Paris Climate Accord and anti Trump alliance is crumbling

[Old Rocks]

Solar News of Note


Garland municipal utility taps into west Texas solar facility
As the latest development in the boom taking place across Texas, Southern Company announced the commissioning of the 102 MW Lamesa solar plant, according to this May pv magazine article. ERCOT had previously listed Lamesa as one of 19 solar projects with interconnection agreements and anticipates 879 MW of utility-scale solar will come online this year.

San Antonio wins SolSmart award for supportive solar program adoption
The City of San Antonio announced in May that it, and CPS Energy, San Antonio’s municipally owned utility, have been selected for national recognition for programs and practices that make it faster, easier, and cheaper to go solar. A SolSmart designation is a signal that the community is “open for solar business,” helping to attract solar industry investment and generate economic development and local jobs.

ERCOT projects Texas solar to contribute to meeting peak summer demand amid fossil fuel retirements
Texas solar is beginning to move the ERCOT needle, according to this May pv magazine article. After hitting a record peak demand last August of over 71 GW, ERCOT is planning for 73 GW of capacity for summer 2017. Of this, utility-scale solar is expected to provide 603 MW, a small but growing contribution. ERCOT expects another 879 MW of solar PV will come online in 2017 and 976 MW by next summer.

New Toyota headquarters in Plano installing 8.79 MW solar carport structure
Over 20,000 SunPower 20-percent efficient E-Series solar panels are being installed in April on steel carport structures at the new Toyota North America headquarters in Plano, Clean Technology Business Review reports. The facility will be the largest Texas corporate office on-site solar installation, among non-utility companies, and will provide approximately 33% of the headquarters’ energy needs.

San Antonio auto plant hosts one-half acre solar facility

Solar News of Note | Texas Solar Energy Society

And the price of solar is still declining. LOL

 

[IanC]

Solar and wind electricity can only be ramped up so far. Most locales have poor conditions to extract it. And greater proportions of renewable energy cause rapidly escalating grid instabilities.

 

[Old Rocks]

Well yes. We have to switch our grid to a distributed grid, instead of one designed for point source generation. That is doable, and opens up a lot more opportunities for generation. As the solar panels continue to get cheaper and more efficient the less than ideal locations will be worthwhile.

 

[Wyatt earp]

Giant Battery Myth Offers Wind Industry No Salvation from its Ultimate Demise



One of the more hilarious moments that followed the aftermath of South Australia’s statewide blackout on 28 September (aka ‘Black Wednesday’), was when The Australian quoted the CEO of French wind power outfit Neoen – one of the wind power operators whose turbines were responsible for SA’s date with the Dark Ages:

Neoen Australia managing director Franck Woitiez, whose turbines at Hornsdale wind farm shut down as part of the system trigger, said the statewide blackout was caused by the storm. With his wind farm now back in full operation, he cautioned against a kneejerk response to the black out. “Battery storage has a huge part to play in our system going forward and we need to keep viewing renewables as part of our energy mix,” Mr Woitiez said.

For the record, battery storage plays no part in South Australia’s power supply; nor does the grid-scale storage of electricity play a part in the delivery of electricity anywhere in the world.

Wind industry hucksters, like Franck Woitiez, continue to chant the ‘battery technology is rapidly improving’ mantra, as if truckloads of giant batteries will soon magically rain down from heaven; and, thereby, save the wind industry from its imminent and inevitable demise.

What occurred in South Australia inNovember 2015 and July andSeptember this year, and what willcontinue to occur, has alerted all and sundry to the fact that wind power is a heavily subsidised vanity project; an utterly meaningless power source, which destroys and divides peaceful rural communities,wrecks property values andslaughters millions of birds andbats with impunity.

Australia’s so-called ‘wind power capital’, South Australia is, rather than running on perfectly benevolent breezes, in fact heavily reliant upon coal-fired power, delivered from Victoria’s Latrobe Valley via a pair of interconnectors: Heywood in the south-east and Murraylink in the Riverland.

Already suffering from spirallingretail power prices, routine load shedding and mass blackoutswhenever wind power output collapses on a total and totally unpredictable basis, with thepredicted closure of Victoria’s 1,600MW Hazelwood plant, South Australians can expect plenty more of the same in future.

Which brings us back to the guff about batteries promising wind industry salvation.

