Solar PV News

[mspohr]

Amid rising rooftop solar battles, emerging net metering alternatives could shake up the sector

As distributed resource penetrations rise, a shift of costs to non-solar owners due to retail rate net energy metering is driving innovations in policy and rate design that can replace it.

www.utilitydive.com

NEM battles everywhere

 

[mspohr]

Solar Rights Alliance

I want to invite you to an online briefing to learn more about the gameplan to keep rooftop solar growing, and defend net metering from attack. The registration form will give you several dates to choose from. RSVP I will review what net metering is, why it is so important, the threat, our campaign plan, and how you can help. We'll leave plenty of time for questions, too. I hope you can make it! Thank you so much for all you do, -- Dave Rosenfeld, Executive Director

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: The gameplan to defend California solar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

Hear Solar Rights Alliance Executive Director Dave Rosenfeld review the gameplan to defend net metering from being gutted and how you can help, and answer your questions.

us02web.zoom.us

 

[gene]

Solar Rights Alliance

I want to invite you to an online briefing to learn more about the gameplan to keep rooftop solar growing, and defend net metering from attack. The registration form will give you several dates to choose from. RSVP I will review what net metering is, why it is so important, the threat, our campaign plan, and how you can help. We'll leave plenty of time for questions, too. I hope you can make it! Thank you so much for all you do, -- Dave Rosenfeld, Executive Director

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: The gameplan to defend California solar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

Hear Solar Rights Alliance Executive Director Dave Rosenfeld review the gameplan to defend net metering from being gutted and how you can help, and answer your questions.

us02web.zoom.us

Here is a bit more info from Solar Rights Alliance and savecaliforniasolar.org:

Fact sheet: Utilities want to stop California’s solar progress

docs.google.com

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

EIA Electric Power Monthly - March 2021 (to January 2021)

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

423.5MW of new utility scale solar was added, taking the total to 48,271.7MW. Planned 12-month solar capacity additions decreased by 27.2MW to 16,136.8MW.

Utilty-scale solar generation for January 2021 was 5.7TWh, up from 4.6TWh in 2020.

Including estimated small-scale generation, in January solar was was 8,481TWh, 2.40% of US generation compared to 2.00% a year ago. That brought the rolling share to 3.30%, up from 2.62% a year ago.

Estimated total solar generation was above 10TWh each month from April to October. With the large increase in capacity in 2020, and the large increase forecast for 2021, we can expect the range to be March to November at least, with an outside possibility for February 2021, December 2021 a possibility, and then February surely added from 2022.

Utility scale generation was above 10TWh only in July 2020. In 2021 we can expect utility scale solar generation to exceed 10TWh between April and August at least, with September also possible.

12 month rolling estimated solar plus wind generation was 11.66% of generation.

Solar

Utility Solar:

Capacity (MW):

Period	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month	47,848.2	423.5	48,271.7	0.89%
YTD	47,848.2	423.5	48,271.7	0.89%
Rolling	38,841.0	9,430.7	48,271.7	24.28%
Plan +12mo	16,587.5	-27.2	16,136.8	33.43%

Generation (GWh):

Year	Month	YTD	Rolling	Month %	YTD%	Rolling
2020	4,555	4,657	73,014	1.33%	1.36%	1.76%
2021	5,732	5,732	91,966	1.62%	1.62%	2.26%
Difference	1,177	1,075	18,952	0.29%	0.26%	0.50%

Small Scale Solar:

Capacity (MW):

Period	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month	27,723.6	501.4	28,225.0	1.81%
YTD	27,723.6	501.4	28,225.0	1.81%
Rolling	23,748.2	4,476.8	28,225.0	18.85%

Generation (GWh):

Year	Month	YTD	Rolling	Month %	YTD%	Rolling
2020	2,293	2,313	35,367	0.67%	0.67%	0.85%
2021	2,749	2,749	42,176	0.78%	0.78%	1.04%
Difference	456	436	6,809	0.11%	0.10%	0.19%

Total Solar:

Capacity (MW):

Period	Prior	Change	New	Change
Month	75,571.8	924.9	76,496.7	1.22%
YTD	75,571.8	924.9	76,496.7	1.22%
Rolling	62,589.2	13,907.5	76,496.7	22.22%

Generation (GWh):

Year	Month	YTD	Rolling	Month %	YTD%	Rolling
2020	6,848	6,970	108,381	2.00%	2.03%	2.62%
2021	8,481	8,481	134,142	2.40%	2.40%	3.30%
Difference	1,633	1,511	25,761	0.39%	0.37%	0.69%

 

[mspohr]

Making a case for a standalone energy storage ITC

Public interest groups joined with industry associations to voice support for standalone storage ITC eligibility. Federal policy makers have a lot of options to consider.

pv-magazine-usa.com

tax credit would help reduce the cost of energy storage deployment outright, spur investment, and create new jobs in the energy storage industry, they said.

 

[mspohr]

The Guardian: Australians could be charged for exporting energy from rooftop solar panels to the grid. Australians could be charged for exporting energy from rooftop solar panels to the grid

 

[Merrill]

The Guardian: Australians could be charged for exporting energy from rooftop solar panels to the grid. Australians could be charged for exporting energy from rooftop solar panels to the grid

This sounds like California, how can you be charged for something that you already paid for to help generate energy from the sun!

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

This sounds like California, how can you be charged for something that you already paid for to help generate energy from the sun!

Sounds a bit different, since it's suggesting different export options, not having punitive per-kW charges, actually encouraging consumers to install battery-backed solar and variable export pricing that would encourage VPPs.

 

[nwdiver]

This sounds like California, how can you be charged for something that you already paid for to help generate energy from the sun!

