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Conservation coalition confirms wind and solar transition is best route for the environment

April 21, 2023 jrobinson

The rapid transition to renewable energy offers opportunities to reset the broken relationship between energy production and nature, according to a new report by the Coalition Linking Energy And Nature for action (CLEANaction).

In its first major report, CLEANaction confirms that even when the full range of environmental impacts — from sourcing raw materials to final operation — is considered, generating and storing energy from renewables is far less environmentally damaging than using fossil fuels. The report argues that a transition focused on wind and solar can result in significantly reduced environmental impacts compared to other renewable energy types, although other renewables can be the most appropriate solution depending upon the local circumstances.

To limit global warming to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels and avoid the worst risks of climate change, renewable energy will need to account for more than 90% of electricity generation by 2050 according to International Energy Agency projections. The report explains how, in a vital decade for action, the potential for negative impacts from the energy transition can be carefully managed to ensure that renewable energy technologies causing the least damage to nature are prioritized.

CLEANaction is a coalition of NGOs, leading businesses, government bodies and financial institutions established in recognition of the urgent need for a global and just transition to a low-impact and nature-sensitive renewable energy system. The founding members are WWF, IRENA, ICLEI, The Nature Conservancy, Birdlife International and the Alliance for Rural Electrification.

“Climate change is causing havoc across the globe and, together with habitat loss and overexploitation, is a leading cause of reduced biodiversity worldwide,” said Dean Cooper, WWF global energy lead. “This loss of biodiversity, and of the natural carbon uptake and storage enabled by healthy ecosystems, exacerbates the climate crisis and threatens the health and wellbeing of humankind around the world. We all must urgently shift to 100% renewable energy, but we must take care to protect and enhance nature at the same time.”

Existing global-scale mapping of sites for wind and solar indicate there is enough energy available in areas that have low conflict with biodiversity to achieve projections from the International Energy Agency for a power system consistent with holding global temperature rise to below 1.5ºC. This Paris Agreement goal is a crucial threshold to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change on people and nature.

Significant changes are also needed in how we source and trace materials, such as rare earth elements, for developing our energy infrastructure. A new, circular economic model is essential to reduce environmental impacts, according to the report.

A circular economic and energy efficient model should prioritize the reduction of primary materials, as well as reuse and recycle to minimize further extraction and impacts related to the disposal of end-of-life equipment. When mining occurs, rigorous environmental and social safeguards must be in place to avoid the degradation of natural habitat and other harms, according to the report.

To achieve a clean energy future that takes full account of the impact on nature, CLEANaction is urging governments to:

Undertake strategic-level energy planning at national or regional scales to identify potential energy savings, suitable renewable energy sources and sites for energy expansion in areas of low biodiversity sensitivity.
Consider the impact on nature at the earliest stage of integrated clean energy planning, taking account of the full value chain (from sourcing material to disposal).
Develop national regulatory schemes that require energy developers to contribute to national conservation targets.
Invest in timely nature-sensitivity mapping to help direct technology siting through proper data and require industry to avoid protected areas, Key Biodiversity Areas and other areas of particular sensitivity and value.
Apply stringent environmental impact assessment processes and required standards to all new developments according to best practice.
Adopt a circular economy approach with optimized energy efficiency, to maximize reuse of energy materials, and minimize demand for natural resources.

CLEANaction is calling on renewable energy investors and developers to:

Integrate biodiversity, social and environmental risks early into renewable energy planning and investment decisions.
Apply effective biodiversity safeguards and environmental impact assessment procedures to avoid and minimize impacts, and offset any residual impacts to achieve net-positive outcomes.
Ensure there is traceability of raw materials and account for supply chain impacts within corporate commitments to nature.
Apply a circular approach to minimise the use of primary materials and maximise the reuse and recycling of materials.
Strengthen corporate disclosure and reporting on biodiversity, environmental and social impacts.

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Indian solar company wants to do more for Jamaica

March 30, 2023 jrobinson

International Solar Alliance's (ISA) Chief of Operations Joshua Wycliffe (right) speaking recently at the organisation's office in Dehli, India. At left is ISA's Chief of the Project Implementation Unit Remesh Kumar Kuruppath. — International Solar Alliance’s (ISA) Chief of Operations Joshua Wycliffe (right) speaking recently at the organisation’s office in Dehli, India. At left is ISA’s Chief of the Project Implementation Unit Remesh Kumar Kuruppath.

