February 2013 Newsletter
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) aims to provide credible, objective data and insights that inform policy and investment decisions as energy efficient and renewable energy technologies advance from concept to commercial application. NREL analysis encompasses a broad range of scientific research and reporting activity in support of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), NREL programs and initiatives, and the analysis community.
This month:
- Feasibility studies show renewable energy options for contaminated sites
- New BITES tool
- NREL analysis and analysts in the news
- Recent publications.
Feasibility Studies Show Renewable Energy Options for Contaminated Sites
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed the RE-Powering America's Land initiative to encourage renewable energy development on current and formerly contaminated land and mine sites when it is aligned with the community's vision for the site. With funding from EPA, NREL will complete RE feasibility studies for 26 selected sites in 2013. The feasibility studies assess the sites for possible renewable energy generation and recommend financing options to assist in the implementation of a system. Gail Mosey is project lead for this series of studies.
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The following is a list of recently published reports in the RE-Powering America's Land series.
Feasibility Study of Anaerobic Digestion of Food Waste in St. Bernard, Louisiana
Author: Kristi Moriarty, NREL
Feasibility Study of Economics and Performance of Solar Photovoltaics at the Kerr McGee Site in Columbus, Mississippi
Authors: Joe Simon and Gail Mosey, NREL
Feasibility Study of Economics and Performance of Solar Photovoltaics at the Sky Park Landfill Site in Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Authors: Joe Simon and Gail Mosey, NREL
Feasibility Study of Economics and Performance of Solar PV at the Atlas Industrial Park in Duluth, Minnesota
Authors: Matthew Steen, Lars Lisell, and Gail Mosey, NREL
Feasibility Study of Economics and Performance of Solar Photovoltaics at the Vincent Mullins Landfill in Tucson, Arizona
Authors: Matthew Steen, Lars Lisell, and Gail Mosey, NREL
New BITES Tool Shows CO2 Impacts of Energy Supply and Demand Choices
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The Buildings Industry Transportation Electricity Scenarios (BITES) Tool is an interactive, scenario-based tool that allows users to explore how changes in energy demand and supply can impact carbon dioxide emissions and the current U.S. energy trajectory. Using 'what-if' scenarios, users are able to adjust inputs to the electricity generation, buildings, industry, and transportation sectors in order to compare outcomes to baseline reference cases.
"Using BITES, someone could calculate how much energy could be saved by making homes and businesses more efficient," said Austin Brown, BITES project manager. "They could also look at how much petroleum could be saved by making cars, trucks, and planes more efficient. And then, the users can put it all together and look at the combined impact of these situations."
BITES launches with several featured scenarios representing the findings of high-profile studies, including NREL's Renewable Electricity Futures study.
BITES can be a useful tool for students and educators who focus on how research, policy, or other forms of national action can impact U.S. energy use. Read more information on the educational uses of BITES.
For more information, see the NREL news release and the DOE progress alert.
An Energy Central article highlighted BITES and quoted Austin Brown. Articles in Energy Manager Today, Green Living Guy, and R&D Magazine also featured BITES.
NREL Analysis and Analysts in the News
Solar Daily mentions DOE report Photovoltaic (PV) Pricing Trends: Historical, Recent, and Near-Term Projections in their article "The Installed Price of PV Systems in the U.S. Continues to Decline at a Rapid Pace."
Buildings and Innovations Report discussed Simulating the Value of Concentrating Solar Power with Thermal Energy Storage in a Production Cost Model, an NREL report by Paul Denholm and Marissa Hummon.
NREL and IRENA collaborated on Global Atlas for Solar and Wind Energy, which was released at the IRENA Assembly. The Global Atlas is the comprehensive information platform on the potential of renewable energy. It provides resource maps from leading technical institutes worldwide and tools for evaluating the technical potential of renewable energies. It can function as a catalyst for policy development and energy planning and can support investors in entering renewable energy markets. An article in SustainableBusiness.com featured the Global Atlas.
RenewableEnergyWorld.com quoted Michael Mendelsohn in their article "Mosaic Plants Crowdfunding Flag for Solar Projects."
