Month: August 2015

Orlando Sentinel:

 Orlando’s electricity provider struck a deal this week for solar energy that will cost less than energy from the utility’s coal and natural-gas plants.

“We really are at a tipping point where solar is the least-cost option,” said Tom Hunton, president and CEO of American Capital Energy, which will build, own and manage the plant for Orlando Utilities Commission.
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A standard panel puts out 310 watts today compared with 265 watts about five years ago. Also part of the equation, panels cost less than 80 cents per watt today and about $2 per watt five years ago. The industry expects continued declines in cost.

The resulting numbers are telling: OUC will pay 7 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity from the new solar plant, which is a steep drop from the 19 cents per kilowatt-hour from a solar plant built for OUC less than four years ago.

It costs OUC 8 cents per kilowatt-hour to generate electricity by burning coal and natural gas. In turn, the utility charges its more than 200,000 residential customers at least 10 cents per kilowatt-hour.

A kilowatt-hour is enough power to turn on 10, 100-watt bulbs for an hour.

“Alternative energy is always alternative energy until it’s cheaper than the cheapest energy,” said Jim Fenton, Florida Solar Energy Center director. “Now solar is cheaper than coal.”

Dave Roberts in Vox:

There’s a new poll of eight key swing states out, and it shows that — surprise! — voters in swing states love clean energy.

Specifically, the poll (done by Hart Research on behalf of NextGen Climate Action) shows that 70 percent of swing state voters have a favorable reaction to the goal of 50 percent clean energy by 2030, including 54 percent of Republicans. Similar majorities support a target of 100 percent clean energy by 2050. Somewhat smaller majorities look favorably on several other clean energy policies, including upgrading the power grid and raising state renewable energy standards.

At this point, polls showing robust, bipartisan support for clean energy and pollution reduction are so common that they come as no surprise (see here, here, here, here, here, here, etc. forever). Americans love clean energy!

Most Americans, that is. The one demographic that remains steadfast in its support for fossil fuels and skepticism toward alternatives is — surprise! — Tea Party Republicans, i.e., hyper-conservative older white guys.

No sweat. They’ll be dead soon.
Like the US Republican Party,  if it continues to ignore climate and energy.

Wall Street Journal – Renewable Energy Powers Up Rural India:

Hoping to ride India’s cellphone revolution, some small Indian startups are trying to bring more reliable power to the country’s rural regions using mini electricity plants, powered by renewable alternative-energy sources such as solar, wind and biogas.

But reaching out to the subcontinent’s backwaters can be expensive and risky, so Gurgaon-based Omnigrid Micropower Co. has developed a business model where it sets up its small solar-power plants near cellular towers to guarantee reliable income from telecommunications companies before it starts serving villagers.

Kamlesh Kumar, 34 years old, who has a small general store in Hardoi, has seen sales soar as the affordable and reliable power now lets him stay open at night. “When it used to become dark in the evening, we would just shut shop early,” he said. “Now we close late.”

Omnigrid is part of a growing network of small renewable-power companies trying to light up India’s hard-to-reach rural regions. Roughly 40 companies already serve remote villages and businesses with small plants that use renewable energy, according to a report from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and the Climate Group, a U.K.-based environmental organization. They help bring power to approximately 100,000 households, a number that is expected to grow to reach millions.

Craig Morris for Energy Transition:

On July 25, Germany surpassed the old record of 74 percent renewable electricity. But perhaps the most interesting aspect is power trading between France and Germany on that day. Craig Morris explains.

At the end of July, the storm Zeljko passed over northern Europe, causing considerable wind damage and flooding in some areas. Here in southern Germany, however, it was a relatively sunny day. In the north, where it was windy, Germany has most of its wind turbines installed. In the south, it has most of its solar. The combination of sunny weather in the south with strong wind throughout the country is rare – and led to a new record.

The chart above visualizes the situation well, but we still need to include biomass (4.85 GW) and hydropower (2.4 GW). The total renewable electricity on Saturday afternoon was therefore 47.9 GW. We then also need to exclude the 8.75 GW of net power exports below the baseline in the chart above to calculate total domestic power demand, which then comes in at 61.1 GW. In that calculation, Germany had roughly 78 percent renewable electricity as a share of domestic demand for a few hours.

Continue reading “Renewable Energy Emerging Global Juggernaut”

Renewables International:

The new hard coal plant going up in Hamm, Germany, is apparently worthless and may never go into operation.

