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June | July 2010
 INFRASTRUCTURE June | July 2010
Rethinking Renewables in the Peach State
The use of renewable energy--naturally replenished resources such as sun, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat--is growing rapidly around the world. In 2006, approximately 18 percent of energy consumption came from renewables, with wind power growing at the rate of 30 percent annually. This growth is being driven by a number of factors including a desire to reduce dependence on foreign energy supplies, a significant increase in the cost of fossil fuels, global climate change concerns, and an interest in sustainability.
In Georgia, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are investigating the practicality of a number of options, including biomass, solar, wind, and tidal energies.
Biomass
In 2008, Forbes Magazine listed Georgia third among states with the greatest potential for using biomass as a renewable form of energy. Biomass--a more general term referring to fuel generated from any type of plant life--includes trees, agricultural residue, and small, fast-growing plants like switchgrass and algae.
With more privately-owned forest than any other state, Georgia's biomass opportunities are numerous. According to Valerie Thomas, Anderson Interface Associate Professor of Natural Systems in Georgia Tech's Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, getting 20 to 30 percent of Georgia's energy needs from biomass is feasible. The state's wood products industry is already using biomass such as bark and wood chips to provide process heat and generate electricity, and there is also potential for using biomass to heat and cool non-industrial buildings. In addition, the U.S. market for wood pellets for residential heating is growing, with approximately 800,000 American homes now using this form of biomass.
Another area of opportunity for Georgia energy is the conversion of coal- and gas-fired power generating units to biomass. Because some existing plants would have to be upgraded to meet air pollution standards if they continued burning coal, conversion to biomass would allow them to meet air quality rules while producing renewable electricity at a modest cost.
Wind
Also potentially feasible and practical is the use of wind power in Georgia. Traditionally, it has been assumed that the Southeastern United States lacked wind resources outside of mountain ridges in Tennessee and North Carolina. But Sam Shelton, director of research programs at Georgia Tech's Strategic Energy Institute (SEI), recently led a Southern Company/Georgia Tech study of the potential for using offshore wind farms to generate electricity.
Shelton and a team of SEI researchers examined wind data available from a U.S. Navy platform located off the Georgia coast and concluded that there is a 'Class Four' wind regime in Georgia waters that may provide enough energy to justify an offshore wind farm. Wind power potential is ranked on a scale of one to seven, with one being low wind potential and anything higher than Class Three having great potential to generate electricity. Shelton noted that renewable energy could be produced from wind for as little as ten to 12 cents per kilowatt hour when the study was conducted in 2006.
Currently, Southern Company is working toward permitting and installing offshore meteorological towers that will measure winds up to 80 meters above water. According to Shelton, approximately 20 percent of the total electricity usage in Georgia could be generated by wind if a quarter of the available, shallow area off the coast were permitted for this purpose. Unlike other parts of the country, turbines in Georgia could be placed as far as 60 miles offshore, far enough away so the view from beaches would remain unspoiled.
Solar
Solar energy, an area that the U.S. Department of Energy predicts will triple over the next three years, is poised to be particularly big in Georgia. The Southeast is rivaled only by the American Southwest in the amount of sunlight received, and Georgia's 5.18 daily solar hours easily dwarf the two sun hours per day of Germany, the world leader in installed solar capacity.
According to recent data from the Energy Information Administration, the U.S. Department of Energy and Navigant Consulting, more than 23 percent of Georgia's electricity could come from rooftop solar alone. Last December, the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority announced $4.5 million in rebate funds for solar energy projects in Georgia. The projects include construction of a solar energy cover, installation of solar photovoltaic systems, and a series of solar energy production units at various municipal facilities throughout Georgia.
Suniva, a spin-off of Georgia Tech's University Center of Excellence for Photovoltaics Research and Education, is already working in the area of solar energy. Recently ranked as one of the Wall Street Journal's "Top 10 Venture-Backed Clean Technology Companies" and headquartered in Norcross, Georgia, Suniva manufactures monocrystalline silicon solar cells with a goal of making solar-generated electricity cost-competitive with fossil fuels. The ultimate goal is to achieve grid-level parity, the point at which the cost of photovoltaic electricity would be equal to or cheaper than grid power from electric utilities. The market is a big one: by 2030, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association predicts that the world's solar energy market will generate $425 billion.
Tidal
Although tidal energy technology is in its infancy, it offers the potential for smaller-scale power production in Georgia. Kevin Haas, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Georgia Tech's Savannah campus, has studied two forms of ocean energy--wave and tidal-- and has also developed a numerical modeling system for the state to identify locations with significant potential for generating electricity.
Tidal stream energy comes from water flow, so where there are larger currents there is more available energy. In Georgia, one of the best yet inaccessible locations is the Savannah River entrance, but Haas has also identified half a dozen other areas with substantial tidal energy available.
One of the main benefits of tidal energy is its predictability--once tidal flows are determined, currents can be predicted for 20 years--but Haas concedes that full-scale production of tidal energy is at least five to ten years away. Immediately, however, there are some options for smaller-scale power production for Georgia. Haas studied areas with the highest tidal power density on the Georgia coast that could generate the energy equivalent of the monthly electricity consumption of 100 residential units in Georgia.
Already 27 states have implemented a renewable portfolio standard, a regulation that would require that by a certain year, electric utilities must produce a certain percentage of their energy from renewable resources. Although no two state plans are the same, having a standard in place can certainly encourage use of renewables, whether that alternative energy comes from wind, wood, sun or the sea.
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