Green Energy Revolution Megathread

[grumbler]

Probably has something to do with the fact that the vast majority of you are fucking assholes.

We are assholes, but we are YOUR assholes, amirite?

[CountDeMoney]

As the good Captain might say: you're just like any other assholes, only more so.

[The Larch]

Oh, the irony.

Kentucky Coal Museum installs solar panels to save on electricity bills

FRANKFORT, KY (AP) – Don't look to the Kentucky Coal Museum to bring coal back.

The museum is installing solar panels on its roof, part of a project aimed at lowering the energy costs of one of the city's largest electric customers. It's also a symbol of the state's efforts to move away from coal as its primary energy source as more coal-fired power plants are replaced by natural gas. The state legislature recently lifted its decades-old ban on nuclear power.

"It's a little ironic or coincidental that you are putting solar green energy on a coal museum," said Roger Noe, a former state representative who sponsored the legislation that created the coal museum. "Coal comes from nature, the sun rays come from nature so it all works out to be a positive thing."
(...)

"The people here are sort of in awe of this solar thing," Humphrey said.

The Southeast Community and Technical College, which owns the museum, expects the solar panels to save between $8,000 and $10,000 a year on energy costs, according to spokesman Brandon Robinson.

[Syt]

"Coal - It Belongs In A Museum"

[jimmy olsen]

What the fuck? Is there literally anything besides his hate on for immigrants and minorities that this man hasn't flip flopped on? In this case it's good, but who knows how long he'll go before flipping back the other way.

Of course, given how oblivous Trump is, this might be all Rick Perry's work. It's little known to most that he did great work in Texas to make it a wind energy power house.

https://cleantechnica.com/2017/04/19/trump-admin-outlines-global-solar-plan-10-terawatts-2030/

Trump Admin. Outlines Global Solar Plan: 10 Terawatts By 2030
April 19th, 2017 by Tina Casey

President Trump talks a great game when it comes to US coal miners and coal jobs but he sure is walking the renewables walk. The latest item in the flood of renewable energy news pouring from the Energy Department since Inauguration Day is a new study that charts a do-able path for global energy producers to harvest 5-10 terawatts of solar power by 2030.

That's quite a big feat considering that the current scope of global solar generation is still measured in gigawatts, but then again President Trump is known to be a huge fan of the bigly.

Solar Power And Global Electricity Consumption
For those of you keeping score at home, a terawatt is 1,000 gigawatts. A gigawatt is 1,000 megawatts or one billion watts.

So yes, 10 terawatts is a heckuva lot of electricity. It's not enough to fulfill global demand, which hung around 15 terawatts as of 2015, but wind power and other renewables could fill in the rest.

By way of comparison, last fall the International Energy Agency issued a report that pegged global renewables at only 153 gigawatts in 2015, including wind and other sources as well as solar.

IEA has some nice things to say about the growth rate of renewable sources, but the agency is still looking at only 200 gigawatts by 2020 — and again, that includes a healthy dose of wind and other renewables.

10 Terawatts By 2030?
So, how does the Trump Administration expect everybody to make up the difference?

That's where something called GASERI comes in. GASERI is the Global Alliance of Solar Energy Research Institutions, consisting of the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, and Japan's Research Center for Photovoltaic Technologies.

Systems, and Japan's Research Center for Photovoltaic Technologies.

Okay, so there are only three members, but those three pack a huge punch. Here's the CleanTechnica take from 2012, when GASERI was launched:

Forget your Avengers, your X-Men and your other super-groups (yes, we're talking about you, Queens of the Stone Age), if there is any planet saving to be done from now on it will be accomplished by the new Global Alliance of Solar Energy Research Institutions.

As articulated by NREL, the organization's mission is to "accelerate progress toward shared solar research and development goals as well as to ensure sustainable long-term use of solar energy."

GASERI met right around this time last year to tease out some of the obstacles facing solar deployment.

Here's the takeaway:

...To provide a major contribution to global climate goals, total installations on the order of 20 TW will be needed by 2040. This will require stable PV R&D support worldwide and systemic investments targeted at reducing production costs, increasing efficiency, and improving reliability.

An increasingly flexible electricity grid, increased availability of low-cost energy storage and demand-side management also will play key roles in enabling accelerated PV deployment...

Did you catch that thing about "stable PV R&D support?" US Energy Secretary Rick Perry has taken his share of hits on social issues, but in his brief tenure so far the Energy Department has been firing on all pistons with renewable energy news including foundational research on solar cells, renewable hydrogen, and energy storage among many other topics.

Yes, 10 Terawatts By 2030
An NREL press release dated April 18 outlines the new solar report, produced under the GASERI umbrella.

The gist of it is that under favorable conditions, global solar capacity has the potential to climb into the 5-10 terawatt range.

