This is turning into a series of diaries.
- Original post: Wind, Solar and Battery Storage Potential on Navajo Land
- Part 1: Building a Renewable Energy Power Grid
- Part 2: Building a Renewable Energy Power Grid - Part 2 - Land
It started out when I started seeing all these“carbon-freeby 2050” plans coming from US utility companies.
How will Arizona Public Service get to zero carbon?
APS will achieve the new goals largely through increasing use of solar, including large-scale power plants with batteries.
Guldner said advancing energy storage will be key. That includes storing power on the grid with technologies like lithium-ion batteries and storing energy from season to season. Renewable energy from solar and wind is ample in spring, but power demand from customers is highest in summer.
I figured that would cost lots of money, but all you need to do is build high voltage transmission lines from where the power is generated to where the power is needed and build solar and wind farms everywhere! Done! Easy!
Well, it sounds easy. But in reality, there are lot of things that will need to change for solar and wind to be able to replace carbon based power plants. It’s not impossible, but it is not going to be easy. There is lots of work to do, not only in development of technologies, but in rethinking how everything with wind and solar is done today.
Going carbon free will mean a complete redesign of the power grid, going from centralized generation (large GW power plants) to decentralized power generation spread over a wide region, will require rethinking most aspects of generation, transmission, distribution and the power markets.
I was going to write about energy storage next, but realized I need to write about the coming changes in Supply and Demand first. Energy storage will play a big part in managing this.
Let’s take a look at Supply and Demand and Peak Hour Electricity Pricing. If you don’t already have to use Peak Hour Electricity Pricing, you will be within 10 years.
Tip: If you have a kid in school, you may want to encourage him/her to get into electrical engineering! Civil and Mechanical engineers will be very busy too.
Or, save the big fancy college money, and send them to a vocational high school if your district has one, then to your local community college for an Associates Degree and to a union hall for training to be an electrician. We are gonna need lots of electricians! In my area, and I’m sure many other areas, there is a shortage of electricians now. Electrical contractors are having a hard time keeping up with the workload today. Going carbon-free is going to make them even busier.
It is a great career opportunity right out of high school for kids with vocational training. It takes years of on the job training to become a licensed electrician. They can’t just hire anyone off the street to fill jobs. Kids coming out of high school today with a background in electrical via vocational schools have a head start and are sought after for apprenticeship programs. Apprenticeship programs are just as long as Bachelors degree programs, but your kid will be well paid (+ overtime!) instead of you writing large checks to their school. The National Electrical Code is very complex and electricians must know it very well. They even have a Masters Degree.