Archive for March, 2010
March 31st, 2010 | 
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Here in South Africa we are about 10 – 20years behind the international trends taking place in first world regions with regards to renewable energy implementation. That stated, it seems that even in advanced countries, the legality around actual installation seems to be the bottle neck in the system. Just look what is happening in the area of massive skills shortages here and you will realise where the future problems lie for South Africa and its extremely ambitious million solar geyser target 2014. We need to re-kindle the apprenticeship system of training while on the job to massively increase our capacity to skill labour.
Massachusetts, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]
“We want to make sure that the consumer has full trust in what we are doing.”
– Chris Kilfoyle, Berkshire Photovoltaic Services
Last year a new ruling came down from the State Board of Electrical Examiners that stated only Massachusetts licensed electricians and registered apprentices can perform any and all aspects of installing solar energy. Seasoned solar installation veterans, some of whom had been putting solar energy on homes and businesses for more than 20 years, were literally forced off the roof as a result of the ruling. Now, one year later, a battle is brewing in Boston over who should be allowed to perform solar installations in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
In the past solar integrators and electricians shared installation jobs, with electricians pulling the wire permits and completing all of the hard wiring on solar jobs. Wiring represents about 10-20% of a solar installation, according to estimates.
Under the new ruling, electricians must be on the job from start to finish and must perform (or help to perform) all aspects of the install, including pouring concrete for ground-mounted systems or putting up racking on the roof.
It’s an important issue in Massachusetts because of Governor Patrick’s interest in aggressively expanding solar energy in the state. His Commonwealth Solar Program has attracted numerous solar energy companies to set up shop in Massachusetts and analysts are predicting that with the state’s newly created SREC market, it will start to rival New Jersey, the second largest solar market in the U.S.
Companies like Borrego Solar, Alteris Renewables and Nexamp have seen solar sales increasing in the state, and electricians see the burgeoning solar industry as an opportunity to create new work.
With so many Americans unemployed right now, and the Massachusetts construction industry experiencing up to 25% unemployment since the recession started in 2008, it’s not surprising that Massachusetts’s electricians are looking to the solar industry.
“We’ve lost jobs just like all the other trades,” said Martin Aikens, a Business Agent of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 103, in a conference session during the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association’s (NESEA) Building Energy 10 conference in Boston. The conference session was entitled, “The Great Solar Certification Divide,” and included a panel of solar integrators and electricians.
In the conference session, Aikens explained that the issue is safety. He said that electricians go to school for four years and put in 8,000 hours of training before becoming licensed. “If you’re not qualified to install then you’re going to die. This is what it’s all about — licenses,” he said.
Chris Kilfoyle of Berkshire Photovoltaic Services (BPVS), a solar firm based in Adams, Massachusetts, doesn’t think it’s that cut and dry. He said that more than 11 MW of PV have been installed safely and properly under the Commonwealth Solar Program, which requires inspection and proper licensure in order for rebates to be doled out. Kilfoyle is not aware of any safety issues having occurred in the past.
“Certainly nothing that was brought to the attention of the state board of electrical examiners or to the Commonwealth Solar Program,” he said.
Before the new ruling, said Kilfoyle, safety was maintained by all the various trades involved in solar installations. “So, if you’re a general contractor, your workers will have been OSHEA certified, they are wearing proper safety gear when they are working on a roof.”
Building contractors — who are responsible for pulling building permits — would ensure that panels were mounted correctly and look at issues such as properly attached mounts, using the right screws and sealing them properly.
“Those all come under the purview of the building code,” he said.
Integrators like Kilfoyle and John Abrams, President and CEO of South Mountain Company, maintain that the new ruling now requires electricians to do some of the tasks that they are not trained to do. “They can’t stand going up on the roof,” said Abrams, who’s design/build firm is located on Martha’s Vineyard. But now electricians are helping with those tasks because that’s what the ruling dictates.
In addition, Kilfoyle pointed out that NABCEP certification, the industry standard for solar installers, is voluntary in Massachusetts. “But if you examine who the 30 NABCEP-certified installers are, they are not electricians,” he said. “NABCEP is the only course of study and the only credential that really covers both the mechanical/structural work involved in PV systems as well as the nuances of electrical work,” he said.
But if electricians haven’t been pulled onto job sites to make them safer, then what is the rationale behind the ruling? Neither the State Board of Electrical Examiners nor the IBEW was available for comment, but Kilfoyle believes the issue comes down to the economy. “It’s really an issue of a downturn in construction jobs and this particular electrical union saying ‘gosh, look at all this money coming into the state for renewable energy, we want it all,’” he said.
