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Florida Power & Light Co. hopes to expand its renewable-energy purchase program to businesses next year, a company official said Wednesday. The Sunshine Energy program, which began in February 2004 to place electricity from renewable sources on the power grid, now has close to 25,000 residential customers. FPL wants to ask state utility regulators if it can add commercial customers to the program starting next year, said David Bates, a heating, venting and air-conditioning manager for FPL, which is owned by Juno Beach-based FPL Group Inc.
FPL's program is voluntary in two ways. Unlike other states, Florida does not require utilities to buy renewable energy. Secondly, FPL's residential customers are not required to participate.
State lawmakers passed a wide-ranging energy bill in May that calls for research, development and production of renewable energy in Florida to lessen the state's dependence on fossil fuels. The bill went to Gov. Jeb Bush on Tuesday, and he has 15 days to sign it. FPL pledged to build 150 kilowatts of solar energy in the state for every 10,000 customers who signed up for the Sunshine Energy program. In April, the utility said it had chosen Rothenbach Park, a former landfill site in suburban Sarasota, for a 250-kilowatt solar farm. The 28,000-square-foot site will have 1,200 photovoltaic solar panels. It is scheduled to open next year. Source: Palm Beach Post, 6/16/2006.
A new documentary about global warming, featuring former vice president Al Gore, is doing its part to avoid global warming. "An Inconvenient Truth" is offsetting all of the carbon dioxide emissions regarding production, promotion, air and ground transportation and hotel usage associated with the film.
The producer of the film, Participant Productions, is teaming with film company Paramount Classics to purchase renewable emission credits. The credits represent energy created from renewable energy products and cover the energy used by the documentary. "It only seemed right to try to counteract the pollution we created in our production and promotion of ‘An Inconvenient Truth,’" said Jeff Skoll, founder of Participant Productions. "It would be ironic, not to mention wrong, if we added to the global warming that Al Gore warns about in his film."
A company called NativeEnergy worked with both Paramount Classics and Participant Productions to secure the renewable energy credits to offset emissions created by the documentary. The company is a national marketer of renewable energy credits — also known — as green tags that compensate for the carbon dioxide used by individuals and organizations. These credits are created by renewable energy projects such as wind farms and methane digesters. "As a company, our mandate is to create projects that not only entertain but inspire audiences to take action," said Ricky Strauss, president of Participant Productions. "In the case of ´An Inconvenient Truth,´ this partnership with NativeEnergy illustrates just one way of doing this." The film becomes the first documentary to be carbon-neutral.
"Syriana," which explored the global oil industry and featured George Clooney, was the first major motion picture to offset 100 percent of its carbon dioxide emissions, the companies said. Source: Jim Johnson, Waste News Senior Reporter.
Design firm JV Media Design has announced a number of renewable energy web hosting solutions for clients with environmental concerns in mind. "The environment is one thing we should all be considerate of – no matter what business you operate", suggested Sherry Holub, JV Media Design’s Creative Director. "JV Media Design has always been involved, to a lesser degree, with environmental causes and organizations through donations and through the use of recycled business supplied whenever possible. I just felt we could be doing even more."
To make themselves more ‘green’ JV Media Design has begun to offer clients web hosting through ThinkHost.com – a company noted for its renewable energy policies. JV Media currently offers new clients 6 months free hosting with ThinkHost. The company’s ‘green’ policy has also impacted the printing options it offers customers.
"Earlier this spring we submitted an application and were accepted into Co-Op America, which I feel will help us promote our new offerings of green printing and hosting and might even increase awareness in our existing client base," added Ms. Holub. Co-Op America is a nonprofit organization that promotes social justice and environmental sustainability. Source: HOSTSEARCH, 6/19/2006.
BP and DuPont today announced the creation of a partnership to develop, produce and market a next generation of biofuels to help meet increasing global demand for renewable transport fuels.
BP and DuPont have been working together since 2003 to develop advanced biofuels with properties that can help overcome the limitations of existing biofuels. That work has now progressed to the point where they are able to bring the first jointly developed product to market. The companies' joint strategy is to deliver advanced biofuels that will provide improved options for expanding energy supplies and accelerate the move to renewable transportation fuels which lower overall greenhouse gas emissions.
