Fewer New Coal and Nuclear Plants Predicted

While the market for photovoltaics (solar cells) has been declining recently, Jon Wellinghoff, the head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, observed that solar power sources are actually in a viable position right now (Bloomberg). He points out that nuclear power plants are more expensive to build (per kilowatt) than new solar plants, and that expected increase in renewable energy sources may negate the need for expensive new nuclear and dirty coal plants. He addresses several concerns about renewables, including baseload. Jon made a nice analogy to computing: baseload energy is like mainframes in older computing systems, while distributed renewable energy sources can behave more like cloud computing. We will be in less need of the ‘mainframes’ (e.g., coal plants) as more distributed power sources come on line.  

It’s great to hear encouraging analysis of renewables like this. However, there is still much to be done. We need better policy and incentives to accelerate transition to renewable power, such as those being debated in Congress right now that seek to address climate change, the economy, and national security simultaneously (see the Waxman-Markey bill or the Cap and Dividend Act of 2009). In addition to progress from policy decision-makers, we need advancements and innovations from engineering design decision-makers. We need to exploit emerging design techniques that can accelerate the implementation of renewable energy sources and improve their effectiveness. While solar and wind power sources are becoming more viable economically, we need to employ better design processes that can help us develop clean power systems that produce more power per dollar, and help deploy them faster in order to position them as the obvious choice for new energy production. Stay tuned for several series of posts on Design Impact that will describe some of these design techniques in more detail.

Shifting to renewable power sources is a truly grand, complex undertaking. We can expect to encounter unanticipated difficulties as we scale up solar, wind, and other renewable power sources to meet a greater portion of our energy needs, yet it is critical that we make this shift (and its urgency is building). What are your thoughts on transitioning to a clean energy system? How do you envision the change (time-scale, impact on our way of life, required policy changes, etc.)? What challenges will design engineers face throughout this process?