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This shows some of the resistance to expanding of renewables....
$2 Trillion of stranded fossil fuel assets.......
$2 trillion in planned oil, coal spending not needed by 2025
Companies that misread global demand for fossil fuels could waste up to $220 billion (U.S.) by 2025 on new Canadian projects alone, a study says.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/11/24/2-trillion-in-planned-oil-coal-spending-not-need-by-2025.html
By: Tyler Hamilton Climate and Economy Reporter, Published on Tue Nov 24 2015
Companies that misread global demand for fossil fuels could waste up to $220 billion (U.S.) by 2025 on new Canadian projects that aren’t needed, according to a report that sees coal and oil taking the biggest hit.
Globally, the London-based Carbon Tracker Initiative sees $2 trillion in newly developed fossil fuel assets at risk of being stranded because the additional energy they supply will no longer be needed or economical in an emissions-constrained economy.
“This is where shareholders should be concerned – if companies are committing to future production which may never generate the returns expected,” the report warns.
The analysis assumes the world will take the necessary actions to limit average global warming to no more than 2 degrees C above pre-industrial levels.
Within that context, rapid deployment of clean energy technologies and increasingly restrictive climate policies, starting with government actions that emerge from the upcoming Paris climate summit, will dramatically reduce demand for fossil fuels.
An example of such actions came Monday, when Ontario became the first jurisdiction in North America to pass legislation that bans the use of coal for electricity generation. On Tuesday, the province also promised a bigger push toward vehicles that use electricity instead of gasoline.
BlackRock, the world’s largest institutional investment manager, said in its own report last month that investors need to start paying attention. “Climate change risk has arrived as an investment issue.”
The Carbon Tracker report argues that no new coal mines will be needed, though existing coal mines will likely be expanded. Global demand for oil will peak around 2020, it says.
“This means that the oil sector does not need to continue to grow, which is inconsistent with the narrative of many companies,” it states. “The countries with the largest amount of capital expenditures not needed over the next decade are the U.S., Canada, Russia, Mexico and Kazakhstan.”
Canada is second only to the United States with the most to lose, largely because of relatively higher costs of oil sands projects compared to conventional oil fields in the Middle East and U.S. shale oil.
Already, a number of companies have pulled the plugged on oil sands projects as a result of low market prices for oil and lack of pipeline access to markets. The report cites Suncor Energy and Canadian Natural Resources as being most exposed, based on project spending plans over the next decade.
The Alberta government outlined a climate action Sunday that it hopes will improve the province’s odds of staying in the oil game longer. Premier Rachel Notley announced an absolute cap on oil sands emissions and plans to introduce a $20 carbon tax about a year from now that will rise to $30 in 2018.
Still hoping for that Billion $$$ deal....
Yes! Our turn? SUNE 4.12 +37.33%
If the ITC does expire next year, we could expect a huge rush of orders........
I remember how somebody told me that we could't do guidance...
When Do Solar Panels Stop Producing?
November 20th, 2015 by Roy L Hales
Originally published on the ECOreport
http://cleantechnica.com/2015/11/20/solar-panels-stop-producing/
Though many believe the lifetime of a solar panel is twenty-five years, a number of older models have exceeded this. When Kyocera tested a 30-year-old module last year, it discovered it was still operating at 90.4% of capacity. There are 37-year-old Arco Solar (now SolarWorld USA) panels in operation. When do solar panels stop producing?
Peter Varadi, co-founder of Solarex, the world’s first solar company (1973-83) and author of Sun Above The Horizon: Meteoric Rise of the Solar Industry, suggested that Dr. John Wohlgemuth may be the person to answer the question – how long do solar panels last?
Dr. Wohlgemuth started working at Solarex, the world’s first terrestrial solar company, in 1976. He continued on with BP Solar, after it bought out Solarex, and eventually became the Principal Scientist in PV Reliability at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
In response to my email, he wrote:
“As far as I can tell there is little difference between the early Solarex, Arco and Kyocera modules in terms of their ability to survive. I have seen modules from all 3 survive at least 30 years in the field.
“There were several excellent papers at the last EUPVSEC conference that reported on the performance of Solarex modules after 25 years of exposure and I have some with at least that long exposure that are still working.
“I do not think those old modules will survive 50 years. First of all because of the EVA formulation they used, they are all discoloring – which means loss in short circuit current (~ 0.5% per year) and loss of adhesion – recent results show Arco modules at 10% of initial adhesion between EVA and glass after 27 years in the field.
