Decentralised rooftop PV is the largest supplier of clean power in Australia. With grids catching up, a range of storage options available and rapid uptake of electric vehicles, it is time to build onto this success. Neat brings together designs that define this purpose.
The tide must turn. In the past few weeks, Scotland and Belgium have closed down their last coal power stations. Countless other countries are following suit. In a country blessed by sunshine, it shouldn’t be a difficult task. I know already that Australians love renewables. You have the highest uptake of rooftop solar in the world.
With a price of $35,000 and a battery range extending 215 miles on a single charge, the car has drawn unusually strong interest for any type of new vehicle — electrified or not.
“We are not aware of any precedent of this level of order interest for any other car,” Adam Jonas, a Morgan Stanley analyst, wrote in a research note.
“Electric and electric-hybrid flight represent some of the biggest industrial challenges of our time, aiming at zero-emissions aviation. The progress we have achieved in this arena, together with our industrial and governmental partners, in only a few years is breath-taking, culminating in last year’s channel crossing of our all-electric E-Fan aircraft. Big thanks today particularly to the Bavarian Government and Minister Aigner for their support here in Ottobrunn”, said Tom Enders, CEO of Airbus Group. “We believe that by 2030 passenger aircraft below 100 seats could be propelled by hybrid propulsion systems and we are determined to explore this possibility together with world-class partners like Siemens.”
Nahan says solar has given the government the tools to repair it. He noted that despite a record heat wave and four days of 40°C plus temperatures in February, and record demand of 4,047 MW, demand-side management was not needed.
When the WA grid hit that level around 5pm local time on Feb 9, solar was providing more than 200MW, after contributing more than 300MW for much of the day.
“Solar makes perfect sense, given that Perth is Australia’s sunniest major city with around 300 days of sunshine a year,” Nahan said. He also hailed the arrival of battery storage, which will bring the next phase of energy technology.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2016/wa-takes-lead-and-tells-utility-to-close-down-fossil-fuel-generation-42982
“Adios gas-powered cars.” That was the reaction of Barclays analyst Brian Johnston over the weekend to news that Tesla Motors had received orders for nearly 200,000 of its Model 3 electric vehicle in less than two days.
By nightfall on Saturday, that order tally had jumped to 276,000. That’s more than $US280 million in zero-cost capital to Tesla, from the $US1,000, $A1,500 and €1,000 deposits, and total orders for more than $A13 billion of electric vehicles.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2016/tesla-motors-elon-musk-just-killed-the-petrol-car-72847
The analysis appears in "Rooftop Solar Photovoltaic Technical Potential in the United States: A Detailed Assessment." The report quantifies the technical potential for rooftop PV in the United States, which is an estimate of how much energy could be generated if PV systems were installed on all suitable roof areas.
At 6.5 megawatts ".....Intel's solar carport installation is said to be the largest private project of its kind in the USA".
"Australia’s first household to add a Tesla Powerwall battery can this week begin buying and selling energy on the electricity market, after the addition of a world-leading software program by Canberra company, Reposit Power."
The house captures solar, uses it when needed and trades excess energy to a retailer on the grid.
26 January 2016 "France to pave 1,000km of road with solar panels" by David Rogers, Global Construction Review.
"According to France’s Agency of Environment and Energy Management, 4m of solarised road is enough to supply one household’s electricity needs, apart from heating, and one kilometre will light a settlement with 5,000 inhabitants".
"Traditionally, a customer with an existing roof would call a contractor to install them, paying out of pocket, or increasingly leasing them with little or no upfront investment. The result is generally an ugly, incongruous after thought, and an expensive one at that. Many roofs have protruding chimneys and other obstacles resulting in panels distributed in odd and unpleasant patterns. Other roofs are in wrong angles to the sun or shaded by neighbours‘ houses or trees, making them unsuitable for solar PVs."
"Today, an increasing number of architects and engineers are designing individual houses and entire subdivisions with solar panels in mind. The same goes for many commercial buildings, especially warehouses, parking garages, office buildings, shopping malls, airports, train stations – anything with large flat roofs. Including solar panels at the time the roof is being built reduces installation costs substantially, by some estimates as much as 20%."
By Fereidoon Sioshansi on 29 January 2016
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2016/what-comes-after-solar-pv-bipv-88351
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-21/yarloop-bushfires-before-and-after/7100968
“We expect that the bulk of generating capacity during sunlight hours in the [Perth] metro area in about 10 years time will be provided by rooftop solar,” said Nahan in a speech to an energy conference in Perth.
“Solar will also displace a lot of the existing [coal-based] capacity. It’s low-priced, it’s democratically determined and it’s something we’re committed to facilitating.”
WA State treasurer Mike Nahan
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/w-a-says-solar-is-the-future-as-it-prepares-to-dump-coal-63324
Australia seemed to be the natural expansion choice for Sungevity, one of the most successful and innovative US solar companies, to select three years ago.
In a country that had one of the highest uptakes of rooftop PV, the US company could not have factored in the developments of next three years. The outright federal antagonism, the constant policy shifts at both state and federal levels with obstructive the utilities probably made it a fairly easy decision depart for the European market.
In Kathmandu power outages are a daily constant, generally several times a day, and battery backup systems and generators are an accepted cost of maintaining some sort of power reliability. But the thousands of generators add to the already polluted air in the valley, not to mention the noise pollution in the shopping areas. PV and storage will inevitably offer some badly needed relief in time.
UBS: "We believe the financial community and most industry experts largely underestimate the global solar capacity growth, as falling costs, supportive regulation and the opening up of new solar markets seem to go largely unnoticed."
"Other states and countries, including California, Arizona, Japan and Germany, are struggling to adapt to the growing popularity of making electricity at home, which puts new pressures on old infrastructure like circuits and power lines and cuts into electric company revenue".
"The shift in the electric business is no less profound than those that upended the telecommunications and cable industries in recent decades. It is already remaking the relationship between power companies and the public while raising questions about how to pay for maintaining and operating the nation’s grid".
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/19/business/energy-environment/solar-power-battle-puts-hawaii-at-forefront-of-worldwide-changes.html
Solar Power Battle Puts Hawaii at the Forefront of Worldwide Changes
The Energy Collective report on a new study carried out by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency that studied "What solar network penetration rates can be accepted without adversely and materially affecting network performance?" and "What affect does geographic dispersion of solar have on the first question?".
What this ARENA study proved in an entirely statistically valid, Government supported study is this:
Distributed energy makes a whole lot of sense
Sufficient geographic spatial diversity overcomes many of the (previously assumed) problems
Network demand has a lot of natural variability
Well planned networks can cope with far higher solar penetration than is often assumed
"The solar system will comprise of 3991 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels provided by Canadian Solar, and is expected to generate an average 4,789 kilowatt hours (kWh) per day, enough – it says – to power 280 homes".
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/stockland-builds-1-2mw-rooftop-solar-array-on-shopping-centre-83696
"UNEP’s 9th annual Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investments report, prepared by the Frankfurt School–UNEP Centre, and Bloomberg New Energy Finance, has found that the global renewable energy spend totalled $270 billion in 2014, up from $232 billion in 2013 – a rebound made all the more remarkable by the challenge from sharply lower oil prices".
"The report noted that in Australia and the US, utilities had tended to follow one of three paths in reaction to the growth of renewables: fight, flight and adapt".