Electricity—renewables & transmission: Hidden challenges and increasing rewards of renewable procurement

Abstract

The increasing prevalence of renewable energy development brings several issues to light within the energy procurement industry. Consumers and utility companies alike are taking advantage of the benefits of the cleaner renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, methane capture, and low-head hydroelectric. However, the benefits of renewable resources are at times offset by costs that are unknown to the public, and at times to developers. In particular, too often little thought is given to the cost of transmission and distribution systems needed to deliver electricity from a project to the ultimate customer. Also, the process for procuring electricity from renewable projects is often misunderstood. What follows is a brief introduction to the typical procurement process and the challenges facing developers and the utilities that buy their output.