“The older modules are losing output power. As I said earlier about 0.5% per year due to discoloration. They also slowly lose fill factor as they used interconnect ribbons that are much stiffer than the ones used today. Once they get to 25 to 30 years they are typically approaching 80% of initial power.
“I am not sure what I expect from the more modern modules. They use better raw materials – encapsulants that don’t discolor and much more flexible interconnect ribbons that do not stress the solder bonds or cells as much. So then you have to look at manufacturing control. I would have to think that some of the newer manufacturers have at least as good a control as we had 25 years ago. Many of the new modules are tested significantly more rigorously than the old ones were. On the other hand if manufacturers take too many short cuts to cut cost then the quality will suffer. So some of the new modules will be at least as good as the ones from the 1980s and 1990s, but others will not be. We have to figure out how to determine which is which and not use the ones that will not survive.”
So it looks like some of the old solar panels could last more than forty years, possibly a little longer, though at a reduced capacity. Some of the better made new modules may have even more longevity.
Photo Credit: Students inspect the Dana Building’s solar panels in 2010 from University of Michigan School of Natural Resources & Environment (CC BY SA,2.0 License)
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More boost for the solar market. International Pressure!
New Delhi, Nov 20 (PTI) France today said India will play a "pivotal" role in the upcoming Paris climate change summit where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President François Hollande will jointly launch the International Solar Alliance proposed by India.
French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, who held deliberations with Modi and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar ahead of the crucial summit, termed India as a "key" player in the climate negotiations and said solutions "cannot" be reached without consensus among important nations like India.
Observing that India will not only engage "pragmatically and with constructive spirit", Fabius said that he believed that India will bring decisive solutions to many issues during the summit apart from "steering" other countries upwards.
"India for many reasons is key player and a close friend.
It is important that we could understand what is the approach of India when it comes to summit.
he presidency should be impartial and help to find solutions.
But the solutions cannot be found without the consensus of country like India," Fabius told reporters during a joint media conference with Javadekar.
Noting that India plays a "pivotal" role in climate negotiations, the French foreign minister said that India and France share a common vision on many subjects and his visit to India was to build on that vision before the Paris summit.
"We need every party to engage pragmatically and with constructive spirit in the final round of formal negotiations.
I know that India will do so but also steer many countries upwards.
"I heard many inspiring proposals from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prakash Javadekar, notably on international cooperation, infusion of technology and scaling up of capacity building.
We believe India will bring decisive solutions on many issues," he said.
Observing that France supports India's plan of the international solar alliance, Fabius said it can set up a "positive momentum" and embody the paradigm shift that India has called for in order to fight climate change.
"We support India's plan to set up an international alliance that will bring an important contribution to ensuring access to low carbon energy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President François Hollande will launch this initiative together at COP21 opening on November 30. "Such a project which is very ambitious and India is at the forefront.
Such a project can set up a positive momentum, showing that ambitious international partnership can be forged on adequate answers to climate change and development challenges," Fabius said.
The French Foreign Minister said that support must be gathered from as many nations as possible for the alliance and there is need to come together to mobilise the necessary investments and cutting the cost of technology.
"This alliance can, therefore, embody the paradigm shift that India has called for in order to fight climate change.
I would like to insist on the importance which we attach both to this conference which is probably one of the most important event in which India by its importance will play a leading role," he said.
Terming the meeting with Modi as "friendly and fruitful", Fabius said the discussions with him were mainly on COP21 as the Prime Minister is very committed and is keen about developing India and helping the world to develop in a different way which would be sustainable.
Elaborating on the key issues which were discussed, Fabius said the issue of finance is very important while technology sharing, the issue of differentiation, transparency and evaluation are also crucial.
"The question of finance is very important because if we want all countries to go towards low carbon emissions, there has to be finance.
The question of sharing technology, the question of ambition, the question of differentiation as all countries are not in the same situation we have to ask to countries which are well off.
The question of transparency and and evaluation.
These are some of the issues," he said.
He said that both President Hollande and Modi have decided to preface a common book which is summary of many statements made in different countries along the centuries by different thinkers and authors about climate change which will be distributed in CoP21. Asked about the invitation to Heads of States at the beginning of the summit, Fabius said it was necessary to give a political impulse to the negotiations in the beginning itself to make Paris a success and not a failure like the 2009 climate change summit at Copenhagen.
"The agreement will be discussed by negotiators and ministers.
But we need political impulse and nobody can do it more properly than the heads of states.
They will speak powerfully.
We wanted to avoid the Copenhagen syndrome.
"Heads of states came at the end during that conference.
The consequence was first, by that time not enough work was done.
During the days of the conference it was not easy to move forward as people were waiting for leaders but when they came it was too late.
