ARIZ WILL STUDY SOLAR

As usual, Robert Rapier is ahead of the pack on this question: A California Solar Dilemma. New EnergyNews suggests that Rapier get the $100,000 grant and would require no reward other than the opportunity to go on reading his work.

TEP wins grant to assess solar energy’s viability
Becky Pallack, July 31, 2007 (Arizona Daily Star)

WHO
Tucson Electric Power Co. (TEP) (Tom Hansen, vp, and Joe Salkowski, spokesman), U.S. Department of Energy's Solar America Initiative (DOE SAI), Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC)

WHAT
TEP has been awarded $100,000 by the DOE SAI to study the “intermittency issue” of solar energy systems.
Robert Rapier's chart to assess power demand and solar supply (click to enlarge)

WHEN
- The ACC now requires all state utilities to obtain 15% of their electricity from renewable energy by 2025, 5% from solar.
- 2006: With TEP's SunShare, 324 home rooftop solar systems produced 9,400 megawatt hours of power (880 homes). Springerville produced enough for 727 homes. TEP serves nearly 395,000 customers.

WHERE
TEP’s Springerville, AZ, solar installation.

WHY
Unlike traditional coal, natural gas and nuclear power generation, solar energy has an intermittency issue due to weather and diurnal/nocturnal cycles.
In the study, computers will record data from TEP photovoltaic arrays at 10-second intervals in order to calculate the best way to coordinate fluctuating but predictable demand patterns with less fluctuating but less predictable supply.
The TEP Springerville photovoltaic installation (click to enlarge)

QUOTES
Hansen: "Passing clouds can reduce the output of a photovoltaic array by 80 percent or more in less than a minute's time…Utility planners and system power dispatchers will need tools to manage such volatility in order to economically balance the resources necessary to provide safe, reliable electric service."