The dog days of summer are here. Are you ready?
Kansans can save energy – and money – even as air conditioners run hard during July and August. Come learn about new tools and tricks while enjoying a cold slice of watermelon with your neighbors.
Get free CFLs and info on KCPL’s exciting Energy Optimizer Program, which includes a free programmable thermostat to keep your home comfortable and your wallet fat. Local companies will come to your neighborhood to showcase energy solutions to lower your utility bill.
Join us!
- July 15th 6PM- 8PM : Whispering Hills Neighborhood (at the covered bridge – 83rd and Woodland Rd.) Lenexa, KS
- July 22nd 6:30PM- 8:30PM : Brookwood Place Neighborhood (at pool- 87th and Allman) Lenexa, KS
- July 31st 6PM- 8PM : Nottingham Forest Neighborhood (at the pool- 119th and Grant) Overland Park, KS
- Aug. 23rd 1PM- 4PM : Block of: Lowell, 51st to 52nd St. , Overland Park, KS
“We’re excited about the opportunity to give our customers practical, hands-on advice and tools that can both save energy and save them money,” said Susan Brown of The Energy Savings Store, a block party participant. The Energy Savings Store is one of many local companies who will showcase the new energy technologies available to homeowners.
“Although summer energy prices are high, the good news is that you can save green by ‘going green,’ ” said Eileen Horn, Community Outreach Director for the Climate and Energy Project.
Need more information? Contact Eileen Horn at horn@climateandenergy.org.
Sat in on an interesting conference call yesterday morning. High points follow below. Topic was DOE/ EERE‘s annual report on US wind power for 2007.
Some of the wind/electricity jargon below might be outside the experience of some of our blog readers – sorry! any questions, just email me or leave a comment and I will clarify.
(For .pdf of the report, click here. Page 2 presents list of major findings and statistics.)
The report’s authors were from Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, NREL presented the conference call, and the ppt will be posted on www.windpoweringamerica.gov. Data came from AWEA, EIA, and FERC.
Note: The report was limited to large (utility scale) wind. Large was defined as 50 kW turbines and up. Small, distributed wind was not included.
Major findings:
Wind is becoming a major player in the electricity industry. US wind capacity increased 46% in 2007 (compared to 19% in 2006, 12% in 2005), with 5,329 MW added (ahead of 1400 MW of new coal, behind 7,500 MW of new natural gas) and $9 billion invested.
TX was the leading state in capacity growth. The US leads the world in annual capacity growth. Wind contributed 35% of all new US electric generating nameplate capacity in 2007. From 1998-2007, the cumulative average wholesale price of wind was competitive with conventional power.
2008 is shaping up to be a record-breaking year, with 225 GW of wind in interconnection queues (not that all of it will get built). However, 2009 may be a year of retrenchment, given the instability of the Production Tax Credit – back to the boom and bust cycle.
Community wind appears to be losing steam.
Other findings:
GE is dominant wind turbine manufacturer but other manufacturers are challenging its market share.
The huge demand for wind turbines is inspiring the US wind turbine manufacturing industry. These factories are springing up around Kansas, but not in it.
Some states are achieving quite high wind penetration (20% is considered to be about the limit for the existing grid – this is energy capacity, not nameplate capacity) – MN 7.5%, IA 7.5%, CO 6.1%. KS is at 2.3% of actual grid penetration (or 12th on the list). Some individual utilities are achieving even higher penetration – Xcel Energy 9.3%, for example.
Average size of turbines is growing, average size of facility is growing (avg. 120 MW), IOU market share is growing, via wind European utilities are becoming, major players in the US utility market, opportunities and models for sale of wind power are growing,.
Price pressure continued to increase for wind power as for conventional power - weak dollar, rising materials and turbine costs, and component shortages (12-24 month waits for turbines blades) responsible in part. There is a fair amount of regional variability.
However, at the same time, capacity factors are rising for newer installations (especially in TX and Heartland regions), and this helps balance the costs. Wind remained competitive in wholesale markets. Wind prices are driven by project performance and capital costs.
Wind performance is improving over time. (They don’t know why – possibly better siting, possibly better turbines, possibly higher hub heights at levels of higher quality winds, they don’t know, it needs further study, they’d love to know). In the best wind resource areas, 25.9% of farms built between 2004-2007 are running over 40%.
O&M costs are also dropping at newer facilities. Wind integration costs are “well below $10/ MWh – and typically below $5/ MWh – for wind capacity penetration of as much as 30% of the peak load of the system in which the wind power is delivered.” NREL is also carrying on a major wind and solar integration study.
Lack of adequate transmission remains major barrier for wind development. Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ) are a good strategy to get around this. So are state level transmission authorities.
Policy matters to wind development. Federal: Production Tax Credit (PTC), Clean and Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs), and USDA rural development funds (9006).
State wind policies: An RPS is critical. In 2007, more than 75% of wind capacity was built in states with RPSs. Green pricing programs also important, as are state renewable energy funds and state tax incentives. Carbon reduction policies also important.
— Maril Hazlett, www.climateandenergy.org