The companies are leveraging DuPont's world-class biotechnology and bio-manufacturing capabilities with BP's fuels technology expertise and market know-how. By pooling their knowledge and expertise, the two companies aim to be the world leaders in the development and production of advanced biofuels, driving the growth of biofuels, which today account for less than two percent of global transportation fuels. Current projections show that biofuels could become a significant part of the transport fuel mix in the future — possibly up to 20-30 per cent in key markets.
The first product to market will be biobutanol, which will be introduced in the United Kingdom as a gasoline bio-component. Initial introduction is targeted in the UK in 2007 where BP and DuPont are working with British Sugar, a subsidiary of Associated British Foods plc, to convert the country's first ethanol fermentation facility to produce biobutanol. Additional global capacity will be introduced as market conditions dictate and a feasibility study in conjunction with British Sugar is already underway to examine the possibility of constructing larger facilities in the UK. Source: Global Newsletter, 6/20/2006.
Not long ago, the nuclear industry was wind power's primary critic. Now, questions are being raised by bird lovers and Pentagon officials. As wildlife advocates demand more studies of avian mortality from wind turbines, the federal government has blocked plans for several wind farms in Wisconsin and other parts of the Midwest on the grounds that the giant turbines could interfere with military radar.
Is trouble ahead for the nation's fastest-growing form of alternative energy? Or is wind power simply getting more attention because it's becoming a major player in the nation's energy market? "It means it's ready for prime time," said Bill Spratley, executive director of Green Energy Ohio, a nonprofit group behind the state's push for more alternative energy forms.
Wind power is America's fastest-growing energy source, but still accounts for less than 1 percent of the nation's power. By 2020, its market share is expected to be 6 percent, the federal Government Accountability Office has said. Supporters see it as a cheap, clean alternative to foreign oil, natural gas, coal-fired power plants, and nuclear power. Although wind power bills itself as ecologically superior to nuclear power, Ohio's top bald eagle researcher calls the wind industry "a tremendous eater of land."
"It would take [almost] 600 turbines to replace Davis-Besse," said Mark Shieldcastle, of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Crane Creek Wildlife Research Station in Ottawa County. "You're talking 10 times as much land use and habitat as a nuclear plant."
The nuclear industry, which has long scoffed at the idea of wind competing with it someday, is heavily promoting itself as the antithesis of the coal-fired power plants that emit greenhouse gases causing global warming. Nuclear opponents, though, claim that's all a public relations spin job because of huge energy needs for enriching the uranium in nuclear fuel.
Mr. Shieldcastle isn't sold on wind as a technology. "It's not the green energy the propaganda machine is purporting," Mr. Shieldcastle said, citing the amount of energy necessary for production of wind turbines and the amount of oil needed for lubricating turbine blades. The average commercial-sized wind turbine, like the four near Bowling Green, generates 1.7 megawatts of power.
Mr. Shieldcastle is one of several high-profile speakers scheduled for Ohio's first major conference about wind power's impact on wildlife. The conference runs June 27 through 29 at the Medical University of Ohio's Dana Conference Center. Participating agencies include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Ohio DNR.
Toledo was chosen as the site for that conference because the city stands in the middle of the wind-power issue. It is on the shore of western Lake Erie. Being the shallowest part of the Great Lakes and in close proximity to electrical transmission lines, Toledo could become attractive to wind industry developers, Ms. Seymour said. But Toledo is also in the heart of one of North America's most valuable flyways for migratory birds. That, plus the cost of obtaining offshore permits, could dissuade developers, she said. While land-based turbines are more practical, offshore turbines benefit from stronger winds.
Wildlife advocates are fighting to keep the near-shore from becoming a compromise. They want turbines prohibited within three miles of Lake Erie's shoreline. Putting them farther out into the lake, however, would likely be a problem for maritime shippers.