DEHLI, India — International Solar Alliance (ISA), based in this populous Asian city, has expressed interest in furthering its work with the Jamaica Government after providing funding of US$50,000 to complete the Little Park Solar Pump Station in St Elizabeth last year.

According to ISA’s chief of the Project Implementation Unit Remesh Kumar Kuruppath, Jamaica is the first country to benefit from this type of developmental solarisation project from the organisation.

“Jamaica is our first project in the solarisation of an agricultural pumping system. It is a water pumping system that has been solarised, and this was commissioned sometime in September last year. This is the first demonstration project we have done with the country to solarise a water pumping system there, and we have a very close interaction with the Jamaica Government and team there, and they want us to do more,” Kuruppath told journalists from the Caribbean and Latin America now in India on a familiarisation tour organised by the Indian Government.

This addition to the Little Park Pump Station saw the National Irrigation Commission (NIC) obtaining a 30-kilowatt solar retrofit to the Little Park-F3 Solar Pump Station through which over 390 farmers in the rural parish were already benefiting from increased and reliable access to water.

The organisation’s Chief of Operations Joshua Wycliffe told the Jamaica Observer that ISA believes Jamaica’s next step is to solarise other key sectors.

“It has been an absolute delight working and partnering with Jamaica. One of the areas that we are now looking at is how we have solarised our hospital rooftops. We would love to do that to health-care [and] educational facilities in Jamaica. These are two demonstration projects that can be replicated across Jamaica next,” Wycliffe said.

Pointing to the negative implications on the global job market and economy, Wycliffe went on to note that the project commissioned at the Little Park Pump Station in St Elizabeth by NIC supports the push for a more sustainable agricultural sector. Furthermore, the chief of operations told the Sunday Observer that the onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic saw an undeniable increase in agriculture due to the loss of jobs, and that ISA played its part in providing solarisation.

“Now Jamaica, like most island states, would also have a lot to do with fishing and marine exports, so coastal ridges are areas that we can support in terms of solarising that industrial segment. Recently there were countries, and I suspect Jamaica would be no exception, where hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost during the pandemic so people went back to farming — and we were able to provide solarisation to sustain that,” Wycliffe explained.

He continued, “This saw that a new channel for exporting was created so what we have looked at is being able to provide sustainable agriculture through solarised power. So, remote villages and communities where they don’t have power grid support to run the irrigation pumps, solarised pumps are an answer. They provide support for people living below the poverty line, so these are two broad areas where we can support Jamaica in being able to further solarise and transition.”

In the meantime, Wycliffe told the Sunday Observer that the ISA is hoping to meet with delegates from Jamaica at its upcoming regional committee meeting in the summer.

“We have had a great working relationship with the Jamaican Government, and that has certainly helped us in putting in small demonstration projects. We are looking forward, eagerly, to the regional committee meeting that is coming up; we would like to further work with them,” he said.

ISA is an international organisation with 110 member and signatory countries. It works with governments to improve energy access and security worldwide, and promotes solar power as a sustainable way to transition to a carbon-neutral future.

To support those projects the organisation partners with multilateral development banks, development financial institutions, private and public sector organisations, civil society, and other international institutions to deploy cost-effective and transformational solutions through solar energy, especially in the least -eveloped countries and the small-island developing states.

Jamaica Observer

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Renewables increased energy output by more than 12% in 2022

March 12, 2023 jrobinson

According to a review by the SUN DAY Campaign of data just released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), renewable energy sources provided almost 23% of the nation’s electrical generation in 2022.

The latest issue of EIA’s “Electric Power Monthly” report (with data through December 31) reveals that renewable energy sources (including small-scale solar systems) increased their electrical output by 12.37% last year compared to 2021. By comparison, electrical generation by all energy sources combined grew by just 3.47%.

In 2022, renewables provided 22.58% of total U.S. electrical generation versus 20.79% a year ago. Accordingly, they modestly surpassed EIA’s earlier forecast of renewables providing 22% of U.S. electricity in calendar year 2022.

Once again, solar was the fastest growing renewable energy source. Output by solar increased by 24.14% and its share of total U.S. electrical generation for the year was 4.74%. A year earlier, solar’s share was 3.95%. Five years ago, it was 1.91% and at the end of 2012, solar’s share was only 0.11%.