These are the conditions:

A continued reduction in the cost of PV while also improving the performance of solar modules

A drop in the cost of and time required to expand manufacturing and installation capacity.

A move to more flexible grids that can handle high levels of PV through increased load shifting, energy storage, or transmission

An increase in demand for electricity by using more for transportation and heating or cooling

Continued progress in storage for energy generated by solar power.

Notice how they slipped that thing about increased demand in there. Apparently GASERI is not banking on gains in building energy efficiency to counterbalance the rise of EVs in transportation.

Everything else seems pretty doable, right? Regardless of Trump Administration policies, global PV costs will continue to drop and conversion efficiency will continue to improve.

A move to reduce solar installation "soft costs" is well under way, manufacturing processes are being streamlined (partly thanks to the rise of thin film solar), load shifting and other "smart grid" strategies are being deployed, and an energy storage revolution is brewing.

The biggest question is whether or not the US will put the full force of public policy behind the global effort to accelerate decarbonization.

You can get all the details in the journal Science under the title "Terawatt-scale photovoltaics: Trajectories and challenges."

No, Really, 10 Terawatts By 2030
Speaking of public policy, the timing of the GASERI solar announcement is rather interesting.

The day before NREL's press release, the Intertubes were all ablaze with news that Perry has ordered a review of the nation's electrical grid, presumably on marching orders from President Trump.

Some observers have taken that to mean that coal and nuclear energy will come out on top, but we think not.

GASERI issued a policy recap in the last weeks of the Obama Administration that noted the rise of distributed generation and the role of small scale solar, and so far the Trump Administration's Energy Department has not indicated any intention of diverging too far from that pathway.

To cite just one example, in February the Energy Department announced a new $30 million round of funding for innovative technologies aimed at bringing more solar into the US grid mix.

Last week NREL hosted the Industry Growth Forum for clean energy technology at its facility in Colorado with 400 stakeholders attending. Here's the money quote from NREL:

"The convergence of R&D success, entrepreneurial innovation, and a receptive investment community will accelerate advanced energy technologies into the marketplace...We are pleased to be able to leverage the convening power of the laboratory to facilitate this essential discourse."

Also, just in time for the March for Science, this week the Energy Department's Grid Modernization Initiative is staging a public peer review of 80 projects with the aim of developing best practices and lessons learned.

And, next week the global organization IEEE (the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is hosting the 8th annual Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference in Washington, DC. One area of focus will be on integrating distributed energy sources.

IEEE bills itself as "the world's largest technical professional society" so there's that.

Secretary Perry generally toes the Republican line but so far he has kept the Trump Administration's Energy Department humming along with a steady stream of news about renewable energy. The agency's main News & Blog page is rather thin but NREL, SunShot, EERE and other divisions keep churning out the good stuff.

Until the budget axe falls, it looks like the US is still on track to cooperate with the global push for decarbonization.

[jimmy olsen]

A significant achievement

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-39675418

First coal-free day in Britain since 1880s

Britain has gone a full day without using coal to generate electricity for the first time since the 1880s, National Grid says.

The energy provider said Friday's lack of coal usage was a "watershed" moment.
Britain's previous longest continuous energy period without coal until now was 19 hours - first achieved last May, and again on Thursday.

The government plans to phase out Britain's last plants by 2025 in order to cut carbon emissions.

Friday is thought to be the first time the nation has not used coal to generate electricity since the world's first centralised public coal-fired generator opened in 1882, at Holborn Viaduct in London.

Cordi O'Hara, of the National Grid, described Friday as "a watershed moment in how our energy system is changing".

She added: "The UK benefits from highly diverse and flexible sources of electricity. Our energy mix continues to change and National Grid adapts system operation to embrace these changes."

But Ms O'Hara says that while the country makes the transition to a low carbon system, coal remains an important source of energy.

According to Gridwatch.co.uk, around half of British energy on Friday came from natural gas, with about a quarter coming from nuclear plants.

Wind, biomass, and imported energy were also used.

By John Moylan, BBC industry correspondent

Coal has powered Britain for more than a century.

But Friday's landmark moment - the first 24-hour period without any coal-powered generation - is a sign of how the once mighty fuel is being consigned to history.
Part of the reason is that solar panels and wind turbines now provide much more electricity to factories and homes. Lower power demand is a factor too - that's normal on a Friday.

And as older, uneconomic coal fired plants have closed in recent years, the fossil fuel has been playing a much smaller role in our energy system.

The last deep coal mine in the UK, Kellingley Colliery in North Yorkshire, closed in December 2015, bringing to an end centuries of deep coal mining in Britain.

Hannah Martin, from Greenpeace UK, said: "A decade ago, a day without coal would have been unimaginable, and in 10 years' time our energy system will have radically transformed again."

