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Sleepy

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2650 on: April 25, 2018, 07:03:29 AM »
Rick Perry trumpeting solar energy? What's going on (playing both sides?)
Green BAU. None of those guys are stupid, some are just not that photogenic.
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gerontocrat

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2651 on: April 25, 2018, 12:06:28 PM »

Is $1.05M really that much of a federal program?

Terry
Hullo Terry,

Change "1" to "100" = $105.5 million

https://www.energy.gov/articles/us-secretary-energy-rick-perry-announces-105-million-new-funding-advance-solar-technologies

TOPIC 1: Advanced Solar Systems Integration Technologies (up to $46 million, ~14 projects)

TOPIC 2: Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) Research and Development (up to $24 million, ~21 projects)

TOPIC 3: Photovoltaics Research and Development (up to $27 million, ~28 projects)

TOPIC 4: Improving and Expanding the Solar Industry through Workforce Initiatives (up to $8.5 million, ~4 projects)

Not bad for pure research - but it all depends on the purpose and quality of the aforesaid projects
« Last Edit: April 25, 2018, 12:13:17 PM by gerontocrat »
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TerryM

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2652 on: April 25, 2018, 12:24:33 PM »
Thanks
Must have missed a (few) decimal places. :o
Terry

mitch

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2653 on: April 25, 2018, 05:25:37 PM »
$105M is not very much for a program.  This would fund roughly 200 3-year research projects, assuming no overhead at the agency.  And I am talking one faculty member, 1-2 graduate students as the research project.

Sigmetnow

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2654 on: April 29, 2018, 11:34:36 PM »
“50% by 2025” seems to be a popular clean energy goal these days!

Walmart ramps up renewable energy use
Quote
Walmart is moving closer to its 2025 goal of being supplied globally with 50% renewable energy.

As a result of several new solar and wind projects, Walmart plans to more than double the amount of renewable energy it uses in the U.S. and increase the percentage of global electricity needs supplied by renewable sources above the current 28%.

The new initiatives include expansion of on-site solar energy installments. Walmart, already the leading company in the U.S. for number of locations utilizing on-site solar energy, plans to add an additional 130 sites which will bring its total to approximately 500 locations across 22 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, surpassing its 2014 goal to double its onsite solar use by 2020. ...

Walmart is investing in on-site installations, wind farms, RECs generated from a new solar farm in Alabama, and “collaborated with Google and Georgia Power on an initiative that will result in the retailer obtaining 182 million kWh of additional renewable energy annually. Once the new Georgia Power arrangement is operational, approximately 34% of Walmart’s power demand for its retail locations served by Georgia Power will come from the renewable sources in the program.” 

Also, adding more EV charging stations, bringing the “total number of charging units to well over 1,000 when complete, creating a national grid of electric vehicle charging availability at hundreds of Walmart stores and Sam’s Club locations.”

https://www.chainstoreage.com/store-spaces/walmart-ramps-renewable-energy-use/
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Sleepy

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2655 on: April 30, 2018, 05:43:58 AM »
$105M is not very much for a program.  This would fund roughly 200 3-year research projects, assuming no overhead at the agency.  And I am talking one faculty member, 1-2 graduate students as the research project.
As a comparison, that is the exact same amount Sweden is spending yearly on subsidies. The budget for this support is set at SEK 915 million per year 2018-2020. All types of actors can obtain financial support for installing grid-connected photovoltaic and hybrid power/thermal systems, as of 2018 covering 30% of the costs. My own piece of this cake is exactly zero.
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TerryM

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2656 on: May 01, 2018, 10:31:56 PM »
I'm still ruminating about far north energy solutions.


Solar obviously can't work when the sun doesn't shine.
I've learned that winds are frequent in the arctic at all times of the year, (thanks numerobis), and now have questions about how wind turbines stand up to extreme cold, snow flurries or freezing rain. Can they continue operating without damage, or are they shut down for the duration? Can freezing/thawing cycles play havoc with the installation?


I understand that BEV's lose some of their power at low temperatures. Do large arctic battery installations require external heating during arctic nights, or do they produce enough heat while charging or discharging to keep them at or near optimal temperatures? Can they be left inactive for extend periods of time without being damaged by very low temperatures?