Enter HR4180
New legislation has been introduced in Massachusetts that solar integrators hope will resolve the problem. HR4180 asks the state to create a new solar license classification that falls under a specialty construction supervisor license.
Under HR4180, solar licensees would have NABCEP expertise “for roof loading, snow loading, wind loading particular to Massachusetts, structural attachment and waterproofing,” said Kilfoyle. Job site organization, safety matters and issues related to system design, orientation, shading and production would also be required knowledge.
Supporters believe that HR4180 would send a clear signal to the organizers of green workforce training efforts underway at Massachusetts’s community colleges and technical schools, providing trainees with a career path they could pursue. While it might take someone 8,000 hours to become an electrician, pursuing a Solar PV license would be much faster, according to Kilfoyle.
If the legislation passes, Kilfoyle hopes the status quo in Massachusetts will be restored, with electricians pulling the wire permits and doing the hard wiring and solar integrators performing the remainder of the tasks. He said that integrators are prepared to keep focused on the issue should the bill fail.
In the meantime, some solar companies are becoming electrical contracting companies in order to comply with the ruling. Others are fighting it on a case-by-case basis.
Kilfoyle encourages solar companies in other states to stay on top of their local electrician boards and urges them to work toward PV licensure. Installing PV “is a specialty technical skill,” and requiring a solar license is in everyone’s best interest in order to ensure it’s done correctly, he said.
“We want to make sure that the consumer has full trust in what we are doing,” he said.
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As one of the highest energy consumers per capita, this is some interesting news about the input renewable energy can make in a relatively short time.
Europe could meet all its electricity needs from renewable sources by mid-century, according to a report released Monday by services giant PricewaterhouseCoopers.
A “super-smart” grid powered by solar farms in North Africa, wind farms in northern Europe and the North Sea, hydro-electric from Scandinavia and the Alps and a complement of biomass and marine energy could render carbon-based fuels obsolete for electricity by 2050, said the report.
The goal is achievable even without the use of nuclear energy, the mainstay of electricity in France, it said.
Over all, about 50 percent of Europe’s energy demand is met with imported fuels.
Under so-called business-as-usual scenarios, that share could increase to 70 percent in coming decades, according to several projections.
The switch to renewables is more than a matter of energy security, said the report, backed by research from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the European Climate Forum, both based in Potsdam, Germany.
“Substantial and fairly rapid decarbonisation… will have to take place if the world is to have any chance of staying within the 2.0 degree Celsius (3.6 degree Fahrenheit) goal for limiting the effects of global warming,” the report said.
Many scientists have warned that if global temperatures rise more than 2.0 C (3.6 F) by century’s end, Earth’s climate system could spin out of control, unleashing human misery on an unprecedented scale.
Achieving all-renewables electricity will depend less on new technology than on revamping Europe’s legal and regulatory framework, the report argued: “Most of the technical components are available in principle already today.”
To become a reality, such a vision will require a regional power system based on a super-smart grid and the rapid scaling up of all forms of renewable power.
It also depends on a unification of the European power market, and its integration into the North African one, allowing for free trading of electricity between all countries, it said.
“Policies would also need to incorporate mechanisms to disincentivise construction of new fossil fuel power plants,” the report added.
The European Union is on track to meet its goal of supplying 20 percent of its total energy needs from renewable sources by 2020, the European Commission reported earlier this month.
Solar energy leader Spain, along with Germany and Austria, have forged ahead of their targets, more than compensating for Italy, which has lagged behind, the Commission said.
Story from AFP
We at Greencon would like to point out that we have done extensive research on our suppliers, and this is part of the reason we use suppliers with a audited track records.
“Green” solar panels can have their dirty side in terms of disposal and manufacturing. And what happens to the millions of solar panels planted in solar farms and installed on roofs once they’ve reached the end of their useful life in 20 or 25 years?
You might recall the outcry in 2008 when theWashington Post reported on the alleged dumping of silicon tetrachloride, a toxic byproduct of polysilicon production on farmland in China. Lax environmental enforcement and the drive to save money on expensive recycling and treatment drove the polysilicon supplier to this irresponsible act.
