 |
|
|||||
| Responsibility for the factual accuracy of each press release rests entirely with the individuals or organizations identified on the release.
|
|
|||||
|
||||||||||
Two additional South Carolina electric cooperatives — Blue Ridge and Coastal Electric Cooperative — have announced they have begun offering the option of purchasing “Green Power” to their respective member-owners. They bring to 16 the number of South Carolina electric cooperatives who currently offer Green Power.
Green Power is electricity generated from a renewable resource, in this case landfills that convert methane gas into electric power. The methane gas is produced by the landfill’s decaying garbage. Methane gas is considered to be renewable because it is created through natural decomposition of organic materials. The renewable energy is called “green power.” Green Power is generated by Santee Cooper, the state-owned utility that is the source of power for all 20 of South Carolina’s electric cooperatives.
In September 2001, Santee Cooper became the first electric utility in the state to generate and offer Green Power to its customers from the 3.3-megawatt Horry County Landfill Generating Station near Conway. The company opened its second Green Power facility, an $8.5 million, 5.4-megawatt station, in April of this year. Located at Allied Waste’s 210-acre Lee County Landfill, it makes electricity from three 1.8-MW engines that use methane gas as fuel.
Santee Cooper will construct two more Green Power stations that are projected to enter commercial operation next year. One is at the Richland County Landfill and the other is at the Anderson Regional Landfill in Anderson County, bringing Santee Cooper’s total Green Power output to 19.7 megawatts. In this voluntary program, Green Power is sold to residential customers in 100 kilowatt-hour blocks. Green power facilities are typically more expensive to install. Each block will add an additional $3 to a customer’s monthly electric bill. Customers may purchase as many blocks as they like. Commercial accounts are offered Green Power in 200-kwh blocks for a $6 premium.
An additional investment of $6 per month for one year on your electric bill buys enough Green Power to equal the environmental benefits of not driving your vehicle for three months or planting an acre of trees in a national forest.
All revenue from every block of Green Power sold will be reinvested in future development of renewable resources or facilities. Santee Cooper has achieved national Green Pricing Accreditation for its Green Power Program. The Center for Resource Solutions, based in California, announced that Santee Cooper’s Green Power meets the national and South Carolina accreditation standards for environmental and consumer protection. Accredited utility programs undergo an annual independent verification process to document that they have delivered the green power promised to their customers. Source: The Times and Democrat, 12/18/2005.
TourJet America, a private aircraft broker specializing in the needs of the entertainment industry, has pledged to offset all of the carbon emissions associated with its operations. As the newest Zero Carbon partner of the nonprofit Carbonfund, the company will offset its entire corporate carbon emissions, from office energy use to jet fuel expenditures. Carbonfund will offset the carbon by supporting much needed reforestation projects in fire stricken areas of California.
"TourJet's Zero Carbon initiative is a significant step for an industry member that must rely heavily upon carbon fuels," said Carbonfund president Lesley Marcus Carlson. "TourJet going Zero Carbon demonstrates what our foundation has always maintained - incorporating carbon offsets is simple and quite manageable within any successful business endeavor." The company says it will look into expanded support of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in the coming year. Source: GreenBiz.com, 12/19/2005.
This Sunday’s game is first ever to have carbon pollution offset with renewable energy in effort to fight global warming. Leading environmental organizations have partnered with two NFL teams to fight global warming and encourage fans to take action. StopGlobalWarming.org, a bi-partisan effort to bring all Americans together to fight global warming, and NativeEnergy, the only Native American owned marketer of carbon offsets and green energy solutions, have partnered with the St. Louis Rams and Philadelphia Eagles to offset the carbon pollution from energy that is used during Sunday’s game at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.
Energy to heat the dome and power lights and equipment comes from fossil fuel sources, which means energy for Sunday’s game will also produce about 58 tons of carbon dioxide pollution. Organizers have arranged for clean energy from a Native American wind project in the Midwest and energy from a Pennsylvania dairy farm methane project to be put onto the grid to offset the global warming impact of energy used on the playing field and in fan seating areas. The impact will be the same as powering some of the dome with wind turbines or taking 500 cars off the road for a week.
The major source of game-related CO2 will come from travel activities and accommodations. Fans, media, and teams traveling by air, bus, and car will generate more than 10,900 tons of CO2 — a about 99 percent of the event’s total carbon footprint. Organizers hope their effort will encourage fans, the media, and the entire professional sports industry to think about energy use differently and will move them to take action, either by joining the virtual march on Washington, DC, or by offsetting their own auto, home, or business energy impact with NativeEnergy. Source: PRWEB, 12/19/2005.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power can generate 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2010, or seven years earlier than planned, but it will likely result in heftier bills, the agency said Tuesday. DWP board members said any increase is likely to be about $1 per month for the average homeowner, a rise that member H. David Nahai characterized as "affordable."
As a result, the panel reached a consensus during a workshop Tuesday to move the deadline up to 2010. A vote to adopt that deadline as policy will be held at the board's meeting next Tuesday. Former Mayor James K. Hahn proposed that the city increase green power in its energy portfolio from 3 percent to 20 percent by 2017. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who took office in July, proposed that the city accelerate its efforts to reach 20 percent by 2010.
While some forms of green power cost more than coal and natural gas-fired power plants, board members Nahai and Nick Patsaouras said any green power surcharge may be offset by the sale of excess electricity generated by the agency. Both said gas prices are likely to continue climbing. "There are environmental reasons," Nahai said. "But from a purely economical perspective, we are compelled to move up the timetable because the volatility of natural gas prices requires us to look at alternatives"
Patsaouras said he believes the public would also support a reasonable rate increase based on the benefits of the city moving to cleaner power sources. He proposed that providers of green power be asked to submit proposals to the DWP in 2007. Meanwhile, the move toward the 20 percent goal was advanced Tuesday when the City Council approved spending $239 million to build 80 windmills 12 miles north of the town of Mojave that would provide clean energy to 100,000 L.A. homes and businesses. Source: By Patrick McGreevy, LA Times Staff Writer, 12/14/2005
Basin Electric Power Cooperative, which supplies electricity to the Dakotas and other Midwestern and Western states, has set a goal of obtaining 10 percent of its energy from wind, ethanol and other renewable resources by 2010. Co-op members unanimously approved the goal at Basin's annual meeting Thursday in Bismarck.
