This is a repost from one of our sister publications, Windermere Sun, below:
Elon Musk, 2018 (Attribution: The Royal Society, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en, Presented at: WindermereSun.com & sunisthefuture.net)
Elon Musk talks about his plan for the sun. It’s already very normal day when Elon Musk talks about some revolutionary idea and this speech is no exception, in the video published on Sep. 12, 2021, “Elon Musk – Sun is The Future“, below:
In order to be sustainable, we have to have sustainable means of production and consumption of energy, to drive electric cars in order to reduce CO2 emission, and to generate sustainable energy. Sustainable energy may be in the form of solar, nuclear, hydro-thermal, hydro, and wind energy. The primary form of energy to be generated will be solar. Sustainable or solar energy production combined with stationary storage, the world can be powered many times over by solar energy. About a third of our energy use is electricity, about a third of energy use is for for heating, and a third of energy use is in transport. There is enough energy from the sun to support all three areas of energy use/need. There is 1 gw per square km amount of energy coming from the sun. The earth is already almost entirely solar powered. The amount of energy needed to power our civilization is tiny compared to energy from the sun (1 gigabit per square kilometer). At 20% efficient solar panels, that’s 200 Mw per square kilometer. There would be plenty of energy for all three areas of energy use from solar, with some contribution from wind, geothermal, and tidal. And we need to stop subsidizing burning fossil fuels. For more about the use of solar energy, please visit: Sun Is The Future and Sun Is The Future youtube channel. Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker More about the community at www.WindermereSun.com
This is a repost from one of our sister publications, Windermere Sun, below:
Terrific, on Thursday, Sep. 9, 2021, Australia has once again beaten its previous record for the share of renewables on its main grid, reaching instantaneous 58.3% , and also setting a new record for the share of wind and solar in the grid. According to OpenNEM’s data, the new record was set at 12:30 pm, and easily beat the previous record of 57.3% set just a few days earlier. Since such records are usually set on weekends when industrial use is lower, it is quite telling when this new record was set on a weekday.
Wind and solar reached 56.1% at 12:30 pm, also a record of total output, although the aggregate total of about 14.5 GW was not a record. At the time of the record, rooftop solar alone contributed 32.4% of the total demand of about 24 GW while wind farms contributed 12.9%, and utility scale solar farms 10.8%. Coal was reduced to 40% of the output, with black coal in Queensland and NSW providing 29.4% and brown coal in Victoria 10.4%.
After the infamous meltdown in 1986 resulted from a flawed reactor design and poor training, other nuclear reactors at the Chernobyl facility continued to operate until the turn of the century. For the past 18 years, Chernobyl has been nothing but an abandoned wasteland due to the high level of radiation, making the Chernobyl exclusion zone unsuitable for agriculture or forestry. This exclusion zone is a 1000 square mile area around the Chernobyl nuclear plant mostly uninhabited and unused since the 1986 disaster. Since there is already substantial electrical infrastructure in place left over from the nuclear plant and the fact that the land is unused and cheap, the site is an excellent choice for large solar farm(s) to be installed.
“It’s not just another solar power plant…it’s really hard to underestimate the symbolism of this particular project. ” the chief executive of Solar Chernobyl LLC, Evhen Variagin, told reporters at the unveiling of a 1 MW joint project that can power 2,000 homes, on Friday, October 5, 2018, by Ukrainian company Rodina and German company Enerparc AG, costing about $1.2 million (1 million euros) and benefiting from feed-in-tariffs that guarantee a certain price for power. The head of the Chernobyl nuclear plant Valery Seyda said, “It is the first time the site has produced power since 2000, when the nuclear plant was finally shut down. But now we are seeing a new sprout, still small, weak, producing power on this site and this is very joyful.”
Between January and September of this year (2018), more than 500 MW of renewable power capacity is added to Ukraine, more than twice as much as in 2017, according to the Ukrainian government.The head of the Office of the National Investment Council of Ukraine, Yulia Kovaliv, said investors want to reap the benefits from a generous subsidy scheme before parliament is due to vote on scrapping it in July next year. “Investors expect that in the renewable energy sector facilities launched before 2019 will operate on the current beneficial system of green tariffs…that is why investors want to buy ready-to-build projects in order to complete construction before that time.” Yulia Kovaliv told Reuters reporter on the sidelines of a conference in Odessa in September.
