Renewable energy commercialization

Renewable energy encompasses a broad, diverse array of technologies, including solar photovoltaics, solar thermal power plants and heating/cooling systems, wind, hydroelectricity, geothermal, biomass, and ocean power systems. The current status of these different technologies varies considerably. "First-generation" technologies are already mature and economically competitive, "second-generation" technologies need only limited additional development steps to become ready for the market, and "third-generation" technologies are still too expensive and may require a few decades of continued R&D efforts in order to make large contributions on a global scale.

While there are many "non-technical barriers" to the widespread use of renewables, climate change concerns coupled with high oil prices and increasing government support are driving increasing growth in the renewable energy industries. Investment capital flowing into renewable energy climbed from $80 billion in 2005 to a record $100 billion in 2006. Leading renewable energy companies include: Acciona, BP Solar, Enercon, Gamesa, GE Energy, Kyocera, Q-Cells, Sharp Solar, SunOpta, and Vestas.

The wind, Sun and biomass are three renewable energy sources

Three generations of renewable energy technologies

Renewable energy technologies are essential contributors to the energy supply portfolio as they generally contribute to world energy security, reducing dependency on fossil fuel resources, and providing opportunities for mitigating greenhouse gases. The International Energy Agency has defined three generations of renewable energy technologies, reaching back more than 100 years:

• First-generation technologies emerged from the industrial revolution at the end of the 19th century and include hydropower, biomass combustion, and geothermal power and heat. Some of these technologies are still in widespread use.

• Second-generation technologies include solar heating and cooling, wind power, modern forms of bioenergy, and solar photovoltaics. These are now entering markets as a result of research, development and demonstration (RD&D) investments since the 1980s. The initial investment was prompted by energy security concerns linked to the oil crises of the 1970s but the continuing appeal of these renewables is due, at least in part, to environmental benefits. Many of the technologies reflect significant advancements in materials.

• Third-generation technologies are still under development and include advanced biomass gasification, biorefinery technologies, concentrating solar thermal power, hot-dry-rock geothermal power, and ocean energy. Advances in nanotechnology may also play a major role.

First- and second-generation technologies have entered the markets, and third-generation technologies heavily depend on long term RD&D commitments, where the public sector has a role to play.

First-generation technologies

Hydroelectric dam in cross section

The CIS Tower, Manchester, England, was clad in PV panels at a cost of £5.5 million. It started feeding electricity to the national grid in November 2005.

First-generation technologies are most competitive in locations with abundant resources. Their future use depends on the exploration of the remaining resource potential, particularly in developing countries, and on overcoming challenges related to the environment and social acceptance. For example, there are several significant environmental disadvantages of large-scale hydroelectric power systems, which include: dislocation of people living where the reservoirs are planned, release of significant amounts of carbon dioxide during construction and flooding of the reservoir, and disruption of aquatic ecosystems and birdlife. Hydroelectric power is now more difficult to site in developed nations because most major sites within these nations are either already being exploited or may be unavailable for these environmental reasons (See Hydroelectricity article for details).

Second-generation technologies

Markets for second-generation technologies are strong and growing, mainly in countries such as Germany, Spain, the United States, and Japan. The challenge is to broaden the market base for continued growth worldwide. Strategic deployment in one country not only reduces technology costs for users there, but also for those in other countries, contributing to overall cost reductions and performance improvement.

Solar Heating

Solar heating systems are a well known second-generation technology and generally consist of solar thermal collectors, a fluid system to move the heat from the collector to its point of usage, and a reservoir or tank for heat storage and subsequent use. The systems may be used to heat domestic hot water, swimming pool water, or for space heating. The heat can also be used for industrial applications or as an energy input for other uses such as cooling equipment. In many climates, a solar heating system can provide a very high percentage (50 to 75%) of domestic hot water energy. In many northern European countries, combined hot water and space heating systems (solar combisystems) are used to provide 15 to 25% of home heating energy (see Solar hot water article).

