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Sun Volt Solar

earth, the final frontier

Clean Energy, Clean Environment

We are at a cross roads in human history, we can choose to continue on as we have been, or we can make a change to improve our future and quite possibly the future for several generations to come. We are here to promote energy independence, a better environment, a secure future and a higher return on investment for your hard earned dollar. It is what I believe in, it is why I am in the solar business.

Smart grid and renewable energy

05 Mar 10 | Conservation, Solar Electric

I have been reading up on the smart grid technology.  I find it interesting for several reasons.  Our energy conversion to electricity is very inefficient, around 32% for the entire electrical grid in the United States.   Because of this, we are using much more energy than we need to generate electricity.

The aims of the smart grid are:

  • Self-healing from power disturbance events
  • Enabling active participation by consumers in demand response
  • Operating resiliently against physical and cyber attack
  • Providing power quality for 21st century needs
  • Accommodating all generation and storage options
  • Enabling new products, services, and markets
  • Optimizing assets and operating efficiently

According the the US Department of Energy website.

Renewable energy critics often cite the very small percentages that renewables currently contribute to electrical generation in the US.  The other argument against installing photovoltaics is their low efficiency, between 14-16 percent in most commercially manufactured silicone modules.  Others argue that the cost is too high and the reliability is low.  All of those statements are true in the context of the artificially low prices we are paying for energy today.  If the real costs of energy were reflected in one’s electric bill, the cost per kWh would be in the $0.25 to $0.40 range.  Currently, unsubsidized photovoltaic electricity is $0.218 per kWh ($7.31 per watt installed, over 25 year life span).  Our current utility electric rates are about $0.15 per kWh.  If only the Federal income tax refund were taken (30% of the installed system cost), that brings the cost down to $0.152 per kWh.

Behind the meter solar generation is much more efficient than conventionally produced power.  A coal, oil or natural gas fired power plant dumps about half the energy consumed into the environment as waste heat.  Another 10 percent or so is consumed as resistive losses in transmission lines, then there is the energy required to produce the fuel, mining, pumping, transportation, etc.  That is what is required to use whatever fossil fuel the power plant is burning.  The amount of original energy from the sun needed to produce a unit of fossil fuel (e.g. gallon of oil, cubic foot of natural gas, ton of coal, etc)  is almost incalculable.  If we were to compare solar energy inputs, photovoltaic panels are far more efficient than any fossil fuel could ever be.

Photovoltaics also produce peak power during peak demand times, which can help reduce costs associated with Time Of Use (TOU) metering.  They are a distributed generation technology, which spreads the failure risk out over many points of generation, reducing transmission losses as well.  A battery backup couple with a solar and or wind system will keep power on indefinitely if properly sized.

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05 Mar 10 | Conservation, Solar Electric
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Reader's Comments

  1. Eric | March 10th, 2010 at 12:42 pm

    Has anyone done research into the consumer side of “smart grid/smart metering”? The biggest ambiguity is “Enabling active participation by consumers in demand response”. I’ve heard this to mean that an individuals appliances could be turned off remotely by the utility to accomodate peak load requirements, or that electric vehicle batteries could be tapped. I’m not sure how I feel about the utility “tapping” my resources. Its an interesting thought.

  2. Eric | March 12th, 2010 at 10:25 am

    More food for thought:

    http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/40331/

  3. Paul | March 12th, 2010 at 9:15 pm

    Of course, giving over control of your appliances to the government would be bad. I doubt very much that people would do such a thing, at least not without a big fight. Of course, if it comes right down to it, they can always just turn off the electricity if there are shortages.

  4. Alex | April 6th, 2010 at 9:05 pm

    Thanks for the info.

    Alex Tiller, CEO
    http://www.sunetric.com (a Hawaii solar company)

  5. Renewable Ray | May 13th, 2010 at 1:32 am

    I agree with Paul, this just takes us down the wrong path. Let’s get government out of our green movement. We are just trading big oil for big grid.



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