Renewable Energy

[Sigmetnow]

I just wanted to say thanks, Sig, for your many valuable posts and links. I don't often respond, but I do often share them on other sites and on fb. Keep it up!

Thank you so much, wili.  I love sharing the news I find on my favorite topics.  Enjoy!

[Neven]

Thanks from me too, Sig. I simply don't have time to keep up with everything.

[Sigmetnow]

Thanks from me too, Sig. I simply don't have time to keep up with everything.

Happy to help.    And thank you for this Forum!

[Sigmetnow]

Kenya’s New Wind Farm Will Provide Nearly One Fifth Of The Country’s Power

Last week Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta broke ground on a major renewable energy project for the country and for the African continent as a whole: a 310-megawatt wind farm some 300 miles north of the capital city of Nairobi. The farm, which will consist of 365 turbines when fully completed in mid-2017, will be the largest in Africa — overpowering Morocco’s Tarfaya wind farm, currently Africa’s biggest project with 131 turbines. It is also expected to provide around 17 percent of Kenya’s power demand.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/07/06/3677104/kenya-builds-africas-largest-wind-farm/

[Sigmetnow]

Google transforms old coal power plant in Alabama into renewable-powered data center.
http://money.cnn.com/2015/06/25/technology/google-coal-data-center/

[Sigmetnow]

I was joking with someone who posted a video of a solar system where solar panels were tucked tightly between vents and stuff on the roof... that the installers must be fantastic at Tetris (the old video game where you fit falling shapes as efficiently as you can into a base) --- and I came across this article! 

The man who discovered 'Tetris' is living completely off the grid
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-man-who-discovered-tetris-is-living-completely-off-the-grid-2015-7

[Yuha]

Buffett Scores Cheapest Electricity Rate With Nevada Solar Farms
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-07/buffett-scores-cheapest-electricity-rate-with-nevada-solar-farms

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s NV Energy agreed to pay 3.87 cents a kilowatt-hour for power from a 100-megawatt project that First Solar Inc. is developing, according to a filing with regulators.

...

The power-purchase agreement for energy from First Solar’s Playa Solar 2 project was the cheapest offered to NV Energy this year for new power plants. The utility also agreed to pay 4.6 cents a kilowatt-hour for power from SunPower Corp.’s 100-megawatt Boulder Solar project, the best price offered last year.

Both 20-year, fixed-rate contracts were submitted to Nevada’s Public Utilities Commission for approval July 1.

[Sigmetnow]

How Solar Power Is Learning To Share: The Rapid Growth Of Community Solar Gardens

For much of the recent rise of solar power, the industry has been divided in two: distributed rooftop solar, and utility-scale solar parks. According to a new report from GTM Research, a third type of solar in which consumers share renewable energy installations is set to take off this year — and to represent a large market share of the industry by 2020.

Known as community solar, solar gardens, or more simply shared solar, GTM researchers found that the U.S. “market is approaching a tipping point.” With a total of 66 megawatts installed cumulatively by the end of 2014, the report predicts that installations will grow five-fold in 2015, with 115 megawatts installed. By 2020, there will be 1.8 gigawatts, nearly equivalent to the total amount of solar power installed in the United States in 2012.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/07/09/3674045/community-solar-gardens-grow/

[Sigmetnow]

Wind power generated 140% of Denmark's electricity demand on Thursday.
Unusually high winds allowed Denmark to meet all of its electricity needs – with plenty to spare for Germany, Norway and Sweden too.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jul/10/denmark-wind-windfarm-power-exceed-electricity-demand

[Sigmetnow]

Solar energy revolution: Past point of no return

When the SunShot Initiative was launched by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2011, even I thought it was a little crazy to think the goal of $1-per-watt solar energy was within reach. In this article from April 2011, I said that $1 per watt by 2017 had a "fighting chance" at best, but it was a long way off at the time.

