Solar PV News

[mspohr]

The roadmap to the lowest cost grid is paved with distributed solar and storage

We wanted to know what the grid would look like, and cost, if we stopped ignoring the benefits of DERs and optimized the integration of these resources through a better modeling process. We found that when you use better planning models and scale both local solar and storage, as well as utility-scale solar and wind, you maximize cost savings and unlock the path to the lowest cost grid.
The model found that by scaling local solar and storage at the distribution level and closer to customer load, we don’t have to over-rely on the most expensive parts of the transmission system and under-utilize the distribution system as many traditional planners assume. The daily peaks that the system must ramp up and down to serve can be permanently and more cost-effectively managed by local solar assets, storage injections, and off-peak charging. These DERs cost-effectively reshape the load as seen by the large-scale grid, reducing bulk power system costs and smoothing volatility and variation in load across the system. This allows for a more efficient overall allocation of investments, and a more flexible and local electricity system through the addition of 247 GW of distributed solar and 160 GW of distributed storage by 2050.
Just by integrating and optimizing distributed solar and storage, we found potential for over $300 billion in grid savings. When we asked the model to also meet a 2050 clean electricity target, we found $473 billion in grid savings versus a clean electricity grid that doesn’t scale distributed solar and storage.

 

[SageBrush]

The roadmap to the lowest cost grid is paved with distributed solar and storage

We wanted to know what the grid would look like, and cost, if we stopped ignoring the benefits of DERs and optimized the integration of these resources through a better modeling process. We found that when you use better planning models and scale both local solar and storage, as well as utility-scale solar and wind, you maximize cost savings and unlock the path to the lowest cost grid.
The model found that by scaling local solar and storage at the distribution level and closer to customer load, we don’t have to over-rely on the most expensive parts of the transmission system and under-utilize the distribution system as many traditional planners assume. The daily peaks that the system must ramp up and down to serve can be permanently and more cost-effectively managed by local solar assets, storage injections, and off-peak charging. These DERs cost-effectively reshape the load as seen by the large-scale grid, reducing bulk power system costs and smoothing volatility and variation in load across the system. This allows for a more efficient overall allocation of investments, and a more flexible and local electricity system through the addition of 247 GW of distributed solar and 160 GW of distributed storage by 2050.
Just by integrating and optimizing distributed solar and storage, we found potential for over $300 billion in grid savings. When we asked the model to also meet a 2050 clean electricity target, we found $473 billion in grid savings versus a clean electricity grid that doesn’t scale distributed solar and storage.

I apologize for being lazy -- was time shifting demand applied equally ?

DER PV can be remarkably cheap if homeowners invest some sweat equity

 

[mspohr]

I apologize for being lazy -- was time shifting demand applied equally ?

DER PV can be remarkably cheap if homeowners invest some sweat equity

They don't mention time shifting in the summary article. However, they used a very comprehensive model:
So we engaged Dr. Christopher Clack of Vibrant Clean Energy to apply his advanced and big-data friendly WIS:dom(R) model to the task. What we found surprised even us.
The model spent days crunching data, analyzing over 1.5 trillion data points across every county in the continental U.S., down to a resolution of a single kilowatt, three square kilometers, and intervals of just five minutes—the fine resolution necessary to reveal distributed resource benefits. The model’s ability to work at this detailed scale solved for the complex resource choices that system planners face in the real world, reconciling costs and options across technologies, sizes, and locations.

About Us – Vibrant Clean Energy

 

[mspohr]

When Climate Disaster Strikes, It's Renewable Energy That Keeps The Lights On

Increasingly ferocious weather disasters around the world threaten energy infrastructure — including fossil fuel plants and pipelines. The majority of the world’s power still comes from fossil fuels. But despite decades of industry messaging pushing the reliability of oil, gas and coal compared to wind and solar, studies show that fossil fuel infrastructure is inherently vulnerable to climate change.

Wind and solar installations, while certainly not invulnerable, are less likely to be completely wiped out by extreme weather and can free people from reliance on a centralized source of power.

Solar panels and wind turbines are effectively mini power plants in themselves, distributed across the landscape and able to be disconnected from the central grid, meaning that they can continue to operate even when the main power supply goes down. With the help of battery storage, this can provide a life-saving source of power during critical outages.

 

[mspohr]

World’s largest residential virtual power plant coming from Alphabet-backed SIP and OhmConnect

Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP) and OhmConnect are partnering to create Resi-Station, a 550-MW clean energy power plant that will go live in California next month. At full-scale, in three years, it will be the largest residential power plant in the world, said SIP and OhmConnect, a virtual power plant company that harnesses the power of a fleet of energy saving homes and smart devices.

 

[mspohr]

Solar 2020 year in review: Thriving markets despite a pandemic, import tariffs and expensive PV

 

[gene]

If you are a Californian,

Tell Gov Newsom: Time for a pro-solar CPUC

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

If you are a Californian,

Defend California Solar!

That site actually, really says:

Rooftop solar is helping keep the lights on

 

[mspohr]

That site actually, really says:

I don't see this. Just the form to send the message.

 

[Merrill]

Everyone in California should fill this out and send it to the Governor, Solar Rights Alliance has so far kept the power companies from dropping net metering if you have solar.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

I don't see this. Just the form to send the message.

The poster changed the URL in his post to a different page on the website.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

EIA Electric Power Monthly - December 2020 (to October 2020)

Solar lags wind by a lot, but continues to grow.

445.3MW of new utility scale solar was added, taking the total to 43,592.3MW. Planned 12-month solar capacity additions increased by 578.3MW to 13,875.7MW.

Utilty-scale solar generation for October 2020 was 7.33TWh, up from 6.11TWh in 2019.

