Economics and Potential of Renewable Energy Technologies

This page includes economic and market reports on renewable technolgies.  This list emphasizes, but is not limited to, distributed energy applications, because it was developed in support of the Massachusetts DG Collaborative.  Other reports are included with information on renewable energy technolgies that may be relevant to distributed energy planning.  The list includes separate sections on Solar PV and wind.

Studies of DG Value: General Renewable Market Studies & Other Renewable Technologies

• August 2008 -- Massachusetts Renewable Energy Potential, Navigant Consulting, with introductory paper by Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources
• September 2007 -- Utility Will Use Batteries to Store Wind Power, New York Times
• July 2007 -- What Utilities Can Do With Renewable Energy, T. Meissner, Chief Operating Officer, Unitil, presentation to NARUC Committee on Energy Resources and the Environment
• June 2007 -- Renewing America: The Case for Federal Leadership on a National Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), Cooper and Sovacool, Network for New Energy Choices (NNEC)
• May 2007 -- What Can the U.S. Learn from European Feed-In Tariffs?, Wilson Rickerson, IREC Telephone Seminar
  • February 2007 -- The Debate over Fixed Price Incentives for Renewable Electricity in Europe and the US: Fallout and Future Directions, A White Paper, for The Heinrich Böll Foundation, W. Rickerson and R. Grace
• February 2007 -- Economic Impact of a New Hampshire Renewable Portfolio Standard, R. Gittell et al, University of New Hampshire
• January 2007 -- Weighing the Costs and Benefits of Renewables Portfolio Standards: A Comparative Analysis of State-Level Policy Impact Projections, C. Chen et. al., Environmental Energy Technologies Division, LBNL 61580
• September 2006 -- American Energy: The Renewable Path to Energy Security, Worldwatch Institute and Center for American Progress
• July 2006 -- Impacts on U.S. Energy Expenditures of Increasing Renewable Energy Use, Bernstein et. al., Rand Corp. for the Energy Future Coalition
• February 2006 -- The Value of Renewables: Portfolio Diversification, Energy Security and Free Hedging?, Shimon Awerbuch, SPRU Energy Group, at International Grid-Connected Renewable Energy Policy Forum, Mexico City
  • See also: January 2005 -- Exploiting the Oil-GDP Effect to Support Renewables Deployment, Awerbuch et.al., Science & Technology Policy Research (SPRU), University of Sussex
• January 2006 -- Annual RPS Compliance Report for 2004, Massachusetts DOER
• December 2004 -- Economic Impact Analysis of NJ's Proposed 20% Renewable Portfolio Standard, Rutgers Center for Energy, Economic and Environmental Policy
• August 2004 -- NJ Energy Efficiency and DG Market Assessment, KEMA, Inc., Final Report to Rutgers University Center for Energy, Economic and Environmental Policy
• August 2004 -- NJ Renewable Energy Market Assessment, Navigant
• August 2004 -- CHP Market Potential for Opportunity Fuels, by Resource Dynamics Corp. for DOE
• May 2004 -- Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA): Feasibility Analysis of Fuel Cells, MTechnology, Inc.
• March 2004 -- Future Electricity Supplies: Redefining Efficiency from a Systems Perspective, by Stephen Conners et al, MIT Lab for Energy & Environment (pdf)
• February 2003 -- Electric Sector Emissions Displaced due to Renewable Energy Projects in New England, La Capra Associates report to MTC (doc file)
• September 2002 -- Power Quality Problems and Renewable Energy Solutions, Analysis of the Prospects for Renewable PQ Solutions in Massachusetts, Primen and EPRI PEAC

• 2001 -- Blending Wind and Solar into the Diesel Generator Market, Virinder Singh, Renewable Energy Policy Project
• September 2000 -- The Power to Insure: Reducing Insurance Claims with New Electricity Options, Joel Gordes for NESEA
• October 1995 -- Nature's Power on Demand: Renewable Energy Systems as Emergency Power Sources, The National Center for Appropriate Technology for U.S. DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (web)
• June 1994 -- Integration of Renewable Energy Sources into Electric Power Distribution Systems, ORNL-6775/V1

2007 ISO-NE Scenario Analysis

• August 2007 -- ISO New England Scenario Analysis Companion Report, Constructing a Future that Meets Regional Goals, P. Peterson et.al., Synapse Energy Economics, Inc.
• 2007 -- ISO-NE Scenario Analysis Stakeholder Working Group Materials
• May 2007 -- Technical Assessment of Onshore and Offshore Wind Generation Potential in New England, Levitan Associates for ISO-NE
• April 2007 -- Assumptions and Preliminary Results, by ISO-NE for Scenario Analysis Stakeholder Working Group (3.6 MB pdf, including economic and environmental impacts of increased renewable energy and energy efficiency)

