Green Energy

Boulder City, which sits between Las Vegas and Lake Mead, is looking to capitalize on the latest renewable energy push that Nevada is particularly ripe for.

For example, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says Nevada has the best potential for solar power in the nation.

Boulder City is hoping to contribute to the already burgeoning sustainable energy industry by adding its third renewable energy plant, and it’s trying to make some money while doing it.

To accomplish this, the city is opening up 1,100 acres of land known as Black Hills South for the development of a utility-scale renewable energy facility.

Now, all the city needs is an energy company to lease the land for at least $1,500 per acre to build its sustainable energy plant.

With such a deal, the city expects to make $1.65 million from the lease each year.

While the new plant wouldn’t provide energy to the city, it would be able to supply power to large operations like casinos, manufacturing facilities, and data centers.

According to Mayor Rod Woodbury, the effort comes as part of Boulder City’s goal to make the area the leading renewable energy location in the country.

This new development would be nearly three times the size of the solar development already in Eldorado Valley, dubbed Nevada Solar One, which provides power to more than 14,000 homes every year.

A city spokesperson says that there are no plans yet for the money Boulder City would make from the lease agreement, though one possibility would be to help pay off the city’s debt, which as of June 30, 2018, was at more than $26 million.

Whatever it’s used for, the money understandably seems to be what the city is most after. Eight of the 13 main factors in the proposal evaluation process have to do with the city ensuring payment.

So far, the city has sent their request for proposals to 20 renewable energy companies, including Skylar Resources and Techren Solar which Boulder has worked with before.

Boulder City expects the site would house a photovoltaic, in other words solar, or other low water generation technology development.

Preference will be given to companies that include energy storage as part of their development.

A pre-proposal conference and tour of the site will be held on June 5.

The most affordable, efficient way to harness the cleanest, most abundant renewable energy source in the world is one step closer to reality.

The University of Toledo physicist pushing the performance of solar cells to levels never before reached made a significant breakthrough in the chemical formula and process to make the new material.

Working in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab and the University of Colorado, Dr. Yanfa Yan, UToledo professor of physics, envisions the ultra-high efficiency material called a tandem perovskite solar cell will be ready to debut in full-sized solar panels in the consumer market in the near future.

Perovskites, compound materials with a special crystal structure formed through chemistry, would replace silicon, which — for now — remains the solar-cell material of choice for converting the sun’s light into electrical energy.

“We are producing higher-efficiency, lower-cost solar cells that show great promise to help solve the world energy crisis,” Yan said. “The meaningful work will help protect our planet for our children and future generations. We have a problem consuming most of the fossil energies right now, and our collaborative team is focused on refining our innovative way to clean up the mess.”

The new research paper, which is published in the journal Science, outlines how the photovoltaics team is fine-tuning a mix of lead and tin to advance the technology closer to its maximum efficiency. Efforts have currently brought the efficiency of the new solar cell to about 23 percent. In comparison, silicon solar panels on the market today have around an 18 percent efficiency rating.

Scientists used a chemical compound called guanidinium thiocyanate to dramatically improve the structural and optoelectronic properties of the lead-tin mixed perovskite films.

“Science is the top academic journal in the world, alongside Nature, which published other research by Dr. Yan only five months ago after he discovered a single material that produces white light, which could boost the efficiency and appeal of LED bulbs,” Dr. Sanjay Khare, professor and chair of the UToledo Department of Physics and Astronomy, said. “His significant sustainability work at The University of Toledo can help power the world using clean energy.”

About five years ago Yan’s team at UToledo identified the ideal properties of perovskites and he has since focused his 20 years of experience on producing an all-perovskite tandem solar cell that brings together two different solar cells to increase the total electrical power generated by using two different parts of the sun’s spectrum.

Last month the U.S. Department of Energy awarded Yan a $1.1 million grant to continue his research in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Lab.

“This is the material we’ve been waiting for for a long time,” Yan said. “The solar industry is watching and waiting. Some have already started investing in this technology.”

Yan is an expert in theory of defect physics and electronic properties in semiconductors, materials synthesis and thin-film solar-cell fabrication.

