Note: Physical copies of these documents are stored in this library rather than only providing web links because of the frequency with which important web sites and documents vanish from the web.
This is a photograph of the 1912 parabolic mirror structures developed by Frank Shuman to harness solar energy in order to power irrigation pumps in Egypt in 1912.
This is an article from the New York Times describing the project developed by Frank Shuman to harness solar energy in order to power irrigation pumps in Egypt in 1912.
This report prepared by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory discusses the use of responsive loads to provide an alternative to the "spinning reserves" maintained by having base load plants "on standby". The example analyzed is for industrial and residential air-conditioning that can be temporarily shut down or reduced (by raising the thermostat temperature remotely) by the Long Island grid operator. This voluntary program, called the LIPA-Edge program has been in place for more than 10 years and has 36,000 ratepayers signed up. Having said that the system has been used sparingly and that has drawn criticism (see for example this article from 2011.
This report provides comprehensive information on the design and construction of solar updraft towers including extensive research results from the pilot project operated in Manzanares, Spain in the 1980's.
This is an excellent article that provides a comprehensive background and summary of references for the issues related to wind energy, in particular dispatchability.
This is a slide deck produced by Sunpower for the "Utility-Scale PV Variability Workshop" held in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, October 7, 2009. It includes many useful real world measurements of PV variability.
This well researched study from an independent research institute in Denmark highlights the consistently misleading overstatement regarding the role of Wind Energy as a portion of Denmark's electricity generation mix. It also discusses the impacts on the countries economy, jobs, and electricity rates.
This report discusses a radical approach to solar updraft power generators. Of particular interest is the section on the history of updraft towers with a figure showing an early concept with the tower being in the form of a concrete tube running up a mountainside.
This paper discusses the electricity balance between supply and demand in British Columbia, Canada. The interesting aspect is that import/export of electricity in BC is economically driven which provides some insight into the mechanics of wind, thermal (primarily coal-fired) and hydro power generation. Because Alberta has more wind generation at night and also must keep it's coal-fired plants running (coal-fired plants are not designed for frequent start-up/shut-down) BC can buy electricity from Alberta very cheaply at night while cutting hydro generation and refilling the hydro reservoirs. The hydro power is then sold back to Alberta at much higher rates during peak demand times the next day. A similar situation exists in Denmark which has invested heavily in wind generation.
This information from the GVEA website describes the battery backup system installed at a cost of $35 million. It consists of 13,760 Ni-Cad cells and is able to provide 27 MW of grid power for 15 minutes.
This document summarizes historical energy usage in the United States and provides forecasts and analysis. This is an essential document to review if you want to understand the energy industry in the U.S.
This document outlines the costs to dismantle a number of coal-fired plants operated by xCel Energy. It provides a useful benchmark in order to evaluate the relative cost of other opportunities for rehabilating older coal-fired plants as compared to dismantling them.
This is an article which compares peak summer electrical demand in Texas to the actual output of wind farms. The disconnect in the daily cycles demonstrates that in many cases even the average capacity of wind farms overstates the useful capacity because so much of the wind generation occurs in off-peak hours.
This is an excellent White Paper which calls for truly innovative solutions to meet the energy demands of the third world while reducing our dependence on non-renewable hydro-carbons. It was after reading this paper that I started the Black Swan Blog.
This was a survey of United States consumers that summarizes attitudes towards using renewable energy. A large majority of consumers stated a preference for renewables but a minority were willing to pay a premium for energy from these sources.
These tables and graph show the trends in electricity capacity, generation, and imports/exports up to 2011. Note the utilization rates for renewables at around 25% - this still overstates the useful utilization since it is known that a lot of wind generation is at night. Lower Natural Gas utilization is due to several of those plants being "peaking plants".
This a comprehensive research paper on the electricity trading that takes place between the Province of British Columbia and its neighbours. Of interest are the complexities outlined because of the many participants (not just BC Hydro) and different methods used to determine electricity independence.
This is a comprehensive report on travel patterns in London, England. The portion of this report referred to in The Black Swan Blog deals with the effectiveness of the London Traffic Congestion Charging fee, starting on page 281. The chart is taken from this report and shows a dramatic reduction in car and mini-cab trips as well as a large percentage inncrease in bicycle trips after the introduction of the fee in 2001.
This is a reprint of an article originally published in Newsday which discusses the failure of the Long Island Power Authority to use its "Edge" Demand Response to reduce peak demand at the height of a heat wave. The response from LIPA was that they were able to buy additional electricity (at very inflated prices) which meant there was no physical shortage.
This is an information page posted by NextEra which describes the SEGS facility, the largest Concentrated Solar Power facility in the world and perhaps the only one that can generate power 7x24 by integrating natural gas burnes as a secondary heat source. Despite having proved its value during more than 20 years of continuous generation the project's original builders, Luz Energy, went backrupt in 1991.
This is an article describing some of the issues facing Hawai's electrical grid operators as renewables become a significant component of the state's electrical generation system.
Note: File size is > 24 MB: This is a comprehensive report on the geothermal potential of the Big Island of Hawaii. It estimates this potential at between 500 MW and 1,500 MW versus the total current capacity for all sources on the Big Island of 140 MW, mostly generated by burning residual oil and naptha gas.
This document summarizes the results of a global survey on consumer attitudes with respect to renewable energy sources. The main findings are that a large majority of consumers worldwide have a preference for renewable energy if costs are equivalent. A large minority would be willing to pay a premium for energy from renewable sources.
Excellent and comprehensive article outlining the renewable energy goals that have been embraced by Germany and some of the issues that are being generated as a result. The most difficult ones are the cost of renewable subsidies (implemented through Feed-In-Tarriffs) and problems stabilizing the national grid in the face of renewable power fluctations.
This is a short commentary on the frequency of German Wind curtailments. Of particular interest are the graphs showing the variability in wind and solar power received by the various German grid operators.
This is a press release describing a study which modeled the economic impact of using CSP with TES. The high initial capital cost of this configuration of solar power is offset over time because it has the ability to provide base load power when demand peaks in the evening, reducing the need for relatively expensive "peaking plant" power.
This is a very comprehensive study by the California Public Utilities Commission on the barriers to widespread adoption of energy storage solutions and possible approaches to mitigate or eliminate those barriers. This study is in support of a storage requirement initiative that has been enacted through California legislations.
This comprehensive article discusses how renewables are disrupting the electricity generation utilities and causing unexpected shifts in utilitization rates with coal-fired plants being used preferentially over cleaner, more efficient natural-gas fired plants.
This is an article describing ongoing efforts by a consortium to use post-consumer car batteries as an energy storage system. A similar research proposal has been described in an earlier posting on the Black Swan Blog.
This is an article from the British newspaper The Telegraph describing some of the negative consequences of German development of renewable energy sources including surprising economic realities that are encouraging the Germans to use coal-fired plants preferentially over cleaner sources.
This is a comprehensive study by an independent research organization into the impact of MACT regulations in terms of which coal-fired electrical generation plants face closure by 2016.
This is a comprehensive economic study of various options for renewable energy for the Hawaiian islands with a particular focus on the "Big Wind" project. I personally disagree with a number of the assumptions as well as the conclusion but this is an important document to review.
This is a blog written by noted venture capitalist and entrepreneur Richard Stuebi in which he argues that the development of Black Swan Energy technologies will not take place without significant and sustained support from the public sector. In particular he challenges the concept that venture capitalists have enough risk appetitite to fund and develop truly radical energy sources and technologies.
This is a strongly worded letter from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation
to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas suggesting that Texas reserves were not sufficient and new, reliable generation facilities should be constructed as quickly as possible.
