Renewable Energy

[Eco-Author]

RENEWABLE IS GREAT - JUST GET IT DONE RIGHT!!

[Eco-Author]

If the jet stream dies.... who is to say … do the winds in normally windy areas just die out with it??! I'm guessing that's a real possibility!

We already know we have to rebuild EVERYYYYTHHHINNNNGGG!... thus, you best be hardening all these solar panels from EMP/Solar flair type events we know happen even in the 1850s where sparks flew off metal objects. Drives home the complete need to do things not only the best we can but with everything we may face in mind.! A single solar even itself can down the entire world... Coper casing is a way to protect electronics

With solar we not only have to worry about bizzar episodes of hail with CAPE readings in the central US regularly pegging 6,000+, but what about extreme 30 foot snows.. even in odd places that don't get much! 

[GoSouthYoungins]

Renewable design needs to be improved to harness the extra energy in extreme conditions rather than being damaged by them. A solar panel should take extra energy from a solar flare, and maybe even a hail storm. Wind turbines should be most effective in a tornado. 

[NeilT]

Well this is going to take some watching...

Scottish Power becomes first major UK energy company to generate all electricity from wind.

I will know as my son still lives in Scotland and we lived there for 25 years before heading out to France.  We still come back for Balls, family events and (this December), weddings.  So I keep in close touch with the family and friends.

[Eco-Author]

From a disaster... even a maintenance perspective in times of collapse or just broken down infrastructure, I don't like wind turbines that have their main components up so high... How do you get a crain in their with roads out and from what I've heard, they don't last more than five years?  Hard to believe that's true so correct me if not.  Vertical Wind turbines have the motors on the bottom and from what they claim, don't kill birds?!

[SteveMDFP]

From a disaster... even a maintenance perspective in times of collapse or just broken down infrastructure, I don't like wind turbines that have their main components up so high... How do you get a crain in their with roads out and from what I've heard, they don't last more than five years?  Hard to believe that's true so correct me if not.  Vertical Wind turbines have the motors on the bottom and from what they claim, don't kill birds?!

Interesting low-tech source of power.  I tracked down a likely source for the image, which goes into some of the economics of alternatives:
https://prezi.com/eeo8xxrxajj4/rooftop-mounted-wind-turbines/

[TerryM]

From a disaster... even a maintenance perspective in times of collapse or just broken down infrastructure, I don't like wind turbines that have their main components up so high... How do you get a crain in their with roads out and from what I've heard, they don't last more than five years?   Hard to believe that's true so correct me if not.  Vertical Wind turbines have the motors on the bottom and from what they claim, don't kill birds?!

For decades there was a similar one on a vertical axis made from a dozen split barrels that pumped water from a shallow well in Baker California. I don't think it spun at more than 10 RPM, but I ever drove past when it wasn't moving. It looked like a giant clock dial from above.
Very low tech, but it kept his water tank full & I doubt that he had more than $50 and half a day's labor in the thing.
I'm sure he could have kept any number of 12 volt batteries topped up just as easily.
Terry

[GoSouthYoungins]

Ive never really understood the killing birds thing. My understand of the negative side effects of wind turbine (other than the high up front carbon cost) is the super deep "sound" they make.

[Alexander555]

They make them super high to catch the wind. So how are they go to catch the wind if they are vertical on the ground ? Where i work we have 3 of these pretty big windturbines, and in the 2 years they are here, i only noticed 1 time that they where here by  the noise. At that point they were spinning very fast. And for the bird killings. I'm now 43 years old, and i only had a car for maybe 3 years. And in that 3 years several birds hit my window. But they should not put so much technology into it. What's the point of green energy if you have the supply a gaint chain of factories to maintain them. You just don't get a step forward.

[TerryM]

They make them super high to catch the wind. So how are they go to catch the wind if they are vertical on the ground ? Where i work we have 3 of these pretty big windturbines, and in the 2 years they are here, i only noticed 1 time that they where here by  the noise. At that point they were spinning very fast. And for the bird killings. I'm now 43 years old, and i only had a car for maybe 3 years. And in that 3 years several birds hit my window. But they should not put so much technology into it. What's the point of green energy if you have the supply a gaint chain of factories to maintain them. You just don't get a step forward.

