“We are like tenant farmers chopping down the fence around our house for fuel when we should be using nature’s inexhaustible sources of energy – sun, wind, and tide.” Thomas Edison
Edison was a dreamer and tireless inventor, a pioneer in renewable energy. He experimented with small wind turbines to generate electricity to charge batteries providing homeowners an independent source of power. He worked with Henry Ford to develop electric cars running on rechargeable batteries, an alternative to smoke-filled cities.
Baseload and variable generation
Baseload power plants, designed to run around the clock, are the problem, not the solution, to meet a remote variable load. The grid is a poor temporary solution, obsolete on a hot planet.
Distributed battery storage at the point of use solves the variability of solar energy. Wires are like extension cords, needless when generation, storage, and use are onsite.
In September 2017, Energy Secretary Rick Perry asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to consider a rule to subsidize baseload generation – coal and gas-fired power plants – to “make the grid resilient.”
Perry was replaced in 2019 by another “genius,” Bernard McNamee, who said, “fossil fuels are not something dirty, something we need to get away from, but instead are the key to our prosperity and a clean environment.”
Replacing science with coal money is a source of corruption and demise.
Electrification has changed
The old grid provided service to farms and homes. Blackouts were frequent and the lights would dim with voltage spikes. Industries, hospitals, and businesses demanded better energy and quick repairs.
Today, distributed solar and wind generation and storage, connected with advanced microgrids, are the resilient, carbon-free solution. We can’t pretend methane leaks are irrelevant. Fossil fuels must be kept in the ground.
Silicon has replaced fossil fuels and liquid metal is winning over lithium-ion energy storage. Generating energy is easy, storing megawatt-hours of energy with a high frequency of recharging, for decades, has been solved.
Distributed solar energy is the foundation of a resilient economy. Exporting heavily subsidized oil and gas, at a loss, is beyond comprehension.
Electric trucks
Have you heard of the 400-mile range GM electric trucks? Most of the vehicles will have 400-volt battery packs with up to 200-kW fast-charging capacity.
Solar farming
Anderson Farms in Lonoke County, Arkansas, powered by a 20-acre solar system, is the nation’s largest baitfish hatchery, raising 1.3 billion fish annually on 3,334 water acres. The farm provides jobs for 45 people and ships to more than 40 states annually.
No life beyond 2°C
“We cannot rule out catastrophic outcomes where human life as we know it is threatened.” JP Morgan, January 14, 2020. The JP Morgan report, “Risky business: climate and the economy” confirms the deadly consequences of carbon emissions. The findings are terrifying. “If we continue with business as usual, we will increase the global average temperature beyond 2°C.”
For more than 800,000 years the global average temperature (GAT) was the same. Energy from the Sun was in balance with the energy radiated back into space. Forests, ice caps, ocean, and all life were doing just fine, but not anymore.
No one directly experiences the global average temperature. It’s a way for scientists to track how much energy the Earth is trapping that would have radiated into space without carbon emissions.
Fire ants, butterflies, and many animals and plants are migrating. The extreme heat and wildfires, bigger storms and droughts, hotter and higher seas in the last decade are clear red flags.
In January 2020, the increase in temperature over the GAT was 1.14°C. Industries and economies are either facing or preparing for impacts.
Why would we keep drilling for oil and methane gas, and investing in a fragile electric grid? When branches, floods or storms take out a single component the grid goes down!
With more than 220 sunny days, the Natural State should be running on distributed solar energy, the low-cost, high-quality, resilient, no carbon emission solution. The solar industry currently employs more than 500,000 people and the solar workforce added more than 5,600 jobs nationwide from 2018 to 2019. Solar will provide new opportunities for Arkansas farmers.
Dr. Luis Contreras
Please read the details of the PJM report
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/pjm-over-forecasting-costs-consumers-up-to-44b-for-unneeded-energy-capaci/574264/
PJM is a grid operator similar to MISO and SPP – a new report says: PJM customers pay as much as $4.4 billion a year for unneeded energy in the PJM Interconnection!
SPP like PJM and MISO plan more transmission lines (to improve the grid, they say ). Member utilities like SWEPCO make a killing building poles and wires, needed or not!