“Our UToledo research is ongoing to make cheaper and more efficient solar cells that could rival and even outperform the prevailing silicon photovoltaic technology,” said Dr. Zhaoning Song, research assistant professor in the UToledo Department of Physics and Astronomy and co-author on the study. “Our tandem solar cells with two layers of perovskites deliver high power conversion efficiency and have the potential to bring down production costs of solar panels, which is an important advance in photovoltaics.”

While Yan’s team has improved the quality of the materials and the process to manufacture them at a low cost, more progress needs to be made.

“The material cost is low and the fabrication cost is low, but the lifetime of the material is still an unknown,” Song said. “We need to continue to increase efficiency and stability.”

“Also, lead is considered a toxic substance,” Yan said. “I am determined to work with the solar industry to ensure solar panels made of this material can be recycled so they don’t cause harm to the environment.”

There once was an argument that it wasn’t possible to scale solar to meet the demands of our society, and now instead there’s the question of what to do with the excess as certain peaks are hit. Models have suggested that overbuilding solar power is cheaper than seasonal storage or gas. Still others suggest that if we plan for curtailment and other flexible uses in our solar power plant designs, we’ll actually build more solar at better pricing. The reality is that utilities must plan for and model these high penetration, high curtailment models – because we’re now in a period of massive legislated change dictating high renewable penetrations over the coming decades.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), along with scientists from First Solar, have devised a calculation (above) to project how much active power is available in a curtailed solar power plant – on an inverter and possible module level – that can be used for ancillary services.

The paper, Highly Accurate Method for Real-Time Active Power Reserve Estimation for Utility-Scale Photovoltaic Power Plants (pdf), shows that for utility-scale PV power plants to be able to maintain the desired regulation range or spinning reserve levels, the plant controller must be able to estimate the available aggregate peak power that all the plant’s inverters can produce at any point in time.

The researchers built their models to account for variance in production on a per-inverter level, even though they noted that in clear sky settings a single unit could be used for these projects. The group’s work focused on a ~50 MWac plant composed of 96 500-kW inverters (layout noted above).

They collected data for several months, deciding to break down plant data in four different solar irradiance variability scenarios (above): (1) clear sky, (2) moderate variability, (3) intense variability, and (4) extreme variability of solar irradiation.

The researchers observed that the higher the number of inverters, the greater the amount of available power, and the higher the correlations (below) between their projections and actual data collected. However, in clear sky conditions, very few reference inverters were needed to produce accurate second-by-second power availability projections.

Future research plans include determining the optimal number of control zones in a power plant, location of reference inverters within those zones, dispatch intervals based on solar irradiance patterns, and the possibility of using short-term energy storage to correct estimation errors.

Both a growing body of evidence and actual experience shows that solar power plants can be used for standard grid services, including those that historically had been provided by the physical mass spinning inside of generators. Models like these will enable power plant owners to further monetize their investments, which are already considered highly predictable, by adding predictable revenue streams from “wasted” solar power.

Lip service. That’s what people call it when somebody supports an idea in public but works to undermine the very same idea in private. Others may call it hypocrisy or even out and out lying. Every major country in the world agreed to reduce its carbon emissions at the COP 21 climate summit in Paris in 2015. Yet somehow, world carbon emissions continue to rise. How can that be?

Simple. Several of those countries are lying to themselves and to the rest of the world community as the distance between what they promised to do and what they are actually doing grows wider by the day. The United States, under the auspices of the Trump maladministration, at least has the decency to state publicly it has no intention of honoring the commitments it made in Paris.

But China, Japan, and South Korea continue to tout their support for the Paris climate accords while directly undermining their commitments by financing the construction of coal-fired generating stations in other countries, mostly in southeast Asia and Africa, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

Dumping Obsolete Equipment

“The Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans have a lot of coal fired power equipment that will not have a great deal of international value in another three to five years,” says Melissa Brown, energy finance consultant at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. “So they’re looking to partner with countries that can move forward quickly to put new coal fired power capacity in place.”

There are about 67 gigawatts of new coal plants scheduled to receive foreign funding in countries around the world — particularly in Indonesia, Vietnam, South Africa and Bangladesh. According to EndCoal.org, more than 80% of them are being financed by China, Japan, and South Korea.

