Sun Is The Future

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Allow me to share with you the finalized data from FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) for U.S. Energy Infrastructure Update for 2013.  Some of the key findings from Office of Energy Projects-Energy Infrastructure Update of U.S. by 2013 from FERC are presented in the two tables below:

U.S. New Generation In-Service Power Capacity During 2013, Data Made Available By FERC

1. U.S. New Generation In-Service (New Build and Expansion), Jan.-Dec. of 2013 Chart: On horizontal axis, 10 top sources of new U.S. power capacity (in 2013) are ranked in terms of Newly Installed Capacity (MW) during 2013, in the order from: 1st being Natural Gas (7,270 MW), 2nd is Solar (2,936 MW), 3rd is Coal (1,543 MW), 4th is Wind (1,129 MW), 5th is Biomass (777 MW), 6th is Water (378 MW), 7th is Waste Heat (76 MW), 8th is Geothermal Steam (59 MW), 9th is Oil (38 MW), 10th is Nuclear (0 MW).

Even though Solar’s rank of 2 is impressive from the above chart, in reality the actual solar power capacity generated during 2013 is much greater than 2,936 MW. If you’d refer to FERC’s key findings from Office of Energy Projects-Energy Infrastructure Update of U.S. by 2013 from FERC , you would realize that the 2,936 MW did not include the distributed solar (rooftop solar power systems) installed in 2013. Various sources indicated that California added more rooftop solar capacity in 2013 than in the past 30 years combined . As the distributed solar will continue to play an increasingly significant role in solar capacity generation, such data needs to be included in the calculation in the future in order to provide a more complete picture.

U.S. Total Installed Operating Generating Capacity (GW) By Dec. of 2013, Data Made Available By FERC

2. U.S. Total Installed Operating Generating Capacity By December of 2013 Chart: On horizontal axis, 10 top sources of total U.S. power capacity by 2013 are ranked in terms of Total Installed Capacity (GW) up to December of 2013, in the order from: 1st being Natural Gas (487.21 GW), 2nd is Coal (333.43 GW), 3rd is Nuclear (107.32 GW), 4th is Water (97.88 GW),  5th is Wiind (60.29 GW), 6th is Oil (47.03 GW), 7th is Biomass (15.74 GW), 8th is Solar (7.42 GW), 9th is Geothermal Steam (3.83 GW), 10th is Waste Heat (1.13 GW).

The second table above reminds us that despite how much renewable energy has grown in U.S., the total installed operating generating capacity from renewable such as solar, water,geothermal, biomass, and wind only add up to about 15% of the total U.S. installed operating generating capacity as of 2013.  Solar only represents 0.64% and wind represents 5.2% of the total U.S. installed operating generating capacity as of 2013.  Renewable Energy is still in its early stage of its evolution. In 2014 solar power is projected to have another year of record growth. To this I say: we surely need it!

Flood at Key Heaven as a result of Hurricane Wilma (Author Marc Averette, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0)

Flood of Toowoomba (Author Kingbob86, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0)

Some of my friends, acquaintances, and relatives find it puzzling why I would be so anxious while optimistic about the Solar/Renewable future.  The two tables above truly reflect my state of mind toward current state of affair: optimistic with exponential growth of Solar Capacity (table 1) while anxiously worried about millions of people who will be losing their homes as a result of climate change (this would be the case if Clean and/or Renewable Energy takes up such a small percentage of the overall total power capacity as demonstrated in table 2 above )….we need to move toward Renewable…toward Solar-Wind-Water-Geothermal-Biomass much faster….in order to avoid more of what is likely to come……for millions and millions of people on planet earth…..

Let’s maintain our optimism in moving forward. We need to optimize the most effective incentive policy to drive all Renewables forward…be it Solar-Wind-Water-Geothermal-Biomass….in order to prevent millions and millions of people in becoming homeless in the decades to come…..