Cheap land and sunny skies are attracting interests from around the world. Two Chinese companies, GCL System Integration Technology Co. Ltd. and China National Complete Engineering Corp, are also building a one-gigawatt solar power plant (enough to power 100 million LED bulbs) to the South of Chernobyl. Another dozen smaller investors are also installing solar parks nearby on a smaller scale. These entrepreneurs are not deterred by the challenges of major construction projects in nuclear contamination zone. Engineering work has already begun, but there has not been any public disclosure about safety measures, the completion date, nor a price for the project.
Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker
More about the community at www.WindermereSun.com
Hurricane Florence was a Category 4 at its peak, at 130 miles per hour (or 210 kilometers per hour) wind two days before making its landfall on September 14, 2018. That was so close to the threshold (140-160 miles per hour) of the design of new solar farms. About a third of the 3,000 megawatts of solar capacity connected to Duke Energy Corp’s system went down initially, according to utility spokesman Randy Wheeless. As of this week, about nine projects in North Carolina remained offline. Four of these were due to damage to Duke Energy facilities and five were due to damage to the project themselves. Wheeless said facilities that suffered the most tended to be five megawatt projects connected to Due’s distribution system.
Duke had been trying to get developers to move toward larger solar projects to connect largely to its transmission system, the high-voltage wires that link Duke plants to the distribution system that delivered power to homes and businesses. With hundreds of solar projects connected to Duke’s grid in North Carolina, the number of damaged projects remained small. Senior vice president at Strata Solar, Brian O’Hara, said that the Chapel-Hill based solar developer with more than 140 projects in the state saw damage at only two facilities. O’Hara said, “Duke has done a commendable job responding quickly and getting our facilities back online shortly after we notified them that they were inspected and ready to reconnect….our teams have coordinated closely with Duke’s recovery team, and it has been professional, responsive and pretty seamless.” The chief operating officer for Durham-based Ecoplexus Inc., John Morrison, said his company also saw very little damage, with only two of the 16 sites operating in North Carolina suffering some broken modules, amounting to less than 0.34% of the the developer’s modules, “not enough to even exceed the insurance deductible.” Spokesman for the California-based Cypress Creek Renewables, Jeff McKay, also reporting no notable damage in its solar fleet. As for Duke itself, its only project that suffered damage was the 60-megawatt Monroe Solar project in Union County, with few panels being damaged by wind. Duke’s Fayetteville, Warswa and Camp Lejeuene solar projects were all undamaged and returned to service as soon as grid operations allowed. Most outages during and after the worst of the hurricane Florence were due to problems with Duke’s grid rather than problems at the projects themselves.
To see what solar had done for North Carolina, check out these videos below:
Video “The birth of a solar farm in Halifax, NC” below:
Video “What’s the future for solar energy in NC” below:
Video “Study shows North Carolina as number 2 for solar electric capacity installed through 2017“: below:
Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker
More about the community at www.WindermereSun.com
Aerial view of Apple Park, the corporate headquarters of Apple Inc., located in Cupertino, CA. The roof is covered in solar panels with an output of 17 MW, making it the biggest solar roofs in the world. Photo is taken from a Cessna 172M. (attribution: Daniel L. Lu (user: dllu), presented at: WindermereSun.com)
In China, solar panels are mounted high off the ground to let sunlight shine through so grass can grow and local yaks can eat it. (credit/attribution: Apple Inc., presented at: WindermereSun.com)
Apple’s headquarter in Cupertino, CA is powered by 100% renewable energy in part from a 17 megawatt onsite rooftop solar installation (credit/attribution: Apple Iinc., presented at: WindermereSun.com)
Ibiden, a component supplier outside Nagoya, Japan, maintains a floating solar photovoltaic facility to power 100 percent of its manufacturing. (credit/attribution: Apple, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
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This week, Windermere Sun is devoting several posts on how some of the individuals, groups, or companies commit to help combat climate change and to create a healthier environment. Back in April of this year (2018), Apple announced its global facilities being powered with 100% clean energy. This was achieved through retail stores, offices, data centers and co-located facilities in 43 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and India. Apple also announced nine additional manufacturing partners committed to power all of their Apple production with 100% clean energy, bringing the total number of supplier commitments to 23.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said, “We’re committed to leaving the world better than we found it. After years of hard work we’re proud to have reached this significant milestone. We’re going to keep pushing the boundaries of what is possible with the materials in our products, the way we recycle them, our facilities and our work with suppliers to establish new creative and forward-looking sources of renewable energy because we know the future depends on it.”