Last weekend, First Solar's (FSLR) CEO Jim Hughes said that $1 per watt is not only on the horizon, but is less than two years away. The government's progress toward achieving $1 per watt by 2017 and having it be a widespread commercial reality by 2020 is well ahead of schedule, and that bodes well for the future of solar energy.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2015/07/05/motley-fool-solar-energy/29583021/

[Sigmetnow]

@ClimateReality: #ClimateFact: Wind generation in 2013 reduced US power-sector water consumption by an estimated 36.5 billion gallons
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy15osti/62823.pdf 

https://twitter.com/climatereality/status/619803568665677824

[Sigmetnow]

Price of Solar Hits Record Low Again!

NV Energy, a Berkshire Hathaway-owned utility company, has signed a PPA to purchase electricity from the 100 MW Playa Solar 2 power plant at a stunningly low price of $0.0387/kWh!

CleanTechnica just reported on “the world’s cheapest solar” landing in Austin, Texas, with bids under 4 cents/kWh (and the assumed unsubsidized price of solar thus being below 5.71 cents/kWh), and that was incredible news, but it looks like that staggering news wasn’t even the highlight of the month!

Note that 3.87 cents/kWh is approximately 68% cheaper than the national average electricity price. I’s also well below the low levelized cost of electricity of coal, natural gas, or nuclear, according to Lazard. The only electricity generation option that can compete with that is wind energy. Furthermore, it’s much lower than the low of 6 cents/kWh that Lazard was predicting for solar in 2017, even if you add in the expected federal subsidy boost (which brings the price up to 5.53 cents/kWh).

http://cleantechnica.com/2015/07/10/price-solar-hits-record-low/

[Jim Hunt]

Meanwhile Her Majesty's Treasury quietly removes an "incentive" for developers to install solar PV on new homes here in the UK:

http://www.V2G.co.uk/2015/07/an-open-letter-to-mel-stride-george-osborne-david-cameron-et-al/

I urge you to protest in the strongest possible terms to Messrs Cameron and Osborne about the following paragraph in the Chancellor’s so called “Productivity Plan“.

“The government does not intend to proceed with the zero carbon Allowable Solutions carbon offsetting scheme, or the proposed 2016 increase in on-site energy efficiency standards.”

Do they not comprehend that NegaWatts are cheaper than MegaWatts? Do they not realise how many research hours at Exeter University they are unceremoniously flushing down the pan, or the effect those innocent sounding words will have on the forthcoming “South West Exeter” housing development in Teignbridge? Are they deliberately setting out to destroy investment in the “Energy Efficiency” and “Renewable Energy” industries in South West England, or do they simply have no idea what they are doing?

[Jim Hunt]

We're all still dancing on the precipice:

[Sigmetnow]

Sorry, golfers. 

Japan is building solar energy plants on abandoned golf courses—and the idea is spreading.  [U.S., too.]
http://qz.com/445330/japan-is-building-solar-energy-plants-on-abandoned-golf-courses-and-the-idea-is-spreading/

[Jim Hunt]

We're all still dancing on the precipice:

An intriguing PRASEG meeting in Westminster today. Mayer Hillman from the Policy Studies Institute spoke out for the Arctic. At the reception afterwards a Lord of the Realm exhorted the entire room to do what I was already doing. Hassle your Member of Parliament!

https://twitter.com/V2gUK/status/621077023641980932

Video to follow with a bit of luck. Alan Whitehead MP, chairman of PRASEG, ignored the Labour party whip and instead of abstaining voted against the Government on the "climate levy on renewables" bit of the budget:

https://twitter.com/V2gUK/status/621653194930847744

[Sigmetnow]

California’s Power Market Has a New Player -- Rooftop Solar

Energy from California rooftop solar systems will soon be available in the state’s wholesale market, competing head-to-head with output from big utility power plants.

In a first, the state’s grid operator has approved rules allowing companies to buy power from numerous consumer and commercial power systems, and then bundle it up to meet the half-megawatt threshold needed to sell energy on the wholesale market.