Terry

ghoti

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2657 on: May 02, 2018, 02:02:36 AM »
The large mining operation in the north thinks so. They installed their own wind turbine.

There are a bunch of reports indicating it will work well. Both the Northwest Territories and Nunavut governments have wind power plans. Cannor has funded a million dollar study for how to implement wind power. Pembina Institute also has an assessment.

It will happen but things move slowly.
« Last Edit: May 02, 2018, 02:08:28 AM by ghoti »

numerobis

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2658 on: May 02, 2018, 03:47:58 AM »
Wind turbines in extreme cold: minor problem. Below -40 they aren't rated to start but they can keep operating. And they probably could start, they just aren't rated and you might lose the warranty.

Wind turbines in flurries: no problem. Why would it be a problem? Even in heavier snow it's not a problem -- they don't need to see.

Wind turbines in freezing rain: problem. Thankfully, that's been solved, or else wind turbines wouldn't do so well in places that occasionally get icing. Places like, say, Texas.

Wind turbines in freeze-thaw cycles: I don't know. There's plenty near Chicago and Montreal, so it must not be a big problem.

Batteries: keep them indoors. Their waste heat will be useful year-round. It would be a bit silly to have a dedicated battery building rather than housing them in a building that's heated anyway. I'm also not sure why they'd only need to be heated at night.

Bob Wallace

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2659 on: May 02, 2018, 04:23:08 AM »
Extreme cold might require some sort of heating for lube oil.  I can't imagine what other problems there might be.

Someone has made a blade that can be warmed to shed ice buildup.

TerryM

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2660 on: May 02, 2018, 08:58:10 AM »
Thanks all


Sounds as though the turbines won't need much tweaking to adapt to the north!


numerobis
I was thinking of the long cold winter night. I should have made it clearer.


Are there any plans for a wind farm with battery backup to power your region? I assume diesel is very expensive so the payback time should be short.
Terry

numerobis

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2661 on: May 02, 2018, 01:24:44 PM »
We don’t have a long cold winter night here. You’d still need to keep batteries heated.

There’s talk and several white papers but no solid plans with actual contracts signed or anything.

Sebastian Jones

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2662 on: May 02, 2018, 05:08:41 PM »
Thanks all

Are there any plans for a wind farm with battery backup to power your region? I assume diesel is very expensive so the payback time should be short.
Terry

Yukon Energy Corporation is applying to the regulator to install an 8MW lithium battery into the grid. It is for load balancing and brief outages, but it will also work well with planned wind and solar installations. In Old Crow, a fly in community, currently running on diesel that is flown in, the First Nation and the utility are partnering on a solar and battery project, with a wind turbine in the planning stage.
Yes Terry, diesel is expensive, so even incremental reductions in diesel consumption are valuable. And that leaves aside climate and grid resilience benefits.

rboyd

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2663 on: May 02, 2018, 07:54:09 PM »
I crunched the latest IRENA data for renewable energy trends, as it now includes 2017. At the global level the increase in renewable energy capacity is amazingly stable, averaging 8.5% per year since 2011 with only a very small variance year over year.

The contribution from hydro has been falling, from 3% growth toward 2%.
The growth in wind has more than halved, from over 20% to now 10%.
The growth in bio-energy did the same, from 21% to 12% annual growth.
The growth in solar also fell, from above 70% to 32% (stable for the past 5 years).

As the installed base of non-hydro has greatly increased, a lower rate of non-hydro growth is required to keep the growth rate at 8.5%. Given that the growth in renewables is migrating to lower-utilization technologies (hyrdo to other; wind to solar), the growth in actual electricity generation will be less than the 8% growth in capacity levels. i.e. the growth in actual renewable energy generation is on a slowly declining trend.

At 8% annual growth, capacity will double every 9 years (rule of 72) - about 18 years to make all electricity renewable at that continued growth rate, but will take longer given growth in electricity demand. With a possible 30% growth in energy demand (IEA), it would take about 21 years. Of course, the scale of that last 8% would be incredible - over 10% of current electricity production replaced in a single year with renewables (8% plus 30% growth). A slow down in growth rates can be assumed given this scaling issues. Much more focus on energy efficiency per unit of GDP would help by reducing demand growth.

