Posted October 8, 2012 by Samir Succar
In a new issue brief, NRDC addresses the environmental benefits of grid modernization and discusses the role of smart grid technologies in enabling a transition to a sustainable energy future. One central message of this new publication, “The Promise of...continued→
Posted April 30, 2012 by Samir Succar
A number of news outlets have picked up a recent paper that looks at the local land surface temperature impacts of large wind farms. This has resulted in a number of headlines like “Wind farms can cause climate change” and “Wind...continued→
Posted March 13, 2012 by Samir Succar
What are the implications of sourcing a large fraction of our electricity from variable resources like wind and solar? That’s the question that MIT’s report “Managing Large-Scale Penetration of Intermittent Renewables” addresses. However, quantifying the impact of wind and solar on...continued→
Posted June 13, 2011 by Samir Succar
At a White House event today, the administration released a new report that frames the modernization of the US power grid and launches a number of public and private initiatives including new outreach efforts, partnerships and loan programs. As today’s...continued→
Posted August 19, 2010 by Samir Succar
The promise of new clean air rules from EPA will go a long way toward eliminating emissions from the oldest, dirtiest power plants that pollute our air and threaten our health. Despite some spurious claims from industry groups, it’s abundantly...continued→
Posted July 29, 2010 by Samir Succar
A recent assessment of the reliability impacts of climate change initiatives paints an encouraging picture of how resources in the pipeline can help enable a major transition to a low carbon economy. The North American Electricity Reliability Corporation (NERC) makes...continued→
Posted May 20, 2010 by Samir Succar
A new report shows that the West can get at least 35 percent of its electricity from wind and solar resources by 2017 resulting in reductions in global warming pollution of 25-45 percent. The Western Wind and Solar Integration Report...continued→
Posted March 17, 2010 by Samir Succar
Stimulus funds have provided a big push to the utility scale energy storage sector, but there are still many misconceptions on the role of storage for integrating renewables. Luckily a recent report from NREL provides a great framework for understanding...continued→
Posted February 3, 2010 by Samir Succar
Despite earlier claims that the near-10 GW of US wind installed in 2009 might edge out China in wind capacity additions: The wind industry installed more than 9,900 megawatts of generating capacity, AWEA said. The association says that is enough to...continued→
Posted January 20, 2010 by Samir Succar
Today the National Renewable Energy Laboratory released a new wind integration study titled the Eastern Wind Integration and Transmission Study (EWITS). The study examines the infrastructure needed to increase the share of wind energy to 20-30% (today wind is about two percent of...continued→
Posted September 14, 2009 by Samir Succar
This CEPOS study by Hugh Sharman about the Danish wind experience has begun to receive a great deal of attention. The study provides a great account of how the Nordic grid has been effectively used to manage the fluctuations from...continued→
Posted August 27, 2009 by Samir Succar
With the recent news of PG&E's bid for stimulus funds for compressed air energy storage (CAES) to balance wind, the question again arises whether energy storage is really necessary to put wind and other variable renewables on the grid. I believe the answer...continued→
Posted July 22, 2009 by Samir Succar
LBNL/EERE released another annual report on wind market trends. It covers the usual collection of market data points, capacity additions, etc. PDF: http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/ems/reports/2008-wind-technologies.pdf LBNL Publications: http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/ems/re-pubs.html Notable among the findings is that US now tops international wind capacity rankings (that...continued→
Posted May 4, 2009 by Samir Succar
Over the weekend, the Department of Interior announced a new initiative funded through the stimulus that includes $41 million to "advance the nation's development and transmission of renewable energy on public lands." Other portions of the $300 million will be...continued→
Posted April 30, 2009 by Samir Succar
All of a sudden, congress isn't the only place where the electric grid is getting attention. In addition to transmission legislation recently introduced in the senate and the house there seems to be a flurry of reporting on grid issues...continued→
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