"We think 10 percent is achievable," said Ron Harper, Basin Electric's chief executive officer. Harper said Basin currently generates 87 megawatts of electricity using renewable resources, which include wind energy, waste heat and ethanol to produce electricity. About 205 megawatts would be needed to meet the 10 percent goal, he said.
While the co-op seeks more renewable fuel sources, it also sees a future in coal, which is plentiful in the region. South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds came to Thursday's meeting to pitch his state as the site for a new coal-fired power plant being planned by Basin and other utility companies.
"We, as utility, are looking at all alternatives," Harper said. "We wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't."
The co-op will take a step toward its renewable energy goal when a new wind farm in Wilton comes on line, Harper said. The Wilton Wind Energy Center, a joint project of Basin and FPL Energy of Juno Beach, Fla., is scheduled for completion by the end of the year.
The project includes 33 wind turbines that will generate 49.5 megawatts of electricity. Basin operates power plants in North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. The power is sold to 124 co-op members in North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Wyoming. Source: Associated Press via Lori Bird, National Renewable Energy Lab, 11/4/2005.
MidAmerican Energy's 360.5-megawatt wind project, made up of 257 wind turbines in north central and northwest Iowa, is on-line. The 122nd and final wind turbine at the Intrepid site near Schaller was commissioned Wednesday. On Nov. 30 the 135th and final wind turbine was commissioned at the Century site near Blairsburg. The two sites have the combined capacity to produce enough electricity to power 100,000 homes.
MidAmerican received the Renewables Project of the Year Award for its wind project on Dec. 1 at the 2005 Platts Global Energy Awards. MidAmerican in May received the American Wind Energy Association's Utility Leadership Award for demonstrating leadership in the increasing utilization of wind power by the electric utility industry.
According to the American Wind Energy Association, MidAmerican ranks third in the United States in ownership of wind energy installations. In March 2003, MidAmerican announced plans to build a 310-megawatt wind facility in the wake of Gov. Tom Vilksack's challenge to state regulators, business leaders and utility companies to work toward having 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy generation in the state by 2010.
MidAmerican in September completed the original 310.5-megawatt project. The additional 50 megawatts of electric generating capacity, approved by the Iowa Utilities Board in January 2005, were completed Dec. 13. MidAmerican today owns or has under contract 489 megawatts of renewable energy. The wind project is part of the company's commitment to a stable and diverse energy supply for Iowa that includes the Greater Des Moines Energy Center. Source: The Clarinda Herald-Journal, 12/17/2005.
Imagine a bank of solar panels stretching over three square miles of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, generating 300 megawatts of power, enough for every household in the city of Spokane. Imagine heading out to sea and seeing a floating field of red buoys about the size of a small fleet of fishing boats. The buoys would indicate generation turbines being spun by the motion of the waves, producing power that would be sent ashore via undersea transmission lines.
And imagine — this one's not that hard — fields filled with spinning wind turbines, just west of Spokane, in Reardan. A wind farm planned for that area has a projected capacity of 50 megawatts, enough to power more than 30,000 homes. These are among the emerging energy technologies promoted at the annual meeting of the Washington Public Utility Districts Association, held this week in Spokane. Some 220 members of utility districts across the state attended the three-day meeting to hear the latest developments on a variety of energy topics.
"It's pretty exciting stuff," said Mike Nelson, director of Northwest Solar Center, of new solar technology that he says makes the renewable energy source more affordable. Northwest Solar Center, a project of Washington State University, has a membership that including northwest utilities, nonprofit organizations and local governments. The "modest" proposal he ended his presentation with called for a 38-kilowatt solar installation at Hanford to grow into a 300-megawatt installation over the next eight years.
Legislation passed this year could help. One new law grants homes and businesses with solar and wind power systems a credit of 15 cents per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated, up to $2,000 annually, according to Northwest Solar Center's Web site. Nelson said the legislation imitates a successful concept already being used by homes and businesses in Germany. "The Germans have the most successful solar program in the world," Nelson said. "They're driving the market worldwide."
It's also a worldwide market Kenneth Kukes' company is seeking to enter with its wave-powered generation systems. AquaEnergy Group, based on Mercer Island, is marketing internationally its technology to produce power using the motion of ocean waves. The company is preparing to construct and deploy a one-megawatt plant in the summer of 2007. The location depends on who wants to foot the bill. The company's primary investor is Irish. Source: The Spokesman-Review, 12/09/2005.
An elegant vertical-axis wind turbine, quietrevolution has been designed and developed by XCO2, an established low-carbon energy consultancy and engineering practice. Virtually silent and vibration free, quietrevolution is ideally suited to both urban sites and exposed locations. The simple and robust design (patent pending) has just one moving part, maximizing reliability and minimizing maintenance requirements. Source: Evan Daniel Ravitz, 12/10/2005.
SunPower Corporation recently announced an agreement to supply PowerLight Corporation with $330 million worth of solar panels through 2009. According to SunPower, PowerLight will use the company’s products in advanced solar power systems designed for commercial, government and new home construction applications. Volume delivery is expected to begin next year.
SunPower noted that one of the products covered under the supply agreement is the company’s SunTile roof integrated system, designed for new home construction. Source: EIN Renewable Energy Today, 12/15/2005.
Shipment of solar thermal collectors in the United States jumped 23 percent last year, according to the latest government data. The industry shipped 14.1 million square feet of collectors, despite a decline in the number of companies involved, explains the annual survey of manufacturers released by the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration. Domestic shipments rose to 13.3 million square feet, an increase of 22 percent over 2003, while exports rose 57 percent and imports increased 25 percent. The number of companies shipping solar collectors dropped from 26 to 24 between 2003 and 2004, the report explains.