Given the low forecast rates for hydro, wind and bio-energy growth (by their own industry associations), the continuance of rapid growth in pv will be critical to keeping the global growth rate at 8%. In the past few years China has been critical to keeping the pv capacity growth rates high. India has had recent very rapid growth, so this may help if it continues.

Even if China put in 70GW of pv in 2018 (more than in 2017), the China pv growth rate would fall from 70%+ to 50%+, showing the incredible challenge of keeping these growth rates up. At the global level, the addition of a little bit more pv capacity this year than last will significantly reduce the growth rate for pv to about 26%.

https://www.pv-tech.org/news/bnef-hedging-bets-on-chinas-solar-installations-in-2018

2017 global capacity (MW):
Hydro 1,270,496
Wind 513,939
Solar 390,625  (130,646 in China, with 70%+ growth in past 2 years; India 100% growth in 2017 from low base - now 19,275)
Bio-Energy 109,213

http://www.irena.org/-/media/Files/IRENA/Agency/Publication/2017/Mar/IRENA_RE_Capacity_Statistics_2017.pdf

The actual carbon intensity of bio-energy is being seriously questioned, such as burning wood pellets from the US in UK power stations, so the growth rate of bio-energy may be adversely impacted by policy changes. This is just for electricity of course, transport, space heating, and concrete/metal production will need very major changes to become electrified.


« Last Edit: May 02, 2018, 08:15:04 PM by rboyd »

Bob Wallace

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2664 on: May 02, 2018, 09:27:07 PM »
I crunched the latest IRENA data for renewable energy trends, as it now includes 2017. At the global level the increase in renewable energy capacity is amazingly stable, averaging 8.5% per year since 2011 with only a very small variance year over year.

We need to be careful about making future predictions based on growth rate.  When operating off a small base a small increase shows up as large growth.

Better that we look for what are likely to be the long term installation rates and make our predictions from them.  That does mean that we can't make long term predictions as soon but those 'just now starting' predictions based on annual growth percentages are likely to have little predictive value.

Maybe something like "If we added solar in the amount we did in 2017 (or 2015 - 2017 average/whatever) it would take X years".  The look to see if there's a year to year acceleration to see if we have not yet reached 'steady state' rates.


rboyd

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2665 on: May 03, 2018, 08:40:15 PM »
The renewable growth rates are all following the standard model of early rapid growth, followed by a tapering off as the installed base gets larger and larger (and thus the growth increments have to get bigger to keep the growth rate the same, and starts displacing in place infrastructure). If solar pv starts to slow further, then the overall renewable growth rate will fall. We have already had a massive fall in costs over the past decade and that has not stopped the deceleration in growth rates for wind and solar.

I hope that electric cars and general efficiency takes off, because we will desperately need them. Government policy is not helping with the denier Trump administration on one end of the spectrum and the "luke warmers" on the other.

We can no longer say that "we are at the start" with solar and pv, perhaps more the "beginning of the middle innings".

Bob Wallace

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2666 on: May 03, 2018, 09:01:51 PM »
Globally we are at the beginning of solar and wind.  If you look around you can find a few places where each are past their "beginning".  Wind in Denmark is one such place. 

Nowhere are we out of the initial growth phase for EVs.

Best to not get all caught up in growth rates.  Overall those are not meaningful numbers.  Look to see if absolute amounts of installation/adoption is growing or falling.

TerryM

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2667 on: May 03, 2018, 09:20:52 PM »
Overall those are not meaningful numbers.  Look to see if absolute amounts of installation/adoption is growing or falling.
Agreed, also the percentage of EVs being sold into the market, as opposed to percentage rises or drops from previous years of production.
Terry

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2668 on: May 03, 2018, 09:32:29 PM »
Overall those are not meaningful numbers.  Look to see if absolute amounts of installation/adoption is growing or falling.
Agreed, also the percentage of EVs being sold into the market, as opposed to percentage rises or drops from previous years of production.
Terry

Even better might be to look at generation growth compared to overall generation or EV sales compared to total car sales.  That would tend to cancel out the variability caused by a global recession.

One of the favorite talking points of the anti-renewable boys is how Greece hasn't installed any solar over the last few years because "solar topped out in Greece". 

Greece's electricity consumption hasn't grown over those years.  Greece economic collapse has meant that Greece hasn't done anything.