Electrical generation by wind also expanded significantly — growing by 14.97% and providing over a tenth (10.11%) of total U.S. electrical generation in 2022. Combined, solar and wind contributed nearly 15% (14.85%) of the nation’s electrical output last year.

In addition, generation by hydropower grew 4.14% and accounted for 6.09% of the total. Electrical output by geothermal as well as wood and wood-derived fuels also increased by 6.43% and 0.29% respectively. Only generation by “other biomass” fell — by 5.06%.

Taken together, in 2022, renewable energy sources comfortably out-produced both coal and nuclear power by 17.18% and 25.90% respectively. However, natural gas continued to dominate with a 39.27% share of total generation.

Renewables’ growing share of U.S. electrical generation last year mirrored their expansion in other sectors such as transportation and heating.

For example, a second EIA report — its “Monthly Energy Review” released last week — reveals that the mix of renewable energy sources, including biofuels, accounted for 13.03% of total U.S. energy production during the first 11 months of 2022. For the same period a year earlier, renewables’ share was 12.50%.

On the consumption side, renewables were 13.20% of energy use during the first 11 months of 2022. Renewables were 12.43% of energy consumption during the same time period a year earlier. Actual consumption of renewables increased by 8.96%, while total energy use for all sectors increased by just 2.59%.

“Last year set a new record for renewably generated electricity in the U.S.,” noted the SUN DAY Campaign’s executive director Ken Bossong. “Renewables are now on track to reach one-quarter of electrical generation in 2023 as well as one-seventh of total domestic energy production and then accelerate in the years to follow.”

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China ready to help Caribbean with transition to solar energy

March 12, 2023 jrobinson

Deputy official for China's National People's Congress, Liu Hanyuan, is chairman of the Board of Directors of Tongwei Group and co-chairman of the China Photovoltaic Agricultural Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance. Liu spoke with reporters during the Two Sessions on climate change issues on March 8, 2023. — Deputy official for China’s National People’s Congress, Liu Hanyuan, is chairman of the Board of Directors of Tongwei Group and co-chairman of the China Photovoltaic Agricultural Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance. Liu spoke with reporters during the Two Sessions on climate change issues on March 8, 2023.

Chinese deputy official Liu Hanyuan said China’s is willing and ready to assist Caribbean regions with the transition to renewable energy, particularly solar, through collaboration and technological assistance.

Speaking with Loop News for the first session of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC), Liu said because of the Caribbean’s sunny location solar is a good choice for alternative energy.

Liu said from the technical perspective it is possible to reduce the cost for solar energy, however in the Caribbean region photovoltaic (PV) systems are still being introduced. Another issue would be shipping, which contributes to higher costs.

He said however if there is enough demand this could help make solar more affordable.

“If there is the demand, the price would be cheaper and cost could be lower, and they could also enjoy the same prices as people in China.”

He added that there are no limitations with regard to the sharing of Chinese technology and skills in assisting the Caribbean region in the transition to solar energy.

“From the Chinese perspective of the government with regard to these enterprises, there are absolutely no limitations for the transmission of this technology into the Caribbean region. But we need two things, more demand and the new systems being established, which will help bring lower energy costs.”

He said however that once these systems are built the price of energy will be comparatively lower than fossil fuels.

He said it’s hoped that they can assist with the construction of more solar facilities to assist with the Caribbean region’s energy goals.

Liu, who is chairman of the Board of Directors of Tongwei Group and co-chairman of the China Photovoltaic Agricultural Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance, said China’s green development strategy has clear goals for reducing C02 emissions, one of which is developing its solar energy production.

China is also open to developing and providing technological support for other countries in this regard via its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

In Trinidad and Tobago, sod has been turned for the construction of a solar park system at the Piarco International Airport, via a $12 million grant from the European Union’s Global Climate Change Alliance Plus (GCCA+) programme.

Plans are also underway for the construction of the country’s largest solar energy project to be developed and executed by a consortium between Lightsource bp, bp Alternative Energy Trinidad and Tobago and Shell Renewables Caribbean.

It is the first joint project between the three entities.

The 148MW total is split over two sites, Brechin Castle (122MWp) and Orange Grove (26MWp), the latter of which will see bp and Shell collaborate with the University of the West Indies. Construction is expected to begin in Q1 2023, and operations in Q3-4 2024.

