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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JULY 2023 31 By Bruce Hammett Hello Four Seasons neighbors and friends. I have been active in the modern Renewable Energy (RE) field as a business owner since 1982. I want to give you a glimpse of the history, status, and future of RE as the community-approved solar system begins construction this summer. I will build on my personal experience in wind and solar energy development based in Palm Springs then extrapolating it worldwide. How we electrify our homes: All around us are massive electrical towers and lines providing electrical energy. Nationally, these electrical lines create a massive reservoir of stored electrical energy which generation companies across North America feed into, and utilities take out of, to provide to end-users like us. We see Southern California Edison (SCE) lines traverse above us, never touching down in our community. But each of our homes is ultimately connected to them so we can turn on the lights and air conditioners. Feeding into the electrical reservoir are massive energy manufacturing facilities that include nuclear plants, coal plants, natural-gas generating plants, oil-fired generating plants, water reservoirs with dams, and, of course, those large-scale wind energy and solar energy plants popping up everywhere. Also part of this feed-in are the small house solar systems many of you use, and the soon-to-be-completed Four Seasons multi-point solar array. The key separator between each of the sources is the financial ownership along the way. You may own your tiny little solar generator on your roof, but thousands of miles away there is a utility that owns the dam or coal plant, or the massive wind and/or solar system whose electrons are shared on the same overhead lines we see everywhere. The electrons in the wires don't care where they came from but respond when you have flipped a switch and want to consume the electrical power therein. And there is the magic. There is a flow of Volt-Amps, or WATTS moving through your SCE-meter into your house allowing SCE to financially charge you per kilowatt-hour for the amount of energy you consume. And there are kilowatt meters at the generators measuring the amount of energy being delivered into the lines as well. That divides the ownership of the energy at all points along the way from the generator to your kitchen light. Alternating Current (AC) or Direct Current (DC) Electricity: DC is typically of no use inside your house as utilities deliver energy in an alternating current, a form which includes a frequency component. Our North American conventional generation is at a 60-cycle frequency, and our typical residential voltage is 120 volts with most of our consuming products, or 240 volts with our larger consumers like air conditioning and stoves. Much of the world uses 50-cycle frequency and standardized at 240V. In general, higher voltage allows more power with lower amperage allowing smaller wire to be used. The wires in the underground neighborhood distribution in Four Seasons are over 12,000 volts and a very few amps, but there are many transformers within each neighborhood group to provide our 120/240. How does renewable energy fit in? Increasingly, larger wind turbines constructed on land and in the sea develop AC energy by turning wind into rotating mechanical power which is used to turn a generator to feed the grid. Solar panels use the power of the sun to convert the energy into DC energy which is converted to AC through use of relatively modern inverter technology. Dams use the power of flowing water and underground steam is used to develop AC energy, turning a water wheel into rotating mechanical power, similar to a wind turbine. And wave-generated electricity is a growing technology. Without immediate consumption, it all goes to waste without a system to store it. The national rush is on to create new methods of storage on utility scales, but today we are beginning to see local large- scale storage in many forms, the best known being conventional batteries like in some of your homes, your cars, and huge utility battery systems. The Coachella Valley is a utility-scale mecca for all types of generation and continues to expand throughout Southern California feeding the national grid. Wind farms, solar farms, hydro and steam generation, as well as large-scale battery plants are just off the freeway in our backyard. Solar panels populate our roofs and are accompanied by an increasing number of personal battery storage systems. Our Four Seasons solar system will help strengthen the Southern California grid. In the process of this series of articles, I will differentiate the methods of generation and the cost transfer so that you will better understand the world of RE. Eventually, I'd like to have field trips to the Palm Springs area renewable energy facilities for a firsthand, up- close, and personal tour to see what it is all about. is article has been condensed for the space. To read the complete article, go to fourseasonsbeaumont.org and click on "Wind Energy." Living On The Grid

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