TerryM

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2669 on: May 03, 2018, 09:59:18 PM »
Agreed, also the percentage of EVs being sold into the market, as opposed to percentage rises or drops from previous years of production.
Terry
Even better might be to look at generation growth compared to overall generation or EV sales compared to total car sales.
That was what I as trying to express in my above, sorry if I wasn't clear. We're on the same page here.
Terry

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2670 on: May 03, 2018, 11:03:18 PM »
Nowhere are we out of the initial growth phase for EVs.

*cough*Norway*cough*

In an S-curve, at 50% it's linear and growth starts to slow. Norway is at 50%. Nowhere else is.

Sigmetnow

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2671 on: May 03, 2018, 11:19:17 PM »
California Warns of a Second Energy Crisis
- Customers are leaving utilities for local power providers
- State needs to develop plan for increased competition
Quote
California’s chief utility regulator is warning that the state could find itself in the throes of another energy crisis if it doesn’t address the droves of customers defecting from utilities.

The state is going to find it increasingly difficult to ensure it has enough electricity to keep the lights on as more Californians leave utilities to buy their power directly from resources like rooftop solar panels and so-called community choice aggregators that contract directly with generators, California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Picker said. As much as a quarter of the state’s energy demand may be sourced outside of utilities by the end of this year, he said.

“We have a hodgepodge of different providers,” Picker said in a telephone interview. “If we aren’t careful, we could slide back to the kind of crisis we faced in 2000 and 2001.”
...
Picker said the state is already suffering from its lack of preparation. Electric utilities aren’t sure how many customers they’ll have in the future and have become increasingly hesitant about signing long-term contracts with power generators, he said. Owners of natural gas-burning power plants, which often fire up to help supply electricity when demand peaks, are having a hard time making money. ...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-03/california-warns-of-a-second-energy-crisis-as-customers-defect
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Bob Wallace

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2672 on: May 04, 2018, 01:19:50 AM »
My apologies to the Weegins. 

California has two reactors scheduled to be shut down.  One in 2024 and one in 2025.  The cry has been "How will California keep from burning gas when the reactors are gone?"

I suppose the answer might be to buy solar from each other's roofs....

Sebastian Jones

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2673 on: May 04, 2018, 03:15:08 PM »
My apologies to the Weegins. 

OK, I give up: What is/are Weegins? Google tells me it is a brand of soft leather loafer....

Bob Wallace

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2674 on: May 04, 2018, 04:12:16 PM »
Norwegians.  A friend of mine was Norwegian and that's what she called 'her people'.  Her ex-husband was Mexican and their sons called themselves Mexiweegins.


rboyd

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2675 on: May 04, 2018, 09:15:50 PM »
EV's are at the beginning of the s-curve, wind and solar are significantly further along it .

Also, the electricity power sector, and the general energy sector, take significant amounts of time to move from one energy source to another - built in infrastructural, sunk cost, political and economic inertia. The exponential part of the growth will top out below 50% due to these issues, as is currently being seen in Germany at about 33% (including hydro and biomass).

"If Germany were to continue to add 5% renewables annually, it would reach 100% in only 13 years – by 2030. But this growth will stagnate over the next few years. The government recently adopted auctions to keep further growth in check; the volume tendered is limited, and time frames are generous. This year might not be so bad, but the wind sector is expected to dry up in 2019 and 2020 because so many recently awarded projects have until 2021 and 2022 to be completed. The share of renewables in 2020 may not look so different from 2017."

https://energytransition.org/2018/01/german-energy-consumption-2017/

The UK is now at 28% renewables (incl. hydro and those troublesome US provided wood pellets), so will be interesting to see what happens there in the next few years.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/01/30/uk-beating-eu-race-clean-energy-system/

The faster growing economics, like China, may grow renewables faster for longer because they are adding to capacity rather than replacing in place capacity (like the German coal/lignite industry). India is the same, from a very low base.

Bob Wallace

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2676 on: May 04, 2018, 09:35:15 PM »
Wind and solar are around 2% globally.  There are a few countries further along, many that have yet to get started.

There are roadblocks to continued high rates of installation.  We saw that in Spain when the powerful coal industry managed to get legislation passed that essentially stopped solar installations for a couple of years.  We saw that in Italy when solar installations grew faster than transmission and solar had to stop while transmission caught up.  We are seeing that in Greece where their crashed economy has stopped pretty much everything.

