ASES on Solar PV Question forum
Thanks for asking for input. It seems that ASES' mission is changing from making members and public aware of Solar and Renewable energy to trying to make Renewable energy systems reliable and survivable in a changing world. I joined ASES about 15 years ago and installed my first PV arrays at that same time. I happen to live in an extreme climate zone and grid power has been unreliable during extreme weather. It has been an educational experience trying to keep our system operating over the years, during thousands of grid outages. My area has moved, climate wise, 3,500 miles SE, over the past decade. The new norm, due to climate change, is to design and build systems reliable enough to survive what were considered "thousand year" weather events. In many parts of the US and the world people are experiencing winds that are up to 200 MPH, rain fall of 40-60 inches in a day, major snows, extreme temperatures, and wildfires. Earthquakes and volcanoes are just add-ons. How do we build for major solar flares or magnetic reversals? Aging utility infrastructure is not going to be there when needed. We need to collectively learn to build resilient micro grids. Individual systems may be destroyed but enough micro grid systems in the area may allow critical power for water, refrigeration, and medical equipment so neighborhoods can weather these events. We also need to make sure systems can be restored if communication systems and internet go down or are hacked or held in ransom. In my area, in major events we can lose all utilities, including cell phones.
ASES has a huge role to play in helping each of us to understand and learn best practices. ASES needs to develop and maintain a best practice data base so that we are educated at each level - homeowners, business owners, inspectors, designers, installers, manufactures, and local and national officials. This is a huge task. It may take coordination of many NGOs, plus governments. From what we have seen around the US and the world the last few years, it does not take much of an unusual event to send us back into the Stone Age. The February, 2021 Texas snow storm illustrates the problem that we all need to think about to design and build to a new standard. It will be very difficult to build PV systems that can withstand 200 mph winds in addition to flooding, wildfires, volcanoes and earthquakes. It is likely that more than one event will take place at the same time. Hackers may try to take advantage of a desperate situation.
Building a resistant survivable energy micro grid and Electric Vehicles (EVs) may be a great solution. Easily moveable energy storage, Vehicle to Grid (V2G) allows us many options. If your PV system and even your car are destroyed during an event many vehicles outside of the area may survive. They may be a huge part of keeping critical systems up and running. In order to accomplish this we must understand and develop a common V2G connection to insure it is possible. I am not sure that many of the manufacturers are on the same page. Will EV plug-ins be adaptable, interchangeable, have the same plug design, or allow two-way energy flow?
ASES should become the focal point in this conversation. You can start by showing those in Texas that snow is easy to deal with through planning. For instance, Sno-Broom and an extension pole works good for snow removal on PV panels. If the bottom of the lower panels is not high enough you may need to compact the snow. I am sure someone has done a YouTube video. Learning how to build resilient energy systems will take up the rest of this century. It is critical work since it means we can survive in a world where survival is not assured. So far we have done better than Jack London's 1915 Scarlet Plague. Humans have always felt small in the natural world. Hopefully we are learning resiliency.
Harvey Bowers
bowers654@gmail.com