Photovoltaics

In the 1980s and early 1990s, most photovoltaic modules provided Remote Area Power Supply, but from around 1995, industry efforts have focused increasingly on developing building integrated photovoltaics and power plants for grid connected applications (see Photovoltaic power stations article for details). There is currently a proposal to build a Solar power station in Victoria, Australia, which would be the world's largest PV power station, at 154 MW.

Large scale power applications reflect a growing market for solar photovoltaics. In 2000, the total annual manufacturing output of all solar companies was about 300 MW. In 2005, solar industry manufacturing output rose almost five-fold to more than 1,500 MW of solar PV modules and surpassed 2,000 MW in 2006. Other large photovoltaic power stations, which have been proposed or are under construction, include: the Girrasol solar power plant (62 MW), Waldpolenz Solar Park (40 MW), and the [[Nellis Solar Power Plant (15 MW).

Wind power

Worldwide installed capacity and prediction 1997-2010, Source: WWEA

Some of the second-generation renewables, such as wind power, have high potential and have already realised relatively low production costs. At the end of 2006, worldwide capacity of wind-powered generators was 74,223 megawatts, and although it currently produces less than 1% of world-wide electricity use, it accounts for approximately 20% of electricity use in Denmark, 9% in Spain, and 7% in Germany. However, it may be difficult to site wind turbines in some areas for aesthetic or environmental reasons, and it may be difficult to integrate wind power into electricity grids in some cases.

The United States is an important growth area. Latest American Wind Energy Association figures show that installed U.S. wind power capacity has reached 11,600 MW which is enough to serve three million average households. Some of the largest wind farms operating in the U.S. are: Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center, TX (736 MW); Maple Ridge Wind Farm, NY (322 MW); Stateline Wind Project, OR & WA (300 MW); King Mountain Wind Farm, TX (281 MW); and Sweetwater Wind Farm, TX (264 MW).

Modern forms of Bioenergy

Gasoline on the left, alcohol on the right at a filling station in Brazil

Brazil has one of the largest renewable energy programs in the world, involving production of ethanol fuel from sugar cane, and ethanol now provides 18 percent of the country's automotive fuel. As a result of this, together with the exploitation of domestic deep water oil sources, Brazil, which years ago had to import a large share of the petroleum needed for domestic consumption, recently reached complete self-sufficiency in oil. Production and use of ethanol has been stimulated through: (1) low-interest loans for the construction of ethanol distilleries; (2) guaranteed purchase of ethanol by the state-owned oil company at a reasonable price; (3) retail pricing of neat ethanol so it is competitive if not slightly favorable to the gasoline-ethanol blend; and (4) tax incentives provided during the 1980s to stimulate the purchase of neat ethanol vehicles. Guaranteed purchase and price regulation were ended some years ago, with relatively positive results. In addition to these other policies, ethanol producers in the state of Sao Paulo established a research and technology transfer center that has been effective in improving sugar cane and ethanol yields.

Information on pump, California.

Most cars on the road today in the U.S. can run on blends of up to 10% ethanol, and motor vehicle manufacturers already produce vehicles designed to run on much higher ethanol blends. Ford, DaimlerChrysler, and GM are among the automobile companies that sell “flexible-fuel” cars, trucks, and minivans that can use gasoline and ethanol blends ranging from pure gasoline up to 85% ethanol (E85). By mid-2006, there were approximately six million E85-compatible vehicles on U.S. roads. The challenge is to expand the market for biofuels beyond the farm states where they have been most popular to date. Flex-fuel vehicles are assisting in this transition because they allow drivers to choose different fuels based on price and availability. The Energy Policy Act of 2005, which calls for 7.5 billion gallons of biofuels to be used annually by 2012, will also help to expand the market.

It should also be noted that the growing ethanol and biodiesel industries are providing jobs in plant construction, operations, and maintenance, mostly in rural communities. According to the Renewable Fuels Association, the ethanol industry created almost 154,000 U.S. jobs in 2005 alone, boosting household income by $5.7 billion. It also contributed about $3.5 billion in tax revenues at the local, state, and federal levels.

