Solar Experiment Lets Neighbors Trade Energy Among Themselves
Diane Cardwell for The New York Times: Â Brooklyn is known the world over for things small-batch and local, like designer clogs, craft bourbon and artisanal sauerkraut. Â Now, it is trying to add electricity to the list.
In a promising experiment in an affluent swath of the borough, dozens of solar-panel arrays spread across rowhouse rooftops are wired into a growing network. Called the Brooklyn Microgrid, the project is signing up residents and businesses to a virtual trading platform that will allow solar-energy producers to sell excess-electricity credits from their systems to buyers in the group, who may live as close as next door.
The project is still in its early stages - it has just 50 participants thus far - but its implications could be far reaching. Â Cont'd...
Elon Musk: I can fix South Australia power network in 100 days or it's free
Elle Hunt for The Guardian: Elon Musk, the billionaire co-founder of electric car giant Tesla, has thrown down a challenge to the South Australian and federal governments, saying he can solve the state’s energy woes within 100 days – or he’ll deliver the 100MW battery storage system for free.
On Thursday, Lyndon Rive, Tesla’s vice-president for energy products, told the AFR the company could install the 100-300 megawatt hours of battery storage that would be required to prevent the power shortages that have been causing price spikes and blackouts in the state.
Thanks to stepped-up production out of Tesla’s new Gigafactory in Nevada, he said it could be achieved within 100 days. Cont'd...
California demand for wind power energizes transmission firms
Nichola Groom for Reuters: A firm controlled by Philip Anschutz, the billionaire entertainment and pro sports magnate, will soon build the largest wind farm in the United States to serve utilities in California, where officials have set ambitious green power goals.
The $5 billion project, however, will be constructed 700 miles away in Wyoming, a state better known for coal mines and oil fields.
The vast distance between the two states provides a different Anschutz-owned firm with another big opportunity: a $3 billion project building transmission lines to deliver the power - one of a dozen similar power-line projects by other companies across the West. (Map: How wind power will get from Wyoming to California click here)
In all, about 5,700 miles of transmission lines are in development with the goal of delivering renewable energy to California from other states, according to the Western Interstate Energy Board. Cont'd...
Smart Meters and Utilities
Smart meter deployments are the most common smart grid (or smart utility) activity. Utilities are also adding sensors into their networks to better understand operating conditions.
Solar panel researchers investigate powering trains by bypassing grid
Michael Holder for BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment Network: Imperial College London has partnered with the climate change charity 10:10 to investigate the use of track-side solar panels to power trains, the two organisations announced yesterday.
The renewable traction power project will see university researchers look at connecting solar panels directly to the lines that provide power to trains, a move that would bypass the electricity grid in order to more efficiently manage power demand from trains.
According to the university, the research team will be the first in the world to test the “completely unique” idea, which it said would have a “wide impact with commercial applications on electrified rail networks all over the world”. Cont'd...
Using Industry 4.0 Know-how, North German Region is Going 100% Renewable: Test Run for the Energy Transition
As of 1 December 2016, an energy system of the future will be developed in Northern Germany as part of the large-scale project NEW 4.0. From 2035, around 4.5 million residents in the federal states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein will be provided with power by renewable energy sources alone. Applying Industry 4.0 systems, the project will demonstrate how imbalances in production and consumption can be offset based on renewable energies.
Northern Germany is playing an important role in Germany's energy transition: Schleswig-Holstein as an energy supplier with an ever increasing number of onshore and offshore wind farms, and the city state of Hamburg as a location for industry and large power consumers. As part of the NEW 4.0 project, the states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein have been merged into one consistent energy region. The overall objective is to serve as a showcase for Germany and to demonstrate within a European context that the energy transition is indeed feasible: NEW 4.0 will showcase how a region with 4.5 million residents can be supplied with regenerative energy as early as 2035 using 100% safe, affordable, eco-friendly and socially acceptable energy sources that can lead to a reduction in CO2 emissions by 50 to 70%. Full Press Release:
Transmission's Role in a Clean Energy Future
The power grid serves as the interstate highways of our electric system. A modern, flexible system for delivering electricity generation over long distances is essential to the nation's successful transition to a clean power future.