~may we all have a bright and sunny day~

Written, gathered and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker

Any of your comments/suggestions/questions will be welcomed at sunisthefuture@gmail.com

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Dear Friends, Visitors/Viewers/Readers, (Please click on red links below)

Sun Will Continue Shining Brightly During Year of the Horse (credit: sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker)

I’ve spent three years advocating for the spread of solar energy, researching, interviewing, learning, writing, posting, traveling in different parts of the world.  Thanks to the existence of internet, worldwideweb, social networks, and forerunners who have accumulated and shared much knowledge and information with us. It’s truly opened my eyes to what the future may have in store for us, in energy, education, and how intricately connected we earthlings all are to one another (despite physical distances).  Even though my original intention of starting Sun Is The Future was to help my on-site students to have better understanding of applications of solar energy and to encourage state of Florida legislators to implement the most effective incentive policy, Feed-In-Tariff, for adoption of renewable energy,  I  am thankful that Sun Is The Future has reached beyond the boundary of a nation or a continent, and has reached 167 countries and hopefully will complete the goal of all 196 nations on planet earth by the end of 2014.

Let The Sun Shine Through (credit: sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker)

This past year, in addition to having the fastest train, the most megacities, and the biggest population in the world, China has also become the Number 1 Country on planet Earth that has added the most solar power in a single year. No other country has ever added more than 8 GW (gigawatt) of solar power in one year prior to 2013.  China is beating Germany’s record of  8GW (or 8,000 MW) from 2010. China’s National Energy Administration announced earlier in January that there were 12 GW (or 12,000 MW) of 2013 solar installations in China. This record means that China has installed more in one year of 2013 than U.S. had cumulatively installed, in total, since the beginning of solar PV module in existence or since the founding of U.S. The Bloomberg New Energy Finance Industry Intelligence database (tracking projects individually, identifying developer, owner, location and often equipment supplier or financier) already records 9.5 GW of projects built in China in 2013.  More complete data will be provided later in March. China’s state-owned power generators China Power Investment Corporation, China Three Gorges and China Huadian Corporation have become the world’s largest owners of solar assets. Head of solar analysis at Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), Jenny Chase said,

“The 2013 figures show the astonishing scale of the Chinese market, now the sleeping dragon has awoken…PV is becoming ever cheaper and simpler to install, and China’s government has been as surprised as European governments by how quickly it can be deployed in response to incentives.”

BNEF estimates that in 2013 the global solar PV market had been 39 GW (or 39,000 MW), with an increase of 28% from 2012.  This trend is expected to continue, with a 20% global volume growth in 2014.  In 2014, the world will install as much solar PV in 12 months as the cumulative total installed solar since the invention of solar PV module to 2010. The world’s three largest solar PV markets in terms of new GW (or 1,000 MW) capacity in 2013 were: China, Japan, and the U.S., then Germany in fourth place. To this, I have to say that we all have much to thank Germany for having been the heaviest investor in solar for many years. China and Japan are both much better off keeping their eyes on the prize of solar energy, the ultimate solution to solve problems in Climate Change-Energy-Pollution-Prosperity-Security rather than fighting over the uninhabited Diaoyu-Senkaku. Finally, if only U.S. had come to realized and fully implemented the Feed-In-Tariff as China did, the Number 1 Country on planet Earth that has added the most solar power in a single year in 2013 would have been U.S. rather than China.  Being an Earthling foremost, I applaud China for having implemented Feed-In-Tariff with such fervor, even without having fully appreciated how much impact and speed it would have on the deployment of solar. Now, as Thailand and many parts of Southeast Asia and rest of the world are also becoming believers in Feed-In-Tariff,  I only wish that the state of Florida and many other states in U.S. will learn to appreciate this most effective incentive policy for solar and renewable energy. It is noteworthy that China, Japan, and Germany have all implemented Feed-In-Tariff at higher rate than what U.S. PURPA law required, avoided cost. If China would be able to maintain such an enthusiastic momentum for solar, there is the possibility  of China becoming the Cleanest Country On Planet Earth by 2050! Keep your eyes on the Sun!

~have a bright and sunny day~

Gathered, written, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker

Any of your comments/suggestions/questions will be welcomed at sunisthefuture@gmail.com

Please also get into the habit of checking at these sites below for more on solar energy topics:

www.sunisthefuture.net

www.instagram.com/sunisthefuture

www.pinterest.com/sunisthefuture

www.facebook.com/sunisthefuture

www.youtube.com/user/sunisthefuture

www.kiva.org/team/sunisthefuture

www.sunisthefuture.com

Homepage: http://www.sunisthefuture.net Google+

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