Solar energy led new installations in October 2013

Solar-powered projects led new electric generation capacity installed in October 2013.  According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's October 2013 Energy Infrastructure Update, most of the electric generation placed in service in October relies on solar energy technologies.  Developers placed 504 megawatts of solar capacity online in October, out of 699 megawatts of total new capacity for the month.  Solar also led the month in terms of the number of projects installed, accounting for 12 of 21 projects.

Solar photovoltaic panels line the roof of the visitor center at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in Massachusetts.

The solar energy projects placed in service last month vary widely in scale and in technology.  The largest, Abengoa SA's Solana Generating Station in Arizona, generates up to 280 megawatts of power using a thermal concentrating solar power technology.  2,700 parabolic trough mirrors focus the sun's rays on a pipe containing a synthetic oil.  This heat transfer fluid can reach 735 degrees Fahrenheit, and is sent to boilers where it produces steam from water.  The steam turns turbines attached to generators, much as in a conventional thermal power plant.  The Solana plant also features energy storage in the form of molten salt tanks that can enable it to generate electricity for up to 6 hours after sunset.

On the other end of the spectrum, Constellation Solar New York LLC placed its 2 MW Owens Corning Delmar Solar photovoltaic project online.  The project, located at an Owens Corning factory in Delmar, New York, consists of about 9,000 ground-mounted, photovoltaic panels covering over 9 acres.  Power produced by the project is sold to Owens Corning under a long-term power purchase agreement for use at the thermal and acoustical insulation factory; the project is expected to cover about 6 percent of the plant's annual electricity need.

While the use of solar energy is increasing rapidly, it remains a relatively small component of the nation's overall energy mix.  Solar powered projects account for 6.79 gigawatts of capacity, just 0.59% of the 1,158 gigawatts of existing electric generation capacity nationwide.  Nevertheless, the relatively small market penetration of solar technologies suggests that rapid growth may continue for the near term.

UAE opens first 100 MW solar project

The United Arab Emirates has recognized the start-up of its largest solar energy project to date.

The Shams 1 solar plant generates of electricity by concentrating solar thermal energy to vaporize a fluid into steam, which in turn spins a turbine.  Shams 1 can produce up to 100 megawatts of power, making the project the world's largest concentrating solar power projects.

Concentrating solar power, or CSP projects, use mirrors to heat a working fluid and ultimately to produce steam.  Shams 1 uses parabolic trough mirrors to focus the sun's energy on pipes full of a working fluid, while other concentrating solar projects focus mirrors on a central tower containing the working fluid.  That working fluid's heat is then exchanged into water, which vaporizes into superheated steam.  It is this steam that spins the turbine attached to an electric generator.  Concentrating solar thermal projects differ from those using photovoltaic technology, in which the sun's energy is converted into direct current electricity using specialized semiconductors.

Shams 1 was developed by Shams Power Company PJSC, a special purpose vehicle owned 60% by UAE-owned Masdar and 40% by the Total Abengoa Solar Emirates Investment Company, a vehicle in turn jointly owned by Total (50%) and Abengoa (50%).  These companies are said to have invested $600 million in building Shams 1.

With its commissioning, Shams 1 becomes the first utility-scale renewable power project in the UAE.  Other first and "biggests" include the largest financing transaction for a solar power project (US$600 million) the largest operating single pure concentrating solar plant in the world. 

UAE is blessed with energy resources.  For years, interest has focused on its oil and gas production.  Shams 1 is a small step toward resource diversification.  Will UAE continue to invest in alternative and renewable energy?

EIA data on electricity generator costs

What does it cost to build a new power plant?  The answer depends on the technology used and other factors - but the U.S. Energy Information Administration publishes a useful reference presenting its analysis of the so-called "overnight cost" of building new centralized electricity generation stations using a variety of technologies.

Each year, the EIA publishes an Annual Energy Outlook containing projections for the upcoming year.  This outlook considers a variety of potential future outcomes based on factors like changes in the demand for electricity or variations in fuel pricing.

Underlying the outlook is a series of assumptions about factors including the demand for electricity.  A document released last week by EIA looks at a variety of new central station electricity generating technologies, and provides cost and performance characteristics for each.

One section of the data focuses on the total overnight cost of new projects initiated in 2011, defined as the overnight capital cost including contingency factors, excluding regional multipliers, learning effects, and interest.  According to EIA, advanced combustion turbines have the lowest overnight cost: $666 per kilowatt (in 2010 dollars).  By contrast, municipal solid waste - landfill gas facilities have the highest overnight cost: $8,233 per kW.  Other technologies fall between these two extremes.