We have tried to draw the consequence of difficult experience and decided to give the political push," he said.
PTI TDS SMN .
Looks like a good start this morning......
How it holds?? That is the question....
Yep. This stock is a lottery ticket.
Yeah, I read that. (late)
1)BioSolar estimates it can pull battery costs down to $54 per kilowatt-hour -- a ridiculously low (and unproven) target.
2)Whereas traditional lithium-aluminum or lithium-ion-phosphate cathodes rely on intercalation chemistry, BioSolar’s conducting polymer variant works on a redox basis.
BioSolar CEO David Lee said the BioSolar cathode manufacturing process might be simpler than current methods and could also help increase the lifespan of the battery.
Lee said the patented technology has been developed in association with Alan Heeger, a professor of physics and materials at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who won the 2000 Nobel Prize in chemistry for the discovery and development of conductive polymers.
“We found out that the same material can be used in lithium-ion batteries,” Lee said. “We can double the capacity of the existing lithium-ion battery without drastically changing the internal workings by using a new cathode. Laboratory work proved earlier this year that we can double the capacity.”
That alleged capacity improvement comes with a fourfold reduction in cost compared to Tesla’s battery technology, said Lee. BioSolar is currently in the process of building a prototype that it wants to show to potential partners and customers within the next six months.
As any battery startup can attest, that kind of rapid timeframe -- even for proof of concept -- is almost never achieved.
BioSolar is a public company that has raised about $5 million on the OTC Markets Group marketplace (previously known as Pink Sheets). Shares are currently trading at around 20 cents.
BioSolar has made big promises previously in its history. Back in 2008, it promoted an environmentally-friendly PV backsheet that cost 25 percent less than Tedlar, the market leader from DuPont.
Lee said the pivot away from backsheet technology occurred because of difficulties in breaking into the solar-component market after Chinese modules brought down PV prices from around 2008 onward.
“The company mission when we started out in 2006 was to make solar energy a truly green energy,” he said. “One way to do that was to replace petroleum-based components of PV with something that’s environmentally friendly, is durable and has other advantages. “We succeeded technically, had a lot of customers wanting to use it, and also we obtained our U.S. patent. Unfortunately, any PV component market is not immune to the changes that happen in the PV market."
Hugh Sharman, principal at Incoteco, an international energy consulting firm, said he was unimpressed by BioSolar’s latest battery claims.
“Let’s make a return visit in, say, 10 years’ time, when they have moved from bench scale to grid-scale prototype,” he said, “if nothing goes wrong during the long valley of death.”
Even Lee conceded that swaying potential customers might not be easy.
“The only way we can convince our large commercial partners is through the merits of the technology, not the size of the company, not how much money we have,” he said.
DJ IRW-PRESS: Solar 3D Inc .: AC Research on Solar 3D: next takeover ensures big growth spurt! Better than JinkoSolar, Yingli Green Energy and Solar Word!
Facebook "Like" -dummy "Tweet this" -dummy "Google + 1" -DummyEinstellungen
19:11:15 14:57
Dow Jones Newswires
DJ IRW-PRESS: Solar 3D Inc .: AC Research on Solar 3D: next takeover ensures big growth spurt! Better than JinkoSolar, Yingli Green Energy and Solar Word!
AC Research: Next takeover ensures big growth spurt! Better than JinkoSolar, Yingli Green Energy and Solar Word!
19:11:15 11: 32AC Research
Santa Barbara (www.aktiencheck.de)
http://www.irw-press.at/prcom/images/messages/2015/28383/AC Research.001.png
Executive Summary-11.19.2015
Solar3D Inc. shares: Next acquisition provides growth spurt!
Our current top pick in the solar industry Solar3D Inc. makes the announced acquisition of profitable solar company Elite Solar for the next big growth spurt. Elite Solar expected for the full year 2015, a sales increase of + 166% from USD 7.5 million to USD 20 million with the expected closing of the acquisition in December's growth targets are likely to be revised again Solar3D Inc. upwards. So far goes Solar3D Inc. in its sales forecast for the full year 2015 from USD 40 to 50 million revenue. With the completion of the announced acquisition of Elite Solar Solar3D Inc. would generate around 50% more sales. The Solar3D Inc. shares stands before the revaluation.
