How NJ Rose To #2 in US Solar Power
By
Bob Haavind, Editor-at-large, Photovoltaics World
June 23, 2009 | 11 Comments Philadelphia, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com] While it's not surprising that sun-drenched California leads the US with 67% of the country's grid-connected solar power, how did a little East Coast state like New Jersey gain the No. 2 spot with nearly 9% (and double the power of No. 3 state Colorado)? Making this achievement more remarkable is that in 2001 New Jersey had only six PV installations, and now there are nearly 4000 generating >85 MW.
Instead of building all their own renewable energy power generators, the utilities can also meet these requirements by buying SRECs in an open auction from installers and operators of distributed solar facilities. One SREC is earned for every 1000 kWh of generated energy, and its price is capped at $711, although the trade value is usually less than that.
The story behind this progress was told at a session at PV America, a new exhibition/conference that took place in Philadelphia, June 8-10. The recipe for the "secret sauce" that made it all possible was revealed early on by Dr. Jeanne Fox, president of the NJ Board of Public Utilities. "I believe that New Jersey is the best place to do solar in the country, policy-wise," Fox explained. Her background includes stints both within the electric utility industry and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); she confessed she is not technical, having been a philosophy major who went on to get a PhD in law at Rutgers. As an EPA administrator, she said she went to a briefing in Washington DC on the coming impact of climate change — it was so scary, she said, that she realized the electric utility where she had worked would have to make dramatic changes in the future.
"That means we will need 3100 MW from solar by 2020," Fox explained. To get this rolling, the state budgeted $260M to invest in stimulating solar industry and use over the 2002-2008 period. If rebates were used instead of the SREC trading system, it would cost the taxpayers more than $3B to reach the 3100 MW by 2020. Instead, there is a steadily rising level of renewable portfolio standards (RPS) that the electric utilities in the state must meet each year, according to Maureen Quaid, renewable energy market leader, NJ Clean Energy Program, Conservation Services Group. The RPS targets each year are based on a percentage of the total electric load, she explained. Instead of building all their own renewable energy power generators, the utilities can also meet these requirements by buying SRECs in an open auction from installers and operators of distributed solar facilities. One SREC is earned for every 1000 kWh [1 MWh] of generated energy, and its price is capped at $711, although the trade value is usually less than that. Solar is now spreading across the state to schools, hospitals, funeral homes, and residences, as well as commercial and business sites, according to Fox. She cited a Johnson & Johnson solar array over a parking lot next to the Amtrak tracks, and a massive rooftop system at Hall's Warehouse Corp. in South Plainfield, NJ. This last facility was built and operated by a California company to supply electricity to Hall's huge complex of refrigerated storage units. Hall's put up no frontend investment, but now pays the installer and operator for the electricity supplied at a lower rate than it was paying to the local power company. "There is still a bureaucracy, including the federal government, as well as the state," Fox explained, but with clear standards, tradable credits, and the ability to work out long-term contracts, solar can make good business sense. To make the SREC system realistic, she said, there are measurements and trades are based on real outputs, and costs can be spread over 15 years. The rebate system is being scaled back; it still is used for smaller installations — up to 10kW for homeowners, and up to 50kW for small businesses, according to Fox — but will be phased out in 2012. While this ambitious program has made great strides, some fine-tuning is still needed, based on comments and questions from audience members doing solar business in NJ. The value that can be placed on future credits, for example, isn't known until the October auction, leaving very little time to file federal paperwork, one installer complained. Fox explained that the utilities claimed they needed the time to develop bids, but she promised to discuss the matter with them. There was also new concern about rules changing after long-term contracts were agreed upon, and Fox said she intended to stay on the job for years. With support coming from the top, and the willingness to be flexible when needed, NJ appears to have a bright future in solar. Bob Haavind is editor-at-large for Photovoltaics World magazine and SST. This article was republished with permission from Photovoltaics World. PV World is part of the Renewable Energy World Network.
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As can be seen at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada_Solar_One, Nevada has about 3 times the solar power as 34 MWe given here, when its solar thermal electric power plant is included.
Nevada clearly has much more solar electric power than the 70 MWe of New Jersey.
Solar Thermal Electric (STE) power costs roughly half that of photovoltaic, and as demonstrated by the Andasol plants (each 50 MWe), these technologies can economically deliver power for hours after sunset.
According to the paper delivered by Nobel Laureate Carlo Rubbia at the Seville SOLARPACES meeting, ~1% of earth's surface can deliver the projected world electricity demand of 2050 with STE.
More specifically, according to Rubbia the most compact STE technology currently under development (linear Fresnel) requires only about 15 sq km (~6 sq miles) per average (over 24 hour, 365 day cycle) gigawatt (1000 MWe).
Most current STE plants have well-spaced concentrator mirrors, and use more land. It is well established that solar PV as well as STE use LESS land than coal, nuclear or hydro power -- when mining activities, waste disposal and the size of fertile valleys submerged by dams are included. See EPRI of Palo Alto, Calif . . .