2012 Reenergize the Americas 5B: Sarah Cottrell Propst
1. Interwest Energy Alliance
Sarah Cottrell Propst
Executive Director
ReEnergize the Americas 2012
October 18, 2012
2. About Interwest
We bring together the nation’s leading renewable
energy companies + the West’s advocacy community
501(c)(6) trade association
Six-state focus
Arizona
Colorado
Nevada
New Mexico
Utah
Wyoming
3. Board of Directors
RES Americas
Community Energy, Inc.
American Wind Energy Association
GE Energy
Vestas
NextEra
Invenergy LLC
Vote Solar Initiative
Iberdrola Renewables
Western Resource Advocates
EDF Renewable Energy
Sierra Club
BP
Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies
Utah Clean Energy
4. Scope of Work
Expanding markets for renewables through:
Regulatory Filings at Utility Commissions
Integrated Resource Plans + Technical Testimony
RPS Dockets, etc.
Legislative
Offense + Defense
Public Policy
State Energy Offices
Collaborative work with industry & environmental community
Research
Supply chain research (Energy Foundation grant)
Project tracking
6. August 8, 2012: U.S. Installed Wind Capacity
Reaches 50 GW
Pattern Energy’s Spring Valley wind project in Nevada, dedicated Aug. 8, 2012
7. Utility‐Scale Solar Projects in the U.S.
Operating, Under Construction, or Under Development
Updated October 1, 2012 by SEIA
Utility‐Scale Project Capacity by Technology and Completion Status (MW)
Technology Operating Under Under Total
Construction Development
CSP 549 1,259 4,824 6,632
PV 1,693 3,314 19,803 24,810
Total 2,242 4,573 24,627 31,442
8. Courtesy: Vote Solar Initiative; Source: DOE/EERE 2010 Data Book and
2011 SEIA/GTM Market Insight Report
9. National/Regional Issues Affecting the SW
Federal PTC for wind expires 2012
Already affecting U.S. manufacturing sector and future
development
State policies are being met
RPS’s filling up, e.g., CO is exceeding its RES
Modest procurement expected in NM, AZ, CO
Legislative challenges
California market
In-state preference
Transmission constraints
Transmission
Focus of panel is renewable energy potential in the Southwest. Interwest’s work focuses on the U.S., but to the extent that the grid enables 2-way exchanges of renewables, there is a lot of potential for exchanges of renewable energy.
A reminder of our mission and geographic coverageWe have a team of consultants and attorneys who engage in regulatory and policy work in six states
Only renewable energy resources can offer such long-term cost stability and predictability.This is an invaluable hedge for consumers against the inevitable price volatility of conventional energy resources, especially NG.Western states will spend $200 billion for energy infrastructure over 20 yearsChoices today determine facilities in 2030, 2050
I want to provide a status check on where we are on wind and solar, recognizing that geothermal, biomass, and other technologies are also expanding their presences in the market. Our members are focused predominantly on wind & solar. Wind energy is generating clean, affordable, reliable power across the U.S. This slide is a few months old, and doesn’t reflect that Nevada has its first utility-scale wind project, Pattern Energy’s Spring Valley with just over 150 MW. So in the Interwest region, there are approx 4680 MW of wind installed to date.Manufacturing in the U.S. has grown too. Sixty percent of a wind turbine’s value is now produced here, compared to 25% before 2005.
Nationally, the numbers are even more impressive. When Pattern Energy’s Spring Valley wind project came online in August of this year, the U.S. installed wind capacity surpassed 50 GW. My colleague took this photo, but I was at the ribbon cutting near Ely, Nevada and it was exciting. We had the CEO of AWEA and other dignitaries on hand. 50 GW is enough to power 13 million homes. According to AWEA, this is equivalent to the generating power of 44 coal-fired power stations or 11 nuclear power plants, resulting in emission reductions that would equate to taking 14 million cars off the road.
Solar is also making impressive strikes. These numbers include all ground-mounted solar projects, 1 MW and above, that are either operating, under construction, or under development. This represents only utility-scale projects, and doesn’t include rooftop PV in the distributed generation category. Over 2.2 GW of utility-scale solar is operating in the U.S.
This chart from the Vote Solar Initiative shows U.S. solar market growth since the year 2000. Obviously it’s going up, with a 78% annual average growth in the last five years.
Here in the Southwest, we are dealing with a number of major factors affecting the market. Federal PTC for wind. Vestas, one of our members, is a major international wind turbine manufacturer with HQ in Denmark. Last week they were forced to lay off 200 workers at their Windsor CO blade plant, and that comes on top of previous layoffs in Brighton and Pueblo, CO. This is because the U.S. pipeline is drying up in the face of PTC uncertainty. Similar stories are happening across the U.S. The U.S. is coming off the biggest growth in wind manufacturing and installation in history. How can we drive demand? CaliforniaTransmission
Energy Imbalance Market - An EIM is a regional economic dispatch tool that supplies imbalance energy within transmission and reliability constraints. – An EIM effectively aggregates the variability of generation and load over many BAs thereby reducing the total amount of required reserves– An EIM allows participants to use the lowest cost generation in the market to balance loads and generation across many BasCommissioner Marks from NM PRC has been a leader in this effortPolicy proposal: FERC Order 1000 requires regional coordination; adoption of best practices for compliance. Coordinate sub-regional planning into WECC-wide planning. Determine infrastructure for regional markets for renewables; anticipate long-term regional needs. Involve stakeholders to produce plans responsive to public concerns. Ensure access to development zones. Goals: Regional plans that improve reliability, reduce congestion, provide access to renewables for the entire West; have broad public support; minimize transmission by accessing development zones; enable development of regional markets.