Despite the overwhelming growth of residential solar installations, many myths remain about solar power. Here are the top 10 solar power myths — and the facts that refute these myths.
Myth: Solar panels do not work well in cold climates.
Fact: Most solar panels actually work best in cold, sunny conditions. Conductivity increases in cold temperatures, making electricity flow more efficiently, while higher temperatures can reduce the panels’ efficiency. As solar panels get hotter, they produce less power from the same amount of light.
Myth: Solar power will get more efficient, so I should wait to buy or install.
Fact: While many companies are working to improve the efficiency of solar panels, the current technology for solar panels is well established — in fact, we’ve been using the same solar technology, more or less, since the 1960s. The potential efficiency gains of future panels are small compared to the panels ready for installation today, and the efficiency gains when measured in total dollars saved on your energy bills is miniscule.
Myth: I won’t live in my home long enough to make my investment in solar back.
Fact: Depending on your system and location, solar panel arrays can pay for themselves within 6 to 15 years. Combined with the best state and federal tax credits and incentives, you could start seeing a return on your investment within 2 to 4 years. Solar panels also increase the resale value of a home by about $15,000, so even if you won’t be in your home for the next 15 years, you can still see a significant return on investment when you sell. continued…
first published week of: 08/22/2016
The ongoing issue with firefighting foam in water supplies continues, as Air Force officials announced last month that a base near Colorado Springs sent water laced with the toxic residue into the city’s sewer system as frequently as three times a year.
In an email that was sent to The Gazette, officials wrote that Peterson Air Force Base stopped sending firefighting foam wastewater into sewers in 2015. The foam is believed to have contaminated the Widefield Aquifer, making well water for customers in neighboring Security, Widefield, and Fountain unsafe to drink.
The Air Force “contends the release of contaminated wastewater was in accordance with the city’s utilities guidelines,” which Colorado Springs Utilities disputes.
“I’m not aware that we have ever authorized them to discharge that firefighting foam into the system,” utility spokesman Steve Berry, told The Gazette.
Just last month, the air force announced that it spilled 150,000 gallons of water laced with perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) into the sewage system in Colorado and that it failed to warn a local wastewater utility in time to prepare for the chemical influx. continued…
first published week of: 11/14/2016
The solar panels at Redstone Energy Group's solar demonstration center near the corner of South Memorial Parkway and Airport Road Sunday, July 29, 2012 in Huntsville, AL (The Huntsville Times/Eric Schultz)
Alabama Power Company posted a request for proposals this week for renewable energy projects that could bring additional solar, wind, geothermal or other kinds of renewable energy to Alabama.
Alabama's largest utility has announced more than 90 megawatts of solar power projects since late last year, and John Kelley, Alabama Power's director of forecasting and resource planning, said the company wanted to weigh its options for additional renewable energy projects in the future.
Alabama Power supports renewable energy, where it makes sense for our customers. Renewable markets change a lot, and this proposal gives us a chance to see what may be out there in the 2017 and 2018 time frame. John Kelley, Alabama Power's director of forecasting and resource planning
"Alabama Power supports renewable energy, where it makes sense for our customers," Kelley said in a news release announcing the RFP. "Renewable markets change a lot, and this proposal gives us a chance to see what may be out there in the 2017 and 2018 time frame."
Last year the utility received approval from the Alabama Public Service Commission to develop up to 500 megawatts of renewable energy projects, and has since moved forward with a handful of those, including solar power installations at Anniston Army Depot and Fort Rucker and a 72 megawatt solar farm in Chambers County developed with Walmart.
Those projects were planned with specific customers in mind, to meet the customers' renewable energy goals. continued…
first published week of: 10/03/2016
Over the next 20 years, the Tennessee Valley Authority will invest about $8 billion in renewable energy
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) commissioned Alabama's largest solar energy project — the River Bend Solar Energy Center — which will eventually generate 75 million watts (megawatts, or MW) of electricity.
The River Bend Solar Energy Center will have more than 300,000 solar panels that sit atop motorized platforms that can track the sun from east to west each day to maximize energy production.
Once up and running, the solar farm will be able to produce enough energy to power more than 15,000 homes. The energy will serve TVA consumers starting this year, under a 20-year power purchase agreement between government and NextEra Energy Resources, which will run the solar farm. continued…
first published week of: 11/21/2016
The Houston-based oil exploration company Apache has made a significant discovery in West Texas’s Permian Basin, estimated at 75 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and more than 3 billion barrels of oil — nearly the equivalent of an entire year of U.S. crude production, the company announced on Wednesday.
The new field sits in the southern portion of the Delaware Basin, the Permian’s western and southern half. It is primarily in Reeves County, south of New Mexico, near the Davis Mountains. Apache is calling the field the “Alpine High.”
The company said it has methodically pieced together 307,000 contiguous acres in the area over the past two years, and done “extensive geologic and geophysical work.” It said it paid $1,300 per acre on average.
Apache also said its oil estimates are for the deep Barnett and Woodford formations alone. It expects there is also “significant” oil potential in the shallower Pennsylvanian, Bone Springs and Wolfcamp formations.
