The industry is trying to find ways to integrate microgrids into the grid of the future but getting the commercial model right has proven difficult.
By Janis Kreilis
New York’s Governor, Andrew Cuomo, announced last week that Albany, the state’s capital, will be getting a 19-MW microgrid for a 90-acre government office complex.
Is it really over, though?
Janis Kreilis
On May 2, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed into law Senate Bill 309, which phases out retail net metering (NEM).
The debate in the Hoosier state had resembled those of its Midwestern counterparts. In one corner, you had utilities, arguing that retail net metering customers had been compensated too generously for their rooftop solar or wind energy and that the costs of running the grid were shifted onto non-NEM consumers.
As renewables come online, attempts to change consumer behavior remain
by Janis Kreilis
We had previously written about the downsides of having a lot of renewable energy generated at times when it is not used, and the latest data from the California ISO (CAISO) paint a picture that looks worse than previously thought.
According to Platts, CAISO had to curtail 80 GWh of renewable energy in March 2017, an amount roughly equal to powering 90,000 average American households for a month.
By Janis Kreilis
If anyone still did not believe it, you should now: the energy transition is officially happening. In 2015, natural gas, spurred by low prices thanks to a steady growth in production from the Marcellus, Eagle Ford, Bakken, and other shale regions, replaced coal as the largest source of power generation the U.S.
Source: EIA, BNEF
What’s more, renewables have shown incredible growth over the past decade.
By Janis Kreilis
For anyone following the debates on net metering nationwide, Nevada has provided a steady stream of events to talk about since 2015, when the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (NV PUC) eliminated retail-rate net metering and replaced it with much lower wholesale rates.
Now, net metering for all customers is back on the table.
Renewable energy in excess threatens the reliability and costs of electricity
By Janis Kreilis
Although the Trump Administration has publicly expressed its support for the U.S. domestic fossil fuel industries, namely coal, oil, and natural gas, market dynamics coupled with favorable policies continue to push renewables.
On March 23, California hit a new record: just before noon, the California ISO (CAISO) served 56.7 percent of all demand with renewable energy.
Each year, for almost the last 30 years, the cost of harnessing energy from the sun has gotten 10% cheaper. This trend shows no signs of slowing down, making solar energy cost competitive to other energy alternatives and resulting in solar breaking US records as the largest capacity addition by energy source in 2016.
Keep ReadingGone are the days when solar panels were so expensive that you would only see them on the rooftops of wealthy people who wanted their houses to look like they were from the future. Incredible advancements in technology and production processes have brought the price of the panels down. As the total capacity of solar photovoltaic panels has increased from less than 10 MW in 1976 to more than 100 GW in 2012, their price per Watt has plummeted from almost $100 to less than a dollar.
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