Distributed customer owned solar is less than 1 percent in Sunny Arkansas. The following law applies
Grid => coal and natural gas => climate disruption, much worse than the Corona virus
The PJM report says:
“The grid operator overestimated how much power it needs for more than a decade, according to an independent economic analysis created on behalf of the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“PJM’s reliability pricing model “results in commitments that are roughly 10% of peak load or more in excess” of the operator’s target reserve margin, resulting in over 15 GW of excess capacity in recent years, according to the study.”
“Forecasting accuracy has greatly improved after implementing changes in 2016 to “account for energy efficiency, distributed solar generation and other factors,” PJM spokesperson Jeff Shields said.”
Jeff Shields thinks $4.4 Billion per year for unneeded capacity is close enough!
Distributed solar microgrids
This is the no-carbon resilient energy solution
Like the 2020 smartphones, microgrids are superior to centralized, utility owned wires
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/12/15/16714146/greener-more-reliable-more-resilient-grid-microgrids
Powering the Arkansas economy:
“Arkansas was already among the leading states for solar job growth.
According to the Solar Foundation’s latest jobs census, Arkansas reported a 30% increase from 2017 to 2018. Only five states saw higher year-over-year growth.
Moreover, third-party financing enabled by Act 464 could double or triple the number of solar jobs in Arkansas, according to analysis from the Business Innovations Legal Clinic at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock’s Bowen School of Law.”
https://talkbusiness.net/2020/02/powering-arkansas-economy/
Please comment, let me know what you think.
I hope to get hard questions, we all need to learn about energy and carbon emissions.
NOTE:
Your email information is kept confidential, and you don’t need to post your name / only the Editor sees the original comment before reviewing the content
Peace
This op-ed was inspired by “Threat on State – solar users must pay”
I asked the author to explain some issues, but he ignored my questions.
https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2020/mar/05/a-threat-to-state-20200305/
Really bad news in 2020
We crossed the 1-degree barrier and we are at 1.14 C
The possibility of reaching a 2-degree target by reducing emissions alone has shrunk to essentially zero.
At this point, it requires substantial investment into and development of so-called “negative emissions” technologies to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide emissions would need to reach net-zero by mid-century; which means we would need to start developing the technology, er, now.
We only have a limited amount of carbon left to burn, so little that even with extraordinarily steep reductions in energy use and a rapid scale-up of renewables, keeping warming to 2 degrees isn’t possible.
https://grist.org/climate/the-paris-agreement-set-an-unrealistic-target-for-global-warming-now-what/
Personal note:
There are many natural solutions we need to do now.
Planting One Trillion Trees would help but the Bruce Westerman Act is about stumps. Our AR US Rep. sees timber and has not heard of Proforestation, protecting the forests and stop logging and burning the trees.
https://e360.yale.edu/features/why-keeping-mature-forests-intact-is-key-to-the-climate-fight
Bad news released in 2018
The world will see catastrophic effects of climate change if temperatures climb to 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, according to a new report. These effects include extreme heatwaves, severe droughts, the death of coral reefs, mass extinctions, sea-level rise, and more.
We’re on track to hit that 1.5-degree temperature rise by 2040.
If we reach 2 degrees C of warming, the effects will be even more disastrous.
It’s still possible to avoid the worst, but doing so requires a transformation of the world’s energy and economic systems.
https://www.businessinsider.com/ipcc-climate-change-report-why-2-degree-warming-is-dangerous-2018-10
GM goes full electric with long range batteries for all lines
That multipronged strategy all begins with GM’s flexible third-generation global EV platform based around proprietary Ultium batteries.
Developed in collaboration with LG Chem, the battery cells can stack vertically or horizontally, giving GM full freedom in designing packs around the energy and packaging requirements of individual vehicles.
The packs will offer capacities between 50- and 200-kWh, leading to estimated ranges of 400 miles (644 km) or more and 0-60 mph (96.5 km/h) times as low as three seconds.
Most EVs will have 400-V battery packs with 200-kW fast-charging capability, while trucks will have 800-V packs with 350-kW fast-charging.
https://newatlas.com/automotive/gm-electric-vehicle-future/
GM electric trucks
March 2020 – A “revolutionary zero-emissions truck,” the GMC Hummer will feature an electric drive with no fewer than 1,000 horses (745 kW) and 11,500 lb-ft (15,590 Nm) of torque.
