Comments on: How Californians are Getting Cheap Renewable Energy http://cleantechnica.com/2012/04/26/how-californians-are-getting-cheap-renewable-energy/ Clean Tech News & Views: Solar Energy News. Wind Energy News. EV News. & More. Mon, 29 Dec 2014 17:40:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.1 By: Bill_Woods http://cleantechnica.com/2012/04/26/how-californians-are-getting-cheap-renewable-energy/#comment-119642 Fri, 27 Apr 2012 23:13:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=37418#comment-119642 Apparently these are the ones listed here
http://www.nrel.gov/csp/solarpaces/by_project.cfm
as ‘BrightSource PG&E 3–7′.

The first one was supposed to break ground in 2011, so that’s definitely been delayed. The next two were expected to break ground in 2012. Which could still happen, but googling “brightsource coyote springs” isn’t encouraging.

]]> By: Susan Kraemer http://cleantechnica.com/2012/04/26/how-californians-are-getting-cheap-renewable-energy/#comment-119630 Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:05:30 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=37418#comment-119630 Haha, Bill. No, the CPUC would hardly list “placeholders”! These are all projects that have been rigorously permitted by dozens of bureaucracies down to county level officials over two or more years! Read through the excel file from the CPUC yourself; you’ll see contracts for 5 200 MW BrightSource projects as well as others.

]]> By: Bill_Woods http://cleantechnica.com/2012/04/26/how-californians-are-getting-cheap-renewable-energy/#comment-119624 Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:39:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=37418#comment-119624 “The 1,000 MW BrightSource project is listed as five 200 MW projects, that come on line one after the other, and these have not been delayed, …”

Are these real projects, or just some sort of placeholder? The BrightSource website doesn’t list anything that matches that description. In addition to Ivanpah, it only lists Hidden Hills (2 x 250 MW, in Inyo County, CA) and Rio Mesa (3 x 250 MW, in Riverside County, CA).
http://www.brightsourceenergy.com/projects

]]> By: Ronald Brak http://cleantechnica.com/2012/04/26/how-californians-are-getting-cheap-renewable-energy/#comment-119586 Fri, 27 Apr 2012 03:47:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=37418#comment-119586 They haven’t got hydrogen storage going yet, but they are going to try it out with a pilot project. What is starting to be done is using natural gas in fuel cells for cogeneration, providing both heat and electricity on a small, convenient scale. Provided there is a use for the heat, it’s as efficient as a large scale combined gas cycle plant which are usually a bit too large to put in a building basement.

]]> By: John Bailo http://cleantechnica.com/2012/04/26/how-californians-are-getting-cheap-renewable-energy/#comment-119583 Fri, 27 Apr 2012 03:00:00 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=37418#comment-119583 Germany is currently delivering baseload power using renewable solar and wind coupled with hydrogen produced during optimal generating times.

They are able to occasionally have off peak rates at peak demand times because of this efficiency…they don’t have to spin up coal or other sources.

This model is being proven every day. Why aren’t we using hydrogen production and fuel cells at utilities to make baseload possible with renewable solar, wind and dam power?

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