The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) has called on the solar industry to adopt environmentally friendly measures for manufacturing and disposing of solar panels. Sheila Davis, executive director of the non-profit SVTC, believes that solar companies should start investing in recycling efforts now rather than waiting for their products to clog up landfills before taking action.
“It’s an excellent time to do this considering that solar is an emerging industry,” said Davis. “It will be an environmental advantage if you have panels that not only contribute to sustainability and reduce carbon emissions, but also use renewable and sustainable materials.”
To encourage solar manufacturers to do the right thing, SVTC just released its 2010 Solar Company Scorecard, which ranks manufacturers of PV modules according to environmental health and safety, sustainability, workers’ rights, and social justice. The responding companies self-reported on these areas and the results can serve as a resource for institutional purchasers, investors and consumers. SVTC is funded by individuals and foundations. The scorecard was partially funded by Henderson Global and Boston Common.
“Solar power is key to helping solve the world’s climate crisis,” offered Davis. “But the industry still faces serious issues that need to be addressed before it can be considered truly ‘clean and green’ and socially just.”
Fourteen companies representing 24 percent of the 2008 module market share and 31 percent of the cumulative market share responded to the inquiry. The top three scores were earned by German manufacturers Calyxo, SolarWorld and Sovello, which scored 90, 88 and 73 respectively. (Calyxo and Sovello, both funded by Q-Cells, likely have larger problems to worry about).
Two U.S.-based cadmium telluride manufacturers responded and scored in the mid-range: First Solar in Arizona received a score of 67 and Colorado-based startup Abound received a 63.
What really needs to occur to drive a recycling culture is the adoption of a takeback program by every solar module manufacturer. Firms can go it alone like First Solar or they can get together, as in the PV Cycle Association, which is developing a voluntary solar panel recycling program in Europe.
SVTC is calling for mandatory takeback and responsible recycling by solar companies as a step toward reducing the solar industry’s environmental footprint. Larger institutional customers and city or school districts can drive this process by insisting that there be takeback programs as well.
In Davis’ words, “That’s why we created the scorecard — to see which makers are taking the panels back.”
First Solar (FSLR), the largest maker of cadmium telluride solar panels, runs a recycling program and explains what it does with unwanted panels here. There is a toxicity risk associated with cadmium telluride that First Solar has confronted with a 100 percent takeback program bonded by Swiss Re in the event that First Solar is not around in 20 to 30 years.
The SVTC got started more than 25 years ago in response to water contamination caused by the semiconductor industry. Their focus has been on electronics, but the rapid growth of the solar PV industry has spurred them into getting an early start on working with the solar panel manufacturers, and to avoid the late start that the semiconductor industry had. “We don’t want that to happen in the solar industry,” said Davis.
She added, “The waste stream is going to diversify and manufacturers need to be prepared.”
We should maybe be a little more understanding when we see that some very advanted first world countries are only now beginning to introduce incentives, that help renewable energy adoption.
Article from Bloomburg Media 
— A Japanese trade ministry panel today proposed expanding the feed-in tariff to require utilities to buy electricity at a premium from hydropower stations, wind turbine and geothermal operators.
Utilities may have to buy renewable power at between 15 yen (17 cents) and 20 yen a kilowatt hour, according to a report released in Tokyo today. The incentive program would run for between 10 and 20 years, it said.
The government wants to supply 10 percent of the country’s primary energy from renewable sources by 2020, compared with about 3 percent in 2007, according to the International Energy Agency. The proposed tariff compares with 5 to 7 yen a kilowatt hour utilities pay for nuclear power and about 8 yen for oil- fired generation, said Tomohiro Jikihara, an analyst at Deutsche Securities Inc. in Tokyo.
“The rate for renewable power, except for solar, should be as high as 20 yen if Japan really wants to boost the use of alternative fuels,” Jikihara said by phone.
Japan introduced a feed-in tariff in November, requiring utilities to buy surplus solar power supplied to the grid by homes and businesses, and pay as much as 48 yen a kilowatt hour.
Japan Wind Development Co. and Japan Power Development Co., known as J-Power, are among companies operating wind farms and geothermal plants.Tokyo Electric Power Co. and nine other regional utilities supply almost all the country’s power.
Clear Policy and and a nationalaly unified system seem to be the best method for a quick transition to renewable energy. Read this report from Renewable Energy.com:
Imagine if we had never invested in computer or mobile phone technology because of cost. And that is the point — some things are worth paying more for because they make our lives better, and we can all participate and help push society in a new direction. If ever there was a need to do so, and a time to do it, it’s now.
