Tiny Spanish Island Nears Its Goal: 100 Percent Renewable Energy

Now this is what we need to be talking about when referencing the possibilities of the future with regards to renewable energy supply.  Wind supported pumped storage is something every system in the world, with storage backed hydroelectric power can exploit.  If you cannot pump, then simply curtail production when the wind is blowing.  When it is not, utilize the water that had been stored.  This is an old concept and an exisitng practice of hydroelectric companies.  However, rather than following the wind, they follow the rate at which the power is being paid for. If wind were ever to play a significant enough role in the energy mix, it would affect the price of energy, and effectively drive production or release of stored power.

Read the article below regarding El Hierro's ambitious and successful plan to cut off their need for fossil fuels with their combined wind and pumped-storage  facility.



It actually takes quite a lot of fossil fuel power to reach the tiny Spanish island of El Hierro. You have to catch a commercial jet flight, a propeller plane and then a ferry to reach what was once the end of the known world, before Columbus set sail.

But once you're there, there's no need for fossil fuels at all. The ancient island off the west coast of Africa is now a model for the future, within months of running on 100 percent renewable energy, which consists of a mix of wind and hydro-power.

El Hierro, the most remote of Spain's Canary Islands, is now billing itself as the world's first energy self-sufficient island that has never been hooked up to a power grid.

A Danish island, Samso, is also energy-independent, but was previously hooked up to the Danish grid and didn't make the change in isolation, like El Hierro.

Because of the topography of the surrounding seabed, El Hierro, an active volcanic island with a population of about 10,000, could never hook up to Spain's power grid.

Instead, it used big barges to ship in 6,600 tons of diesel fuel — the equivalent of 40,000 barrels of oil — each year, to power electricity generators. It was an expensive, time-consuming and dirty endeavor ... until now.

This past summer, El Hierro inaugurated the Gorona del Viento power plant, a $110 million wind and water turbine farm. By the end of this year, the plant will generate all of the island's energy needs of up to 48 gigawatt hours per year."

Tiny Spanish Island Nears Its Goal: 100 Percent Renewable Energy : Parallels : NPR: "

Canada missing out on green energy revolution

Trade and investment in wind, solar and other green technologies rising, says Clean Energy Canada

Canada could make its renewables technology into a trade advantage, says advocacy group Clean Energy Canada (CBC)

Race to renewables

At a time when investment in clean energy technologies is growing worldwide, Canada is “looking the other way” and risks missing out on trade and growth opportunities, according to a new report from an advocacy group for green energy.

 The study from Clean Energy Canada was released Monday to coincide with the United Nation Climate Summit in New York City. It says Canada spent $6.5 billion on the renewable energy transition last year.

•  Global CO2 emissions break record ahead of UN Climate Summit 
•  Renewables to make up 1/4 of world's energy by 2018 

That is minuscule compared to the $207 billion spent worldwide, including $55 billion in China alone.

While major trading partners such as China, the U.S., Japan and Germany are big spenders on wind and solar, both to reduce pollution and provide clean sources of energy, Canada is not developing its industries quickly enough to take advantage of the shift, the report says.

“While other economies have made clean-energy industries and services a trade priority, some of us cling to the notion that our carbon-based fuels constitute our only competitive advantage,” the report says, referring to the federal government’s trade agenda, which focuses heavily on oil.

China’s imports of clean energy technology and services from Canada have tripled since 2001, to $63 million in 2011.

"What we’ve found is that the world’s leading economies, places that are major markets like the U.S., China, the EU – they’re really reducing their dependence on fossil fuels and are embracing clean energy like wind, solar, hydro," said Merran Smith, director of Clean Energy Canada.

She said that shift could cut into Canada's oil and gas sales. The opportunities to innovate in the field of renewables could be a stimulus to the economy, she said in an interview with CBC's The Exchange with Amanda Lang.

"Canada has been ignoring the climate issue and the clean energy revolution — they’re pretending it’s still a boutique and side issue," Smith said. 

She urged Ottawa to start "giving it the same kind of support it has given to every major industry in Canada, including the oilsands, which has received billions of dollars in federal support."

Costs fall 

 Plunging equipment costs, strong investor interest and good policy are driving a global shift to renewable energy sources such as wind, sun and water, the report said.

Smith said the cost of renewable energy sources has been dropping, especially since China started investing in them.

"When China got into the game of clean energy and started investing in solar technologies, that is what has made the cost of solar technologies plummet.  Many people don’t know that the cost of solar has gone down 83 per cent in the last five years and that’s part of what’s driving this revolution," she said.