Excerpt from Apple’s press release, in italics, from April of 2018, below:
Apple and its partners are building new renewable energy projects around the world, improving the energy options for local communities, states and even entire countries. Apple creates or develops, with utilities, new regional renewable energy projects that would not otherwise exist. These projects represent a diverse range of energy sources, including solar arrays and wind farms as well as emerging technologies like biogas fuel cells, micro-hydro generation systems and energy storage technologies.
Apple currently has 25 operational renewable energy projects around the world, totaling 626 megawatts of generation capacity, with 286 megawatts of solar PV generation coming online in 2017, its most ever in one year. It also has 15 more projects in construction. Once built, over 1.4 gigawatts of clean renewable energy generation will be spread across 11 countries.
Since 2014, all of Apple’s data centers have been powered by 100 percent renewable energy. And since 2011, all of Apple’s renewable energy projects have reduced greenhouse gas emissions (CO2e) by 54 percent from its facilities worldwide and prevented nearly 2.1 million metric tons of CO2e from entering the atmosphere.
Apple’s renewable energy projects include:
Apple Park, Apple’s new headquarters in Cupertino, is now the largest LEED Platinum-certified office building in North America. It is powered by 100 percent renewable energy from multiple sources, including a 17-megawatt onsite rooftop solar installation and four megawatts of biogas fuel cells, and controlled by a microgrid with battery storage. It also gives clean energy back to the public grid during periods of low occupancy.
Over 485 megawatts of wind and solar projects have been developed across six provinces of China to address upstream manufacturing emissions.
Apple recently announced plans to build a 400,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art data center in Waukee, Iowa, that will run entirely on renewable energy from day one.
In Prineville, Oregon, the company signed a 200-megawatt power purchase agreement for an Oregon wind farm, the Montague Wind Power Project, set to come online by the end of 2019.
In Reno, Nevada, Apple created a partnership with the local utility, NV Energy, and over the last four years developed four new projects totaling 320 megawatts of solar PV generation.
In Japan, Apple is partnering with local solar company Daini Denryoku to install over 300 rooftop solar systems that will generate 18,000 megawatt-hours of clean energy every year — enough to power more than 3,000 Japanese homes.
Apple’s data center in Maiden, North Carolina, is supported by projects that generate 244 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy per year, which is equivalent to the energy used by 17,906 North Carolina homes.
In Singapore, where land is scarce, Apple adapted and built its renewable energy on 800 rooftops.
Apple is currently constructing two new data centers in Denmark that will run on 100 percent renewable energy from day one.
To get to 100 percent renewable energy for its own facilities, the company worked to set an example for others to follow. Apple also announced that 23 of its suppliers are now committed to operating on 100 percent renewable energy, including nine new suppliers. Altogether, clean energy from supplier projects helped avoid over 1.5 million metric tons of greenhouse gases from being emitted in 2017 — the equivalent of taking more than 300,000 cars off the road. In addition, over 85 suppliers have registered for Apple’s Clean Energy Portal, an online platform that Apple developed to help suppliers identify commercially viable renewable energy solutions in regions around the world.
New supplier commitments include:
Arkema, a designer of high-performance bio-based polymers, which manufactures for Apple at its facilities in France, the United States and China.