Grids that have high coal/nuclear penetration are probably going to be slower to install wind and solar because the plants are inflexible compared to grids with more gas generation.

Attend to capacity installed and not growth rates.  Except when enjoying watching a new grid/country start to enter escape speed.

Archimid

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2677 on: May 04, 2018, 10:53:44 PM »
California to become first U.S. state mandating solar on new homes

https://www.ocregister.com/2018/05/04/california-to-become-first-u-s-state-mandating-solar-on-new-homes/

Quote
The California Energy Commission is scheduled to vote Wednesday, May 9, on new energy standards mandating most new homes have solar panels starting in 2020.

If approved as expected, solar installations on new homes will skyrocket.

Just 15 percent to 20 percent of new single-family homes built include solar, according to Bob Raymer, technical director for the California Building Industry Association.

“California is about to take a quantum leap in energy standards,” Raymer said. “No other state in the nation mandates solar, and we are about to take that leap.”
I am an energy reservoir seemingly intent on lowering entropy for self preservation.

numerobis

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2678 on: May 05, 2018, 12:14:40 AM »
Today in "costs of renewables go down with scale" I learned:
- the utility assumes C$8/W for utility-scale solar, based on quotes from would-be suppliers (and that's before land acquisition). They expect it'll cost about $3/W for the equipment (panels + inverters + BOS). Bizarrely, they think utility-scale equipment is *more* expensive than residential-scale.

- local electricians have never done grid-tie residential PV, and have to learn a whole bunch of stuff to get there. Thankfully I've found an electrician who's excited to learn.

I'm a guinea pig!

Sigmetnow

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2679 on: May 05, 2018, 12:43:43 AM »
Today in "costs of renewables go down with scale" I learned:
- the utility assumes C$8/W for utility-scale solar, based on quotes from would-be suppliers (and that's before land acquisition). They expect it'll cost about $3/W for the equipment (panels + inverters + BOS). Bizarrely, they think utility-scale equipment is *more* expensive than residential-scale.

- local electricians have never done grid-tie residential PV, and have to learn a whole bunch of stuff to get there. Thankfully I've found an electrician who's excited to learn.

I'm a guinea pig!

Kudos to you!  Don’t be surprised if the permitting process is the most difficult and challenging part of the installation process.
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

etienne

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2680 on: May 05, 2018, 08:29:58 AM »
Today in "costs of renewables go down with scale" I learned:
- the utility assumes C$8/W for utility-scale solar, based on quotes from would-be suppliers (and that's before land acquisition). They expect it'll cost about $3/W for the equipment (panels + inverters + BOS). Bizarrely, they think utility-scale equipment is *more* expensive than residential-scale.

- local electricians have never done grid-tie residential PV, and have to learn a whole bunch of stuff to get there. Thankfully I've found an electrician who's excited to learn.

I'm a guinea pig!

In Luxembourg, we are under 1€ for 1 Wp for the equipment (panels, inverters, cabling inside the building, counter...don't know what BOS means) if you create something big (more than 100 kWp), but this requires that all the other infrastructure aspects are ok (roof strong enough, easy access, transformer ok, low cabeling costs...). The other infrastructure costs can be very high if you start from nothing. For a private house, costs are higher - like 1,5€ per Wp, but there is no infrastructure cost because you will never produce more than 40A on 3 phases, which is the standard configuration for houses here. Up to 30 kWp, you don't need a curtailment system in Luxembourg.

Utility scales also have higher maintenance costs because you need some kind of monitoring, you can't just check yesterday's production when you take your car out of the garage.

etienne

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2681 on: May 05, 2018, 08:34:13 AM »
Here in Luxembourg, we estimate that 1Wp will produce something between 900 and 1000 Wh. I guess you get a lot more if you go more to the south.

Modification : just found the definition of BOS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_system
« Last Edit: May 05, 2018, 09:29:58 AM by etienne »

Bob Wallace

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2682 on: May 05, 2018, 05:17:08 PM »
In the US fixed mount utility solar is about $1/watt.  That's the 'installed price' - panel, hardware, labor but not land.   Single-axis tracking adds a bit less than $0.10/watt to the installed price.