The report highlights some of the forces that are driving interest in green technologies, including the development of electric car technology, new green bonds and a commitment by multinationals such as Google, Starbucks and Ikea.

It also calls attention to the role of leadership. U.S. President Barack Obama’s cleaner energy agenda and renewable targets in some states are bringing about a slow shift in energy use south of the border while B.C.’s carbon tax has reduced fuel use by 16 per cent.

Almost half the new electricity produced in Canada since 2000 is wind and solar because of heavy investment by Ontario and Quebec.

But microgrids, which encourage neighborhoods to put solar panels on roofs and share resources locally, are facing legal and social barriers in Canada, the report said.

Get ready for Paris 2015 

 Canada also fails to take part meaningfully in international forums that could advance its clean energy trade interests, Clean Energy Canada said, citing the case of the International Renewable Energy Agency, which the country does not belong to.

Clean Energy Canada urged Ottawa to “play a constructive role in the Paris 2015 climate talks.” Canada was shown as a  laggard in cutting greenhouse gas emissions at the Copenhagen climate talks in 2009.

The group said Canada should be able to show progress in cutting back on emissions that cause climate change before the Paris talks."

Canada missing out on green energy revolution, report says - Business - CBC News: "

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Integrated Balance of System Solution: The Next Solar Cost Savings Frontier

Phil is First Green Energy's go to expert on all things Solar!  Great read for those interested in the solar industry. Reducing BoS field labor and material costs on projects are critical to achieving competitive system performance and pricing.

By Phil Winters As PV modules decline in price, the focus on cost savings increasingly turns to the Balance of Systems (BoS). Though material costs of BoS continue to rise (copper, aluminum, steel, etc.), costs savings are derived primarily from the engineered integration of the BOS system which can reduce labor and materials on the job site. Two recent studies concluded that BoS costs will likely exceed the costs of PV modules in the near term, becoming the highest cost portion of a solar system (this is including the mounting system, which we are including in BoS descriptions). According to GTM research, “…attention from developers and EPCs will increasingly be placed on a project’s balance-of-system (BoS) costs. Historically, innovation in the BoS space has been somewhat limited, given its smaller share of the total system. However, BoS costs will represent more than half of total project costs by 2012, and many BoS players are beginning to integrate their offerings into full-service component packages and positioning for greater share in the market via meaningful economic gains.” As well, the recently launched U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative ‘aims to dramatically decrease the total costs of solar energy systems by 75% before the end of the decade’. Much of the focus of this initiative is on BoS and labor savings advancements. During the last decade, we have seen a series of shifts in the PV landscape. In 2002, the solar industry was squarely focused on the modules while the inverter was considered a mysterious box with a limited 3 year warranty that could be sourced from only a handful of suppliers in the market. Slowly the focus changed to the inverter, which now comes with standard 10 and 20 year warranties, and boasts thousands of suppliers globally. Until recently, nary a thought was given to the BoS, with integrators frequently building their own mounting systems out of strut, stuffing their own combiner boxes and cobbling together their BoS solutions from a series of manufacturers via their local electrical distributor. Thankfully, the industry has matured and many of these ‘home-made’ solutions have abated over time with suppliers like Eaton stepping in with high-quality, volume manufacturing. This has contributed to the decreasing installed cost of PV. There is, however, much to improve upon where significant BoS cost savings can occur, which Eaton is now squarely addressing. Take for instance, the current state of connecting modules to combiner boxes. Most contractors currently do all this work manually; running PV cable the length of the combiner box to module connection point, cutting and stripping the wires, crimping their contacts, assembling the connectors, attaching ID labels and terminating the string in the combiner box. This will be repeated dozens, hundreds and thousands of times depending on the scale of the project. Did we mention this is generally being done by highly paid electricians? Like days of old, with homemade mounting systems and combiner boxes, this practice results in more cost, more connection points, more leak paths and definitely more potential quality and safety issues due to human error. On top of this, it is questionable whether testing is conducted on every one of those connection points─i.e. pull, hi-pot and continuity testing─thus further increasing potential human error trouble spots, which can be dangerous down the road, costing significant resources to fix. There’s an option, Eaton BoS alternative: a custom made PV cable assembly that is manufactured for your project in a controlled condition, by highly trained personnel using precision Swiss made equipment. These custom assemblies arrive at the job mapped, labeled, guaranteed and 100% certified for pull test, continuity and Hi-Pot. This approach also reduces material and labor costs up to 30% while significantly increasing the quality and certainty of long-term system performance. The Eaton solution replaces a highly laborious and time consuming process with a plug and play solution. BoS breakthroughs like this are driving the reduction in system costs while driving solar towards grid parity. Companies like Eaton, with their integrated total BoS solution, are driving innovation and cost reductions across the system to benefit the entire solar industry. Part of what differentiates the Eaton approach to BoS is how the engineering teams from each product work together to optimize layouts and system designs to achieve material and labor savings. Eaton engineers across product disciplines work together, so our designs are focused on reducing labor and materials in the field. While other mounting manufacturers design their mounting solution and provide a quote around this one component of the system, the Eaton approach is to review the electrical design parameters of the project to ensure mounting, cable, cable management and combiners are all designed in one integrated fashion to maximize efficiency and cost savings opportunities on each specific project. A complete BoS engineered solution looks at every angle of the project, ensuring consideration of every component in tandem rather than in a vacuum. This reduces cost while increasing certainty of construction logistics, material costs and performance of PV asset. Let me give you a real-world example: Eaton recently worked on a 10 MW project which had received three quotes from three different companies to provide single component solutions (mounting, combiner boxes and PV cable solutions). Standard solutions at a standard price. Then, Eaton got involved with our Total BoS Solutions. What we were able to achieve by integrating our design practices across our BoS solutions was a 15% reduction in mounting costs, and a reduction in pier requirements by 33%. By matching our mounting configuration to the string sizing of the system, were able to reduce PV cable costs by 50% while reducing the labor on PV cable installation by 70%. This is a remarkable achievement on one project─and this approach drove the advancement of innovation at Eaton. It is a remarkable and positive change for the PV industry that one company can offer roof and ground mounting solutions, combiners and re-combiners, cable management solutions, PV cable harness assemblies, wireless monitoring and grid tie solutions all from one qualified highly bankable vendor. As solar continues to step onto the world stage of large scale utility and massively distributed rooftops, the manufacturing community also needs to step up their game to ensure they are integrating BoS solutions which provide better performance, higher long-term certainty and reduced costs in materials and labor. Phil Winters is the Renewable Energy Business Development Manager for Eaton in Canada. Prior to joining Eaton, Winters launched and led project development and EPC firms serving the Canadian and global solar markets. Winters is a graduate of both Solar Energy International (1999) and the Ontario Solar Academy (2009), and is currently the Vice President of the Solar and Sustainable Energy Society of Canada. He holds MBA from Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business. http://www.interpv.net/market/market_view.asp?idx=814&part_code=03

