Renewable Energy – What Education Is Required?

March 10, 2010

PhotobucketThe producers of a television show called “Going Green” interviewed me yesterday to determine if they would like to feature me on an upcoming program. As part of the conversation, the associate producer asked me what areas of education are most required to get people up to speed in this area.

“It depends on what ‘people’ you mean,” I explained. “There are several diffferent constituencies that have markedly different needs with respect to knowledge.”

In discussing renewables, I’m amazed how people conflate the many different groups (consumers, corporations, utilities, government agencies, etc.) that, in fact, have completely dissimilar needs for information.  I gave the interviewer a few good examples off the top of my head, but after I hung up the phone, I realized that it might be a good idea to list the various segments and the topics which, in an ideal world, each would understand.  Here’s the list I put together:

Consumers

  • “Electric vehicle 101.” Pure EVs vs. plug-in hybrids. Trade-offs between EVs and internal combustion engines, for a each family’s unique driving habits. Considering NEVs (neighborhood EV), given the local driving conditions and traffic laws. State and federal incentives.
  • Recycling
  • Energy-efficient lighting, HVAC, and appliances

Corporate America

  • Intelligent building management. Light harvesting, integrated energy management.
  • Demand response, i.e., managing consumption of electricity in response to supply conditions, e.g., reducing consumption at critical times or in response to market prices
  • Incentives for carpooling and mass transit
  • E-commuting
  • High-efficiency vehicles (preferably electric transportation) on campus and in corporate fleets

Government Policy Makers

  • MSEV (medium-speed EVs) laws that foster use
  • Encouraging mass transit, bicycling, etc.
  • Eco-friendly community planning
  • Making use of the research performed by NGOs (e.g., World Resources Institute, Wilderness Society, etc.)
  • Incentives to consumers and businesses to reduce carbon footprint
  • Creating corridors for power transmission, using eminent domain law as necessary
  • Allocating stimulus money to organizations with demonstrable capability to deliver transformative change in energy generation and consumption
  • Stipulations to power utilities to increase purchase of energy from renewable sources
  • CAFE standards that drive increases in overall fuel efficiency
  • Intelligent placement of charging stations
  • Alternative fuelled vehicles in the government fleets
  • Laws mandating sustainable agricultural practices
  • “Internalizing the externalities,” i.e., forcing everyone to pay the complete costs of generating and consuming energy
  • Changing subsidies to create a level playing field for renewable energy

Power Utilities

  • Smart grid, i.e., delivering electricity from suppliers to consumers using two-way digital technology
  • Time of use metering, encouraging off-peak consumption (e.g., charging EVs at night)
  • Building out the grid in sync with increased demand for electric transportation
  • Efficient, long-distance power transmission using HVDC (high-voltage direct current)
  • Vehicle-to-grid (V2G), using energy stored in EV batteries to enhance delivery of electric power

Renewable Energy and Electric Transportation Companies

  • Making use of market research to gauge demand, establish the most appeal product/service features, set maximum set price points, develop effective positioning and branding, etc.
  • Writing clear and compelling business plans
  • Raising investment capital
  • Protecting intellectual property
  • Using public relations to generate large volumes of positive publicity

It sure will be a great day on Planet Earth when the majority of folks at all of these levels get their wits wrapped around each of the major issues.

By Craig Shields | Posted in Renewables - Business | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

Hybrid of Public/Private Financing for Renewables

March 8, 2010

PhotobucketI wrote not too long ago about the huge, long-term role that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), as part of the Department of Energy, plays in supporting the development of clean energy technologies.  Their work with solar energy leader Solyndra is a perfect example of a case in which this public support made it possible for a private company to raise critically important addition capital, by preventing their initial private investors from getting scared away.  At a certain point, new (very large) rounds of cash were required to get the company to its next level.   As I recall, NREL supported this effort to the tune of over $700 million — and this robust commitment showed investors that they weren’t alone in their belief that the company was on the right track. 