Belt & Road

China has embarked on its massive Belt And Road initiative, designed to promote Chinese business interests in other countries. According to Forbes, “The ‘belts’ refer to railroads that will connect China with Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Central and Southeast Asia. The ‘roads’ refer to maritime routes and multiple ports that will be expanded or built along the South China Sea, Indian Ocean and South Pacific. The participating countries account for 30% of global gross domestic product and 44% of the world’s population.” China has supplied or pledged $36 billion for coal plants in 23 countries, according to IEEFA.

Trading Coral Reefs For Coal

Here’s an example of lip service in action. Last September, the LA Times says South Korean President Moon Jae-in made a big show of telling the United Nations his country plans to slash carbon emissions and “assist developing countries’ pursuit of sustainable development.” Two weeks before that speech, a South Korean construction company signed a $1.3 billion agreement to build two huge coal-fired power plants near the coastal Indonesian village of Suralaya, which is located less than 70 miles from the smog-choked capital. The signing took place at an investment forum sponsored by the government of South Korea.

The story gets worse. The land for the new coal-fired plants is being created by moving earth from a nearby mountain and using it to bury a coral reef. “There’s a clear preference for coal power in Indonesia, and that’s why the East Asian financiers are here — it’s a really attractive business proposition for them,” Adhityani Putri, executive director of Yayasan Indonesia Cerah, a policy research group in Jakarta, tells the LA Times.

Profits & Politics

Why the constant push for coal generating stations? Profits and politics. The Indonesian utility grid is controlled by PLN, an arm of the government. Indonesia has massive coal reserves. Do the math. Perhaps “profits and politics” will be a fitting epitaph after the combination of the two leads to the extinction of the human race.

Joojin Kim, managing director of Solutions for Our Climate, says the fact that Korean banks are financing coal projects in Indonesia is “embarrassing and financially risky, because of air and climate pollution and corruption associated with the plants, and the fact that coal power is no longer a cheap source of energy due to continuously declining renewable energy prices. An accountable and transparent bank would not linger around risky projects like Java 9 and 10.”

Exporting Emissions

Nor should national governments in China and Japan be exporting carbon emissions to other countries. There is only one atmosphere and it is no respecter of national boundaries or political ideology. With the cost of renewables falling on an almost daily basis, propping up fossil fuels is a dangerous and self defeating policy.

That it continues proves the lie that underpins all current capitalists theory in which no accounting is included for the cost of the waste products created. Corporations and governments are only concerned about the next quarterly earnings call or the next election. Neither takes into account what will happen when there are no people left to buy things or to govern.

For now, they are content to continue paying lip service to lofty ideals while continuing to plunder the Earth for profit. We can all see how this movie ends, can’t we? 

An array of solar panels slated for installation in Naperville is expected to produce enough electricity to power 145 homes each year.

It also will serve as an educational opportunity for the community and a precursor for the possible expansion of the city’s renewable energy program, said Lucy Podlesny, deputy director for the electric utility department.

The Springbrook Water Reclamation Facility has been chosen as a host site for 3,500 high-efficiency solar panels covering 6 acres at 3712 Plainfield-Naperville Road. The 1-megawatt solar array — the first of its kind in Naperville — could be constructed and operational as early as next spring, Podlesny said.

“Solar is one of the ways of the future. It’s carbon free, and it’s a great resource to have,” she said. “It’s also a great learning opportunity, so we’re excited about that.”

Naperville applied last May and recently was selected for the solar-power project led by the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency, a nonprofit from which the city and 31 other municipalities buys its energy. The city council has approved a siting agreement with the agency.

The array will be built and operated by Sol Systems, a solar finance and development firm that will sell the power produced back to the municipal electric agency, Podlesny said. The energy then will be fed into the city’s distribution system.

Installed on steel, fixed-tilt racks, the panels are expected to produce 1.6 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, Podlesny said. The ground-mounted system aims to offer year-round environmental benefits, while also offsetting the peak cost of electricity in the summer.

The panels are being installed at no direct cost to the city, she said, though an estimated $150,000 worth of labor and materials are required for staff to interconnect the distribution system.

The Illinois Municipal Electric Agency plans to install similar arrays in Rock Falls and Altamont, in addition to two already created in St. Charles and Rantoul. The projects are one way the agency has attempted to diversify its power sources after construction delays and cost overruns at one of its main sources — a southern Illinois coal plant — caused it to raise rates, city officials said.