DSM Engineering Plastics, which manufactures polymers and compounds in the Netherlands, Taiwan and China that are used in many Apple products, including connectors and cables.
ECCO Leather, the first soft goods supplier to commit to 100 percent clean energy for its Apple production. The leather that ECCO produces for Apple is of European origin, with tanning and cutting occurring at facilities in the Netherlands and China.
Finisar, a US industry-leading producer of optical communication components and vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), which power some of Apple’s most popular new features like Face ID, Portrait mode selfies and Animoji.
Luxshare-ICT, a supplier of accessories for Apple products. Luxshare-ICT’s production for Apple is predominantly located in Eastern China.
Pegatron, which assembles a number of products, including iPhone, at its two factories in Shanghai and Kunshan, China.
Quadrant, a supplier of magnets and magnetic components in a number of Apple’s products.
Quanta Computer, one of the first Mac suppliers to commit to 100 percent renewable energy for Apple production.
Taiyo Ink Mfg. Co., which produces solder masks for printed circuit boards in Japan.
You may also be interested in these articles below:
Within two weeks after Hurricane Irma swept over St. John (smallest of the three main U.S. Virgin Islands), a survivor used debris from a nearby home to spell out “SEND TESLA“. With significant loss of life, lack of drinking water, dehydration, food scarcity, and disappearing power grid in Puerto Rico, the humanitarian effort by Tesla stepping in to help was truly welcomed. Bloomberg reported that Tesla had been sending hundreds of its Powerwall battery systems to be paired with solar panels to help restore the power back to the battered island. The monumental destruction brought by hurricanes Irma and Maria on the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico in September is opening up the possibilities for companies such as Tesla to move in and establish a presence. Tesla sent representatives to the island to begin signing up survivors for solar services.
Tesla indicated that some of the systems (Tesla Powerwall+Solar Panels) are already in Puerto Rico and others are on their way. Bloomberg also reported, “The company (Tesla) has employees on the ground to install them and is working with local organizations to identify locations.” The Puerto Rico island is still mostly without without power.
Thanks to Tesla for bringing power/electricity back to some of the people of Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands.
Mia Farrow’s Twitter further reminds us of the BBC report of 55% of the people in Puerto Rico are without drinking water. Hopefully, President Trump’s visit tomorrow (Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017) to Puerto Rico will bring more attention, help, and water being dropped in by the U.S. National Guard to these Americans at Puerto Rico.
Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker
More about the community at www.WindermereSun.com
Today, I’d like to introduce you to Tony Seba, the Stanford Professor with 20+ years of solid operating experience in fast growing clean tech companies. He was the vice president, corporate development at “Utility Scale Solar, Inc.” where he helped the company grow from the garage-stage through growth strategy, fundraising, business development with plant developers and partners. He was the founder and CEO of PrintNation.com (a B2B ecommerce site which he established as the undisputed leader in its market segment, winning much top industry awards as the Upside Hot 100 and the Forbes.com B2B ‘Best of the Web.’ Seba led two venture capital rounds raising more than $31 million in funding from well-known venture funds, hired a complete management team, 100+ employees, and managed the development of strategic partnerships with some of the world’s top companies.
Tony Seba demonstrates “Why do smart people at smart organizations consistently fail to anticipate or lead market disruptions?” He helps us to understand why so-called experts tend not to be able to correctly make correct forecast about technological disruption. In these cases, the Clean Disruption of Energy & Transportation:
Technology Cost Curves: exponential growth, with example of lithium ion battery storage technology and solar PV costs
Technology Convergence: disruption caused by the convergence of several technologies, enabling functionalities that may not have existed in the past (2007 for smartphone.
Exponential Market Adoption S-Curve: upon reaching the tipping point, technological disruption would grow exponentially and continue to grow at a steeper rate (growing even more quickly). This phenomenon was/is observed in technologies such as colored tv, smartphones, tablet, and will also be true in solar and EV.