Quarterly figures pulverize analysts' expectations
Solar3D Inc. is currently the fastest growing and most promising solar share on the US NASDAQ technology stock exchange. The rapidly growing developer and operator of solar power plants has pulverized by the quarterly figures for Q3 2015, the expectations of analysts. The order backlog exploded to massive + 1.112% from USD 2.7 million to USD 29.5 million compared to the same quarter last year. Revenue shot in Q3 2014 by + 306% from USD 6.4 million to USD 19.7 million in the height. Solar3D Inc. has reported a positive EBITDA of USD +2.597 million for the first 9 months of fiscal 2015 and is now well on the way to one of the most profitable players in the solar industry. With the anticipated closing of the acquisition in December of Elite Solar sales target of USD 40 to 50 million for the entire 2015 is expected to be raised again significantly. The Solar3D Inc.'s stock is about to turnaround.
Rapid Growth by Acquisition Further acquisitions in brief
No new news. No excitement. Is .20 it? I hope not.
Our Market Cap is now twice the #2 coal producer.
ACI=$24M
SLTD-$49M
So lettuce not whine!
Sounds good to me. But now we will go into a period of no news where it will drop.
I wish that we had a timeline to the new battery. Still waiting for the SLTD Cell.......
Not trying to be negative.......
Texas Utilities Offering Free Electricity At Night, Even For EVs
http://cleantechnica.com/2015/11/14/texas-utilities-offering-free-electricity-at-night-even-for-evs/
November 14th, 2015 by James Ayre
Originally published on EV Obsession.
Owing to the nighttime overproduction of electricity via wind energy infrastructure in Texas, a fair number of utility companies in the Lone Star State have begun offering access to free electricity at night — mostly between the hours of 9 pm and 6 am — according to recent reports.
For some further explanation here, it’s worth remembering that Texas has its own electric grid, so production there is essentially only used there… or not — hence the offer of free time nighttime use. It should also be remembered that the use of free nighttime electricity access to users can thereby allow some grid burdens to be reduced.
Though this news may come as a surprise to some, Texas is, after all, actually the biggest wind energy generator in the US — nearly 10% of its current electricity generation is via wind energy projects. So nighttime generation levels are fairly high just with wind energy alone, regardless of other generating infrastructure that may be active.
There are further details available in the New York Times‘ coverage, for those interested.
As noted by “mspohr” on the Tesla Motors Club forum, this development could be a sign of things to come in other states/regions with substantial wind electricity generation infrastructure.
As also noted in that conversation, such a situation could probably work out quite well for those with an energy storage system and a grid connection — simply allowing such owners to charge their systems at night when electricity is free, and thereby avoid most electricity costs altogether.
That conversation turned into a bit of an argument on the merits of using energy storage systems (such as Tesla’s Powerwall) in places that get as hot as central Texas does — with some arguing that Tesla’s system isn’t well suited to the region, and others stating that it’s a simple fix, just locate the system in a climate controlled space, or in a basement (in parts of West Texas this may be more of an option than in the more flood-prone regions).
Interesting topic. Anybody in Texas care to comment? Anybody making use of the offer, and happy to be able to charge their electric vehicle for free at night?
Image by Chrishna (some rights reserved)
MODI AT WEMBLEY: 'ELECTRICITY FOR 18,000 VILLAGES IN 1,000 DAYS'
LONDON: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that 18,000 villages in India that are not connected with electricity will get this basic facility within the next 1,000 days.The pace and direction of progress in India is such that the fruits of development will be seen very soon, Modi said in Hindi in his address to 60,000 people at the iconic Wembley Stadium here.As many as 18,000 villages need electricity. There are not even electricity poles. In the next 1,000 days we will ensure they get it, he said on the second day of his three-day visit to Britain.He said that there were places in India where there was electricity but not for 24 hours a day.The Indian prime minister said that by the year 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, he would ensure that there was 24 hours of electricity all over the country.We will harness solar, wind and renewable energy. We will generate 175 gigawatts of power one day, he said.Earlier, British Prime Cameron and his wife Samantha, dressed in a sari, welcomed Modi as he arrived at Wembley Stadium.After Modi met with organisers of the much-hyped event, the two leaders interacted with a group of schoolchildren of Indian origin who had performed in the cultural extravaganza that preceded Modi's speech.Britain is home to a 1.5 million-strong Indian diaspora.IANS
How Solar Installations Could Be the Barn-Raisings of the 21st Century
One nonprofit is already making it happen—and helping working-class homeowners along the way.
In late October, a group of volunteers—engineers and lawyers who work in the energy business, all of them, coincidentally, women—met in front of a three-story, 120-year-old brick rowhouse in Sunset Park, a gentrifying working-class section of Brooklyn. Stepping carefully through the tidy garden in the back, they donned harnesses and grabbed bags of tools. Guided by construction professionals, they hoisted 14 solar panels onto the roof and then set about installing them.
