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The power of community decentralised renewable energy

Reach Clean Energy Goals Faster and Cheaper With Community Power, Renewable Energy World, By John Farrell , 25 April 2011 Reaching our renewable energy goals can be met cost-effectively, more quickly, and with greater economics benefits if Californians focus on decentralized renewable energy.

That’s the powerful conclusion in the recently released report, Community Power: Decentralized Renewable Energy in California, and the lessons are applicable in every state across America. These lessons are attracting attention, as large-scale desert solar projects and new transmission lines meet stiff resistance from an increasingly broad-based opposition. The cost-competitiveness of renewable energy is not news to anyone familiar with the industry, but Weinrub shows that for the most prominent decentralized renewable energy source – solar power – decentralized production from photovoltaics (PV) has better economics than centralized solar thermal power plants.  His research is reinforced by data from the California Solar Initiative that shows that large majority of decentralized solar PV’s economies of scale are captured by projects as small as 10 kilowatts.  Research from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance shows that wind economies of scale are similarly limited for larger wind projects.

Weinrub also shows that California has plenty of decentralized renewable energy potential – with rooftop solar alone – to meet its ambitious renewable energy target (33% by 2020).  As he notes, the actual potential far exceeds the necessary amount required to meet the state standard:…. http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2011/04/reach-clean-energy-goals-faster-and-cheaper-with-community-power

April 26, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | decentralised, USA