24/7 Wind and Solar: Getting Round-the-Clock Renewables

A lot of companies and governments are committing to 100% renewable energy. But a target of that scope without considering time of use isn’t technically or economically optimal. So how do we get 24/7 renewables for offices, data centers, municipal buildings, cities, and eventually countries? Calculating renewables consumption on an annual basis isn’t sufficient. If we really want to make them an effective decarbonization tool, we need to match them to real-time demand. And there are a lot of ways to do it.  In the last few months, we’ve seen examples of large corporations taking the challenge head on. We’ve also seen the negative consequences for a city when it failed to account for time of use. Dr. Melissa Lott, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, joins co-host Shayle Kann for a deep dive into 24/7 renewables. Want to share your opinion about the topic? Let us know on Twitter. Follow @InterchangeShow, @shaylekann & @stphn_lacey and send comments about the show. This podcast is brought to you by Fronius. Now, Fronius gives you more control over your solar energy than ever before with its versatile hybrid inverter, the Primo GEN24 PLUS. Whether you’re storing solar power, integrating energy storage or looking for backup power, the Primo GEN24 PLUS has you covered. Find out more.