On the LAKE Front

Germany solar equal to 20 nuclear plants

What's 20 times more powerful than a nuclear plant and didn't already run a billion dollars over budget? German solar plants!

Erik Kirschbaum wrote for Reuters 26 May 2012, Germany sets new solar power record, institute says,

German solar power plants produced a world record 22 gigawatts of electricity per hour—equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity—through the midday hours on Friday and Saturday, the head of a renewable energy think tank said....

Norbert Allnoch, director of the Institute of the Renewable Energy Industry (IWR) in Muenster, said the 22 gigawatts of solar power per hour fed into the national grid on Saturday met nearly 50 percent of the nation's midday electricity needs....

The record-breaking amount of solar power shows one of the world's leading industrial nations was able to meet a third of its electricity needs on a work day, Friday, and nearly half on Saturday when factories and offices were closed.

Berlin is at more than 52 degrees north latitude. Even southern German city Munich is at 48 degrees north. That's a thousand miles north of where we sit here in south Georgia at 31 degrees north.

Germany has sun like Alaska, while Georgia has sun like the south of Spain.

"Never before anywhere has a country produced as much photovoltaic electricity," Allnoch told Reuters. "Germany came close to the 20 gigawatt (GW) mark a few times in recent weeks. But this was the first time we made it over."

Maybe it's time for the Southern Company and Georgia Power to get out of the way and let the Georgia legislature change the Georgia Territorial Electric Service Act of 1973 so we can get on with solar power in Georgia. How about if Southern Company and Georgia Power also stop pouring money into the leaking nuclear bucket and buy solar power instead.

-jsq

Solar eating fossil fuels' cake in Germany

Why is Georgia Power still peddling misinformation about solar power instead of moving ahead with it? What's happening in Germany could be a clue.

Giles Parkinson wrote for Crikey.com 28 March 2012 (it's tomorrow in Australia), Why power generators are terrified of solar,

The first graph illustrates what a typical day on the electricity market in Germany looked like in March four years ago; the second illustrates what is happening now, with 25GW of solar PV installed across the country. Essentially, it means that solar PV is not just licking the cream off the profits of the fossil fuel generators — as happens in Australia with a more modest rollout of PV — it is in fact eating their entire cake.

So solar is taking the profits out of coal and natural gas. So sad!

Deutsche Bank solar analyst Vishal Shah noted in a report last month that EPEX data was showing solar PV was cutting peak electricity prices by up to 40%, a situation that utilities in Germany and elsewhere in Europe were finding intolerable. “With Germany adopting a drastic cut, we expect major utilities in other European countries to push for similar cuts as well,” Shah noted.

Analysts elsewhere said one quarter of Germany's gas-fired capacity may be closed, because of the impact of surging solar and wind capacity. Enel, the biggest utility in Italy, which had the most solar PV installed in 2011, highlighted its exposure to reduced peaking prices when it said that a €5/MWh fall in average wholesale prices would translate into a one-third slump in earnings from the generation division.

You know, if the utilities got out in front and generated energy from solar and wind themselves, they wouldn't be having this problem.

Here in Georgia, even Georgia Power could get going and do that, instead of fighting this:

Farmers and other people own most of Germany's reneable energy production

Power companies aren't the only possible owners of solar power farms, and centralized isn't the only power distribution model. In Germany, most renewable energy production is owned by people, not power companies.

Matthew McDermott wrote for Treehugger 6 January 2011, Over Half of Germany's Renewable Energy Owned By Citizens & Farmers, Not Utility Companies

Germany's promotion of renewable energy rightly gets singled out for its effectiveness, most often by me as an example of how to do things well versus the fits and starts method of promotion common in the US. Over at Wind-Works, Paul Gipe points out another interesting facet of the German renewable energy saga: 51% of all renewable energy in Germany is owned by individual citizens or farms, totaling $100 billion worth of private investment in clean energy.

Breaking that down into solar power and wind power, 50% of Germany's solar PV is owned by individuals and farms, while 54% of its wind power is held by the same groups.

Not only is that more distributed, but it also may be a faster way to get solar deployed:

In total there's roughly 17 GW of solar PV installed in Germany—versus roughly 3.6 GW in the US (based on SEIA's figures for new installations though the third quarter of 2011 plus the 2.6 GW installed going into the year).

Remember, Germany now produces slightly over 20% of all its electricity from renewable sources.

Nothing prevents Georgia Power or Colquitt Electric or any of the other power companies operating in Georgia from leading the solar pack. For example, power companies concerned that solar doesn't produce at night could still deploy solar peak load generation, thus dispensing with natural gas peak load generation.

While the power companies are not leading, private organizations such as Tabby Solar, founded by a pair of doctors, are forging ahead anyway.

-jsq

If it works in Germany, it works everywhere —Nuri Demirdoven of McKinsey

Germany is a world leader in solar and other renewable energy because it decided to do it and provided incentives. Nuri Demirdoven of McKinsey & Company said at the Southern Solar Summit that in the U.S. southeast there is not currently enough demand to see solar become widespread before 2020: unless incentives are provided. Distributed solar is in a better position due to no need for distribution, he added.