But not every company that asks for money receives any at all — let alone $700 million.  So exactly how does this process work?  How fair is it? What criteria are most important?  What types of companies are favored over others, and why?  Are more mature renewables technologies, like photovoltaics (in which Solyndra plays), favored over newer ideas?  (Solyndra has a very well proven breakthrough in deployment of CIGS (copper indium gallium (di) selenide), generating a significant leap in PV efficiencies and reduction in costs).

Unfortunately, it’s not clear.  I suppose it’s not supposed to be.  Take solar thermal/CSP (concentrated solar power) as an example of a new technology.  Technologies like PV and wind have a several-decade head-start over CSP.  When I interviewed industry leader Ausra’s founder Dr. David Mills for my book on renewables, he told me that Ausra had gotten to the second round in one of these mega-contests in which the DoE selects its favorites to back, but that they didn’t make the finals.  When I asked if he resented their decision, he — perhaps simply out of good sportsmanship and professional courtesy — said that he didn’t, and told me that he’ll simply try again another time.

I can’t count all the people who have asked us for our insights at 2GreenEnergy on this matter — and I regret that all I can turn up are anecdotal incidents like these.  I ask readers to share their own experiences with this process so that all my learn.  Thanks.

By Craig Shields | Posted in Renewables - Business | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (4)

Financing Large Renewables Projects

February 22, 2010

PhotobucketI was on a conference call this morning with people in Los Angeles, New York, Dublin, London, and Istanbul, trying to raise money for a large run-of-river hydrokinetics project in Turkey.  I’d have to go back a long way to recall a conversation representing that many time zones.

What I find noteworthy here are two things:

1) Sadly, most of the really important renewables projects are happening outside the US. I’m reminded of this constantly – normally accompanied by a warning that the US really cannot afford to take a backseat in terms of the development and implementation of alternatives to fossil fuels. We’ve done a good job in information and communication technologies, with companies like Microsoft, Google, Oracle, etc., but we need to be equally aggressive – and ultimately successful — in leading the way to clean energy.

Renewable energy legend Bill Paul, who has joined us here at 2GreenEnergy as a financial writer, points out the importance of the European, Asian — even African markets virtually every time we speak.  Bill keeps his finger on the pulse of 75 different sources of information every single day — many of which feature projects in some fairly exotic places.  When we first met over lunch, he mentioned that it’s likely the Sahara will soon be the site of enormous amounts of solar thermal, providing power for much of Europe, and that this heightens the importance of following the stock exchanges in Tripoli and Algiers.  Wow – that’s a lot of information to juggle. 

2) The financial mechanics behind deals of this size (the project we discussed this morning is 109 million Euros) are incredibly complicated. I was so lost on this call I didn’t know which end was up. Fortunately, I was able to introduce the parties, mute the phone, sip my coffee, and listen quietly until it was time to thank everyone for participating and hang up. I’m blessed to be associated with people 10 times better at the financial side of this than I’ll ever be.

Calls like this remind me of the first video I made when we started this site, where I asked: “What’s causing the rapid migration to renewables? It’s business. The world is figuring out that there are enormous profits to be realized from pushing toward clean energy.”

By Craig Shields | Posted in Renewables - Business | Tagged , | Comments (6)

Nuclear Power

February 18, 2010

PhotobucketA couple of readers have criticized me for not being specific in my rants on nuclear energy. It’s true that I do not perform independent research — and I suppose I can be taken to task for that.  But I do read a fair amount of others’ writing, and I try to be as specific as possible in supporting my beliefs. E.g., take my post on the Florida utility group FPL, in which I wrote the following. That was fairly specific, wasn’t it?

The actual cost of building these plants is almost never anywhere near the projected budget. Readers may want to Google “nuclear plant cost overrun,” and read a few of the 54,700 articles they’ll find on the subject. Here’s one that refers to a certain nuclear project as “satanic,” based on the actual amount of the overrun ($6.66 billion). The Florida utility, FPL Group, now estimates the cost of building a new nuclear power plant at over $9 billion, nearly double their previous estimate.