The project came about in response to the Trinidadian government’s request for proposal (RFP), seeking projects to contribute to the country’s commitment to lower greenhouse gas emissions in the power sector by 15 per cent by 2030.

Loop

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As rich nations haggle over climate solutions, storm-ravaged Caribbean is taking matters into its own hands

March 12, 2023 jrobinson

Islands Energy Program RMI solar battery system Monserrat

When Hurricane Fiona slammed into Puerto Rico in September, it triggered a nearly island-wide blackout as the storm’s strong winds took down the fragile power grid.

Carlos Ramos spoke to CNN as he helped his friends clean up their flood-damaged beach home in Salinas. Ramos said most of his neighbors in Aguas Buenas, in the island’s central mountain range, were among those who lost power in the wake of the hurricane.

But Ramos’s home maintained power.

Frustrated by the rising cost of electricity and the ever-looming threat of power outages on the storm-stricken island, the 59-year-old retired bank worker had solar panels installed on his home.

“All my neighbors said I was crazy for getting the solar panels,” he told CNN. “Now they’re sitting in the dark. It was the best investment.”

World leaders are in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, this week for the UN’s COP27 climate summit where they are negotiating solutions to the climate crisis and haggling over how to help developing nations switch to clean energy and pay for extreme weather disasters.

But as they do so, millions of people are already dealing with the impacts.

Among the regions that have long endured these devastating impacts are the Caribbean islands, where sea level is rising and hurricanes are becoming more intense.

But Caribbean leaders, residents and even utility companies say they are tired of waiting for world leaders to save them. Experts and residents tell CNN that the islands are now eagerly adapting on their own through grant funding, phasing out fossil fuels and advancing clean energy across the region, to make them better prepared for the worsening impacts of the climate crisis.

“We don’t have the luxury of being able to sit by and wait until the planet comes to an agreement,” Racquel Moses, CEO of the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator, told CNN. “We have been waiting, and we have been trying to do the best that we can with the resources that we have. But we are not seeing enough momentum and we keep sustaining losses.”

Microgrids keep the lights on

In 2021, storm-ravaged Ragged Island in the Bahamas successfully developed a solar-powered microgrid so that the next time a storm hits, the lights can stay on.

Last year, the Bahamas successfully developed a solar-powered microgrid that provides renewable energy to every home on Ragged Island – a small island community which was devastated by Hurricane Irma. The Category 5 tore through the Caribbean in 2017, displaced thousands of people and leveled electric grids.

The Ragged Island electric project was designed so that the next time a storm hits and takes down the power system, the 390-kilowatt microgrid can disconnect from the main grid and keep the lights on for residents.

That project’s success created a ripple effect across the Bahamas, said David Gumbs, director of the Islands Energy Program at the Rocky Mountain Institute, a non-profit group that’s working to scale up clean energy programs to curtail global emissions. The country has now deployed even more microgrids to other islands, totaling nearly 6.5 megawatts of renewable power across the country — which is enough to power around 300 Caribbean houses.

“The project is definitely a success,” Gumbs told CNN. “We’re in the phase of transition. There are now a number of islands that are champions in big initiatives.”

Moses said 2017’s back-to-back hurricanes — first Irma, then Maria — was the turning point for the Caribbean, where residents and government leaders said they could no longer afford to wait and “be sitting ducks, hoping” that wealthy countries would rescue them from the climate crisis, or halt its acceleration.

“We are already under threat,” Moses said. “You’ve just seen Hurricane Fiona and what it’s done, not only to islands in the Caribbean, but also in the US – the most powerful economy on the planet – and yet responding to billions of dollars’ worth of damages is going to be problematic.”

The Caribbean islands contribute a tiny fraction to the climate crisis — less than 2% of planet-warming emissions, Moses said — yet they are on the frontlines when it comes to climate disasters.

And on top of the flooding, fallen trees, battered roads and broken infrastructure, soaring utility prices have become unaffordable, Gumbs said.

“When you’re paying four times as much for electricity, and your income is four times less than the average income in the US, it just creates such a hardship for people,” he said. “And those are the people we are worried about getting left behind.”

Future-proofing the Caribbean

Gumbs experienced the wrath of Irma himself in his home island of Anguilla, where at the time he was the CEO of the island’s utility company. Now with RMI, he has been overseeing this energy transition across the Caribbean region, redesigning the electricity grid to be free of fossil fuels and climate-resilient.