Third-generation technologies

Third-generation technologies are still under development and include advanced biomass gasification, biorefinery technologies, concentrating solar thermal power, hot-dry-rock geothermal power, and ocean energy. Third-generation technologies are not yet widely demonstrated or have limited commercialization. Many are on the horizon and may have potential comparable to other renewable energy technologies, but still depend on attracting sufficient attention and RD&D funding.

New bioenergy technologies

According to the International Energy Agency, new bioenergy (biofuel) technologies being developed today, notably cellulosic ethanol, could allow biofuels to play a much bigger role in the future than previously thought. Cellulosic ethanol can be made from plant matter composed primarily of inedible cellulose fibers that form the stems and branches of most plants. Crop residues (such as corn stalks, wheat straw and rice straw), wood waste, and municipal solid waste are potential sources of cellulosic biomass. Dedicated energy crops, such as switchgrass, are also promising cellulose sources that can be sustainably produced in many regions of the United States.

Solar thermal power stations

Sketch of a Parabolic Trough Collector

File:Pelamis.JPG

Pelamis machine pointing into the waves: it attenuates the waves, gathering more energy than its narrow profile suggests. See Pelamis Wave Energy Converter

Solar thermal power stations have been successfully operating in California commercially since the late 1980s, including the largest solar power plant of any kind, the 350 MW Solar Energy Generating Systems. Nevada Solar One is another 64MW plant which has recently opened. Other parabolic trough power plants being proposed are two 50MW plants in Spain (see Solar power in Spain), and a 100MW plant in Israel.

Ocean energy

In terms of Ocean energy, another third-generation technology, Portugal has the world's first commercial wave farm, the Aguçadora Wave Park, established in 2006. The farm will initially use three Pelmis P-750 machines generating 2.25 MW. and costs are put at 8.5 million euro. Subject to successful operation, a further 70 million euro is likely to be invested before 2009 on a further 28 machines to generate 525 MW. Funding for a wave farm in Scotland was announced in February, 2007 by the Scottish Executive, at a cost of over 4 million pounds, as part of a £13 million funding packages for ocean power in Scotland. The farm will be the world's largest with a capacity of 3 MW generated by four Pelamis machines. (see also Wave farm).

In 2007, the world's first commercial tidal power station is to be installed in the narrows of Strangford Lough in Ireland. The 1.2 megawatt underwater tidal electricity generator, part of Northern Ireland's Environment & Renewable Energy Fund scheme, will take advantage of the fast tidal flow (up to 4m per second) in the lough. Although the generator is expected to be powerful enough to power a thousand homes, the turbine will have minimal environmental impact, as it will be almost entirely submerged, and the rotors pose no danger to wildlife as they turn quite slowly.

Nanotechnology thin-film solar panels

Solar power panels that use nanotechnology, which can create circuits out of individual silicon molecules, may cost half as much as traditional photovoltaic cells, according to executives and investors involved in developing the products. Nanosolar has secured more than $100 million from investors to build a factory for nanotechnology thin-film solar panels. The Palo Alto, California, company expects the factory to open in 2010 and produce enough solar cells each year to generate 430 megawatts of power.

Leading renewable energy companies

Acciona Energy

Acciona Energy is a leader in the renewable energy sector and the company’s mission is to "demonstrate the technical and economic viability of a sustainable energy model". Acciona Energy is the largest developer, owner and operator of wind farms in the world, with 164 wind farms in nine countries representing over 4,500 MW of wind power installed or under construction.

BP Solar

File:Bp-solarmodul.JPG

Solar panel made by BP Solar

BP has been involved in solar power since 1973 and its subsidiary, BP Solar, is now one of the world's largest solar power companies with production facilities in the United States, Spain, India and Australia, employing a workforce of over 2,000 people worldwide. BP solar is a major worldwide manufacturer and installer of photovoltaic solar cells.

