Energy Exchange

Want a Level Playing Field for Energy? Reject AEP’s Bailout

By Dick Munson / Published: January 11, 2016

ohioCritics of American Electric Power’s (AEP) bailout have been quick to call out the utility for forcing Ohioans to prop up its uneconomic coal fleet. They note how the deal will cost customers $2 billion to keep open AEP power plants that would otherwise close.

One complaint we haven’t heard yet comes from Senator Bill Seitz, chairman of the Ohio Senate Public Utilities Committee. Sen. Seitz recently joined in on criticizing AEP’s bailout proposal – but for the wrong reasons. Rather than attack the multibillion dollar subsidies going to outdated power plants, the senator critiques a small carve-out for a new solar energy project in Appalachia that will employ veterans. Read More »

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How Battery Technology and Crowd-Sourced Energy Can Save Our Aging Grid

By EDF Blogs / Published: January 6, 2016

By: Karin Rives

Not too long ago, making and selling your own electricity via rooftop solar was a novelty. Today, with 784,000 homes and businesses in the United States already on solar, such transactions are taking place every day in 44 states.

Now comes Bring Your Own Battery

Posted in California, Electric Vehicles, Grid Modernization, Solar Energy, Utility Business Models / Tagged | Comments are closed

Clean Energy Conference Roundup: January 2016

By EDF Blogs / Published: December 30, 2015

conferenceEach month, the Energy Exchange rounds up a list of top clean energy conferences around the country. Our list includes conferences at which experts from the EDF Clean Energy Program will be speaking, plus additional events that we think our readers may benefit from marking on their calendars.

Top clean energy conferences featuring EDF experts in January:

January 19-21: The Food-Energy-Water Nexus  (Washington, DC)
Speaker: Kate Zerrenner, Manager

  • One thousand innovative thinkers in science, technology, policy, governance, business, education, and civil society will gather to work across traditional boundaries and address big questions:
    1. How will we feed the 9.6 billion people expected to be alive in 2050 while also meeting their needs for water and energy and improving the environment?
    2. What are the opportunities to improve water and energy efficiency and reduce food waste such that every improvement in one area yields gains in all areas?
    3. What are the strategies for resilience in the face of increased climate variability and other environmental changes?
    4. How do we unleash scientific talent, technological advances, human ingenuity and entrepreneurialism, with wise public policy to meet essential human needs and restore the earth’s environment, both regionally and globally?

    The conference will emphasize putting ideas into action – moving forward on policy and practice. This is a conference designed to challenge thinking and spur creativity. Participants will take away new ideas, new relationships, and increased motivation to contribute to addressing these integrated challenges in new ways. Read More »

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10 Clean Energy Trends that Prove 2015 was a Transformative Year

By Jim Marston / Published: December 29, 2015

Back in September when the New York Times declared 2015 “the year humans got serious about climate change,” we knew they were on to something. But as we near the end of 2015, it’s hard to believe we’ve accomplished as much as we have in just 12 months.

This momentum culminated in representatives of 195 nations agreeing in Paris to act together on world knowledge of climate change. This historic agreement will aim to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, report transparently, and review and strengthen standards every five years. EDF President Fred Krupp stated, “It sends a powerful, immediate signal to global markets that the clean energy future is open for business.”

Though history proves “hindsight is 20/20,” historians just might look back at 2015 as the year everything changed for clean energy. Here’s a look at some of the top trends that fueled climate action by governments, investors, corporations, individuals, cities, utilities, market analysts, real estate professionals, and cleantech leaders in 2015. [Click through the following slideshow to see the trends.] Read More »

Posted in Clean Energy, Electricity Pricing, Energy Efficiency, Energy Financing, Energy Innovation, Utility Business Models / Tagged | Comments are closed

In California, Electric Vehicles are the New DeLorean in ‘Back to the Future’

By Larissa Koehler / Published: December 28, 2015

CARRAs any child of the ’80s knows, October 21, 2015 is “Back to the Future Day” – the day that the film’s protagonist, Marty McFly, travels to the future in his DeLorean. Though it would no doubt be useful to have access to flying cars (think of the traffic one could avoid), Californians are seeing increased access to something more practical: electric vehicles (EVs).

In order to meet the state’s greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals, emissions from transportation – the sector most responsible for harmful pollution – need to be addressed. Enter Governor Brown’s zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, which aims to build enough infrastructure statewide to support one million clean vehicles by 2020, and put 1.5 million ZEVs on the road by 2025. With this executive order, we have a much better chance of ensuring a low-carbon future and effectively combatting climate change in California. Read More »

Posted in California, Electric Vehicles, Electricity Pricing, Grid Modernization / Comments are closed

A Sunny Future for Utility-Scale Solar

By John Finnigan / Published: December 28, 2015

512px-Nellis_AFB_Solar_panelsUtility-scale solar and distributed solar both have an important role to play in reducing greenhouse emissions, and both have made great strides in the past year.

Utility-scale solar, the focus of this article, is reaching “grid parity” (i.e., cost equivalency) with traditional generation in more areas across the country.  And solar received a major boost when the federal tax incentive was recently extended through 2021. The amount of the incentive decreases over time, but the solar industry may be able to offset the lower tax incentive if costs continue to decline.  New changes in policy and technology may further boost its prospects.

Record year for utility-scale solar

Some of the world’s largest solar plants came on-line in the U.S. during the past year, such as the 550-megawatt (MW) Topaz Solar plant in San Luis Obispo County, California and the 550MW Desert Sunlight plant in Desert Center, California. Last year saw a record increase in the amount of new utility-scale solar photovoltaic generation installed – about four gigawatts (GW), a whopping 38 percent increase over 2013, and enough solar power to supply electricity to 1.2 million homes.  This number is expected to increase in 2015 when the final numbers are in. Read More »

Posted in Clean Power Plan, General, Solar Energy / Tagged | Comments are closed