[kublikhan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')ccording to the industry group American Wind Energy Association, the U.S. wind power industry not only had its best year ever in 2012, but exceeded natural gas in the installation of new electric generating capacity.

The $25 billion in private investment alone wind energy projects attracted produced over 13,000 megawatts (MW) of new wind power capacity last year.

The peaks and valleys the wind power sector experiences will continue, but watch for this source of energy to grow in size between environmental concerns over sources such as natural gas and coal; plus fossil fuels continue their overall climb in price as well. Throw in the mix of next-generation technologies, and the future of wind will be bright–and exciting.

[kublikhan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')ccording to the latest "Energy Infrastructure Update" report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Office of Energy Projects, renewable energy sources (i.e., biomass, geothermal, solar, water, wind) accounted for 82 percent of all new domestic electrical generating capacity installed in the first three months of 2013 for a total of 1,546 MW.

The balance (340 MW) came from natural gas. Coal, nuclear power, and oil have provided no new generating capacity thus far this year.

Renewable sources now account for nearly 16 percent of total installed U.S. operating generating capacity: water - 8.53 percent, wind - 5.18 percent, biomass - 1.30 percent, solar - 0.44 percent, and geothermal - 0.32 percent. This is more than nuclear (9.15 percent) and oil (3.54 percent) combined. (Note that generating capacity is not the same as actual generation. Actual net electrical generation from renewable energy sources in the United States now totals a bit more than 13% according to the most recent data)

Month after month, renewable energy sources continue to dominate the new electrical generating capacity being brought on-line in the United States. The path towards a zero-coal, zero-nuclear future becomes clearer with each new report.

[ROCKMAN]

k - Nice links...thanks. And have you noticed who leads the nation in wind: Texas with as much as the #2 and #3 combined. And we're about to take a big leap with offshore wind. Odd for the state that produces more oil than any other, eh?

[kublikhan]

Texas also has more CO2 emissions than numbers #2 and #3 combined, you pigs! Meanwhile Illinois is in a distant 6th place

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')exas led the pack in state-level energy-related carbon dioxide emissions from 2000-2010, having produced more than 7.5 billion metric tons of CO2 over the period, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The EIA has begun to provide state-level energy-related carbon dioxide emissions data, showing that over the 2000-2010 period, Texas far outpaced other states in energy-related CO2 emissions, exceeding total emissions from its closest competitor, California, by over 75%

[ROCKMAN]

k – As they say – Smokem if ya gottem. LOL. Interesting that you mention Illinois. Two years ago the EPA of the current POTUS gave the final Clean Air permit to a brand new coal-fired power plant in Texas. And coincidently to be built on top of a NG field I was developing.

Oh…the Illinois link: they signed a 30 year contract to have the White Stallion Plant in Matagorda County supplied with coal railed half way across the county from the Land of Lincoln. Which, I’m sure is just another coincidence, is also the Land of the POTUS. Fortunately for the sake of Texas CO2 stats the project has been temporarily suspended thanks to low NG prices.

BTW think how much worse the stat would be if we didn't generate almost 10% of our electricity from the alts.

[kublikhan]

I guess when we saw Texas was trying to get it's filthy hands on our coal we said no way.........We will burn it ourselves!!!

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he Prairie State power plant, set amid farm fields and woods in southwestern Illinois, will start producing power soon, beginning a life of burning local coal that's expected to last until at least the 2040s. Prairie State is the largest coal-fired power plant built in the United States in the last 30 years. What sets Prairie State apart from most other U.S. power plants is that it sits next to its own coal mine.

Efficiency helps minimize carbon dioxide emissions. Still, the plant's huge size — 1,600 megawatts — will make it a major source of this type of pollution.

[kublikhan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'P')er 2011 - 1,360 GW (inclusive hydro)/2011 390 GW (exclusive hydro): I sure hope the non-hydro component catches up quickly.

[kublikhan]

2012 highlights:
* a shift in investment patterns that led to a global decrease in clean energy investment

* continuing growth in installed capacity due to significant technology cost reductions and increased investment in developing countries.

* Renewables made up just over half of total net additions to electric generating capacity from all sources in 2012. By year’s end, they comprised more than 26% of global generating capacity and supplied an estimated 21.7% of global electricity

* In China, wind power generation increased more than generation from coal and passed nuclear power output for the first time.