By Craig Shields | Posted in Renewables - Business | Tagged | Comments (0)

Sustainable Business and 2GreenEnergy

February 15, 2010

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I made another video using Windows Movie Maker just now, to promote our relationship with SustainableBusiness.com.   I take a certain joy in making this videos. I know I’m not Steven Spielberg in film-making, nor James Earl Jones in voice-overs — but it really is fun trying to get this done with reasonably good delivery and no major screw-ups.

I’ve enjoyed getting to know Rona Fried and working with her to co-promote sustainable living products and services. She’s extremely bright, as that Ph.D. after her name suggests, but she’s also very dedicated to the cause. Her website has been a beacon of commitment to environmentalism for 14 years. Impressive stuff.

By Craig Shields | Posted in Renewables - Business | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Energy Storage for Power Grids – by Guest Blogger Anil – Continued

February 10, 2010

PhotobucketAs promised, here is a description of various technologies and will they be able to support the objective.

Compressed Air

Compressed air is an old technology which consumes off peak energy from a power plant or renewable energy to run air compressors. The air compressor pumps-in air into an underground container where it is stored under pressure. In order to generate electricity, the air is released and it powers a turbine. The advantage of underground compressed air storage is that it can be cheaper than batteries and can store many hours worth of energy.

Whether this option would be able to provide full fledged support for energy remains a question. There are only limited compressed air energy storage projects in the world, including one in Alabama and Germany. This alone clarifies that this way of energy storage is not efficient enough or cannot work for a large project.

Even though it is one of the lowest cost and simplest way to energy storage, there are certain concerns about this technology, as pumping compressed air into underground container has certain environmental and safety concerns due to which not many companies are showing interest in this form of energy storage.

Pumped Water

It is the one of the most common energy storage technology used worldwide. This technology makes use of the potential energy of water to spin a turbine to generate electricity. There are about 90 GW of pumped storages in operation, which contribute about 3 percent of worldwide power generation capacity.

If designed efficiently, they are cost effective in long run and hence widespread especially at high altitude geographies such as hills or plateaus. Moreover, it is a way of power generation and storage with the convenience to generate electricity as and when required. This can be compared with modern hydro power plants.

Its use is limited by geography and other availability of adequate amount of water. When people are having less water to drink, use of recycled water for such projects could be a good option.

Ultra Capacitors

Capacitors have been used to store and produce quick energy, rather than for continued existence, the designers need to be overcome the low discharge times of capacitors. There had been some of the new ultra-capacitors which are getting better in the area of storage but it will take some time before this technology becomes main stream of energy storage.

Flywheels

Flywheels are large discs that function on the principle of inertia. They spin in a vacuum and are used as backup power for an uninterrupted power supply (UPS). Flywheels have to face some bottlenecks in reaching mainstream commercialization including technology development, difficulty finding the right market and competition with batteries and other modes of energy storage. Still, flywheels are getting more attention because they are a non-polluting replacement to the natural-gas plants now used to smooth out short-term fluctuations in grid frequency.

Sodium Sulfur (NAS) Batteries

Sodium Sulfur or “NAS” batteries use simple ingredients — liquid sulfur and salt — and have been used in Japan’s power grid for years. There are over 190 sites and 270 MW of stored energy from NAS batteries in Japan. The technology has found a champion in GE which has over 30 patents in this field. The company plans to manufacture sodium based batteries at its plant. However, usage of sulfur in these batteries has raised a concern as the sulfur stored in the battery explodes when it comes in contact with water.

Flow Batteries

Flow batteries are an old technology that helps to convert chemical energy into electricity. Major advantage of a flow battery is the fast recharge time. The technology is an old one but some entrepreneurs see it as an opportunity. Deeya Energy is an example of a new flow battery startup that recently received funding from DOE.