The one I'm familiar with was in the desert, located on the gentle slope of a very wide and very long valley. Local temperature differences would generate some of the pressure differences I'd imagine.
Lots of wind as the Sun was rising and setting and the valley somehow continued the flow in the afternoon and late at night.


Your avicide by auto is unusual in my experience. Many decades driving many miles and the only time I've been in a vehicle that killed a bird was during a 5th grade school outing when a partridge flew into the bus's window. The driver retrieved it and took it home for dinner.


Have Fun!
Terry

[Eco-Author]

They make them super high to catch the wind. So how are they go to catch the wind if they are vertical on the ground ? Where i work we have 3 of these pretty big windturbines, and in the 2 years they are here, i only noticed 1 time that they where here by  the noise. At that point they were spinning very fast. And for the bird killings. I'm now 43 years old, and i only had a car for maybe 3 years. And in that 3 years several birds hit my window. But they should not put so much technology into it. What's the point of green energy if you have the supply a gaint chain of factories to maintain them. You just don't get a step forward.

Vertical ones can be pretty tall... I've seen a sky scrapper with the horizontal ones on the roof and they even rounded the upper edge of the building to help direct the wind into them.  All my buildings are about 14ish floors so I hope that's enough. 


Hey, in thinking about this last night a lot more metal needs to go into a traditional wind turbine which has all its weight up so high and requires a very tall - tower to put it up on... Verticals don't need a tower at all.  Avoiding this 'top heavy' aragement is likely less vulnerable to super storms.  I think horizontal can also play a role under bridges perhaps or even outlining a commonly used helo pad.  Got to worry also about ice build up on horizontal ones... snow... we've got so much to think about and plan for... this is why I like large facilities that are linked up as it offers more potential.

[NeilT]

Ive never really understood the killing birds thing.

It takes time for the wildlife to adjust.  In Scotland they found the turbines were killing eagles and some species were endangered.

You can, perhaps, understand that if someone makes their life's work out of saving a species of bird, that they might get a bit irritated with wind turbines killing them off.

It will even out in the end but, until then, many birds will die.  Granted the alternative of almost all of them dying is not really something we can contemplate either.  But perspective is an issue when emotions run high.

[GoSouthYoungins]

Ive never really understood the killing birds thing.

It takes time for the wildlife to adjust.  In Scotland they found the turbines were killing eagles and some species were endangered.

You can, perhaps, understand that if someone makes their life's work out of saving a species of bird, that they might get a bit irritated with wind turbines killing them off.

It will even out in the end but, until then, many birds will die.  Granted the alternative of almost all of them dying is not really something we can contemplate either.  But perspective is an issue when emotions run high.

You misunderstood me. I didn't understand the mechanism. I do now. I look into it...

[SteveMDFP]

Ive never really understood the killing birds thing.

It takes time for the wildlife to adjust.  In Scotland they found the turbines were killing eagles and some species were endangered.

You can, perhaps, understand that if someone makes their life's work out of saving a species of bird, that they might get a bit irritated with wind turbines killing them off.

It will even out in the end but, until then, many birds will die.  Granted the alternative of almost all of them dying is not really something we can contemplate either.  But perspective is an issue when emotions run high.

You misunderstood me. I didn't understand the mechanism. I do now. I look into it...

Some perspective may be useful.  The idea that wind turbines kill so many birds is a factoid cited by many who support fossil fuel use, including dear President Trump:

Wind turbines kill fewer birds than do cats, cell towers
https://www.evwind.es/2014/09/16/wind-turbines-kill-fewer-birds-than-do-cats-cell-towers/47455

" "“We estimate that on an annual basis, less than 0.1% … of songbird and other small passerine species populations in North America perish from collisions with turbines,” says lead author Wallace Erickson of Wyoming-based West."

[Eco-Author]

Vertical turbines I've read are far more quiet and do look a bit more natural.  Hard to believe this post is true, but will post for some thoughts.