Distributed Solar PV

• see full list of resources at:
  • masstech.org/dg/pv.htm

Distributed Wind Resources

• General Sources (not date-specific):
  • Distributed Wind Impacts Project, Utility Wind Interest Group (UWIG)
  • Small Wind (turbines up to 50 kW), NE Wind Forum/DOE
  • Wind Resource Data:
    • -- RERL Wind Data
    • -- MTC (Wind Energy Resource Maps for NE)
  • Clean Power: Integration of Decentralized Energy Resources, Natural Resources Canada
  • For current or recent expectations about wind rebate levels, see the "Rebate Matrix" in the solicitation for Large Onsite Renewables Initiative (LORI) or for Small Renewables Initiative (SRI)
• May 2007 -- Wind 2006 Annual Report, DOE EERE
• March 2007 -- RIWINDS Program Phase I Siting Study, Dennis Loria, at NECA Renewable Energy Conference
• December 2006 -- It’s Free, Plentiful and Fickle, New York Times (12/28/06)
• October 2006 -- Analysis of Wind Power Capacity for ISO-NE  (Report only), by Anthony Rogers et. al., University of Massachusetts Renewable Energy Research Laboratory (31-page pdf file)
  • for Report plus Appendices 1 - 8, download this 2.3 MB zip file
• September 2006 -- Transmission and Wind Energy: Capturing the Prevailing Winds for the Benefit of Customers, National Grid
• June 2006 -- Update on Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) and Clean Resources, Jim Platts, ISO-NE System Planning
• June 2006 -- Grid Integration for Wind, W. Henson, UMass Renewable Energy Research Laboratory
• June 2006 -- Hull Wind II: A Case Study of the Development of a Second Large Wind Turbine in Hull MA, Manwell et. al., AWEA Windpower 2005
• May 2006 -- Utility Wind Integration State of the Art, by Utility Wind Integration Group (www.uwig.org)
• May 2006 -- Small Wind Power for your home, business, or farm, S. Wright, RERL
• April 2006 -- Impacts of Windmill Visibility on Property Values in Madison County NY, by Ben Hoen, Bard Center for Environmental Policy
• February 2006 -- Integration of Wind Generation with Power Systems in Canada: Overview of Technical and Economic Impacts, H. Gil et.al., McGill University & CANMET Energy Technology Centre, CETC 2006-016 / 2006-03-14 (see review of earlier studies)
• January 2006 -- The Role of Wind in Enhancing Scotland’s Energy Diversity and Security: A Mean-Variance Portfolio Optimization of Scotland’s Generating Mix, S. Awerbuch, SPRU Energy Group, University of Sussex
• January 2006 -- Annual RPS Compliance Report for 2004, Massachusetts DOER
• December 2005 -- Economic and Environmental Performance Of Potential Northeast Offshore Wind Energy Resources, Final Report, Michael Berlinski and Stephen Connors, MIT Laboratory for Energy and the Environment (4 MB pdf)
  • March 2006 -- Where and When Is That Resource?, by Stephen Connors & Michael Berlinski, MIT Laboratory for Energy and the Environment
• December 2005 -- Wind Turbine Site Feasibility Analysis, for City of Lynn, by ESS, La Capra Associates
• November 2005 -- "UWIG Helps Organize Special Wind Integration Issue for IEEE/PES Power & Energy magazine" (web)
  • November 2005 -- Winds Of Change: Issues in utility wind integration, J. Charles Smith, IEEE power & energy magazine
  • November 2005 -- Making Connections (grid codes
    for wind generation), Robert Zavadil et. al., IEEE power & energy magazine
• October 2005 -- Cost of New Brunswick RPS, Synapse (see Figure A.5 Comparison of Additional Wind Related Costs from Various Studies)
• October 2005 -- Renewable, Rechargeable, Remarkable: flow batteries with wind power, M. Kuntz, et. al., of VRB Power Systems, in Mechanical Engineering magazine
• September 2005 -- An Assessment of Battery and Hydrogen Energy Storage Systems Integrated with Wind Energy Resources in California, by University of California, Berkeley
• May 2005 -- Birth of a New Market: Financing Wind Projects via Long Term Hedge Contracts with Large End-Users, AMERICAN WIND ENERGY ASSOCIATION, WINDPOWER 2005, R. Grace, Sustainable Energy Advantage
  • May 2003 -- Using Wind Power to Hedge Volatile Electricity Prices for Commercial and Industrial Customers in New York, prepared for NYSERDA
• May 2005 -- Why Wind Works for Denmark, Hugh Sharman, ICE Civil Engineering (see term "wind carpet")
• May 2005 -- Improvements to the Hybrid2 Battery Model, Manwell et. al., Renewable Energy Research Laboratory, University of Massachusetts, AWEA Windpower 2005 Conference
• March 2005 -- THE EFFECTS OF INTEGRATING WIND POWER ON TRANSMISSION SYSTEM PLANNING, RELIABILITY, AND OPERATIONS,  Report on Phase 2: System Performance Evaluation, Report to NYSERDA, by GE Energy Consulting, Richard Piwko, Project Manager (2 MB pdf file)
  • Appendices (1.8 MB pdf file):

