June 12, 2009

Renewable portfolio standards at the state level are likely to be a precursor of things to come on the national stage. Congress, in fact, is now considering mandating utilities to generate a fixed portion of their electricity from green energy.

Renewable energy tied to wind and solar would have difficulty penetrating markets unless government interceded and provided tax breaks or instructed utilities to provide some green offerings. The goal is to create demand, which in turn attracts providers to the field and ultimately leads to the development of newer and better products and services. The objective is to produce a cleaner environment while creating viable jobs.

May 27, 2009 

It's 5 a.m. on a Monday and operations at the Puget Sound Energy trading desk are heating up. Actually, like utilities everywhere, the Bellevue, Washington, operation is never quiet. This flurry of activity is repeated from coast-to-coast as the desks gear up for that day's trades, and in this case, as the company's power generation bids are prepared for the day-ahead market.

Expected production from thermal and hydro units are calculated along with the crucial weather forecast and its projected impact on the anticipated load. And one other thing has arrived, a piece of the puzzle that wasn't needed a decade ago: a detailed model of the expected production from well over 200 wind turbines spread over two separate wind farms PSE operates scores of miles from its load centers on the outskirts of Seattle. When bids are awarded, wind is part of the equation. The real-time market then operates as it does on any other given day, with generation sources, not just wind, falling on and off the system for unplanned outages.

May 01, 2009

It may be a lot hot air. But the Obama administration says that wind facilities placed offshore along the East Coast could replace most of the coal-fired power plants now in the United States. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says that the technology to do so currently exists and that it would be a "very real possibility."

The message is consistent with that of the White House, which is that exponential growth in the renewable sector would cut emissions as well as create good jobs. Such highfalutin' comments by officials, however, are getting lampooned by critics. While wind energy will become a more integral part of the nation's energy landscape, it is unlikely for the foreseeable future to dethrone coal, or other natural resources.

April 29, 2009

National Renewable Energy Laboratory to receive more than $100 million from Recovery Act

In an ongoing effort to expand domestic renewable energy, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu today announced plans to provide $93 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support further development of wind energy in the United States during a visit to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory today. Secretary Chu also announced more than $100 million in funding from the Recovery Act for NREL facility and infrastructure improvements.

The funding will leverage the Department of Energy's national laboratories, universities, and the private sector to help improve reliability and overcome key technical challenges for the wind industry. These projects will create green jobs, promote economic recovery, and provide the investments needed to increase renewable energy generation.

April 29, 2009

When wind farm developers lined up at a grid operator's or utility's door a few years ago, plans to add a new project didn't cause undue concern. After all, 10 megawatts here, 50 megawatts there, weren't going to significantly change the scheduling.

Now that wind projects are measuring in the hundreds of megawatts in recent years, they are not only creating interconnection issues on their own, but are also occupying a more prominent place in the overall resource mix in large or multi-state regions.

And while utilities are still adding smaller projects, they present their own challenges as many are even smaller than the original wind projects, like solar PV installations on a warehouse roof or hundreds of individual homes.