“There’s such an enormous opportunity,” Gumbs said. “We would love for it to happen at scale, to just transform the entire system to renewables tomorrow, but there are certain barriers to do that.”

At COP27, money is the biggest debate. Developing nations are putting more pressure on the world’s richest countries to help them recover from climate disasters. Negotiators will also discuss the existing promise of climate finance meant to help developing countries adapt to climate change and transition to clean energy – a $100 billion-a-year pledge that rich countries have yet to make good on.

A woman walks on a street in Saint-Martin on September 11, 2017, after Hurricane Irma.

But even then, Gumbs said it’s hard for low-income countries “tap into” those funds: “It just takes years to get the money out,” he said. “It’s always a problem, but there are a number of ways to overcome that.”

On Tuesday, RMI and investment fund Lion’s Head Global Partners launched a new Caribbean Climate-Smart Fund to accelerate that clean energy shift. The initiative intends to expand the islands’ access to resilient clean energy, which advocates say would help Caribbean nations not only adapt to a warmer future, but also save millions each year in utility costs.

Gumbs said the fund will comprise more than $150 million of philanthropic money and will be spread across more than 20 Caribbean islands.

Damaged trees after the passage of Hurricane Maria, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in September 2017.

Charlin Bodley, the global south manager for RMI, said wealthy countries must look beyond reducing their climate emissions – which she said is the “easy part” – and consider how they will support small island nations suffering the consequences of their fossil fuel use.

“There is a level of support that is necessary,” Bodley, who is based in St. Lucia, told CNN. “It’s really, at this point, a matter of survival for Caribbean.”

And because the Caribbean islands see clean energy as a solution to withstand disasters but also to save on electricity costs, Moses said the momentum and political interest across the region is growing, and island governments are turning to groups like RMI and other nonprofits for grant funding to pursue their clean energy goals.

But Gumbs said they still need more clean energy programs, educational resources for residents, as well as access to funds from grant-making entities. To him, the solutions are ready. He said the Caribbean might just be the model that would convince both wealthy nations and the private sector to invest in solutions through climate finance.

“Climate-smart funds provide a vehicle to eliminate a big part of the problem,” Gumbs said. “It’s important to bring people along with these solutions, and we’re going to do it in a way that’s sensitive to the local environment.”

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Chippies goes solar with CIBC FirstCaribbean loan

February 24, 2023 jrobinson

Native Food Packers Limited, trading under the ‘Chippies’ brand, has been in operation for more than half a century and is well known for its various snacks including banana, plantain and breadfruit chips.

Over the years, the company adjusted its business model to suit the environment and is again making a move in another direction which will see it contribute to the environment by going solar.

Adrian Grant Jr, managing director of Native Food Packers Ltd, advised that the initiative to go “solar” was geared towards cutting costs, gaining a more competitive edge in the local global market and promoting an eco-friendly environment.

SOLAR PANEL INSTALLATION HAS DECREASED ENERGY COSTS

Grant further advised that CIBC FirstCaribbean has been their bank of choice, starting with his father.

Over the years, CIBC FirstCaribbean has supported the company, providing financial support including the recent solar project with panels installed by Solar Buzz Jamaica (SBJ).

He said that since the installation of the solar panels, energy cost has been decreased by more than 50 per cent and is expected to be reduced even more, which undoubtedly will improve the financial performance of the company and position it for further growth in the future.

CIBC FirstCaribbean is known for its financial strength, prudent management and the structuring and execution of various deals regionally including clean energy across the Caribbean and Latin America.

Annique Dawkins, head of corporate banking, Jamaica, said the bank is focused on supporting lending in diverse segments to facilitate savings and business transformation and was happy to support Native Food Packers Limited with this initiative.

“The Bank will continue to support its customers who are keen on responding to climate change by adopting green energy sources such as solar and wind-generated power, which do not emit greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming,” she said.

Celebrating the achievements of ‘Chippies’, Jason Robinson, CEO of Solar Buzz, said: “We are a renewable energy company with a focus on educating our clients on how to maximise their overall savings through solar energy and energy efficiency measures. We create detailed commercial proposals for renewable energy projects for presentation to financial institutions who are willing to lend for the purpose of Going Green. CIBC FirstCaribbean has plans to be a leader in financing renewables in Jamaica and Solar Buzz is excited to work with them to achieve this goal.”

