Renewables Will Replace Fossil Fuels for All of Our Energy Needs

The projects are already in the pipeline

Photo by Antonio Garcia on Unsplash

Critics say we can never get enough electric energy from renewable sources. It is just not true. In a report this week, three researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory said:

“Our team… found that a staggering 1,400 gigawatts of proposed (renewable) generation and storage projects have applied to connect to the grid — more than all existing U.S. power plants combined.”

Current generation from all sources in the US is 1,140 gigawatts, including the 20% of total generation that is already from renewables. In other words, the current renewable generation is 228 gigawatts and 1,400 gigawatts of renewables are proposed to go onto the grid over the next several years, for a total of 1,628 gigawatts — or almost 43% more than the total generation today. That is, renewable generation will stand at 143% of current power plant production. Soon, there will be no need to burn any fossil fuels for electricity generation at all. As we will see, electric generation can then move forward to replace fossil fuel usage altogether.

Batteries and Storage

The researchers also note that more and more of these projects are including batteries:

“The majority (of the new projects) are now solar projects, and over a third of those projects involve hybrid solar plus battery storage.”

Batteries are the critical missing piece. The batteries used today come in shipping containers. Trucks simply drop the container-battery off and electricians hook them up. Many people are concerned about the environmental impact of batteries, and they are correct. But we need batteries to make the transition, and new technologies are constantly under development.

One such technology being tested is the Graphene aluminum ion battery. Another technology is the cobalt-free iron-phosphate (LFP) battery, which Tesla just revealed is powering half of its vehicles. These or other technologies will prove most applicable to large, grid-tied projects, and the technology will change and improve over time.