QUICK NEWS, April 14: WHAT MADE TEXAS A WIND POWER; SMART GRID PROTECT BIZ TO DOUBLE TO $9.7BIL

PLUG-IN CARS ON THE VERGE Electric Car Batteries Just Hit A Key Price Point

Joe Romm, April 13, 2015 (ClimateProgress)

“…By the end of 2014, more than 700,000 total plug-in vehicles had been sold worldwide (plug-in hybrids and pure battery electrics), up from about 400,000 at the end of 2013. As of 2015, dozens of models of electric cars and vans are available…A major reason for the rapid jump in EV sales is the rapid drop in the cost of their key component -– batteries. The energy stored in a battery is measured by kilowatt-hour(kWh). The more kWh stored, the further the car can go on one charge…The lower the cost [per kwh], the cheaper it is to build an electric car with a significant range…[According to a study by Björn Nykvist and Måns Nilsson,] the best manufacturers have already reached the battery price needed for cost parity with conventional cars…[and concluded that if] costs reach as low as $150 per kilowatt hour this means that electric vehicles will probably move beyond niche applications and begin to penetrate the market more widely, leading to a potential paradigm shift in vehicle technology…[T]hat $150 per kWh can be hit around 2020 without a major battery breakthrough but simply with continuing improvements…” click here for more

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WHAT MADE TEXAS A WIND POWER How Conservative Texas Took The Lead in U.S. Wind Power

Roger Real Drouin, 9 April 2015 (Yale Environment 360)

“…In 2014, wind generated 10.6 percent of Texas electricity, up from 9.9 percent the previous year and 6.2 percent in 2009…Wind energy generation that falls under the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which manages the grid for 24 million Texans, nearly doubled from 2009 to 2014. Currently, Texas has more than 12 gigawatts of wind power capacity installed across the state — equitarget="_blank"valent to six Hoover Dams. That figure could jump to 20 gigawatts in a few years…Strong government incentives, sizeable investments in infrastructure, and innovative policies have played an important role. So has the backing of governors of all political persuasions, from liberal Democrat Ann Richards to conservative Republican Rick Perry. But at heart the profit motive has driven the state’s wind energy boom, with ranchers and landowners seeing gold in the spinning turbines…A major leap forward for Texas’ wind industry came in 2005 when Governor Perry and the state legislature approved the $7 billion Competitive Renewable Energy Zone initiative, a 3,600-mile network of transmission lines. The project made it possible to move the electricity from the wind farms in West Texas and the panhandle to the bigger markets…Today, the wind energy industry is eyeing expansion along the state’s coast and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico…” click here for more

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SMART GRID PROTECT BIZ TO DOUBLE TO $9.7BIL Smart Grid Protective Relays; Mechanical, Solid-State, and Digital Protective Relays and Integrated Digital Protection Systems: Global Market Analysis and Forecasts

Q2 2015 (Navigant Research)

"The use of digital protective relay technologies is changing and advancing the management and control of transmission and distribution (T&D) grids…[T]he capabilities of advanced protective relays (ADVPRs) have evolved, and more powerful, intelligent modules have been added. Advanced sub-second monitoring, data collection, communications, and even phasor measurement unit (PMU) capabilities have been added. These are game-changing developments for utilities. Grid conditions can now be monitored and managed in near real time all the way out to distribution substations…The first generations of protective relays are reaching the end of their useful lives and are being replaced with the next generation of ADVPR solutions. Navigant Research expects these systematic replacement cycles to provide a growing revenue stream for vendors over the next decade. According to Navigant Research, global protective relay revenue is projected to grow from $5.5 billion in 2015 to $9.7 billion in 2024…” click here for more

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