Low-temperature collectors continue to dominate the market with a share of 96 percent, and almost three-quarters of all collectors were produced in the U.S. with New Jersey, California, Florida, Puerto Rico and Hawaii accounting for three-quarters of that figure. New Jersey leads with 37 percent of all manufacturing, followed by California with 32 percent, while 26 percent of collectors were imported, mainly from Israel.
The 13.3 million square feet of domestic solar thermal shipments last year were sent to 45 states and 2 territories, with 80 percent going to Florida, California, Arizona, New Jersey and Illinois. Florida and California accounted for two-thirds of that total. After a two-year decline, the export market for solar collectors rebounded almost to the record levels of 2001, with 6 percent of total shipments (0.8 million square feet) going to Canada, Brazil and Mexico.
The U.S. industry remains highly concentrated, with the five largest companies accounting for 94 percent of total shipments and retaining the concentration that has stayed between 90 percent and 96 percent for the past five years. Only a few companies anticipate new product introduction and employment increased 10 percent last year, but was still only 82 percent of the peak employment which occurred in 1995. Nineteen companies were involved in design of collectors or systems, ten were involved in prototype collector development, and eight were active in prototype system development, the report notes. Those companies which produce solar products continue to do so as the predominant portion of their business. Source: Refocus Weekly, 12/14/2005
GE Energy recently announced it will locally assemble and supply wind turbines for the Jiangsu Rudong Concession II Wind Project in China's Jiangsu Province. According to GE, the project, which will employ 100 GE 1.5-megawatt turbines, will add 150 megawatts of wind capacity to China's electricity grid and help displace 246,000 tons of carbon dioxide and 895 tons of sulfur dioxide annually. GE said the project is scheduled for completion in 2007. Contact: Dennis Murphy, GE Energy, 678-844-6948. Source: EIN Renewable Energy Today, 12/6/2005.
Second Wind, Inc. recently announced the availability of its new SCADA node — a fourth-generation communicating turbine monitor dubbed CTM/4. According to Second Wind, the CTM/4, which is part of the company's Advanced Distributed Monitoring System, allows customers to leverage the latest turbine controller architectures for more effective monitoring and control of their wind generation assets.
Second Wind noted that the ADMS is the "world's leading" third party SCADA system for wind energy, and is installed on over 6,000 turbines and 3,500 MW in North America and Europe. Contact: Susan Giordana, Second Wind, phone 617-776-8520. Source: EIN Renewable Energy Today, 12/6/2005.
Chunks of coal lay on the fringes of a 450-ton mountain of cubed biomass — a symbol of transition as this eastern Iowa city enters a new age of electricity. The cell phone-sized cubes — comprised of corn stalks, switchgrass and oat hulls — are crammed into a pole building and will be burned next month to show whether biomass can partially replace coal as a source for Cedar Falls' power.
If successful, Cedar Falls Utilities plans to convert one of its two coal-fired generators into a biomass facility, providing nearly a quarter of the city's electricity through environment-friendly means. Cedar Falls Utilities cubed the biomass last week in preparation for the burning. The process hasn't been mastered, as the switchgrass on the first attempt crumbled and turned into dust and chunks. Workers discovered they needed weathered stacks that had been in the field for a full season.
If next month's tests are successful, CFU will need to obtain 100,000 tons of biomass annually to fuel the generator. Officials have proposed creating an extensive network of farmers and co-ops to establish a supply — a process they said could take years.
Oat hulls could be a realistic source. They're a byproduct of Quaker Oats' cereal production in Cedar Rapids and could be readily available, said Tom Risse, CFU electrical engineer of special projects. "We'd be a market for them," he said, adding that Quaker Oats already produces the 100,000 tons they need. All three of the biomass options produce about the same energy, about 75 to 80 percent of coal's energy. Rusley said it would take about a year to get permits in place and have the generator ready. Source: Iowa News, 12/19/2005.
When the surging Grasse River breached the old concrete-and-wood dam in Massena, N.Y., the dam, only a few feet high, collapsed slowly. Its failure injured nobody — and did the environment a big favor.
Today, eight years later, the unplugged Grasse flows freely from Massena to the St. Lawrence River, and eel and sturgeon are returning. Canoeists and anglers have, too. That idyllic scene may be shifting, though, worrying some.
Massena officials are planning a new dam, whose spinning hydropower turbine will generate about 2.5 megawatts and $1 million worth of electricity a year for the city-run utility. It would generate enough juice for only about 2,500 homes. Still, Massena's tiny project is part of a big new wave of "small hydro" power projects emerging nationwide. Propelled by high energy costs, federal incentives, and an eased licensing process, at least 104 projects in 29 states - with 2,400 megawatts of new capacity - have been granted "preliminary permits" by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which regulates hydropower development. Many other projects in the works have not yet been officially reported by FERC, observers say.
Most projects are still on the drawing boards, and the majority will probably never be built. Many projects call for retrofitting existing dams with generators. Only a few involve new dams. Indeed, the story of hydropower in recent years has been one of dam demolition, not construction. Nearly 200 dams have been demolished since 1999. Concern over declining salmon stocks and other migratory fish, and the rise of cheaper energy alternatives, have taken the shine off hydro. Last month, for instance, FERC approved removal of the Powerdale Dam on the Hood River in Oregon.
A few new dam projects are buried among the preliminary permits FERC has granted, but officials say new dams, which often generate opposition, won't be what saves the industry. About 4 in 5 projects on the books are tiny - producing less than 20 megawatts of power. But if all 104 projects now in the planning stages are built, they would contribute 2.4 gigawatts to generating capacity nationwide.
