A desire to be greener and carbon neutral is prompting producers to consider alternative energy technologies, but for many, green technology adoption boils down to payback on investment.
Kelly Lund, agricultural technologies research engineer with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development in Edmonton, says, “Farmers are interested in renewable energies partly because they are good stewards of the land, and they want to look at areas that can help them reduce their carbon footprint and reduce emissions. The actual equipment for these new technologies may also entice them, but often what gets them interested is wondering if they can reduce costs by using renewable energy.
The capital cost for renewable energy systems tends to be expensive, so many decide that now might not be the right time. “Not everybody is in an economic position to put up the money unless there is a short payback,” says Lund. “But I believe many will be ready as soon as the economic scales tip in favor of renewable energy.”
Funding green technology on the rise
Alternative energy has received a huge boost in the U.S. where investment in wind energy alone reached more than $16.4 billion in 2008. This helped the United States surpass Germany to become the world’s leader in wind power, according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). In July 2009, 28 new wind energy projects were selected for funding for up to $13.8 million. DOE said that the project will help address market and deployment
challenges.
In Canada, the province of Ontario bit the green energy bullet. Ontario’s leading-edge Green Energy Act is creating production and jobs from renewable energy. Through incentives and rebates, Ontario has put green energy into the economy scale of the producer to help offset capital costs.
The province of Saskatchewan is rebating capital costs on renewal energy installations, including wind and solar. Rebates can take an expensive technology like solar almost to the break-even point.
“If the individual is convinced that green energy is something they want, and they have personal and economic value assigned to that, a break-even point may be all they are looking for to give them the go-ahead to invest,” Lund says. “They may have identified the potential for a green-energy-related niche market for their product or maybe want to brand their product. If they have a personal conviction, the breakeven range may not be a lot,
but it may be enough.”
Peak demand and storage
Lund says the Agricultural Technologies Section receives a lot of questions in the fall about electricity use and grain drying. “Renewable energy is not extremely suitable for handling high peak demand,” she says. “Storing energy is also an issue. In Alberta, the Micro Generation Regulation allows for net billing, where the producer can generate renewable electricity to offset consumption. It’s not meant as an avenue of commercial production – you can’t get rich by doing it – but you can offset your own consumption and save some money.”
If a grid-tied Alberta producer gets approved as a micro-generator, any energy produced and not used can be put back into the grid. Two meters are installed. One registers electricity imported from the grid, the other registers electricity sent back to the grid. “You pay non-energy charges like transmission and distribution charges, access fees, etc., on all the imported electricity, the same as usual. The savings come on the energy charges, where you only pay on the net amount of energy (kWh) used,” Lund explains. “But in terms of instantaneous peak demand, you’re not going to meet it with renewable energy. To size your renewable energy system to meet peak demand for most farms would cost an outrageous amount of money.”
Solar energy
Solar energy technologies take the sun’s energy and use it in different systems to provide useful energy for people, either heat or electricity. With solar thermal collectors, sunlight falls on collectors that heat up a circulating fluid, and that energy is transferred to a heat exchanger where the heat is used for domestic purposes. An individual might have a solar hot water collector in a residence, or a dairy farm might use one where a lot of hot water is needed for cleaning. Solar thermal collectors have a relatively high efficiency.
“Solar thermal is probably the first place to get into solar technology because a solar thermal collector system is the lowest cost solar technology you can get into,” says Lund. “And you would probably have a reasonable payback. It’s not necessarily a fast payback, but you’d see payback in less than 20 years, and in some situations you might have a payback in as low as eight years. It’s best to look at this on a case-by-case basis based on your application and the geographical location.”
In the other solar technology, solar photovoltaic (PV), sunlight strikes a solar module creating electricity. Currently available PV module efficiencies are in the range of only 10 to 15 percent efficiency, and they are more expensive on a capital purchase basis, although costs are decreasing over time. “Based on our relatively cheap cost of electricity, when you compare the rates of solar PV systems to that cost, you’re looking at extremely long
payback, well over 30 years. It really depends on whether your area has any purchase rebates or incentives to lower initial costs, or if you’re facing high energy costs now or predict them in future.
“Renewable energy is exciting, but let’s not miss the boat on energy efficiency because that’s the cheapest energy you can buy,” says Lund. “Producers looking to make a dollar or save a dollar want to start with energy efficiency first. Governments realize this and are slowly starting to bring energy efficiency initiatives online for ratepayers, including farmers, so people should investigate these opportunities.”
Agricultural producers are uniquely positioned to test the practicalities of green energy technology and initiatives. “At heart, they are interested in technology. They like to tinker with technology, and they like to be aware of new technology on the horizon,” says Lund.
Affordable green energy technology may be in its infancy, but agricultural producers will be among the first to put it to the test in terms of economics and practical application.