Enercon

Enercon E-112

Enercon, based in Aurich, Northern Germany, is the third-largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world and the market leader in Germany. As of April 2007 Enercon had installed 11,006 wind turbines, with an overall power of 11,703 GW. Their most-often installed model is the E-40 (the number indicates the rotor diameter in meters), which pioneered the gearbox-less design in 1992. Enercon has production facilities in Germany (Aurich and Magdeburg), Sweden, Brazil, India and Turkey.

Gamesa

Gamesa Eólica is a renewable energy company, founded in 1976 with headquarters in Bilbao, Spain, primarily focusing in wind turbine technology. The company is currently the world's second largest wind turbine manufacturer, after Vestas, and it is also a major builder of wind farms.

Gamesa Wind Turbine Installed at Bald Mountain in Bear Creek Township, PA

GE Energy

GE Energy has installed over 5,500 wind turbines and 3,600 hydro turbines, and its total installed capacity of renewable energy exceeds 160,000 MW.

Kyocera

Kyocera has announced a plan to increase its solar cell production to 500 MW per year in 2010. 500 MW is about three times the 2007 production output, and the company will strengthen production bases in Japan, the US, Europe and China, investing a total of about ¥30 billion through to 2010.

Q-Cells

Q-Cells, the German solar cell manufacturer, went from zero manufacturing output in 2000 to being the world’s second largest manufacturer of solar cells in 2006. Q-Cells planned to manufacture about 250 MW of solar cells in 2007. Q-cells is based in Thalheim, Germany, and employs more than 1,000 people.

Sharp Solar

Sharp Solar produces both single and multi-crystalline solar cells and for some years has been the world's leading manufacturer of photovoltaic modules. Sharp's solar modeules are used for many applications, from satellites to lighthouses, and from industrial applications to residential use. Sharp Corporation began researching solar cells in 1959 with mass production first beginning in 1963. Sharp manufactures PV modules in Llay near Wrexham and production capacity amounted to 324 MW in 2004.

Today, Sharp is the world’s leading manufacturer of solar PV modules, representing more than a quarter of global solar PV output, with annual revenues of more than $1 billion from that business. The company’s president, Katsuhiko Machida, predicts that the cost of generating power from photovoltaics could fall by half between 2006 and 2010.

Commercial projects completed through Sharp’s authorised distributor, Solarcentury, have included supplying PV panels as part of a complete solar power generation system on a new petrol station in Nottinghamshire, and a large social housing project in King’s Cross, London.

SunOpta

SunOpta is located in Canada and was founded in 1973. Its operations are divided between SunOpta Food (organics), Opta Minerals, and SunOpta BioProcess (bioethanol). SunOpta's fastest growing business segment is the BioProcess Group, which is a leading developer of technology in the cellulosic ethanol market.

SunOpta's BioProcess Group specializes in the design, construction and optimization of biomass conversion equipment and facilities. They have over 30 years experience delivering biomass solutions worldwide and use innovative technologies to produce cellulosic ethanol and cellulosic butanol. Raw materials include wheat straw, corn stover, grasses, oat hulls and wood chips.

Vestas

Vestas is a Danish company which designs, manufactures, and sells wind turbines. The company is the world's largest manufacturer of wind turbines and has installed turbines in 60 countries. Vestas employs 14,000 people globally and, in 2003, the company merged with the Danish wind turbine manufacturer NEG Micon to create the largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world.

Non-technical barriers to acceptance

In September 2006, the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy published a review of recent literature discussing the "non-technical barriers" to renewable energy use. These are marketing, institutional, and policy impediments which are holding back the acceptance of renewable energy technologies. These key barriers are listed here, from most frequently cited to least:

• Lack of government policy support, which includes the lack of policies and regulations supporting development of renewable energy technologies and the presence of policies and regulations hindering renewable energy development and supporting conventional energy development. Examples include fossil-fuel subsidies, insufficient consumer-based renewable energy incentives, government underwriting for nuclear plant accidents, and difficult zoning and permitting processes for renewable energy.
• Lack of information dissemination and consumer awareness.
• High capital cost of renewable energy technologies compared with conventional energy.
• Difficulty overcoming established energy systems, which includes difficulty introducing innovative energy systems, particularly for distributed generation such as photovoltaics, because of technological lock-in, electricity markets designed for centralized power plants, and market control by established generators.
• Inadequate financing options for renewable energy projects.
• Failure to account for all costs and benefits of energy choices, which includes failure to internalize all costs of conventional energy (e.g., effects of air pollution, risk of supply disruption) and failure to internalize all benefits of renewable energy (e.g., cleaner air, energy security).
• Inadequate workforce skills and training, which includes lack in the workforce of adequate scientific, technical, and manufacturing skills required for renewable energy development; lack of reliable installation, maintenance, and inspection services; and failure of the educational system to provide adequate training in new technologies.
• Lack of adequate codes, standards, and interconnection and net-metering guidelines.
• Poor perception by public of renewable energy system aesthetics.
• Lack of stakeholder/community participation in energy choices and renewable energy projects.

With such a wide range of non-technical barriers, there is no silver bullet solution to drive the transition to renewable energy. So there is a need for several different types of policy instruments to overcome different types of barriers and complement each other.

Public policy landscape

Public policy has a role to play because the free market system has some fundamental limitations. The market does not incorporate into prices the indirect costs of providing goods or services into prices, it does not value nature’s services adequately, and it does not respect the sustainable-yield thresholds of natural systems. It also favors the near term over the long term, thereby showing limited concern for future generations. Tax and subsidy shifting promise both gains in economic efficiency and environmental benefits.

Shifting taxes

The need for tax shifting—lowering income taxes while raising levies on environmentally destructive activities—in order to create a more responsive market has been widely endorsed by economists. For example, a tax on coal that incorporated the increased health care costs associated with breathing polluted air, the costs of damage from acid rain, and the costs of climate disruption would encourage investment in renewable technologies. A number of countries in Western Europe are already shifting taxes in a process known there as environmental tax reform, to achieve environmental goals.

A four-year plan adopted in Germany in 1999 systematically shifted taxes from labor to energy and, by 2001, this plan had lowered fuel use by 5 percent. It had also accelerated growth in the renewable energy sector, creating some 45,400 jobs by 2003 in the wind industry alone, a number that is projected to rise to 103,000 by 2010. In 2001, Sweden launched a new 10-year environmental tax shift designed to convert 30 billion kroner ($3.9 billion) of taxes on income to taxes on environmentally destructive activities. Other European countries with strong tax reform efforts are France, Italy, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Asia’s two leading economies, Japan and China, are considering the adoption of carbon taxes.

Shifting subsidies

Subsidies are not inherently bad as many technologies and industries were born of government subsidies. The Internet was the result of publicly funded links among computers in government laboratories and research institutes. And the combination of the federal tax deduction and a robust state tax deduction in California gave birth to the modern wind power industry.

But just as there is a need for tax shifting, there is also a need for subsidy shifting. Lester Brown has argued that "a world facing the prospect of economically disruptive climate change can no longer justify subsidies to expand the burning of coal and oil. Shifting these subsidies to the development of climate-benign energy sources such as wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal power is the key to stabilizing the earth’s climate."

Some countries are eliminating or reducing climate disrupting subsidies and Belgium, France, and Japan have phased out all subsidies for coal. Germany reduced its coal subsidy from $5.4 billion in 1989 to $2.8 billion in 2002, meanwhile lowering its coal use by 46 percent. It plans to phase out this support entirely by 2010. China cut its coal subsidy from $750 million in 1993 to $240 million in 1995. More recently, it has imposed a tax on high-sulfur coals.

While some leading industrial countries have been reducing subsidies to fossil fuels, most notably coal, the United States has been increasing its support for the fossil fuel and nuclear industries.

Policies encouraging investment

Investment in renewable energy is still very much driven by policy, which today includes a broadening array of tariff and fiscal support regimes in many countries that together create a stable environment globally for continued sector growth. A number of events in 2006 helped push renewable energy up the political agenda, including the US mid-term elections in November, which confirmed clean energy as a mainstream issue. The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change made a strong economic case for investing in low carbon technologies now, while arguing that economic growth need not be incompatible with cutting energy consumption.