Business Model Innovation: examples such as Uber (started in 2009 and now has more bookings than whole taxi industry in USA), Didi, Lyft, Ola, AirBnb…
Five technologies (below), plus business model innovation will be disrupting, within the coming decade, all of the energy and transportation system as we know it for purely economic reasons. It will be the: Clean Disruption of Energy & Transportation:
Batteries: Li-on battery costs dropping exponentially (cost dropped 14% per year between 1995 – 2010, 16% per year between 2010 – 2014, due to other industries’ (IT, Electronics, Automotive, and Energy) investment). With more investments continue to come from BYD, Foxconn, Samsung SDI, Dyson, and 12+ megafactories coming online by 2020, cost curve, cost will continues to drop about 20% after 2014. Furthermore, the grid works like a just-in-time supply chain without inventory. This inefficient use of assets designed for peak is waiting to be disrupted. NextEra Energy CEO Jim Robo commented, “Post 2020 there may never be another peaker built in the U.S.” In Feb. 2017, Southern California Edison contracted the system to meet PEAK Demand needs using battery technology following its Alyson Canyon natural gas leaks. Tesla’s 80 MWh system was built in 88 days that no natural gas peaker could have competed. There are also business model innovation that treats storage as a service, reducing utility bills by 10%. By 2020, it will cost American families about $1.2 per day for a full day of electricity storage. People will do this because it will save people money, purely for economics.
Electric Vehicles (EV’s): Consumer reports gave Tesla Model S an evaluation of 103 out of possible 100 for Car of the Year in 2013. Electric Vehicle (EV) is 5x more energy efficient than Internal Combustion Engine (ICE). It is also cheaper to transmit/distribute electrons than atoms, therefore EVs are 10x cheaper to charge/fuel than ICE vehicles. EVs are also cheaper to maintain (ICE vehicles have 2000+ moving parts whereas EVs have 18-20 moving parts). EVs lifetime is about 2.5x greater than ICE vehicles. In 2017, GM’s Chevy Bolt EV has 200-mile range and costs $37,500 whereas Tesla Model 3 has 215-mile range and costs $35,000. By 2025, every new vehicles will be of EV.
Autonomous Vehicles: the biggest disrupter. The World’s first self-driving taxi debuted in Singapore in 2016. Uber’s self-driving fleet arrived in Pittsburgh in August of 2016. 33 corporations are investing billions and working on autonomous vehicles. Tesla also announced that by the end of 2017, all Tesla vehicles can go from CA to NY without needing human controls (level 3). Elon Musk also said that Tesla will be able to transition to level 5 (fully self-driving, no pedals nor steering wheel) in 2019. Two technologies making autonomous vehicles possible: 1. LIDAR (laser+radar) price dropped from about $70,000 in 2012 to $1,000 in 2014, and $250 in 2016, and soon to be $90. 2. Super computing power priced at $46 million in 2000, $59 in 2016. These technologies are improving at 1,000x in the next 8 years. Open source is also responsible much of the growth in the future.
Ride-Hailing:“Transportation As A Service” initiated from a think tank founded by Tony Seba, a disruption of transportation. Reason behind this concept: most American family spend about $10,000 to own and use a car per year that is only used about 4% of the time. Disruption: 1. electric vehicles 2. self-driving 3. ride-hailing. These are convergence of multiple business and technology models. The day the regulatory agency approves the autonomous vehicle is the day when the cost of per mile transport will be 10x cheaper for transport as a service than it is to own a car for consumers. Consumers will be giving up car ownership and henceforth the collapse of ownership of ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles and IO (individual ownership) of vehicles. Therefore there will be 80% fewer cars on the road, parking lots, and insurance for vehicles. Annual demand for new vehicles will also decrease by 70% and demand for oil will also decrease by 2021 (around the time when oil costs about $25 per barrel).
