Replacing Fossil Fuels

The choice to deploy distributed resources independent of centralized power plant creation have evolved the fundamental concepts of the grid and utilities. California is a strong example of how the collection of individual actions share a joined triple threat.

Over 700,000 solar arrays in California were installed where end users used less on utility power and had admittance to that value. California utilities were stagnant for awhile since they weren’t used to competition on a shorter timescale.

Grappling to Compete

With clean energy efficiency and distributed energy decreasing demand, utility-scale solar reducing its costs, and clean energy storage accessibility to top it off, power plants are struggling to compete. Utility companies applying non-competitive plants in Ohio and Illinois asked subsidies to continue to operate.

More plants lobbied to gain a backdoor subsidy by rewarding power plants with on-site fuel storage. This threat applies to new power plants, since distributed energy are dramatically lower in costs than building new plants to start with.

The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant is a great example of threat to power plants and the potential for more original solutions. The facility use to provide about 9% of the electricity to the state. As the electricity industry becomes more dominated by economical solar resources, the plant’s electricity was no longer competitive.

With the combination of bad revenue and fortified influence from environmental organizations, the utility finally received a settlement agreement. The answer was that the utility would retire both units and substitute their capacity with “a combination of renewable energy, efficiency and energy storage.”

As the network moves forward with renewables, clean energy won’t suffice to give 100 percent supply for now. The predictable price decline for storage make renewable energy a posing disadvantage to centralized power plants and plans for future plants.

NRG Energy

NRG Energy asked that California state regulators certify the need for a new gas power plant. The Johnson City, Calif., combustion turbine peaking power plant was made to substitute existing capacity from power plants that was no longer compliant with new state water use rules.

By early 2018, it appears as though this power plant proposal had died. The price of storage and solar energy is what canceled this proposal. Solar PV is less expensive than a gas peaking plant like the one proposed by NRG. Peaking plants operate less regularly but are used to fill power voids during high demand.

Utility-scale solar electricity is half the price of a gas plant. In its 3rd quarter 2017 report, the Solar Energy Industries Association reported utility-scale solar costs of $1.10 per Watt or less, and costs for non-residential solar of $1.55 per Watt. The price of clean energy has been dropping quicker than the price of gas-produced electricity.

Clean storage are less costly and the prices continue to plummet. If you want to find out what solar panels are right for you, go to HahaSmart.com and try our price checker tool. You can see how much you can save over the next 20 years by going solar, and we can help find local solar installers who can help.

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