Achieving true sustainability requires shifts in almost everything we do. This level of undertaking, in scale and complexity, means teamwork, a sense of common purpose and an unleashing of all our human ingenuity, energy and goodwill. People must be facilitated, empowered and engaged — willing and able to be a part of the solution. As things stand it is hard for most of us to avoid simply being a part of the problem. We talk of “fighting climate change,” but the conflict is really with our beliefs, our systems, our lifestyles and ourselves. Politicians know this, and therefore find it particularly difficult to come up with solutions that are both politically deliverable and truly effective, especially when compromised by the power and influence of corporate lobbyists.
This is where feed-in tariffs (FITs) come into play. Solar panels and wind turbines in the cityscape and landscape are adverts for action. They demonstrate that we are implementing working solutions. Other countries are leading the way. They are building new industries, delivering energy security, and safeguarding business continuity and local authority service delivery. This is something that each nation has to do; it is not optional.
Without underpinning our economies with renewable energy, we cannot be sustainable. A fossil fuel and nuclear energy system is inherently unsustainable as it runs on finite resources, vulnerable to sudden cost escalations and political gamesmanship. This can never be the foundation of a safe and stable economy, and therefore society. Local, small-scale generation — and PV has ease, efficiency and rapidly falling costs in its favour — allows people to become aware of and engaged in sustainable energy production, saving and use. That is progress.
Whilst it is a risky strategy to push all this on the basis of the financial incentives — because you are effectively saying “money is good,” not so much “sustainability is good” — it is still a strong driver, and in this economic climate people are looking for good investments. What we require therefore, and many major investment banks have attested to this, are clear policy signals. The signals, however, must point all of society in the same direction, and help sustainability become politically, economically, socially and culturally embedded.
Over time, the quantitative change — the number of sustainable investments and activities of all kinds — can become a qualitative change, and we can create the opportunity for more”sustainable” social values and a sense of positive ethical responsibility to emerge. This is not idealism; this is practicality.
The main problem with this theory of change however, is that it will probably take too long. We don’t have a lot of time to turn the cultural tanker around. Our values are rooted in self-interest rather than the social good, all of which is politically and economically driven and reinforced, creating a vicious circle.
The last thing on the political agenda today is creating policy that demonstrates care for those distant from us in space and time. This seems to upset, among others, people who are desperate for work today, and particular sections of the media. And both business and politics are, perhaps more than ever, almost pathologically short-term in their interests. It is simply not a system set up to ensure our future, and our efforts so far cannot possibly add up to enough in time, on climate change, biodiversity loss or resource security.
To make the breakthrough, past the sceptics, deniers and vested interests, we therefore need a total commitment from government on the sustainability agenda. Business and the public must receive the right incentives and signals, the messages that continually reinforce the fact that we are all going to take on this challenge together. We need to end mixed messages, and shift policy towards that which favours the long-term needs of the many over the short-term wants of the few. Among other things, this means prioritising the transition to an energy system running on free, benign, domestic fuel.
Feed-in tariffs are a proven method of rapidly delivering the largest volume of this renewable energy at the lowest cost, and they build in a bigger stakeholder group for greening the economy and creating a sustainable society. Green industries and jobs, tax and subsidy shifting, new technologies and markets, new approaches in agriculture, biological carbon sequestration, water, transport, the built environment, industry and waste — these areas and more can help create economic opportunities that simultaneously reinforce support for a green economy, drive down prices, breed more innovation, raise awareness, and create more economic opportunities, and so on. A virtuous circle.
This is the big picture, and it is what really matters today. This is a viable political strategy that can have enormous positive impacts at the social and cultural level, and create a sustainable economy. There are plenty of things in the world that are worth paying more for, and this is one of them.
Legislation, if well thought out, can have very positive effects on the overall impact we have on the planet. Here is a great example of such a plan being mandated in Australia.
CANBERRA (Reuters) – Owners of large commercial buildings in Australia will have to disclose energy efficiency information when putting buildings up for sale or lease, under laws introduced in parliament on Thursday.
Assistant Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said the laws were designed to promote energy efficiency in large commercial buildings, and will help Australia curb greenhouse gas emissions, blamed for global warming.
“Energy efficiency represents one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways we can reduce our nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, and the commercial building sector has the potential to deliver some of the lowest-cost abatement,” Combet said as he introduced the laws.
