Role of Renewable Energy in the U.S. and World - Hot Topic, September 30, 2010

Last week we had some great presentations on nuclear, solar and some non-power energy options.  This week we took a broader view of the future mix of renewable versus fossil fuel energy sources.

Paula Mints, Director of Energy at Navigant Consulting, presented forecasts of global PV (photovoltaic) module sales. PV sales of 15.6 GW in 2010 represents a 15-fold increase in just six years; up from sales of 1.05 GW in 2001. She pointed out that while 82 percent of demand is from Europe, roughly two-thirds of the supply comes from China and Taiwan. In addition, China has demonstrated its willingness to control prices and slashed prices a few years ago to increase sales. Ms. Mints also stated that PV installations require financial and regulatory incentives to reach grid parity.

Michael Henry, Managing Attorney for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), discussed what the commission is doing to promote renewable energy. FERC recently created a separate Office of Energy Policy and Innovation to integrate renewables into the power mix and has undertaken initiatives to address the interconnection process, queuing practices, compensating for storage, and other aspects of integrating renewables into the power grid.

Debbie Fox, a senior analyst for McIlvaine Company, addressed renewable power from the other side of the equation – limits on the ability of coal-fired power plants to significantly reduce CO₂ emissions through carbon capture and storage. She raised three specific obstacles or limitations to the growth of carbon capture and storage:  high costs and limited funding; long time frame for development of the technologies at a commercial scale; and limited underground storage volume for sequestering CO₂ over the long term.

Bob McIlvaine, President of McIlvaine Company, reviewed installed capacity forecasts for wind, solar, biomass, hydro and geothermal power through 2014 and commented on the future of coal-based power, particularly in developing countries such as China and India.

The BIO and ABSTRACT for Michael Henry - FERC can be viewed as follows: BIO AND ABSTRACT - Sept. 30, 2010.htm