Capital cost is only one piece of the puzzle; variable and fixed operations and maintenance costs also play a major role in the economics of electric generation.  According to EIA, variable O&M costs range from zero per megawatt-hour (for onshore and offshore wind, and solar thermal and photovoltaic) to $14.70 per MWh for a conventional combustion turbine.  Fixed O&M costs range from as low as $6.70 per kilowatt for advanced combustion turbines to as high as $378.76 per kW for MSW - landfill gas facilities.

Not every technology is appropriate for any given site, and economic considerations must be matched with environmental, siting, and other factors in choosing power plant technologies needed to meet consumer demand.  EIA's data is also aggregated and analytically-derived, meaning individual projects will likely have capital or O&M costs that deviate from these averages.  Nevertheless the EIA data illustrates some of the dynamics underlying our future energy mix - will we build facilities with low capital costs but higher O&M costs, more expensive facilities with lower O&M costs -- or can we find technologies that perform well in all categories?

California building energy efficiency rules

California regulators have issued strong new building energy efficiency standards.  Yesterday the California Energy Commission issued its so-called 2013 Building Energy Efficiency Standards, which require new buildings to meet significantly higher energy efficiency targets than under the previous rules issued in 2008.

According to the Commission, the 2013 Building Energy Efficiency Standards are 25 percent more efficient than the 2008 standards for residential construction and 30 percent better for nonresidential construction.  These standards apply to all new buildings other than hospitals, nursing homes, correctional centers, jails, and prisons.

New requirements for residential construction include insulating hot water pipes, tighter window performance standards, whole house fans to reduce evening air condition demand, and "solar ready roof" requirements to facilitate the installation of solar photovoltaic or solar thermal panels at a future date.  Commercial and other nonresidential standards are similar, including high-performance windows, efficient process equipment for grocery stores, advanced lighting controls, and cool roof technologies.

Designing and constructing buildings to these standards will increase the capital cost of development, but the Commission projects that the energy savings will outweigh these costs.  According to the Commission, the standards will increase the average cost of constructing a new home by $2,290 but will return more than $6,200 in energy savings over 30 years.

California's 2013 standards were supported by a broad coalition of interests, including construction trade associations, environmental activist groups, and gas and electric utilities.  While state-mandated building energy codes face opposition in some parts of the country, California is no stranger to mandatory building energy efficiency standards.  California first issued standards in 1977, following the 1976 enactment of the Warren-Alquist Act.  The California Energy Commission notes that since 1978, it has saved Californians $66 billion in electricity and natural gas costs through energy efficient building and appliance standards.

The new standards take effect on January 1, 2014.

Blythe solar project owner bankrupt

Solar energy project developer Solar Trust of America filed for bankruptcy this Monday, delivering a setback to what would be the largest solar energy project in the U.S.: the proposed 1,000 megawatt Blythe solar project under construction in the California desert.

Last April, I noted that the U.S. Department of Energy offered a conditional loan guarantee commitment to Solar Trust of America, a joint venture of German companies Solar Millennium AG and Ferrostaal Inc., for its solar energy project outside the city of Blythe, California, near the Arizona border.  DOE's conditional loan guarantee was offered to help finance the first two units at Blythe, which were originally planned to use parabolic trough mirrors to concentrate solar energy to boil water in a closed loop.  The resulting steam would spin turbine-generator sets to generate electricity. 

In August 2011, as photovoltaic cell prices fell, project partner Solar Millenium announced plans to convert the first 500 MW phase of the Blythe project to solar photovoltaics.  Photovoltaic technology appeared lower cost and more proven than the relatively complex solar thermal steam turbine generation originally conceived of for the project.  However, this shift in project design meant that the Blythe project could no longer take advantage of the federal loan guarantee.

Now, Solar Trust of America has filed for bankruptcy.  In its Chapter 11 filing, Solar Trust notes that its operations relied on funding from parent Solar Millenium - which filed for bankruptcy in December 2011, cutting off operating funds to Solar Trust.  Likewise, negotiations to sell the company and its projects failed when the prospective buyer, German firm solarhybrid, also went bankrupt.

What does the future hold for the Blythe project?  Along with the nearby Palen project (a two-phase, 500 MW solar thermal development, the Blythe project is Solar Trust's largest asset.  Whether Solar Trust or some successor picks up the pieces and moves forward remains to be seen, but presumably the investment to date in the Blythe project still retains significant value. 

June 6, 2011 - concentrating solar

Today, a quick look at concentrating solar power technology and its potential to power business and society.

When most people think about solar power, they picture solar photovoltaic panels: rectangular panels composed of a grid of individual solar PV cells, mounted perhaps on a building's roof or a nearby stand.  Photovoltaic cells convert solar energy into electricity, which flows through wires to power electric equipment.

