Climate Resolution Shows Momentum for Action Across The Political Spectrum

Pennsylvania power sector is among the top five dirtiest in the nation

Growing flood risk in the Midwest underscores the need to build climate resilience.

Growing flood risk in the Midwest underscores the need to build climate resilience.

Written by Moms Clean Air Force

Our friends at Climate Central recently published a research brief outlining their new findings about allergy season:  Nearly 20 million Americans suffer from pollen allergies. Analysis of local temperature data by Climate Central and recent scientific research show that climate change is prolonging their season of...

Written by Moms Clean Air Force

This was written by Elizabeth Brandt, field organizer for Moms Clean Air Force Washington, DC  I recently spoke with artist, attorney and mom, Monica Jahan Bose. we’re excited to share her latest project, WRAPture. Here’s some background information: WRAPture is a temporary sari sculpture created with over 60 saris...

Tom Neltner, J.D., Chemicals Policy Director Lead service lines (LSLs) – the lead pipes that connect a building’s plumbing to the water main under the street – are a significant source of lead in drinking water for those homes that have them. In light of the well-documented benefits to society from reducing children’s exposure to lead, […]

Written by Moms Clean Air Force

This was written by Yesh Pavlik Slenk. It originally posted on EDF Business: In July, I’ll become a first-time mom, which means the next four months of my life are going to be spent preparing for what’s to come. In my attempt to navigate the baby-care...

Wheeler Testifies in Defense of EPA Budget Proposal That Would Put Americans in Danger

EDF released a new report, "Recovering the Western Monarch Butterfly Population Workshop: EDF’s Key Takeaways," following the Western Monarch Population meeting.

Another breakthrough for energy storage? Innovative auctions made prices plummet.

Rapid and low-cost development of renewables can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but a lack of affordable energy storage is one factor preventing wind, solar and other clean energy sources from dominating the energy mix.

That could change with the use of an innovative procurement method that’s generating excitement in the electricity sector: reverse auctions.  

Storage such as lithium-ion batteries and hydroelectric dams is key to integrating renewables into the grid. It allows us to stow renewable energy when it is abundant, and use it later on cloudy days, when there is little wind or other times when those resources are scarce.

It means we must rethink how utilities can grow energy storage capacity affordably. By flipping traditional auction models and harnessing reverse auctions, this technology could take off.

We know the approach works because it can be partly credited for the recent surge in global renewable energy capacity.

Challenge: Storing massive amounts of capacity

Meeting the storage needs of a renewables-dependent grid will be a huge undertaking. According to one estimate, supporting a two-thirds renewables electricity mix in the United States may require as much as 10,000 gigawatt-hours of energy storage — enough to run the entire grid for 10 hours at full capacity.

We’re not there yet, but some energy companies are already embracing energy storage, and with remarkable success.

A 2018 Xcel Energy reverse auction in Colorado saw solar-plus-storage bid prices that were 20 percent below the previous U.S. record from just a year earlier. In January, an auction run by Hawaii Electric Co. also saw unexpectedly low solar-plus-storage bid prices which, if approved by the state, would exponentially increase Hawaii’s storage capacity. 

Solution: Lowest auction bid gets the job

While the highest-bidding buyer wins in a traditional auction, so-called reverse auctions do the opposite by driving prices down. That’s because sellers, in this case developers of energy storage, try to undercut one another to win a portion of the contract.

Traditional utility procurement is usually not designed for competition. For example, in some mechanisms, prices are set by regulators, which means they don’t respond to market signals.

By letting sellers compete in reverse auctions, there should be more transparency around what the actual cost is of their product or service — a useful signal for utilities, policy makers and developers.

It’s why reverse auctions have already become a tried and true mechanism for utilities sourcing renewable energy, helping to push clean energy prices to record lows and, in some cases, low enough to displace fossil fuels.

Why not all energy storage will reduce emissions

There’s a valuable lesson here. While the cost of energy storage has been declining, price has remained a barrier to scaling the technology. Reverse auctions could help transform the market for storage like it did for renewable energy.

Energy storage finally poised to take off

Though these are promising signs, auction design will matter as policies push ahead.

Auctioneers would do well by tailoring storage auctions to the specific policy landscape they find themselves in, by considering the unique features of energy storage – and by noting that energy storage systems can provide multiple valuable services to the grid.

Such thoughtfulness will serve the market well as other key pieces fall into place.

With a growing number of states now implementing plans to reach 100-percent clean energy and directives like the recent FERC Order 841 facilitating storage participation in new markets, we will likely see many more reverse auctions for both storage and renewables here and overseas.

All these developments will power our energy future at a critical time.

Get innovation updates

We’ll send regular updates about developments in technology, science and the environment.

Thank you for subscribing to the Climate Tech Brief.

krives April 1, 2019 - 11:09

See comments

I am not a scientist, nor do I know anything about reverse auction storage etc. I’m simply a 74-year-old fellow who believes we have to switch all of our energy resource needs to solar, wind, hydro and/or any other safe resources as quickly as possible in order to avoid the forthcoming horrible climate change consequences.

Plus I am aware that storing the generated energy is one of the present problems that must be solved — so my hat’s off to you if you indeed have found a solution. Way to go! Hawaii has tremendous solar, wind, and wave action resources, but is still dealing with the storage problem, if I’m not mistaken. I just know there has to be a solution — can’t WAIT til it’s found! Go for it!

David M. Schee… April 3, 2019 at 12:29 am

Umm, this "innovative" reverse auction idea has been around for many decades. It's called the competitive bid.