Coal remained a dominant part of the energy supply until the 1990s, but its use has fallen in recent years, as plants closed or switched to burning biomass such as wood pellets.

It accounted for just 9% of electricity generation in 2016 - down from 23% the year before.

However, there have been claims that using wood pellets to generate electricity is actually speeding up, not slowing down, climate warming.

A study published by Chatham House in February said wood is not carbon neutral and emissions from pellets are higher than coal, making pellet use a flawed policy.
The energy industry rejected the report, saying that wood energy cuts carbon significantly compared with fossil fuels.

[mongers]

A significant achievement

....

Makes good PR, but the UK energy mix isn't a good one and faces serious medium and long term problems.

Personally I'd like to have seen one or two oil fired power station kept.

[The Larch]

You want oil powered stations? Enjoy the acid rain, then.  Natural gas powered stations are more efficient and less polluting under any metric, IIRC, why would you want oil powered stations around in this day and age?

[Valmy]

Natural Gas is a great stop gap for base load. Of course that tends to annoy the anti-fracking crowd.

[mongers]

You want oil powered stations? Enjoy the acid rain, then.  Natural gas powered stations are more efficient and less polluting under any metric, IIRC, why would you want oil powered stations around in this day and age?

An added bit of flexibility, currently we rely a lot on gas and that will increase as more nuclear sites are retired somewhat early.

[CountDeMoney]

Anti-nuclear dumbasses.

[The Larch]

You want oil powered stations? Enjoy the acid rain, then.  Natural gas powered stations are more efficient and less polluting under any metric, IIRC, why would you want oil powered stations around in this day and age?

An added bit of flexibility, currently we rely a lot on gas and that will increase as more nuclear sites are retired somewhat early.

A couple of plants in the UK is not going to add much flexibility, it'd be almost testimonial.

[jimmy olsen]

Mono takes another hit!

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-25/electric-car-boom-seen-triggering-peak-oil-demand-in-2030s?mc_cid=607ea129bc&mc_eid=acd6b24698

The Electric-Car Boom Is So Real Even Oil Companies Say It's Coming
by Tom Randall

April 26, 2017, 2:47 AM GMT+9 April 26, 2017, 3:56 AM GMT+9
Electric cars are coming fast -- and that's not just the opinion of carmakers anymore. Total SA, one of the world's biggest oil producers, is now saying EVs may constitute almost a third of new-car sales by the end of the next decade.

The surge in battery powered vehicles will cause demand for oil-based fuels to peak in the 2030s, Total Chief Energy Economist Joel Couse said at Bloomberg New Energy Finance's conference in New York on Tuesday. EVs will make up 15 percent to 30 percent of new vehicles by 2030, after which fuel "demand will flatten out," Couse said. "Maybe even decline."

Couse's projection for electric cars is the highest yet by a major oil company and exceeds BNEF's own forecast, said Colin McKerracher, head of advanced transport analysis at Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

"That's big," McKerracher said. "That's by far the most aggressive we've seen by any of the majors."

Electric cars currently make up about 1 percent of global vehicle sales, but traditional carmakers are preparing for transformation. In 2018, Volkswagen plows into electrification with an Audi SUV and the first high-speed U.S. charging network to rival Tesla's Superchargers. Tata Motors Ltd.'s Jaguar and Volvo Cars both have promising cars on the way too, and by 2020, the avalanche really begins, with Mercedes-Benz, VW, General Motors Co. and others releasing dozens of new models.

"By 2020 there will be over 120 different models of EV across the spectrum," said Michael Liebreich, founder of Bloomberg New Energy Finance. "These are great cars. They will make the internal combustion equivalent look old fashioned."

From a very long and interesting article
http://energypost.eu/chinas-new-silk-road-will-it-contribute-to-export-of-the-black-fossil-fueled-economy/

...

There is no doubt that China has emerged as a formidable player in the global renewable energy race. In its domestic sphere it is greening its electric generation system at a rate that exceeds 10% in a decade. In 2016 the country reached a level of dependence on fossil fuels for electric power generation of 64%, down from 77% a decade earlier.
...

In the electric power sector, the headline results are that in the year 2016, China's total electric power capacity increased to just over 1.64 trillion watts (1.64 TW), with water, wind and solar sources accounting for about 34% — up from 32.5% in 2015. In the decade since 2007, China's reliance on WWS sources (water, wind and solar) in terms of capacity has risen from 20% to 34% in 2016 – a 14% increase in a decade, and from 16% to 25% in terms of actual electric generation. At this rate, one third of China's electric power generation would be based on WWS sources by the middle of the 2020s.

[Valmy]

Mono is quick to adopt the status quo so he always wins

[Ed Anger]

Fuck electric cars. I'm throughly unimpressed so far.