Too much is too much. If the cost is negative the cost is negative. Basically electricity becomes almost a waste product that the utility needs to find a way to manage. That's not free. That's why I'm such a YUGE proponent of oversized arrays. Add more energy when there's value and less when there's not.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Too much is too much. If the cost is negative the cost is negative. Basically electricity becomes almost a waste product that the utility needs to find a way to manage. That's not free. That's why I'm such a YUGE proponent of oversized arrays. Add more energy when there's value and less when there's not.

Just another reason why net metering is a dumb system.

 

[SmartElectric]

oversized arrays. Add more energy when there's value and less when there's not.

+1! It's 11am, rainy, and my 3.5 kW (330x12) single string array is producing ~300 watts on a 5000W SB inverter.
Eventually will up-panel those to 400W (when that power level comes in 1.7m x 1m form factor) on the house roof and install those used 12x330W panels to the north facing garage roof.
This will obviously "clip" the SB 5kW inverter on sunny days, but hopefully produce somewhere in the ~700W range on days like this.

The home battery (Sunverge) is supplying the rest of our 900W average house load, drawing from it's overnight charge-up.

EDIT: MA/Vertex S DE09
^ this is one of the first 400W panels I've seen in the standard residential form factor (this panel is 6cm taller).

 

[nwdiver]

Just another reason why net metering is a dumb system.

Meh... it makes some sense at low levels of penetration but I agree it is inherently unsustainable.

 

[SageBrush]

Meh... it makes some sense at low levels of penetration but I agree it is inherently unsustainable.

Don't leave me hanging ... what is sustainable ?

 

[mspohr]

Here's an example of storage and demand management.

BMW and PG&E think electric vehicles could stabilize California grid

They’re working together to test vehicle-to-grid technology.

www.theverge.com

With enough EVs connected to the grid, they could become sizable “virtual power plants.” These are basically just networks of connected batteries that utilities might be able to call upon collectively when they need more juice. Interconnected residential solar power systems can also serve the same purpose.

 

[nwdiver]

Don't leave me hanging ... what is sustainable ?

Probably some kind of TOU. Maybe exports at 11am cost you $20/MWh but if you can export at 8pm you earn $150/MWh. If it's costing the utility $10/MWh at noon to get rid of surplus energy somehow it's obvisouly not going to work very long to keep crediting DG customers $100/MWh to keep adding to the problem. NEM is great when 5% of your customers have solar but if 100% of them have it and produce 100% of what they need.... who's paying the bills?

Somewhere between 5% and 100% it stops working... the trillion dollar question is where?

 

[mspohr]

Dead Power Grid Revived with Solar and Wind, Not Diesel

An unexpected outage in Colorado allowed engineers to test whether renewable energy and batteries can quickly restart an electric grid

www.scientificamerican.com

The model was being assembled at a nearby 300-acre facility called the Flatirons Campus, which is equipped with wind turbines, a solar array and a big lithium-ion battery. Researchers at the lab were preparing to add a hydrogen energy storage system and electric vehicle charging stations to reflect a future "hybrid" power grid.

Of course, power grids are thousands of times larger than the renewable-dominated grid assembled at Flatirons. "But what we did was develop a foundational control that could be used if you deployed renewable energy at a much larger scale," said Kroposki.

 

[SageBrush]

Probably some kind of TOU. Maybe exports at 11am cost you $20/MWh but if you can export at 8pm you earn $150/MWh. If it's costing the utility $10/MWh at noon to get rid of surplus energy somehow it's obvisouly not going to work very long to keep crediting DG customers $100/MWh to keep adding to the problem.

I've had similar thoughts but when I extrapolate out I end up with avoided cost as the value of DG/S to the grid. And I'm actually somewhat OK with that, so long as the social cost of carbon is considered.

 

[mspohr]

Trump's Energy Storage Challenge Feeds Flow Battery Fire

US banks on flow batteries for rapid decarbonization, eyeballs at least 300 gigawatt-hours of battery-type energy storage online by 2030.

cleantechnica.com

Oh the irony, it burns. Former President Trump touted himself as the savior of US coal miners, but all throughout his tenure the US Department of Energy was setting the stage for global decarbonization. In the latest illustration of the deep state at work, DOE has deployed the 2020 Energy Storage Grand Challenge to pump $20 million into scaling up the nation’s flow battery manufacturing and supply chain.

 

[SageBrush]

Here is a fairly curious thought:

A Tesla Model 3 LR AWD costs $50k and has an 80 kWh battery
A Powerwall costs ~ $7000 and holds 13 kWh

The car sans battery is an $8k device -- obviously not true, so

It does point to the car being the cheapest venue for adding storage to cover the 5pm to 9am daily cycle

---
I call it the 'CamEl Walk'
All rights reserved

 

[iPlug]

Probably some kind of TOU. Maybe exports at 11am cost you $20/MWh but if you can export at 8pm you earn $150/MWh. If it's costing the utility $10/MWh at noon to get rid of surplus energy somehow it's obvisouly not going to work very long to keep crediting DG customers $100/MWh to keep adding to the problem. NEM is great when 5% of your customers have solar but if 100% of them have it and produce 100% of what they need.... who's paying the bills?

Somewhere between 5% and 100% it stops working... the trillion dollar question is where?

Even after single digit or low double digit solar PV residential penetration - to help deal with excess solar in the middle of the day, why not open up rate plans where the utility tells you 1-10 days in advanced based on weather forecasts when you can dine for ~free. Of course not everyone can partake in this based on their schedules and where the excess solar PV is islanded. But there is probably a willing and able audience of BEV drivers who would participate. Lot of free "fuel" for a large part of the year.