Gus Guzman, who has owned the house since 1982, watched. A native of the Dominican Republic, he’s a retired illustrator of record and CD covers for Sony and Columbia Records. His wife does wallpaper restoration. Guzman is paying for part of an installation through a $4,000 loan to be paid off on his Con Edison electricity bill over the next 10 years. Even with those monthly payments, he expects his electricity bill, which averages about $105 per month, to fall in half, since he’ll get a credit for the power the panels produce. Over the course of the year, he expects to save about $600. “This will help me make my car payments,” he said.
This 21st century barn-raising—most of the materials, labor, and planning necessary for the project were donated—was overseen by Grid Alternatives, an 11-year-old nonprofit based in Oakland, California, that has turned the socioeconomics of rooftop solar on its head. Generally, residential solar has been a luxury product. As recently as 10 years ago, it was a showy way of demonstrating green cred. Homeowners had to make a huge upfront investment that likely wouldn’t produce financial returns. In recent years, the price of panels has fallen and new business models like solar leases and power purchase agreements have emerged. That lets companies like SolarCity and Vivint pitch solar to the merely well-off. But you still need to own a house, have a big roof, and have excellent credit in order to qualify. As a result, the business models surrounding solar still tend to perpetuate green privilege.
That’s too bad. Because when properly structured, rooftop solar—and other green efforts like energy efficiency—can help people of more modest incomes increase their purchasing power. Electricity and heat take a large bite out of the budgets of lower-income people. Permanently slash a family’s energy bill, and it’s like sending them a check every month. Grid Alternatives takes the thinking one step further. “We hatched this idea of transitioning as a country to clean power and doing it in a way that includes everyone—everyone as consumers having access to it, but also everyone having access if they want to [have] jobs in the growing industry and the training,” Erica Mackie, a co-founder of Grid Alternatives, told me.
Grid Alternatives has 10 offices across the U.S. (and one in Nicaragua) and does about 1,000 installations per year. It has an annual budget of about $30 million.
In order to qualify to be a Grid Alternatives client, homeowners must have income that is 80 percent or less of the median of the county in which they live. (In Brooklyn, that means a family must make less than $65,000 to qualify.) To make the arrangement work, Grid Alternatives works the system. It designs the installations, obtains the construction permits, and applies for all the relevant federal, state, and utility-based incentives available for renewable energy. (Some states and utilities have specific programs aimed at helping lower-income customers go green.) It solicits donations of equipment from solar companies; at the rowhouse I visited, the panels were donated by Sun Edison and the inverters by Enphase. Rather than sell or lease the systems to homeowners, it often arranges for a third party like Kilowatt Financial to own them (and thus reap the associated tax credits). In most instances, the homeowners are on the hook for a portion of the cost.
Grid Alternatives has a broader mission beyond lowering emissions. By educating its customers about energy-efficiency products and programs at the same time it installs the panels, the organization said it can ultimately help people save up to 75 percent on their electricity bills. More significantly, it provides job training. In addition to its 200 employees, Grid Alternatives has 50 SolarCorps Fellows, who often go on to work in the solar industry after their yearlong stints. This week, Grid Alternatives announced it was starting an initiative to train 1,000 military veterans and active service members to work in the solar industry. “We’re really trying very hard not just to put up solar for the sake of putting up solar,” Mackie said.
Far from being in competition with the large solar installers, Grid Alternatives is a sort of industry adjunct. Grid Alternatives effectively provides training for workers who will go on to become installers for big firms like SolarCity. “And mostly we’re working with clients that the big solar companies don’t want, because they don’t have a lot of money,” Mackie said.
The business is difficult to scale; over the past decade, Grid Alternatives has installed about 6,000 systems with a combined capacity of 20.5 megawatts. This year, it plans to install about 1,300—about four per day. But it’s very much a custom, retail business—not a wholesale one. It can be difficult to find candidates. Potential customers must generally own their homes while earning substantially less than their region’s median wage and have unshaded roofs that can support panels.
While the number may be small, Grid Alternatives represents an important contribution. “The solar industry started at the top of the pyramid, serving wealthy environmentalists, and third-party ownership has pushed it down toward the middle class,” said Mackie. “We’ve started at the bottom of the pyramid and are pushing up.”
The best thing about Daytona is that it is basically a NASCAR owned track. Or considered the 1st nascar track. (1st after the beach)
I've heard that they have electric car chargers at the main offices of NASCAR....
2 good videos from Mary Powell of Green Mountain Power
Real Utility Leadership on Rooftop Solar: Green Mountain Power's Unique Story
How solar is turning American energy on its head
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2015/1112/How-solar-is-turning-American-energy-on-its-head
It's early days, but solar power is beginning to show how it could recast the entire American power grid. Some power companies are worried. But in Vermont, they're giddy with excitement.
