Energy Analysis Newsletter — December 2008
Energy analysis at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) encompasses a broad range of energy analysis in support of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), NREL programs and initiatives, and the energy analysis community. Here is the latest news on energy analysis activities at NREL:
Upcoming Events
December Seminar: Analyzing Renewable Energy Incentives
Rusty Haynes
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Susan Gouchoe
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On December 11, NREL's Strategic Energy Analysis Center (SEAC) and DOE/EERE's Office of Planning, Budget, and Analysis (PBA) will present a seminar (in Washington, D.C.) discussing a renewable energy incentives. In the United States, state governments have been largely responsible for driving solar energy, wind energy, and other forms of renewables into the mainstream during the past decade, primarily by establishing and subsequently fine-tuning financial incentives and regulatory policies. As acceptance of renewables becomes a priority in many states, the evolution of state policy is increasingly rapid and bold. Since 1995, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE), a DOE-funded public resource, has tracked, summarized, and cataloged financial incentives and regulatory policies that promote renewables. During this seminar, Rusty Haynes will provide an overview of the current status and trends in state-level renewables policy. In addition, Sue Gouchoe will discuss the newer quantitative analysis components of DSIRE and the upcoming solar-specific version of the database.
January 8, 2009
"The Global Pursuit for Methane Hydrates: Advances in Exploration and Present Hurdles" — Kelly Rose (National Energy Technology Laboratory)
February 12, 2009
"Economic Development Impacts from 1,000 MW of Wind Energy in Texas, Iowa, Washington, Pennsylvania" — Sandra Reategui (NREL)
For more information on the seminar series — including log-in and call-in information for remote access — visit the Web site.
TAP Web Seminar: Green Building Principles
The Technical Assistance Project (TAP) for state and local officials will sponsor a Web seminar on December 17 that explores green building principles. The presentation, which will be 3-4:15 p.m. (EDT), is titled "State Policies to Encourage and Require Green Building Principles in the Public Sector." The speakers will be Brian Lips of North Carolina Solar Center, Chuck Sathrum of the North Carolina State Energy Office, and Angie Fyfe of the Colorado Governor's Energy Office.
Information about the presenters, as well as links to background materials and reports, can be found on the TAP Section of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program Web site.
Contact Misty Conrad via e-mail or by phone at 303-384-7467 to register or for additional information.
SEPA Seminar: Using the SAM Model
The Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) is sponsoring two phone seminars on "How to Use the SAM Model for Both PV and CSP," presented by NREL and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) representatives.
The SEPA sessions will discuss the Solar Advisor Model (SAM) and how it can model photovoltaics (PV) (Monday, Dec. 15) and concentrating solar power (CSP) (Tuesday, Dec. 16). SAM — which was developed by NREL, SNL, and the DOE Solar Energies Technology Program — is an online software program, downloadable free of charge, that can predict how physical, cost and financial variations can affect the performance of a solar system.
The seminar is geared toward utility planners, construction engineers, and incentive program managers, but others are welcome to attend. Registration information is included below.
Part 1: How to Use the Solar Advisor Model (SAM) - Photovoltaic Modeling
Date: Monday, December 15, 2 p.m. ET
Registration: http://www.regonline.com/119722
Cost: Free to SEPA members; $25 nonmembers
Part 2: How to Use the Solar Advisor Model (SAM) - Concentrating Solar Power Modeling
Date: Tuesday, December 16, 2 p.m. ET
Registration: http://www.regonline.com/119722
Cost: Free to SEPA members; $25 nonmembers
The model can be accessed from the SAM section of NREL's Energy Analysis Web site.
Publications
Some of the documents in this section are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs.
