#6 Old Sol
Perhaps the ancient Egyptians were right to worship the sun. A single hour of full sunlight landing on the earth packs more energy than humans use in a year! A year’s worth of sunlight is more energy than all the known reserves of coal, oil, gas, and uranium combined. A percentage of the sun’s energy is converted into biomass via photosynthesis. Much more is converted to heat, which then results in wind, waves, and rain. There are myriad pathways by which the sun can provide our energy needs, but the important point is that there is PLENTY OF IT!!
Engineers have recently developed two powerful methods for harvesting solar energy — photovoltaics and wind turbines. In the near term, any hopes we have of controlling climate change will lean heavily on these technologies.
PHOTOVOLTAICS
The French scientist Edmund Bequerel first described the photovoltaic effect in 1839. A young Albert Einstein won a Nobel prize for explaining the theory behind it. In this technology, packets of solar energy (photons) strike thin semi-conductor wafers arrayed in a conveniently sized panel. The photons knock electrons off the wafers which can then be captured as an electrical current. In 1954 Bell Labs produced the first solar panels, which were relatively inefficient and expensive. Nonetheless, they quickly became vital in satellite systems.
Since then, advances in chemistry and manufacturing have resulted in significantly greater efficiency (amount of sunlight converted to electricity). Further, solar panels lend themselves to “commoditization” and thus to significantly lowered costs via mass production. As a result, when subjected to levelized cost analysis, photovoltaics now come in below all fossil and nuclear fuels for utility scale electric generation. Coming advances in PV technology mean that these advantages will only increase.
Solar installations are often divided into two categories: Distributed (small and decentralized) and Utility Scale (large installations capable of the kind of output usually attributed to power plants). Large installations can provide impressive power, especially if located in sunny, arid areas close to industrial or urban areas.
Distributed rooftop solar is an increasingly familiar site as you drive down the road. Costs have decreased to the point where the payback period is very reasonable for a homeowner with a good site. But there is a new, and much bigger player in this category which is often only visible from the air — medium sized “community solar” projects are popping up everywhere that state regulations allow them. In a very interesting business model, a community solar company connects landowners willing to lease underutilized acreage (say 20 to 1000 acres) with investors willing to cover the up front costs of a photovoltaic installation. With this connection made, the company then looks for customers (home owners or small businesses) willing to subscribe to a share of the output from the new “farm”, at prices from 10 - 15% lower than the standard utility rate. Customers and producers are connected to the standard electrical grid through a “net metering” accounting process.
Monopoly utilities are working to discourage net metering and community solar projects for obvious reasons. One rationale is that customers who don’t sign up for distributed solar are left to cover the cost of maintaining the grid. There may be a glimmer of truth to this argument, but what is beyond debate is that distributed solar is a boon the the grid in other ways. Producing power close to where it is used reduces transmission losses and costs, and less concentrated generation reduces the risks of outages from natural disasters or cyber attacks.
For me, distributed solar has the appeal that it is human scale — the average person can see it, understand it, own it and benefit directly from its economic and environmental advantages. Solar installers have worked to make it simple by handling the necessary red tape. Almost everyone can participate. It is another one of the “climate no brainers” — cheaper, less polluting, and, by the way, a big step in slowing climate change.
THINGS YOU CAN DO:
* See if you can sign up for a community solar project. Search on line for community solar and enter you zip code. For most plans, there is no investment up front, no penalty for dropping out, and guaranteed savings. It may take several months for “your solar farm” to come on line, so start your search early.
* Consider a solar installation for your home. Not for everyone, but if you have a good site, your own solar garden can give the same cozy feeling of a woodshed full of seasoned firewood in October.
* Urge your state representatives to protect incentives for renewable energy. Net metering rules will be evolving — help insure that they evolve to benefit everyone, not just the utilities.
DIVING DEEPER:
For an interesting glympse into community solar in New Mexico, go to: Impact Power Solutions
An understandable explanation of how electricity is generated and distrubuted in the US: US Energy Information Agency
Read about a coming installation on a reclaimed Kentucky mountain top coal mine here: Solar comes to Coal Country NY Times
Thanks for reading,
Doug Hylan Brooklin, Maine
“I think calling it climate change is rather limiting. I would rather call it the everything change”. Margaret Atwood