Again, I have to wonder;
How do you reconcile the opposing threats of both GW and VEI7s that could negate solar energy output if not bury some of them in concrete like ash? We've seen large scale wild-fire blackouts this past year and despite GW, events like Stratsospheric Warming which dump so much cold out from the arctic can itself bury The Grid, as well as our entire energy infrastructure in meters deep snow and ICE. Then there is the 1859 Solar storm which could easily short out any modern or planed energy infrastructure. All during times of dancing around economic depressions and a frantic population seeming dead set on self-destruction at the first signs of collapse.

[sidd]

Re: "events like Stratsospheric Warming which dump so much cold out from the arctic can itself bury The Grid, as well as our entire energy infrastructure in meters deep snow and ICE."

What ? SSW events can bury the entire US/Canada grid and generation and consumption in "in meters deep snow and ICE" ?
 
sidd

[Eco-Author]

Re: "events like Stratsospheric Warming which dump so much cold out from the arctic can itself bury The Grid, as well as our entire energy infrastructure in meters deep snow and ICE."

What ? SSW events can bury the entire US/Canada grid and generation and consumption in "in meters deep snow and ICE" ?
 
sidd

The cold... when the even occured last year the US was hit with extreme cold and Europe had the beast from the east.  Perhaps to more of a degree than it normally happens just with rosby waves, but that is what I meant.  Are you doubting we could get a blizard version of Hurricane Harvey?  Remember the Ice storm in Canada years ago?  One has to assume we've hardly seen the worst yet, right?

[NeilT]

Vertical turbines I've read are far more quiet and do look a bit more natural.  Hard to believe this post is true, but will post for some thoughts.

The Advantages, stated in the wiki article, look really good, however the Disadvantages are significant.

The only thing I know for sure is that I've seen one UK design program where they decided to use a vertical turbine because it was quieter and they were unsure if they would get planning permission for the horizontal one because of the noise factor for the neighbours.  The chosen Vertical turbine only produced about 25% of the nameplate power and they had to revert to horizontal, at cost and had issues with planning because of the noise.

The idea is good.  Now it just needs development effort and money.

[etienne]

Vertical turbine is also interesting in areas where the wind turns all the time. There are places in the mountains with such issues.

[Sigmetnow]

World's Second Floating Offshore Wind Farm Takes Next Big Step Forward

What is expected to be the world’s second floating offshore wind farm has received a financial boost from the European Union after the European Investment Bank announced its intention to provide a €60 million loan to Portuguese company Windplus for its planned 25 megawatt (MW) demonstration project off the coast of Portugal.

The project will be located 20 kilometers off the coast in waters between 85 to 100 meters deep, highlighting the benefits that floating offshore wind can provide. Being able to be positioned further out from the coast not only puts them further away from people’s line of sight, but it also places them into more consistently stronger winds. To replicate this with a traditional offshore wind turbine built into the seafloor would need much larger foundations and require construction crews to work in much more dangerous conditions — increasing the price exorbitantly.

Further, much of the construction, installation, and operation and maintenance for floating offshore wind turbines can be done in port, rather than in situ, again reducing traditional costs.

The project is set to only be the world’s second floating offshore wind farm after the completion of the 30 MW Hywind Scotland in late-2017. ...

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/10/23/worlds-second-floating-offshore-wind-farm-takes-next-big-step-forward/

[Archimid]

Community Tesla battery trial kicks off ahead of schedule amid overwhelming interest

https://www.pv-magazine-australia.com/2018/11/05/community-tesla-battery-trial-kicks-off-ahead-of-schedule-amid-overwhelming-interest/

Australian-first trial to integrate bulk battery storage into existing network went live on Monday, after 52 customers had signed up to be part of the program in less than two weeks since it had been announced.

A 105 kW (420kWh) Tesla battery in the Mandurah suburb of Meadow Springs will allow the customers to store excess power they generate during the day from their solar PV systems, and then draw down on it during the peak evening period.

At a cost of $1 per day, each customer participating in the 24-month trial will be able to virtually store up to 8kWh of excess power generated during the day from their solar PV systems in the battery.

[sidd]

Travelling bands of anti wind troubadours drum up anti wind local legislation.

https://energynews.us/2018/11/05/midwest/how-a-county-election-in-rural-illinois-became-a-referendum-on-wind-energy/

sidd

[Sigmetnow]

Community Tesla battery trial kicks off ahead of schedule amid overwhelming interest
...

