Transmission, Part III: Alternative Solutions

By Joni Sliger, Energy Fellow

Distributed generation, like this solar facility in Hawaii,
could reduce the need for new transmission lines.
Credit: SunPower / NREL

Our electricity system depends on transmission infrastructure, and our clean energy future may well depend on the development of new and upgraded transmission lines. This blog series has explored the significance of the transmission system and one way (forming an RTO) to manage the system better for greater regional benefits. This final post explores three ways to advance a clean energy future while minimizing the need for new transmission investments.

1. Build Locally

One way to reduce the need for new transmission is to produce more electricity locally. Our current transmission system carries electricity to us from power plants that may be hundreds of miles away. While it may be desirable to build some lengthy transmission lines to reach distant renewable energy sources, the need for new lines can potentially be offset by siting power sources near demand.

One way to build local is to encourage distributed generation, such as rooftop solar. This requires encouraging individuals and businesses to produce their own renewable energy on-site. For example, in Oregon, one key policy driving rooftop solar is the Residential Energy Tax Credit. If the legislature fails to extend the tax credit beyond its 2017 sunset date, Oregon is likely to see fewer rooftop solar installations and more need for costly transmission investments.

2. Invest in New Technologies, like Ocean Energy

Ocean energy, including wave energy and tidal energy, is an under-developed resource that would enable much more local energy production along the coasts.  As I’ve discussed previously, over half of the U.S. population lives within 50 miles of a coastline. According to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, wave energy alone could feasibly meet almost a third of the U.S.’s energy needs. Oregon could build short transmission lines out to ocean energy facilities along its coast instead of building lines hundreds of miles long to reach out-of-state resources, like wind farms in Wyoming.

At the forefront of marine energy development, Oregon has enacted a policy position that recognizes the importance of ocean energy. In 2015, the legislature passed a law (now codified as Oregon Revised Statute § 757.811) to mandate that “any regional planning processes . . . adequately consider the transmission of electricity from ocean renewable energy.” While more research and development is needed to bring more ocean energy sources online, Oregon has taken one important step towards smarter transmission planning through this law.

3. Leverage Existing Infrastructure, like Railroads, for Transmission Lines

Electrifying the railroad system offers another way to develop the transmission we need while minimizing the cost and environmental impacts. Instead of paying for expensive siting procedures to, for example, minimize impacts on wildlife, we can leverage the existing railroad system by integrating new transmission lines into the railroads. Electric lines can carry more electricity than the trains need, allowing the railroads to serve as both a clean transportation strategy and a ready transmission solution.

A campaign called Solutionary Rail is advocating for railroad electrification as a way to revitalize rural communities, provide a ‘just transition’ for railroad workers needing employment as the industry moves away from predominantly shipping fossil fuels, and to provide the key transmission infrastructure we need to connect to distant renewable energy sources.  For example, the campaign is pushing first for the electrification of the BNSF Northern Transcon line between Seattle and Chicago. Electrifying this line could provide several benefits, including the transmission necessary for distant wind farms in Wyoming to reach power-hungry urban centers, like Seattle.

Electrified railroads are already a possibility; about half the rail lines in Europe are electric. Even just using existing railroad rights-of-way as a place to co-site transmission lines would facilitate an easier siting process. The U.S. should start looking to the future and invest, for the benefit of its environment, its economy, and its communities.

To attain a clean energy future, the U.S. needs to invest in its transmission system. By building locally, investing in new technologies like ocean energy, and leveraging existing infrastructure like railroads, we can build a better transmission system and a better world. 

Tribes & Renewables Part II: Benefits of Renewable Development on Tribal Land

Nevada Senator Harry Reid and members of the Moapa Band

 of Paiute break ground on the Moapa Southern Paiute Solar project.

 Source: http://energy.gov/articles/sun-rises-tribal-energy-future-nevada

By Andrea Lang, Policy Analyst

In the United States, tribal land contains huge potential for developing renewable projects. According to the Department of Energy, American Indian land makes up 2% of all U.S. land, but contains a disproportional 5% of the nation’s renewable energy resources, including an estimated 14 billion megawatt-hours of solar resources and 1.1 billion megawatt-hours of wind resources. Part I of my blog series on tribes and renewable energy described the potentially devastating effects of climate change on tribes, and the high cost (financially and morally) of asking tribes to adapt to those effects. Developing renewable energy projects on tribal lands can reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector and help increase tribal resilience to climate change. But renewable development can have other benefits for tribes, as well.  This week, Part II of the series explores the benefits of renewable development on tribal land. In particular, this post discusses how renewable projects on tribal land can provide (1) a source of revenue generation for tribes, (2) a relatively low-cost option for electrifying rural tribal communities, and (3) jobs and training to tribal community members.

Revenue Generation:

First, building renewable energy systems can provide tribes with a steady source of revenue to help tribal economies. Tribes can construct large utility-scale solar or wind projects and sell the power to utilities. For example, the Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory point out that state Renewable Portfolio Standards–which require utilities to obtain a certain percentage of their electricity from renewable sources–create a demand that tribes can take advantage of to enter into power purchase agreements with utilities that provide long-term, steady sources of revenue for the tribes.