COLCHESTER AND RUTLAND, VT. — At first glance, Baxter Street seems an unlikely place for an energy revolution. The street runs through an older, working-class neighborhood in Rutland, Vt., lined with one and two-story frame houses with postage-stamp front lawns and unpaved driveways.
At No. 60, the clues border on subtle: a low-profile heat pump nestled against the side of the 110-year-old house and solar panels hugging the roof of a detached garage set well back from the street.
But it is here that Vermont's largest utility, Green Mountain Power, is collaborating with the Borkowski family to turn the power industry on its head.
The property’s three-week energy makeover in March 2014 lowered energy bills for the Borkowskis from the start. This year, the electric bills for Sara and Mark Borkowski, their two young daughters, and a pair of indoor rabbits have run negative since April as they sell excess power back to the grid. This builds credits they will use to offset their winter electric bills.
Green Mountain Power is fine with that. In fact, to the utility company, No. 60 Baxter Street is all about figuring out how it will adapt in a world where solar-consuming customers could undermine the industry’s business model.
If customers don’t need as much electricity from power companies, after all, how do those companies survive?
That future isn’t here yet. The number of customers like the Borkowskis is growing, but small. Still, they are beginning to reveal the outlines of a new energy future, where an increasing number of customers would no longer be merely using a utility's electricity but helping to supply it, potentially allowing them to move off the grid entirely.
For utilities, the seismic question is how to respond. Some are trying to slow down the transition, seeing in the rise of solar panels on the roofs of homes and businesses an existential threat. But here in Vermont, Green Mountain is attempting to carve out a more proactivevision of the future where the line between customer and power provider blurs by mutual consent.
“We are trying to accelerate the adoption of disruption,” says Mary Powell, the utility's president and chief executive officer.
In recent years, that disruption has been accelerating all on its own. Historically, utilities have built large power plants and distribution facilities and delivered electricity to customers. But a range of new energy technologies has naturally led homes and businesses toward becoming mini generating stations, says James Mandell, an analyst with the Rocky Mountain Institute, a renewable-energy think tank in Snowmass, Colo.
“People are buying smart appliances, like a Nest thermostat, because they like them. They lower their costs and add convenience,” Dr. Mandell says. “Increasingly, we’re going to see customers want a battery [backup for homes] because it improves the power quality and protects them from outages. We’ve already seen customers wanting solar for a lot of the same reasons. If you combine solar, batteries, and some of these smart controls, you have customers that can supply a lot of their own needs.”
As a result, many customers large and small will draw less electricity from large power plants – facilities utilities have paid a lot of money to build and operate. By 2020, the falling costs of panels and related installation expenses are expected to bring the price of solar energy “to within striking distance” of new construction for tradition fossil-fuel plants and for nuclear plants, according to an analysis by researchers with McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm.
Traditional utilities might no longer be a customer’s most economical choice for getting electricity.
Not all power companies are happy about this.
Different utilities, different responses
In 2013, Arizona allowed its largest utility to charge customers with solar panels a monthly fee, based on the amount of electricity the panels produce. The more electricity a rooftop generates, the higher the fee. This year, the utility – Arizona Public Services Company – has asked regulators to raise the fee.
Utilities around the country are making similar requests. The idea is to make solar “investments uneconomic for the customers,” says Mandell.
Utilities see the issue differently. They argue that financial incentives adopted to help states meet clean-energy goals are overpaying customers for the solar-generated electricity they sell back to utilities.
The result is a situation that “is patently unfair,” says David Owens, an executive vice president with the Edison Electric Institute, a utility trade association in Washington.
Some 60 percent of the price per kilowatt-hour of electricity comes from infrastructure costs. During periods when solar customers paying nothing to the company, they’re essentially getting access to the power grid without having to bear any of the costs of maintaining it.
These customers “make no contribution toward the fixed costs of providing electricity,” Mr. Owens says.
Instead, he says utilities should be paying for customers’ surplus power at rates comparable to what utilities pay for fuel – the other 40 percent of the price per kilowatt-hour.
In San Antonio, for instance, the largest municipally-owned utility in the country unveiled a pilot project in July that involves a 1.2 megawatt community solar farm. The idea is to make solar more widely available, since not everyone has a good location or enough money for their own panels. Homeowners, businesses, or nonprofit groups can buy one panel at the solar farm or enough to meet all their energy needs. The electricity would feed into the grid and the purchasers would earn credits on their bills.
