By Phillip Ng, VP of company growth, Soluna

Our energy grid is rigid. It was constructed a century in the past for a special nation and a special energy economic system. Integrating this method with new intermittent era has been difficult, to say the least. The result’s frequent instances of over-saturation of renewables, however nonetheless counting on carbon-producing property to unravel for on-peak demand.

Our lofty, essential aim to decarbonize the grid will solely be realized if we make renewable sources economically viable and modernize each grid and demand to the era profile of renewable energy.

On prime of renewable energy’s intermittent era, {solar} and wind, in contrast to fossil fuels, cannot yet be reliably stockpiled for later deployment.

The consequence: demand should turn into extra versatile to unravel this mismatch.

Provide exceeding demand means curtailment, aka wasted energy. In 2021, an estimated 14.9 TWh of in any other case viable renewable energy was curtailed. That is the equal of $610 million in misplaced income, or enough energy to power the city of Chicago for a year.

This drawback is compounding as renewables improve their market share of latest era. Moreover, until we are able to create extra versatile demand, marginal {solar} and wind energy won’t assist improve the web capability on the grid:

Penetration of wind is the X axis; Utility to the grid measured by capability credit score is the Y axis. As penetration will increase, marginal utility decreases. Supply: Lori Chook, M Milligan, and Debra Lew. 2013. Integrating Variable Renewable Energy: Challenges and Options. Technical Report. NREL.

Primarily based on our evaluation, IPP manufacturing information, we estimate that as much as 40% of energy generated by particular person {solar} and wind farms goes to waste. This creates a large financial pressure on these energy producers. It additionally prevents new tasks from being inbuilt areas which might be wealthy in wind and {solar} assets.

Batteries and transmission supply long-term options to curtailment, however should not adequate to sort out this problem for various causes:

• Batteries are costly and depend on a provide chain of uncommon minerals that’s each bottlenecked and working dry. They’ve quick lifespans and are tough to get rid of responsibly.
• Transmission updates are expensive, time-intensive, and hindered by a scarcity of a unified nationwide grid within the U.S.
• Each applied sciences are nonetheless emergent, displaying vital promise for later use, however require growth and at the moment should not instantly deployable.

There’s a third possibility: batchable computing.

Batchable computing, or batch processing, is computing that may be processed in batches at a time, preferrred for giant information units of repetitive inputs that aren’t time-sensitive. The computational course of started for use on a mass scale within the late nineteenth century, when Herman Hollerith, future co-founder of IBM, invented a tabulating machine that utilized batch processing to rely census outcomes.

The fantastic thing about batchable computing is that it’s interruptible, permitting it to run off of the intermittent energy of renewables. Co-locating information facilities that run batchable computing with renewable energy vegetation creates a hedge for unbiased energy producers (IPPs) who’re in any other case promoting energy solely to the grid. When provide outpaces demand and the grid can’t soak up extra megawatts, IPPs within the Soluna community can promote their extra energy to the information middle.

This resolution has mitigated the issue of curtailment considerably.

Case Research: 150 MW Wind Farm

Soluna companions with IPPs to convey an built-in resolution that marries the targets of decarbonizing the grid and furthering essential computational advances. Soluna buys the energy that may in any other case go to waste from these IPPs and makes use of that energy to energy compact information facilities that run batchable computing.

At present, we function two websites in Kentucky: Project Marie and Project Sophie (for Marie Curie and Sophie Wilson — all of our websites are named after feminine scientists who left an indelible mark on historical past).

We not too long ago broke floor on our latest website in Texas, Project Dorothy (named after Dorothy Vaughan, a mathematician on the NASA program that despatched America’s first satellites into house).

Batchable computing is instantly deployable and scalable, providing an answer to curtailment that’s prepared now. To study extra, learn our white paper on mitigating curtailment and stabilizing the grid by way of batch computing.

Phillip leads growth actions for Soluna.

The 7.3-MW Farmingdale, Maine, neighborhood {solar} farm is one in every of three absolutely operational tasks in Nautilus {Solar} Energy’s first accomplished 18.5-MW portfolio.

Nautilus {Solar} Energy introduced the completion of its first neighborhood {solar} portfolio in Maine. The 18.6-MW absolutely operational portfolio is comprised of three tasks situated in Kennebec, Knox and Somerset Counties. The tasks present a clear energy different to an estimated 2,000 residential householders and renters, native companies and nonprofit organizations throughout the CMP utility territory.

These tasks had been developed by TurningPoint Energy as a part of Maine’s Web Energy Billing program to offer renewable energy advantages, energy effectivity and decreased prices for its residential prospects. Nautilus is the long-term proprietor of the tasks and is chargeable for overseeing development, sustaining its long-term efficiency, and buying and managing buyer subscriptions.

“We’re proud to play a task within the progress of renewable energy in Maine by finishing and formally opening our first neighborhood {solar} tasks,” mentioned Eric Paul, govt director of origination at Nautilus. “It has been equally rewarding to share this milestone with a companion and skilled developer like TurningPoint Energy and to rejoice our second fully-operational portfolio collectively.”

As one of many quickest rising sectors of the Maine clear energy trade, neighborhood {solar} gives all the advantages of regionally produced, inexpensive clear energy with none rooftop panels to put in or upfront charges. Anybody who pays an electrical invoice can subscribe to a {solar} undertaking of their space and actively take part within the transition to wash energy which reduces greenhouse gasoline emissions and builds local weather resilience and a stronger grid.

Information merchandise from Nautilus {Solar} Energy