Companies including utilities will be able to consolidate the output of rooftop solar systems, batteries and even plug-in electric vehicles, the California Independent System Operator Corp. said Thursday in a statement. The shift demonstrates that small-scale power plants are becoming a more important part of the state’s energy mix.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-16/california-will-allow-bundled-rooftop-solar-in-wholesale-market

[Sigmetnow]

A Kenyan Slum Gets a Solar-Powered Soccer Field
http://magazine.good.is/articles/a-kenyan-slum-gets-a-solar-powered-soccer-field

[Sigmetnow]

Wind share of electricity generation in leading countries.

By 2016, wind will be Denmark’s cheapest source of electricity, according to a government report, costing half as much as new coal- or natural gas-fired generation.

https://agenda.weforum.org/2015/06/which-european-country-gets-most-of-its-power-from-the-wind/

[Sigmetnow]

In the U.K., Community Renewable Energy Pushes for More Power
Buoyed by Pope Francis’ new encyclical, community groups have been trying to tackle climate change on their own. But they’re not having an easy time.

DECC notes that U.K.'s current market rules do allow groups choices for selling power locally, including by becoming licensed power providers. But Wolfe says these options are onerous, especially for community groups made mainly of volunteers with other full-time jobs.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/energy/2015/07/170718-uk-community-renewable-energy/

[Sigmetnow]

Buffalo, New York is undergoing a renaissance, thanks to renewables like Solar City.

“It’s always been a sort of energy hub for different technologies,” said Paul F. Curran, managing director of BQ Energy, a renewable-energy developer that is transforming the former steel mill into a green power plant. “We can put in more generation without having to build new infrastructure — big power lines and that type of thing — because the conventional Rust Belt power is retiring. So we can hop into the grid economically.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/business/energy-environment/the-wind-and-sun-are-bringing-the-shine-back-to-buffalo.html

[Sigmetnow]

The Southeast U.S. begins to embrace wind power, and the Senate Finance Committee votes to extend tax incentives.

With 1,661 megawatts (MW) of newly installed wind turbines coming online during the second quarter of 2015 and more than 13,600 MW under construction, American wind power continues to increase its contribution to the U.S. electric power grid. The approval in May of Florida’s first purchase of wind energy, from a wind project in Oklahoma, added to the growing trend of Southeastern states purchasing wind power, as did the recent announcement of the first utility-scale wind farm to be built in North Carolina.

Building on that momentum, Congress also took a step in the right direction yesterday when the U.S. Senate Finance Committee voted 23-3 to extend the primary federal tax incentives for growing renewable energy as part of a larger tax policy extension bill.

http://www.evwind.es/2015/07/23/american-wind-power-continues-to-ramp-up-in-2015-with-1661-megawatts-mw-of-newly-installed-wind-turbines/53463

[JimD]

A nice little piece which highlights that the idea of sustainable solar panel manufacturing is still far in the future.

Toxic Waste Sullies Solar’s Squeaky Clean Image

Toxic sludge and filthy air - byproducts of the oil and coal industries - are a constant irritant for opponents and even proponents of fossil fuels, while renewables like wind and solar are often seen as bastions of rectitude for their relative cleanliness.

However, before the proponents of solar energy can claim the moral high ground, they may need to deal with an inconvenient truth of their own: mountains of hazardous waste being created by the production of solar panels.

Sodium hydroxide and hydrofluoric acid are among the caustic chemicals required in the manufacturing process, along with water and electricity, the production of which emits greenhouse gases. Metals that go into solar panels are often mined in jurisdictions with low environmental standards and even poorer safety records.

The biggest problem, though, is waste. ...

There just ain't no east way out.

http://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Solar-Energy/Toxic-Waste-Sullies-Solars-Squeaky-Clean-Image.html

[Sigmetnow]

New capacity from renewable energy sources in the U.S. during the first half of 2015 is more than double that from natural gas.  No oil or nuclear was added, and only 3MW from one coal unit.