Energy used by Australian residential and commercial buildings accounts for around 20 percent of Australian greenhouse gas emissions. The new laws apply to buildings of 2,000 square metres (21,500 sq ft) or more.
Building owners will need a building energy efficiency certificate when they put office space up for sale or lease.
The certificates will spell out an energy efficiency rating, information about the efficiency of the lighting used and information about how energy efficiency could be improved.
Australia has set a target to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least five percent by 2020 from 2000 levels, and wants 20 percent of electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020.
However, the government’s centrepiece plan for carbon trading to start in July 2011 remains deadlocked in parliament’s upper house Senate, where it has been defeated twice and faces a third defeat in May.
Australia accounts for 1.5 percent of mankind’s greenhouse emissions and is the highest per-capita carbon polluter in the developed world because of its reliance on coal for 80 percent of domestic electricity generation.
Greencon staff regularly receive questions about the savings green equipment makes. There is some convincing research comming out of the US, have a read :
That’s the message of a new report that adds to evidence of the economic potential of curbing energy use. Analysts at the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) calculated that U.S. citizens would save $301 to $451 annually on average on their utility bills in 2030, if the nation slashes projected energy use by 20 to 30 percent, or 1 to 2 percent per year.
The report is one of the first to look at how strong federal efficiency policies would shrink home energy bills. Nationwide, households would save between $37 billion and $66 billion over two decades.
The savings would be a “cushion to soften the blow” of costlier climate measures, said Mark Cooper, the study’s author and research director at CFA, a consumer group of 300 organizations.
“Efficiency lowers consumer bills, which provides an important cushion against other aspects of climate policy that might push bills up,” Cooper wrote.
To do the analysis, CFA looked to the states. The report is based on 24 state-level studies over 10 years and three recent reports from the National Research Council, McKinsey & Company, and the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE).
The level of achievement varies widely. The research reveals that around six states have been able to slash energy use by 1 to 2 percent over the past two decades. In the 10 states with the strongest efficiency policies, energy use grew by an average 2.6 percent from 1990 to 2007. In contrast, the most inefficient energy users saw a 16.7 percent leap.
“The fact that a significant number of states have achieved a much higher level of efficiency is an indicator of the possibility for a much higher level of performance by all states,” Cooper wrote.
California is the stand-out example. Energy consumption there has been almost flat for 30 years, while at the same time it shot up 50 percent nationwide. The savings are thanks to appliance and building standards, and utilities trimming back.
In Vermont — currently the “most aggressive state in promoting energy efficiency,” according to CFA — energy consumption was above the national average three decades ago. By 2004, it was 30 percent below the rest of the country.
That can happen across America, CFA says, for less than half the current or projected price of energy.
The report puts the cost of conserved electricity at 3 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), compared with electricity prices that are just over over 9 cents per kWh.
Overall, the projected pocketbook savings are “very conservative estimates of the benefits consumers would see,” Cooper said. The study does not factor in rising energy prices, improvements in technology or coming carbon regulations — all of which would add value to the efficiency resource.
Building Code ‘Largest Long-Run Impact’
To successfully cut energy use to the level the report advocates will take federal provisions to mandate more efficient buildings, Cooper told SolveClimate.
The single most important thing the U.S. Congress can do this year is to adopt the House-passed federal building code and ensure all 50 states enforce it, he said.
Last June, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), which would put a price on carbon emissions for the first time. The bill included regulations that would require new buildings to be 30 percent more efficient by 2012 and 50 percent more efficient by 2016.
The program would have the “largest long-run impact by far,” Cooper said.
But the bill seems highly unlikely to become law, courtesy of the U.S. Senate. That chamber appears to be dumping an economy-wide carbon-price pact altogether in favor of a hodgepodge of energy-only policies.
“It is truly amazing and distressing that efficiency gets almost no attention in the ongoing negotiation on the Senate side,” Cooper said. “If new buildings are 50 percent more efficient and the longest-lived of the existing building are 30 percent more efficient, we could almost meet the goals of the House-passed climate change bill with efficiency alone at a net savings to consumers and the economy.”
Still, energy efficiency isn’t completely off the table in the Senate. Lawmakers are considering a “Home Star” program, also known as “Cash for Caulkers,” which would deliver cash rebates for upgrading as many as three million homes, along with “Building Star,” which would retrofit existing, energy-guzzling buildings.
Cooper said that a program to do deep retrofits on “as many existing buildings as possible would be a natural complement” to greening the nation’s new structures, but both are needed.