Solar: example: Denmark’s Copenhagen International School generating 50% of its power need from solar (even the side of the building is part of this solar power plant). Solar PV cost dropped from $100./W in 1970’s to $0.33/W now. This is about 303x improvement. Globally, solar installations have doubled every 2 years since 2000. At the time of Tony Seba’s presentation, solar represented 1.5% of the power generation (it is now about 2%). If we use the 1.5% to calculate, at the doubling rate every 2 years (1.5%, 3%, 6%, 12%, 24%, 48%, 96%), it would only take 6-7 doublings (or 12-14 years) to reach 100% of the world’s energy generation (around 2030). Since 1970’s, the price or cost all conventional resource-based energy sources (such as oil, natural gas, or coal) have gone up by 6x-16x while solar has gone down by 303x. The cost of solar will continue to drop. According to Deutsche Bank, solar will be below Grid Parity for 80% of the global market by the end of 2017, meaning 80% of the solar world market will be at or below utility rate. According to PWC, 69% of corporations (Apple, Facebook, etc.) are actively pursuing solar purchase because it makes economic sense to go solar. Solar growth rate will accelerate. By 2020, it is expected that the cost of rooftop solar will cost less than the cost of transmission, without any subsidy for solar. Central generation will be obsolete. There will be no other form of energy generation that will be cheaper than “solar+storage”. By 2020, it is expected that the solar growth rate will really take off. Utility scale solar will drop below 3 cents per kWh (nothing will be able to compete with solar at 3 cents per kWh). Solar at 5.8 cents per kWh is competitive with oil at $10 per barrel and gas at $5 per MMBtu. In 2016, solar costed: in Chile was at 2.91 cents per kWh (unsubsidized) & Dubai at 2.99 cents per kWh. In 2016 Dubai PPA at 2.42 cents per kWh (unsubsidized). Tucson Electric has just announced that Solar+Storage PPA at 4.5 cents per kWh. It no longer makes sense to build peaker plants when solar generation costs so much less. Distributed solar, due to economics, will make sense and will become the rule. In Australia, 25% of the homes are already using solar (it costs 12 cents for transmission while solar cost 7 cents to generate in Australia)
Economics is already here: Unsubsidized Solar & Autonomous EVs are No Longer the Transition but Disruption For Our Energy & Transportatioin! Tipping point will be around 2020.
Besides pure economics, think of the: decrease in pollution, slowing in climate change, decrease in international conflicts, and increase in local job opportunities as a result of these disruptions! Bravo For Clean Disruptions!
This is a repost from our sister publication, Windermere Sun, below:
wind surfing (photo by Olga Shevchenko, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
sunset sun rays (photo by Susan Sun Nunamaker, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
wind turbine (photo by Paul Davison, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
solar panels reflecting the sky (photo by: Debbie Mous, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
wind farm (photo by Drew Broadley, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
solar energy (photo by: Alla Leitus, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
Oh my God dis is my favourite 🙂 (photo by kenchu, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
Solar Panels on Space Vehicle (photo by: SpaceX, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
wind energy (photo by Arno Nym, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
solar panels (photo by Rainer Berg, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
windmill (photo by Christophe Grasseau, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
skyscraper solar stone (photo by: Valerij Zhugan, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
windmill (photo by Dora Mitsonia, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
solar (photo by frederico pinto, presented at: WindermereSun.com)
(Please click on red links & note magenta)
monthly net electricity generation from selected fuels (Jan.-March, 2017, credit: U.S. EIA), presented at: WindermereSun.com
monthly net electricity generation from selected fuels, in % (Jan.-March, 2017, credit: U.S. EIA) presented at: WindermereSun.com
In March of 2017, according to a new U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) report, ten percent of all of the electricity generated in United States came from wind and solar power. This milestone demonstrates that renewable energy are becoming significant source of electricity in U.S. and no longer need to be classified as “alternative” energy. Texas is the biggest wind power producer while California is the largest solar producer in USA.
Below, in italics, is taken from EIA report on June 14, 2017)
For the first time, monthly electricity generation from wind and solar (including utility-scale plants and small-scale systems) exceeded 10% of total electricity generation in the United States, based on March data in EIA’s Electric Power Monthly. Electricity generation from both of these energy sources has grown with increases in wind and solar generating capacity. On an annual basis, wind and solar made up 7% of total U.S. electric generation in 2016.