Renewable Energy Accounts for 70% of New U.S. Generating Capacity in First Half of 2015
http://ecowatch.com/2015/07/22/renewables-first-half-2015/

[Sigmetnow]

Ethopia wants to leapfrog to a clean, green economy, giving it "a chance of being carbon-neutral in the next decade."

Ethiopia powers up ambitions for green, climate-resilient industry
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/jul/23/ethiopia-powers-up-ambitions-for-green-industry-economy-climate-resilient

[Sigmetnow]

Deepwater Wind begins construction of turbines off Rhode Island.

Offshore Wind Farm Raises Hopes of U.S. Clean Energy Backers
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/24/business/offshore-wind-farm-raises-hopes-of-us-clean-energy-backers.html

[plinius]

nice article on new Chinese solar project:
http://ecowatch.com/2015/07/24/solar-projects-around-world/

[Sigmetnow]

Guest Post: The Oil Industry is Going Solar

And then there’s this piece of news: an oil and gas field in Oman is likely to be home to the largest solar power plant in the world, because it will save the owners money.

http://climatecrocks.com/2015/07/28/guest-post-the-oil-industry-is-going-solar/

[Sigmetnow]

The next iPhone might have solar cells integrated into the touch screen.

iPhone 7 Could Run on Solar Power with Apple Patented Technology
http://www.idropnews.com/iphone-7-could-run-on-solar-power-with-apple-patented-technology/

[Sigmetnow]

SolarCity Aims to Power Nation's Smaller Businesses

SolarCity said it will start in its home state of California, targeting businesses with 5,000 to 50,000 square feet of available flat roof space for solar systems that will generate between 30 and 500 kilowatts of power at a cost 5 to 20 percent below California market rates. The business would have a fixed lease payment over the life of the 20-year contract.

http://insideclimatenews.org/news/28072015/solarcity-aims-power-nations-smaller-businesses-solar-renewable

[Sigmetnow]

@re_ari: On Saturday, Germany got more than three-quarters of its electricity from renewables. Blowing by previous record http://t.co/nixTHxW4y9

Germany Just Got 78 Percent Of Its Electricity From Renewable Sources
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/07/29/3685555/germany-sets-new-renewable-energy-record/

[Sigmetnow]

Japan Builds World's Largest Floating Wind Turbine off Fukushima

Engineers in Japan have installed the world's largest floating wind turbine, a towering 344-foot structure that is billed as being able to withstand 65-foot waves and even tsunamis.

The 7 megawatt turbine was fastened to the seabed last week by four 20-ton anchors about 12 miles off the Fukushima coast.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/japan-builds-worlds-largest-floating-wind-turbine-fukushima-n402871

[Sigmetnow]

 Bangladesh powers ahead on off-grid solar
- Eight million Bangladeshis now depend on reliable power from small solar units
- Women technicians handle service and after-sales warranty of home units
- Bangladesh plans to be generating 220 megawatts of solar energy by 2017
http://m.scidev.net/south-asia/energy/news/bangladesh-powers-ahead-on-off-grid-solar.html

[Sigmetnow]

Carbon Pollution From U.S. Power Plants Hits 27-Year Low

The government says heat-trapping pollution from U.S. power plants hit a 27-year low in April. U.S. Energy Information Administration economist Allen McFarland said a big factor was the long-term shift from coal to cleaner and cheaper natural gas. Outside experts also credit more renewable fuel use and energy efficiency.

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/carbon-pollution-u-s-power-plants-hits-27-year-low-n404726

[Sigmetnow]

Global offshore wind data
http://www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2015/08/mapped-the-worlds-largest-offshore-windfarms/

[Sigmetnow]

Implicitly, NREL’s new report positions wind to become a dominant and possibly the primary source of electricity in the US.