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Solar PV Supply Curves
NREL analysts Paul Denholm and Robert Margolis recently published the report "Supply Curves for Rooftop Solar PV-Generated Electricity for the United States" (PDF 565 KB). Energy supply curves attempt to estimate the relationship between the cost of an energy resource and the amount of energy available at or below that cost. In general, an energy supply curve is a series of step functions with each step representing a particular group or category of energy resource. The length of the step indicates how much of that resource is deployable or accessible at a given cost. Energy supply curves have been generated for a number of renewable energy sources including biomass fuels and geothermal, as well as conservation technologies. Generating a supply curve for solar photovoltaics (PV) has particular challenges due to the nature of the resource. The United States has a massive solar resource base — many orders of magnitude greater than the total consumption of energy. In this report, the analysts examine several possible methods for generating PV supply curves based exclusively on rooftop deployment.
Economic Development from Wind Energy
SEAC analyst Eric Lantz recently published the report "Economic Development Benefits from Wind Energy in Nebraska: A Report for the Nebraska Energy Office" (PDF 755 KB). This report focuses on the economic development impacts estimated from building and operating 7,800 MW of new wind power in Nebraska. This level of development is on the scale envisioned in the Department of Energy (DOE) report "20% Wind Energy by 2030." A practical first step to building 7,800 MW of wind is completing 1,000 MW — an estimate of the economic impacts to Nebraska from building 1,000 MW of wind power is included in the report. Nebraska's economy is estimated to see an average annual boost in economic activity ranging from $140 million to $260 million solely from construction- and development-related activities between 2011 and 2030. An additional boost of $250-$442 million annually is estimated from operating 7,800 MW of wind capacity.
Analysts Meet With Stakeholders
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has invited Doug Arent, director of NREL's Strategic Energy Analysis Center, to participate on its panel "America's Climate Choices." As part of the Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, the panel will examine and evaluate several actions and strategies related to climate change. These include limiting the magnitude of future climate change, adapting to climate change impacts, advancing climate change science, and informing effective decisions and actions. This suite of activities will provide policy-relevant advice, based on scientific evidence, to guide the nation's response to climate change. Five consensus reports will be released in 2009 and 2010. More information on the project is available on the NAS Web site.
Doug Arent also presented the keynote address on energy and the economy to the University of Colorado graduate school advisory committee on November 13 in Denver. The committee provides guidance on curriculum development and research directions for the university.
SEAC analyst Lori Bird spoke at the State-Federal RPS Collaborative, held in Chicago on November 6-7. The event helped establish a national dialogue and collaborative among state policy leaders, the U.S. Department of Energy, and other major renewable portfolio standard (RPS) stakeholders. The collaborative, funded by the Energy Foundation and the U.S. DOE through NREL, allowed groups to share information and examine opportunities for multistate and federal cooperation in successful deployment of RPS programs.
Lori Bird also participated in a symposium "The Greenhouse Gas Marketplace: Commercial Regulation of Climate Change Solutions" on November 15 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her presentation discussed voluntary renewable energy markets in the context of carbon regulation. The symposium was hosted by the North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation and the University of North Carolina Law School.
On November 19, SEAC analyst David Kline participated in meetings between Ford and city and provincial officials of the City of Chongqing in China to establish an eco-city partnership focused on electric vehicles with the City of Denver. Kline provided information on NREL's electric vehicles research programs and highlighted the strong commitment by DOE and the laboratory to this partnership. He also participated in the US-China Green Energy Conference (November 17-18) in Beijing. The conference included presentations from high-level government officials and representatives of the Chinese Academy of Science. Kline chaired the Renewable Energy Policy and Bio-Energy Sessions. The conference was sponsored by the U.S.-China Green Energy Council, which started as a bilateral outreach program to China from California.
NREL hosted Bernhard Milow, energy program director from the German Aerospace Center in Koln Germany (DLR), on November 24. During the visit, NREL Director Dan Arvizu signed an agreement for collaboration with DLR on concentrating solar power (CSP) testing and standards, CSP storage, and energy systems analysis; they also will explore collaboration on transportation issues. Milow participated in several discussions with NREL researchers, covering solar topics, energy analysis, grid integration, and distributed generation. The collaboration with DLR will provide mutual benefits and direct benefits to the U.S. DOE CSP program and enhance ongoing NREL International Energy Administration (IEA) activities.
For the latest updates on information regarding energy analysis, visit the Energy Analysis Web site.
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