Advanced Energy Perspectives

Block Island wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island, Luke H. Gordon ©2017.

This week in advanced energy news, it’s all about bigger, better, and cheaper! First, from the U.K., offshore wind prices so low they leave people used to traditional resources slack-jawed, plus a boost for U.S. solar as it reaches a 2020 cost goal three years ahead of schedule. Finally, GE decides it’s time for a bigger onshore turbine, and Anheuser-Busch buys enough wind to power 20 billion beers. Bottoms up!

For several years now, we’ve seen advanced energy become the most cost-effective option for utilities. In 2013, Advanced Energy Perspectives first reported that a utility, Xcel Energy, planned to buy solar and wind because they cost less than any other generation resource. This week, Xcel Energy has done it again, this time retiring some older, more expensive power plants in the bargain. Duke Energy also made a major advanced energy announcement, and both energy storage and tidal generation reached new benchmarks. Just another week in the world of advanced energy.

In news that will come as no surprise to regular readers of Advanced Energy Perspectives, major U.S. companies from coast to coast are committing to advanced energy. Household names like Amazon, IKEA, Walmart, and financial giants like Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan are choosing advanced energy for the same reason they do anything else: good economic sense. This week, Amazon flips the switch on New Jersey’s largest rooftop solar array, and the RE100 list, the list of companies that have committed to “go 100% renewable,” tops 100 companies, capping a summer that began with Goldman Sachs signing a wind power purchase agreement (PPA). It’s the big business of advanced energy in this week’s post.

In the United States and around the world, transportation is advancing, from major technological innovations to major changes in infrastructure, but news coverage of the electrification of America’s automobiles has largely been limited to luxury electric cars. In this week’s news, some changes: VW proves electric microbuses aren’t just a public relations ploy, Audi goes solar, and DHL and Ford provide electric delivery vehicles. We’ll discuss all that, plus an after-action report on the solar eclipse, in this week’s post. Read on!

On Monday, North America will get to see something spectacular: a full solar eclipse! A huge portion of the U.S. will be within the path of totality, able to experience the sun being reduced to a glowing ring with sunset falling on every horizon. Eclipses have long been seen as ill portents and bad omens, tied to deaths of kings and emperors. In ancient times, the sun’s temporary disappearance in broad daylight was a calamity brought upon by the gods themselves. But as we now rely on the sun for power generation, will the moon get in the way of our megawatts? Could Monday’s solar eclipse today be just as calamitous as the ancients foretold, bringing with it rolling blackouts, power outages, and huge price surges for power across the country? 

Nah.