Why Every Rooftop Solar System Needs Energy Storage
John Petersen for Investor Intel: Rooftop solar is an odd duck. A consumer buys an expensive capital asset with the expectation that he’ll recover his investment through lower electric bills. As a matter of metaphysics, he’s decided to go into the power business with the primary goal of satisfying the most important and discriminating customer on the planet. The value proposition he currently offers his local electric utility is:
I’ll buy less electricity from you because of my solar panels, but I need you on standby 24/7 to supply my nighttime needs and fill any weather related power production gaps;
Since my solar panels will frequently produce more power than I need, I want you to give me credit for any excess power production, let me draw equivalent power from you when I need it, and structure it all as a tax free swap;
You can, of course, bill me for any difference between what I deliver and what I take;
I’ll have no duty to buy a fixed amount of power from you or deliver a fixed amount of power to you, but you must supply whatever I need and take whatever I don’t need; and
You will be required to pay all of the costs associated with weather related production gaps and pass those costs through to your other customers.
Full Article:
Aclara Participates in White House Summit on 'Scaling Renewable Energy and Storage with Smart Markets;' Announces Commitment to Deploy 500,000 Smart Meters with Distributed Solar by 2025
In conjunction with the Summit, Aclara announced a commitment to deploy, in partnership with utilities and customers with distributed solar, 500,000 smart meters by 2025 to provide data and communications infrastructure to enable the optimal grid integration of solar.
Electric Utilities Prepare for a Grid Dominated by Renewable Energy
Julia Pyper for GTM: A growing number of electric industry leaders agree that it’s only a matter of time before renewable energy resources dominate their grid systems.
In California, it’s already a reality, said Steve Berberich, president and CEO of California Independent System Operator Corporation. On a typical day, CAISO will pull about 30,000 megawatts of energy production, with around 6,500 megawatts from solar, 5,000 megawatts from wind and another 5,000 from geothermal and other services on the system. In addition, California’s grid system has roughly 4,000 megawatts of behind-the-meter solar, which is growing at a rate of about 70 megawatts per month.
In any given day, California gets more than 30 percent its electricity from renewable energy. On many days that amount climbs to 40 percent, and on some days renewables reach 50 percent, said Berberich.
“Now we have to think about the system as a renewable energy-based system complemented by other things,” he said, speaking at the Edison Electric Institute’s annual convention this week in Chicago. Cont'd...
Virtual Power Plants Get Around Solar Power's Intermittency Problem
Richard Martin for MIT Technology Review: Attempting to harness the power of distributed rooftop solar installations to make its grid more flexible and reliable, New York utility Consolidated Edison is launching a pilot program this summer to link dozens of small solar arrays into a single, software-connected power plant. The utility is working with solar power developer SunPower and energy storage company Sunverge to create a “virtual power plant”—a network of distributed assets that functions as a unified resource on the grid.
The project will include 300 homes with a combined total of 1.8 megawatts of solar capacity and batteries that can store up to four megawatt-hours of electricity, enough to run 300 average U.S. households for about 10 hours. Cont'd...
GE's North American Studies Show No Hard Limit to Renewables on a Grid System
New GE Interactive Infographic Features Key Findings from U.S.-Based Renewable Integration Studies.
Insights from WWSIS, Hawaii Wind & Solar and PJM Studies Could Help Utilities Prepare for Integrating More Renewables on Global Grids
Smarter Grid Solutions to Demonstrate Massive Clean Energy Deployment on a Smart Campus in NREL INTEGRATE project
Smarter Grid Solutions is deploying a fully-operational Active Network Management system in North America as part of its ongoing work under the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) 'Integrated Network Testbed for Energy Grid Research and Technology Experimentation' (INTEGRATE) project. The three phase project demonstrates how to increase electric grid hosting capacity for Distributed Energy Resources (DER).
eMotorWerks Announces a Universal Adapter That Converts Any Level 2 EV Charging Station into a Smart Charging Station
JuicePlug will enable smart-grid control of any third-party EV charging station and expand company's popular rewards program that pays EV drivers for charging their vehicle
Can Smart Grids Solve India's Energy Woes? India Smart Grid Week to Offer Answers
Supported by the Ministries of Power, New & Renewable Energy and Science & Technology, India Smart Grid Week is an initiative to find smart solutions to India's energy needs
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