* In the European Union, renewables accounted for almost 70% of additions to electric capacity in 2012, mostly from solar PV and wind power. In 2011 (the latest year for which data are available), renewables met 20.6% of the region’s electricity consumption and 13.4% of gross final energy consumption.

* The United States added more capacity from wind power than any other technology, and all renewables made up about half of total electric capacity additions during the year.

Source:
Global Status Report

[kublikhan]

Numbers:
Global Renewable share of total energy consumption:
2009 - 16%
2010 - 17%
2011 - 19%

US Renewable share of total energy consumption:
2010 - 10.9%
2011 - 11.8%
2012 - 13.2%

Global Renewable share of generated electricity(includes hydro)
2010 - 19.1%
2011 - 20.3%
2012 - 21.7%

Global Renewable share of generated electricity(excludes hydro)
2010 - 3.3%
2011 - 5.0%
2012 - 5.2%

US Renewable share of electricity generated(includes hydro)
2010 - 10.4%
2011 - 12.7%
2012 - 12.2%

US Renewable share of electricity generated(excludes hydro)
2009 - 3.7%
2010 - 4.0%
2011 - 4.7%
2012 - 5.4%

Renewable power capacity(includes hydro):
2006 - 1,020 GW
2007 - 1,070 GW
2008 - 1,150 GW
2009 - 1,170 GW
2010 - 1,260 GW
2011 - 1,360 GW
2012 - 1,470 GW

Renewable power capacity (excludes hydro)
2008 200 GW
2009 255 GW
2010 315 GW
2011 390 GW
2012 480 GW

Wind Capacity:
2006 - 74 GW
2007 - 94 GW
2008 - 121 GW
2009 - 159 GW
2010 - 198 GW
2011 - 238 GW
2012 - 283 GW

Solar PV capacity:
2006 - 5 GW
2007 - 8 GW
2008 - 13 GW
2009 - 23 GW
2010 - 40 GW
2011 - 71 GW
2012 - 100 GW

Annual investment in new renewable capacity:
2005 - $ 61 billion
2006 - $ 97 billion
2007 - $133 billion
2008 - $167 billion
2009 - $161 billion
2010 - $220 billion
2011 - $257 billion
2012 - $244 billion

Source:
Global Status Report

[kublikhan]

[ROCKMAN]

I recall not too long ago when there wasn't much thought about getting oil from Point A to point B. Now its become a somewhat hot issue:

The shale oil surge isn’t just congesting inland pipelines and refineries. Eagle Ford production is clogging up the public docks of the port of Corpus Christi in Texas. A new public dock capable of handling two 30K barrel barges at one time is set to open, but it won’t solve the problem of congestion through the port’s narrow waterways, the port’s director of operations and harbor master tells Platts.

[kublikhan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he American Gas Association (AGA) estimates that more than half a million housing units in the Northeast switched from oil to natural gas for their primary heating fuel from 2000-2010. Nationwide, customers who heated their homes with natural gas during the 2011-2012 winter heating season saw average savings of 70 percent compared to those using heating oil, and more than 32 percent compared to homes heated with electricity, according to the Energy Information Administration. Natural gas utilities also make significant investments in energy efficiency programs to help customers reduce energy use, thereby saving their customers across the United States more than $300 million in 2011.

Homes heated with natural gas also made up the largest share of new single family housing unit construction from 2000-2012. Much of the increase in natural gas-heated homes can be attributed to infrastructure growth of utility gas systems in the Northeast. Greater infrastructure investment in this region and the expansion of natural gas lines to potential customers could further facilitate the conversion of the more than six million housing units in the area that are not yet heated by natural gas.

[kublikhan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hese are good days for pipeline engineering and construction firms. There is a steady flow of work, thanks to booming natural-gas and oil production from U.S. shale plays, increased use of gas for power generation and other factors. The activity is driving a major expansion and reworking of the nation's natural-gas, oil and natural-gas-liquids pipeline network.

While most public attention regarding pipelines is focused on the controversial Keystone XL project, experts say the real action involves dozens of smaller but sizable pipeline jobs, many of which are aimed at connecting shale-play areas with existing pipelines, reinforcing regional pipeline networks and delivering gas to new gas-fired powerplants.

