This document discusses renewable energy technologies and distributed generation. It begins by noting that over a billion people lack access to electricity and the disparities in energy consumption between the richest and poorest populations. It then provides an overview of various renewable energy resources like wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass. The document outlines the benefits of these technologies including declining fossil fuel supplies and environmental concerns. It discusses best practices for wind and solar projects and interconnecting distributed generation to the electric grid. It emphasizes the importance of quantifying renewable resources, defining permitting processes, using credible developers, and having solid business plans for successful renewable energy projects.

1. Renewable Energy Technologies and
Distributed Generation
Anirudh Paduru, Transmission Deployment Engineer

2. Innovation for Our Energy Future
Access to Electricity
• Electricity is a major
contributor in meeting
global goals for
economic development,
poverty alleviation, and
social development
• Over a billion people
have little or no access
to electricity
Source: www.abb.com

3. Innovation for Our Energy Future
Disparity in Consumption
Richest billion people consume over 50%
of all energy, while the poorest billion
consume around 4%.

4. Innovation for Our Energy Future
Disparity in Consumption

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Resources used to Generate Electricity in
United States
Source: EIA (May 29, 2012)

6. Innovation for Our Energy Future
Average Electricity Price in the U.S.

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 Declining Fossil Fuel Supplies
 Increasing Cost of Fossil Fuels
 Political Concerns
 Environmental Concerns
Reasons for Developing Renewable
Energy Resources

8. Innovation for Our Energy Future
 Biomass
 Geothermal
 Hydro
 Solar (PV and Solar Thermal)
 Wind
Renewable Energy Technologies

9. Innovation for Our Energy Future
Wind Energy
 Wind energy is a mature, yet
evolving technology
 Wind energy comes in many sizes
 Wind energy is cost competitive
today in many locations throughout
the United States
 Large wind development has clear
impacts to neighboring communities
that are both positive and negative
and therefore requires active
stakeholder engagement
Source: NREL/PIX 05572

10. Innovation for Our Energy Future
Wind Energy Project Types
Primary Markets:
• Remote power
― Remote communities
― Remote uses
(telecommunications,
pumping)
• On-site energy production and
consumption
― Residential, commercial,
industrial
• Energy for sale
― Merchant power
― Purchased power
― Utility projects

11. Innovation for Our Energy Future
Best Uses for Technology (size, installed cost)
On-Site Power
• Remote (<10 kilowatt [kW], $6-$12/watt [W])
• Water pumping, electrification
• Water pump = 1 kW, House = 5 kW, Farm = 10 kW
Grid Connected ($7- $3.50/W)
• Small (1 kW – 50 kW)
• Residence, business, farm/ranch
• Mid-Size (100 kW – 1 megawatt [MW])
• Facility, community, industrial
• Convenience store = 50 kW, school = 250 kW
Energy for Sale ($2-$3/W)
• Utility (>1MW)
• Wind farm

12. Innovation for Our Energy Future
Wind Resource Maps
Wind Powering America:
http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/windmaps/

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Potential Installed Wind on Tribal Lands

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 Solar technologies work in all parts of the United States,
economics of solar are dependent on first cost (including
incentives), solar resource, and cost of energy being displaced
 Simple Direct Drive PV System : Direct conversion of sunlight
into direct current (DC) electricity
 Alternating Current PV System with Inverter : DC converted
to alternating current (AC) by inverter
Solar Energy
Illustration by Jim Leyshon, NREL

15. Innovation for Our Energy Future
Photovoltaic
Concentrated
Solar Power Solar Heating Solar Lighting
PV systems use
semiconductors to
convert sunlight
directly to energy.
CSP systems focus
the sun’s heat onto
a generator to
produce electricity.
Solar collectors absorb
the sun’s energy to
provide low temperature
space or water heating.
Passage for natural
interior lighting or
piping light indoors
using fiber optics.
Energy Conversion
Light  Electricity Heat  Electricity Heat  Heat Light  Light
Conversion Type
Direct Indirect Direct None
Solar Energy Technologies

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Abundant Solar Resource

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PV Resource in Southwest Tribal Lands

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Types of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP)
Heliostat
CSP with
central
receiver
Parabolic
Troughs
CSP

19. NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY
U.S. PV Trends 2012-2013
• U.S. PV Capacity 7.7 GW by end of 2012
• U.S. expected to add 4.4 GW PV in 2013, with
expected PV at 12.1 GW!
• 82,000 U.S. homes have PV as of 1/1/13
• Costs for PV dropped 27% in 2012
• US Department of Energy SunShot Goals of $1
(US) per Watt installed PV (utility-scale)
• PV costs are moving toward “Grid Parity”

20. NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY
Price of PV Modules

21. Innovation for Our Energy Future
 Distributed generation (DG) refers to power
generation at the point of consumption.
 Distributed generation using renewable resources like
the sun and wind
 Most renewable energy will be converted into
electricity. The resource will be geographically
highly distributed, and mostly dependent on changing
weather and climate.
Distributed Generation

22. Innovation for Our Energy Future
Distributed Generation
 Cannot be directly controlled like conventional
generation.
 Significantly increasing the penetration levels from
renewable energy sources requires a revision of the
way power systems are designed and operated in
order to better accommodate these sources.

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Renewable Energy Resources Interconnection
PV, small
wind, and fuel cells
interconnect at the
distribution level
Large
wind farms, CSP,
large PV, biopower,
hydro, geothermal,
hydrokinetic,
interconnect at
transmission and
sub-transmission
levels
Central Station
Distributed
Electric Power System

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DG System Integration
Advanced
Technology
Rules, Policy,
Procedures and
Agreements
and Standards
Technical Codes

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Typical Utility Process

26. 26
Preferred Interconnection Flow
• Significant difference between utility practices, process, tools,
models, mitigation
• Report completed, regional report in-progress for publication
(remove specific utility names)
Application
Process
Screens
Employed
Supplemental
Review
Impact
Study
Model Mitigate
Approval
Typical Interconnection Process
Expedited Review
Process (BEST)
$ Supplemental study
Process (Good)
$$$ Detailed Study Process (Expensive, Time-Consuming)
Fail Fail

27. NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY
Regulatory & Technical Focus on PV in US?
Vast majority of DG interconnections are solar PV
– Inverter-based (low short circuit current, built-in anti-islanding, etc.)
– Diurnal cycle, variable output
Potential problems
– Steady-state voltage control and LTC/VR tap operations
– Power quality, e.g., customer flicker
– Risk of unintentional islanding (PQ, TOV, safety?)
– Protection (e.g., coordination, relay desensitization, etc.)
Increasing PV penetration means that more PV
systems are failing screens than in the past
– Recent experience with high penetration PV indicates existing
screen may be overly conservative for PV

28. NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY
DG Stakeholders

29. Innovation for Our Energy Future
Interconnection Rules in U.S.
43 States & FERC have interconnection rules
29 States have Renewable Portfolio
Standards
43 States have Net Energy Metering
provisions
Most distributed generation systems are small
wind and solar PV

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Best Practices for Interconnection:
 Online applications, guidelines
 Options to path of impact study
 Low-cost/no-cost application
 Uniform state rules for utilities (e.g. Rule 21)
 Standard approach to evaluating apps
 Reasonable screens
 Supplemental screening options
 Standardized distribution modeling platform

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Best Practices continued:
 Good communication
 Online tracking system
 Standard impact studies (when needed)
 Cost-effective mitigation strategies
 A “Partner” attitude between utilities and
developers
 Supportive regulatory organizations

32. Innovation for Our Energy Future
Keys to Successful Projects
From both the Tribal and Utility Perspectives
Quantified renewable resource
Defined permitting path and timeline
Credible developer
Documentation of the past performance of
the technology
Solid business plan.

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Quantified Renewable Resource
Preliminary
Screening
Screening
Feasibility
Study
Sizing and
Design

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Permitting Path and Timeline
 Cultural Resource Clearances
 Tribal, local, state and federal permitting support
 Human health and environmental effects
assessments
 Biological assessments and ecological impact
analyses
 Threatened and endangered species clearances
 Noise and visual impact analyses
 Tribal Leadership approval

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Credible Developer

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Performance of Technology
Equipment
requirements
and lead times
O&M
requirements
Reliability
Equipment
life
Project life

37. Innovation for Our Energy Future
Business Plan
 Nature of the Business
 Market Analysis
 Management Team (discussed earlier)
 Technology Considerations (discussed earlier)
 Project Financing
 Production and Operation Analysis
 Tribal Community Presence

38. Innovation for Our Energy Future
A Nexus of Opportunity
 Tribal Land is 2% of
total land in the US
 Tribal Land Contains
5% of the total US
potential
 Abundant Land
available for
development
 HEARTH Act provides
enhances sovereignty
 Reduced emphasis on
centralized power plants
 Increased interest in
renewable energy
projects and distributed
generation
 Decreased cost in
renewable energy
technologies
Tribal Position Utility Position

39. Innovation for Our Energy Future
Thank You