“This is positively brilliant. It’s not community solar exactly. It’s not a microgrid exactly. It’s a hybrid system that maximizes the potential of rooftop solar while minimizing the cost of energy storage and it charts a path toward energy independence for us all. Instead of spending $7,000 or more for a Tesla PowerWall, residents can pay $365 a year for the same storage capacity. Who wouldn’t take that deal?”

Western Australia Trials Tesla PowerBank Community Storage System | CleanTechnica

The two companies have invested $200,000 in the program. Part of that expenditure will be offset by selling any stored electricity not used by participating homeowners. Green Mountain Power in Vermont says its system, which networks hundreds of individual Tesla PowerWall home batteries, saved it a half million dollars during one spell of hot weather last summer. ...

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/11/06/western-australia-trials-tesla-powerbank-community-storage-system/

[jai mitchell]

Vertical turbines I've read are far more quiet and do look a bit more natural.  Hard to believe this post is true, but will post for some thoughts.

https://www.quora.com/Why-arent-there-any-maglev-wind-turbines-in-operation

Magnetic levitation bearings are only ever put forward for vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs). These devices just don't generate as much electricity from a given volume of wind energy as horizontal axis wind turbines, no matter how much effort is put into them. This has been proven over and over, and has been embedded in text books for decades. Their full lifecycle cost of electricity is always higher.

[Sigmetnow]

Solar panels:  not just for rooftops and flat land anymore.

Global Floating Solar Capacity Surpasses 1 Gigawatt
https://cleantechnica.com/2018/11/07/global-floating-solar-capacity-surpasses-1-gigawatt/

[Sigmetnow]

Tesla is working with Amazon to deploy more energy storage at distribution centers

After a deal to add Tesla Powerpacks to a UK facility earlier this year, now Amazon is working with Tesla again at another distribution center.

The last project included both a 4 MW solar array and 3.77 MW battery system installed at a large fulfillment center in Tilbury – east of London.

Amazon has hundreds of locations like this one around the world and at the time, it looked like if this project turned out to be successful in reducing energy costs, Amazon could decide to deploy Tesla Powerpacks at more locations.

A few months later, we’ve now learned that the internet retail giant is planning a similar project at their Coalville facility in Leicestershire. ...

https://electrek.co/2018/11/12/tesla-amazon-powerpack-energy-storage-distribution-centers/


Thus fueling the burning question:
Why Hasn't Amazon Ordered A Tesla Semi?
https://evannex.com/blogs/news/why-hasnt-amazon-ordered-a-tesla-semi

[Sigmetnow]

Reads a lot like a paid advertisement, but has some interesting points.

Solar-Plus-Storage Makes Everything Better

Energy storage by itself isn’t that exciting. In fact, just bolting batteries onto an electrical system might not have any noticeable effect. The transformative aspect of any stationary energy storage installation is the intelligence that controls the energy storage system and uses the storage capacity to optimize the overall profile of energy consumption to meet the needs of the consumer.

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/11/16/stem-is-moving-beyond-energy-storage-into-solarstorage-solutions/

[Sciguy]

Wind and solar are now the cheapest types of new electrical generation:

https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Wind-Solar-Are-Now-The-Cheapest-Sources-Of-Power-Generation.html

Thanks to falling costs, unsubsidized onshore wind and solar have become the cheapest sources of electricity generation in nearly all major economies in the world, including India and China, according to a new report by Bloomberg NEF.

The comparative costs for power generation—the levelized costs of electricity (LCOE)—showed that onshore wind and solar are the cheapest power generation sources for all major economies except for Japan.

[crandles]

https://twitter.com/AukeHoekstra/status/1064529619951513600

2018 UPDATE of my series about @IEA versus reality in solar PV

Once again reality is steeply increasing
and once again the IEA is having none of it

Don't these guys ever learn?
This has been going on since 2002
Seems their models simply can't conceive of exponential growth

[gerontocrat]

NASA makes good on Mars.
Also a nice indication that PVs do a worthwhile job even under poor conditions.