Wind Could Replace Coal As US’ Primary Generation Source, New NREL Data Suggests

CF is the ratio of a generator’s average power output over a year period to its nameplate rating. A CF of 100% would indicate that it was always on and operating at its full rated power. Simply stated, higher capacity factor means a given size generator will produce more energy over the year. CF sets a lower bound on the amount of time a generator operates. If a generator is not operating at its full nameplate rating all of the time then it will produce power for a percentage of time that exceeds its CF.

With little fanfare, NREL released updated data showing that, with current technology, wind turbines could generate more than enough energy at 55% CF to power the entire US. However the real stunner is that near future turbine technology (140 m towers) could boost that to 65% CF. With the current national average wind CF (pg 34) at about 33%, this represents a near doubling. According to NREL using current technology and siting it in prime locations, wind power CF already can exceed that of natural gas. Using ‘near future’ technology wind power’s CF will exceed the CF of both coal (61%) and natural gas (48%) achieved nationwide in recent years.
...
SUMMARY

The new CF numbers from NREL dramatically shift the landscape for how to proceed with energy policy in the US.  Older studies such as EWITS are now obsolete. They used numbers similar to the black line in figure 1 and ignored the storage and load shifting potential of electric vehicles. In those studies, wind penetration up to about 30% was examined and presented as reasonable to pursue. Using the blue line in figure 1 with 65% capacity factor indicates that higher, probably much higher, penetrations can be achieved and at lower cost than previously anticipated. The capacity credit that can be assigned to this resource will go a long way towards determining whether the ramifications of the new data are evolutionary or revolutionary. However, the new NREL data, whether evolutionary or revolutionary, significantly strengthens the case for increasing the rate of expansion of wind power in the US energy portfolio.

http://cleantechnica.com/2015/08/04/wind-could-replace-coal-as-us-primary-generation-source-new-nrel-data-suggests/

[Sigmetnow]

Three words:  Floating. Wind. Farm. 
Oh, and:  France.

On Wednesday, France’s environmental agency ADEME posted a tender document calling for proposals for wind farms comprised of between three to six turbines, with the capacity for at least five megawatts per turbine, at three sites in the Mediterranean and one site in the Bay of Biscay, off the southern coast of Brittany.

The call is part of a push by the French government to encourage the transition of France’s energy system from one that relies heavily on nuclear to one that produces at least a third of its energy through renewable technology. ...

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/08/06/3688669/france-offshore-floating-wind-turbines/

[oren]

Governments Don't Really Want Clean Energy; Economic Madness In US and Spain

A curious thing is happening in the battle on carbon. Solar panels are finally becoming cheap enough and efficient enough to warrant usage, without government subsidies, at least in sunny places.

Everyone should be happy. Right?

Instead we have tariffs, fees, and taxes on those who use solar panels.

In effect, when solar energy made no economic sense, companies received subsidies, now that solar makes sense, many governments want nothing to do with it.

Interesting that this should come from an economic blogger who has sinned in the past with denialism.

[Sigmetnow]

In the U.S., wind just reached its lowest price ever: just 2.35 cents per kilowatt hour -- cheaper than the average wholesale price of electricity in many areas of the country.

The U.S. wind energy boom couldn’t be coming at a better time

Wind energy in the U.S. is now at 66 gigawatts of installed capacity, according to the report — providing roughly 5 percent of total U.S. electricity demand. 66 gigawatts is enough electricity to  power 17.5 million homes (a gigawatt is a billion watts). And, says Jose Zayas, who heads the wind and water power technologies office at the Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, 13 more gigawatts are now “in the construction phase” and set to come online by 2016.
...
In fact, the Energy Department report notes, wind now generates over 20 percent of electricity used in three states — Iowa, South Dakota, and Kansas — and in Iowa, it generated an impressive 28.5 percent in 2014.

There is one potential downside in this story. With the wind production tax credit expired, beyond 2016 there may be less wind growth. However, the report notes, with the Clean Power Plan coming online that provides an additional incentive for states to install wind energy.