Alternatively, tribes can use the renewable energy they generate to power their own reservation. Most tribes currently purchase electricity generated outside the borders of the reservation. By providing their communities with power generated within the reservation, tribes can keep the money otherwise spent on outside electricity purchases within their own communities in order to aid their economies. For example, the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians in California built a 1,900 megawatt solar project, allowing them to reduce reliance on the tribe’s outside utility by about 25%.

Electrification for Rural Tribal Members

Second, building renewable energy projects on tribal land can provide tribes with much-needed electricity infrastructure. According to the Energy Information Administration, 14% of tribal households lack access to the electric grid, compared to the 1.4% national average. Many tribes lack reliable electricity because they are located in sparsely populated rural areas that are not connected to the interstate grid. For these communities, distributed renewable power can be a common-sense and relatively low-cost way to provide reliable power to tribal members. For example, the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority has had a renewable energy program in place since 2000 that provides hybrid solar and wind energy systems to rural Navajo households. Compared to the tens of thousands of dollars it would cost to connect these communities to the grid, these distributed renewable generation options are a significant improvement over the unreliable and dirty diesel generators and kerosene lanterns these households had been using.

Jobs and Training

Finally, building new renewable projects on tribal land can create jobs for tribal communities. A National Wildlife Federation report on “The New Energy Future in Indian Country” details the jobs likely to be created by renewable development on tribal land, including construction, installation, operations, and maintenance of renewable energy systems. For example, the ongoing construction of the Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project (pictured above) has created around 400 construction jobs and will provide seven ongoing operations jobs. Although many jobs will likely be temporary, lasting only until the project has been completely constructed, tribal members who received on-the-job training will be in a good position to obtain future green building jobs.

Next week’s post in this series will discuss some of the barriers to tribal development of renewable projects and explore some existing and suggested policy solutions to overcome these barriers.

Solar Foundation Job Census Report Provides Strong Support for the Economic Benefits of Solar

By Andrea Lang, Energy Fellow

Credit: BLS.gov

Last week, the Solar Foundation released a report on trends in employment in the U.S. solar industry, concluding that solar industry jobs have grown 123% since 2010. According to the report, the solar industry “continues to outpace most other sectors of the economy, adding  workers at  a  rate  nearly 12 times  faster  than  the  overall economy  and  accounting  for 1.2%  of  all  jobs  created  in  the  U.S.  over the  past  year.” 

In conducting the census, the Solar Foundation sent and received surveys from thousands of businesses to determine which areas of the solar industry are growing, in which states, and which policies are responsible for encouraging that growth.

 

With respect to growth areas, the report noted that almost two-thirds of the new solar jobs last year were created in the installation sector, and that sector now represents 57% of total solar industry employment.  And given that this statistic does not even include utility-scale installers, the findings show the important role that distributed generation plays in the solar industry. In fact, the report also found that 78% of solar jobs are either in the residential or commercial market, compared to only 22% in the utility-scale market. These are the kind of statistics that all levels of government should keep in mind when considering whether to shrink or expand various tax credits, renewable portfolio standards, net metering, and other policies aimed at encouraging investment in renewables. 

In fact, the states that are experiencing the most solar growth seem to be ones that have strongly incentivized distributed generation at the state level. California (75,598 jobs), Massachusetts (15,095 jobs) and Nevada (8,764 jobs) lead the county in the number of solar jobs. At least in the past, these states had in common a commitment to policies that strongly encourage renewable development. California, for example, has host of policies in place to advance renewables, including rebates, grants, tax credits, and a net-metering policy that allows owners of offsite solar installations to benefit as well (via so-called “virtual” net metering). Massachusetts has similar incentives in place, and has also recently raised its cap on net metering.

Nevada, which also has lots of policies in place to encourage renewables, provides a great example of the effect state policies have on the renewable industry. When Nevada recently gutted the state’s net-metering policy, SolarCity (the state’s largest solar job provider) cut 550 jobs. The connection between job availability and policies encouraging solar investment seems fairly clear from the facts. 

According to the report, the solar industry acknowledges the importance of state and federal policies that advance renewables. When asked about the importance of various policies to business prospects, 78% of solar businesses responded that the federal investment tax credit, recently extended by Congress, was “considerably or somewhat important,” and 57% responded that state-level policies were as important. Again, these responses especially make sense with respect to small-scale distributed generation. Even with the falling cost of installing solar PV, it’s still a large up-front investment. By providing customers with incentives, the number of residential and commercial owners willing to invest in solar increases, adding to the demand for people to manufacture and install those panels. 

Overall, the report offers strong support for the economic argument that President Obama made in favor of advancing renewables in his last State of the Union address: a growing renewable industry is good for the economy. And in light the political difficulty of using climate change as an argument to advance renewables, perhaps advocates should be touting the economic benefits of a growing renewable industry more often.