The Great Lakes Science Center in downtown Cleveland just got its foot in the door. At a cost of $500,000, it put up Ohio's first wind turbine along Lake Erie. The turbine, to be used mostly as a demonstration, started producing electricity on June 9. Mr. Shieldcastle said he was not pleased by the center's decision to install the turbine. Trish Rooney, the center's marketing director, said the turbine is expected to produce 8 percent of the center's energy. The center is using the turbine, under the Ohio DNR's auspices, for a wildlife-impact study that could take up to three years, said Blake Andres, the center's vice president of education and exhibitions. Contact Tom Henry 419-724-6079. Copyright (c) 2006, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. Source: The Blade, 6/19/2006.
SOLAR and wind-powered street lighting could be introduced across York in an environmentally-friendly scheme aimed at shaving tens of thousands of pounds off the city council's energy bills. Plans for the scheme are being investigated after York Council's escalating bills saw the cost of powering the city's 20,000 street lights top £750,000 in the last financial year. The proposals are part of the council's wider energy efficiency drive, launched last year to bring in more eco-friendly schemes and reduce carbon emissions.
Initial investigations have revealed that other councils which have introduced "green"-powered lighting have managed to reduce their energy bills significantly. Wigan has 36,000 lights and yet its bill was £670,000 and all the energy used is guaranteed to come from wind power. York Council is now investigating the possibility of using green power throughout the city in areas where there is no national grid supply. Officers have already looked at trials of green lighting in Hull and Kirklees, where the use of solar electricity to power lamps has been introduced.
Local authorities across the United Kingdom and Europe have already adopted long-term management plans to increase the efficiency of lighting while reducing the number of installed units by as much as 40 percent.
York Council is looking to introduce its own management plan to create even greater capacity for environmental and cost savings. Council officers have recommended replacing old mercury vapour lamps with more energy-efficient models and setting the city an initial target of 20 per cent for using renewable energy sources in its lights. Other eco-friendly schemes which are being put in place as part of York Council's wider green policies include the pioneering EcoDepot project. Work is underway on the £8m environmentally friendly office block in Hazel Court and it will be the largest building of its type in Europe. The EcoDepot will include an inbuilt rain-water harvesting system and its own renewable energy supply. Its centrepiece will be an office building made only with materials produced in a way that creates the lowest possible level of greenhouse gas emissions. Source: Paul Jeeves, Yorkshire Post, United Kingdom, 6/19/2006.
Internal Hydro International, Inc. announced that it has submitted a proposal this week for the placement of 40 units of its Energy Commander V 30 Kilowatt low impact hydro units with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the W. Kerr Scott Dam site located in North Carolina. With a planned minimum 1.2 megawatts power output at this single location, the projected annual revenue is $750,000 from the site.
IHDR's proposal will be a basis for other multi-set units to be installed in the more than 70,000 non-electricity producing dams in the U.S. Thousands of those sites could be equipped to use the EC system, where traditional turbine systems have never been able to run due to the low-head flows of water. The Army Corps owns 569 dams, with 58 percent of the remainder being privately owned, and the remainder are local, state and other federal entities. The proposal shows that the EC V is able to be implemented on low head water flows, where turbine systems could not be powered due to the low head. IHDR will work with the Army Corps to complete the submission process and a revenue sharing plan. The Company opted to await submission of the proposal until the completion and testing phase was entered and verified for the EC V 30 kilowatt small hydropower unit.
W. Kerr Scott Dam is located on the Yadkin River about five river miles upstream of Wilkesboro, NC. The dam is about 55 miles west of Winston-Salem, NC and about 65 miles north of Charlotte, NC. The dam was completed in 1963. With a cost of production for the units at approximately $250,000 plus related one time infrastructure such as unit housing, and piping and platform area, and a projected seven year life, and easy change out, the projected revenue stream and ability to provide constant electricity would be an appreciably favorable ROI.
The placement plan would be a typical one for any dam in the world with low head which the Energy Commander can use, but much less than that required by traditional large scale hydro units. Unlike turbines, the positive displacement system of the Energy Commander utilizes cylinders and a patented controller valve to take in a low-pressure flow, through a small inlet, using all the flow inside the cylinders to create mechanical forces for a generator. The system can be expanded or contracted by the number of 12 cylinder slices to match the available flow pressure. Unlike traditional turbines, the small intake size can easily control sediment entry and marine life from being harmed.