The Clean Energy Solutions Center designed the Global RE Opportunity Tool (REOpp) to assist policymakers and analysts in understanding the size and location of market opportunities for cost-effective deployment of renewable technologies. The Beta version, now in release, enables analysis and visualization of the technical and economic potential for solar electric technologies ranging from residential rooftop systems to utility-scale installations.
Jeffrey Logan will present a webinar titled "The Role of Natural Gas in U.S. Electric Power Futures" for the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy on February 12, 2013, at 2 p.m. EST. Register now.
An article in PennEnergy discussed two recent DOE reports: Photovoltaic (PV) Pricing Trends: Historical, Recent, and Near-Term Projections and Benchmarking Non-Hardware Balance of System (Soft) Costs for U.S. Photovoltaic Systems Using a Data-Driven Analysis from PV Installer Survey Results.
The EERE Water Power Program announced the recent release of two resource assessment projects: Assessment and Mapping of the Riverine Hydrokinetic Resource in the Continental United States and Ocean Thermal Extractable Energy Visualization. NREL was a working partner in both assessments, and NREL released interactive mapping applications in tandem with each of these reports: MHK Atlas and River Atlas.
Recent Publications
NREL Report: Distributed Solar Incentive Programs: Recent Experience and Best Practices for Design and Implementation
Authors: Lori Bird, Andrew Reger, and Jenny Heeter, NREL
Based on lessons from recent program experience, this report explores best practices for designing and implementing incentives for small and mid-sized residential and commercial distributed solar energy projects.
NREL Report: Sensitivity of Rooftop PV Projections in the SunShot Vision Study to Market Assumptions
Authors: Easan Drury, Paul Denholm, and Robert Margolis, NREL
This study used the SolarDS model to explore the sensitivity of simulated rooftop PV demand to several PV market assumptions—future electricity rates, customer access to financing, and others—and SunShot PV price projections. This report finds that modeled PV demand is highly sensitive to several non-price market assumptions, particularly PV financing parameters.
JISEA Report: Natural Gas and the Transformation of the U.S. Energy Sector: A Program Studying Multi-Sector Opportunities and Impacts
Author: Scott Gossett, NREL
This report describes a workshop hosted by JISEA and Stanford University's Precourt Institute for Energy (PIE) at NREL about the priority issues for a program of rigorous research relating to natural gas.
Fact Sheet: Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Electricity Generation
Authors: Garvin Heath and Debra Sandor, NREL
This fact sheet summarizes NREL's work to develop and apply a procedure called "harmonization," which provides increased precision and helps clarify the life cycle impacts of specific electricity generation choices.
Presentation: Summary and Follow-on Recommendations of Natural Gas and the Transformation of the U.S. Energy Sector: Electricity
Author: Jeffrey Logan, NREL
This presentation summarized key findings of electronic power scenarios from a recent JISEA report, Natural Gas and the Transformation of the U.S. Energy Sector: Electricity.
Executive Summary: Executive Summary - Natural Gas and the Transformation of the U.S. Energy Sector: Electricity
Authors: Jeffrey Logan, Garvin Heath, and Jordan Macknick, NREL; Elizabeth Paranhos and William Boyd, University of Colorado Law School; Ken Carlson, Colorado State University
The executive summary for the JISEA report Natural Gas and the Transformation of the U.S. Energy Sector: Electricity provides key findings, insights, data, and figures.
Journal Article: Comparing Capacity Value Estimation Techniques for Photovoltaic Solar Power
Authors: Seyed Hossein Madaeni and Ramteen Sioshansi, The Ohio State University; Paul Denholm, NREL
This IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics paper estimates the capacity value of PV solar plants in the western United States. More robust but data- and computationally intense reliability-based estimation techniques are then compared with simpler approximation methods. If implemented properly, these techniques provide accurate approximations of reliability-based methods.
NREL Report: Resource Planning Model: An Integrated Resource Planning and Dispatch Tool for Regional Electric Systems
Authors: Trieu Mai, Easan Drury, Kelly Eurek, Natalie Bodington, Anthony Lopez, and Andrew Perry, NREL
This report introduces a new capacity expansion model, the Resource Planning Model (RPM), with high spatial and temporal resolution that can be used for mid- and long-term scenario planning of regional power systems.
For the latest updates on information regarding energy analysis, visit the Energy Analysis website.