Some people might also think of solar hot water panels, which function somewhat like a greenhouse and use solar energy to heat water circulating through a series of pipes or hoses.  The hot water can then be used for domestic hot water (perhaps after a secondary heating in a more traditional water heater) or for space heating.

Spread around houses or commercial buildings, these two solar energy conversion technologies - solar photovoltaics and solar thermal - have significant potential as distributed energy resources.

At the utility scale, it can be more cost-effective to concentrate the Sun's rays before converting the energy into a usable form, particularly if electricity is the desired end product.  In a concentrating solar application, a series of mirrors -- an array of either flat panels or trough-shaped parabolic mirrors -- can be used to concentrate the solar energy from a large surface area of the ground onto a relatively small area.  Concentrating solar technology works for both photovoltaics and for thermal systems.  In fact, given the larger amount of solar energy that is brought to bear through concentration, solar energy can be used to evaporate water into steam directly.  Concentrated solar energy can also be used to heat another medium, like molten sodium, which can in turn be used to evaporate water into steam.  The resulting steam can be used to spin turbine and generator sets to produce electricity.

Not all sites are well suited for concentrating solar, and today's technology continues to be refined through research and development.  The coming years may show whether photovoltaics or thermal installations prove more cost-effective.  For now, the race is on.

April 26, 2011 - Ivanpah solar deals with tortoise impacts

Two weeks ago, I noted Google's investment in the 392 MW Ivanpah solar project in California's Mojave Desert, and how it benefited from $1.6 billion in Department of Energy loan guarantees.  Developer BrightSource Energy started construction on Phase I of the Ivanpah project in October 2010, with two subsequent phases slated for development shortly thereafter.  BrightSource's business plan also includes an initial public offering, which led the company to file an S-1 securities registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Solar photovoltaic panels above Beaver Mountain ski area near Logan, Utah.

The Ivanpah project has now hit a speedbump in the form of a tortoise.  The desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) lives in the Mojave desert, including in the area where the Ivanpah project is proposed.  As a result, BrightSource has apparently stopped work on the construction of Ivanpah's second and third phases.

BrightSource noted in its S-1 filing that "in April 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, advised us that it will require the issuance of a revised biological opinion by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, or FWS, prior to providing permission to proceed with the construction of Ivanpah’s second and third phases".

The Fish and Wildlife Service is reportedly developing that opinion now, which should be finalized over the summer.

April 20, 2011 - DOE offers $2.1 billion loan guarantee for CA solar projects

In recent weeks, I've looked at the Department of Energy's loan programs, how DOE's loan programs have helped financed renewable and low-emission energy projects, and how DOE's loan guarantee program is at risk from being cut from the contentious federal budget.  I've also looked at California's recent enactment of a renewable portfolio standard requiring utilities to source 33% of their electricity from renewable power plants.

Seen earlier this year outside the Maine State House: Northeast Charter & Tour's "green machine", a 29-passenger hybrid coach.

Now, the Department of Energy has announced that it has offered a conditional commitment for $2.1 billion in loan guarantees for a pair of 242 MW concentrating solar thermal plants in California.  Solar Trust of America, a joint venture of German companies Solar Millennium AG and Ferrostaal Inc., has started construction on the projects outside the city of Blythe, California, near where the I-10 interstate highway crosses east into Arizona.  The ambitious Blythe solar project includes multiple phases that could add up to 1,000 MW of solar capacity.

DOE's conditional loan guarantee offer would help finance the first two units at Blythe, which would use parabolic trough mirrors to concentrate solar energy to boil water in a closed loop.  The resulting steam would spin turbine-generator sets to generate electricity.  This technology is a variant on that planned for the 392 MW Ivanpah solar project (which itself benefits from $1.6 billion in Department of Energy loan guarantees).  Helping complete the project's financial picture, So. Cal Edison Co. has entered into a PPA to buy the project's output.

April 12, 2011 - Google invests in Ivanpah solar

Google has committed $168 million in funding for what might be the world's largest solar project, proposed for construction in California's Mojave Desert.

Water spills over a dam near a paper mill on a river in Maine.

