Clean Energy Self Reliance Using Homegrown Renewable Power In Each USA State

Greetings, All -- The information below was originally reported on November 11, 2008.

I call to your attention a new report by The New Rules Project that estimates the potential of individual states in the USA to tap into their own and nearby renewable energy resources. The relatively brief, 14-page report is well illustrated with maps and data to help change our way of thinking about renewable energy supplies and options.

For example, in our American Southwest, the New Rules reports says New Mexico has the potential to generate 2700 (twenty-seven hundred) percent of its electricity demands using wind power, and/or 37 (thirty-seven) percent of its electricity demands using rooftop solar photovoltaic power.

One also might consider that the immediate reaction to a solar power potential map for the USA is to believe that solar power must come from the American Southwest from a band extending from southern California eastward to west Texas. However, a more thoughtful reaction to the same map is that there is significant solar power potential in every state of the USA, and the solar resource can be more economically developed locally when long distance transmission costs (and power losses) are considered.

The report has its flaws. For example, The wind data are based on a 1991 study and on 30 m heights, and there is much research done since that provides more accurate data. The report data are based on average wind speeds whereas it is important to take into account fluctuations because loads do not vary linearly with speed. Also, the references used are not scientific peer-reviewed literature but mainly internet resources and blogs.

For an up-to-date report on wind power for the USA, see the 2007 edition of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Annual Report on U.S. Wind Power Installation, Cost, and Performance Trends

Nonetheless, we should be more concerned with the concept of locally generated energy as an alternative or complement to central station power generation with long-distance transmission. The precise scientific numbers and estimates re wind, solar, and other resources in the New Rules report are perhaps less relevant than creating an immediate national review and debate on retooling our energy infrastructure for our new energy economy.

What is happening, unfortunately, is that many political and technical advisors on our energy future have already adopted a model based on old-line thinking that applies to an obsolescent national power generation and transmission infrastructure -- without considering the merits of Distributed Generation. [There will be more on this page about Distributed Generation, Micro-Grid Technology, etc. in other posts.]

Consider this statement published November 14, 2008: "Another point that all [renewable energy] associations agreed was of utmost importance to bring the U.S. out of its economic woes was major investment in interstate electrical grid infrastructure, including new transmission and smart grid technologies. Many of the best renewable energy resources are located in remote areas that do not have ready grid-access. New transmission corridors will be necessary to bring wind, water, solar, and geothermal energy that is harvested in remote areas to areas of the country in which people reside."
See: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/story?id=54078&src=rss

Most of the best renewable energy resources in our nation are co-located with old technology power stations already connected to the national grid. [As one obvious example, the same 40,000 square miles of New Mexico already given over to oil and natural gas production in the San Juan and Permian Basins -- clearly connected to our national transmission grid -- could provide our entire nation's electrical demands via solar power for the remainder of this century.]

Additionally, many of the best renewable energy resources -- especially solar -- are colocated with major metropolitan areas in our nation where multi-millions of people reside [Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Tuscon, Albuquerque, Denver, El Paso, Austin, San Antonio, Salt Lake City, etc., etc.]. Thus, there is no immediate need to pursue the hugely wasteful process of building remotely located power plants and thousands of miles of new transmission lines with their inherent power losses with distance.

Nonetheless, political planning and the groundwork for economic resource allocation are already well in progress toward the obsolescent and uneconomical idea that we must necessarily think of our future energy infrastructure as we remember it from our past.

The new report is available for download at: http://www.newrules.org/de/energyselfreliantstates.pdf The Executive Summary follows.


Energy Self-Reliant States: Homegrown Renewable Power

Executive Summary

How much energy could be generated by states tapping into internal renewable resources? To date, no study has addressed this question comprehensively. This report is a first attempt to do so.

The data in this report, while preliminary, suggest that at least half of the fifty states could meet all their internal energy needs from renewable energy generated inside their borders, and the vast majority could meet a significant percentage. And these estimates may well be conservative.

A national renewable energy policy should reflect the unique distribution of these energy sources. Wind and solar and, to a lesser extent, biomass, can be found in abundance in virtually all parts of the country. A federal policy that focuses on harnessing local renewable resources for local markets could dramatically expand the number of communities and states economically benefiting from the use of renewable fuels while minimizing the transportation-related environmental impact of moving energy products long distances.

Yet current federal energy policy is largely focused on harnessing renewable energy in a few states and transporting it hundreds or even thousands of miles to customers in other states.

The rationale for this reliance on long distribution lines is that while renewable energy is widely distributed, the resources and cost of harnessing them vary widely state-by- state.

That is true. Agricultural states in the heartland can grow biomass in larger quantities and at a lower cost than states on the coasts. A state like Nevada has significantly more annual solar energy than Oregon. North Dakota’s high wind speeds translate into lower production costs.

However, while significant variations in renewable energy among states exist; in most cases, when transmission or transportation costs are taken into account, the net cost variations are quite modest. Homegrown energy is almost always cheaper than imports, especially when you factor in social, environmental and economic benefits.

Policies that encourage energy self-reliance at a state and even in many cases a local level could enable communities and regions to achieve economic and environmental goals simultaneously. It’s a win-win situation.