“Technological advancements, coupled with decreased energy consumption, have already placed the United States ahead of the Energy Department’s original 20% wind by 2030 milestones,” says Zayas. “With the manufacturing capacity to produce more than 9 GW of new wind turbine components annually, the United States is poised to remain one of the world’s top producers of wind energy.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/08/10/the-boom-in-wind-energy-couldnt-be-coming-at-a-better-time/

[Sigmetnow]

Washington, D.C. to buy Pennsylvania wind power.

A wind farm in Western Pennsylvania plans to send its energy to Washington D.C., where the municipal government is trying to get its carbon footprint down to zero.

https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2015/08/11/d-c-to-buy-pennsylvania-wind-power/

[Sigmetnow]

U.S. Photovoltaic Prices Drop for 5th Straight Year

The installed price of distributed solar power fell by 40 cents per watt for U.S. residential and small-scale photovoltaic (PV) systems between 2013 and 2014, while large nonresidential systems saw costs fall by an average of 70 cents per watt, according to new Energy Department data released this week.

And in some major U.S. markets, plummeting prices for solar PV continued into the first six months of this year, with drops of an additional 20 to 50 cents per watt, or 6 to 13 percent, according to DOE's latest "Tracking the Sun" report, published this week by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/photovoltaic-prices-drop-for-5th-straight-year/

[Sigmetnow]

SunEdison Solar Farm Beats Gas With Biggest Colorado Project

SunEdison Inc., the biggest clean-energy developer, began construction on a Colorado solar farm that will be the largest in the state and comes out ahead in direct competition with natural gas.

The 156-megawatt Comanche solar farm will deliver power to Excel Energy Inc.’s Public Service of Colorado utility under a 25-year agreement, Maryland Heights, Missouri-based SunEdison said in a statement Thursday. The utility awarded the contract through an open solicitation, with the solar farm beating out other power sources including gas, SunEdison said.

The deal shows that renewable energy is increasingly able to compete on price with fossil fuels. Utilities that are planning for future demand growth are looking more carefully at solar panels and wind turbines, which will be cheaper to operate over the next few decades in part because they have no fuel costs, said Julie Blunden, chief strategy officer at SunEdison.

“We actually can offer solar and wind that’s cheaper than gas,” Blunden said in a phone interview Thursday. “It’s such an important inflection point. We can sell power without any fuel-price risk.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-20/sunedison-solar-power-beats-gas-with-colorado-s-biggest-project

[Sigmetnow]

260MW Solar plant + molten salt thermal storage = "Baseload" power for Chile

Chile approves 260MW ‘baseload’ solar plant with storage

CEO Kevin Smith said the plant would operate at a capacity factor and availability percentage equal to that of a coal fired power plant.

http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/chile-approves-260mw-baseload-solar-plant-with-storage-90869

[Sigmetnow]

South Africa’s Renewable Benefits Seen at $310 Million

South Africa saved 4 billion rand ($310 million) in fuel and by avoiding blackouts in the first half of 2015 due to renewable-energy projects, according to a study by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-19/south-africa-s-renewable-benefits-seen-at-310-million

[Sigmetnow]

IEA:  World’s Second Largest Source of Electricity Is Now Renewables
https://ecowatch.com/2015/08/19/renewables-second-largest-source/

[Sigmetnow]

SolarCity’s huge factory is making significant progress in upstate New York.

Last week, workers finished building the structural steel frame for SolarCity’s huge, 1 million-square-foot solar panel factory in Buffalo, in upstate New York. When completed, potentially early next year, the factory will be the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.

This is what the other Gigafactory looks like
http://fortune.com/2015/08/12/solar-city-gigafactory-tesla-factory/

Elon Musk just bought up $5 million of SolarCity stock
http://fortune.com/2015/08/25/elon-musk-buys-solarcity-stock/

[Sigmetnow]

Renewables shift wallops traditional power plants

Fifty-seven traditional gas and coal power plants are set to close in Germany as a consequence of Energiewende, or energy transition, which has diminished the profitability of operating non-renewable power plants.