This story ties together several threads that run through this blog.  In February 2010, I wrote about the 392 MW Ivanpah solar project, and how it benefited from $1.6 billion in Department of Energy loan guarantees (the same program now at risk of being cut from the federal budget).  If built as proposed by developer Bright Source Energy, the large solar thermal project would the world's largest solar complex, featuring up to three thermal generation units.  Coincidentally (or not), that same day I followed up on an earlier look at Google's nascent interest in energy markets after it obtained market-based rate authority from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

In the ensuing months, Google has emerged as a sophisticated player in the energy world - investing in underwater transmission infrastructure to connect regions and support ocean energy projects, buying power directly from a wind project, investing in fuel cell research and development, and promoting real-time electricity pricing and programs.  Now, Google can add an investment in utility-scale solar thermal projects to its portfolio.

Meanwhile, the fate of DOE's loan program remains uncertain; reports suggest that the energy portion of the budget is still being finalized, with a vote possible as early as Thursday.

March 23, 2011 - energy grants for schools

Schools can participate in grant and incentive programs to help them develop energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.  The possibilities are as varied as are the programs, combining federal incentives, state-level programs in most areas, and even utility-specific efficiency programs.  If it puts together a winning application, a school could receive anything from technical assistance to cash to support these projects.

The University of New England in Biddeford, Maine, serves as an example. Last year, the University's Sustainability Office received a $50,000 grant from Efficiency Maine, Maine's one-stop shopping point for energy efficiency efforts.  The University is using the grant to install a solar hot water system, along with a display to monitor the system's performance.  Due to their core mission of education, schools often combine energy efficiency and renewable technologies with educational tools about projects' value and technology.

Across the country, at any given time, a number of open requests for proposals and prescriptive incentives are available to help schools save or harness renewable energy.  Particularly when the economic value of these projects is coupled with their educational value, schools are taking a broader look at their options.

December 16, 2010 - a tale of two solar projects

Let's celebrate a milestone: I've now been blogging here for over a year.

Florida solar?  Setting sun over the Everglades.

Two news articles about solar power from across the country caught my eye today.  Taken alone, each describes the success of a solar power project.  Read together, the differences between the two projects are thrown into relief.

First, South Carolina utility Santee Cooper is building that state's largest solar array.  Santee Cooper's $1.3 million Grand Strand Solar Station project is under development in Myrtle Beach.  The utility is installing 1,300 solar photovoltaic panels on the roof and surrounding grounds of a warehouse it owns there.  In total, the project is expected to produce a peak of 311 kW under optimal conditions.  Adding this 311 kW will increase South Carolina's solar PV power production by 50%.

July 21, 2010 update - want to teach solar thermal design and installation?

Want a full-time job teaching solar thermal design and installation? Kennebec Valley Community College, located in Fairfield, Maine, might be your match. KVCC is one of nine sites chosen across the country for a solar training program funded through $3.3 million in federal grant money. KVCC has a job opening for an administrator to run the college's solar heating and cooling training initiative and teach students about solar thermal energy. Here's the official KVCC job posting (PDF). Applications will be taken until the position is filled. Starting salaries are between $42,697.24 and $55,710.21.

June 24, 2010 - FPL's De Soto Next Generation Solar facility; Patriot Renewables and Maine wind

In past entries, I've looked at FPL's Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center, which will combine solar thermal energy with existing steam boilers to power combined-cycle turbines.  As it turns out, FPL and its NextEra siblings already operate the largest solar photovoltaic power plant in the United States: the 25-megawatt DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center. At DeSoto, over 90,500 PV panels are projected to generate about 42,000 megawatt-hours annually, enough power to serve about 3,000 homes.  Over 30 years, the DeSoto facility's generation will decrease fossil-fuel usage by approximately 7 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 277,000 barrels of oil.  This shift will displace more than 575,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent of removing more than 4,500 cars from the road every year for the entire life of the project.

How about costs?  The DeSoto facility cost $150 million to construct (and was $22 million under budget).  This translates roughly into a capital cost of 12 cents per kWh over the 30-year lifetime of the plant.

In Maine renewable news, the Lewiston Sun Journal reports that a petition is circulating in Dixfield that asks to leave wind siting decisions to a vote of the townspeople.  The second of two successive six-month moratorium periods will end this fall.  Dixfield wind energy isn't just a hypothetical situation; Massachusetts-based Patriot Renewables LLC has proposed developing the wind energy potential on Colonel Holman Mountain and its surrounding ridges.  Patriot Renewables also has a project proposed in nearby Carthage and Woodstock. (Woodstock and Carthage have both rejected moratoria recently.)  The area is also home to proposed projects by First Wind and Independence Wind in Rumford and Roxbury.  (Thanks to Mike Novello for straightening me out on the projects in this area of Maine.)

