Grid Needs Tweakage to Maximize Renewable Energy

There was an interesting feature on NPR this morning about the need for some adaptations to the power grid. It seems that the unpredictable bursts of renewable energy dumped onto the grid by installations like mine could be handled more efficiently.

So what happens when you add in unpredictable sources of electricity, like wind or solar power?

"The operator does not have control of when to turn it on and off," Moniz says. "It's a new challenge that we just have to meet, and we're not doing it at anything like the pace that I think we need."

That's the conclusion of a study that Moniz's group at MIT is issuing Monday. It's all about how the grid must change to handle the fickle flow of electrons from renewable energy.

Power Grid Must Adapt to Handle Renewable Energy

Evaluating the Different SREC Brokers

Funny thing about how these blogs work. If I approve a comment, it flies away to whatever original post it was made to, with no way (that I see) for me to subsequently address it.

I just had a question about whether I'm still satisfied with my choice in SREC brokers, which is SRECTrade. The answer is yes. They're very easy to deal with, everything is completely transparent, the interfaces I use to maintain my account are strong, and I'm convinced that I'm getting as much for my SRECs as I would any place else. Occasionally somebody will reply when I mention a selling price to tell me they got more, but I'm guessing it's more a function of my own bid floor/ceiling settings, etc., than anything else. The fees that SRECTrade is charging per transaction seems minimal and these things are publicly traded, so I can't imagine too much variance.

There are some "higher level" (for lack of a better term) brokers out there that use guaranteed prices to lock SREC owners in for set periods of time. Many installers try to push these on new solar installation owners, most likely because they're getting a commission. At first I scoffed at these because when I was starting out, SRECs were going for a lot more money than these "lock/guarantee" people were offering. Now that SREC prices have dropped, maybe it wasn't such a bad deal after all.

But in sum, I'm happy with my broker and have no plans to change in the near future...

Cleared Out my Backlog of SRECs

Well, I sold 4 SRECs in the latest auction after slashing the minimum price. $245 each.

This morning on NPR I heard a story about how SRECs were going for about $20 each (I haven't confirmed that number, maybe I misheard). Yikes!

Now that I've cleared out a backlog I'm thinking of bumping minimum price back up for a bit...

Solar Firms Face Hard Times in New Jersey

Here's an interesting article from today's Philadelphia Inquirer on the birth and maturation of the solar industry here in New Jersey. It talks about changes since the salad days of government grants and subsidies all the way to today's climate of sparse assistance and the SREC glut.

Oh, and it features SolarWorks NJ, an installer based right here in Washington Township!

Solar Firms in Hard Times

Lowered All my SREC Minimums

There's a lot of talk about changing the SREC market to address the glut. for now, though, prices are what they are. I have 4 SRECs in hand and I just lowered my minimum asking price to $200 for today's auction. I'll bet they all sell...

One SREC Sold, $225

We sold one SREC at the recent auction -- the one that I'd set the minimum price to $200 for. It fetched $225.

I guess I'll have to drop the price on the others...

More on SREC Value Plummet

Here's an article from the Gloucester County Times (here in South Jersey) over the weekend.

More about the SREC glut / price plummet.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Gloucester County Times