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Snack brand Chippies goes solar with CIBC loan

February 24, 2023 jrobinson

Left to right: Annique Dawkins, Head of Corporate Banking CIBC FirstCaribbean; Adrian Grant Jr., Managing Director of Native Food Packers Ltd and Jason Robinson, CEO of Solar Buzz during a tour of the solar facilities at Native Food Packers Limited which was financed by CIBC FirstCaribbean

Native Food Packers Limited, trading under the Chippies brand, has been in operation for more than half a century and is well known for its various snacks including banana, plantain and breadfruit chips.

Over the years, the company adjusted its business model to suit the environment and is again doing so. This time, to go solar.

Adrian Grant Jr., Managing Director of Native Food Packers Ltd advised that the initiative, to go solar, is geared towards cutting costs, gaining a more competitive edge in the local global market and promoting an eco-friendly environment.

He further advised that CIBC FirstCaribbean has been their bank of choice which started with his father.

Over the years CIBC FirstCaribbean has supported the company, providing financial support including the recent solar project with panels installed by Solar Buzz Jamaica (SBJ).

He said that since the installation of the solar panels, the energy cost has been decreased by more than 50 per cent and is expected to be reduced even more which undoubtedly will improve the financial performance of the company and position it for further growth in the future.

Annique Dawkins, Head of Corporate Banking, Jamaica said the bank is focused on supporting lending in diverse segments to facilitate savings and business transformation and was happy to support Native Food Packers Limited with this initiative.

“The bank will continue to support its customers who are keen on responding to climate change by adopting green energy sources such as solar and wind-generated power, which do not emit greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming”, she expanded.

Celebrating the achievements of “Chippies” Jason Robinson, CEO of Solar Buzz said, “we are a renewable energy company with a focus on educating our clients on how to maximise their overall savings through solar energy and energy efficiency measures. We create detailed commercial proposals for renewable energy projects for presentation to financial institutions who are willing to lend for the purpose of Going Green. CIBC FirstCaribbean has plans to be a leader in financing renewables in Jamaica and Solar Buzz is excited to work with them to achieve this goal.”

Loop

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For safety and reliability, utilities must shift focus to distributed energy resources

January 21, 2023 jrobinson

Outages during Christmas reflect poorly on utility forecasting and natural gas units. It’s past time for the states and their utilities to lead and not wait until the grid regulators Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and North American Electric Reliability Corporation conclude their joint investigation.

To ensure safety and reliability, utility leaders should pay consumers to reduce consumption, embrace distributed energy resources in their resource planning, and make interconnecting rooftop solar and residential storage easier.

The question is, however, will they?

Anticipating NERC’s response

FERC and NERC have announced a joint investigation into what happened in North Carolina during Winter Storm Elliot because of multiple outages during Christmas.

The economic and reliability regulators want to get in on regulation and standards after an event, but there is no focus or attention paid before. Maybe that’s just human tendency?

History has always told us, at least in the electric utility industry, that major regulations come after blackouts. The National Electric Reliability Council was formed after the 1965 blackout. Read about fascinating NERC history here (It’s only 177 pages!). NERC came out of regional councils such as Mid-Atlantic Area Coordination Group, which is now ReliabilityFirst.

The Council became a corporation —the North American Electric Reliability Corporation— after the Sep. 2003 blackout with the mandate to levy fines of up to $1 million per day if utilities violated reliability standards, including tree trimming regulations.

Incentivizing DERs before an event

Fast forward to Feb. 2021.

Did we learn anything from winter storm Uri in Texas? We have already forgotten that Texas went through a similar winter storm event a decade earlier, in 2011.

Yes, FERC and NERC jointly investigated and released a report back then. I am sure they will also release a report for Elliott, too. But the jury is still out on Uri’s lessons. A recent proposal in Texas to incentivize generators (not load) to ensure they show up during a grid emergency.

Look at what is happening right now in PJM

PJM just announced that it had more unit outages during the Christmas week than forecasted. If 23% of PJM’s total capacity was forced out, 87% was from natural gas and coal units. And we have executives from Duke Energy Carolinas apologizing for inconveniencing their customers during Christmas. These utilities and RTOs have not taken steps to incentivize demand response and distributed energy resources, yet they are the custodians of safety and reliability.