BOS = balance of the system.  A shortcut for everything that hasn't been mentioned. 

Example: panels are now running about $0.40/watt and the BOS is another $0.50.  That would be the total hardware cost, all the material stuff that isn't panels.  Labor is not part of the BOS.

numerobis

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2683 on: May 06, 2018, 12:52:25 AM »
I'm paying C$1.50/W for the equipment for a tiny system:
- C$0.82/W for panels
- C$0.45/W for inverter
- C$0.23/W for BOS

Using the same supplier, 9.4 kW (buying panels by the skid) would be C$1.39/W:
- C$0.80/W for panels
- C$0.36/W for inverter
BOS scales linearly so it would still $0.23 (actually maybe a bit more to tilt the panels on a flat roof, or on the ground)

Scale up to 47.2 kW (five skids) and you're down to C$1.16/W:
- C$0.80/W for panels (though at this point you might negotiate a bigger discount)
- C$0.13/W for inverter

I'm pretty sure that would fit in two or three rows on the power plant roof and grounds.

So I think the power company just hasn't found the right suppliers. Building those supply lines takes time.

Bob Wallace

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2684 on: May 06, 2018, 12:55:14 AM »
How are bulky items like cars or pickups shipped to where you are?

numerobis

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2685 on: May 06, 2018, 01:17:54 AM »
The summer has ships discharging cargo for about two months non-stop, then a few more. All of our fuel, the vast bulk of our durable goods, and a lot of canned or dry food (including pet food) comes in that way.

It's about $300/m^3 to ship goods, including building the shipping crate, so under $1k to ship a skid of solar panels. You save a bit if you rent a 20' container and return it the same season (assuming you can fill it).

Bob Wallace

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2686 on: May 06, 2018, 03:10:24 AM »
Seems like an enterprising person or group could fill a 20' container with a utility sized solar farm (panels, racking, etc.) and something else.  Cartons of toilet paper or breakfast cereal....

Bring it in, unload it in a few minutes, and send the container right back out.  Or keep the container as cheap warehouse space if it's needed. 

People around here buy used shipping containers to store the stuff that won't fit in the garages and woodsheds.  One guy I know built a very nice storage barn out of two 20' containers.  He spaced them far enough to park his tractor in between and built a roof over the top.  Now he's got two large storage rooms (one's a shop) that are varmint proof.

Bob Wallace

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2687 on: May 06, 2018, 07:56:21 AM »
Over the last couple of years nuclear advocates have gleefully reported that due to Germany's foolish decision to close their reactors that Germany would not meet their (self-imposed) target of 35% RE by 2020.

In 2017 Germany generated 36.5% of their domestic demand from renewable resources, surpassing their 2020 target three years early.

Quote
Over the (2018) year to date, the contribution of wind and solar has been 42 per cent of total generation, with wind and solar providing 28 per cent, and wind (22.2 per cent) falling just short of brown coal (23.2 per cent) as the biggest single contributor for the year to date.

 Renewables accounted for 71.3% of total generation on Monday, May 1, with wind and solar contributing 55%.

https://reneweconomy.com.au/germany-reaches-100-renewables-hours-42-far-year-30642/

 

Bob Wallace

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2688 on: May 06, 2018, 09:12:35 AM »
Quote
The U.S. wind industry reported 5,523 megawatts (MW) of new project activity in the first quarter, with 1,366 MW starting construction and 4,158 MW entering the advanced development phase. There are now over 33,000 MW of wind power either under construction or in advanced development, a 40% increase over this time last year and the highest level since AWEA began tracking both categories in 2016.

Quote
CELESTE WANNER MAY 4, 2018
Print Friendly, PDF & Email
How can you tell an industry is thriving? How about a 40% year-over-year increase in projects nearing completion?

The U.S. wind industry continues to power forward so far in 2018, adding over 5.5 gigawatts (GW) to the wind development pipeline and signing a record amount of power purchase agreements (PPAs) in the first quarter, according to AWEA’s latest quarterly market report. That’s enough new wind to power millions of additional American homes.

