Hawaiian Electric (HECO) recently added 2.5MW of grid services to its grid, allowing it to store energy during peak solar and wind production periods, and did so without any traditional batteries, flywheels, or pumped hydro. Even better, the hardware required is very minimal, and in fact, most of it already exists in every residential grid in the world.
The rapid growth of clean technologies is expected to cause fossil fuel demand to peak the 2020s according to a new report from Carbon Tracker, serving to put at risk trillions for investors ignorant of or unwilling to participate in the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Combining energy storage and EV charging will help five California schools and colleges smooth out power demand and save $1 million on their electric bills.
Originally published on the ECOreport. The next energy storage breakthrough will be in efficiency, rather than time. During high-peak-demand times, utilities charge commercial customers a premium (per kW) called “demand charges.” These charges often make up 40% of the total electricity bill and have, on occasion even been as much … [continued]
Solar advocates were popping corks when a New Year’s Eve ruling by an administrative law judge in Minnesota said that distributed solar arrays were a more cost-effective resource than natural gas to meet Xcel Energy’s peak power needs. The energy media were aflutter for weeks, but many missed the bigger … [continued]
New Carnegie Mellon University research finds controlled EV charging can cut power costs at least 50%, and even more when wind energy is available.
Demand response could more than double to 21.9 million sites and 155.4GW of potential power demand curtailment capacity worldwide by 2020, predicts a new report from Navigant Research.
A solar energy revolution is dawning in America, led by the “Dazzling Dozen” – twelve states whose progressive policies dominate the solar industry with 85% of all US solar capacity but just 28% of the total population.
Environment America’s “Lighting the Way” report outlines their successful policies and illuminate the path forward to a nationwide clean energy economy.
A new study for the California Public Utilities Commission explores the “Technical Potential for Local Distributed Photovoltaics in California.” Basically, it’s one of the more in-depth analyses of local solar power in the country, suggesting that California has the capacity to add 15 gigawatts (GW) of local solar (20 megawatts and smaller) to its grid by 2020. The study pushes the boundaries of distributed generation by assuming that local solar can be installed sufficient to meet 100% of local demand, far beyond the conservative “15% rule” that utilities typically apply […]
Wind and solar, on their own, each have wonderful qualities, qualities that make them the two most popular electricity choices and that make them two of the cleanest. However, something that I think doesn’t get nearly enough attention is that solar and wind complement each other greatly. Solar energy and … [continued]