As an added perk, Podlesny said, Naperville staff members will gain experience integrating a utility-scale solar resource into its operations. The project also will add a sustainability component to the Springbrook wastewater treatment plant, she said, which will enrich the educational experience for more than 1,000 students who tour there each year.

“We thought it’d be a great benefit to the city,” she said. “It shows our support for renewable energies.”

Naperville officials have been exploring ways to expand its renewable energy program, which allows residential and commercial utility customers to purchase wind and solar power systems.

One idea is to offer grants to residential customers who wish to install and promote renewable energy options — a program currently only available for commercial customers, Podlesny said. The city also may consider adding solar panels on the roof of the public works building on Fort Hill Drive.

Officials are seeking input and additional ideas from others, including North Central College, the city’s sustainability task force and customers, she said. Community members also can participate in an online survey, which can be found on the city’s website.

Staff members are expected to bring recommendations to the public utilities advisory board in July. Any proposed changes to the program also would be brought before the city council.

“We’re trying to increase our footprint here on renewables,” Podlesny said, “because that’s very important for the future.”

The growth of onshore wind energy is collapsing in Germany, according to European wind energy trade body WindEurope, and in the process is jeopardizing not only the renewable energy targets of Germany but of the whole European Union.

WindEurope spoke out last week regarding reports that there was only 134 megawatts (MW) of new onshore wind capacity installed in Germany during the first quarter of 2019 — an 87% drop as compared to the first quarter of 2018. These figures were reported by German non-profit wind association FA Wind (Fachagentur Windenergie an Land) in late April and were described as a “drastic slump” and a “temporary low point” of a larger decline which has been increasing for a year now.

According to WindEurope, Germany is likely to install between 1 GW and 2 GW in 2019 — “significantly down on the past five years” through which Germany installed an average of 4.3 GW per year, and further, well below what Germany needs in order for it to meet its 65% renewable electricity target by 2030, and to deliver on its share of the European Union’s 32% renewable energy target.

Further, as WindEurope points out, offshore wind cannot fill the gap, as Germany is only scheduled to build around 730 MW per year through to 2030.

“Onshore wind energy in Germany is in deep trouble,” said WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson.

“The development of new wind farms has almost ground to a halt. The main problem is permitting – it’s got much slower, more complex and there aren’t enough civil servants to process the applications. It seriously undermines Germany’s ability to meet its 2030 renewables target and contribute to the EU target. And it’s affecting Germany’s wind turbine industrial base. Half of Europe’s 300,000 wind energy jobs are in Germany. But 10,000 have gone in Germany in the last five years. And this could get worse: there hasn’t been a single turbine order recorded in Germany in Q1 this year.

“The German Government now needs to make clear how they’re going to reach their 65% renewables target for 2030. It needs an annual build-out of 5 GW of onshore wind – and urgent action to speed up the permitting process.” – Dickson

As Dickson explained, the primary obstacle to onshore wind development is the German permitting process, which used to only take 10 months but can now take over two years for a new project to proceed through the civil service infrastructure. According to WindEurope, Germany’s public authorities are not applying deadlines and many wind farm projects are finding themselves stuck in legal disputes. On top of this, as Dickson hinted at, there is a lack of staff to process the applications, especially at the Bundesland (State) level.

There was only 400 MW of new wind farm permits awarded in the first quarter of 2019, well below historic levels, and the overall trend has served to see the last three German onshore wind auction rounds significantly undersubscribed, which in turn has led to rising prices. Additionally, in technology neutral or combined auctions, onshore wind continues to be outperformed. Only last month the country’s solar industry walked away with 210 MW of a 200 MW auction which was heavily oversubscribed with solar.

“They’ve a clear opportunity to figure things out now with their ‘Public Acceptance Working Group’,” Dickson continued.

“The Group should agree to identify zones ripe for new wind farms. And ensure restrictions on things like distance or height of turbines aren’t out of sync with the rest of Europe. There’s plenty of space available for new wind farms in Germany. And they can build them in industrial sites like the Dutch do or alongside motorways like in France and Belgium. Repowering the early wind farms that are coming to the end of their life will also help. Replacing old turbines with modern ones doubles the capacity with one third fewer turbines. These are the kind of measures that Germany needs to stay on track with the Energiewende. But if the ‘Acceptance Working Group’ can’t sort it out, then Germany’s Climate Cabinet will have to step in with a proper action plan.”