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USA could get 99.9% of its energy from renewable sources

Renewables Could Provide 99.9% Of Power By 2030
http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3509 by Energy Matters, 13 Dec 12, Scientists state a well-designed combination of wind energy, solar power, battery and fuel cell storage could almost always provide more electricity than required at a cost comparable to today’s electricity expenses.

Research carried out by the University of Delaware and Delaware Technical Community College determined renewables could economically fully power a utility scale electric grid 99.9 percent of the time by 2030 – and without government subsidies.

Busting the myth that renewable energy is too unreliable and
expensive, the report’s co-author Professor Willett Kempton said the
key is to get the right combination of electricity sources and
storage.

After developing a computer model to crunch 28 billion combinations of
renewable energy sources and storage mechanisms, various “recipes” can
be produced to determine the optimum combination of renewables. For
example, to supply a 72GW capacity demand 99.9 percent of the time, it
would require 17 GW of solar PV, 68 GW of offshore wind power, and 115
GW of inland wind energy, plus hydrogen for storage.

Rather than using a traditional method of matching generation to
electricity use, the authors of the paper state generating more
electricity than needed during average hours would be more economical
than increasing storage for surplus energy for periods of high demand.

On the rare occasions when renewable electricity or stored power were
not available, then fossil fuel based power generation would be called
on to make up the difference. The study used estimates of technology
costs in 2030 without government subsidies and compared them to costs
of fossil fuel generation widely used currently, including the
documented external costs such as human health effects caused by air
pollution generated by traditional power plants.

The research was published in the Journal of Power Sources in November.

December 13, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | renewable, USA