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2018/12/03/mars-solar-power-generation-record-set-with-29-5-efficiency-solar-cell/

Mars electricity generation record set with 29.5% efficient solar cell
The NASA InSight lander generated 4,588 watt-hours during sol 1, a new record for electricity generation on Mars.
Mars has weaker sunlight than Earth because it’s much farther away from the Sun, but the lander doesn’t need much to operate: The panels provide 600 to 700 watts peak production on a clear day, about 1/2 of the production on Earth. Even when dust covers the panels — what is likely to be a common occurrence on Mars per NASA — they should be able to provide at least 200 to 300 watts peak production.

The maximum solar irradiance on Mars is about 590 W/m2 compared to about 1000 W/m2 at the Earth's surface. ...

[Sigmetnow]

California clears final hurdle for state's landmark solar panel mandate for new homes

• A requirement for new homes built in California starting in 2020 to include solar electric systems is now formally part of the state's building code.
• It follows approval Tuesday by the California Building Standards Commission of a plan endorsed in May by a state energy panel.
• California is the first state in the nation to mandate solar-energy installations on most single-family homes as well as multi-family residential buildings.
...

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/06/california-clears-final-hurdle-for-state-solar-mandate-for-new-homes.html

[Sciguy]

XCEL Energy, a major US utility, has committed to an 80% reduction in emissions by 2030 and 100% carbon free by 2050:

https://thinkprogress.org/xcel-major-electric-utility-carbon-free-by-2050-b976f3fee01a/

Xcel Energy, which provides electricity to 3.6 million customers in eight states, has become the first major U.S. utility committed to delivering 100 percent carbon-free power by 2050.

Equally remarkable, the plan Xcel announced on Tuesday promises an 80 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions (from 2005 levels) by 2030. The company stated that “its 2030 goal can be achieved affordably with renewable energy and other technologies currently available.”

[Sigmetnow]

Net-Zero Energy Homes Pay Off Faster Than You Think—Even in Chilly Midwest U.S.

Net-zero-energy homes—homes that are so efficient a few rooftop solar panels can produce all the electricity the home needs—can be built almost anywhere, even in places with brutal winters.

His case is bolstered by a recent report from the Rocky Mountain Institute showing net-zero energy houses can make financial sense in much of the Midwest as costs for some of the key components fall. The initial extra costs of making a new home a net-zero energy home pay for themselves through energy savings in less than a decade in both Detroit and Columbus, Ohio, and in less than 14 years in most of the 50 largest U.S. cities, the report says. ...

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/10122018/net-zero-energy-efficiency-home-infographic-solar-pay-off-years-midwest-detroit-chicago-columbus

[gerontocrat]

A long read on Australia's transition to renewable energy. It mirrors the USA, the individual states and private sector pushing ahead while the Federal Government tries to do a Trump.

https://www.skepticalscience.com/Australia-in-Transition.html

[etienne]

I saw a surprising vertical windmill today in Belgium between Namur and Jemelle. I was traveling by train, so I couldn't stop to take a better picture.

[Sigmetnow]

U.S. northeast:

Possible largest offshore wind farm auctioned for record price

The rights to establish wind farms off the Massachusetts coast sold for a record-setting $405 million total on Friday, according to federal officials.
Potential construction is still at least nearly a decade away, but if the project were completed today, it would be by far the world's largest offshore wind farm.

The three leases offered for auction by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Thursday fetched $135 million apiece by the time bidding closed on Friday. The previous record for such a lease was $42.5 million, set in 2016 for the rights off New York's coast. ...

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/14/politics/huge-wind-farm-auction/index.html

[Sigmetnow]

Rural U.S. Jobs: A Big Reason Midwest Should Love Clean Energy

In 2017, the latest data in the report, clean energy employed about 158,000 people in the rural Midwest, according to NRDC. While a larger number of clean energy jobs overall were in urban areas, the rural clean energy jobs stand out for making up a bigger percentage of the overall rural economy.

Gary Easton has seen the growth in his rural southeastern Ohio business, Appalachian Renewable Power. The company, with six employees, installs rooftop solar systems, and most of its customers are in small towns or out in the woods or farms. This week, his clients include a flower shop in Barnesville, Ohio, population about 4,100, where his employees installed solar panels.