In mid-July, German media reported (in German) that 23 municipal utilities wanted to sell their stakes in Hamm D and E, which have a collective capacity of 1.6 gigawatts. RWE made them a surprising offer: one euro per municipal for their entire holdings – initially worth 2.5 billion euros (report in German). In other words, the 2.5 billion euro stake is now worth 23 euros.

While Block E went into commercial operation in the summer of 2014, the boiler at Block D faces technical problems and may never go into operation. France’s Alstom built the boiler.

The utilities are now scrambling to cover their losses. The municipal utility of Münster, for example, originally invested 40 million euros in the project. The municipal of Krefeld stands to lose 30 million euros. When construction began, Chancellor Merkel visited (report in German) and spoke of a “future-proof investment” (new coal plants are more efficient than old ones).

Of course, the utility that stands to lose the most is RWE itself. The 23 utilities hold only 23 percent of the project. As part of the agreement, they are to purchase electricity from the coal plants at a price set for 20 years. Unfortunately for them, prices on the power exchange are now lower.

Because invisible utilities cross-subsidize other public services (such as public transportation and swimming pools) from profits in the power sector, these losses could mean higher prices for buses, trams, etc.

NRDC Switchboard:

Over the past year the Big 3 of the US coal industry (Peabody Energy, Arch Coal, and Alpha Natural) have seen their combined market cap fall from $6bln to $350mln and their funding rates soar from 8% to 65%.

“War on coal” or something else entirely?

Big Coal’s Nemesis: Bad Bets on the Market

For years now, Big Coal has tried to blame its woes on a government “war on coal” but the truth is the market and a series of bad decisions by coal producers are what has put coal stocks in the toilet. Since we can expect more “war on coal” hype next week when EPA announces its landmark Clean Power Plan, now is a good time to lay out the facts.

The biggest cause of Big Coal’s loss of value is that Big 3 management bet big on a global coal boom and lost big when it went bust.

Here are the five reasons why Alpha Natural, Arch Coal, and Peabody Energy are on the brink of bankruptcy:

1. Bad bets

As recently as 2011 the Big 3 coal companies were doing very well indeed. The market cap of Peabody Energy, Arch Coal, and Alpha Natural was a combined $35bln, coal was powering 46% of US power plants, and a global commodities boom was lifting the value of US coal exports to an all time high of $15.8bln.

Betting on large growth in coal demand, the Big 3 decided to go on a buying spree. Peabody Energy bought Australia’s McArthur Coal, Arch Coal acquired International Coal, and Alpha Natural Resources purchased Massey Energy. In total the Big 3 spent $16bln at the top of the market in 2011 on acquisitions to add 1.7bln tons of metallurgical (met) coal and 4.3bln tons of thermal coal to their reserves.

Continue reading “A Mine is a Terrible Thing: Why Coal Continues to Crash”

Unfortunately, It’s Not a Dry Heat.

Jason Samenow for Capital Weather Gang:

Wherever you live or happen to travel to, never complain about the heat and humidity again.

In the city of Bandar Mahshahr (population of about 110,000 as of 2010), the air felt like a searing 165 degrees (74 Celsius) today factoring in the humidity.

Although there are no official records of heat indices, this is second highest level we have ever seen reported.

To achieve today’s astronomical heat index level of 165, Bandar Mahshahr’s actual air temperature registered 115 degrees (46 Celsius) with an astonishing dew point temperature of 90 (32 Celsius).

Although there are no official records, 178 degrees (81 Celsius) is the highest known heat index ever attained. It was observed in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia on July 8, 2003. In his book Extreme Weather, weather historian Christopher Burt says Dhahran, also on the Persian Gulf, registered an air temperature of 108 degrees (42 Celsius) and a dew point of 95 (35 Celsius), which computes to such an extreme heat index level.

Angela Fritz, on Seattle Heat – where it IS Dry:

Well, Seattle did it — they set a new record for most number of 90-degree days in a year yesterday. Ten! And they are likely to tack on at least one more today, with a high of 91 in the forecast, and the heat advisory has been extended into Sunday.

It’s not only been hot, though, it’s also been extremely dry. According to the National Weather Service, Seattle also set a new record for driest May 1 to July 31, with just 0.9 inches. The previous dries period was 1.73 inches back in 2003. Continue reading “Iran Heat Index hits 165”