Why should they pay load to avoid blackouts? Because that’s how MISO avoided blackouts in Feb. 2021.

Utilities must speed up distributed resource interconnections via automation

Whenever the topic of distributed energy resources interconnection comes up, utilities always bring up the fact that they are responsible for the safety and reliability of the distribution grid. Never mind that those utilities have already studied these DER interconnections. They want to “screen” them again so that a solar project is not exporting more than it should when storage is added at the same site.

Solar interconnections can be severely limited on the distribution system due to capacity constraints that could be resolved without the cost and delay associated with major feeder upgrades. In some cases, voltage and current imbalance will limit the feeder capacity. This constraint exists even though capacity is available in other phases.

Companies like Switched Source offer a distribution automation solution, the Phase EQ, that will automatically balance the voltage and current to unlock the capacity of the feeder. In other cases, the ideal location to site a solar project may be served by a feeder at capacity; however, adjacent feeders have the capacity but are not tied together due to the risk of loop flows.

Switched Source also offers another distribution automation solution, the Tie Controller, that can enable adjacent feeders to be tied together and controls the power flow between them to balance the load on the feeders.

Utilities must embrace distribution automation solutions to identify feeders with phase imbalance issues or capacity constraints and deploy solutions to address the issues to enable more load and solar interconnections.

Utilities must reflect accurate modeling of distributed solar in resource plans

Whenever utilities have integrated resource plan (IRP) proceedings, renewable and environmental advocates must push the utilities to incorporate distributed solar in their future capacity expansion plans. It’s like pulling teeth.

The excuse utilities give for not including distributed solar in future resource plans is that they don’t have much capacity value compared to utility-scale solar or utility-scale natural gas plants.

But the recent Christmas event in PJM shows many more outages than forecasted on the system. Additionally, unanticipated outages led to capacity deficiencies in the New England region during Christmas. And the New England grid operator is levying non-performance penalties on non-performing units, but we won’t know who owns these units.

So why are the utilities and their regulators more focused on an antiquated integrated resource planning process that incentivizes more non-renewable generation and the transmission needed to interconnect, when we should be looking at more distributed options on the demand side?

To reduce the magnitude of a blackout or even the likelihood of entering into an emergency event, grid planners should be talking to policy professionals and educating them before it is too late. It is easy to think about policy during an emergency event. It is hard to think about the policy before an event.

It’s up to states to take action

Even after all these events in recent years and so many different slides and jazzy pictures from institutions like NOAA that show that multiple weather-related events are occurring more frequently, utilities are asking for rate recovery for generation and transmission but not interconnection of distributed resources and demand response compensation.

Policymakers and grid planners should gather once again in a workshop in each state and debate whether we are paying enough attention to demand and distributed resources and consumers generating their electricity.

Utilities should allow rooftop solar, residential batteries, and customer-sited storage solutions on the grid to avoid human loss during grid emergencies.

Renewable Energy World

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Amazon, Meta and Google buy more clean energy than any other companies

January 21, 2023 jrobinson

KEY POINTS

Amazon, Facebook parent company Meta and Google, owned by parent company Alphabet, are the top three corporate purchasers of wind and solar energy, according to a report published Wednesday from the American Clean Power Association, an industry group.
In total, 326 companies contracted 77.4 gigawatts of wind and solar energy by the end of 2022, which is enough energy to power over a thousand data centers or 18 million American homes.
Texas is benefitting more than any other state. Companies have bought clean energy from 540 projects located in 49 states, Washington DC and Puerto Rico, but 35% of contracted capacity bought by companies is coming from Texas, the report finds.

Technology companies are leading the charge of companies buying wind and solar power.

Amazon, Facebook parent company Meta, and Google, owned by parent company Alphabet, are the top three corporate purchasers of wind and solar energy, according to a report published Wednesday from the American Clean Power Association, an industry group.

Amazon had contracted 12.4 gigawatts of clean wind and solar energy in the United States through September 2022, while Meta had contracted 8.7 gigawatts and Google had contracted 6.2 gigawatts, according to the report.

These procurement totals are since the first time these companies have announced they were buying wind and solar power last decade.

The technology sector is certainly outpacing other industries in buying clean power, but it’s been increasing across all industries. From 2012 to 2022, the amount of wind and solar energy bought by companies has increased by an average of 73 percent per year. It passed 1 gigawatt in 2015, 8 gigawatts in 2018, and nearly 20 gigawatts last year.