Michael Noble, executive director of Fresh Energy, A Minnesota environmental group and member of CFA, said Home Star and Building Star “have a lot of momentum right now.” They’re being “backed by a broad, diverse coalition of folks who all see the overwhelming benefits of efficiency.”
Their biggest allure is jobs. The two programs would create over 300,000 jobs from now until the end of 2011, according to new data from ACEEE.
“The Home Star and Building Star bills will go to work immediately, stimulating the economy, creating at least 150,000 jobs in a sector that has a 25 percent unemployment rate,” Noble said.
Other recommendations in the CFA report include appliance efficiency improvements and a strong federal energy efficiency resource standard (EERS) that would force utilities to meet energy-saving targets.
For Noble and other efficiency advocates, the EERS is the real prize.
The near-term incentives in play in the Senate “will serve as a bridge,” he said, and “then EERS can take the reins and ensure that we are benefiting from all that efficiency has to offer for the next 20-30 years.”
We have also done some innovative work for the Legacy Group, and although we didn’t win this tender, we still want to promote the hotels ground breaking move towards renewable energy.
Israeli Ambassador to South Africa Dov Sergev-Steinberg and Public Enterprises Deputy Minister Enoch Godongwana on Monday inaugurated the 117 flat panel collector solar water heating installation above the rooftop of the Hotel Da Vinci, in Sandton.
The hotel is the latest development of the Legacy Group, which is also the developer, contractor and owner of the Michelangelo, the Michelangelo Towers and the Raphael Penthouse suites in Sandton.
The company responsible for the solar installation is Kayema Energy Solutions, and the Kayema international solar experts worked together with Legacy’s architects and design engineers to implement the solution.
The project is complete and commissioning of the system will start in the next two to three weeks.
The solar water heating system is capable of preheating 30 000 litres of water before it enters the hotel’s electrical heating system, which is expected to reduce the electricity usage by about 60%.
Kayema also introduced a remote monitoring system, which monitors flow rates, temperatures and water pressure and will allow an instantaneous view of this system’s efficiency and performance from any computer desktop at any time.
It was estimated that 500 000 kWh/y of electricity would be saved, while some 210 t of carbon-dioxide emissions would be mitigated.
The installation consists of 117 2-kWh flat plate collectors, which use Israeli technology, and are said to be reliable, and easy to maintain.
Kayema Energy commercial projects manager Dovi Finger explained that the installation took about six months to complete, and two months of that was dedicated to the engineering and planning phase of the project, while installation took about three months.
It was described as a challenging project because of the shape of the roof. Also, the fact that the roof is used as a fire escape meant that the panels needed to be raised above head height to allow movement under the panels. This required structural steel platforms for the panels, as well as having to take into account wind factors
Story: Thanks to Engineering News
I found an interest report from the Australian Scientific body CISRO. Have a read;
The CSIRO Energy Transformed Flagship report: Intelligent Grid: A value proposition for wide-scale distributed energy solutions in Australia, outlines the potential contribution distributed energy can make to significantly reducegreenhouse gas emissions in Australia and how these benefits can be realized.
Distributed energy is a term used to describe technologies and systems which provide local generation of electrical power, energy efficiency and management of when and how energy is used (demand management).
For example, a distributed energy system could include a solar panel on a home for electricity generation, more efficient heating and cooling systems, or devices that can balance out energy demand and supply to reduce energy infrastructure costs.
The report is the culmination of the Flagship’s three year Intelligent Grid project which examined the social, technological, environmental and economic value of widespread distributed energy use in Australia.
CSIRO project leader Anthony Szatow said the results provided a strong economic and environmental case for wider use of distributed energy in the Australian energy market with enormous benefits for all electricity users in Australia.
“Our modelling results reveal that under emission reduction targets consistent with the Garnaut scenario of global stabilisation at 450ppm atmospheric CO2, the present value cost savings (discounted by seven per cent) associated with wide-scale distributed energy use could be as great as $130 billion by 2050,” Mr Szatow said.
“We also found that water used for electricity generation can be reduced by as much as 75 per cent through a combination of distributed energy technology and large-scale renewables.
“Distributed energy technologies are available now and these low-emission local energy options offer an immediate and cost effective response to climate change.”
The 592-page report identifies important factors that influence the use of distributed energy relevant to key energy stakeholders including; policy makers, regulators, distribution companies, energy retailers, energy consultants, communities, academics and consumers.