Renewable Energy

Supporting members through education, training, and networking

COURSES | WEBINARS | RESOURCES

MEA Energy Association recognizes the industry milestones of reducing emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieving net zero by 2050. Renewable energy plays an important role in reaching these goals and, as such, MEA endeavors to support members through education, training, and networking in this area. We will do this by partnering with other like-minded organizations because we know that we are stronger when we all work together for our common goals in the renewable space.

Our ambition is to help you do your job more efficiently and effectively by sharing the most relevant renewables information. In that spirit, we are offering educational webinars centered around the different sources of renewable energy and, coming soon, we will introduce a newsletter and private community for asking, sharing, and connecting over renewable energy.

Get notifications about renewable energy offerings through MEA and gain access to the online community by signing in to your MEA profile — simply select Renewables as an area of interest on your account tab.

 

Update My Interests

Free Online Courses

Overview of Renewable Energy
Exploring the basics of renewable energy, including its sources, characteristics, and impact on the power grid and energy sector jobs.

Renewable Energy Grid Integration
Exploring how grid integration is changing and challenging the traditional power grid and its infrastructure, operation, and management.

Hydrogen Energy
Learn what hydrogen is, how hydrogen energy is produced, stored, and transported, hydrogen’s function as an energy carrier, the concept of a “hydrogen economy”, and the contribution of hydrogen energy to future global energy needs.

Webinars

Recording | August 2023: The Value of Solar Tariff: Using Objective Valuation to Index Solar Credits
Recording password: pPvy2f7H

Karl R. Rábago has been involved in solar energy market development and regulation for more than 30 years. In 2011, while working with his team at Austin Energy—the City of Austin, Texas’ municipal electric utility—he developed the Value of Solar tariff for indexing net metering compensation. In this webinar, Karl will explain how the Value of Solar approach can improve utility rate design and achieve fairness for customer-generators, non-generators, and the utility alike.

Recording | June 2023: Green Hydrogen 101 – Accelerating a Carbon-Free Future
Recording password: pWvNDhC9

Nick Connell of GHC and Dhruv Bhatnagar of Strategen discuss the key role GH2 can play in supporting and speeding economy-wide decarbonization and how the Green Hydrogen Coalition, an educational non-profit organization, is building top-down momentum for scalable green hydrogen projects across the country.

Definitions and Resources

Renewable energy is available in abundance all around us, provided by the sun, wind, water, waste, and heat from the Earth. They are replenished by nature and emit little to no greenhouse gases or pollutants into the air.

Renewable Energy Sources

  • Solar

    Sunlight is one of the planet’s most freely available energy resources, which you’d assume would make it the number one source of renewable energy. But of course, the amount of sunlight we get can vary greatly depending on location, season and time of day.

    Additional Resources:

  • Wind

    Wind power is the largest producer of renewable electricity in both the UK and the US. Onshore and offshore wind farms generate electricity by spinning the blades of wind turbines. The turbines convert the kinetic energy of the spinning blades into electric energy by turning a drive shaft and gear box, which is connected to a generator. Electricity is then converted into higher voltages and fed into the national grid

  • Hydro

    Hydro power is created using the movement of flowing or falling water. Hydroelectric power plants are found at dams and generate electricity through underwater turbines that turn a generator. Hydro power also encompasses wave and tidal power, which rely on ocean forces to generate electricity at the mouths of large bodies of water, using similar technology.

    Additional Resources:

  • Tidal

    Tidal energy is a renewable energy powered by the natural rise and fall of ocean tides and currents. Some of these technologies include turbines and paddles. Tidal energy is produced by the surge of ocean waters during the rise and fall of tides. Tidal energy is a renewable source of energy.

  • Geothermal

    Geothermal energy is heat within the earth. The word geothermal comes from the Greek words geo (earth) and therme (heat). Geothermal energy is a renewable energy source because heat is continuously produced inside the earth. People use geothermal heat for bathing, for heating buildings, and for generating electricity.

  • Biomass

    Electricity can be generated when organic matter is burned as a fuel source. These fuels are known as biomass and include anything from plants to timber to food waste. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is emitted when bioenergy is made, but these fuel sources are considered renewable because they can be regrown and absorb as much carbon as they emit across their lifespans.

Questions? Suggestions? Please reach out to Deborah Kessler.