Wind and solar power procured by companies by year, according to the American Clean Power Association, an industry group.

The switch is not just driven by a desire to save the world from climate change. The price of clean power has been falling steadily. In the past decade, the cost has fallen 71 percent and 47 percent, respectively, according to the report.

The technology sector is the clear leader when it comes to buying clean energy, and has contracted 48 percent of all wind and solar power. The energy, telecommunications and food and beverage sectors are the next largest corporate buyers and have contracted 9, 8 and 7 percent of total contracted wind and solar, respectively.

Total contracted wind and solar power by industry, according to the American Clean Power Association, an industry group.

In total, 326 companies contracted 77.4 gigawatts of wind and solar energy by the end of 2022, which is enough energy to power over a thousand data centers or 18 million American homes.

Of that 77 plus gigawatts of wind and solar power that has been contracted, 36 gigawatts or 47 percent is currently operating, meaning more than half still is still in development. The time it takes to go from a company buying wind or solar power and the project being online depends, but most of the procured projects are expected to come online in the next three years, a spokesperson for American Clean Power told CNBC.

Companies represent a significant piece of the total wind and solar landscape: 16 percent of wind and solar energy was headed towards corporations by the end of 2022. The remaining 84 percent goes to other energy purchasers, like utility companies.

As companies increase their purchasing of wind and solar power, Texas is benefitting more than any other state. Companies have bought clean energy from 540 projects located in 49 states, Washington DC and Puerto Rico, but 35% of contracted capacity bought by companies is coming from Texas, the report finds.

CNBC

Alternative Energy Electricity JPS News Solar Energy

Government needs more aggressive approach to renewable energy, says JPS engineer

January 21, 2023 jrobinson

Ricardo Case, director of engineering services at the Jamaica Public Service (JPS), is calling for the Government to act quicker as it relates to the implementation of policies and licensing for renewable energy.

Case noted that the Government has implemented some good policies that have been instrumental in the development of the sector, but a more aggressive approach is needed.

The JPS recently established 10 charging stations in Jamaica, with plans to double that amount by the end of 2023. However, a larger expansion of charging stations is pending government policy, said Case.

“We have to temper ourselves with where we see government policy going, so if there was a more aggressive government policy where the EV market was booming, we could act faster,” he told Our Today.

Energy Minister Daryl Vaz delivers his keynote address at the official commissioning ceremony for the Jamaica Public Service’s first electrical charging station in Port Antonio, Portland last November. (Photo: Twitter @myJPSOnline)

Case added that, though the Government has reduced taxes on electric vehicles, the age of the car that people can import is “practically new”, which means that they are expensive. In addition to this, most people charge their cars at home or at work. As such, he said the JPS is awaiting stronger signals from the Government before it invests in a larger scale of charging stations.

As it relates to the issue of licensing, he shared that it often takes up to six months or more for a licence to be approve and is recommending that the Government move faster in this regard.

He noted that “timing is everything in the industry”.

Case added: “So, if you’re gonna have something that is taking too long, it’s going to defeat the purpose for some people and it’s going to frustrate everybody else.”

Prime Minister Andrew Holness had stated that the Government plans to increase its target for use of renewable energy from 30 per cent to 50 per cent by 2030. But Case said proper planning in needed in relation to land space.

“To get 50 per cent of energy, it means that you have to have a whole lot more capacity on the grid to deliver that amount of energy because the nature of renewable energy facilities is not a 100 per cent relationship,” said Case.

He continued by sharing that the concern he has “is that, when you are looking at the expansion and the development of the system, it cannot be done in isolation of just JPS alone. When you are planning the whole energy eco system, everything comes into play”.

Case also pointed out that, often, the land on which solar parks are being developed is often not used for anything else and requires a large space.

“With the development of these solar parks, they are not using the land for anything else apart from the solar parks. So, we are going to get to a critical point where we are going to run out of land if we are not reusing the land for other purposes outside just generation because these solar facilities take up a lot of space.”

He then stated that, for engineers, this can cause an issue in the design process because, without the necessary information from the Government about future plans, they cannot create modular systems.

“We need to know the expansion plans that the Government has and where our new roads are going to be, because those are going to be your corridors and the right of way that you need to use to expand your system. It is a holistic partnership,” he stressed.

Our Today

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