That's nine more than had been slated for closure at the beginning of the year, Germany's leading Bild tabloid reported on Monday, citing figures from the Federal Network Agency.

http://www.dw.com/en/renewables-shift-wallops-traditional-power-plants/a-18668018

[Sigmetnow]

Stunning upset:  Public Service Commission of Washington, D.C. unanimously rejected a proposed merger between Exelon and Pepco.  A central concern was the utility’s past fights against state renewable energy policies.

“Exelon has a long history of using the company’s political influence to restrict renewable energy policies,” Elsner told ThinkProgress. “If the D.C. PSC had approved the merger, Exelon would have been empowered to continue its anti-renewable campaign, but the PSC’s rejection of the merger could help ensure that these two states’ renewable energy policies remain in place and continue to support the growth of renewable energy industry in D.C. and Maryland.”

Exelon fought hard against the renewal of the Wind Production Tax Credit at the national level because it would affect the bottom lines of their nuclear plants.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/08/26/3695037/exelon-pepco-merger/

[Sigmetnow]

Hawaii’s Governor Dumps Oil and Gas in Favor of 100 Percent Renewables
An unlikely partnership between Hawaii’s local government and the US military makes the island a leader in energy policy.

At the Asia Pacific Resilience Innovation Summit held in Honolulu, Hawaii, this week, Governor David Ige dropped a bombshell. His administration will not use natural gas to replace the state’s petroleum-fueled electricity plants, but will make a full-court press toward 100 percent renewables by 2045. Ige’s decisive and ambitious energy vision is making Hawaii into the world’s most important laboratory for humankind’s fight against climate change. He has, in addition, attracted an unlikely and enthusiastic partner in his embrace of green energy—the US military.

Ige said Monday that LNG (liquefied natural gas) will not save the state money over time, given the plummeting prices of renewables. Moreover, “it is a fossil fuel,” i.e., it emits dangerous greenhouse gases. He explained that local jurisdictions in Hawaii are putting up a fight against natural gas, making permitting difficult. Finally, any money put into retooling electric plants so as to run on gas, he said, is money that would better be invested in the transition to green energy.

Ige, trained as an electrical engineer, is leading his state in the most ambitious clean-energy program in the United States. On June 8, he signed into law a bill calling for Hawaii’s electricity to be entirely generated from renewables in only 30 years. He also directed that the University of Hawaii be net carbon zero in just 20 years.
...
Senator Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, also addressed the summit, insisting that wind, solar, and other renewables are now competitive with fossil fuels and no longer “alternative.” Rather, they are practical today, because of significant price drops in the cost of photovoltaic panels and of wind turbines. He argued that change comes only when it is demanded. Several years ago, he said, Hawaii set what seemed like unrealistic green energy goals at that time. The senator’s point is valid. By 2015, officials wanted 15 percent of electricity generation to come from renewables. In 2014, it was already 21 percent.

http://www.thenation.com/article/hawaiis-governor-dumps-oil-and-gas-in-favor-of-100-percent-renewables/

[TerryM]

Sigmetnow[/size]While reading your above article I got thinking of the possibility of micro-hydro facilities in Hawaii.World wide as glaciers and mountain snow packs become fewer and thinner one possibility for providing a year round source of drinking & agricultural water might be by building small, high elevation micro-hydro generating dams.If the dams were situated below the normal snow line, whatever water was captured during high precipitation events could be apportioned as needed during the year. Lower temperatures would minimize evaporation, and if properly designed, they might alleviate some of the problems associated with the diminishing snow packs and receding glaciers we are facing (or experiencing).I've always felt that hydro is the most efficient method of storing / smoothing electrical loads & a scheme like this might allow a much higher portion of wind and solar without need of battery storage & at the same time provide water for communities that in the past could rely on spring run off & glacial melt.Perhaps this belongs in a different thread.Terry