Opinion piece by David Clarke. For more information see ramblingsdc.net There are some selfish reasons to leave the electricity grid, and a very good altruistic reason to stay connected. Recently there has been much speculation about the option of going off-grid; … Continue reading Opinion: Off-grid, or not?
This article was originally posted at Clean Technica. View the original post here. Solar and wind energy sector has a bumper output in Spain last month as the two technologies fulfilled more than a third of the country’s total electricity … Continue reading 38% Of Spain’s July Electricity Demand Was Met By Wind and Solar Power
This article was originally posted at Climate Progress. View the original post here. To hear its critics tell it, Germany’s ambitious push to switch over to renewable energy has delivered an electrical grid that’s capricious, unreliable, and prone to blackouts. … Continue reading Germany Added A Lot Of Wind And Solar Power, And Its Electric Grid Became More Reliable
This article originally posted at Climate Spectator. View the original article here. The continued decline in demand for electricity in Australia is great news for our transition towards a decarbonised economy. This is a ideal opportunity to retire our old, … Continue reading A window opens to dump dirty generators
This article originally posted at The Conversation. View the original post here.
In a recent article on The Conversation, University of Melbourne Professor Emeritus Frank Larkins wrote that Australia’s targets to increase renewable energy will make electricity more expensive, thanks to problems with consistency and storage.
But Professor Larkins is several years behind developments in renewable energy and its integration into electricity grids. In fact, we already have technically feasible scenarios to run the Australian electricity industry on 100% renewable energy — without significantly affecting supply. Continue reading “Renewable energy is ready to supply all of Australia’s electricity”
This article originally posted at TckTckTck. The original can be viewed here. Onshore wind is now the cheapest form of new electricity generation in Denmark, undercutting coal power, according to the government’s energy agency. New analysis shows that onshore wind plants … Continue reading Wind declared cheapest energy source in Denmark
This article was originally posted at The Conversation. View the original post here. It’s hard to predict which of Australia’s climate policies will survive, or perhaps even thrive, in the current parliament. But our research suggests that if the Abbott … Continue reading Why the renewable target should be ramped up, not cut
Published by ClimateProgress. View original article.
CREDIT: SHUTTERSTOCKSolar energy is booming across the U.S., with capacity up an astounding 418 percent in the last four years alone, according to data released this week by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Residential and commercial rooftop solar, along with other forms of photovoltaic (PV), have grown steadily over the past four years, specifically those that are net-metered. When customers install their own solar panels in states with a net metering policy, they are compensated for the excess electricity they send back to the grid. According to the EIA, these net metered applications have increased every year by approximately 1,100 MW since 2010. California currently has the largest net metered solar capacity with 38 percent of the nation’s total. Not far behind are New Jersey and Massachusetts, which together represent 21 percent of the total capacity in the U.S. Continue reading “U.S. Solar Capacity Grew 418 Percent In The Last Four Years”
Published by Renewables International. View original article
A recent publication by Fraunhofer ISE shows how little wind and solar power would need to be stored at various levels of grid penetration. We are years away from such situations. Before we need power storage, we will need flexible backup capacity. In fact, that’s what we need already.
For my international audience, I should probably point out that Fraunhofer is not a single institute, but a “research society.” The other study I have been talking about this week was done by Fraunhofer IWES of Kassel. Today, I focus on a paper published in November by researchers at Fraunhofer ISE of Freiburg.
The researchers took a look at how much of Germany’s current installed capacity is must-run, meaning that the power plants technically cannot be ramped down any further. While prices on the power exchange plummet as soon as conventional power generation dips below 25 GW, the researchers estimate that the technical lower limit is 20 GW. Now take a look at this chart: Continue reading “Flexible backup capacity is better option; Need for power storage overstated”
Originally posted at Wind Power Monthly. View the original post here. KEY POINTS Back-up is always provided for all power plants on a system, with or without wind There is no need to build back-up for wind; existing power plants … Continue reading Power system reserve – No need to build wind back-up
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