Esposito Research Group Blog

Esposito Research Group Blog

Tag Archives: solar

“The Grid’s Great Balancing act”^ – status in California and China

29 Thursday Jun 2017

Posted by danesposito in energy, energy storage, scientific journal article, solar fuels, Solar-Popular Press, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

california, china, curtailment, electricity, electrolysis, grid, negative prices, solar

It’s no secret that there will be significant challenges to achieving a clean energy future where a large percentage of society’s energy comes from renewable resources such as solar and wind.  Many of these challenges relate to the fact that solar and wind are variable and sometimes intermittent generators– they only produce electricity when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing.  Thus, the amount of electricity supplied by these resources is often out of sync with the demand for electricity, an issue that gets worse as solar and wind achieves a larger percentage of a region’s generating capacity. In order to deal with the imbalance with supply and demand, a combination of three actions are often taken:

  1. The price of electricity decreased. Sometimes, electricity prices can even go negative, with a state like CA having excess electricity paying states like Arizona to take the extra electricity off their grid (see article below).
  2. Conventional power plants, such as natural gas plants, are turned off/on to help balance demand and supply.
  3. Excess electricity from solar and/or wind is curtailed, meaning the connection between the solar panel or wind turbine and the grid is cut, and the electricity is wasted. (free electricity!).

In California, where almost 14% of its electricity was obtained from solar in 2016, this grid balancing act is already becoming extremely challenging, as discussed in a recent LA Times article that provides a lot of useful stats and discussion:

http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-fi-electricity-solar/

In China, which is the world leader in solar panel production and increasingly installing large amounts of solar power plants itself, the imbalance between electricity supply and demand is become especially acute in provinces where transmission of electricity to the large population centers is highly inadequate.  According to the article below, curtailment rates of solar-generated electricity are often 30% or higher!:

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-40341833

While improvements to the grid (e.g. smart grid technologies) and demand-side management can go a long way to help alleviate some of the issues involved with balancing electricity supply and demand, there is a limit to how much they can help—especially in a future where solar and wind generate 50% or more of a region’s electricity.  In this case, many studies agree that low-cost and scalable energy storage technologies are crucially important.   Batteries are one option, and have the benefit of high round trip efficiencies, but electrolyzer technologies that convert electricity into storable chemical fuels are another option.   Electricity-to-fuel technologies such as the ones we work on in our lab also represent a huge opportunity because fuels can be used for many energy applications and sectors that are not currently very reliant on electricity.  The flexibility and storability of fuels thus make them highly attractive 1.) for their ability to utilize low-cost or free electricity, and 2.) their ability to impact many different energy use sectors (transportation, industrial/chemical, agriculture, commercial) that are predominantly reliant on fossil-fuels at this time.

^credit: the term “The grid’s great balancing act” has been often used by Prof. Cory Budischak at Delaware Technical Community College. A more detailed analysis of a future scenario in which  99.9% of the electricity is provided by solar and wind can be found in a paper that he published a few years ago in J. Power Sources:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378775312014759

Advertisement

H2 production vs. CO2 reduction

02 Wednesday Nov 2016

Posted by danesposito in CO2 conversion, energy, solar fuels, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

CO2, hydrogen, solar, solar fuels

Here is a recent viewpoint article published in ACS Energy Letters discussing the merits of using solar energy (or solar-derived electricity) to 1.) split water for H2 production, or 2.) reduce CO2 into liquid hydrocarbon fuels:

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00377

There is a lot of active research ongoing for both of these pathways, so this is an important discussion to be having.

The article nicely articulates the reasons for not performing CO2 reduction from CO2 captured from coal fired power plants.  However, there are other sources of CO2 as well, such as cement plants, or  capturing CO2 directly from air (so-called negative emissions) as discussed in this article:

http://www.pnas.org/content/109/33/13156

 

 

New record for Si photovoltaic module efficiency

30 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by danesposito in energy, Solar-Popular Press, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

efficiency, photovoltaics, Silicon, solar, SunPower

SunPower recently announced a 24.1% efficient Si PV module- a world record:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelkanellos/2016/06/27/sunpowers-24-1-efficiency-mark-are-we-near-the-ceiling/#1742e8eb2be1

As noted in the article, this is very impressive, especially considering that the theoretical maximum efficiency for a single junction Si solar cell under 1 sun illumination intensity is ~ 29%.

2016 Q1 Solar Installations in the US (and projections)

10 Friday Jun 2016

Posted by danesposito in energy, Solar-Popular Press, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

economics, photovoltaics, solar

“In the three months ending March 31, there were 1,665 megawatts (MW) of solar power plants[added to the US power grid] — accounting for 64% of total capacity additions — more than coal, natural gas and nuclear combined”

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/solar-installations-overtaking-all-other-conventional-energy-sources-in-the-us-2016-06-10

the article goes on to note that there are currently 26 GW of solar installed in the US. By the end of the year it is expected there will be 40.5 GW, over 3% of the net US generating capacity.

