Day 1 - World Renewable Energy Conference

Today was a fantastic first day the Renewable Energy World Conference in Austin, Texas.  The opening keynote was fantastic and the speakers brought up a couple fantastic points. I have summarized some of the best points of the keynote speakers below. Take a look. Also, the exhibit hall opened up after the keynote and was very interesting to walk around. There were a great deal of companies I had heard of, but some that had great ideas I had never even seen. I have uploaded some pictures of some of the companies I had never heard of, as their booths were the most engaging (or maybe they just had the best free stuff :). Anyway, an interesting first day here in Austin, and there is plenty more to go. Tomorrow is the biggest day of the conference, with panels from 9am-3pm. Until tomorrow then.

Click for more photos!

Opening Keynote Summary

1. Roger Duncan - GM Austin Energy
   1. Coal
      1. CSS is not a long-term solution, might be a couple of projects by the end of the decade
      2. The quantities of carbon that need to be sequestered are just too big to realistically handle.
   2. Nuclear – Handful of new nuclear power plants by the end of the decade, but not a large part of the solution.
   3. Biomass – Again, while there will be a couple of large projects, like a 100Mw project in Texas, come online in the next couple of years, this is not a solution to our overall energy needs.
   4. Solar
      1. Large growth in concentrated solar, but not enough.
      2. Distributed solar is where the majority of our energy will be supplied.
         1. Primarily due to roofing tiles costing almost the same as the equivalent solar tiles.
         2. Duncan also talked about the similarities to the CE (consumer electronics) industry and how solar will soon be on a similar platform to that of the iPhone or computer. It will become more of a mainstream product.
   5. Base Load Issues
      1. Wind – While wind can be an extremely successful base load power source, there are transmission issues that need to be addressed as well as storage issues.
      2. Natural Gas – While natural gas can also play a part, Duncan believes there may be environmental issues with the new method of hydrofracting that need to be addressed. However, this problem will eventually be addressed.
   6. On Sentient Buildings/Appliances
      1. Basically said we are going to need sentient buildings and/or devices to control and properly monitor the up and down cycling of all of our devices. While there are already iPhone apps to do this, they will need to become much more consumer friendly and be compatible with more devices.
2. Martin Gross – Head of Power Systems at ABB Inc.
   1. Flexible Power Transmission
      1. If we are to have a National Renewable  Portfolio  Standard, then we need approximately 300 Gigawatts of clean energy.
      2. The transmission capacity for this does not exist in the United States currently.
         1. Particularly the lines to transmit the wind and solar resources from their origination points to city and population centers.
         2. These would take 5-6 years to build if we started tomorrow. They likely won’t be built until 2025.
         3. However, when they do take shape, they will likely be in the form of High Voltage DC lines (HVDC) or Flexible AC Transmission (FACT) lines, as these can transfer the high amounts of electricity required.
      3. The absence of a national plan for renewing the electricity grid and  a national renewable portfolio standard are hurting the build out a great deal in the U.S..
      4. Gave an example where Europe is building a DC grid exclusively for sea wind farms, as this will make all of them more efficient than if lines were built for each wind farm. Any kind of national outlook or policy would likely be beneficial here.
      5. However, states are stepping up.
         1. Texas, CREZ project – 18Gw of wind across Texas
         2. A progressive Power Utility Commission helped a great deal here (PUC)
      6. Further Obstacles
         1. Regulatory obstacles to transmission lines – cited example of 32 agencies for one part of a project
         2. How to spread cost allocations as these projects often go across state lines.
         3. Political courage – have some of our national leaders step up and make a national plan or at least some sort of guidance.
3. Barry Smitherman – Texas Public Utilities Commission
   1. Talked about renewable and electricity break down in Texas specifically
   2. Wind actually brings down prices overall due to its non-existent marginal cost structure
   3. Ironically enough, he displayed a bar chart indicating that Texas is the second best state in the country in terms of reducing CO₂ emissions from 2004-2007, while California is the 3^rd worst in the country, actually increasing its CO₂ emissions. I have not verified this data, but it is interesting.
   4. How Texas will be putting another 10 Gw of wind power on the grid by 2013 for a total of 18Gw of wind power.
4. Jon Wellinghoff – Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
   1. Spoke more broadly to the ridiculous amount of renewable energy potential this country possesses.
      1. We have approximately 2000 Gw of wind energy across the country
      2. 50-60 Gw of geothermal
      3. Thousands of Gw of solar energy
   2. Perhaps most interesting, the DOE has finally allowed the West Coast, East Coast, and Texas plan national grid interconnects. Sounds like a good idea, wonder why it wasn’t going on before?
   3. Spoke about the ability for plug-ins hybrids or pure plug in vehicles to serve as grid stabilization services. The owners of these will be paid for the service their cars are used for, and this payment can significantly reduce the overall cost of a plug in electric vehicle.

Comments

[Electricity Texas]

yeah, this is very informative and useful.
keep up great writing.

[Michael Silverman]

Glad I could inform and educate! Thanks for the comment.