CONTACT: Internal Hydro International, Inc., Investor Relations, William Englemen, 713-320-3596, Source: Internal Hydro International, Inc., TAMPA, Fla., 6/19/2006.
Anaheim Public Utilities, in association with its Sun Power for the Schools Program, celebrated the completion of a unique solar energy system project in a recent ceremony at Jonas Salk Elementary School during the school’s annual Energy Fair.
This newly installed system is the product of teamwork between Anaheim Public Utilities and the Magnolia School District, particularly Tim Thomas. Thomas, a third-grade teacher, was recently honored as a 2006 Orange County Teacher of the Year. After attending a Utilities solar workshop for educators, Thomas saw an opportunity that would prove to be environmentally beneficial as well as educational. With Utilities’ Sun Power for the Schools Program covering 80 percent of the installation cost and the school district managing the balance, a solar energy system was installed next to the school library. The system is unique in that it is mounted on a pole and visible to the campus community, including students, parents and teachers. It stands between the library and the main walkway so students can witness the power of solar energy on a daily basis. The system also has a data acquisition feature, which is Web-accessible for both students and the public. This feature provides information on the benefits of renewable energy.
Sun Power for the Schools is one of two voluntary programs that support the efforts of Green Power for Anaheim. Green power is electricity generated by renewable energy sources-resources such as wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, biomass and solar. Source: Mike Ebbing, Anaheim Public Utilities, Anaheim, CA, 6/19/2006.
Western GeoPower Corp., a renewable energy development company, announced the acquisition of a geothermal lease for the Unit 15 Steam Field covering 421 acres within The Geysers Geothermal Field in Northern California. The lease grants Western GeoPower the right to re-develop the geothermal reservoir and build a new plant for electricity generation.
Commercial geothermal power has been generated continuously at The Geysers Field since 1960, the present generation level being about 900 megawatts. The Unit 15 leasehold is situated in the southwestern region of The Geysers Field in Sonoma County and much of the leasehold lies within the presently known boundary of The Geysers Field. A commercial power plant of 62 megawatt (gross) capacity, known as P.G. & E. Unit 15, operated at the leasehold during 1979-1989.
It is now recognized that the Unit 15 plant was oversized for the available resource. For this reason, the wells supplying the plant experienced a rapid decline in productivity, similar to the decline experienced throughout The Geysers Field at that time. The plant was shut down in 1989 and eventually dismantled, and the wells were plugged and abandoned.
The Unit 15 Steam Field acquisition enables Western GeoPower to establish an immediate presence in the U.S. market, which continues to be the world leader in the generation of electric power from geothermal energy. The U.S. Geothermal Energy Association recorded on-line capacity of 2,828 megawatts in 2005 in the four 'geothermal generating' states – California, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah – with approximately 2,000 megawatts of new plant capacity currently under development in nine states. Source: Western GeoPower Corp., 6/20/2006.
Seventy-three students from 21 universities around the world will gather at MIT this summer to design and build between five and 10 commuter vehicles that exploit human power, biofuels, solar technologies and fuel cells to travel at least 500 miles per gallon of fuel.
By the end of the MIT Vehicle Design Summit, the cars created by the students, who have previously designed solar racecars for the World Solar Challenge and super-mileage vehicles for the European Shell Eco-Marathon, will tour the country to bring attention to the social and technological issues surrounding alternative-powered vehicles. An added goal for the June 13 – Aug. 13 program is to lay a foundation for ongoing multidisciplinary transportation research involving all five MIT schools.
The summit also could set the stage for an international consortium focused on green transportation for India, China and other countries with rapidly expanding transportation infrastructures.
The students will work with industry and academia speakers and mentors to create the vehicles. Through a partnership with the MIT Media Lab's Fab Lab, additional cars will be designed to be built at Fab Labs in Norway, Costa Rica, India, Ghana and South Africa. The Fab Lab program, part of MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms, explores how information relates to physical representation.