The potential exists for much more, say federal researchers. Of 80,000 existing dams, only about 2,500 generate electricity. Upgrading those hydropower dams could boost power by 4,300 megawatts. Retrofitting the most promising of the remaining 77,000 dams could generate as much as 17,000 megawatts, according to a recent US Department of Energy Report.
At a recent town hall meeting in Massena, environmentalists, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, state environment officials, Indian tribes, and sportsmen's groups came to ask questions. The new dam is needed to defray rising power costs, Massena officials say. The timing seems right, they add, because the new federal energy law may provide economic incentives that make it a good deal.
Across the nation, many existing dams are slated for relicensing hearings, where interest groups are expected to challenge their value to the public - in some cases leading to dam demolition. In other cases, relicensing will help the environment because it leads to upgrades that meet today's standards, environmentalists say. Source: By Mark Clayton, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor, 12/19/2005.
On Jan. 19 and 20, 2006, at Western’s Electric Power Training Center in Golden, Colo., the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is sponsoring a Wind Interconnection Workshop. Co-sponsors include:
Wind power is the fastest growing form of generation in the world today. Are you ready to integrate this resource into your power mix? This two-day workshop will answer your questions about interconnecting wind turbines and other distributed generation applications to public power distribution systems. Get an overview of wind energy, followed by an introduction to the Utility Wind Interest Group's new Internet-based tools program, designed to assess a distributed wind project's impact on the local distribution system. Training will cover the theory behind each tool and demonstrate them using actual cooperative feeder data. Additionally, Western’s Electric Power Training Center instructors will provide a tour of its impressive Electric Power Training Center and participants will get a preview of the EPTC's new hands-on Wind Power Simulator Integration Training Program-the nation's first-developed with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the U.S. DOE Wind Powering America Program.
Participation is limited to the first 30 registrants, with electric cooperative and public power personnel receiving preference, so reserve your place today. To register, contact Debbie Rock, Western Area Power Administration, 720-962-7271. For more information, see the announcement on the PRP Web site.
The Western Area Power Administration is planning three Utility Geothermal Working Group webcasts in early 2006. The UGWG is part of the US Department of Energy’s GeoPowering the West Initiative. The Group’s mission is to accelerate the appropriate integration of geothermal technologies into mainstream utility applications of direct use, power generation, and geoexchange heat pumps. The webcasts are co-sponsored by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CRN Program and the American Public Power Association DEED Program, among others. The topics and dates for the three webcasts are:
The Webcasts are designed for utility managers and resource planners and provide information on issues such as economics, financing, permitting, transmission, environmental impacts, marketing, and case histories. Each webcast begins at Noon EST (11 a.m. CST, 10 a.m. MST, 9 a.m. PST) and lasts for 2 ½ hours, including at least 30 minutes of questions and answers.
Participation is limited to the first 40 utilities that register. To register, email Debbie Rock. There is no charge for participation. About a week before each webcast, each registrant receives via email the dial in instructions and the presentation file to follow during the webcast. Questions? Contact Guy Nelson, UGWG Team Leader.
For our eleventh annual symposium, the Wallace Stegner Center symposium will address global climate change, from the Arctic to the Rocky Mountain West. We will be joined by 19 speakers from around the United States and Canada, including scientists, politicians, policy makers, and community representatives. We will consider an array of scientific evidence of the earth's changing climate, including bore holes in Utah and other locations worldwide, melting permafrost, rising ocean levels, retreating glaciers, and changes in the troposphere, and will then examine the evidence at hand, asking if scientific studies can be trusted and if current climate changes are caused by human activities. The symposium will then consider how we should approach policy decisions in the face of uncertainty, with speakers from the former Clinton and current Bush administration addressing the response of the United States. Speakers will then address the current and potential effects of climate change, including the economic implications for both the developed and undeveloped world, affects on ecosystems worldwide, anticipated regional effects in the Rocky Mountain West, projections of future climate changes, and how to address global warming. Our speakers include the following individuals:
Registration fees are $95 if received by February 17; $125 if received on February 17 or later. University and College faculty, staff and students/seniors are $50 if received by February 17; $65 if received on February 17 or later. Twelve CLE credits are available for an additional $15. To register or for questions, please call 801-585-3440. This symposium is made possible through the generous support of the R. Harold Burton Foundation, Chevron, the Cultural Vision Fund, and the Nature Conservancy in Utah. Source: Jan Nystrom, Associate Director, Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Environment, University of Utah, 12/12/1005.
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind Powering America program, American Public Power Association and Western Area Power Administration invite you to participate in a teleconference scheduled for February 9, 2006 on Wind Energy Economics.
The scheduled teleconference will be limited to the first 40 callers, with preference given to electric cooperative and public power personnel. The teleconference is free, but sponsors ask that you reserve a spot in advance so that the maximum number of participants can be accommodated. Please sign up only if you know you will be able to attend as seating is limited. Register by contacting Debbie Rock at 720-962-7271.
A link to the presentations on the web will be provided to all registrants along with call-in information in the week prior to the teleconference. The teleconferences will be moderated by Bob Putnam of CH2M HILL, Technical Support contractor to NRECA. The teleconference is scheduled for 11 am - 1 pm CST. Hope you can join us!
The Berkeley Lab has released a new paper titled “Fostering a Renewable Energy Technology Industry: An International Comparison of Wind Industry Policy Support Mechanisms.”
This paper examines the importance of policy efforts in supporting the development of successful global wind turbine manufacturing companies. This is done through a cross-country comparison of the policy mechanisms that have been employed to directly and indirectly promote wind technology manufacturing in twelve countries. Source: Ryan Wiser, Berkeley Lab, 11/18/2005.
The Wirth Chair at the University of Colorado/Denver is now accepting nominations for its Sustainability Awards Program. There are three categories: depth and clarity of media coverage of sustainable issues; community plans, projects and people who promote sustainable development; and, businesses who pursue sustainable strategies. Criteria, submissions procedure, time frames and last year's winners are posted online. Winners will be honored at the annual awards luncheon on April 12th 2006. For additional information, please contact Tom McCoy at 303-352-3766.
