Green Energy Revolution Megathread

[jimmy olsen]

Awesome!

Storing The Sun's Energy Just Got A Whole Lot Cheaper

by Joe Romm May 18, 2016 10:50 am

With prices dropping rapidly for both renewables and battery storage, the economics of decarbonizing the grid are changing faster than most policymakers, journalists, and others realize. So, as part of my ongoing series, "Almost Everything You Know About Climate Change Solutions Is Outdated," I will highlight individual case studies of this real-time revolution.

My Monday post discussed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) report that in the first quarter, the U.S. grid added 18 megawatts of new natural gas generating capacity, but 1,291 MW of new renewables. But one of FERC's "Electric Generation Highlights" for March deserves special attention as a leading indicator of the revolutionary new economics of solar plus storage:


Half Moon Ventures LLC's 4.2 MW Minster Solar Project in Auglaise County, OH is online. This project includes an energy storage capacity.

The Minster "solar + storage system is the largest U.S. facility of its kind connected through a municipal utility," according to S&C Electric Company, which built and integrated the storage system. It combines a 4.3-MW photovoltaic systems and a 7-MW/3-MWh storage management system that provides power conversion with lithium ion batteries.

How does a storage system based on lithium-ion batteries make economic sense? The answer is: in a few different ways, with a system called "revenue stacking." It's worth taking a slightly wonky look at how such a system can stack or combine multiple revenue sources, since this is a defining feature of the game-changing new economics of solar energy plus storage.

To get the scoop on the system, I spoke to S&C's Director of Grid Solutions, Troy Miller, who described this as "one of the first, if not the first" energy storage system to allow so many different revenues sources. The company has also posted online the full case study.

Capturing the Multi-Faceted Value of Energy Storage

First, this system lets Half Moon Venture sell into PJM's market for frequency regulation. PJM is the regional transmission organization that coordinates wholesale electricity movement and maintains grid reliability for over 60 million customers in 13 Eastern and Midwestern states and the District of Columbia. Frequency regulation is "the injection and withdrawal of power on a second-by-second basis to maintain grid frequency at 60 Hz."

To make this happen, "the battery system was sized for frequent charging and discharging cycles." The control platform for the system was designed "to interface with PJM market interfacing software to enable the system to follow a signal from PJM." The system analyzes both grid conditions and market pricing to determine how to optimize revenues by either dispatching to or absorbing electricity from the grid.

Second, the Village of Minster had a major power quality problem — "occasional low power factor," which wastes energy and requires expensive equipment to fix. Minster had been planning to install $350,000 worth of capacitor banks dedicated to dealing with this issue. But S&C was able to design the storage system to "provide power-factor correction concurrent with frequency regulation services." That saved Minster $350,000.

Third, the system will allow Minster to reduce peak mid-day demand charges. Utilities typically charge customers a fee whose size depends on the maximum power consumed during a day since, they argue, they have to maintain enough capacity to deal with the very biggest peak demand they might see — typically during a hot summer day.

For a large electricity user like Minster, "PJM looks at the five highest two-hour peak load periods across its entire territory" at the end of a given year. PJM then assesses the user a "Peak-Load Contribution" charge based on how big the peak is. In Minster's case, it is some 11 megawatts. To save Minster money, S&C designed their energy storage system software "to predict when these peaks would occur" and, when they do, to "switch from providing frequency-regulation services to demand response services." The system should be able to shave Minster's peak demand some 2 MW.

The bottom line, according to Miller, is "Revenue stacking is one of the quickest ways to create a strong return on investment for energy storage systems." He expects to see a lot more projects like these in the future.

I asked him how much the sharp drop in battery prices had opened the door to such projects. Miller explained that battery prices had come down by a factor of three in the last few years, which greatly "expands available opportunities that are currently in the money." Lots of stuff that didn't make economic sense now does.

We already know there are a number of ways to greatly increase the penetration of renewable energy using existing hardware and software. What we are now witnessing is the dawn of a revolution that will enable lithium-ion batteries to play a larger and larger role in that increased penetration.

Renewables are more unstoppable than ever. The only questions that remain now are 1) will we embrace the kind of aggressive deployment programs needed to avoid catastrophic global warming, and 2) will we nurture a domestic market that will maintain U.S. leadership in key job-creating low carbon technologies, or will we outsource more jobs to China and Europe.

[Monoriu]

That's a village.  Currently, Hong Kong's electricity generation fuel mix is 50% coal, 20% nuclear and 30% natural gas.  We are planning to change that to 60% natural gas, 20% coal and 20% nuclear.  There are no plans to use renewables. 

[jimmy olsen]

That's a village.  Currently, Hong Kong's electricity generation fuel mix is 50% coal, 20% nuclear and 30% natural gas.  We are planning to change that to 60% natural gas, 20% coal and 20% nuclear.  There are no plans to use renewables.

The US is a village?

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/16/3778542/grid-70-times-renewables-natural-gas/

Renewables Are Leaving Natural Gas In The Dust This Year

by Joe Romm May 16, 2016 4:09 pm

In the first three months of 2016, the U.S. grid added 18 megawatts of new natural gas generating capacity. It added a whopping 1,291 megawatts (MW) of new renewables.

The renewables were primarily wind (707 MW) and solar (522 MW). We also added some biomass (33 MW) and hydropower (29 MW). The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) latest monthly "Energy Infrastructure Update" reports that no new capacity of coal, oil, or nuclear power were added in the first quarter of the year.