Electricity generation from wind and solar follows seasonal patterns that reflect the seasonal availability of wind and sunshine. Within the United States, wind patterns vary based on geography. For example, wind-powered generating units in Texas, Oklahoma, and nearby states often have their highest output in spring months, while wind-powered generators in California are more likely to have their highest output in summer months.
Monthly solar output is highest in the summer months, regardless of location, because of the greater number of daylight hours. About half of all utility-scale solar power plants in the United States use some form of sun-tracking technology to improve their seasonal output.
Based on seasonal patterns in recent years, electricity generation from wind and solar will probably exceed 10% of total U.S. generation again in April 2017, then fall to less than 10% in the summer months. Since 2014, when EIA first began estimating monthly, state-level electricity generation from small-scale solar photovoltaic systems, combined wind and solar generation has reached its highest level in either the spring or fall. Because these seasons are times of generally low electricity demand, combined wind and solar generation also reached its highest share of the U.S. total during these times of year.
Based on annual data for 2016, Texas accounted for the largest total amount of wind and solar electricity generation. Nearly all of this generation was from wind, as Texasgenerates more wind energy than any other state. As a share of the state’s total electricity generation, wind and solar output was highest in Iowa, where wind and solar made up 37% of electricity generation in 2016. In addition to Iowa, wind and solar provided at least 20% of 2016 electricity generation in six other states.
In almost all states, wind makes up a larger share of the state’s total electricity generation than solar. Among the top dozen states, only California and Arizona had more solar generation than wind in 2016. Three states in the top 12—Iowa, Kansas, and North Dakota—had no generation from utility-scale solar plants in 2016 and relatively little output from small-scale solar photovoltaic systems.
EIA analyst Owen Comstock said state renewable goals are one of the biggest reasons how wind and solar are able to reach this milestone. Most states require a certain portion of their electricity to be generated from renweables. States such as California is currently setting its goal to obtain 50% of its electricity from renewables by 2030, and lawmakers in CA are debating about the possibility of expanding that to 100% by 2045.
For those of us in Florida, even without with any government incentive or mandate, due to the dramatic dropping of cost in solar and wind, as long as we pay attention and take actions, we will be on our way to hit the 100% renewables goal before 2045. Based on SEIA (Solar Energy Industries Association), Floridians have installed 725.1 MW solar by 2016 (404.7 MW was installed in 2016). More will be provided in the next post.
Photographed, gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker
More about the community at www.WindermereSun.com
Below is a repost from one of our sister publications, Windermere Sun:
Sun Rays (credit: Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker)
December 19, 2011- Kyle Travis, left and Jon Jackson, with Lighthouse Solar, install microcrystalline PV modules on top of Kevin Donovan’s town home. (Photo by Dennis Schroeder)
(Please click on red links & note magenta)
The stage is set. The time is ripe. With the cost of both solar and wind having dropped tremendously in the past three years, solar technology having enabled greater efficiency, the incoming Tesla’s Powerwall, Powerpack solving the storage problem, and Tesla’s integrated and cost effective solar roof… the inevitable Solar-Renewable Tsunami is knocking on our door. Astute green investors and lenders could all hear the knock and are ready to finance solar energy projects and fund power developments of renewable-sustainable energy resources. In the U.S., a mix of federal production tax credits and individual state renewable portfolio standards (RPS) are definitely pushing the market. To better understand various policies and incentives for renewables and efficiency by states, please click HERE. For example, state of CA has 187 such policies and incentives whereas state of FL has 77. Of course the incentives of some of the E.U. nations are also fueling the market. But most importantly, it is the simple fact that the cost of solar have dropped so much that it is now a more secure investment than putting one’s money in the bank (bank has a rate of return of about 0.8%-1.1% without inflation protection whereas investing in solar provides a rate of return ranging from about 3% (in AK without any tax credit or incentive, it is 4.4% with tax credit and incentives) to 24.4% (in HI with tax credit and incentives, location-climate-incentive dependent, and this is with inflation protection).
