Renewable Energy Projects Show Strength in 2011

2011 and 2012 are looking to be good years for renewable energy.  Proposed installation and current construction numbers are very encouraging.  Federal loan guarantees have picked up momentum as described in a previous post: http://powertrends.blogspot.com/2011/05/recent-renewable-federal-loan.html 

According to the numbers shown by the SEIA – Solar Energy Industries Association there is a considerable effort afoot.

 

Type	Operating	Under construction	Under Development	Total
Concentrating Solar	508 MW	679 MW	8,307 MW	9,494 MW
Photovoltaic	296 MW	274 MW	16,688 MW	17,258 MW

According to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), the U.S. wind power industry installed 1,100 megawatts (MW) of new capacity in the first quarter of 2011 and entered the second quarter with another 5,600 MW under construction. The under-construction figure is nearly twice the megawatts that the industry reported at the same time in both 2009 and 2010. The total U.S. wind fleet capacity now stands at 41,400 MW, which is enough to supply 10 million homes.

The first quarter's new capacity came online in 12 different states, with some seeing double-digit growth. The states adding the most capacity were Minnesota (293 MW), Washington (252 MW), and Illinois (240 MW). AWEA reported that one third of the 5,600 MW currently under construction is located in California, Oregon, and Washington. See the AWEA press release.


Net Generation Comparison Jan 2011 vs. Jan 2010 (source):

Items	Total (All Sectors)
	Jan-11	Jan-10	% Change
Net Generation (thousand megawatthours)
Coal[1]	171,246	173,505	-1.3
Petroleum Liquids[2]	1,840	3,171	-42
Petroleum Coke	1,448	1,130	28.1
Natural Gas[3]	74,070	73,558	0.7
Other Gases[4]	923	909	1.5
Nuclear	72,743	72,569	0.2
Hydroelectric Conventional	25,746	22,156	16.2
Other Renewables	14,966	13,077	14.4
Wood and Wood-Derived Fuels[5]	3,167	3,248	-2.5
Other Biomass[6]	1,432	1,482	-3.4
Geothermal	1,435	1,373	4.6
Solar Thermal and Photovoltaic[7]	43	10	343.2
Wind	8,888	6,965	27.6
Hydroelectric Pumped Storage	-426	-537	20.6
Other Energy Sources[8]	824	863	-4.6
All Energy Sources	363,378	360,401	0.8
[1] Anthracite, bituminous, subbituminous, lignite, waste coal, and coal synfuel.
[2] Distillate fuel oil, residual fuel oil, jet fuel, and kerosene.
[3] Natural gas includes a small amount of supplemental gaseous fuels that cannot be identified separately.
[4] Blast furnace gas, propane gas, and other manufactured and waste gases derived from fossil fuels.
[5] Wood, black liquor, and other wood waste.
[6] Biogenic municipal solid waste, landfill gas, sludge waste, agriculture byproducts, and other biomass.
[7] Solar thermal and photovoltaic energy.
[8] Non-biogenic municipal solid waste, batteries, chemicals, hydrogen, pitch, purchased steam, sulfur, tire-derived fuel, and miscellaneous technologies.
[9] Anthracite, bituminous, subbituminous, coal synfuel, and lignite; excludes waste coal.
[10] Retail sales and net generation may not correspond exactly for a particular month for a variety of reasons (e.g., sales data may include imported electricity).  Net generation is for the calendar month while retail sales and associated revenue accumulate from bills collected for periods of time (28 to 35 days) that vary dependent upon customer class and consumption occurring in and outside the calendar month.
[11] See Technical notes for additional information on the Commercial, Industrial, and Transportation sectors.

Year to Year Net Generation-Renewables (source):

(Thousand Megawatthours)
Period	Wind	Solar Thermal	Wood and Wood-Derived Fuels[1]	Geothermal	Other	Total
		and Photovoltaic			Biomass[2]	(Other Renewables)
1997	3,288	511	36,948	14,726	21,709	77,183
1998	3,026	502	36,338	14,774	22,448	77,088
1999	4,488	495	37,041	14,827	22,572	79,423
2000	5,593	493	37,595	14,093	23,131	80,906
2001	6,737	543	35,200	13,741	14,548	70,769
2002	10,354	555	38,665	14,491	15,044	79,109
2003	11,187	534	37,529	14,424	15,812	79,487
2004	14,144	575	38,117	14,811	15,421	83,067
2005	17,811	550	38,856	14,692	15,420	87,329
2006	26,589	508	38,762	14,568	16,099	96,525
2007	34,450	612	39,014	14,637	16,525	105,238
2008	55,363	864	37,300	14,840	17,734	126,101
2009	73,886	891	36,050	15,009	18,443	144,279
2010	94,647	1,299	37,975	15,666	18,557	168,144
2011 through January	8,888	43	3,167	1,435	1,432	14,966
[1] Wood/wood waste solids (including paper pellets, railroad ties, utility poles, wood chips, bark, and wood waste solids), wood waste liquids (red liquor, sludge wood, spent sulfite liquor, and other wood-based liquids), and black liquor.
[2] Biogenic municipal solid waste, landfill gas, sludge waste, agricultural byproducts, other biomass solids, other biomass liquids, and other biomass gases (including digester gases, methane, and other biomass gases).

Extra Credit:  Using 2008 generation and installed capacity one can determine capacity factor for power generation sources in 2008.  Simple calculation with no assumptions just installed versus generated. (data source):
Wind  = 25%
Solar  = 18%
Nuclear  = 87%
Coal  = 67%
Natural Gas  = 22%