The transfer of knowledge from research to applications is a challenge for many organisations. ProRETT was funded by the EU with the purpose of transferring knowledge about developing energy related technologies for renewable energies.

The ProRETT training manual assists by providing information about commercialising research technologies.

Another aspect of technology transfer addresses the cycle of innovation and how research proceeds, and what factors stimulate renewable energy developments. A slide presentation is available that provides a wealth of information on this topic.

The Western Governor’s Association met yesterday in Park City, Utah to discuss a new renewable energy generation and distribution plan. On hand were key cabinet leaders from the Obama administration, including Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The three vowed strong federal support for renewable energy development in the region, including plans to map new transmission corridors.

The meeting focused on a report on Western Renewable Energy Zones (WREZ) that was developed by the Association and the Department of Energy that was released to the public yesterday. This Phase 1 Report centers on mapping high-quality resources to meet demands in the region, including the Black & Veatch-developed map that is pictured above.

The WREZ uses a hub-based approach to determine areas of high potential for renewable resources with low environmental impact. This first of four reports maps out the zones using a detailed methodology that balance benefits with the need to protect wildlife habitat. The report evaluates various transmission strategies, including the development of a sophisticated modeling tool to assess economic costs of transmission from specific zones to specific populations. It also summarizes the overall renewable energy supply in the region from various renewable energy sources.

The four-part series of reports are being developed along with multiple stakeholders, including Canadian provinces, tribal interests, utility planners, environmental groups, renewable energy developers and government policy makers. Phase 2 of the WREZ initiative will work to finalize the modeling tool that estimates the economic benefits of developing specific zones for specific populations. As part of this plan, transmission right-of-way corridor siting will take place, including “coarse-level” environmental screening to recommend the preferred locations for corridors and rights-of-way. Phase 3 will focus on coordinating the development of commercial renewable power generation with cooperative region-wide planning. Phase 4 will work to foster interstate cooperation to address the political and regulatory obstacles to the permitting and construction of cross-jurisdictional transmission lines and renewable energy projects.

A great deal of business disruption is taking place right now in many sectors of the economy. The Internet has finally caught up to newspapers, and before that it was the music industry that was in trouble. With both of these examples, easy, quick and cheap access to content made it easy for consumers to bypass middlemen and connect directly with each other for transactions.

While the business model for electric utilities is different than media, electricity can be equated to content, and renewable energy provides a means to go direct to the source at minimal cost, thus cutting out the utility’s revenue source. With so much disruption in other industries, it’s important to ask if cheap renewable energy could take customers off the grid, and disrupt the entire electric utility transmission and distribution business.

Energy Independence

Most homes that have purchased the means to generate their own renewable energy use a hybrid arrangement where they generate some power, but rely on the grid as a backup. This approach is predominantly aimed at reducing their carbon footprint and monthly utility bill.

An increasing number of consumers are opting to go entirely off the grid. Placing complete reliance on solar or wind energy is a lifestyle choice that requires adaptation, but there are multiple incentives. Energy independence isn’t just a green choice, increasingly it is a political choice that is tied to global security and the desire to not support foreign governments with much different ideologies.

The steady decline in the price of solar and wind power, and societal pressures to go green, mean that getting off the grid and declaring energy independence is much easier than it has ever been. But, while this is practical for some, it’s not a mass movement that will happen overnight.

Reliance and Reliability

Consumers have a generally favorable view of their electric provider, given the many electrical appliances that they have come to rely upon and the reliability of their service. The role of computers for daily work has also meant an increased need for continuous and reliable power for commerce and the economy.

Electric utilities have steadily improved upon their performance, and have begun to introduce efficiencies to make the entire grid run cleaner and more efficiently. The move toward a more streamlined and efficient grid that can adapt to consumer demand will place electric utilities in a favorable light to preclude any mass migrations away from centralized and distributed power.

Energy utilities need to keep an eye on the increasing role of renewable energy, and the effects that it has on the rate base of their customers. While an Internet-like effect isn’t imminent, there will clearly be impacts on the business model as more renewable energy comes online.

Many renewable energy sources provide intermittent power that can fluctuate with weather and time of day. Wind power can vary considerably with the seasons. Solar power is affected by cloud cover, and obviously can’t produce power at night. Hydro power is also somewhat variable dependent on rainfall levels. These fluctuations of power supply need to be factored much differently than the traditional power sources that can be dispatched and can be made to produce more power as demand increases.

As more of these intermittent energy sources come online, it becomes increasingly important to understand the base line of power that these sources can generate. Significant seasonal increases of renewable power  would allow a utility to decrease their power generation from less clean sources. Prolonged weather events  can curtail renewable power and must be planned for in order to avoid disruption in service.

Predicting Reliability

Historical weather data provide a key metric to predict power supply from renewable energy. The most effective strategy is to develop sophisticated and long-term weather models prior to renewable energy siting decisions. These models, along with  sensors at the power source, provide a means for close monitoring and performance evaluation.

Different sources of renewable energy require different levels of modeling and prediction. Some renewable sources are very variable and others are much more consistent.

Wind power is much more variable than solar. Wind speeds, wind direction, and air density all factor into wind turbine performance. Turbines depend on consistent mid-range wind speeds, because if the wind is too low it can’t generate electricity and if it’s too high the turbines need to be shut down to avoid damage.

Solar energy is an easier energy source to predict, because the amount of light energy in a specific spot is fairly consistent, with some seasonal fluctuation, but greatest intensity in times of greatest demand. Power producers are working on ways to extend the availability of solar power after dark by deploying such ideas as thermal power generation and storage. Generating steam from the sun rather than direct conversion to electricity provides a more consistent and longer lasting power.