Not only is there NO grid-scale storage of electricity anywhere in the world, the bulk battery storage of wind or solar power sits in the same category as turning lead into gold and the ever elusive perpetual motion machine: an enticingly lucrative but unachievable myth.




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[Wyatt earp]

What is holding back renewable energy?


When looking at the total cost of renewables versus coal, natural gas, and oil there really isn’t a comparison in the near-term because wind and solar can only generate intermittent electricity, while nuclear and hydroelectric energy face significant social and environmental resistance. Fossil fuels can be run without backup supplies, and factoring in those expenses – even with renewable technology having achieved significant cost reductions – fossil fuels are the most economical, scalable choice. Total costs, or levelized costs, still make renewable energy underproductive as a wide-scale fuel for developed, emerging and third world countries.

While mature economies such as Germany and California have trialed large-scale renewables successfully, these successes weren’t achieved without fossil fuels backing them up. The Energy Information Administration’s Annual Energy Outlook 2017 to 2050 has renewables at only 18-26 percent penetration by 2050. Electric vehicles currently have 1 percent of the market and are projected to have only gained 6 percent by 2040.

Renewable energy has incredible potential but, until power grids are modernized, they will lag behind fossil fuels

Energy storage and grid modernization are separate issues, yet linked together in many ways. How energy is stored from fluctuating renewable sources (wind and solar) is important for accommodating, “multiple grid services, including spinning reserve and renewables integration.” To improve the problem of intermittent generation for resources such as wind and solar the EIA recommends that companies: “Examine the potential for transmission (grid) enhancements to mitigate regional effects of high levels of wind and solar generation while developing higher resolution time-of-day and seasonal value and operational impact of wind.”

Further, the EIA sees utility rate structure for different levels of photovoltaic solar generation being needed to control costs for consumers and industry when using renewable energy. What the EIA is saying is that renewables fluctuate in power generation based upon different weather patterns, which causes the grid to fluctuate. These upward grid spikes are then passed on in higher electricity costs to utility customers. It is one of the reasons California has some of the highest energy costs in the United States due to its heavy reliance on renewable energy




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[skookerasbil]

I'm tickled pink by the claim that the "anti-trump alliance is crumbling" with his approval/disapproval ratings at 35% / 65%

fAiL s0n......still not getting it from the election where all the polls you dopes referenced were wrong.

Except Rasmussen, of course, which was SPOT ON the last 2 elections..............and now has Trump at 50%!! They ghey always incorrect polls use a stoopid 2008 matrix that only polls 23% Republicans = ghey. But you genius' continue holding those polls close to your hearts...........especially the ones which include New York and California folks who don't matter for shit and a political zero for the DUMS.

Not for nothing and Ive seen it a billion times in here.............for such smart science types in here, the alarmists have the political IQ of a bunch of small soap dishes. Every single alarmist who regularly posts in here said a year ago that the 2016 election would turn on the environment/climate change!!

 

[skookerasbil]

 

[skookerasbil]

That is not their goal. The goal is to reduce emissions in this nation. And that goal is being achieved as we speak.

The Rise of Wind Power in Texas
Wind’s competitiveness in the Lone Star State has been helped by the expansion of transmission capacity and market reforms

During a visit yesterday to the Harvey mine in Sycamore, Pa., U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt declared that “the war on coal is done.” But if the regulatory battle is over, the fight in coal’s largest domestic market has just begun.

Wind generation accounted for nearly 23 percent of power generation for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) in the first quarter of 2017, the Lone Star State grid operator said this week.

The announcement marks the highest quarterly wind penetration in ERCOT’s history and underscores the market challenges facing the coal industry in Texas, where power plants consumed some 86 million tons of the black mineral in 2015, or more than double the next largest coal-consuming state.

“It’s just one more data point in renewables’ march to greater market share,” said Michael Webber, deputy director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas, Austin.

ERCOT is the primary grid operator in Texas, where it serves 24 million customers.

The Rise of Wind Power in Texas

23% of the power for the largest grid operator in Texas in the first quarter of this year.

Impressive..........until you take a step back and realize that countrywide, wind only provides Americans 3.5% of our electricity. Solar only a smidge over 1%.

Now really...........how.............fucking .............laughable.................is............that?


Renewable energy is laughable........and thank God our president recognizes it too!!