"There are years we're experiencing 100 percent growth," Easton said. "I'm a rural business because this is where I want to live," he said. "This is the kind of place where I want to be."

More Jobs in Clean Energy than Fossil Fuels
Fossil fuel industries have faded as major employers in most of the rural Midwest, despite a history in some states closely tied to coal, oil and natural gas production, the report shows. Ten of the 12 states have more rural clean energy jobs than rural fossil fuel jobs. The exceptions are North Dakota, which has the Bakken oil field, and Kansas, where the numbers are close.

Meanwhile, renewable energy has been booming in the region as prices have fallen and wind power has become cheaper than both coal and natural gas in many areas. ...

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07122018/rural-jobs-clean-energy-wind-power-energy-efficiency-renewable-vs-fossil-fuels-climate-change

[gerontocrat]

Meanwhile my Government continues to say the words on climate change and implement policies that kill the renewable energy industry piece by piece.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/dec/18/solar-power-energy-firms-government

Solar households expected to give away power to energy firms
Government confirms anyone who adds solar from April 2019 will not be paid for excess electricity exported to grid

The government has said households that install solar panels in the future will be expected to give away unused clean power for free to energy firms earning multimillion-pound profits, provoking outrage from green campaigners.

The mayor of London, big energy firms and environmentalists had urged ministers not to end the “export tariff” for solar panels under the feed-in tariff scheme, which is closing next year.

But officials confirmed that anyone who adds solar from April 2019 will not be paid for any excess power they export to the grid....................

.....................The government is understood to be preparing to announce a market-based replacement to the export tariff early in the new year, which would write the rules for how energy suppliers could buy the excess power, though they would not be mandated to do so.

However, there is expected to be a hiatus between the export tariff’s demise at the end of March and any new regime, meaning new solar households will be giving power away for some time.

The Solar Trade Association said the move was a blow to the industry, and it was wrong the government had made the decision before setting out its new plans.

Around 90% of people responding to a government consultation had opposed the changes, arguing they were unfair, would setback climate change efforts and hurt industry.

[vox_mundi]

Team Locates Nearly All US Solar Panels in a Billion Hi-Res Satellite Images with Machine Learning
https://techxplore.com/news/2018-12-team-solar-panels-billion-images.html
DeepSolar Interactive Map: http://web.stanford.edu/group/deepsolar/dual-map.html 

Knowing which Americans have installed solar panels on their roofs and why they did so would be enormously useful for managing the changing U.S. electricity system and to understanding the barriers to greater use of renewable resources. But until now, all that has been available are essentially estimates.

To get accurate numbers, Stanford University scientists analyzed more than a billion high-resolution satellite images with a machine learning algorithm and identified nearly every solar power installation in the contiguous 48 states.

The analysis found 1.47 million installations, which is a much higher figure than either of the two widely recognized estimates. The scientists also integrated U.S. Census and other data with their solar catalog to identify factors leading to solar power adoption.

The group's data could be useful to utilities, regulators, solar panel marketers and others. Knowing how many solar panels are in a neighborhood can help a local electric utility balance supply and demand, the key to reliability. The inventory highlights activators and impediments to solar deployment. For example, the researchers found that household income is very important, but only to a point. Above $150,000 a year, income quickly ceases to play much of a role in people's decisions.

On the other hand, low- and medium-income households do not often install solar systems even when they live in areas where doing so would be profitable in the long term. For example, in areas with a lot of sunshine and relatively high electricity rates, utility bill savings would exceed the monthly cost of the equipment. The impediment for low- and medium-income households is upfront cost, the authors suspect. This finding shows that solar installers could develop new financial models to satisfy unmet demand.

Joule, Yu & Wang et al.: "DeepSolar: A Machine Learning Framework to Efficiently Construct Solar Deployment Database in the United States"

[Sciguy]

Projections for new wind and solar in the US next year are good:

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Top-Trends-To-Watch-In-Renewable-Energy-In-2019.html

First, total U.S. solar installations will start rising again in 2019. Then, there has been an alarmist overreaction to the U.S. solar import tariff, with missed opportunities for investors who have postponed utility-scale projects due to the tariff. According to Cramer, many in the industry overlook the fact that the tariff is a fraction of the costs and that the levy of 30 percent will be dropping by 5 percent annually over the next four years to reach 15 percent in year four.

