow the sun across the sky increase yield, enabling projects in cloudy places like Oregon. And in Minnesota, the "unique challenges of a colder climate," as North Star Solar developer Chase Whitney of Community Solar Energy put it, have been addressed with solutions like panels that can essentially shake off snow.

Obstacles do remain. The nation's outdated transmission system can't efficiently handle the renewable energy influx. Peak output from solar and wind farms is often wasted by an overloaded electric grid. More and better electricity storage is urgently needed. And in addition to federal efforts to thwart clean energy programs, numerous Republican-controlled state legislatures are considering legislation to reduce or eliminate funding for renewable energy incentives and initiatives.

But with falling costs and a jam-packed pipeline of projects ahead, analysts say big solar should be able to maintain its momentum without the government at its back. "It all ties back to economics," Kammen says. "No political party can deny how much progress has been made on prices for wind and solar — but in particular solar — in the last few years."

Georgia's McDonald agrees. "The sun's going to shine 60 years from now," he says, "and those electrons are free. They're free to me, they're free to utilities, they're free to everybody."

[Eddie Teach]

11 million homes? Are you sure? That's barely enough power for 40 Deloreons.

[jimmy olsen]

11 million homes? Are you sure? That's barely enough power for 40 Deloreons.

The article says 10.5GW power more than 2 million. 54 should power 10.8 plus.

[Eddie Teach]

You're missing my Back to the Future reference. 

[grumbler]

You're missing my Back to the Future reference. 

Don't worry, the rest of us got it. 

[jimmy olsen]

You're missing my Back to the Future reference. 

I got it. I just couldn't resist being pedantic. It's the languish curse.

[jimmy olsen]

California's making fantastic progress

https://electrek.co/2017/03/27/california-solar-wind-renewable-electricity-record-high-peak/

Solar power in California started setting production records on February 24th – production peaks have continued to occur since then. On Thursday of last week renewables broke 56% of total demand. This record is partially the result of a national 2016 installation boom of greater than 14GW of solar power that California took 35% of.

According to the daily report on March 23rd, solar peaked around 11.16 AM – three minutes before the solar + wind peak of 49.2% and nine minutes before renewables peaked 56.7%.

Renewable's produced 186GWh on the 23rd – 33% of the day's 563GWh electricity usage. Solar power will continue to add 2+GW/year to California's electricity grid. This heavy volume of growth is causing strain on the system – solar power will be curtailed in heavy amounts this spring, with this having already begun in February. Other major renewable countries have had challenges as they've grown – most recently large amounts of wind power in China had to be curtailed.

California ISO notes they might have to curtail 6,000-8,000MW of electricity. If they were speaking in total production at a peak moment, that would represent 73-98% of last Thursday's solar peak. If that peak were to run for an hour – it would fill 75-100 of the 80MWh Tesla PowerPack stations installed for Southern California Edison. Last year the USA installed 336MWh of energy storage – 23 times the amount of solar that might be curtailed.

US Department of Energy wants the nations electricity grid to be able to handle 100% mid-day peak solar power, California will give them a local testing ground – but the Danish at 114% will give them a true research subject.

Renewable electricity production peaks as part of electricity usage are occurring more often – and these days they're happening in 'bigger places.' Wind power provided 20% of Europe's electricity on March 19th, and the Midwest USA popped above 50% demand from wind.

A plethora of energy storage solutions are being tested to help deal with these peak demand moments. The lithium-ion dream is being led by the Tesla Gigafactory 1 – BYD is also working on its own products in the segment and is an experienced company who was backed by Warren Buffet long ago. There are many groups investing across Europe – in various reports I've seen up to 20 "Gigafactories" (over 1 GWh) being built globally by the early-mid 2020's.

If curtailment continues into the future – it would seem to make sense for energy storage companies to offer to hold onto the energy for a certain fee. In other places – excess electricity has led to electricity users getting paid to consume.

[The Minsky Moment]

Jimmy - that's not unequivocally positive.  Basically the article is saying that solar + wind is approaching a ceiling in terms of its contribution to the grid, at least in the absence of an economically viable storage solution.

[jimmy olsen]

Jimmy - that's not unequivocally positive.  Basically the article is saying that solar + wind is approaching a ceiling in terms of its contribution to the grid, at least in the absence of an economically viable storage solution.

Tesla battery installations are economically viable.

[The Minsky Moment]

They have an installation with tens of thousands of MWH storage? How much did that cost?

[Jacob]

According to this, clean energy jobs in the US outnumber fossil fuel jobs 2.5 to 1: https://www.docdroid.net/G6njmYC/sierra-club-clean-energy-jobs-report-final-1.pdf.html

Seems like green jobs is definitely a thing.

[jimmy olsen]

They have an installation with tens of thousands of MWH storage? How much did that cost?

It's a brand new technology. They haven't installed that much, but they will.

[Admiral Yi]

It's a brand new technology. They haven't installed that much, but they will.

What's holding them back, if it's economically viable?