America s Electric Cooperatives and Solar. Michael Leitman Strategic Analyst NRECA Business and Technology Strategies

Transcription

1 America s Electric Cooperatives and Solar Michael Leitman Strategic Analyst NRECA Business and Technology Strategies michael.leitman@nreca.coop

2 Co-op 101 Private, independent, nonprofit electric utility businesses owned by the customers they serve established to provide at cost electric service governed by a board of directors elected from the membership which sets policies and procedures that are implemented by the cooperatives management Own and maintain 2.6 million miles, or 42%, of the nation s electric distribution lines Serve in 80% of U.S. counties Deliver 11% of the total kilowatt-hours sold in the U.S. each year and serve 13% of meters Employ 70,000 people in the U.S. 2

3 Co-ops By the Numbers 63 G&T Cooperatives 834 Distribution Cooperatives 42 Million 3 3

4 Co-ops Have Seen Rapid Solar Growth 4

5 Co-ops Lead in Community Solar 5

6 Solar Utility Network Deployment Acceleration (SUNDA) Anza Electric Co-op, CA Appalachian EMC, TN Brunswick EMC, NC CoServ Electric, TX Eau Claire Energy Co-op, WI Great River Energy, MN Green Power EMC/Oglethorpe, GA KS Electric Power Co-op, KS Middle Tennessee EMC, TN North Arkansas Electric Co-op, AR Owen Electric Co-op, KY Pedernales Electric Co-op, TX Poudre Valley REA, CO Sandhills Utility Services, NC Sussex Rural Electric Co-op, NJ Tri-State G&T Assn., CO Vermont Electric Co-op, VT Installing >23 MW 6

7 SUNDA: Co-op Solar Activity (As of April 2017) Hundreds are participating in sharing knowledge 7

8 NRECA Tools for Solar Getting Started Learn More Detailed Plans Implement Solar Brochure PV Manuals Cost & Finance Screening Tool PM s Quick Start Guide Solar Decision Guide Reference Designs Community Solar Playbook National Discounts Program DG Toolkit Communicator s Toolkit On-line Training 8

9 SUNDA Community Solar Projects 9

10 SUNDA Co-op Solar at Military Installations Not SUNDA, but 10

11 Open Modeling Framework Free and open source electric utility modeling software. Built by the co-ops and the US Department of Energy Offers several functionalities for assessing solar engineering, integration, and finance Can evaluate the benefits of various energy storage applications 11

12 A Natural Testbed: Kaua i Island Utility Cooperative (Lihue, Hawaii) Kaua i is a natural microgrid High energy costs due to expensive imported fuel Common issue with many islands and off-grid areas Nearly a quarter of KIUC s power comes from solar 90 percent of daytime energy needs come from solar on the sunniest days Has deployed battery storage tied to solar arrays Has contracts for two dispatchable solar systems with large batteries, one already online Developing pumped storage hydro system powered by solar 12

13 Solar Pioneer: United Power Co-op (Brighton, CO) Energized Colorado s first community solar array in 2009, one of the first in the U.S. Has added an additional community solar array Negotiated PPAs for two larger projects MW, with a third planned for this year This will lead to a combined 37.5 MW of utility scale solar 10 MW of PV on members rooftops, a 2% penetration rate and growing rapidly 13

14 Green Power EMC (Tucker, GA) Green Power EMC was the first green energy utility in Georgia, with 38 member cooperatives Formed in 2001 and began providing clean, renewable energy to its member cooperatives in It was the first green energy utility in Georgia Green Power EMC owns or purchases under contract 272 megawatts of electric generation by the end of 2016, 86% of which is solar Solar portfolio includes educational arrays at schools, several DG solar arrays, and two large PPAs Cooperative Solar program allows consumer-members at 14 participating co-ops to purchase community solar generation from Green Power s solar portfolio SUNDA project to deploy community solar arrays 8.7 MW at eight member co-ops, with more planned 14

15 Distribution Co-op Community Solar Cobb EMC (Marietta, GA) Has purchase agreements from two arrays offered to members through Cooperative Solar community program Cooperative Solar program with no commitment, can decide monthly whether to participate Cobb also has the largest co-op PPA for solar Valley Electric Association, Inc. (Pahrump, NV) Energized the largest co-op community solar projects, 15 MW, in October 2016, offering to consumer-members at below retail rate 15

16 G&T Community Solar Programs Prairie Power, Inc. (IL) First centralized G&T community solar program Wolverine Power Cooperative (MI) Spartan Solar subsidiary developed largest array in the region, offers to member co-ops Seminole Electric Cooperative (FL) Built centralized array for member co-ops to market through community programs East Kentucky Power Cooperative Building the largest community array in Kentucky 16

17 G&T Partnership in Community Solar Western Farmers Electric Co-op (OK & NM) Built 11 community arrays for Oklahoma members as part of an integrated solar program Great River Energy Assisted members in developing community projects, both standalone and as expansions to GRE solar projects Buckeye Power/Ohio s Electric Cooperatives (OH) Installing 23 community arrays at members systems, some already online 17

18 Solar + Storage Steele-Waseca Co-op Electric (Owatonna, MN) Members who participate in the co-ops 16-hour Storage Water Heater Program get a discounted rate when subscribing to the co-ops 250 kw community solar project Flathead Electric Co-op (Kalispell, MT) Deploying rooftop solar and a Tesla Powerwall battery to the Flathead Youth Home Providing charitable support while also a research partnership testing energy storage with on-site solar 18

19 Integrated Microgrids NCEMC/Tideland EMC (NC) Experimental microgrid on Ocracoke Island, Testing to learn lessons that can be shared broadly, working with NRECA Central Electric Cooperative (Stillwater, OK) Innovation Pointe, a business park built around CEC s net-zero Headquarters with an integrated microgrid with goal of off-grid operation Pedernales Electric cooperative (Johnson City, TX) Rapid rooftop and utility solar growth in Texas, finances rooftop solar for members Along with Advanced Microgrid Solutions (AMS), have been awarded a $3.24 million grant by the Department of Energy (DOE) to demonstrate the use of advanced energy storage technologies to integrate high penetrations of solar energy into the electric grid in Texas as part of the DOE SunShot Initiative. 19

20 Solar for Commercial & Industrial Customers Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. partnered with Silicon Ranch to develop a 12 MW array at Aerojet Rocketdyne s facility in Camden, Arkansas The largest array in the state, interconnected through Ouachita Electric Co-op AECC purchases the excess generation 20

21 Today s Power Subsidiary of Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. Offers quick install 4 kw and 8 kw ground mount residential solar kits, and customized turn-key utility scale solar solutions manufactured by Ten K Solar All projects are compact, utility grade, and designed for storage integration Utility-scale projects have been deployed at several cooperatives in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee 21