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Article filed under Energy | Written by John Farrell | No Comments | Updated on May 16, 2011

Community Ownership Boosts Support for Renewables

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/community-ownership-boosts-support-renewables/

A new article in the journal Energy Policy supports the notion that local ownership is key to overcoming local resistance to renewable energy.  The article summarizes a survey conducted of two towns in Germany, both with local wind projects, but only one that was locally owned.  The results are summarized in this chart:

Guess which town has the locally owned project? 

If you guessed Zschadraß, you win.  With local ownership of the wind project, 45% of residents had a positive view toward more wind energy.  In the town with an absentee-owned project (Nossen), only 16% of residents had a positive view of expanding wind power; a majority had a negative view.

Ownership matters, and U.S. renewable energy policy typically makes local ownership more difficult.

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Article filed under Energy | Written by John Farrell | No Comments | Updated on Apr 27, 2011

Really, Really Astonishingly Low Distributed Solar PV Prices from German Solar Policy

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/really-really-astonishingly-low-distributed-solar-pv-prices-german-solar-policy/

Last week I shared a graphic illustrating the dramatic fall in distributed solar PV prices in Germany, down to $4.11 per Watt installed, for rooftop systems under 100 kilowatts.  As it turns out, the graphic was out-of-date.  In Germany, the average installed cost for rooftop solar PV under 100 kW is $3.70 per Watt (update 7/13/11: $3.40 per Watt).  It’s a 50% drop in price since 2006, an average of 13% per year.

For comparison (as in the first post), here’s the average installed cost for under 10 kW rooftop solar PV in the United States, by state.

Chart is from page 19 of the brilliant report, Tracking the Sun III: The Installed Cost of Photovoltaics in the U.S. from 1998-2009 (large pdf).

Also from the previous post:

Did I also mention that the German policy (a feed-in tariff) driving solar costs down only costs German ratepayers the equivalent of a loaf of bread per month?  In the U.S., the federal renewable energy incentives cost $4 billion in 2007, or about $3.17 per household per month (or about the same price as an Italian baguette).

There’s only way to describe this German success: wunderbar!

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Article filed under Energy | Written by John Farrell | 9 Comments | Updated on Apr 21, 2011

Astonishingly Low Distributed Solar PV Prices from German Solar Policy

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/astonishingly-low-distributed-solar-pv-prices-german-solar-policy/

Most renewable energy advocates are familiar with feed-in tariffs, also known as CLEAN Contracts.  They offer standard, long-term contracts for renewable electricity with prices sufficient to allow producers to get a reasonable return on investment (in Germany, it’s 6 to 8 percent). And research has shown that they tend to drive prices down more effectively… Continue reading

Article filed under Energy | Written by John Farrell | No Comments | Updated on Jan 28, 2011

Distributed Wind Power Scales, Too

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/distributed-wind-power-scales-too/

Last week we noted how distributed (solar PV) generation scales, highlighting the 3,000 megawatts of solar PV that Germany installed in 2009, over 80% on rooftops. 

Distributed wind power scales, as well. 

Of Germany’s 27,000 megawatts of wind power projects (3rd most in the world and most per capita), nearly 90% are smaller than 20 megawatts, with most between 1 and 5 megawatts.

The small projects are also a significant portion of total capacity, with 20 MW and under wind projects contributing half of total wind power capacity.

Data source

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Article filed under Energy | Written by John Farrell | No Comments | Updated on Jan 20, 2011

Half of Germany’s 43,000 Megawatts of Renewable Energy Owned by Individuals

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/half-germanys-43000-megawatts-renewable-energy-owned-individuals/

Update 10/20/11 – See the updated chart.

From Germany’s Renewable Energy Agency (terms translated by Google):

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Article filed under Energy | Written by John Farrell | 1 Comment | Updated on Jan 19, 2011

Over 80 Percent of German PV Installed on Rooftops

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/over-80-percent-german-pv-installed-rooftops/

Updated 1/28/11: Talk about distributed generation!  In Germany in 2009, nearly 1 in 5 solar PV systems went on residential rooftops and 60% was installed on small to medium residential or commercial buildings. 

 

The absolute numbers are big, too.  Germany installed nearly 9 gigawatts installed 3 gigawatts of solar in 2009, to reach 9 gigawatts of installed capacity.

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Article filed under Energy | Written by John Farrell | 1 Comment | Updated on Oct 4, 2010

Policy to Maximize On-site Use from Distributed Generation

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/policy-maximize-site-use-distributed-generation/

Distributed generation (DG) puts energy production close to where it is consumed, often on people’s homes or in their backyards.  But just having a rooftop solar module doesn’t mean that every kilowatt-hour produced from sunlight is used in the home.  In fact, it’s often less than one-third, with the remaining energy production flowing out into… Continue reading