The U.S. tariffs on imported solar cells and modules created uncertainty in the market earlier this year, resulting in quarterly additions of utility-scale solar dropping in Q3 below 1 gigawatt for the first time since 2015, yet the project pipeline points to a strong rebound in Q4, a new report by Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) showed earlier this month.

“We did, however, see utility PV procurement outpace installations fourfold in Q3, showing that despite the tariffs causing project delays, there is substantial growth ahead for the U.S. utility PV sector,” said Colin Smith, Senior Analyst at Wood Mackenzie.

For the U.S. residential solar market, 2019 is the last year in which the federal residential renewable energy tax credit is at 30 percent, after which the tax credit gradually drops until 2022, when only commercial installations can use a 10-percent federal tax credit.

Go Solar Group’s Cramer also expects China’s surplus stock of solar modules—due to the Chinese policy to reduce support for solar—to see prices drop, which will also drive competitors’ prices down, resulting in cheaper solar costs.

Bloomberg NEF expects the Chinese policy to result in PV module prices dropping by 34 percent at the end of 2018, compared to an earlier forecast of a 27-percent drop before China’s new solar support policy. BNEF also sees module prices falling by another 10-15 percent in 2019.

Thanks to falling costs, unsubsidized onshore wind and solar have become the cheapest sources of electricity generation in nearly all major economies in the world, including India and China, according to a November report by Bloomberg NEF. The comparative costs for power generation—the levelized costs of electricity (LCOE)—showed that onshore wind and solar are the cheapest power generation sources for all major economies except for Japan.

According to the November 2018 Lazard analysis of levelized cost of energy on an unsubsidized basis, utility-scale solar PV crystalline and utility-scale solar PV thin film, as well as onshore wind, are comparable with the cheapest conventional generation technologies.

In the U.S. wind power market, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has estimated that 612 megawatts (MW) of new wind capacity was installed in Q3, bringing total U.S. capacity to 90,550 MW.

Currently, construction is under way on 107 projects in 23 states, with construction activity at a record-high 20,798 MW at end-Q3. If we consider that Texas currently has just over 23,000 MW of wind capacity, the U.S. is “currently building a Texas-sized amount of wind,” AWEA says.

Additional 17,167 MW of wind capacity are in advanced development, meaning that total U.S. activity was 37,965 MW in the third quarter, up by 28 percent annually, according to AWEA.

[Sigmetnow]

Gravitational potential energy drives electricity-producing turbines.
Would be great to see bunches of these these replacing fields of oil pumpjacks.

Energy-storing concrete bricks could be key to proliferation of renewables

Energy Vault's system replicates that effect with 35-tonne bricks, stacking them into a tower when electricity is abundant and releasing them to generate energy.

The system has advantages over hydro, because it doesn't require a specific topography and doesn't have the negative environmental impacts.

https://www.dezeen.com/2018/12/17/energy-vault-energy-storing-concrete-bricks-technology/

[Tor Bejnar]

Wow.  I've read about storing energy using a railway and a mountain or hill, but this would have less friction losses.  In some places they could quarry blocks of rock instead of dealing with the large CO2 issues associated with concrete (cement production)  - just as long as the material used is 'tough'.

'Wouldn't want to be near a 'fully charged' tower of blocks during an earthquake, though! 

[SteveMDFP]

Wow.  I've read about storing energy using a railway and a mountain or hill, but this would have less friction losses.  In some places they could quarry blocks of rock instead of dealing with the large CO2 issues associated with concrete (cement production)  - just as long as the material used is 'tough'.

'Wouldn't want to be near a 'fully charged' tower of blocks during an earthquake, though! 

It's an interesting idea, for sure.  Trains have quite low rolling resistance, but do need far more land than this approach.  Mostly, I'm skeptical about the vastly greater number of moving parts and complexity here.  Blocks will eventually crumble from wear-and-tear I think.  Stacking might get off-center in the wind when fully automated.  Still, if it actually works, it might be a nifty storage solution, usable almost anywhere.

