Researchers articulate the potential impact of Coconino County solar and wind power projects in terms of health for people and the planet. 
For most of us, this billion-dollar+ number is way too big to wrap our heads around. To put it into perspective, that kind of wealth could perhaps buy the Arizona Diamondbacks. But Quantum Energy CEO and Co-founder Daniel Howard, Ph.D., says what $1.8 billion per year can buy in quantified public health and environmental benefits, as a result of clean energy, is priceless. That’s because they say it can dramatically change the future of human and ecosystem health.
On a chilly October morning at Arizona Nordic Village, DeMille and Howard presented the detailed data analysis of 2,000 megawatts (MW) of solar energy, 784 MW of wind power and 3,000 MW hours of battery storage and answered the question: What happens when you deploy the largest wind and solar project in the United States?
Using Quantum’s TotalView Energy Platform, a computer simulation program funded by the National Science Foundation, the hourly electricity production of the 2.8 GW portfolio was projected and then the changes in electricity grid dynamics and power plant emissions in the surrounding areas were assessed. “This comprehensive and high-resolution methodology allows us to accurately measure the total net impact of renewable energy projects under construction and in the planning stages on Babbitt Ranches north of Flagstaff,” said DeMille.
“Solar generation increases by over 4,000 GW hours,” said Howard. “That’s an 85% increase in annual solar energy generation in the entire Southwest Power Market [which includes Arizona, New Mexico and parts of California and Texas] over the year – almost a doubling of solar generation.”
“Wind increases by close to 2,000 GW hours,” he said. “There’s a little decrease in coal generation and a large reduction in natural gas generation.”
In addition, he explained, “There’s almost 0% curtailment. Curtailment is what happens when you have wind and solar generation, but you don’t actually use it because there’s no need for it. But because of 3,000 MW hours of battery energy storage that is being deployed, every single megawatt hour that’s being generated can be used, not only without adding stress to the grid and its ability to match load and generation on an hourly basis, but by providing grid benefits that make it easier to do so by taking this renewable energy generation during the day, storing it and then releasing it in the evenings when we all get home and turn on the dishwasher, stereo and Roomba.”
“In today’s world, making clean energy decisions based on carbon emissions alone is akin to managing your diet with calorie counts alone – it’s an incomplete, outdated picture. Our TotalView Energy Platform is the much-needed ‘nutrition label’ for energy choices,” said DeMille.
“Our model expands this picture beyond carbon to examine particulate matter – the fourth largest contributor to global disease – as well as human toxicity emissions that cause cancer, photo-chemical oxidants that cause smog, and a number of other emissions that impact public health and ecosystems,” said Howard.
He says the availability of more clean energy significantly reduces the amount of dangerous particulate emissions released into the air and breathed into lungs. Findings reveal that this large of a renewable energy center will result in a massive decrease in disease incidents, hospital admissions and premature deaths. “The reduction in particulate matter emissions will save over 5,000 years of life annually,” he said.
In other words, those who may be destined to die prematurely from exposure to pollutants in the environment could get those years back.
Beyond human health, the TotalView Energy Platform’s calculations show that cleaner air, water and soil as a result of more green energy make the region more habitable for at-risk species. “A reduction in this magnitude of carbon emissions will save over 10 local species per year,” said Howard.
In addition, the research revealed that freshwater eutrophication, the process by which a body of water becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, will save close to two local species per year.
“It’s time for renewable energy projects to have a new narrative,” said Babbitt Ranches President and General Manager Billy Cordasco on behalf of the Babbitt Ranches Community.
“We took our time studying wind, studying solar and studying wildlife like the golden eagle. In the last 20 years, technology has gotten better, and NextEra Energy Resources was the first one to show up at our door,” said Cordasco. “And now we get to participate in something that’s bigger than ourselves and have relationships with all these awesome people in an effort that matters. Thinking long-term has helped us identify what it means to be part of a broader perspective than just cattle on a landscape scale and that’s why we are doing it. These projects lead us to inspired hope. Out of gratitude, all of us involved in these renewable energy projects, the Western CO Bar Legacy Conservation Community, get to participate in something that is right and good.” FBN
By Bonnie Stevens, FBN
Photo by Chad de Alva: Quantum Energy’s Daniel Howard and Andrew DeMille say the impact of planned and proposed solar and wind projects in Coconino County can dramatically change the future of human and ecosystem health.