That will send what should rightfully be a beast of a truck screaming to 60 mph (96.5 km/h) in a mere 3 seconds.
https://newatlas.com/automotive/gm-1000-hp-electric-hummer/
Debunking three DOE myths
It is difficult to say something good about Rick Perry, the former DOE Secretary.
Perry wanted to kill the DOE, and could not remember it’s name when running for president
Perry perpetuated several incorrect notions regarding “baseload” resources, clean energy, and grid reliability.
Here are three Perry “myths”
1. Baseload power is necessary to a well-functioning electric grid
2. Renewable energy resources like wind and solar undermine grid reliability
3. Wholesale power markets should discriminate in favor of “baseload” resources
It is difficult to say something good about Bernard McNamee, DOE Secretary.
McNamee digs coal, he should run for president … of Australia.
https://www.nrdc.org/experts/kevin-steinberger/debunking-three-myths-about-baseload/
Solar farming in Arkansas
Farms are energy intensive, continuous operations. Solar microgrids give Arkansas farmers new solutions, creating jobs and improving the economy.
Here are two great examples
1. Anderson Farms
http://katv.com/news/local/lonoke-county-farmer-unveils-largest-individually-owned-solar-farm-in-arkansas
https://www.arfb.com/news/2019/dec/12/anderson-farms-named-arkansas-farm-family-year/
2. LR Aquaponics farm
https://katv.com/news/local/renewable-energy-aquaponics-farm-in-little-rock-aims-to-combat-world-hunger
Why chose methane emissions over life when we have solar and wind?
Methane leaks from storage and transportation are ignored by EPA to sell “natural gas” – If you can’t see or smell the leaks, just ignore them?
They are easy to find with an infrared camera – or a Tiki bamboo Hawaiian lamp or a butane lighter.
A 2019, S&P Global Market Intelligence investigation, found “utilities continue to invest heavily in natural gas plants even though electricity demand is flat and power plants are likely to become uneconomic well before their lifespans are up.”
“Duke, Dominion and Southern all made decarbonization commitments to their shareholders, yet their investment plans will significantly undermine their chances of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050,” the executive director of Majority Action, said in a press release.
“In order to reach these targets, the boards and leadership of these companies must publish comprehensive and credible plans for how they will re-align their capital investments to achieve net-zero carbon emissions, tie executive pay to achieving these goals, and align their policy influence activities accordingly.”
The coronavirus and greenhouse gases are invisible – the consequences are deadly
https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/blog/a-utility-company-efficiently-sharpens-its-focus-on-the-credit-risk-of-new-customers
Severe storms cause massive power outages
In September 2018, Hurricane Florence cut off the power supply to hundreds of thousands of people in North Carolina for several days.
Between 2017 and 2018, 25 million people in the US experienced power outages for more than one hour.
Resilient power grids will split the grid into several microgrids to supply electrical loads either individually or collectively.
Microgrids are playing an increasingly important role as power generation becomes more decentralized.
https://microgridknowledge.com/power-grid-outages-siemens-research/
Resilient solar microgrids
Last year, millions of Californians lost power in November when utilities de-energized lines to avoid sparking fires. At the urging of the public utilities commission, the utilities are trying to install microgrids quickly to reduce power outages when the next wildfire season strikes.
Southern California wants to build a smart city microgrid, making use of customer distributed energy resources. The front-of-the-meter microgrid will support a significant portion of a city’s essential facilities.
San Diego plans to use of microgrids, electric vehicle charging stations, and back-up power at strategic locations, such as fire stations, medical centers, schools and evacuation centers.
https://microgridknowledge.com/utility-microgrids-california/
Utility builds solar microgrid in 27 days to avert wildfires in Sierra Nevada to replace a transmission line.
The transmission line powered valves, emergency backup, cameras and other equipment needed to ensure the dams were running properly. The solar microgrid, completed in early November 2019, includes two 3.3 kW solar arrays, a 600-amp, 48-volt storage system and a propane backup generator.
“We turned off the line and found a resilient way to power the site, independent of the grid.”
Solar microgrids provide fast resilient energy solutions.
https://microgridknowledge.com/solar-microgrid-sce-wildfires/