16 May 2011

Community Ownership Boosts Support for Renewables

by | Date: 16 May 2011 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

A new article in the journal Energy Policy supports the notion that local ownership is key to overcoming local resistance to renewable energy.  The article summarizes a survey conducted of two towns in Germany, both with local wind projects, but only one that was locally owned.  The results are summarized in this chart:

Guess which town has the locally owned project? 

If you guessed Zschadraß, you win.  With local ownership of the wind project, 45% of residents had a positive view toward more wind energy.  In the town with an absentee-owned project (Nossen), only 16% of residents had a positive view of expanding wind power; a majority had a negative view.

Ownership matters, and U.S. renewable energy policy typically makes local ownership more difficult.

… Read More
27 Apr 2011

Really, Really Astonishingly Low Distributed Solar PV Prices from German Solar Policy

by | Date: 27 Apr 2011 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Last week I shared a graphic illustrating the dramatic fall in distributed solar PV prices in Germany, down to $4.11 per Watt installed, for rooftop systems under 100 kilowatts.  As it turns out, the graphic was out-of-date.  In Germany, the average installed cost for rooftop solar PV under 100 kW is $3.70 per Watt (update 7/13/11: $3.40 per Watt).  It’s a 50% drop in price since 2006, an average of 13% per year.

For comparison (as in the first post), here’s the average installed cost for under 10 kW rooftop solar PV in the United States, by state.

Chart is from page 19 of the brilliant report, Tracking the Sun III: The Installed Cost of Photovoltaics in the U.S. from 1998-2009 (large pdf).

Also from the previous post:

Did I also mention that the German policy (a feed-in tariff) driving solar costs down only costs German ratepayers the equivalent of a loaf of bread per month?  In the U.S., the federal renewable energy incentives cost $4 billion in 2007, or about $3.17 per household per month (or about the same price as an Italian baguette).

There’s only way to describe this German success: wunderbar!

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21 Apr 2011

Astonishingly Low Distributed Solar PV Prices from German Solar Policy

by | Date: 21 Apr 2011 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 9 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Most renewable energy advocates are familiar with feed-in tariffs, also known as CLEAN Contracts.  They offer standard, long-term contracts for renewable electricity with prices sufficient to allow producers to get a reasonable return on investment (in Germany, it’s 6 to 8 percent). And research has shown that they tend to drive prices down more effectively than … Read More
28 Jan 2011

Distributed Wind Power Scales, Too

by | Date: 28 Jan 2011 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Last week we noted how distributed (solar PV) generation scales, highlighting the 3,000 megawatts of solar PV that Germany installed in 2009, over 80% on rooftops. 

Distributed wind power scales, as well. 

Of Germany’s 27,000 megawatts of wind power projects (3rd most in the world and most per capita), nearly 90% are smaller than 20 megawatts, with most between 1 and 5 megawatts.

The small projects are also a significant portion of total capacity, with 20 MW and under wind projects contributing half of total wind power capacity.

Data source

… Read More
19 Jan 2011

Over 80 Percent of German PV Installed on Rooftops

by | Date: 19 Jan 2011 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 1 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Updated 1/28/11: Talk about distributed generation!  In Germany in 2009, nearly 1 in 5 solar PV systems went on residential rooftops and 60% was installed on small to medium residential or commercial buildings. 

 

The absolute numbers are big, too.  Germany installed nearly 9 gigawatts installed 3 gigawatts of solar in 2009, to reach 9 gigawatts of installed capacity.

… Read More
4 Oct 2010

Policy to Maximize On-site Use from Distributed Generation

by | Date: 4 Oct 2010 | posted in: Energy, Energy Self Reliant States | 1 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Distributed generation (DG) puts energy production close to where it is consumed, often on people’s homes or in their backyards.  But just having a rooftop solar module doesn’t mean that every kilowatt-hour produced from sunlight is used in the home.  In fact, it’s often less than one-third, with the remaining energy production flowing out into the … Read More
1 Feb 2003

German High Court Convicts Wal-Mart of Predatory Pricing

by | Date: 1 Feb 2003 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Germany’s highest court has ruled that Wal-Mart’s below-cost pricing strategy undermines competition and violates the country’s antitrust laws. Two years ago, the federal Cartel Office accused Wal-Mart and two other large supermarket chains of selling goods below cost and ordered the companies to raise their prices. The items in question included about a dozen staple products like milk, butter, and vegetable oil.… Read More
1 Nov 2000

Wal-Mart Charged With Predatory Pricing

by | Date: 1 Nov 2000 | posted in: Retail | 1 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In September, Wal-Mart was hit with three separate charges of predatory pricing. Government officials in Wisconsin and Germany accused the retailer of pricing goods below cost with an intent to drive competitors out of the market. In Oklahoma, Wal-Mart faces a private lawsuit alleging similar illegal pricing practices. … Read More

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