Here’s a look at a few more top findings from the U.S. Wind Industry First Quarter 2018 Market Report:

THE WIND DEVELOPMENT PIPELINE CONTINUES TO GROW
The U.S. wind industry reported 5,523 megawatts (MW) of new project activity in the first quarter, with 1,366 MW starting construction and 4,158 MW entering the advanced development phase. There are now over 33,000 MW of wind power either under construction or in advanced development, a 40% increase over this time last year and the highest level since AWEA began tracking both categories in 2016. This pipeline will keep wind workers busy and add tens of billions of private investment dollars to the American economy.


UTILITIES AND CORPORATE CUSTOMERS SIGN RECORD AMOUNT OF POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENTS
Project developers signed 3,560 MW of PPAs during the first quarter, the strongest quarter for PPA announcements since AWEA began tracking this activity in 2013. Utilities including Great Plains Energy and Public Service Company of New Mexico accounted for 69% of this activity, while corporate customers signed over 1,000 MW of PPAs, totaling 31% of capacity contracted in the quarter. Utilities also announced plans to develop and own 1,379 MW wind capacity during the year’s first three months, led by PacifiCorp with 1,111 MW of planned wind projects in Wyoming.


NEW CORPORATE PURCHASERS ARE JOINING THE PARTY
Six companies signed wind PPAs for the first time during the first quarter, adding to the list of Fortune 500 companies and other non-utility purchasers powering their operations with wind energy. First-time wind buyers included Adobe Systems, AT&T, Brown Forman, Kohler, and Nestlé. AT&T led the pack, signing two PPAs for a total of 520 MW, one of the largest corporate renewable energy purchases in the U.S.

“As one of the world’s largest companies, we know how we source our energy is important,” said Scott Mair, President, AT&T Operations. “We’ve been working for a long time to ensure our wind projects deliver for both our business and the environment.”

These new players joined repeat wind buyers Bloomberg, Facebook, Nike, and T-Mobile who also signed wind PPAs during the first quarter. Corporate and other non-utility customers have solidified their role as a stable demand driver for wind, signing more than 9,000 MW of PPAs to date.

STATES CALL FOR MORE OFFSHORE WIND POWER
Four states also made significant announcements to add offshore wind to their portfolios. New Jersey announced a goal to develop 3,500 MW of offshore wind by 2030, while New York outlined solicitations for 800 MW of offshore wind through two requests for proposals (RFPs) in 2018 and 2019 to meet its larger goal of 2,400 MW of offshore wind by 2030. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection issued an RFP for renewable energy, including up to 220 MW of offshore wind. Lastly, Rhode Island announced plans for a 400 MW renewable RFP open to offshore wind that will be issued this summer.

http://www.aweablog.org/new-report-wind-power-development-pipeline-40/

mitch

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2689 on: May 06, 2018, 06:26:16 PM »
You can get good deals on shipping containers on the US west coast--probably a good indicator of trade disparity.  We just bought a 1-use container for $3100 delivered.

etienne

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2690 on: May 06, 2018, 10:16:34 PM »
Scale up to 47.2 kW (five skids) and you're down to C$1.16/W:
- C$0.80/W for panels (though at this point you might negotiate a bigger discount)
- C$0.13/W for inverter

I'm pretty sure that would fit in two or three rows on the power plant roof and grounds.

So I think the power company just hasn't found the right suppliers. Building those supply lines takes time.

Maybe community solar would be a solution. Don't know how open minded the power company is,  and if people are ready, have enough money to invest on such projects.

Sigmetnow

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2691 on: May 07, 2018, 02:18:37 AM »
Kees van der Leun:  “Energy transition within 1.5°C: our new @Ecofys/@NavigantEnergy paper on a disruptive approach to 100% decarbonisation of the global energy system by 2050: https://www.ecofys.com/en/news/ecofys-a-navigant-company-presents-decarbonisation-scenario-for-energy-tran/
A good read, 11 understandable pages, and exciting stuff! ”
https://twitter.com/Sustainable2050/status/991771756972118017
Image below.


Ecofys, a Navigant company, presents decarbonisation scenario for energy transition in line with 1.5°C target
Quote
Ecofys, a Navigant company, presents decarbonisation scenario for energy transition in line with 1.5°C target
PUBLISHED: 30/04/2018
Ecofys, a Navigant company, has investigated what the increased ambition of limiting temperature increase to 1.5°C rather than 2°C means for the global energy system. In a new paper, the energy experts present a transformation scenario that would see the global energy system fully decarbonised by 2050.

