Former Duke CEO Jim Rogers: The US Grid Will Be a ‘Blank Sheet of Paper’

[kristopher]

Former Duke CEO Jim Rogers: The US Grid Will Be a ‘Blank Sheet of Paper’

Former Duke CEO Jim Rogers: The US Grid Will Be a ‘Blank Sheet of Paper’
Rogers calls for “de-coupling on steroids” in order to get utilities prepared to rewrite the future.

Stephen Lacey February 10, 2014

Former Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers predicts that nearly every single power plant operating today -- aside from some hydro and perhaps a few nuclear plants -- will be replaced by the middle of the century. He called it a “blank sheet of paper” that opens up the possibility of a major transformation for utilities.

Speaking at a recent Brookings Institution event on the future of utilities, Rogers offered his candid take on where the power business is headed. Although centralized natural gas and nuclear are at the top of his list for low-carbon technologies, Rogers said he believed a more distributed grid is inevitable.

"If you believe that climate is a problem -- and I do -- one of the big challenges as we redesign the generation fleet in this country is what will this mix will be," said Rogers. "Utilities need to embrace the future. They need to embrace distributed generation."

Before leaving his position as CEO last July, Rogers was blunt about the need to strengthen Duke's promotion of rooftop solar. The utility has already procured 400 megawatts of solar PV projects, but only 50 megawatts of that is rooftop solar. In 2009, Duke started a 10-megawatt rooftop solar program in North Carolina; however, Rogers called for legislative changes in the state to allow its renewables development arm to compete directly in the market with solar installers.

“This is a business we want to invest in -- we want to earn off of it. We don’t want to cede it to others...

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/former-duke-ceo-jim-rogers-the-u.s.-grid-will-be-a-blank-sheet-of-paper

[msongs]

1. his business model (Duke, Edison, etc) is obsolete and being replaced. He will try to stop changes

as will all these other corporate dinosaurs, by trying to kill rooftop solar and local wind, and replace them with a corporate stranglehold.

[kristopher]

4. Maybe, but that isn't what he is saying. He's talking to utilities...

...and telling them they need to accept the fact that solar and other renewables are an unstoppable future.
The standard utility business model is based on growth in demand. His message is that the demand growth for utilities isn't part of their future and they need to plan for downsizing their role in power delivery.

[upaloopa]

2. Why can't we by pass the central production of energy with solar or wind farms in local

municipalities. I think the days of the big mega power companies should go the way of the dinosaur.

[kristopher]

5. That is what he's saying is happening now. nt

[oldhippie]

6. We can. It's entirely possible ....

... and it's done in municipalities all over the (third) world. They have electricity for many hours a day.

[kristopher]

7. Yep, it's best to start with renewables.

As they keep adding they'll soon have as much clean carbon-free power as they can use with no need to import fuel.

India Wants To Switch 26 Million Water Pumps To Solar Power Instead Of Diesel

The Indian government is aiming to swap out 26 million fossil-fuel-powered groundwater pumps for solar-powered ones, Bloomberg reports.
The pumps are used by farmers throughout the country to pull in water for irrigation, and currently rely on diesel generators or India’s fossil-fuel-reliant electrical grid for power. Pashupathy Gopalan, the regional head of SunEdison, told Bloomberg that 8 million diesel pumps already in use could be replaced right now. And India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy estimates another 700,000 diesel pumps that could be replaced are bought in India every year.

“The potential is huge,” said Tarun Kapoor, the joint secretary at the ministry. “Irrigation pumps may be the single largest application for solar in the country.”

The program works by subsidizing the swap, and operates in different capacities in India’s various states, sometimes subsidizing the solar pumps up to 86 percent.

Thanks to that aid, and the dramatic collapse in prices for solar power, the pumps pay themselves off in one to four years, according to Ajay Goel, the chief executive officer of Tata Power Solar Systems Ltd., a panel maker and contractor. And Stephan Grinzinger, the head of sales for a German solar water pump maker, told Bloomberg the economics will only get better: diesel prices will rise and spike during farming season, and economies of scale will help the swap program.

Two-thirds of India’s electricity is generated by coal...

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/02/07/3265631/india-solar-pump-swap/

[FreakinDJ]

3. So they can write the rules to rip off the consumer