June 2, 2010 - Integrated Solar Combined Cycle: piggybacking of solar thermal onto combustion

Yesterday I wrote about FPL's Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center, which uses "Integrated Solar Combined Cycle" technology. FPL describes the Martin plant as the "first hybrid solar facility in the world to connect to an existing combined-cycle power plant". The idea is to use parabolic trough reflectors to concentrate sunlight to help heat a special heat-transfer fluid that will be used to make steam -- steam that will be mixed with the steam produced by gas- and oil-fired boilers, and used to power generators.

Through discussions, I learned that others are experimenting with integrated solar combined cycle technology. In August 2009, Abengoa Solar announced its plans to build the first CSP installation integrated with a coal-fired plant. The Abengoa modification to Xcel Energy's existing Cameo plant, located near Grand Junction, Colorado, could add up to 4 MW equivalent (MWe) to the installed capacity.

The ISCC plant that is farthest along appears to be a 470 MW plant located at Ain Beni Mathar, Morocco. To be operated by nationalized utility Office National de l'Electricité (ONE), the Ain Beni Mathar plant combines parabolic trough solar technology and a conventional gas-fired power plant. Projections suggest that the solar component will supply 20 MWe, with the remaining 450 MW coming from the conventional thermal plant. On a production basis, the solar output is projected to be about 40 GWh, or just over 1% of the project's annual net production of 3538 GWh per year. Ain Beni Mathar is just one part of an ambitious 2000 MW solar program underway in sunny Morocco.

Here's a link to the Ain Beni Mathar project page on the African Development Bank Group site. The site lists a project cost of 179,073,180 Euro -- or about $218 million in US dollars at today's exchange rates.

Yesterday, we looked at the price tag of FPL's Martin plant: $420 million for 75 MW of solar. Dividing this linearly, we get a cost of $5.6 million per MW installed solar capacity. By comparison, Ain Beni Mathar offers about 20 MW of solar equivalent, or $10.9 million per MW.

Can these numbers be right? From the technology perspective, this is really neat stuff -- but are these prices reasonable?

June 1, 2010 - market theory of policy, and the madness of crowds; FPL's 75 MW solar thermal

BP shares are taking a hit today. One estimate suggests BP has lost $50 billion in market value based on share price. Meanwhile, another estimate suggests the true cost to BP of the massive oil release from its Deepwater Horizon well is on the order of $20 billion.

From the policy level, it's interesting to observe the market perform its assessment of BP's liabilities. If the large-cap stock market is the product of the "madness of crowds", what is the gap between share price and true value? How does the size of this gap vary with time and conditions?

This inquiry has implications for the policy world as well. What is the absolute value, in economic or preferential terms, of a given policy outcome -- for example, affordable electricity, or reduced CO2 emissions? How does society value that policy outcome? What is the size of the gap between the value we place on an outcome, and its true value? What choices should we as a society be making that we don't find "worth it", but that are truly the lowest-cost and best path forward?



More grid-scale solar: FPL is building a massive solar thermal plant near Lake Okeechobee, Florida. At up to 75 MW, FPL's Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center is on track to be the second-largest solar plant in the world. This solar thermal plant has a unique design. The plant will use mirrors to concentrate the sunlight 80 times, and then heat water up to 700 degrees. To get over the limitations of Florida's humid and often cloudy weather, the Martin facility is unique because it is co-located with an energy campus that already has 13 oil and gas-fueled generators. The heat exhaust steam from four natural-gas generators will be combined with the solar plant's steam to spin an existing generator. This saves the significant capital cost of installing a new generator, and seems like an efficient use of existing untapped capacity.

What's the cost? About $420 million, or about 16 cents a month to the average FPL residential bill.

1/11/10

Looks like despite a lack of governmental support, businesses in China are solar thermal technology -- using mirrors to concentrate light, make steam, and turn turbines to generate electricity. As usual, the story emphasizes not only the value of siting generation in China, but also the value of producing solar thermal components for sales abroad -- the classic energy/manufacturing complex that is touted for deepwater offshore wind in Maine. Commercially, up to 2,000 MW of capacity may be developed by a partnership between Californian developer eSolar and Chinese manufacturer Penglai Electric. However, the Chinese government is officially skeptical about the merits of solar thermal, on the theory that China lacks sites where there is abundant water, sun, and cheap land.

Climate change? Global warming? A number of places around the world continue to face record low temperatures, which have remained in place for weeks. NYT reports that this is the largest and most persistent Arctic high pressure system to take hold since the 1950. This Arctic high deflects the jet stream south of our latitude, bathing us in cold Canadian air.

In Maine news, we have the $9 million in RGGI grants for industrial energy efficiency projects announced last week, a $12.4 million grant for the UMaine composites lab for deepwater offshore wind research, and rebates of $1500 to $3000 to homeowners for qualifying energy audits and weatherization projects.