As it grows, wind power can increasingly displace expensive fossil fuel generators. In Texas (and also in Germany), wind is already helping to drive down electricity prices.
This is commonly known as the “merit order” effect, as sources with greater social merit (wind and solar power) are taken first by the grid, displacing dirtier and more expensive energy sources. The following two illustrations, from Feed-in Tariffs in America, illustrate the effect.
The report [Synapse Energy Economics Inc.: Costs and Benefits of Electric Utility Energy Efficiency in Massachusetts] is worth reading in full, but this paragraph is absolutely vital:
Synapse recently undertook an extensive review of numerous utility and third party EE programs from across the United States in order to explore the empirical relationship between the cost of saved energy (CSE) per kWh saved and program scale in terms of first year energy savings as a percentage of annual energy sales. In the analysis, we found that the CSE tends to decrease as energy savings increase relative to annual energy sales. This finding is contrary to the idea of an energy efficiency supply curve that is often constructed to estimate economic potential of energy efficiency measures. These supply curves generally indicate that the CSE increases as energy savings increase, much like a generation supply curve would. In English: Energy efficiency gets cheaper the more you spend on it. [emphasis original]
As the Federal Communications Commission continues to formulate a National Broadband Plan, ILSR has responded to a recent request for comments about the relationship between broadband and government.
We highlight the importance of publicly owned broadband networks by noting success stories and offering details on networks from Chattanooga, Burlington, Monticello, and Powell, Wyoming. We also discuss lessons from publicly owned middle-mile networks and networks that connect core anchor institutions, like libraries and schools.… Read More
How many times do the people have to be proven right before their political leaders listen to them? The recent cancellation of Big Stone II by its investors brings that question to mind. Back in 2006, seven Minnesota utilities asked the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission for permission to build a large coal fired power plant … Read More
Despite being outspent 12-to-1, a grassroots group campaigning against a plan to build a massive big-box complex in Mendocino County, California, won a decisive victory when voters rejected the project by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. … Read More
By creating decentralized, community-based renewable energy projects, tapping into the existing grid, and applying new smart grid technology, communities can maximize the economic returns of renewable energy production.… Read More
There’s good news and bad news in President Obama’s announcement Wednesday of 100 grants totaling $3.4 billion to build a smarter electric grid. The good news is the grants. The bad news is that President Obama continues to conflate the need for a smart grid with the need for a new national high voltage grid. … Read More
Current providers won’t encourage the competition necessary to improve service and cut costs.
Last January, as the economy spiraled downward, Time Warner did what no other company could have gotten away with under the circumstances: It imposed a price increase of as much as 5.5 percent on its Maine customers.
Meanwhile, the state’s other major broadband Internet provider, FairPoint, has amassed a stunning track record of mismanagement and abysmal customer service.
Rooftop solar is no longer the playground for granolas and Germans. But even when utilities join the solar PV game, they find that the distributed nature overcomes many of the technical and political barriers. A 2008 change in federal tax policy opened the door to utilities to invest in solar PV and utilities like PG&E are planning sizable installations (250 MW). PG&E will do a ground-mounted field of modules in the desert, but other utilities are finding distributed PV makes more sense:
Southern California Edison already plans to scatter 1 MW and 2 MW rooftop PV installations across its service territory, part of its goal to deploy 250 MW of PV over the next five years. Minimizing transient spikes is one reason. A second is that transmission remains the No. 1 barrier to renewable energy growth in California, says Mike Marelli, the utility’s director of renewable and alternative power contracts. “We can implement smaller systems with little or no transmission” additions, he says.
It’s hard to argue that transmission is a barrier when you’ve got 250 MW coming online without it! The good news is that the distributed solar also helps overcome some of the variability issues with solar power:
“During cloudy periods, the output from PV can get noisy with spikes,” which can have an effect on the grid, says Kelly Beninga, global director of renewable energy for WorleyParsons. PV installations around 20 MW in size can be managed without too much trouble. Larger than that and portions of the grid can be affected by passing clouds… To better understand the issue, NV Energy is studying power output variations that may result from deploying PV in and around Las Vegas. The study won’t be complete for another year, but Tom Fair says early data suggest that geographic dispersion helps dampen variability. A second finding is that solar facilities need to be placed on strong parts of the grid. “That leads us away from having huge amounts of PV at any one site,” Fair says. Ten to 20 MW at any one site might be the limit.
The utility interest in solar PV may help remove some of the stigma, and show that even small-scale modules can have a big-scale impact.
Photo credit: Schroeder, Dennis – NREL Staff Photographer