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A desire to be greener and carbon neutral is prompting producers to consider alternative energy technologies, but for many, green technology adoption boils down to payback on investment.
Kelly Lund, agricultural technologies research engineer with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development in Edmonton, says, “Farmers are interested in renewable energies partly because they are good stewards of the land, and they want to look at areas that can help them reduce their carbon footprint and reduce emissions. The actual equipment for these new technologies may also entice them, but often what gets them interested is wondering if they can reduce costs by using renewable energy.
The capital cost for renewable energy systems tends to be expensive, so many decide that now might not be the right time. “Not everybody is in an economic position to put up the money unless there is a short payback,” says Lund. “But I believe many will be ready as soon as the economic scales tip in favor of renewable energy.”
Funding green technology on the rise
Alternative energy has received a huge boost in the U.S. where investment in wind energy alone reached more than $16.4 billion in 2008. This helped the United States surpass Germany to become the world’s leader in wind power, according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). In July 2009, 28 new wind energy projects were selected for funding for up to $13.8 million. DOE said that the project will help address market and deployment
challenges.
In Canada, the province of Ontario bit the green energy bullet. Ontario’s leading-edge Green Energy Act is creating production and jobs from renewable energy. Through incentives and rebates, Ontario has put green energy into the economy scale of the producer to help offset capital costs.
The province of Saskatchewan is rebating capital costs on renewal energy installations, including wind and solar. Rebates can take an expensive technology like solar almost to the break-even point.
“If the individual is convinced that green energy is something they want, and they have personal and economic value assigned to that, a break-even point may be all they are looking for to give them the go-ahead to invest,” Lund says. “They may have identified the potential for a green-energy-related niche market for their product or maybe want to brand their product. If they have a personal conviction, the breakeven range may not be a lot,
but it may be enough.”
Peak demand and storage
Lund says the Agricultural Technologies Section receives a lot of questions in the fall about electricity use and grain drying. “Renewable energy is not extremely suitable for handling high peak demand,” she says. “Storing energy is also an issue. In Alberta, the Micro Generation Regulation allows for net billing, where the producer can generate renewable electricity to offset consumption. It’s not meant as an avenue of commercial production – you can’t get rich by doing it – but you can offset your own consumption and save some money.”
If a grid-tied Alberta producer gets approved as a micro-generator, any energy produced and not used can be put back into the grid. Two meters are installed. One registers electricity imported from the grid, the other registers electricity sent back to the grid. “You pay non-energy charges like transmission and distribution charges, access fees, etc., on all the imported electricity, the same as usual. The savings come on the energy charges, where you only pay on the net amount of energy (kWh) used,” Lund explains. “But in terms of instantaneous peak demand, you’re not going to meet it with renewable energy. To size your renewable energy system to meet peak demand for most farms would cost an outrageous amount of money.”
Solar energy
Solar energy technologies take the sun’s energy and use it in different systems to provide useful energy for people, either heat or electricity. With solar thermal collectors, sunlight falls on collectors that heat up a circulating fluid, and that energy is transferred to a heat exchanger where the heat is used for domestic purposes. An individual might have a solar hot water collector in a residence, or a dairy farm might use one where a lot of hot water is needed for cleaning. Solar thermal collectors have a relatively high efficiency.
“Solar thermal is probably the first place to get into solar technology because a solar thermal collector system is the lowest cost solar technology you can get into,” says Lund. “And you would probably have a reasonable payback. It’s not necessarily a fast payback, but you’d see payback in less than 20 years, and in some situations you might have a payback in as low as eight years. It’s best to look at this on a case-by-case basis based on your application and the geographical location.”
In the other solar technology, solar photovoltaic (PV), sunlight strikes a solar module creating electricity. Currently available PV module efficiencies are in the range of only 10 to 15 percent efficiency, and they are more expensive on a capital purchase basis, although costs are decreasing over time. “Based on our relatively cheap cost of electricity, when you compare the rates of solar PV systems to that cost, you’re looking at extremely long
payback, well over 30 years. It really depends on whether your area has any purchase rebates or incentives to lower initial costs, or if you’re facing high energy costs now or predict them in future.
“Renewable energy is exciting, but let’s not miss the boat on energy efficiency because that’s the cheapest energy you can buy,” says Lund. “Producers looking to make a dollar or save a dollar want to start with energy efficiency first. Governments realize this and are slowly starting to bring energy efficiency initiatives online for ratepayers, including farmers, so people should investigate these opportunities.”
Agricultural producers are uniquely positioned to test the practicalities of green energy technology and initiatives. “At heart, they are interested in technology. They like to tinker with technology, and they like to be aware of new technology on the horizon,” says Lund.
Affordable green energy technology may be in its infancy, but agricultural producers will be among the first to put it to the test in terms of economics and practical application.
Write a comment
- Required fields are marked with *.