About incentives, he asked:

"Why not Georgia?"

He recommends taking advantages of our strengths in this region. We may not have a lot of demand yet, but we have two solar manufacturers in Georgia, and increasing interest in incentives by the state.

Overall solar works, and is an economic development engine. But the question is what are the commitments you are willing to make, in understanding your strengths, and picking one or two goals.

He cited TVA as an example of an organization that has done that and is moving ahead.

He recommended making a business case for solar in Georgia. Many of the other speakers are busily doing various pieces of that.

-jsq

From 4 to 40 solar companies in Georgia —James Marlow @ Solar Summit

James Marlow started the Georgia Solar Summit by saying in a few years we've gone from four to forty solar companies in Georgia, and we should:

"Stop talking about what we're going to do in the future, and start talking about what we're going to do in 100 days."

He directly challenged Gov. Deal and the legislature.

"This is about goodness and light, and sound economics."

The next speaker (didn't get his name, sorry) ran through some statistics, including:

• 93,502 U.S. solar workers: doubled since 2009
• 26% growth
• No other industry is growing like this.

A telling comparison:

• 1GW nuclear power station takes 10 years to build.
• In one month Germany installed 2GW of solar last June.

Germany, which is far north of Georgia. Georgia has far more sun.

-jsq

A mix is the way to go —Dr. Noll

This comment from Dr. Noll came in today on San Antonio promises to shut down a coal plant:

Of course we can! And "a mix of energy efficiency, [energy conservation,] and new renewable energy projects" (e.g. solar, wind, geothermal)is the way to go. We simply need the political will and communal support to make such a transition possible.

I am still in Germany and am amazed to see just how much progress has been made here in these past couple of years. Solar thermal and solar voltaic installations abound on private residences; wind mills can be seen in many regions; cars are more fuel efficient, houses better insulated, public transportation accessible and affordable, recycling thoroughly organized, etc.

We may still have a long way to go, but until

Mage Solar cuts ribbon in Dublin, Georgia

According to a press release on their site:

Ravensburg (Germany), 27th September 2010 – MAGE SOLAR, part of the globally operating MAGE GROUP, in conjunction with Governor Sonny Perdue and the City of Dublin County of Laurens Development Authority, conducted its official ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday, September 22, 2010. The highly anticipated event marked the company’s official move of its new North American headquarters to Dublin, Georgia. Dr. Markus Feil, CEO of MAGE INDUSTRIE HOLDING AG headquartered in Germany; its Chairman of the Board, Kurt Rauch, as well as CEO of MAGE SOLAR GMBH, Norbert Philipp, also from Germany and other US company officials and employees of MAGE SOLAR, along with key community, political and a multitude of local, regional and international business leaders attended the momentous event.

That would be Dublin, with half the population of Valdosta, in Laurens County, with half the population of Lowndes County.

"Proposed plant said to be 'medical atrocity'"

Johnna Pinholster writes in the the Valdosta Daily Times (paper 25 Oct, online 27 Oct 2010) about the the SAVE Biomass Forum at VSU:

A medical atrocity.

That is the phrase Dr. William Sammons used to described biomass energy plants at Monday night’s biomass forum at Valdosta State University’s Student Union theater.

Dr. Sammons answered many of the unanswered concerns about the biomass incinerator, and, unlike the lack of peer-reviewed evidence from the plant proponents:

Biomass Plant Hearing Today

You can ask questions and expect answers.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Environmental Protection Division (EPD) Air Protection Branch issued a Press Release on April 12, 2010 announcing a meeting:

EPD will hold a question and-answer (Q&A) session and a public hearing on Tuesday, April 27, from 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. in the multipurpose room in the Valdosta City Hall Annex. The city hall annex is located at 300 N. Lee Street.

The subject is "on Proposed Biomass-Fired Power Plant Application Submitted by WireGrass Power, LLC"

You can also submit questions and comments in writing:

Europe has clean incinerators; why can't we?

Elisabeth Rosenthal write in the NY Times about Europe Finds Clean Energy in Trash, but U.S. Lags:

Far cleaner than conventional incinerators, this new type of plant converts local trash into heat and electricity. Dozens of filters catch pollutants, from mercury to dioxin, that would have emerged from its smokestack only a decade ago.

Here's the catch:

Denmark now has 29 such plants, serving 98 municipalities in a country of 5.5 million people, and 10 more are planned or under construction. Across Europe, there are about 400 plants, with Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands leading the pack in expanding them and building new ones.

By contrast, no new waste-to-energy plants are being planned or built in the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency says — even though the federal government and 24 states now classify waste that is burned this way for energy as a renewable fuel, in many cases eligible for subsidies. There are only 87 trash-burning power plants in the United States, a country of more than 300 million people, and almost all were built at least 15 years ago.

That means the biomass plant proposed for Valdosta is not that kind of clean incinerator.