The company has drilled 19 wells and identified 2,000 to 3,000 future drilling locations in the Woodford and Barnett alone, expected to deliver a combination of rich gas and oil worth $4 million to $20 million per well at $3 per million cubic feet in gas and $50 per barrel of oil. continued…
first published week of: 09/19/2016
Apple can start reaping the fruits of its $850 million Monterey County solar power investment.
Federal energy regulators Thursday approved the firm's application to start selling electricity at market rates.
Apple's solar power investments can generate 20 megawatts of electricity in Nevada, 50 megawatts in Arizona and 130 megawatts in California. The latter output -- enough to power tens of thousands of homes -- will come from Apple's $850 million partnership with sun-farm company First Solar, at the California Flats solar project in southeast Monterey County.
"It allows them to sell electricity into the wholesale markets and also use the wholesale markets as sort of a hedge," said GTM Research analyst Colin Smith. "If they're buying power at 10 cents per kilowatt hour and wholesale power prices happen to move up to 15 cents, they can actually sell power directly and pocket the difference. This turns them much more into an independent power producer and really enables them to work the energy markets more freely." continued…
first published week of: 08/15/2016
Until 2013, an electricity substation in California was surrounded by nothing more than a chain link fence, just like thousands of others across the United States. That fence proved ineffective when gunmen fired up to 150 rounds at the substation, causing more than $15 million in damage to 17 transformers. Although the substation owner prevented loss of service to customers by diverting power, it was clear that a similar attack at a large substation had the potential to knock out power to millions of people.
In response to this attack and others, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission enacted new standards for physical security of critical substations.
As a result, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) developed and demonstrated a patent-pending ballistic barrier system to protect substations from attack.
INL’s ballistic barrier system is designed to protect substations from potential threats as varied as bullets, vehicles laden with explosives and tornado-strength winds. This effort is part of the lab’s growing mission to make the nation’s critical infrastructure -- including the grid -- more reliable, safe and resilient.
“We are trying to be proactive and provide solutions to threats when they emerge,” said Chad Landon, head of INL’s Defense Systems Materials Technology and Physical Analysis department. “Based on the 2013 incident and similar situations, we decided to come up with a solution.”
It’s called the Transformer Protection Barrier, designed by INL Armor Technical lead Henry Chu. The prototype is robust enough to protect transformers from high-powered rounds of ammunition, yet relatively inexpensive and easy to set up and move around, unlike permanent systems requiring concrete footings. Each barrier unit consists of four components: an A-shaped frame, two armor cassettes that slide into the frame, and the “top hat” -- an optional armor extension.
first published week of: 09/26/2016
After a year in which solar generated more power than coal for six months, the country has realized a transition to clean energy won't be so hard.
Good news from Britain. Even its Brexit-drunk ministers understand that there is a new future for energy: The U.K. government says it will phase out coal power. After a banner year for renewables, in which solar outstripped coal generation for six full months, the country will now ditch coal altogether by 2025.
Coal is the dirtiest of power sources, carbon-wise, producing double the CO2 for a unit of electricity than natural gas. "Last year coal accounted for just under a quarter of electricity generation and the eight stations that remain operational today represent around 15% of Great Britain’s total generating capacity," states a newly published paper detailing the phase-out.
The goal is to phase out coal smoothly, while supporting renewables to take its place. But the move isn't entirely altruistic. While the government paper begins by talking about honoring commitments to the Paris agreement, the real reasons for such a swift ditching of coal soon become clear: The U.K.'s active coal stations are, one average, 47 years old, and all but three of them are operating beyond their intended lifespan. continued…
first published week of: 11/14/2016
On a seaside field south of Shanghai, workers are constructing a nuclear reactor that is the flagship for Beijing's ambition to compete with the United States, France and Russia as an exporter of atomic power technology.
The Hualong One, developed by two state-owned companies, is one multibillion-dollar facet of the Communist Party's aspirations to transform China into a creator of profitable technology from mobile phones to genetics.
Still, experts say Beijing underestimates how tough it will be for its novice nuclear exporters to sell abroad. They face political hurdles, safety concerns and uncertain global demand following Japan's Fukushima disaster.
China's government-run nuclear industry is based on foreign technology but has spent two decades developing its own with help from Westinghouse Electric Co., France's Areva and EDF and other partners. A separate export initiative is based on an alliance between Westinghouse and a state-owned reactor developer.
The industry is growing fast, with 32 reactors in operation, 22 being built and more planned, according to the World Nuclear Association, an industry group. China accounted for eight of 10 reactors that started operation last year and six of eight construction starts. continued…
first published week of: 08/29/2016
Lakeland Electric, the third-largest public power utility in Florida, reported that it saved $12 million in fiscal year 2015 through the use of a coal treatment at its McIntosh Power Plant Unit 3. The savings represent up to 20% of the unit’s annual coal supply costs.
A typical coal-fired power plant will spend about 70% of its operating budget on fuel. When coal prices were increasing, Lakeland Electric began searching for ways to burn different types of less-expensive, “opportunity coals.” The challenge with opportunity coals is that they can be more difficult to burn, and using them may cause plants to experience an increase in ash slag deposits on the boiler wall, superheater, and reheater tubes. Those deposits reduce efficiency and increase operational costs, which can negate the opportunity coal’s fuel cost savings. continued…
first published week of: 10/03/2016