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Renewables = 78.4% Of New Electricity Capacity In 2015

by Steve Hanley July 29, 2015

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) says that 70% of new electricity generation capacity placed into service in the first six months of 2015 came from renewables. That information is contained in a report called the Energy Infrastructure Update prepared by the Office of Energy Projects. However, it leaves out rooftop solar. Sister site CleanTechnica adds in an educated estimate for rooftop solar and comes to the conclusion that 78.4% came from renewables from January through June. Furthermore, 98% of new capacity added in June came from renewables.

The report says wind accounted for 44% of all new capacity in the first half of 2015, with 1,969 megawatts (MW) derived from 18 generating “units.” The estimate for rooftop solar came in seconds, accounting for 33% from its 1,591 MW. Utility-scale solar followed with 549 MW (71 units), biomass with 128 MW (7 units), geothermal steam with 45 MW (1 unit), and hydropower with 21 MW (1 unit).

21 new natural gas facilities contributed 1,173 MW and 1 new coal facility provided just 3 MW of new generating capacity (presumably, it was simply an upgrade at an existing plant). For the first half of 2015, new generating capacity from renewable energy sources was 1,434 times greater than that from coal and more than triple that from natural gas. So far this year, no new capacity has come from either nuclear or oil.

For the month of June, wind added 320 MW, biomass added 95 MW, utility-scale solar added 62 MW, and rooftop solar added an estimated 241 MW. Natural gas brought 15 MW online in June.

Renewable electrical capacity (18%) is now greater than that of nuclear (9.20%) and oil (3.87%) combined. In fact, the installed capacity of wind power alone (5.8%) has now surpassed that of oil. Generating capacity from coal has declined from 28.96% in mid-2013 to 26.6% today.

“With Congress now debating whether to extend the federal tax incentives for renewable energy sources, it is reasonable to ask whether the American public has gotten a good return on these investments to date,” noted Ken Bossong, Executive Director of the SUN DAY Campaign. “The latest FERC data confirms that the answer is a resounding Yes!”

What incentives the federal government will offer after the current energy credit program expires on December 31, 2016, will be decided by the next Congress. To date, the Republican majority and their Tea Party colleagues seem disinclined to fund any environmental initiatives, although their checkbooks remain open for defense spending anywhere and anytime.

Voters in November 2016 will have an historic opportunity to shape the nation’s future energy policies. Will they use that power wisely or simply vote for the candidates that spend the most money, as they usually do?

Also recommended:

Renewables = 15% Of US Electricity In May

Renewables = 98% Of New US Electricity Generation Capacity In June

July 29, 2015 4 comments

PV Rooftop Solar

IKEA Plugs In Largest Solar Rooftop In Kansas

by Aisha Abdelhamid May 18, 2015

written by Aisha Abdelhamid

Originally published on Planetsave.com.

Reinforcing its long-term commitment to sustainability and confidence in solar technology, IKEA officially plugged-in the largest rooftop solar array in Kansas. The huge solar array will support the recently opened 359,000 square-foot IKEA Merriam and its 1,200 parking spaces soaking up the rays on 19 acres along the eastern side of I-35 eight miles southwest of Kansas City, Missouri.

The 92,000-square-foot solar array will produce approximately 986,800 kWh of electricity annually, consists of 2,394 solar panels, and includes a 730.17-kW DC system. Using the EPA CleanEnergy Calculator, this is equal to offsetting 680 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually. Put another way, it equals offsetting CO2 emissions of 143 cars a year, or annually providing electricity for 94 homes yearly.

Picture Credit: IKEA Completes Largest Rooftop Solar Array in Kansas – screenshot from @IKEAUSA

May 18, 2015 0 comment

CSP Energy Storage Market Research PV Rooftop Solar Solar Projects Solar Research

California Grid To Add Almost 100% Solar Power In 2H 2013

by Zach May 23, 2013

written by Zach

Herman Trabish of Greentech Media has happened across a pretty interesting find — 97% of new electricity generation capacity in line to be added to the California grid in the second half (2H) of 2012 is from solar power projects.

This is according to the California Independent System Operator (the ISO), as published in the 2012 Annual Report on Market Issues and Performance. In total, 1,633 megawatts of generation capacity are in line to be added to the grid in 2H 2013. A whopping 1,581 megawatts (MW) are from solar projects. 52 MW are from biomass projects.

That’s a big shift from the first half of the year (and, well, all of previous history). Herman writes: “By the end of the first half of the year, the ISO will have added 3,391 megawatts of nameplate capacity, of which 2,296 megawatts will be natural gas, 565 megawatts will be wind and 530 megawatts will be solar.” Here’s a chart for a visual display of these points and the situation in 2012:

Image Credit: California ISO

Herman spent a lot of time discussing various factors related to natural gas in his post (I’d recommend checking it out). A few key points I’d pull out of it are as follows (images added):

Natural gas prices seem to have gotten too low to warrant investment in new natural gas projects. From the report: “The 2012 net revenue estimates for hypothetical combined-cycle and combustion-turbine units continued to fall substantially below the estimates of the annualized fixed costs for these technologies. For a new combined-cycle unit, net operating revenues earned from the markets in 2012 are estimated to be about $38 per kilowatt-year in Southern California, compared to potential annualized fixed costs of $176 per kilowatt-year.” (See 3 charts above.)
More periods like 2H 2013 to come — this is the future. V. John White, executive director of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies (CEERT), stated: “This is the shape of things to come.” Naturally, with solar hitting grid parity in parts of California, and combined with renewable energy targets, solar is set to keep growing at a fast clip.
Clearly, there needs to be a little more balance than in 2H 2013. Technically, that could be achieved with a broad mix of renewables, demand response solutions, energy efficiency, energy storage, and/or natural gas technologies of the right kind. “What we want is a diverse renewables portfolio that includes solar PV, wind, geothermal and CSP with storage,” White said. “As time goes on, we need to smooth this out and include demand response, energy efficiency, storage, and even out-of-state resources.”
Old natural gas technology not a good fit. Older/conventional natural gas plants take about 90 minutes to ramp up, which is not a good match for renewables. Furthermore, to warrant their cost, they have to run at 40% capacity, but they can’t compete with renewables on a merit order system. And as solar cuts off peak demand and cuts into peak pricing, the situation will get even more difficult.

I think the overall trend is pretty clear. Solar power is growing fast, and it will continue growing at a strong pace. Beyond that, the specifics of California’s future grid are not entirely clear.

Solar still needs a lot of support to reach its potential, especially rooftop solar. And making sure that what fills in around solar as it grows is also clean and renewable is a complementary challenge on which we need to put a strong focus.

The whole California ISO report looks like it’s worth a read, but at 231 pages, it could take several hours (or even days) to go through it all. For now, here are a handful of interesting charts and graphs I’ve pulled out of it:

Thoughts?

May 23, 2013 3 comments