The Governor’s Office of Energy Management and Conservation and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development & International Trade today announced two new tools that suggest how renewable energy can bring economic development to rural Colorado. The strategic studies, “The Handbook on Renewable Energy Financing for Rural Colorado” and “Distributed Wind Generation Study for Northeast Colorado,” provide details on existing projects and discuss the potential of renewables in driving economic development in rural communities.
The OEMC initiated these two studies to help Coloradans assess feasibility of renewable energy technologies. The studies address how renewable energy can benefit agriculture, utilities, consumers and other industries in Colorado.
“The Handbook on Renewable Energy Financing for Rural Colorado” uses Colorado case studies to examine existing renewable energy projects, such as biomass, biofuels, hydropower, solar, and others. McNeil Technologies received funds from the U.S. Department of Energy and OEMC for the Handbook, with the intent to expand the use of renewable energy in the agricultural sector.
The second publication, “Distributed Wind Generation Study for Northeast Colorado,” focuses specifically on wind energy’s potential to provide additional power and economic benefits to Colorado. OEMC and DOE’s Wind Powering America program commissioned this study, which used Highline Electric Association’s grid. Access these publications at OEMC’s website and click on “Publications.” Source: Peggy Plate, WAPA, 12/14/2005.
The technology needed to yoke natural energy sources is continually improving, but the demand for workers who can lead us toward a sustainable energy future has already exceeded the supply.
Oregon Institute of Technology has long been both an advocate and user of sustainable energy systems in the region. In 2005, Oregon Tech furthered its commitment to sustainable power by introducing the first Bachelor of Science in Renewable Energy Systems in the United States. OIT's B.S. in Renewable Energy Systems integrates the social, environmental, economic, technical and scientific principles and skills graduates will need to develop, promote and implement new sustainable energy technologies and improve the efficiency of existing systems.
Graduates of the program will be prepared for graduate study or for immediate employment as field engineers, energy auditors, renewable energy system integrators for homes and businesses, manufacturing engineers for component and subsystem manufacturers, designers for components and subsystems, local and state government renewable-energy inspectors, planners and other positions in the energy field. The entire program will be delivered in the Portland area; lower-division general-education courses will be delivered by Clackamas Community College, while major-specific courses will be offered at OIT/Portlands East Campus.
The National Wind Coordinating Committee has released a draft version of the state siting factsheets for review and comment, produced by the NWCC Siting Workgroup, as part of the process towards becoming a NWCC resource document. Presentations from the recent Technical Considerations in Siting Wind Energymeeting are available online. Source: Katie Kalinowski NWCC Outreach Associate, NWCC, 12/19/2005.
The Utility Wind Interest Group played a key role in organizing an extensive discussion of integrating wind into utility power systems in a leading utility industry publication. The November/December 2005 issue of the IEEE Power & Energy magazine focuses on the integration of wind power plants into electric utility systems. This issue will serve as a valuable reference document and tutorial on the subject for the foreseeable future. J. Charles Smith, executive director of UWIG, served as the guest editor of this special issue, along with Brian Parsons, National Renewable Energy Laboratory wind integration program manager.
The issue is entitled "Working with Wind: Integrating Wind into the Power System," and includes the following articles:
"Making Connections" as well as the guest editorial, can be accessed on the UWIG web site. All other articles can be accessed on the IEEE Power Engineering Society web site. Login is required. UWIG members can read all of the articles inside the members section of the UWIG Web site. Source: UWIG, 12/19/2005.
The Geothermal Resources Council has announced a call for papers for their premier 2006 GRC Annual Meeting to be held in San Diego, CA September 10 – 13, 2006, at the Town & Country Resort. The proposed 2006 technical program includes:
The GRC invites you to submit a paper related to one of the above session themes or a technical paper in geothermal research, exploration, development and utilization. The GRC deadline for receipt of draft technical papers is April 28, 2006. Additionally, the GRC 2006 National Conference will focus on university student participation, with its new “Year of the Student” program. The GRC is encouraging students in the fields of geology, engineering, and environmental sciences to submit draft papers for consideration by it Technical Program Review Committee. With U.S. Department of Energy assistance, the GRC will offer attendance scholarships to any student whose paper is accepted for presentation, and cash prizes for Best Student Oral and Poster Presentations.
The Arizona Geothermal Working Group will hold an informational meeting on geothermal development in Arizona on January 13 beginning at 9:00 a.m. The meeting will be held at the Western Area Power Administration, Desert Southwest Office, 615 S. 43rd Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona. For more information contact Amanda Ormond.
The Geothermal Energy Association announced today the launch of a new website with updated and expanded information about using heat from inside the earth — geothermal energy — to produce power and energy. The new site provides information about where geothermal electricity is produced today in the US, new tax incentives for the renewable resource, and more.
In addition to providing information about GEA and the geothermal industry's annual trade show, the site now provides:
Besides these new items, several parts of the website have been significantly expanded, including:
Source: U.S. Newswire, 12/16/2005.
The Idaho National Laboratory is pleased to announce that the Virtual Hydropower Prospector Version 1.1 has been launched on the Web. The new version contains potential projects feature sets resulting from our feasibility assessment of U.S. water energy resources. You can display feasible potential project sites in four power/technology classes and view an extensive set of attributes for them including realistic hydropower potential, working flow rate and hydraulic head, and penstock length. Both the penstock and the powerhouse are shown in the map display. They have also added a Primary Roads feature set in addition to the All Roads feature set that was previously available.
Choose a hydrologic region of interest using the Region Selector and the VHP desktop will be displayed with the region you selected in the map view window. If this is the first time you have accessed VHP, you may want to read the Introduction to New Users on the VHP homepage for a quick overview. Source: Doug Hall, Program Manager, INL Hydropower Program.
