Wind and Ice What is New in Renewables Green California Summit Elton Sherwin Managing Director, Ridgewood Capital
Full Disclosure Ridgewood Capital • Not invested in any companies mentioned in this presentation • Investors in: – Comverge – NRG Dynamix • Hybrids for heavy vehicles – Offshore Natural Gas • Independent Power Provider • Author – www.EltonSherwin.com
Dramatic Changes Ahead for California
2009 California Climate Adaptation Strategy Source: www.climatechange.ca.gov/adaptation
Renewable Power Will Save Us
But there are some problems…
Wind and Solar Are Intermittent
The More Wind Use, The More Storage You Need
To Power Air Conditioning
California Electricity Usage
A/C
Summer
Source: California Energy Commission
To Use Renewables, We Must Control the Air Conditioning
Air Conditioning
Hot Water Pools
Everything Else Florida August Electricity Source: Florida Solar Energy Center
Hour of Day
California Needs A Lot of Storage
Air Conditioning
Hot Water Pools
Everything Else
Hour of Day Source: Florida Solar Energy Center
Thermal Storage • Big Three – Baltimore Air Coil – CALMAC – Ice Energy • Many Independents – Hill York in South Florida – Others
Baltimore Air’s Ice Chiller
Ice Energy’s Ice Bear
Calmac’s Ice Bank
Make Ice at Night • • • • •
Air conditioner runs at night Making ice at night Wind energy is stored as ice Little or no change in ductwork Daytime load reduced by over 50%
Many Case Studies…
Taipei 101 Baltimore Air Coil project
Conclusions When thinking about renewables, Think about thermal storage. It is hard to get cheaper than water