Don Santa, president and CEO of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA), says that while demand for gas "is not growing as quickly as supply, it is growing," especially in the electric industry. Utilities, under pressure to tighten federal emissions rules, are retiring older coal-fired units and replacing them with new gas-fired capacity. Natural-gas-liquids pipelines also are needed to deliver condensates such as propane, butane and ethane from shale plays to petrochemical facilities.

This year, the INGAA Foundation will update a 2011 study forecasting an average of 2,000 miles of new natural-gas pipelines and 1,300 miles of oil and NGL pipelines will be built every year in the U.S. through 2035, says Santa. Deepa Poduval, principal consultant at Black & Veatch's Management Consulting Division, says the INGAA Foundation's earlier prediction is proving accurate. "I think we're on track" with what the study predicted, says Poduval, adding that, if anything, Bakken-formation gas and oil development is more robust than what was forecast two years ago.

The push to take advantage of shale gas, oil and NGL "will undoubtedly continue to result in newer pipeline infrastructure to transport these products to market," says Damon Hill, spokesman for the U.S. Dept. of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

[kublikhan]

Some interesting energy flow charts showing changes in US energy generation and consumption. Overall US energy consumption is falling and has been for the past five years, having peaked in 2007. Coal, Oil, Nuclear, and geothermal are on the decline. While Natural Gas, Wind, Solar, Biomass, and Hydro are on the rise.

Energy Flow

These charts have a nice graphic representation of the changes in energy sources in the last 5 years. Toggle between them and you can see coal and Petroleum lines get skinnier while natural gas and wind get fatter.

2012 US Energy

2007 US Energy

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')mericans used more natural gas, solar panels and wind turbines and less coal to generate electricity in 2012. Overall, Americans used 2.2 quadrillion BTU, or quads, less in 2012 than the previous year.

Natural gas use is up particularly in the electricity generation sector, where it has basically substituted directly for coal, while sustained low natural gas prices have prompted a shift from coal to gas in the electricity generating sector. Coal and oil use dropped in 2012 while natural gas use jumped to 26 quads from 24.9 quads the previous year. There is a direct correlation between a drop in coal electricity generation and the jump in electricity production from natural gas.

The rise in renewables is tied to both prices (the underlying cost of solar panels and wind turbines has gone down) and policy (government incentives to installers of equipment or renewable energy targets in various states). Once again, wind power saw the highest percentage gains, going from 1.17 quads produced in 2011 up to 1.36 quads in 2012. New wind farms continue to come on line with bigger, more efficient turbines that have been developed in response to government-sponsored incentives to invest in renewable energy. Solar also jumped from 0.158 quads in 2011 to 0.235 quads in 2012. Extraordinary declines in prices of photovoltaic panels, due to global oversupply, drove this shift.

This is the first year in at least a decade where there has been a measurable decrease in nuclear energy. "It is likely to be a permanent cut as four nuclear reactors recently went offline."

[kublikhan]

2013 renewable highlights:

* China's renewable power capacity additions surpassed new fossil fuel & nuclear additions for the first time.

* For the first time Solar PV capacity additions exceeded wind. Solar PV capacity additions about equaled hydro, each adding about 1/3rd of new renewables.

* Solar PV investments declined 22% while installations increased 32%(declining costs).

* In 2013, renewables accounted for 56% of net global power additions.

* In the EU, renewables were 72% of new electric generating capacity. 10 years ago, fossil fuels represented 80% of additions in the EU.

Renewable power capacity(includes hydro):
2006 - 1,020 GW
2007 - 1,070 GW
2008 - 1,150 GW
2009 - 1,170 GW
2010 - 1,260 GW
2011 - 1,360 GW
2012 - 1,440 GW
2013 - 1,560 GW

Renewable power capacity (total, not including hydro)
2008 200 GW
2009 255 GW
2010 315 GW
2011 390 GW
2012 480 GW
2013 560 GW

Wind Capacity:
2006 - 74 GW
2007 - 94 GW
2008 - 121 GW
2009 - 159 GW
2010 - 198 GW
2011 - 238 GW
2012 - 283 GW
2013 - 318 GW

