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Renewable energy's place as part of the global "energy balance" is a delicate scale.
As its prospects and contribution rise, limitations also appear.
There are several main elements involved here.
First, the intermittent nature of solar and wind power (the sun doesn't shine 24/7, and the wind isn't always blowing) means alternative, more traditional generation sources must remain online to cover the slack periods or those in which demand peaks.
Second, the absence of new rounds of government credits results in the flattening out of pricing advantages.
And third, the higher unit production costs that are absorbed by end users through existing state requirements include mandated portions of renewable energy.
The world's overall reliance on renewables like solar and wind has and will continue to rise. But that growth has also raised questions about how much higher that reliance can move.
This is particularly troubling for large regions of the world in desperate need of additional electricity like the Caribbean and Puerto Rico.
There, only one, potentially dangerous solution remains – low-quality coal.
And even that might not be an option for some.
Aside from a breakthrough in battery technology, which would allow for some extended storage across the power-generation sector – there's only one other possible near-term remedy for renewables…
A Pricey Situation
For renewables to carve out a larger place in the global energy balance, we're going to have to find ways to cut the cost of production, while improving the flexibility of power availability at the same time.
Fortunately, there has been one promising development on that front recently.
It involves combining solar and wind in what can best be described as a "hybrid serialized" process.
Monumental: Historic event will unleash windfall profit opportunity – this eye-opening video divulges all the details.
Vestas Wind Systems, the Danish world leader in wind power systems, and Madrid-based EDP Renewables (EDPR) have installed a hybrid demonstrator that feeds direct current from a solar photovoltaic (PV) array into a wind turbine that then exports power to the grid through a single converter.
The two companies installed the Vestas V112-3.0MW turbine and a new 372-kW solar PV array at EDPR's Janda III wind farm at Cádiz in southwestern Spain.
The system looks like this:
Photo source: EDP Renewables
Power from the solar PV panels is fed to the turbine as direct current, which is then converted and transformed by the turbine's power conversion system, which Vestas upgraded especially for the project, to export power to the grid.
Now, this approach may comprise one of the most intriguing ways to address a problem I have addressed on several occasions:
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About the Author
Dr. Kent Moors is an internationally recognized expert in oil and natural gas policy, risk assessment, and emerging market economic development. He serves as an advisor to many U.S. governors and foreign governments. Kent details his latest global travels in his free Oil & Energy Investor e-letter. He makes specific investment recommendations in his newsletter, the Energy Advantage. For more active investors, he issues shorter-term trades in his Energy Inner Circle.