Hydro power is one of the more consistent and reliable renewable energy sources. Hydro plants that rely only on river flow aren’t all that common, with most drawing on a water reservoir for more consistent power.

Location Factor

Location is the most important factor when determining the variability or consistency of renewable energy. Siting renewable energy close to the source, but also close to demand, is a problem that require spatial analysis and modeling in order to optimize the performance and predictability of the power source.

Areas with consistent wind are typically at higher elevations or closer to the coast, and sea breezes are much more predictable and consistent than breezes on land. Solar power relies on clear skies, and some areas are much more ideal than others given their amount of sunshine. Hydro power relies on consistent and abundant water sources in areas that aren’t susceptible to drought.

A single wind turbine will be much more variable than a large array of turbines that are gridded together. Solar power can be complementary to wind, because wind is often strongest at night and during cloudy weather. Wind can also be a good complement to hydro power. As more renewable energy comes online, there will be a number of strategies deployed to balance intermittent supply with demand, and to align different sources to ease fluctuation.

The larger the electric grid, the less a factor intermittent power is to the overall grid. But with large percentages of renewable power on smaller grids, the grid design needs to made more intelligent and adaptable in order to manage fluctuations.

The viability and reliability of prediction models will improve over time as more data is collected and analyzed. The most variable, and most efficient, source of wind power is relatively new and the models are improving significantly each year.

Forecasting and predicting demand and supply are going to be of increasing importance as our power generation sources become more diverse and more distributed. Matching power demand with a wide variety of power sources also calls for a more sophisticated and intelligent transmission and distribution network.

Resources

3Tier, a company that does global renewable energy assessment and forecasting

Siting Renewable Energy Facilities: A Spatial Analysis of Promises and Pitfalls, Shalini Vajjhala, Feb. 2006

There’s an increasing interest in mapping renewable energy resources, given the boost that such projects have received with additional federal funding. The idea of renewable energy solves many problems at once by reducing both our economic dependence on foreign energy and the greenhouse gas emissions that are warming our planet. The investment in hydro, geothermal, wind, solar and wave energy will require careful consideration about where to best site these investments.

Mapping tools coupled with remote, and on-the-ground, sensors provide the data necessary to site new power plants and design new utility routes. There are many factors to consider when determining the best locations, and conducting a geospatial analysis of the problem requires many different data sets at different scales over time, coupled with energy use information.

Mapping the Sources

GIS provides the means to visualize long-term observations of wind, sun, wave, water and agricultural production. The best sites for different renewable energy options differ widely across the world, with some regions better suited for solar generation and others better suited for wind production, etc.

Many of the observations necessary to determine renewable energy viability are provided as component of weather. Wind speeds have been recorded as a weather observation over time. Solar energy is largely dependent on cloud cover, which can best be calculated based on satellite observation of weather patterns and the amount of clouds that blanket a specific area over time. Hydropower is largely dependent on the amount of moisture and rainfall in a region. And biomass production is dependent on excellent conditions for agriculture, which is also highly weather dependent.

Renewable energy viability is also determined by the lay of the land or topology of a region. The windiest locations on Earth occur where tall coastlines or high mountains meet the ocean, and other high wind areas are at high elevation closer to the jet stream or where tall mountains funnel wind energy into smaller valleys. The best solar production occurs nearest the equator, since there’s more sunlight year round considering these areas don’t drift as far north and south with the seasons. Hydropower is best harnessed where rivers have great elevation changes, because the swifter the current the faster the turbines can be spun, resulting in greater power generation. Much geothermal power is generated from direct use systems, where hot springs indicate direct venting of the heat from the Earth’s core to the surface.

Each of these examples illustrates the location-specific conditions of renewable energy mapping related to earth processes.

Coupling to Needs

There are also geographic considerations that require closer observation of power source to demand, such as population proximity to the energy source and the existence of infrastructure to transport the power. Determining the optimal power sources is just part of the equation, because the location of the best energy sources need to be considered in proximity to demand, and the cost to transport the energy to where it’s needed.

Although water, wind, the sun and other renewables may appear free, their cost comes in collecting, harnessing, and transporting the energy. For example, to utilize energy from water, a dam must be built along with electric generators and transmission lines. And often times the most powerful renewable resources are far from populations, because the conditions for great power from our Earth are often inhospitable for human habitation.

The location of transmission lines is a politically sensitive issue, with a great deal of regulation and public input, because people don’t want transmission lines where they can see them. There are also environmental considerations, potential damage over time from vegetation, and higher costs if the transmission lines have to be routed over physical barriers such as bluffs or rivers. Routing of transmission becomes a considerable component of renewable energy siting due to these factors.

A number of different government and non-government sources are working on calibrated maps that show the best sites for renewable power generation investments. While some locations may seem obvious choices for power generation, making the most of the money available will require a detailed assessment of many geographic factors to make sure that only the optimal sites and energy sources are chosen.

Resources

National Atlas, Renewable Energy Sources in the United States

National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Renewable Resources Maps & Data

Colorado Wind Atlas – combines wind reading with power lines and land ownership data

3Tier A wind energy assessment company

Purdue University has just launched a Renewable Energy Web site that provides access to decades-old, but still relevant, information that was spurred by the late-1970s energy crisis. The new site combines these rich archives with cutting edge research and interactive tools that calculate the cost of small wind electric systems.