Solar PV capacity:
2006 - 5 GW
2007 - 8 GW
2008 - 13 GW
2009 - 23 GW
2010 - 40 GW
2011 - 70 GW
2012 - 100 GW
2013 - 139 GW

Global Status Report

[ROCKMAN]

K - Encouraging update date...thanks. And gives me the opening to toss out info about Texas. As we say here: "It ain't braggin' if it's true." And all this going on in THE oil/NG producer in the country. Where the oil patch has the politicians "in its hip pocket". Where the fossil fuel industry is doing all it can to squash the alts according to some I'll informed individuals.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) announced last week that March 26 saw a new wind power record: 10,296 MW at 8:48 PM. This represented close to 29% of the nearly 36,000 MW of electricity on the power grid at that moment, and smashed the record set only weeks ago by 600 MW. According to the American Wind Energy Association, the 10,296 MW is the most for any U.S. power system to date. (The following day, 9,868 MW of wind generation achieved a record 38.43 percent of the 25,677 MW system wide demand at 3:19 a.m.)

1,433 MW of the wind resource came from turbines on the Gulf Coast, while 8,863 MW came from other regions, mostly West Texas. That area of the state is dotted with wind farms, in the specially designated Competitive Renewable Energy Zones, which are linked by approximately 18,000 MW of transmission to facilitate wind integration. With the continuing growth in wind generation capacity and the completion of new transmission projects to get it to the grid, ERCOT is making greater use of this resource. Texas has more developed wind power capacity than any other state. According to ERCOT, 11,000 MW of generators already contribute to the grid, and another 8,000 MW are due to come on line shortly. In addition, more than 26,700 MW are ‘under study.’ In 2013, wind power contributed 9.9% to the state’s overall electricity supply, up from 9.2% the year prior. With recent forecasting tools and a proactive approach to wind development, Texas is helping to demonstrate where this resource can go.

And as a little dig to my cohorts in the Land of the Greenies, Washington state: Although not a crude oil-producing state, Washington ranked fifth in the nation in crude oil-refining capacity. And imports that oil by pipeline, rail and tankers sailing in from Alaska. Washington ranked 10th in the nation in net generation of electricity from wind energy in 2013. They have done good with hydro. But that's an old story...what you done lately? LOL.

[Synapsid]

ROCKMAN,

You just made me notice a question I'd never noticed (no need to apologize):

Why is there such a concentration of refining capacity in NW Washington State? One obvious possible answer is "To take in crude deliveries from the Alaska pipeline", and that may be the case, but I don't know if it is. The refineries may predate anything to do with TAPS.

Another possibility may relate to WWII, what with all the DOD muscle here.

Let me know, OK?

[kublikhan]

US energy flowchart for 2013: 2013

US energy use increased from 2012 to 2013 from 95.1 Quads to 97.4 Quads, but still below the 2007 peak of 101.5 Quads. Fossil fuel use increased across the board from 2012 to 2013, but only natural gas is above it's 2007 level. Hydro and geothermal saw declines in energy generation, but this was offset by growth in wind, solar, and biomass. Renewables grew from 8.83 Quads to 9.17 Quads.

1 quad = 10^15 BTUs = 36 million Tonnes of coal

US energy supplies 2007
--------------------------
Fossil fuels: 84.9%
Nuclear: 8.3%
Renewables: 6.7%

US Energy supplies 2012
--------------------
Fossil fuels: 82.1%
Renewables: 9.3%
nuclear: 8.5%

US Energy supplies 2013
--------------------
fossil fuels: 81.8%
Renewables: 9.4%
nuclear: 8.5%

[kublikhan]

World electricity sector generation TWh
source 2011 2012
renewables 4,423 4,699
non renewables 17,802 17,893
total 22,226 22,592

"The 2012 renewable share in the world's electricity mix was 20.8%, compared to 19.9% in 2011 and 18.3% in 2002."
Worldwide electricity production from renewable energy sources

US electricity sector generation TWh
source 2007 2013
fossil fuel 2,991 2,726
renewables 352 522
nuclear 806 789

US electricity sector generation %
source 2007 2013
fossil fuel 72% 67%
renewables 8% 13%
nuclear 19% 19%
Table 1.1. Net Generation by Energy Source: Total (All Sectors), 2004-August 2014