    Appendix A. Data Provided to GE,

  Appendix B. Day Ahead Forecast Analysis,

  Appendix C. Variability Statistics,

  Appendix D. Wind Turbine-Generator Models,

  Appendix E. Other Dynamic Models,

  Appendix F & G. Multi-Area Production Simulation (MAPS TM) Program Description

  • February 2, 2004 -- Report on Phase 1: Preliminary Overall Reliability Assessment (1.2 MB pdf file)
• December 2004 -- Economic Impact Analysis of NJ's Proposed 20% Renewable Portfolio Standard, Rutgers Center for Energy, Economic and Environmental Policy
• August 2004 -- NJ Renewable Energy Market Assessment, Navigant
• June 2004 -- Assessment of Distributed Generation Technology (wind and other), Cape Cod Commission, Cape Light Compact, Boreal Renewable Energy Development, Serchuk Associates
• Reports by Stephen Conners et al, MIT Lab for Energy & Environment:
  • 2004 -- National Assessment of Emissions Reduction of Photovoltaic (PV) Power Systems, Prepared for US EPA by Conners, et. al., MIT (3 files):
    • Main Report (80 pages, 7.5 MB pdf)
    • Appendices A through B-VII (12 MB pdf)
    • Appendices B-VIII through end (6 MB pdf)
  • April 2004 -- Avoided Emissions from Renewables in New England: Where and When Matters (pdf)
  • March 2004 -- Future Electricity Supplies: Redefining Efficiency from a Systems Perspective (pdf)
• March 2004 -- California RPS Integration Study: Phase I Summary and Results, M. Milligan et.al., NREL/CP-500-35947
• June 2003 -- End User DG Applications in Cape Light Compact Communities, Distributed Utility Associates
  • April 2003 -- Utility Distributed Generation Applications in the Cape Light Compact Communities, by Distributed Utility Associates, prepared for Cape Light Compact, Barnstable, MA
• February 2003 -- Electric Sector Emissions Displaced due to Renewable Energy Projects in New England, La Capra Associates report to MTC (doc file)
• June 1994 -- Integration of Renewable Energy Sources into Electric Power Distribution Systems, ORNL-6775/V1
• June 2002 -- A Feasibility Study for Wind/Hybrid Power System Applications for NE Islands, Blanco et. al., AWEA Annual Conference
• VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Possible Impacts of Wind Power on the Power System (1-page chart)

Studies of DG Value:  Green Buildings with DG

• Website with information on Feasibility Study and Design & Construction Grants under MTC's Large Onsite Renewables Initiative
  • Feasibility studies and other information on projects funded by MTC's Green Buildings Initiative (web)
  • Reports on productivity benefits of Green Buildings (web)
  • 2003 -- Green Building Costs and Financial Benefits, Greg Kats, Capital E (pdf)

Studies of DG Value:  Need for New Capacity in NE

• Spring 2007 -- ISO-NE Scenario Analysis Stakeholder Working Group Materials
  • May 2007 -- Technical Assessment of Onshore and Offshore Wind Generation Potential in New England, Levitan Associates for ISO-NE
• June 2006 -- ISO Evaluations of Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), PAC Meeting, Sturbridge, MA, June 6, 2006

Renewable Energy Products Designed to Provide DG Value

• Beacon Power's M5 Power Conversion System ("Smart Power" TM):
  • M5 Website
  • March 2004 -- M5 Installation & Operation Manual
• GridPoint Model C36 (GridPoint "Connect" TM):
• Gridpoint, Inc. Website
• Model C36 Specifications
• SkyBuilt Power (R) Mobile Power Station (TM)
• Gaia Power Technologies
  • Gaia Power Technologies Partners with SCE on Residential Solar Systems (RE storage and demand response)

Other Information

• Website with information on Feasibility Study and Design & Construction Grants under MTC's Large Onsite Renewables Initiative
• REGULATORY ASSESSMENT, A Review of Regulatory Issues Concerning Development of Small Scale  Renewable Energy and DG in the Pioneer Valley region

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• Click here for information on other studies related to the role of DG in Distribution Planning (i.e., beyond renewable technologies)

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Working Groups of the DG Collaborative:

• Distribution Planning Working Group
• Tariff Working Group
• Technical/Network Working Group

This page is under construction -- suggestions for additional resources useful for assessing the role of DG in distribution planning, or other questions or comments about the Massachusetts DG Collaborative, may be directed to:

          Fran Cummings, RET Policy Director