So the U.S. electric grid added more than 70 times as much renewable energy capacity as natural gas capacity from January to March.

I don't think Europe is either. This is great geopolitical news for the west and terrible for Russia.
http://cleantechnica.com/2016/05/16/renewable-electricity-replaces-natural-gas-europe/

Renewable Electricity Replaces Natural Gas In Europe

May 16th, 2016 by Guest Contributor

Originally published on Renewables International.
By Craig Morris

In April, Germany's Öko-Institut reviewed the situation in Europe's power sector and found that, as renewable electricity grows, coal power largely remains untouched. Electricity from natural gas is being offset.

Renewable electricity is up by more than a third within the EU from 2010 to 2015, having risen by 244 TWh. In return, the coal power has remained relatively stable since 2010 at 300 TWh (lignite) and 500 TWh (hard coal). But electricity from natural gas is down by 283 TWh in those years.

Essentially, Europe has transitioned from natural gas to renewables.

[Habbaku]

The US is a village?

He's saying the amount of electric production added (1291 MW) isn't much.  The US average consumption per capita/year is ~13,250KW according to Google.  1291 MW = 1,291,000KW.  About enough for 100 people a year.

[jimmy olsen]

The US is a village?

He's saying the amount of electric production added (1291 MW) isn't much.  The US average consumption per capita/year is ~13,250KW according to Google.  1291 MW = 1,291,000KW.  About enough for 100 people a year.

I thought power plants measured watts by the hour?

[The Minsky Moment]

The US is a village?

He's saying the amount of electric production added (1291 MW) isn't much.  The US average consumption per capita/year is ~13,250KW according to Google.  1291 MW = 1,291,000KW.  About enough for 100 people a year.

I thought power plants measured watts by the hour?

Correct.

1291 MW is quite a bit.  Equivalent to 2 large generation facilities, about enough to serve 1 million homes.

One heck of village.

[MadBurgerMaker]

The big Mojave wind farm in California generates 1500MW with 600 turbines. 

[Habbaku]

The US is a village?

He's saying the amount of electric production added (1291 MW) isn't much.  The US average consumption per capita/year is ~13,250KW according to Google.  1291 MW = 1,291,000KW.  About enough for 100 people a year.

I thought power plants measured watts by the hour?

Correct.

1291 MW is quite a bit.  Equivalent to 2 large generation facilities, about enough to serve 1 million homes.

One heck of village.

Maybe he meant the East Village. 

[The Brain]

The US is a village?

He's saying the amount of electric production added (1291 MW) isn't much.  The US average consumption per capita/year is ~13,250KW according to Google.  1291 MW = 1,291,000KW.  About enough for 100 people a year.

I thought power plants measured watts by the hour?

Correct.

1291 MW is quite a bit.  Equivalent to 2 large generation facilities, about enough to serve 1 million homes.

One heck of village.

Measure watts by the hour?

[Tonitrus]

Watts on second?

[crazy canuck]

That's a village.  Currently, Hong Kong's electricity generation fuel mix is 50% coal, 20% nuclear and 30% natural gas.  We are planning to change that to 60% natural gas, 20% coal and 20% nuclear.  There are no plans to use renewables.

I am surprised you were not channeling Mono and missed the part about the investment opportunity 

[11B4V]

Watts up

[Monoriu]

That's a village.  Currently, Hong Kong's electricity generation fuel mix is 50% coal, 20% nuclear and 30% natural gas.  We are planning to change that to 60% natural gas, 20% coal and 20% nuclear.  There are no plans to use renewables.

I am surprised you were not channeling Mono and missed the part about the investment opportunity 

There are risks as well



This *was* an indoor stadium of a university in Hong Kong.  A few days ago the roof collasped.  They were incredibly lucky that there was nobody inside when it happened.  The most likely cause is that they put grass and solar panels on the roof.  And forgot to check the design specifications.  Apparently, when the stadium was built 30 years ago, they picked the cheapest design so that the roof could not sustain any loading.  Of course, they forgot that part and decided to cover it with grass and solar panels.  Grass is actually very heavy because you also need soil and water. 

This incident will be brought up hereafter when people try to add solar panels on rooftops. 

[MadBurgerMaker]

What kind of stadium was that?

[Valmy]

I have been saying this for years guys. Cheap and renewable energy is coming. And we are leading the charge here in Texas. We are going to have massive battery banks storing all of our wind and solar energy and we are going to be exporting it all around the country to take advantage of high prices in areas still reliant on old fashioned technology. As I said when I was meeting with the solar and wind investors last year they said they really wouldn't care if the Feds cancelled their tax credit, they know they have reached the tipping point.

Mono I fail to see how one mistake means jack. Would you like to see all the hilarious disasters that can occur when you run a nuclear plant or fire a giant fireball inside a coal plant? Besides as I have said tons of times, but you seem to be deaf to, is that rooftop solar is not a good solution for Hong Kong.

That's a village.  Currently, Hong Kong's electricity generation fuel mix is 50% coal, 20% nuclear and 30% natural gas.  We are planning to change that to 60% natural gas, 20% coal and 20% nuclear.  There are no plans to use renewables. 

Then pay higher prices. Somebody else will make the renewables and make a fortune off of Hong Kong's poor planning. Though I will say that renewables requires space. Hong Kong does not have much of that...but then does Hong Kong have coal mines and natural gas operations?