The findings indicate that strong energy efficiency improvements could bring global energy use below current levels to 435 EJ, a large contrast to business as usual growth to over 800 EJ. While the total primary energy supply in the scenario is decreasing slightly, electricity demand is expected to almost triple. Ecofys, a Navigant company, estimates that all this energy can be supplied from zero-carbon or low carbon energy sources.

If society kept on emitting CO2 at the current pace, the carbon budget to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C would be exceeded in one or two decades. The energy experts therefore explored options for a fast energy system transformation and developed a scenario against a background of increasing population and growing demand for energy services like space heating and cooling, transportation, and materials production.
https://www.ecofys.com/en/news/ecofys-a-navigant-company-presents-decarbonisation-scenario-for-energy-tran/
Download the report at this link.
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

Sigmetnow

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2692 on: May 07, 2018, 02:42:11 PM »
Making photovoltaic modules completely open to sunlight from above, while maintaining the look of beautiful roof tiles when viewed from the street.

Tesla patent reveals secret behind its solar roof tile’s camouflage capacity
https://electrek.co/2018/05/07/tesla-patent-secret-solar-roof-tiles-camouflage/
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

numerobis

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2693 on: May 07, 2018, 03:21:04 PM »
The trick would severely reduce efficiency at my latitude. But so what.

Sigmetnow

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2694 on: May 07, 2018, 04:46:45 PM »
The trick would severely reduce efficiency at my latitude. But so what.

You’d just need a higher-sloped roof!  Or, put them on walls... ;D  So the tiles look beautiful from the sidewalk, solarified from the street.  ;D
Until they start making tiles for different latitudes....
People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.

numerobis

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2695 on: May 07, 2018, 05:21:06 PM »
The trick is using the difference between the angle of the sun with the tile, and the angle of a pedestrian with the tile. But at high latitudes, that difference shrinks to almost zero in winter (since the sun gets close to the horizon). So the trick wouldn’t work polewards of 60 degrees or so.

But you don’t need to design everything to work at high latitudes; most people live well south of there.

numerobis

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2696 on: May 08, 2018, 01:23:12 PM »
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/eia-gas-to-outpace-renewables-for-2018-us-gen-additions/522980/

EIA projects more gas than renewables will be added this year in the US. And with gas being generally higher capacity factor, that means a lot of new carbon (granted, mostly displacing old coal which was worse).

EIA is terrible at predicting the distant future, but projects take at least 9 months to hatch so they can count the coming year pretty well.

numerobis

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2697 on: May 08, 2018, 01:26:52 PM »
Going straight to the source, there’s pretty maps:
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=36092#tab2

For some reason solar and wind projects almost stop at the borders of the PJM. There’s some politics to do.

Bob Wallace

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2698 on: May 08, 2018, 04:38:58 PM »
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/eia-gas-to-outpace-renewables-for-2018-us-gen-additions/522980/

EIA projects more gas than renewables will be added this year in the US. And with gas being generally higher capacity factor, that means a lot of new carbon (granted, mostly displacing old coal which was worse).

EIA is terrible at predicting the distant future, but projects take at least 9 months to hatch so they can count the coming year pretty well.

Suppose you are running a utility that has some inefficient coal plants providing part of your electricity.  You can't add wind and solar and quickly turn those coal plants off and back on as needed to fill in around the wind and solar.  Coal is too inflexible, takes too long to heat back up, and wastes a lot of energy cycling.  Plus the coal plants were not designed for that much thermal stress.

You need some way of keeping your grid reliable.  Storage to cover possibly a few days of low wind/solar is not affordable.  CCNG has a modest installed cost and new turbines are designed for rapid cycling, for use with wind and solar.

The general population will not tolerate a part time grid.  We have to have a way to transition to a renewable grid while keeping the lights on.  Natural gas, with all its problems, provides a reliable grid while allowing growing amounts of renewable input.

mitch

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Re: Renewable Energy
« Reply #2699 on: May 08, 2018, 05:09:32 PM »
I think the increase in gas reflects replacement of coal power plants, so is not entirely bad news.  At least it helps to cut out environmental mercury.