The Federal Network for Sustainability is a voluntary, collaborative network of Federal agencies in the Western United States focused on fostering and furthering the concept of sustainability within the government through our individual programs and group initiatives. You can find the latest website updates online, including draft meeting minutes from our recent meeting in Colorado. Source: Al Hurt, Chairman, FNS, 12/16/2005.
The next meeting of the entire Utah Wind Working Group will be Wednesday, January 4, 2006. The meeting will be held from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Department of Natural Resources, 1594 W, North Temple, SLC. The agenda includes updates from the projects at USU, Spanish Fork and the wind subcommittees, information on the Wind for Schools program, USDA funding, and a successful residential wind project in Utah. As always, there is no charge to attend the meeting. We hope that you can attend and look forward to seeing you there. RSVPs are appreciated and can be made by Nykole Littleboy. Source: Nykole Littleboy, Utah State Energy Program, 12/15/2005.
A $2.9 billion Bush administration plan to encourage development of technologies to avoid, reduce or capture and store greenhouse gas emissions is set for a House hearing this week (hearing has been postponed). The Science Energy Subcommittee is scheduled to meet Wednesday to consider the Energy Department's draft strategic plan for the Climate Change Technology Program released in late September. Headlining the witness list for the House hearing is CCTP director David Conover.
The document lists six goals for the program: to reduce emissions from energy end-use and infrastructure; lower emissions from energy supply; capture, store and sequester carbon dioxide; reduce emissions of non-carbon greenhouse gases; improve capabilities to measure and monitor all greenhouse gas emissions; and bolster basic science contributions to technology development.
The CCTP efforts are intended to work in concert with the administration's Asia-Pacific Partnership, a separate program to accelerate clean energy development with Australia, China, India, Japan and South Korea (E&ENews PM, Sept. 22). Schedule: The hearing is set for Wednesday at 10 a.m. in 2318 Rayburn. Witnesses: CCTP director David Conover; Judi Greenwald, director of innovative solutions for the Pew Center on Global Climate Change; Daniel Kammen, professor at the University of California-Berkeley; and Edward Parson, professor at the University of Michigan. Source: By Lauren Morello, E&E Daily, 12/12/2005.
Higher world oil and natural gas prices will spur more domestic drilling, demand for nuclear power and coal, and a rise in carbon dioxide emissions under the new 25-year energy projections published today by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. EIA's Annual Energy Outlook for 2006 sees total energy demand rising from 99.7 to 133.9 quadrillion British thermal units between 2004 and 2030, an average annual increase of 1.1 percent. That scenario is based on the U.S. economy growing at an average annual rate of 3.0 percent.
Yet catching most of the attention this year is EIA's projection that crude oil prices in 2025, at $54 per barrel, will be $21 higher than those projected in last year's Outlook and will rise to $57 per barrel in 2030. These higher prices will lead to greater domestic crude oil production and heighten demand for unconventional sources of transportation fuels, such as biodiesel and ethanol, as well as coal-to-liquids production, gas-to liquids production and shale oil.
The report projects natural gas consumption will grow to 27 trillion cubic feet in 2024, and then fall modestly to 26.9 Tcf in 2030. Its 2025 projections for natural gas use are nearly 4 Tcf lower than last year's projections, reflecting that natural gas will lose market share to coal for power generation. However, a major contributor to growth in U.S. gas supplies will be unconventional gas production, the Alaskan natural gas pipeline and liquefied natural gas imports. Unconventional natural gas will account for 45 percent of domestic U.S. production in 2030. Finally, the report says carbon dioxide emissions from energy use will rise at an average annual rate of 1.2 percent between 2004 and 2030. Yet the carbon intensity of the economy -- the Bush administration's preferred measure of emissions because it accounts for economic growth — will fall at an average annual rate of 1.7 percent per year from 2004 through 2030. Source: By Mary O'Driscoll, Greenwire Senior Reporter, 12/12/2005.
On November 17, the Departments of Agriculture, the Interior, and Commerce jointly issued interim final rules establishing procedures that implement the hydroelectric licensing provisions of section 241 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The procedures relate to the trial-type hearing permitted by EPAct on disputed issues of material fact relating to the Departments' mandatory conditions and prescriptions, under sections 4(e) and 18 of the Federal Power Act. The new rules are effective immediately and apply to any license proceeding for which the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has not issued a license as of the effective date of the rules. In addition, the rules apply in post-license reopener proceedings if the Department reserves its authority in the license to submit conditions or prescriptions and subsequently exercises that authority. The Departments have requested comments on how the rules may be improved. The deadline for comments is January 17, 2006. Source: Van Ness Feldman Attorneys, 11/18/2005.
Secretary Gale Norton announced the completion of an environmental review that will allow the Bureau of Land Management to significantly expand its wind energy program on public lands while ensuring the conservation of threatened and endangered species and migratory birds. With the publication of the record of decision on a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, BLM also is amending 52 land-use plans in nine western states to generate more than 3,200 MW of wind energy — enough to provide electricity for nearly 1 million homes.
The Programmatic EIS establishes broad guidelines for BLM's Wind Energy Development Program ensuring that the best management practices are used to avoid impacts to at-risk species and migratory birds. As part of the approval process, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a biological opinion stating that the wind energy program would not jeopardize threatened or endangered species. BLM also incorporated guidelines to reduce the impact of wind energy production on birds, bats and other wildlife. The guidelines mitigate impacts related to noise, habitat fragmentation, collisions, ground disturbance, protection of riparian areas and wetlands, and other conservation issues. Wind energy accounts for only six percent of our nation's renewable electricity generation and 0.1 percent of our total electricity supply. BLM currently has 22 wind energy development sites that produce 500 MWh of power.
BLM developed the Programmatic EIS in response to recommendations made in the President's National Energy Policy, which encourages the development of renewable energy resources on public lands. The document is also consistent with congressional direction provided in the recently passed Energy Policy Act of 2005 related to renewable energy development on public lands. Work on the EIS began in October 2003 and included extensive community meetings in the West and opportunities for public comment. The document addresses wind-energy development on BLM-administered lands in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. BLM is not amending the land-use plans for Arizona and California because those states already are addressing wind energy locally. Source: RenewableEnergyAccess.com, 12/19/2005.
