Dr Dan E. Arvizu is the Director of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a role he was appointed to in January 15, 2005. Dr Arvizu is also President of the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC (Alliance) and an Executive Vice President with MRIGlobal.
Dr Arvizu is Chairman of the National Science Board, the governing board of the National Science Foundation and the national science policy advisory body to the President and Congress. He was appointed by President Obama to a second six-year term in 2011.
Dr. Arvizu serves on a number of boards, panels and advisory committees including the American Council on Renewable Energy Advisory Board, the Singapore Energy International Advisory Panel, the Colorado Renewable Energy Authority Board of Directors, and the Stanford Precourt Institute for Energy Advisory Council. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and was recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
The Renewable Electricity Futures Study is neither a prediction nor a projection. It provides initial answers to important questions about the integration of high penetrations of renewable electricity technologies, focusing on key technical implications.
The report found that increased electric system flexibility is needed to enable electricity supply and demand balance with high levels of renewable generation. This can come from a portfolio of supply- and demand-side options, including flexible conventional generation, grid storage, new transmission, more responsive loads, and changes in power system operations.
While our report suggests that a high penetration of renewable energy generation is possible, a transformation of the electricity system would need to occur to make this future a reality. This transformation, involving every element of the grid, from system planning through operation, would need to ensure adequate planning and operating reserves, increased flexibility of the electricity system, and expanded multi-state transmission infrastructure. Such a transformation would likely rely on the development and adoption of technology advances, new operating procedures, evolved business models, and new market rules.
Opportunities abound, and of course they depend on the type of infrastructure available now in each country. In regions and villages where there is no reliable electricity or no electricity at all, there is an opportunity to bypass the building of expensive infrastructure and employ micro grids or other smaller systems that can integrate solar, wind, battery storage and backup diesel power. For example, we are working with our counterparts in India to develop a new way to manufacture inexpensive ink-based thin-film solar cells that could someday bring electricity to 600,000 villages that currently rely on kerosene to generate power.
In countries with reliable electricity infrastructure and demand economies, the transition to more renewables will be easier if utilities and investors can see economic opportunities. In the United States, we envision a shift from utilities as providers of a commodity to utilities as providers of services. Instead of one-way delivery of energy, households could become both users and producers of energy. Entirely new ways of providing service and making money will emerge as more solar and wind power is loaded onto the grid and as smart appliances sense the minute-by-minute mix of energy and cost. As this happens, energy forecasting will be paramount. The ability to predict when, in the upcoming minutes and hours, there will be a reliable source of wind or solar will be crucial to energy integration.
One thing for sure is that as markets evolve, a mix of policy and technological innovation will dictate the pace of energy system transformation. In the U.S., tax credits have acted as an important incentive, both at the state and national levels, but so have different business models. For instance, the leasing of PV panels is boosting the rooftop solar market. On the technology side, countries that maintain a commitment to invest in R&D and public private partnerships will also have a competitive advantage.
For the most part, this investment reduction in renewable technology and deployment is due to effects of the worldwide recession. I fully expect a rebound in investment as the global economy improves.
The bottom line is that we must work toward reducing investment risk for those who are ready to put their money into clean energy. I believe we can do this by encouraging collaboration at unique research and testing “partnering” facilities. At NREL, we invite the industry to test the limits of their inventions at the Energy Systems Integration Facility, and make them market-ready before they are ever deployed in the field.
I do think we can achieve a clean energy vision by choosing to invent the future we desire. We need to enable basic and applied clean energy technology innovation and help accelerate technology market introduction and adoption, then work to improve access to capital and form energy partnerships on a global scale.
One of my major themes when talking about increasing the use of renewables is that it all starts with efficiency, especially in the context of distributed generation. Typically, improving energy system efficiency as one deploys new renewable energy generation will improve the economic value proposition.
Energy efficiency measures can have dramatic effects in the future and an often-overlooked fact is that they already have produced many benefits. In fact, energy efficiency has enabled consumers to benefit from increased functionality at lower cost to improve productivity. Even though there is an effect that economists call “rebound” the overall energy consumption in OECD countries is relatively flat. A report by the Alliance to Save Energy Commission on National Energy Efficiency Policy showed that the U.S. would be using 50% more energy than we use today had we not taken advantage of the energy efficiency opportunities we have developed and deployed over the past three decades.
And, there are still many opportunities to improve efficiency in buildings and transportation – just to name a couple of examples. Building energy efficiency can be improved through whole building systems integration, better use of daylighting, and smarter use of building lighting, along with the use of computerized building energy optimization tools to help a buildings operate smarter. On the transportation front, increasing efficiency with plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and purely electric vehicles, better use of public transportation, and creating lighter vehicles all get us on a path to more efficient energy use.
To get to a cleaner, more energy-efficient future, all of us worldwide – consumers, regulators, investors, and utilities – must adjust our notions of how energy is to be generated, shared and transmitted. A focus at NREL is the integration of a high penetration of renewables and the enhanced system-wide flexibility that requires. It is causing us to rethink the traditional paradigms of energy system planning and operation with a strong focus on how we achieve the most efficient, flexible, and reliable energy system needed to provide the energy services consumers require – at an affordable cost.
All of this, in my opinion, leads to an exciting future that can unleash a new wave of technology and business innovation and create regional pockets of enhanced economic development. This outcome can lead to “a rising tide that lifts all boats.” At NREL, we are anxious to help lead a global conversation on how this can become reality. One of our near-term initiatives is the creation of an International Institute for Energy Systems Integration (iiESI) and we welcome the Asia-Pacific community into the conversation.