Two months later, the utility announced a partnership with a Texas company to install and maintain solar panels on roofs at no charge to building owners. San Antonio buys the electricity the panels produce, and the building owners receive a fixed-rate credit for every kilowatt-hour the panels produce. In effect, the city is paying to rent the roof.
The goal is to turn what could be a potential “death spiral” for utilities into an opportunity, and other states regulators from California to New York are grappling with how to do it.
Advocates for solar power argue that many utilities are thinking too narrowly about the value it can provide. For example, it can help utilities buy less power during midday hours, when electricity is most expensive. Peak hours for prices also are peak generating hours for solar panels.
In addition, as batteries become more affordable, customers will help utilities by more effectively managing when they draw power from the grid or pump power into it, says Sean Gallagher, vice-president of state affairs for the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade organization in Washington.
“Solar can actually provide value to the grid that's not being utilized right now,” he adds. “If you properly account for the values that solar customers provide to the grid, as well as the costs, in most cases in most states approximate or outweigh the costs to the utility.”
The Borkowskis' $15,000 revolution
In Rutland, Green Mountain Power is following multiple paths to accelerate disruption. One of them led to Ms. and Mr. Borkowski.
Baxter Street was just the setting the utility wanted as the firstof 100 projects around Vermont to demonstrate that that energy efficiency and home-produced electricity could save money.
Within three weeks, contractors had rewired the house, thoroughly insulated it, installed a heat pump on the first and second floors for much of the heating and cooling, added a smart thermostat for controlling temperatures, and installed a 3.3-kilowatt solar array on the garage.
In a keep-your-head-bowed basement (Vermont's senior US senator, Patrick Leahy, bonked his head here during a visit), Mark points to a furnace that uses electrodes to heat bricks that gradually release the warmth to the rest of the house. The furnace only kicks in when it's too cold outside for the heat pumps upstairs to warm the rooms.
The family borrowed $15,000 to pay for the work, while Green Mountain Power “put some equity into the project” as well, Sara says.
Mark drives a school bus and Sara is a special-ed teacher. The loan amount initially gave them pause. But they went for it anyway, Mark says.
Mark and Sara have been repaying the loan via their utility bill. Prior to the makeover, and with the extra expense of an oil furnace providing heat, the electric bill averaged more than $200 a month, Sara says.
Since the makeover, the family has been paying less than that, even with the $159 per month payment on the loan. The credits for electricity from the solar panels mean that the total bill from Green Mountain Power has run less than $159 most months, Sara says.
Across town, the utility has installed a 2.5-megawatt solar farm atop an old landfill next to the high school. It's tied to the grid in such a way that the utility can send the electricity to a small area around the high school – including the city’s emergency shelter – after a natural disaster. The project shows how solar can create resiliency in the grid, providing power to certain key areas even when traditional sources are down.
Other utilities are following more traditional paths, relying on more centralized, large-scale generating facilities, even though they use renewable sources of electricity.
A radical idea: Let the customer choose
The entire industry is feeling its way through the transition. It's a period of experimentation, notes Seth Blumstack, an assistant professor in Pennsylvania State University's department of energy and mineral engineering.
Although large utilities are generating increasing amounts of electricity via renewables, including solar energy, much of the innovation is likely to come from smaller utilities where the cost of electricity is relatively high. It also will come from areas where severe weather has uncovered vulnerabilities to the grid, Dr. Blumstack says.
Green Mountain Power's effort represents a bit of both. And yet, its efforts, too, represent an experiment, says Kirk Shields, Green Mountain Power's director of development and risk.
“Even as an electric utility, we're not all that familiar” with hands-on operations of a system that blends community and individual sources of electricity with the larger grid, he says.
“We understand the concept, but how it applies and how you manage all of these disparate local, small resources and how you integrate them into the grid and control them? We struggle with the same issues the big utilities do, because it's a paradigm shift,” he says.
Still, he says, “this stuff is getting cheap and the distribution channels are so wide-open now that we want to be one of the best choices customers have.”
Those choices still include a more-traditional relationship with customers who merely want to come in and turn on the lights, says Ms. Powell, Green Mountain’s president.
It’s a matter of giving customers what they want, she adds, even if that complicates life for utilities.
“It's a messy, interesting, fascinating time,” she says. “There's come cool stuff happening, but I would characterize most of it as professional-playground-level investments versus companies really doubling down and saying: I want to be an innovator of this future.”
Solar seems to be invading "foreign" territory. (Red states with coal)
Utah.
Utah ranks No. 1 in clean energy job creation
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865641396/Utah-ranks-No-1-in-clean-energy-job-creation.html?pg=all
NASCAR Land!
