Electrek green energy brief: California talking about 100%, Mexico at 2.69¢/kWh, The Residential Electric Utility, more

California going for 100% renewable electricity by 2045 – A California politician has submitted a bill requiring the state to go 100% renewable electricity by 2045. California is the largest US state by population and GDP, and if it were on its own it is often said it’d be among the top ten economies in the world. With a Massachusetts politician also pushing for 100% electricity by 2035 and renewable energy by 2045, we might have two states totaling 47 million people (plus Hawaii sometime in the 2030s) investing in research, technology, and installation of whole new power systems for decades to come.

Mexico solar bid at 2.69¢/kWh – I remember back in 2011-2013 when I worked for Beghelli, and was training the Mexico sales teams on solar power. The country has great sunlight resources, especially in the northwestern desert that is located just south of New Mexico, Arizona and California – some of the best photons in the world. Residential electricity is expensive – with a progressive pricing form that has four to five tiers that get increasingly more expensive with more total usage. Located all over the country were black cisterns on the roofs of homes to heat water. Less than three cents a watt – with no incentives, just south of the US border. That means those prices are coming here soon.

Australian residential battery systems actively used by utility to manage peak times – This is an example of the smart grid making your home into a Residential Electric Utility. A utility using software to coordinate home energy storage systems with the needs of the broader power grid during peak usage periods. In places where solar power is starting to gain a foothold, we see utilities increasing the costs of services such as transmission of electricity and delivering peak demand services. Home battery systems, like in this article, are going to specifically attack those peak demand services – with solar power eating generation. As the cost of generating electricity goes to 1.99¢/kWh, and then lower, plus battery systems heading under $100/kW – it might become that the only things an electric utility does is manage the flow of electrons.

North Dakota politician asking for 2 year halt to new wind – These are the gasps of a dying industry. When your fortune is on the line, and you can see no further than today’s horizon – you will fight. I get it. You’re going to lose though.

California city requires Zero Net Energy (ZNE) for all residential units – 100% of electricity on a state level is a powerful thing, but guess what – Net Zero on a residential level is even more powerful. If every structure is forced to consider its electrical infrastructure on day one, inside of the structure itself, then we’re going to have a true distributed power grid. Construction experts will get really creative – I expect a cul-de-sac with a tractor-trailer filled with batteries under the road in the center area, and solar systems wired together in a microgrid.

Automakers asking for permission to kill people – Sorry for saying that in such a sharp manner, but guess what – that’s the end game of a request to lower emissions requirements. We know that efforts to lower electricity emissions in the United States – via moving from coal to gas and adding renewables – have been successful. We know that the common man is the one who bears the consequences of pollution. You are seeing a beast reach out to harm in order to feed itself during its last decade or two in life.

40 coal plants scheduled to close in next 4 years – Just wanted to share this. Yes, there are tens of thousands of Americans working in coal, many more globally, but there were the same number working on farms and in the stables at the turn of the century. And I’ve got no interest in returning to that world other than in my daydreams.

A sober conversation is going to have to occur between the day we all have energy storage and today, when we are seeing higher levels of solar power penetration drive down average costs of energy across the board. We need to figure out how to make money off of solar power – and it is quite ironic that the problem of ‘too expensive’ solar power is now turning into ‘too cheap’ solar power.

The growth of solar is eating into its own value. Exhibit A: California natural gas worth 43% more than solar in 2016. (BNEF) pic.twitter.com/kgjD2fhpSh

— Richard Meyer (@RichardMeyerDC) February 21, 2017

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