Don’t blame renewables for hydro prices, study says

Don’t blame renewables for hydro prices, study says

Ontario electricity prices are heading higher with or without controversial renewable energy contracts, says a study by the green-leaning Pembina Institute.

The study, released Wednesday, says that the relatively high prices paid to wind, solar and biogas power producers under Ontario’s feed-in tariff program, or FIT, are being blamed unfairly for rising power prices.

Even if no more FIT contracts are signed, the study says, the outlook for rising prices doesn’t change much — because the alternatives are no cheaper.

“Prices are going up, and in some ways people need to know that’s inevitable, whichever path one chooses,” says Tim Weis of the Pembina Institute. “There’s no silver bullet to bringing prices down.”

The difference in prices, with or without the FIT program, is never more than 1.5 per cent, or about $2 a month on a typical consumer hydro bill, the study contends.

Curbing renewables produces lower bills until about 2025, the study says; after that, prices are likely to be cheaper with more renewable power in the system.

The issue is likely to be a hot one in this October’s provincial election. The Conservatives have vowed to end the FIT program, calling it “unsustainable.” The Liberals are firmly committed to pushing for more green power.

FIT contracts pay 13.5 cents a kilowatt hour for onshore wind power; an average 52.5 cents a kilowatt hour for solar power, and 13 cents for hydro.

The key questions if the FIT program is halted in its tracks, says Weis, are: What will replace it? And at what cost?

The Pembina study maintains that natural gas generation will pick up the slack if renewables are curbed.

That seems like a good idea, since gas prices have tumbled since 2009 with the discovery of massive shale gas deposits in North America.

But the study warns that won’t last. Resistance to the environmental damage wreaked by shale gas extraction may limit production.

Meanwhile, demand for gas could spiral as the United States shuts down more coal-burning plants and replaces them with gas-fired units. Electric cars will also spur demand for gas-fuelled generation.

The study also assumes that some form of carbon tax or carbon pricing regime will come into play in the medium term.

