Title: High Penetration of Renewable Energy: Challenges and Solutions
Description:
The renewable energy (RE) industry has had much success installing RE systems under net metering policies and benefiting from generous incentives from utilities and tax credits since 2005. Electricity from renewable energy resources grew to nearly 171 gigawatts (GW) or 15% of total installed capacity and produced 534 TWh or 13% of total electrical energy generation in the United States in 2013. The fastest growing electricity generation technology in 2013 was solar electricity, which increased 66% and which is an intermittent (non-dispatchable) resource. However, the industry may not be able to extrapolate this success to meet ever more ambitious goals, such as the 20% RE goal of the 2013 Presidential Memo for the Federal sector, without encountering challenges in integrating large RE systems into the conventional utility system. These problems have already been encountered in Hawaii, on Caribbean islands, and in pockets in the continental U.S. that have achieved a high penetration of on-site RE generation. This presentation describes barriers that have been encountered and discusses hardware and operational measures that may be taken to resolve the barriers and, in many cases, achieve a higher level of RE penetration. Technical problems include capacity of circuits, voltage regulation, and overcurrent protection. Socio-economic problems include shifts in the equitable distribution in operating a common utility system. A penetration of intermittent RE generation in excess of the 20% goal stated in the recent Presidential Memo is possible, and would best be pursued by engaging in collaboration with utilities and other stakeholders in the utility regulatory process and as part of early planning to execute individual projects. Storage offers one solution, but the presentation also describes considerations in the design of RE systems and how other strategies such as demand control and forecasting can reduce the amount of storage required.
Date & Time: Wednesday, March 18, 2015, 4:00-5:00pm, Reception 5:00-5:30pm
Place: Billings Library (North Lounge)
Snacks provided!
Upcoming Seminars (4-5pm):
3/25: Misha Chertkov, Los Alamos National Lab – “Complex Energy Systems”
4/15: Shahzeen Attari, IU-SPEA – “Perceptions of electricity use and the impact of real-time information feedback”
4/22: George Crabtree, JCESR Director (Argonne National Labs) – “Energy Storage for the Smart Grid”
ABOUT ANDY WALKER:
Andy Walker is a Principal Engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, where he conducts engineering and economic analysis of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects for Federal agencies such as national parks and military bases and also for commercial and industrial clients. He holds a patent on the Renewable Energy Optimization (REO) method of planning renewable energy projects across a portfolio of properties based on economic value. He has taught in the Mechanical and Architectural Engineering Departments at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado School of Mines, and at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He led the Executive Committee of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Solar Energy Division; has been an Associate Editor for the Journal of Solar Energy Engineering; and was Technical Program Chair (2009) and General Program Chair (2011) for the ASME Energy Sustainability Conference.
Prior to joining NREL, Dr. Walker worked at the Colorado Office of Energy Conservation and at the Solar Energy Applications Laboratory at Colorado State University. As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal, he taught math and science and completed several projects including a passive solar school dormitory and a village-scale biogas generator. He conducts renewable energy training for developing countries for the U.S. Agency for International Development, the UN, and other agencies. Dr. Walker is the author of over 28 book chapters, journal articles, and conference papers including “Solar Energy: Technologies and Project Delivery for Buildings,” a reference book published by John Wiley and chapters in “Green Building; Project Planning and Cost Estimating” now in 2nd edition by RSMeans. He has been recognized with 12 awards from government agencies including certificates from President Ronald Reagan, Colorado Governor Roy Romer, and an award from the Association of Government Communicators for the publication “Procurement of Architectural and Engineering Services for Sustainable Buildings”; and from professional associations including ASHRAE; ASME; IREC; and others. Dr. Walker’s credentials include a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, and he is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Colorado. Recent interests include integrating increasing amounts of solar energy projects into electric grid systems and hardening telecommunications infrastructure using distributed solar energy resources.