For decades, universities and corporations have fielded teams to compete in the WSC, a solar-powered car race spanning 3,021 kilometers through central Australia from Darwin to Adelaide. The competition's organizers hoped it would spawn solar vehicles that might one day be mass produced, but the cars, optimized to race across the outback, have been too specialized for commuter use. Encouraged by WSC organizers to design a new rule set, the MIT Solar Electric Vehicle Team decided to bring together participants for the intensive nine-week design summit aimed at in-depth exploration of alternative transportation technologies. Source: By: Deborah Halber, News Office Correspondent, 6/20/2006.
There was a distinct sense of pride in the air last week at the American Wind Energy Association's WINDPOWER 2006 conference. "We have arrived," declared AWEA executive director Randal Swisher. But the challenge of transmission still looms large for wind power's future. Regular contributor Bob Fesmire explains what the wind industry has to accomplish going forward. Source: Electric Light & Power, 6/20/2006.
On the cover of Popular Science’s July 2006 edition, the headline reads, “The Future of Energy: Ten Technologies to End Our Oil Addiction.” Geothermal is listed as “step 8.” The nine other technologies showcased are (in the following order): wind, distributed generation grid systems, “self-powered” factories that rely on sustainable energy such as geo-heat systems and solar panels, plug-in hybrid vehicles, switching from corn to cellulosic ethanol, improving the efficiency and reducing the cost of producing solar energy, producing hydrogen from clean sources, tidal turbines, biomass power, and energy efficiency. Source: GEA Update, 6/15/2006.
According to a recent article, The University of North Dakota recently received a $400,000 grant from the Department of Energy to study geothermal energy. The grant has two major objectives, said Ahmad Ghassemi, UND associate professor in geological engineering and principal investigator: (1) learning more about water/rock interactions based on how rocks fracture, and (2) studying the affect of fracture width, or the size of the opening, on water/rock interactions. The challenge is to provide enough fractures—or to connect the pre-existing ones—in rocks at that depth to A) allow the water or liquid to travel from an injection well to an extraction well, and B) create enough rock surface area to allow the liquid to heat sufficiently. At the same time, scientists need to make sure there are no fracture short cuts that would allow the liquid to reach the extraction well without getting sufficiently heated.
Ghassemi, colleagues and graduate students will be using computer simulations to study these challenges. They want to look at how the change in the temperature of rocks can enhance formation of a crack or fracture in the right locations. If there are ways to fracture rocks at a depth of 1.5 miles, there is no limit on the locations where geothermal energy could be produced. Ghassemi wants to also provide new information on the percolation of water and the chemical interactions of water and rock fractures. In addition to computer simulations, Ghassemi will be using data from current geothermal facilities. He will be studying the changes in pressure and water temperatures in the injections and extraction wells with hopes of understanding the response of rocks in various scenarios. University of North Dakota will conduct research for two years and release the results of their work in about three years. Source: GEA Update, 6/15/2006.
In a recent article, Tim Flannery, the Australian scientist, conservationist, and author of The Weathermakers cited geothermal and other renewables as a way to combat climate change. When asked if he considers geothermal energy “part of the solution,” Flannery responded, “Geothermal energy has enormous potential. It was Nikolai Tesla who said that there’s a lot of heat under our feet, and if we could tap it, we would have a limitless source of energy.” Source: By: Deirdre Fulton, Phoenix News, 6/6/2006.
Well maybe not exactly with dirt, but the ability to heat homes through the warmth stored in the ground is an ancient technology that has recently taken bounds and leaps, according to Joel Steinberg, owner of Valley Geothermal Systems. Half the energy from the sun that hits the earth is absorbed and stored. The result is the ground remains at a constant temperature of between 10 and 15 degrees C all year round at a depth of six feet below the surface.
Steinberg began in geothermal heating when he wanted to have it installed in his home. However finding someone to do the job was difficult as the closest dealer was in Kamloops. This gave Steinberg the idea of working in the business, and after taking three courses and becoming certified he now is the local representative of NextEnergy Inc. for the North Thompson Valley area. Steinberg feels geothermal heating is a better investment, as well as a green energy source because geothermal heating doesn't rely on non-renewable fossil fuels.