 

Technoeconomic analysis on solar hydrogen production

31 Tuesday May 2016

Posted by JackDavis in energy, Hydrogen Economy, scientific journal article, solar fuels

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

economics, energy, hydrogen, photovoltaics, solar

A technoeconomic analysis on solar hydrogen production was recently published in Energy. Environ. Sci. by Shaner, et al. (Energy. Environ. Sci., 2016, Advance Article). The levelized cost of hydrogen was compared between photovoltaic-electrolyzers (PV-E), photoelectrochemical cells (PECs), and fossil fuel derived hydrogen using steam methane reforming (SMR).

This paper highlights the strengths of PEC systems and outlines the challenges which must be met in order for the technology to become viable. One way to make solar hydrogen production competitive with SMR is to tax the carbon dioxide that is produced. They estimate that for the current PEC technology to achieve hydrogen price parity with SMR, a carbon tax of $1000/ton C02 is required. If a solar concentrator PEC is used, the estimated tax decreases to $800/ton CO2.

 

2.99 cents/kWh solar power in Dubai

05 Thursday May 2016

Posted by danesposito in energy, solar fuels, Solar-Popular Press, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Dubai, economics, solar

A winning bid to install solar PV panels at Dubai’s solar power park (which will eventually reach 5 GW capacity by 2030!) came in at 2.99 cents/kWh-  a world record:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-03/solar-developers-undercut-coal-with-another-record-set-in-dubai

This data point is a little unique due to the scale of the project, but continues a trend of ever-decreasing costs of solar-produced electricity that are far below grid prices.  As solar market penetration increases, this represents a huge opportunity for electrochemical technologies to turn this low cost “clean” electricity into fuels and chemicals.

 

Solar in the UK

14 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by danesposito in energy, Solar-Popular Press, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

photovoltaics, solar, United Kingdom

The recent growth in solar and closure of coal plants in recent years has lead to instances this year where solar PV plants generated more electricity than coal in the united kingdom (UK):s

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/13/solar-power-sets-new-british-record-by-beating-coal-for-a-day

The UK plans to phase out coal by 2025. According to the article, about 14% of the UK generating capacity is now solar.

 

Solar Growth in the U.S. and the Federal Investment Tax Credit

01 Friday Jan 2016

Posted by danesposito in Solar-Popular Press, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

2015, federal investment tax credit, photovoltaics, solar

Although solar PV is now able to compete on its own (ie without subsidies) in many places, the U.S. federal investment tax credit (ITC) has been very important for helping to speed up the adoption of solar PV technology. Since 2005, the ITC has provided a tax credit of 30% of the value of solar projects.

Recently, congress passed a bill that extended the ITC at its current rate out to 2019. This is expected to help maintain the rapid growth of solar PV in the U.S. in the coming years.  In 2015 it is estimated that over 7 GW of new solar PV was installed in the U.S., with over 30% of all new electricity installations in the U.S. through Q3 coming from the solar PV sector.

You can find a nice article that provides more numbers on recent solar PV installations, projections, and the ITC here.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM research also recently released their 2015 Q3 report that is worth glancing at.

 

 

The costs and value of hooking solar up to the grid

04 Friday Dec 2015

Posted by danesposito in Solar-Popular Press

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

arizona, electric grid, energy storage, fees, hawaii, intermittency, Maine, net-metering, solar

Here is an interesting article discussing fees that various utilities in the U.S. have begun to charge solar PV home owners for hooking up to the grid so that they can buy electricity from the grid when their panels aren’t generating electricity, and sell electricity back tot he grid when they are:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-some-states-are-making-going-solar-more-expensive-2015-12-04

The article mentions a source that says that 40-60% of a solar PV systems output goes back to the grid.

There are a lot of debates right now in this country and throughout the world trying to figure out exactly the value of solar-generated electricity.

If the costs of hooking up to the grid become too high, it will create an incentive for solar home owners to go off grid with home-scale energy storage (e.g. batteries, solar fuels).

 

 

“Solar Cell Phones” in Africa

23 Friday Oct 2015

Posted by danesposito in Solar-Popular Press

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

africa, cell phones, Kenya, off-grid, solar

As noted in the article below, it is estimated that over 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to electricity.  Fortunately, solar is helping to change this.  Even if the solar panel(s) are small and produce only a very small fraction of the energy used by a typical American home, their ability to charge cell phones and power lights is dramatically improving the lives of many people in this area of the world.  You can read more about a particular area in Kenya in this recent article in the Huffington post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kenya-solar-power_562673bce4b0bce3470258bc

← Older posts

Esposito Research Group Homepage

Columbia University

Recent Posts

  • Esposito Research Group Highlighted in H2 Newsletter
  • Columbia Electrochemical Energy Center (CEEC) Announced
  • Pulling CO2 from air- within reach!
  • MOU signed for world’s largest solar plant
  • Hydrogen Milestone in Japan

Archived Posts

Categories

  • 3D printing
  • CO2 conversion
  • Education & Outreach
  • energy
  • energy storage
  • Energy-Water Nexus
  • Hydrogen Economy
  • scientific journal article
  • solar fuels
  • Solar-Popular Press
  • Uncategorized

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • Esposito Research Group Blog
    • Join 31 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Esposito Research Group Blog
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar