Generate Electricity Everywhere

By Spencer Reiss 03.23.09 Wired Magazine April, 2009

Illustration: James Day

7 Ways to Fix the Grid, Now:
Power to the People


Deliver Clean Energy to Distant Cities


Store Power in Super Batteries


Monitor the Electrons in Real Time


Trade Electricity Like Pork Bellies


Think Negawatts, Not Megawatts

Make Conservation Simple (and Easy)

Problem

Establishing local-scale power near end users ranks high on everyone's spec list for Grid 2.0. That's one reason Obama's stimulus plan contains a grant that will reimburse property owners for 30 percent of the cost of a solar energy system. But utilities—former monopolies, after all—are reluctant to give up control over their antique, accident-prone grid. And people with enough rooftop real estate to squeeze out serious juice balk at the hassle.

Solution

Create a new class of energy service providers that act as middlemen between power companies and large commercial facilities with big rooftops. For instance, SunEdison builds and maintains solar plants on the rooftops of operations like Wal-Mart, Whole Foods, and Kohl's in eight states. It's a win-win arrangement: Electric companies get a trusted partner in power generation, and businesses get green energy at a fixed, competitive rate—without additional investment. The secret sauce isn't photovoltaic panels; it's the networking gear, sensors, and software that let a SunEdison control room in California manage hundreds of solar sites cost-effectively. And that means it's suited for scaling up. Says Mark Culpepper, a veteran of Cisco Systems who is now CTO of SunEdison: "Generating power anywhere you can fit a panel totally changes the dynamic of the energy market."

Read More http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/17-04/gp_sunedison#ixzz0vfuoBVjO

State of Florida Solar Subsidies

Residential: $20,000; Non-residential: $100,000. This is the amount the State of Florida will provide for any resident or entity to have solar panels installed on their buildings. There is a 5 million dollar budget. The contractor for the new community center has said it would cost 400k to put solar panels up on the new building. If we got $100,000 off the price it would be $300,000. Still a lot of money, but much better than the 400k.

Duke Energy Announces Distributed Generation Solar Sites

October 13, 2009 8:36 AM ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Four sites have been selected to have solar energy systems installed on their rooftops as part of the first phase of Duke Energy's DUK distributed solar generation program in North Carolina.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040414/DUKEENERGYLOGO )

Duke Energy has selected large nonresidential customer sites for this first phase. They are:

National Gypsum Company in Mount Holly, N.C., will house a 1.2-megawatt system which includes 5,096 rooftop solar panels. Highwood Properties in Greensboro, N.C., will house a 1.6-megawatt system which includes 7,020 rooftop solar panels.Food Lion, in Salisbury, N.C., will house a 1,292-kilowatt (1.3-megawatt) system which includes 5,616 rooftop solar panels.Childress Klein Properties in Charlotte, N.C., will house a 532-kilowatt (.5-megawatt) system which includes 2,314 rooftop solar panels.

These sites were selected based on their ready access to the electrical grid and solar productivity potential, in addition to other essential lease agreement criteria. Installations will begin immediately, with all phase one systems being installed by the end of the first quarter of 2010.

The North Carolina Solar Photovoltaic Distributed Generation program, approved by the NC Utilities Commission earlier this year, enables Duke Energy to install solar panels on the roofs and properties of manufacturing facilities, commercial buildings and homes in the company's North Carolina service territory.

Duke Energy will invest approximately $50 million to construct and own a total of 10 megawatts of solar energy capacity in the state, capable of providing electricity to approximately 1,300 homes.

"This distributed solar generation program remains one of the country's largest programs of its kind and further demonstrates our commitment to renewable energy investment," said Brett Carter, president of Duke Energy Carolinas. "We remain committed to exploring programs that give our customers the opportunity to contribute to a greener tomorrow."

North Carolina's renewable energy standard requires each public electric utility to meet at least 12.5 percent of its North Carolina retail customers' electricity needs through new renewable energy sources or energy efficiency measures by 2021. Duke Energy is committed to providing products and services that enable our customers to directly participate in achieving the standard. Our new solar program joins a portfolio of energy efficiency programs that began being implemented in June of this year.

Duke Energy Carolinas owns nuclear, coal-fired, natural gas and hydroelectric generation. That diverse fuel mix provides approximately 19,000 megawatts of electricity capacity to approximately 2.4 million customers in a 22,000-square-mile service area of North Carolina and South Carolina.

Duke Energy is the third largest electric power holding company in the United States, based on kilowatt-hour sales. Its regulated utility operations serve approximately 4 million customers located in five states - North Carolina, South Carolina, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky -- representing a population of approximately 11 million people. Duke Energy's commercial power and international business segments operate diverse power generation assets in North America and Latin America, including a growing portfolio of renewable energy assets in the United States.