How geothermal heating works is rather simple. A geothermal system consists of a geothermal unit, generally located in the basement of a house, which is connected to a ground loop that is buried in the earth. An ethanol (think anti-freeze) and water solution circulating through the loop absorbs the heat from the ground and takes it back to the house. The geothermal unit transfers the heat to air that is drawn through the unit and blows the warm air around the house using a standard duct system. The heat is also used to heat water. In the summer the process is reversed. Heat is taken from the air in the house and put in the ground, which in the summer is cooler than the air.
The life expectancy of a geothermal unit is around 20 years, though Steinberg says like any furnace, they tend to live longer than expected, sometimes 25-30 years. Anyone interested in ordering a geothermal unit or asking for more information can contact Joe Steinberg at 674-0017.
Source: Clearwater Times, 6/19/2006.
As prices continue to rise alternative solutions must be pursued. Biofuels offer a solution in which some countries have already begun to successfully implement. In the U.S., biofuels are a key component of the President's Advanced Energy Initiative and will help to reduce 30 percent of 2004 levels of gasoline consumption by 2030. The U.S. is currently the world's second largest producer of ethanol at 4.28 billion gallons, accounting for 44.5 percent of world ethanol production. Brazil has been successful in supplying its fuel needs through sugarcane-to-ethanol. In 2005, Brazil produced 4.36 billion gallons of fuel ethanol, 45.2 percent of the world's total. Ethanol provides roughly 40 percent of Brazil's non-diesel fuel and 2 to 3 percent of U.S. non-diesel fuel. Biodiesel, produced mainly from rapeseed or sunflower seed, comprises 80 percent of Europe's total biofuel production. The EU accounted for nearly 89 percent of all biodiesel production worldwide in 2005. Germany has been very successful integrating biodiesel into its transportation sector, producing 1.9 billion liters, or more than half the world total. As of early 2006, Columbia is mandating the use of 10 percent ethanol in all gasoline sold in cities with populations exceeding 500,000. In Canada, the government aims for 45 percent of the country's gasoline consumption to contain 10 percent ethanol by 2010. Source: Biomass Community Newsletter, 6/20/2006.
Mark your calendars for the Southwest Renewable Energy Conference August 2-3, 2006, Flagstaff, Ariz. The Southwest Renewable Energy Conference is a forum for the exchange of ideas and information about renewable energy. The conference program covers a wide range of information to encourage thoughtful evaluation and discussion on the development of wind, solar, biomass and geothermal energy on tribal, federal, state and private lands.
Topics will include:
Registration is now open. For further information, please do not respond to this email. Contact: Kristine Newton at 303-384-0414, or Shelly Collings at 720-233-5590. Source: Southwest Renewable Energy Conference, 6-15-2006.
The Geothermal Resources Council will convene its 2006 Annual Meeting at the Town & Country Resort and Convention Center in San Diego, CA on September 10-13, 2006. Committee organization and planning for the event is underway. Check the GRC website for more information about the meeting – and the companion Geothermal Energy Association Trade Show – as it becomes available. See you in San Diego! Source: Geothermal Resources Council – 6/15/2006.
The summer is heating up for NWCC! NWCC news of note: Check out the latest on NWCC's Leadership Forum: Implementing Transmission Recommendations in the West, July 18-19 in Denver, CO, co-hosted with Western Governors' Association and other sponsors! Register online.
The deadline for submitting abstracts for NWCC's Wildlife Research Meeting VI, Nov 14-16 in San Antonio, TX has been extended to June 20th. Registration is now open for the NWCC Wind Power & Radar Issue Forum & NWCC Business Meeting, July 27 in Reno, NV. Look for a draft agenda and more information soon.
Katie Kalinowski , NWCC Outreach Associate, National Wind Coordinating Committee c/o RESOLVE1255 23rd St Suite 275Washington, DC 20037 202.965.6383, fax 202.338.1264. Source: Katie Kalinowski, 6/19/2006.