For a simple Solar Investment Payback Formula:
Total System Cost/Value of Electricity Generated/Your Annual Electricity Usage = Payback Time
1/Payback Time = Rate of Return on Investment
This means:
a 6 kW grid-tied system that costs about $10,000 (subject to market fluctuation, excluding fees and incentives)
The average American household uses 10,932 kWh of electricity per year (source: EIA)
They pay an average of $0.12 per kWh for it
Therefore, using American national averages: $10,000 system price/$0.12 per kWh/10932 kWh per year = 7.62 years = Payback Time
Therefore, 1/Payback Time = 1/7.62 =0.13 1 or 13.1% = Rate of Return on Solar Investment, keep in mind that this is with inflation protection (utility bills are always going up).
At this point, I’d like to share with you all a site that had already done the work for you, state by state, Solar Power Rocks., in figuring out the Investment Return (IRR), with consideration of respective state’s tax credits and incentives.
As a result, there are much opportunities for high yielding rates of return on investment in solar as well as other green renewable sources. In the coming decades, there will be so much transformational developments waiting to be planned out and completed. If you have a project ($multi-million project) in mind, with a plan but insufficient funding, please contact me via: info.WindermereSun@gmail.com so Windermere Sun may be able to introduce you and your plan/project to potential investors/lenders. If you are an angel investor, potential investor or lender for solar projects, please feel free to contact me at: info.WindermereSun@gmail.com so we can spread the sunshine globally while saving our planet earth!
Investment Criteria for Joint Venture Financing: financing for all types of commercial real estate and alternative energy projects. In general, they must meet the following criteria: • The project 5% down or more; • The project must be shovel-ready–defined as ready to break ground in 90 days or less; • The project must be sponsored by an experienced developer with a significant financial stake. • Asset-based loans, including In-Ground Assets; • Corporate expansion loans; • International Funding; and • Hard money loans. Joint Venture Financing Project Types: (NEW DEVELOPMENT ONLY) • Hotel Resorts and Casinos • Assisted Living/Senior Housing • Apartment Buildings/Multifamily Housing • Alternative/Renewable Energy (i.e., solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, etc.) • Green Energy (i.e., biofuel/biodiesel, biomass, waste-to-energy, etc.) • Hospitals and Health Care Facilities • Infrastructure (roads, highways, rail, etc.) • College and University Buildings • Public-Use and Recreational Facilities • Industrial Projects • Other Related Types Locations: USA and International, Joint Venture Financing Terms: • 95% equity financing • Typically three to five year term • Non-recourse financing • No interest payments during term of investment • Minority equity stake in lieu of interest • Take out with permanent financing or sale Time to Closing: 90 to 120 days.
This is a repost from one of our sister publication, Windermere Sun, below:
(Please click on red links & note magenta)
Tesla Solar Roof (credit: Tesla/Solar City)
Tesla Solar Roof (credit: Tesla/Solar City)
Tesla Solar Roof (credit: Tesla/Solar City)
Tesla Solar Roof single held up by CEO Elon Musk (credit: Tesla/Solar City)
Tesla Solar Roof (credit: Tesla/Solar City)
Tesla Solar Roof single held up by CEO Elon Musk (credit: Tesla/Solar City)
Tesla Solar Roof (credit: Tesla/Solar City)
(Please click on red links & note magenta)
Just weeks after our previous reporting of Tesla/Solar City’s Solar roof, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that their Tesla/Solar City solar roof will be cheaper than the conventional/traditional roofing material. Previously Elon Musk said their solar roof would be cheaper, when taking into consideration of the fact that power would be generated from these solar roofs. But now he believes that the cost of manufacturing and installing their solar roofs will be less than the traditional roofs even before taking into consideration of its power generation. Solar City is the largest solar manufacturer and installer in USA. In November of this year, the share holders approved the merger of Tesla and Solar City. Tesla’s solar roofs are expected to hit the market in Summer of 2017.
It’s a no brainer: Tesla/Solar City solar roofs will cost lower, are stronger and last longer, better insulated, and generate power! So when it’s time for you to replace your existing roof or building your roof for the first time, think about Tesla-Solar City Solar Roof!!!
Talk about revolution! Elon Musk continues to lead the charge of this revolution for our Renewable Future!
