Innovators are, almost by nature, impatient people. What’s here and now is never good enough; they must tinker with it, always looking ahead to how they would do it differently or better. 

So, when the first articles appeared about the Solar Electric Power Association’s 51st State Initiative on clean tech websites, including RenewableEnergyWorld.com (REW), many readers did not wait for the official release of submission guidelines on Nov. 17.

They filled the comments sections with a range of possible directions and ideas for building a new energy system from the ground up, as if for a hypothetical 51st state where no policies or rules exist. 

Which is, of course, exactly the kind of lively, outside-the-box thinking we at SEPA hoped the initiative would and will continue to generate.

Writing in response to Meg Cichon’s article on REW, Gerry Wootton argued that given the United States’ often outdated grid and generation technologies, “radical solutions seem in order.” 

“The overall approach should be one that shifts load down while transforming supply, the former making the latter easier and less costly,” Wootton wrote. “Some regions even have sufficient renewable supply if consumption were only brought down to a more reasonable level. A substantial amount of reduced consumption is available in the form of energy efficiency. Another aspect of ‘outside the grid’ is to replace electrical loads such as heating and air conditioning to geothermal, hydrological, solar (non-PV), etc., on a utility basis.”

Alberto Escobar agreed that distributed generation is the way to go:

“Organize the supply of the necessary output for every specific community at the shortest possible distance in order to avoid or minimize the losses involved in the transport from one distribution center to other,” Escobar wrote, prioritizing rooftop solar and small wind turbines before any larger, more centralized types of generation.

Meanwhile, Kent Doering drilled down into the supply chain, coming up with a more efficient way to cut emissions from natural gas via combined heat and power plants, while supporting local solar panel manufacturing. Developing markets, such as those in Africa, are ripe for such an approach, he said.

“Solar PV needs silicon. Mozambique, Angola, Namibia are all expanding their natural gas and oil production. Instead of flaming off gas or building expensive LNG export facilities, much of the gas will be going into large industrial combined industrial heat-urban power stations,” Doering wrote. “By making thermodynamic silicon plants combined heat-power, that significantly slashes the costs of locally produced silicon in Africa.”

With the 51^st State’s open market, could combined heat and power be a building block for energy production to help build solar supply chains there, as well.

We want to keep the ideas flowing and hopefully help innovators such as Wootton, Escobar and Doering connect and maybe even work together. We have launched a 51st State Facebook page and Twitter feed, @SEPA51st, where we hope people will post their ideas in any form — videos, infographics, or just quick-hit posts, or share links to relevant articles or reports.

The 51st State website, www.SEPA51.org is also now live with full guidelines for submitting ideas that may be developed into formal proposals that will be evaluated by an independent Innovation Review Panel composed of a cross section of energy industry thought leaders.

A handful of top proposals will then be chosen for further discussion and development at the 51st State Summit, scheduled for April 27, in conjunction with SEPA’s Utility Solar Conference, April 27-29 in San Diego.

But, just as the 51st State is open to many possible solutions for building a clean, efficient and affordable energy system from the ground up, the initiative also offers individuals and groups many ways to contribute their ideas and give us feedback as we move forward.  We want to build a community of innovators who are open to new ideas and impatient to push the boundaries of what many people may think possible. 

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Lead image: Green lightbulb via Shutterstock