Most people associate global warming with industrial polluters. But people who work in office buildings can also significantly impact climate change by introducing energy-efficiency measures to improve building operations. That is the major message in a how-to guidebook released today by the World Resources Institute titled "Hot Climate, Cool Commerce: A, Service Sector Guide to Greenhouse Gas Management." Case studies in the report detail how service-sector companies have put programs in place to measure and manage their emissions and achieve energy savings. Among the companies profiled are Citigroup, General Electric, IKEA and Staples.
All companies contribute to climate change through their electricity consumption for office lighting, cooling, computers, building equipment, and appliances, as well as fuel use for heating, business travel, and the distribution of products and materials. Electricity and heat (46 percent) and transportation (31 percent) are the two largest U.S. sources of carbon dioxide, which is the most common GHG.
Reducing energy use and managing greenhouse gas emissions can also help build corporate value through competitive positioning, improved shareholder relations, and human-resource management advantages such as better recruitment and retention of employees. A PDF of the entire guidebook, reprintable graphics, and other materials are available online. Source: World Resources Institute, 6/20/2006.
The California Energy Commission Staff Draft of the Seventh Edition of the Emerging Renewables Program Guidebook will be considered for adoption at the June 29, 2006, Energy Commission Business Meeting. Please see the notice online. Source: CEC Release, 6/20/2006.
The Rahus Institute has arranged to host a California Solar Center – Solar Forum on August 29th at the Cabana Hotel in Palo Alto. The Solar Forum is open to all parties interested in learning about current issues regarding Solar Energy policy and development in California and an opportunity to network with others in the field.
Agenda: To include: 'From Sand to Solar Cells' an exploration of the journey from sand to silicon solar cells, presented by John Perlin, author, of 'From Space to Earth – The story of Solar Electricity’; Update on the
California Solar Initiative incentive structure for 2007, a panel on Solar Hot Water technology and proposed new incentives, Solar Legislation update, comparison of metering/monitoring solutions for PV systems,
combining efficiency with solar for maximum results in existing homes, the latest in solar schools projects, and an opportunity to network with others involved in the solar industry. Source: Tor Allen, Solar e-Clips Editor & President of The Rahus Institute, 6/20/2006.
Using green power to meet 20 percent of U.S. electricity demand would create one-quarter of a million jobs by 2020, according to a report from a university in Dallas. Global warming may represent a major opportunity for investment and job growth in the United States but any such potential is endangered if the general public and politicians remain mired in panic or a sense of resignation about climate change, says Lloyd Jeff Dumas in ‘ Seeds of Opportunity - Climate Change: Between Complacency and Panic.’
Dumas is a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Texas at Dallas, and the report examines the potential economic opportunities associated with mitigating global warming, with a focus on five policy approaches. He proposes five possible solutions to address global warming that would hold costs or increase the return on our investment, including “increased use and further development of renewable, ecologically benign energy sources,” cap and trade emission reductions, energy conservation programs, enhanced GHG sequestration, and programs that use “positive and negative incentives to induce the progress of technologies useful to climate change mitigation.” Source: GEA Update, 6/20/2006.
Even the worst-timed wind resource in the western U.S. has a wholesale market value that is only 10 percent below a flat block of baseload power, according to a report from a national laboratory. The best-timed sites have a wholesale market value of 5 percent above that of a flat block of power, explains Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in ‘Analyzing the Effects of Temporal Wind Patterns on the Value of Wind-Generated Electricity at Different Sites in California & the Northwest.’ The report examines how daily and seasonal variation in wind speeds affect the value of green power from wind farms in the region.
Wind farms in different locations produce their peak green power at different times of the day and year, with some facilities generating as much as 40 percent more than usual during the 10 percent of hours of the year with highest demand. Other locations would produce 50 percent less power than average during these periods but, if the power were sold in the wholesale market, revenues would range only from 11 percent below to 4 percent above the average wholesale-market price.