[Dryland]

storing energy using a railway and a mountain or hill

I've been doing some investigation to see if this makes any sense. Might as well throw it out there:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRMYyUuOXd41uA5lH0jQcVJmDmHrZDKuyfOth87XGWdy2RKfdFA2o_OCTD4K7PNlmRd2RRCBMyJPMys/pub

Feedback welcome, especially pointing out math errors. Gravity is certainly a weak force, and a 100x battery breakthrough would make gravity storage obsolete instantly. But we don't know when that's coming. 

[oren]

Re concrete towers storage, this interesting idea was unveiled in August and surfaced again recently. And indeed my first thought was - what about earthquakes?? Still not sure of the answer.

https://qz.com/1355672/stacking-concrete-blocks-is-a-surprisingly-efficient-way-to-store-energy/

[Tor Bejnar]

Seismic-Resistant Features of Machu Picchu

Some of the most sacred Inca buildings in Peru were constructed with precisely fitting stones held together by gravity alone. ... But Inca construction has a remarkable number of design features that protect buildings against collapsing in an earthquake.

I'm sure some of these features could be built into the concrete block structures.  On the other hand, the Incas did not build towers!

[Dryland]

Re concrete towers storage, this interesting idea was unveiled in August and surfaced again recently. And indeed my first thought was - what about earthquakes?? Still not sure of the answer.

I would be more worried about windstorms. Even if high winds didn't knock over the cranes, I'd guess they'd have to shut down temporarily. Unfortunate, because wind turbines also need to shut down in very high winds, and that's when the storage system is supposed to take over.

[Sigmetnow]

"Germany, the Netherlands, and Denmark are building an island that will provide #RenewableEnergy to 80 million people. ...”
https://twitter.com/MikeHudema/status/1079478331647688706
Brief video at the link.

[Sigmetnow]

Renewables Set To Account For 38% Of German Electricity In 2018
December 28th, 2018

Renewable energy is expected to cover approximately 38% of German electricity consumption this year, an increase of 2% over 2017, according to the latest figures published on Thursday.

Specifically, it is expected that almost 229 billion kilowatt-hours kWh) will be generated from German renewable energy sources in 2018. Further, some months — January, April, May, and likely December — will have seen renewable energy generate as much as 43% of the country’s electricity.

The latest figures were published this week by German research institute ZSW (short for Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und Wasserstoff-Forschung Baden-Württemberg, which loosely translated is Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg) and Germany’s industry association for water and energy economy BDEW (Bundesverband der Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft, loosely translated as Federal Association of the Energy and Water Industry).

“In 2018 Germany achieved a record share of renewables. That’s good,” said Stefan Kapferer, Chairman of the BDEW Executive Board. “However, the current pace of construction will not be enough to meet the 65% target by 2030. We therefore need special tenders for offshore wind quickly — so far potential is given away. In addition, we need planning and investment security for wind onshore projects. It is all the more important that the promotion of acceptance for wind power projects and the urgently needed grid expansion is now at the top of the energy policy agenda.”  ...

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/12/28/renewables-set-to-account-for-38-of-german-electricity-in-2018/

[Sigmetnow]

Another example of how international renewable energy projects begin nowdays:  on Twitter.

< why is TESLA not in Singapore?
Elon Musk: Govt has been unwelcome
Vincent: The Chinese government is very supportive to the Tesla
Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 1/3/19, 12:51 PM
Yes, support of the Chinese government is very much appreciated
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1080884388525555712

< Care to explain?
C- Singapore's economy is reliant upon fossil fuels. Their electricity is generated from imported natural gas, and they host multiple gigantic petroleum refineries. Their government is against EVs.

Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 1/3/19, 1:07 PM
Singapore has enough area to switch to solar/battery & be energy-independent
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1080888452256657408

Min-Liang Tan: I've got a building in Singapore coming up 2020. Happy to get a solar/battery outfit there to test/showcase it:
     Razer plans new S-E Asia HQ at one-north in Singapore, Business News & Top Stories - The Straits Times
      https://www.straitstimes.com/business/razer-plans-new-s-e-asia-hq-at-one-north-in-spore
EM: Sounds great, will connect you with Tesla Energy
EM: Btw, I like your gaming equipment
MLT: And I'm a big fan of your work at @Tesla , clearly we both have good taste