7,186 solar panels to power part of Daytona speedway
http://mynews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/sports/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2015/11/12/daytona_speedway_solar_panel_project.html
Alabama.
Construction to Begin on Alabama’s First Utility Scale Solar Project
http://www.pvsolarreport.com/construction-to-begin-on-alabamas-first-utility-scale-solar-project/
Virginia
Appalachian Power Seeks Solar Energy Proposals In Virginia
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/appalachian-power-seeks-solar-energy-proposals-in-virginia-300177617.html
Solar panels proposed in council
Solar panels — rather than factories or corporate offices — eventually may occupy two Martinsville locations now being marketed to prospective businesses and industries. The city would buy the power that the panels generate. A power purchase agreement ...
South Carolina
First Solar Lease for Businesses in South Carolina
http://www.solarnovus.com/first-solar-lease-for-businesses-in-south-carolina_N9455.html
Mississippi
New solar energy systems coming to Mississippi
http://www.hydrogenfuelnews.com/new-solar-energy-systems-coming-to-mississippi/8525833/
SUNE down to $5 eeeeew!
With them talking about cutting Solar Subsidies, Coal fans better watch out!
Rich nations look to cut billions from coal subsidies
by Pilita Clark
The coal industry is facing a fresh onslaught as rich nations consider a bold plan to scale back the billions of dollars of support they pour into coal power plants worldwide.
Documents seen by the Financial Times show the US has struck a deal with Japan that would rein in export credit agency financing for coal, a leading source of the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change.
The proposal will be debated at a meeting in Paris next week of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which represents 34 mainly rich countries.
"It's a huge breakthrough," said one person familiar with the talks. If agreed by other countries, it would probably make the "vast majority" of about 1,000 planned coal plants ineligible for export credit agency backing, he said.
In a sign of the difficulties of securing approval, Australia and South Korea, both home to large coal companies, have produced alternative proposals that would not go as far as the US-Japan plan.
Jake Schmidt of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a US environmental group, described the Canberra/Seoul proposal as "a terrible sign" from countries that claim they want to deal with climate change.
"They are trying to stop the simplest way to deal with this problem, which is to minimise the public finance going to coal power plants," Mr Schmidt said.
EU countries are still working on their response to the competing proposals, according to people close to the discussions. The OECD secretariat has been hosting closed-door meetings for the past year in an effort to finalise common rules on restricting export agency coal financing. Next week's meeting is seen as the last chance of reaching a deal.
The US and some EU countries have been pushing for a deal to be sealed before delegates from nearly 200 nations meet in December in Paris to finalise a new UN climate change agreement.
Export credit agencies help companies do more business abroad in industries ranging from aerospace to energy, providing government-backed loans and other financial support for projects.
It is estimated that agencies from OECD countries channelled $34bn to coal power plants between 2007 and 2014, making these bodies a prominent target as climate change activists press for fossil fuel use to be phased out.
A number of large investors have already agreed to cut their holdings in coal companies over the past year.
But if OECD countries were to curb their export financing support for coal power plants it would add to the woes of an industry suffering from a glut in supply that has driven coal prices sharply down over the past four years.
The US and the UK have already agreed to rules limiting public financing abroad for coal-fired power plants.
Efforts to extend such rules in the OECD negotiations were initially hampered by opposition from Japan, the world's top public financer of overseas coal projects, according to a June report by environmental advocacy groups.
The compromise deal reached last month between the US and Japan would still allow export financing for the most efficient types of coal power plants, but restrict support for many dirtier, less efficient units. These rules would be reviewed from 2019, with the aim of phasing down support further.
The plans from Australia and South Korea would continue to allow export financing for some of the projects the US-Japan plan would rule out.
In the papers, Seoul says it shares the view that coal power plants need to be reduced to counter climate change, but there should be more consideration for the energy welfare of developing nations.
South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy declined to comment. Greg Hunt, Australia's environment minister, declined to discuss Australia's specific position on the issue but said Canberra was not trying to obstruct a deal at the OECD talks.
Financial Times
Read more: http://www.afr.com/news/world/rich-nations-look-to-cut-billions-from-coal-subsidies-20151109-gkuxbb#ixzz3r2m72riX
Follow us: @FinancialReview on Twitter | financialreview on Facebook
That is why I have a few bucks in CABN for graphene....
Real cheap now.........
And we also have to keep an eye out for developments that will beat solar.
$38M company loses $2 BILLION in the Quarter. It's UP $10%
Go figure! (ACI)
I wouldn't complain if it went to $10 tomorrow...