How much do Americans know about environmental issues and how do they know it? A report released last week by the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation (parent organization of GreenBiz.com) compiled a decade’s worth of research to get a bead on Americans’ collective eco-IQ — and let’s just say we’ve got a ways to go. The study found that while most Americans pick up a “smattering of factoids, a few (sometimes incorrect) principles, and numerous opinions,” real understanding of the underlying issues is often lacking. The stakes are high, not only for environmental educators but for the rest of us as well; the passing of solid conservation and responsible use legislation requires a certain level of environmental literacy among the voting public. Looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us. Source: GreenBiz.com, 12/12/2005.
California's plan to fund an 11-year solar incentive program with $3.2 billion is moving forward and should be of interest to SEPA members no matter where you are located. While the program will directly affect Californians, a program of this size will undoubtedly affect the overall U.S. (and global) solar market as well, and other states are likely to look at California's efforts as they develop/modify their own solar programs. For the details about the proposal released yesterday by the Renewable Energy Access reported on the proposal released by the California Public Utilities Commission. Source: Julia Judd, SEPA News, 12/14/2005.
Consumption of renewable energy in the United States will increase by 1.8 percent a year over the next quarter-century, according to the latest forecast from the Department of Energy. A total of 9.02 quadrillion Btu of renewables will be consumed by 2030, compared with 5.70 quads in 2003, says DOE’s Energy Information Administration in its ‘Annual Energy Outlook 2006.’ That will be 6.7 percent of the country’s total energy consumption of 134 quads in 2030, led by oil at 54 quad (annual increase of 1.1 percent), natural gas at 28 quad (0.7 percent), coal at 34 quad (1.7 percent), nuclear at 9.09 quad (0.4 percent) and other sources at 0.05 quad.
The forecast consumption of coal, nuclear and renewables have been increased from earlier predictions, while petroleum and natural gas consumption are lower, due to higher anticipated energy prices for oil and gas, as well as lower projected growth rates in the manufacturing sector which traditionally is the most energy-intensive industry. There will also be greater penetration by hybrid and diesel vehicles in the transport sector and higher efficiency regulations will reduce energy consumption in the residential and commercial sectors, and slow the growth of electricity demand.
The use of renewables to generate electricity will grow (including CHP) by 1.7 percent per year, from 358 billion kWh in 2004 to 559 b-kWh in 2030. Coal will remain the primary fuel for power generation through 2030, with its share of total generation increasing from 50 percent in 2004 to 57 percent in 2030. The share of natural gas will increase from 18 percent to 22 percent by 2020 before falling to 17 percent in 2030, and the average delivered price of electricity will decline from 7.6 cents per kWh to 7.1 cents in 2015 as a result of falling natural gas prices and, to a lesser extent, coal prices. After 2015, average prices will increase to 7.5 cents per kWh in 2030. Source: Refocus Weekly, 12/14/2005.
Insurer Allianz is investing in an Italian wind farm which will be one of the largest built in the country so far, as part of its pledge to focus on renewable energies. The Francofonte wind farm in Sicily will generate enough electricity for 46,000 households and will start operating in April 2007. Allianz has acquired the project company for the wind farm, Aero-Fonte, which will be run by German operator Windkraft Nord. Thomas Pütter, one of the heads of Allianz alternative asset holding, said: "Investments like this one in renewable energies, especially wind, offer an attractive yield with an acceptable risk profile. They will generate an attractive annual income stream." The transaction represents the first investment under Allianz's strategy of investing in long-term renewable energy projects. Source: Banking Business Review Online, 12/14/2005.
The United States has not joined the Kyoto Protocol to cut greenhouse gases, but the pact nevertheless is boosting sales for American companies that market "clean" energy technologies. The spread of renewable-energy standards — particularly in Europe — propelled by the treaty, along with a surge in oil and gas prices, has triggered a boom in business for solar and wind energy companies.
When Solar Integrated Technologies Inc. opened an office in Germany last spring, for example, the salespeople were allocated enough solar roofing material to provide one megawatt of power. In six weeks, they were sold out. Within a month, they had orders for 16 megawatts more.
In Germany, the world's leading solar energy market, farmers are replacing crops with fields of solar panels, thanks to a government buyback program for renewable energy that spurred 150 percent growth in solar installations in 2004. Britain, France and Spain also have introduced aggressive plans to reduce their production of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases over the next decade.
Craig Stevens, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Energy, said the Bush administration recognized that climate change was a "serious long-term issue." But he said the best way to address that concern was by developing cleaner, more environmentally friendly forms of fossil-fuel-generated energy and nuclear power. Stevens said renewable energy would also be an "important part" of the nation's energy mix, which was why the government was planning to invest $391 million next year in solar, wind, hydroelectric and geothermal energy projects.
State and local governments don't think the Bush administration is moving fast enough. Twenty states, including California, have established standards to guarantee that a certain portion of the energy they use comes from renewable-energy sources. California is the world's third-largest market for solar energy and the nation's leading producer of wind-generated power.
Stepped-up interest from venture capitalists and Wall Street investors has provided seed money for entrepreneurs in the U.S. But once they have mastered the technology, many firms are shifting their manufacturing to countries where governments are providing investment incentives and an assurance of long-term demand. The U.S. share of global production of photovoltaic cells has dropped from 45 percent in 1996 to 8 percent today, according to the Solar Energy Industries Assn.
Evergreen Solar Inc., one of the nation's leading solar firms, developed its modules at a facility in Marlboro, Mass., where it employs 250 people. But the firm sells three-quarters of its product in Germany and plans to invest more than $50 million in a production plant there that will employ 400 people. "We will eventually build a plant here in the U.S.," said Tim Woodward, a board member of Evergreen and managing director of Nth Power, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm. "But the market demand is not great enough here for us to justify really expanding aggressively in the U.S. market." Source: LA Times, By Evelyn Iritani, Times Staff Writer, 12/19/2005.
