Powering Renewable Programs: The Utility Perspective

Abstract

In order to make renewable energy projects successful, there are many factors that utilities need to consider. These include policy drivers, assessing what renewable technologies it will employ, identifying the rates and pricing incentives that could be made available, and how customers can be better engaged. Utilities have created renewable programs with varying degrees of customer participation: some have taken the initiative to provide customers with 100% renewable generated power, others rely exclusively on customers to participate to meet renewable energy goals and the last alternative is a blend of both in which utilities offer customers the option to purchase renewable power matches or install and generate their own renewable power. Overall, the economics of solar and wind technologies are trending in the upward direction—the costs of the technologies are decreasing and the yields are getting higher. Better still, predictive modeling, energy storage and the plethora of research in this area will only make the prospects of integrating renewables more viable.