Lew May 14, 2019 at 4:04 am

The amount of lithium needed to meet U.S. needs alone is the whole world’s production. The short of it is, your proposal makes us slaves to Chinese lithium. These toxic batteries have a finite life and must be disposed of in a safe way. Many pluses, but also many negatives in the use of them. Other than for a few stand-alone applications, I see natural gas as the better option.

Michael Castillo July 2, 2019 at 11:22 am

In reply to Umm, this "innovative"… by Lew

Another breakthrough for energy storage? Innovative auctions made prices plummet.

Rapid and low-cost development of renewables can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but a lack of affordable energy storage is one factor preventing wind, solar and other clean energy sources from dominating the energy mix.

That could change with the use of an innovative procurement method that’s generating excitement in the electricity sector: reverse auctions.  

Storage such as lithium-ion batteries and hydroelectric dams is key to integrating renewables into the grid. It allows us to stow renewable energy when it is abundant, and use it later on cloudy days, when there is little wind or other times when those resources are scarce.

It means we must rethink how utilities can grow energy storage capacity affordably. By flipping traditional auction models and harnessing reverse auctions, this technology could take off.

We know the approach works because it can be partly credited for the recent surge in global renewable energy capacity.

Challenge: Storing massive amounts of capacity

Meeting the storage needs of a renewables-dependent grid will be a huge undertaking. According to one estimate, supporting a two-thirds renewables electricity mix in the United States may require as much as 10,000 gigawatt-hours of energy storage — enough to run the entire grid for 10 hours at full capacity.

We’re not there yet, but some energy companies are already embracing energy storage, and with remarkable success.

A 2018 Xcel Energy reverse auction in Colorado saw solar-plus-storage bid prices that were 20 percent below the previous U.S. record from just a year earlier. In January, an auction run by Hawaii Electric Co. also saw unexpectedly low solar-plus-storage bid prices which, if approved by the state, would exponentially increase Hawaii’s storage capacity. 

Solution: Lowest auction bid gets the job

While the highest-bidding buyer wins in a traditional auction, so-called reverse auctions do the opposite by driving prices down. That’s because sellers, in this case developers of energy storage, try to undercut one another to win a portion of the contract.

Traditional utility procurement is usually not designed for competition. For example, in some mechanisms, prices are set by regulators, which means they don’t respond to market signals.

By letting sellers compete in reverse auctions, there should be more transparency around what the actual cost is of their product or service — a useful signal for utilities, policy makers and developers.

It’s why reverse auctions have already become a tried and true mechanism for utilities sourcing renewable energy, helping to push clean energy prices to record lows and, in some cases, low enough to displace fossil fuels.

Why not all energy storage will reduce emissions

There’s a valuable lesson here. While the cost of energy storage has been declining, price has remained a barrier to scaling the technology. Reverse auctions could help transform the market for storage like it did for renewable energy.

Energy storage finally poised to take off

Though these are promising signs, auction design will matter as policies push ahead.

Auctioneers would do well by tailoring storage auctions to the specific policy landscape they find themselves in, by considering the unique features of energy storage – and by noting that energy storage systems can provide multiple valuable services to the grid.

Such thoughtfulness will serve the market well as other key pieces fall into place.

With a growing number of states now implementing plans to reach 100-percent clean energy and directives like the recent FERC Order 841 facilitating storage participation in new markets, we will likely see many more reverse auctions for both storage and renewables here and overseas.

All these developments will power our energy future at a critical time.

Get innovation updates

We’ll send regular updates about developments in technology, science and the environment.

Thank you for subscribing to the Climate Tech Brief.

krives April 1, 2019 - 11:09

See comments

I am not a scientist, nor do I know anything about reverse auction storage etc. I’m simply a 74-year-old fellow who believes we have to switch all of our energy resource needs to solar, wind, hydro and/or any other safe resources as quickly as possible in order to avoid the forthcoming horrible climate change consequences.

Plus I am aware that storing the generated energy is one of the present problems that must be solved — so my hat’s off to you if you indeed have found a solution. Way to go! Hawaii has tremendous solar, wind, and wave action resources, but is still dealing with the storage problem, if I’m not mistaken. I just know there has to be a solution — can’t WAIT til it’s found! Go for it!

David M. Schee… April 3, 2019 at 12:29 am

Umm, this "innovative" reverse auction idea has been around for many decades. It's called the competitive bid.

Lew May 14, 2019 at 4:04 am

The amount of lithium needed to meet U.S. needs alone is the whole world’s production. The short of it is, your proposal makes us slaves to Chinese lithium. These toxic batteries have a finite life and must be disposed of in a safe way. Many pluses, but also many negatives in the use of them. Other than for a few stand-alone applications, I see natural gas as the better option.

Michael Castillo July 2, 2019 at 11:22 am

In reply to Umm, this "innovative"… by Lew

A new rule goes into effect today that will help protect California’s groundwater. The rule applies to injection wells – the underground facilities that enable enhanced oil recovery and the long-term disposal of the oil industry’s wastewater. California has around 55,000 oilfield injection wells, nearly one-third of the nation’s total, and the state’s oil industry […]

A new rule goes into effect today that will help protect California’s groundwater. The rule applies to injection wells – the underground facilities that enable enhanced oil recovery and the long-term disposal of the oil industry’s wastewater. California has around 55,000 oilfield injection wells, nearly one-third of the nation’s total, and the state’s oil industry […]

A new rule goes into effect today that will help protect California’s groundwater. The rule applies to injection wells – the underground facilities that enable enhanced oil recovery and the long-term disposal of the oil industry’s wastewater. California has around 55,000 oilfield injection wells, nearly one-third of the nation’s total, and the state’s oil industry […]