Renewable energy (and energy efficiency) are no longer niche sectors that are promoted only by governments and environmentalists. The increased levels of investment and the fact that much of the capital is coming from more conventional financial actors suggest that sustainable energy options are now becoming mainstream.

Investment trends

Climate change concerns coupled with high oil prices and increasing government support are driving increasing rates of investment in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries, according to a trend analysis from the United Nations Environment Programme. The report says investment capital flowing into renewable energy climbed from $80 billion in 2005 to a record $100 billion in 2006. In 2007, the upward trend is continuing, with capital investments occurring in sectors and regions previously considered too risky and too illiquid to merit the attention of the institutional investment community.

The OECD still dominates, but there is now increasing activity from companies in China, India and Brazil. Chinese companies were the second largest recipient of venture capital in 2006 after the United States. In the same year, India was the largest net buyer of companies abroad, mostly in the more established European markets.

A recent report from Helmut Kaiser Consultancy of Zurich states that the generation and storage of renewable energy will be the fastest growing sector in energy market over the next 20 years. The international law firm of Thompson & Knight LLP has launched a Climate Change and Renewable Energy Practice Group, consisting of 26 attorneys.

Sustainable energy

Renewable energy and energy efficiency are said to be the “twin pillars” of sustainable energy policy. Both resources must be developed in order to stabilize and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Efficiency slows down energy demand growth so that rising clean energy supplies can make deep cuts in fossil fuel use. If energy use grows too fast, renewable energy development will chase a receding target. Likewise, unless clean energy supplies come online rapidly, slowing demand growth will only begin to reduce total emissions; reducing the carbon content of energy sources is also needed. Any serious vision of a sustainable energy economy thus requires commitments to both renewables and efficiency.

See also

Template:EnergyPortal

• List of large wind farms
• List of photovoltaics companies
• List of renewable energy topics by country
• List of solar thermal power stations
• List of wind turbine manufacturers

• Cellulosic ethanol commercialization
• Deployment of solar power to energy grids
• Eugene Green Energy Standard
• Financial incentives for photovoltaics
• REN21
• Renewable energy
• Renewable energy commercialization in Australia
• Renewable energy commercialization in the United States
• The Clean Tech Revolution

• Category:Renewable energy by country

Bibliography

• International Council for Science (c2006). Discussion Paper by the Scientific and Technological Community for the 14th session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, 17 pages.

• International Energy Agency, (2006). World Energy Outlook 2006: Summary and Conclusions, OECD, 11 pages.

• International Energy Agency (2007). Renewables in global energy supply: An IEA facts sheet, OECD, 34 pages.

• National Renewable Energy Laboratory, (2006). Non-technical Barriers to Solar Energy Use: Review of Recent Literature, Technical Report, NREL/TP-520-40116, September, 30 pages.

• United Nations Environment Programme and New Energy Finance Ltd. (2007). Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2007: Analysis of Trends and Issues in the Financing of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in OECD and Developing Countries, 52 pages.

• Worldwatch Institute and Center for American Progress (2006). American energy: The renewable path to energy security, 40 pages.

External links

• Sunny outlook for solar power players
• Renewable energy commercialisation in Australia
• Solar Systems to Build A$420 million, 154MW Solar Power Plant in Australia
• BP solar to expand its solar cell plants
• Australia's largest city solar project contract awarded
• Nevada Solar One video
• Windfarms to power a third of London homes
• Distributed Energy -- The Journal for Onsite Power Solutions
• Entrepreneurs Aim To Transform Clean Energy Technology Into Viable Industry
• Investors Pour Unprecedented Billions Into Renewable Energy
• Wind power comes of age
• U.S., Sweden sign agreement on renewable energy
• Two oil giants plunge into the wind business: Shell, BP intend to play major role
• Nanotechnology, Renewable Energy: Growth Drivers