Fuel cells are the best examples of Flow batteries. Though we are yet unable to take the maximum advantage of Fuel cells, they may become good option for energy storage provided designers and engineers are able to overcome its limitations.

Lead Acid Batteries

Lead acid batteries are a mature form of batteries for energy storage. The technology is relatively cheap and widely available. But the chemistry has its barriers, including lower energy density and heavier weight and often high maintenance.

Lithium ion Batteries

It is one of the most advanced forms of batteries. In comparison with the prevalent lead acid technology, lithium allows for faster charging, lighter weight, and higher energy density and is considered to be the moneymaker of the world battery materials market for years to come. But low comparative availability of lithium and expected rising demands due to use in electric cars have forced manufacturers to look for other options like hydrogen cells and recycling of older lithium ion cells to procure lithium.

According to some reports, utilities will need to generate about 40 GW of energy by 2030. In order to provide power to customers, a total investment of as much as US$2 trillion into transmission and distribution networks will be required. This is just the additional power. There will be even more investment in the software, hardware, and wireless networks to facilitate the power grid to manage all the additional capacity.

Generally speaking, energy storage is economical when the marginal cost of electricity generation becomes more than the costs of storing and retrieving the energy plus the price of energy lost in the process. The designers and manufacturers will have to keep in mind how to get the economies of scale with their way of storage of electricity.
It is important to see under the envelope of smart grid projects. The government is distributing the billions in stimulus funds for the project but the entire issue has over-shadowed the need of a smart grid. Do we really need a smart grid?

Is the current grid which has been operating for more than 100 years so dumb to be replaced without being given a fair chance of survival? Let’s think about it!

By Anil | Posted in Renewables - Business | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Energy Storage for Power Grids – by Guest Blogger Anil

February 9, 2010

PhotobucketThe Obama administration declared year 2009 as the one dedicated to ‘Smart Grids.’ There has been lot of hue and cry turning the electrical grids into a modern network that runs with the help of microprocessors and software to work efficiently. While almost every product mankind is using has undergone a technological overhaul, electric grids continue to be based on a more than 100 year old technology. Energy experts claim that substantial energy saving can be achieved if customers have micro level details about the energy consumption. Add to it, renewable energy sources can also provide additional energy to the grid.

The Department of Energy (DOE) awarded millions in stimulus funds to companies to demonstrate ‘smart’ electric grid systems and energy storage projects. DOE is encouraging battery makers among other players to demonstrate that power grids may store energy for the ‘right’ time.

Within the discussion about Smart Grid, energy storage is often ignored. Recently, in a conference, the issue came up that finding entrepreneurs with lasting focus and innovative ideas in grid energy storage is a difficult task. A small number of battery makers in US have been emphasizing on the market of electric and hybrid vehicles. The energy storage for grids has been an issue and by deriving idea from these battery makers in US, it was decided that stimulus funds should be given to battery makers in a hope to find the solution for energy storage for grids as well.

This leads to the perennial question – is installing batteries a feasible solution for storing energy at grid scale? While the technology might work effectively in some cases including electric and hybrid vehicles, experts point that grid scale energy storage is a different ballgame with requirements of high energy density of the storage material.

DOE has announced US$620 million in stimulus funding for 32 smart grid programs, which will be coupled with another US$1 billion in private money. A total of US$770 million from government and industry sources in the next few years will go to energy storage, giving a number of storage technologies a chance to prove their worth.

Out of the total 32 projects, 16 are related to demonstration of energy storage technologies and to add digital intelligence to the grid that will help to integrate various power grids and storages. It is surprising that the list of various energy storage technologies includes compressed air and flow batteries which had been rarely discussed. It is unlikely that all the DOE-aided projects will prove to be commercially viable. A number of start-ups are developing technologies they hope can address a specific storage application.

Tomorrow, I’ll post something to describe various technologies and offer my opinion on their ability to support the objective.

By Anil | Posted in Renewables - Business | Tagged , | Comment (1)