Are Renewables Mainstream?

There is a prevailing view is that renewable electric power generation in its many forms is entering the mainstream as a viable alternative to the more traditional fossil fuel alternatives. Assisted by the ever increasing list of states with renewable portfolio standards (RPS), and continuing advancements in technology to enhance affordability, wind and solar generation are being given significant attention as electric utilities lay out long-term asset management strategies:

• According to the Department of Energy (DOE), 32 states and the District of Columbia have mandated RPS, and a half dozen other states have established voluntary goals.
• Many utilities not in states with mandates or explicit expectations are also including renewable energy sources in their long-range planning efforts.
• In some instances, states with previously established mandates are increasing the standard (e.g. Colorado is requiring that the previously mandated 20 percent be increased to 30 percent).

Additionally, at the federal level, with the advent of economic stimulus funds to be invested in energy, goals of 10 percent of the nation’s energy being generated by renewable sources by 2012 and 25 percent by 2025 have entered the dialogue.

Renewables as a Solution are Gaining Traction

The gap between these goals and current resources is not as wide as one might think. According to the Energy Information Administration:

• Renewable energy now constitutes 7 percent of all energy consumed in the U.S.
• The breakout of renewable energy is Biomass (53 percent), Hydroelectric (36 percent), Geothermal (5 percent), Wind (5 percent) and Solar (1 percent). Wind has reached scalable proportions and is the furthest along of all the newer technologies; hydro power counts towards the RPS requirements only to the point where it represents incremental improvement in either efficiencies or additions to current assets.
• Regarding wind power, approximately 10,000 MW of new generating capacity was installed in the U.S., representing nearly a 40 percent increase in one year. The major challenges in continuing this trend is the ability of the transmission grid to get the output of wind (and for that matter solar) to areas with higher customer density, and once there, handle larger amounts of variable output.

 

Trends Support Emphasis on Renewables

Interesting trends are being anticipated by a number of utilities:

• Wind energy still represents the greatest opportunity in the near term, but emphasis in policy making seems to be shifting towards solar.
• The Solar Energy Industries Association states that utility-scale capacity of solar power is slightly in excess of 500 MW with an additional 40 percent anticipated to be installed in 2010.
• There are over 100 solar energy projects in various forms of conceptual development totaling 17 GW of potential power, with 14 in the permitting process on a fast track pace for approval.