Including estimated small-scale generation, in October solar was was 10.7TWh, 3.38% of US generation compared to 2.76% a year ago. That brought the rolling share to 3.15%, up from 2.52% a year ago.

Estimated total solar generation was above 10TWh each month from April to October. In 2021 we can expect the range to be March to October at least, with an outside chance of February or November 2021 generation exceeding 10TWh as well, due to the large amount of capacity additions in 2020 and to come in 2021.

12 month rolling estimated solar plus wind generation was 11.11% of generation.

Utility Solar:

Capacity (MW):

Period	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month	43,147.0	445.3	43,592.3	1.03%
YTD	37,468.3	6,124.0	43,592.3	16.34%
Rolling	34,759.6	8,832.7	43,592.3	25.41%
Plan +12mo	13,742.7	578.3	13,875.7	31.83%

Generation (GWh):

Year	Month	YTD	Rolling	Month %	YTD%	Rolling
2019	6,110	64,120	70,972	1.88%	1.83%	1.70%
2020	7,326	78,986	86,803	2.31%	2.32%	2.14%
Difference	1,216	14,866	15,831	0.42%	0.49%	0.44%

Small Scale Solar:

Capacity (MW):

Period	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month	26,505.8	194.2	26,700.0	0.73%
YTD	23,213.6	3,486.4	26,700.0	15.02%
Rolling	22,357.6	4,342.4	26,700.0	19.42%

Generation (GWh):

Year	Month	YTD	Rolling	Month %	YTD%	Rolling
2019	2,845	30,683	34,363	0.88%	0.88%	0.82%
2020	3,401	36,609	40,884	1.07%	1.08%	1.01%
Difference	556	5,926	6,521	0.19%	0.20%	0.18%

Total Solar:

Capacity (MW):

Period	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month	69,652.8	639.5	70,292.3	0.92%
YTD	60,681.9	9,610.4	70,292.3	15.84%
Rolling	57,117.2	13,175.1	70,292.3	23.07%

Generation (GWh):

Year	Month	YTD	Rolling	Month %	YTD%	Rolling
2019	8,955	94,803	105,335	2.76%	2.71%	2.52%
2020	10,727	115,595	127,686	3.38%	3.40%	3.15%
Difference	1,772	20,792	22,351	0.62%	0.70%	0.62%

 

[mspohr]

LA Times: Solar & batteries to the rescue! | Solar Rights Alliance



Prediction: Coal has fallen. Nuclear is next then Oil.

 

[Merrill]

I will again ask everyone who lives in California to sign up and donate to Solar Rights Alliance, this is a non profit organization that can keep the monopolistic power companies from charging owners for having solar and trying to take away net metering.

 

[mspohr]

How Big Utilities are Impeding Clean Energy, and What We Can Do About It

https://cdn.ilsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/SLPG_Electricity.pdf

The solution to concentration lies in embracing decentralized ownership and generation. Acting individually or collectively, we have a new opportunity to bypass concentrated power and build wealth by using local solar energy to power our lives. This report describes how state and local policy solutions can foster those community-based clean energy solutions.

 

[mspohr]

Solar, wind, storage superpower

a 100% solar-wind-battery system is not only possible, but the cheapest way to build an electricity system in the U.S. by 2030.

They introduce the concept of the “Clean Energy U-curve,” which shows that the cheapest system is actually one that involves a lot more solar PV and wind power capacity than the peak power demand profile.

There’s this idea that we would need weeks, or even more than one month of long-term energy storage, in order to make a system with 100% solar and wind work. That is not true. What you need is more solar and wind power, which allows you to trade off less battery energy capacity, and when you strike the optimal balance, the correct balance, which is the bottom of the U-curve, because U-curve is a cost function. It’s telling us what different functioning, different 100% solar, wind and battery systems, what they would cost.

We do our work independently, but by coincidence, there is a small number of researchers out there that essentially have looked at the idea of 100% clean energy and the numbers seem to be converging around $2 trillion. Everyone uses different technologies. We use solar, wind and batteries. Some folks use water, some folks use different kinds of storage and so on, but there seems to be a convergence around that number.


Rethinking Humanity — RethinkX

 

[mspohr]

I will again ask everyone who lives in California to sign up and donate to Solar Rights Alliance, this is a non profit organization that can keep the monopolistic power companies from charging owners for having solar and trying to take away net metering.

I had a good conversation with Dave. Very helpful. They are doing good work.

 

[Merrill]

I had a good conversation with Dave. Very helpful. They are doing good work.

He is very nice and doing a great job, so will continue to help them in anyway I can to push back the utility monopolies.

 

[mspohr]

Storage, wind, superpower: Part 3

In an interview with pv magazine publisher Eckhart Gouras, Tony Seba and Adam Dorr discuss their concept of “SuperPower” and argue that the resulting near-zero-cost energy could be used by states or regions to offer a competitive advantage to employers.

They go one step further by introducing the concept of “SuperPower”: by investing in even more solar PV and wind power than the lowest-cost system defined by the “Clean Energy U-curve,” the gain in additional energy, or “superpower,” is exponential to the money invested.

If you think beyond the existing system to what a new system would look like, and you’re not constrained to just a one-to-one replacement, that new system will have a very different structure, and it will have much more generating capacity. This reduces the energy storage requirement in a non-linear way, and you find that the optimal combination is much more affordable than you realize.

 

[mspohr]

Australia Looks to Smart Inverters to Cram More PV Into World’s Top Solar Market

This year, utilities in the Australian states South Australia and Victoria will roll out a "flexible exports" pilot. The AUD $4.8 million (USD $3.7 million) project, which will cover 600 customers across the two states, will allow rooftop solar customers to vary their exports to the network in alignment with available grid capacity, instead of being restrained by fixed export limits.