Describing itself as “the first automaker to enter into solar cell business,” Honda Motor Co. said on Monday it plans to start mass-producing solar cells in 2007, eyeing growing demand for environmentally friendly energy sources. Japan’s third-biggest automaker said in a statement it would build a new factory for thin-film solar cells on the site of a car plant in Kumamoto prefecture, on the southwestern Japanese island of Kyushu.
The company said it aims to generate annual sales of $40 million to $70 million from solar cells once the factory’s output reaches full annual capacity of 27.5 megawatts, enough to power about 8,000 households. “The mass production of Honda’s next-generation solar cell became possible with a new mass production process for thin film solar cells developed independently by Honda Engineering,” the company stated. Honda will be competing with major solar cell manufacturers such as Kyocera, Sharp and Mitsubishi Electric Corp.
The company aims to sell the solar cells for both residential and industrial use. It will initially target the Japanese market. Prior to mass production, Honda plans to manufacture and sell solar cells in a limited area in Japan from late 2006. Source: MSNBC staff, 12/19/2005.
Town meeting may include three articles on wind power to gauge public opinion on the issue. The topic has been controversial since last summer when residents learned of a renewed proposal to build five 390-foot towers on Little Equinox Mountain.
Voters will be asked whether they support the plan for wind towers on Little Equinox, with some conditions that have not yet been determined. They'll also be asked whether they would allow the town to spend an unspecified amount of money to hire advisers to represent Manchester during hearings on the project before the Public Service Board, which has authority over the project.
The Orton Family Foundation, which supports sustainable communities, also is sponsoring a number of forums in town on wind energy. The next one takes place Monday and centers on the economic and energy issues of wind power. Another forum is scheduled for Jan. 9. The series will end Feb. 11 with an all-day meeting. Source: Associated Press, 12/18/2005.
With the preliminary release of Annual Energy Outlook 2006 on December 12, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have taken the opportunity to update its past analysis comparing natural gas forward prices to price forecasts with the new data from AEO 2006.
An 8-page memo summarizes their findings, which are consistent with results from similar comparisons over the past five years showing that forward gas prices have been trading at a premium to contemporaneous gas price forecasts. Thus, as has been the case over the past five years, levelized cost comparisons of fixed-price renewable generation with variable-price gas-fired generation that are based solely on the AEO 2006 reference case natural gas price forecast will once again yield results that are "biased" in favor of gas-fired generation (presuming that long-term price stability is valued). LBNL hopes you find this brief update useful. Source: Mark Bolinger and Ryan Wiser, LBNL, 12/20/2005.
Wisconsin hopes to help jumpstart more investment in renewable energy including ethanol, biodiesel and waste-to-energy power under a $1 million grant program announced Monday. The grants were announced by Gov. Jim Doyle, who proposed the grant program as part of the state budget that passed this year. "I want Wisconsin to be a leader in the emerging bio-economy," Doyle said in a statement. "We are looking for ideas to help Wisconsin realize an economic future where we rely on the Midwest" for energy and less on the Middle East, he said.
The initiative is one of several in the works at the state level to boost the state's supply of renewable energy at a time of rising prices of energy from fossil fuel. Another is legislation proposed last month by state Sen. Robert Cowles (R-Green Bay) and Rep. Phil Montgomery (R-Ashwaubenon) to boost the state's supply of renewable energy to 10 percent within 10 years. Source: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Thomas Content Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 12/13/2005.
The EPA Office of Grants and Debarment, Grants Administration Division, has announced its State Innovation Grant Program. Apply online. Source: Grants.gov, 12/12/2005.
Description: Seeking grant applications for support of basic energy science fundamental research in the natural sciences and engineering leading to new and improved energy technologies and to understanding and mitigating the environmental impacts of energy technologies. Government Agency: Department of Energy's Office of Science Schedule: Applications may be submitted at any time. Biomass Initiative 2005 December Newsletter, 12/9/2005.
Description: The program sponsors grants in research/education, professional development for agricultural educators and producer projects in sustainable agriculture. Government Agency: USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education. Schedule: Grant programs, funding amounts and funding cycles vary by region. Biomass Initiative 2005 December Newsletter, 12/9/2005.
Description: The EISG provides funding to small businesses, small non-profits, individuals and academic institutions for establishing the feasibility of new energy concepts. Qualifying entities outside of California are eligible. Projects must develop innovative and original energy concepts that address a clear market need, provide benefit for California electricity ratepayers and target one or more areas of interest: Industrial/agriculture/water end-use efficiency; building end-use efficiency; advanced generation; renewable generation; energy-related environmental research; strategic energy research. Government Agency: California Energy Commission Schedule: EISG has up to 4 cycles of grants a year. Biomass Initiative 2005 December Newsletter, 12/9/2005.
Description: The U.S. Department of Agriculture requests applications for the National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program. NRI supports research, extension, and education projects that address key problems of national, regional, and multi-state importance in sustaining all components of agriculture. In FY 2006, the NRI Program will accept applications for fundamental research, mission-linked research, and integrated research, extension, and education projects, including Biobased Products and Bioenergy Production. Government Agency: USDA Schedule: Applications in the Biobased Products and Bioenergy Production area must be received by January 12, 2006. Biomass Initiative 2005 December Newsletter, 12/9/2005.
Description: The U.S. Department of Agriculture requests applications for the National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program. NRI supports research, extension, and education projects that address key problems of national, regional, and multi-state importance in sustaining all components of agriculture. 29 program areas identified including Biobased Products and Bioenergy Production; Water and Watersheds; and Rural Development. Government Agency: USDA Schedule: Due dates range from November 30, 2005 go October 31, 2006. Biomass Initiative 2005 December Newsletter, 12/9/2005.
This news item comes to you as a service of Western's Renewable Resources Program.
|