It notes that emissions regulations are already being introduced on U.S. gas generators, and Canada will probably follow suit. .

While natural gas prices rise, the study says the price of renewables will fall. The price of solar panels, for example, is declining steadily as more manufacturers flock to the sector.

Ontario also plans to review the price of new FIT contracts, with an eye to reducing them, later this year (assuming the Liberals are still in power.)

Meanwhile, whether or not the FIT program is shut down, other factors are at play in driving prices higher.

Nuclear reactors at the Darlington and Bruce B generating stations will have to undergo expensive mid-life overhauls in the coming decade, while the Pickering B station will need work to prolong its life for an extra 10 years.

The province also figures it will need two or more new reactors at Darlington, at a cost still to be determined.

As well, the wires that carry the power to customers are aging. Hydro One says it will need to spend billions to modernize its transmission grid. Local utilities such as Toronto Hydro have also said they face expensive upgrades.

Those costs are coming, no matter what kind of power is being produced.

“If it’s going to cost us roughly the same price, it seems to make a lot more sense to be investing money in cleaner renewable energy going forward than placing our bets on a volatile price of gas,” says Weis.

TheSpec - Don’t blame renewables for hydro prices, study says

Too much power? Solution for too much wind energy

There is no question that we often need to give away and export of electricity when demand is low and production is up.  Why not find ways to utilize all of our excess electricity when demand is low?  Doing this through heat storage curtails our fossil fuel consumption, and provides us with lower cost heating options.  Great concept.  Would love to see more test programs developed with the Ontario smart metering roll-out.

January 20, 2011

Possible solution to storing wind power

Column | Korky Koroluk

A simple, low-tech solution to the problem of storing wind power is undergoing testing in three small North American markets — one in Summerside, P.E.I., and two in Maine.

In the process, it is showing how alternative energy is able to offer new jobs for HVAC engineers and contractors.

The solution involves not centralized storage in one large plant, but “distributed” storage involving small ceramic heaters in peoples’ basements. It’s also being installed in a few small commercial buildings.

Critics have often criticized wind or solar energy installations because the wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine. Intermittent sunshine has been overcome by building concentrating solar plants which, on sunny days, store energy as molten salts that are later used to produce steam turbines. It’s a system that is now being used in several places in the world, most notably Spain and the American Southwest.

Now researchers have come up with ceramic heaters, which are nothing more than extremely dense ceramic blocks in insulated cabinets. The blocks store energy as heat when the wind is blowing, then release it slowly over the next day or two.

The American experiments have been under construction for several months; the Summerside project is just beginning.

Prince Edward Island produces a lot of wind power. The problem is that the wind tends to blow more at night when energy demand is low. Because of this, the province has been selling some of that surplus energy to mainland markets, but at low rates.

But at a recent meeting of Summerside city council, homeowners were asked to buy the ceramic storage systems.

The heaters are expensive, though, at about $2,000 each. They are expected to save money over the long term, but that is often not sufficient to get people to act. That’s why the city is offering users a break on their electricity prices that could amount to about $600 a year. City fathers hope that will lead to at least 100 sales this year.

In Maine, getting people to convert to distributed wind energy is more urgent because oil is used to heat 80 per cent of all homes in the state. That’s why the incentive for switching off oil is somewhat sweeter.

For a start, the Highland Wind project developer, Independence Wind, is offering any participating household a $6,000 “wind for oil” grant. The money is to fund the purchase of one of the ceramic-block units, although it can be used for any renewable energy or efficiency investment.

In return for providing the storage, Highland Wind will supply wind power to residents at a deeply discounted price.

Fuel oil is presently running at about $3 (U.S.) a gallon. The discounted price will be equivalent to about $1.15 per gallon of oil.

The other Maine project involves Vinalhaven Island — an entire island with small communities dotted around it that has committed entirely to wind power. But like P.E.I., it has had to sell some off-hours power or shut down some of its turbines.

The project looks like a winner for the local economy, as well as individual users.

The total project is estimated to cost more than $210 million, most of which will go directly into the state economy through engineering, environmental, construction and related jobs. At peak construction, the project will bring more than 300 jobs to the local region. And every year, the project will pay more than $500,000 in state, local and county taxes.

That’s a lot of benefits for the application of what is really an old idea. There is, after all, nothing new about using ceramic blocks to store heat, and similar heaters are already in use in Britain to even out peak demand on its electricity grid.

But an old idea becomes new again if it means reduced reliance on oil.