Direct wind speed measurements show that California's summer-peaking loads could be best-served by output from wind farms in California's coastal passes, but a computer weather model shows no clear advantage to using wind from either region in California. A database with hourly wind speed data from 183 measurement towers, as well as time-varying wind speeds estimated for 21 million locations across the region, were produced by a computer weather model. The model matches direct wind speed measurements in most times and places, but it produces lower estimates of wind speeds in California on summer afternoons, which are important for assessing the value of power in that state. The report could not state which set of estimates are more likely to be correct, because the direct measurements covered different years than the computer weather model, and were taken much below the normal wind turbine height of 230 feet above ground. Source: Refocus Weekly, 6/21/2006.
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee called yesterday for a "robust" carbon trading system complete with legislative incentives for agriculture in an effort to combat global warming. "Climate change gets out of trench warfare debate when farmers, environmentalists and business leaders sit around a table discussing these strategies," Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) said in a speech at the Norwegian Embassy in Washington. "The debate over climate change will shift when there are more and more business discussions on new income from alternative fuels, carbon sequestration and money saved from energy efficiencies." Lugar said the system should encourage farmers to convert unused land into tree farms that sequester carbon, use switchgrass and corn stalks to make ethanol and apply no-till techniques to capture the heat-trapping greenhouse gas in the soil.
In a barely concealed reference to the Bush administration, Lugar also said the United States needs to take a more active role on the international climate front. He cited a "Sense of the Senate" resolution approved in his committee last month that calls on the United States to negotiate with other industrialized nations to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Lugar is trying to build support among other senators before he goes to the Republican leadership for floor time, said Mark Helmke, a senior Lugar aide. Source: E&E Publishing Greenwire, 6/19/2006.
Four federal agencies released a map on June 9 showing preliminary federal-land corridors in 11 western states for electricity transmission and oil, natural gas and hydrogen pipelines. The informational map, developed using comments received during a public scoping period last fall, offers an update on progress in the identification of potential corridors and an opportunity for public comment on work to date.
AWEA filed comments in November, emphasizing the market for wind power in the West and wind’s need for transmission. In its comments AWEA said that it would help identify specific corridors based on the planning studies led by the Western Governors Association and the Western Electric Coordinating Council.
The Department of Energy, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, and the Department of Defense are preparing a draft programmatic environmental impact statement to identify the impacts of designating energy corridors on federal lands in the 11 states.
Comments and suggestions regarding the corridors outlined should be submitted by July 10 and sent to Julia Souder, U.S. Department of Energy 8h-033, 1000 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20585. Source: AWEA Wind Energy Weekly, 6/19/2006.
Republican lawmakers are joining the chorus of Democrats calling for a quick end to delays on a Defense Department study that is preventing more than a dozen wind developers in the Midwest from getting safety permits for their projects. The Federal Aviation Administration will not issue the permits until DOD completes its study on the effect wind turbines have on military radar and aircraft. The 2006 Defense Authorization Act mandated the study.
Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) plans to circulate a letter among Senate colleagues this week that would urge the FAA to work with wind energy managers to come up with a resolution.
Last week, Wisconsin Reps. Ron Kind and Tammy Baldwin, both Democrats, wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urging that the final report include workable solutions to any problems identified. The letter was signed by 20 other House members.
The project delays have attracted criticism from six Midwestern Democratic senators who wrote to the Pentagon and FAA. Sens. Russ Feingold (Wis.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Herb Kohl (Wis.), Kent Conrad (N.D.), Byron Dorgan (N.D.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) wrote letters to the agencies. "While the report is being completed, the DOD and FAA have been given the authority to halt the construction of wind farms that lie within the line of site of the National Air Defense and Homeland Security Radars," the lawmakers said in a statement announcing the letters. FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said the authorization process for new wind energy projects is facing additional delays because of a lack of staff, with wind turbines in 30 states and only 12 FAA staffers to handle them. In 2004, the FAA had 1,900 proposed turbine projects. This year, it has 5,000 so far. She said that the review process usually takes about a month and that 2,200 turbine proposals have been approved this year. Source: E&E Publishing Greenwire, 6/20/2006.
The Senate Budget Committee yesterday approved a package of reforms meant to slow both discretionary and mandatory spending, even as it remained unclear whether the proposal has any chance of meeting the 60 vote threshold on the Senate floor. After a lengthy debate, the committee approved the plan crafted by Chairman Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) in a 12-10 party-line vote.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) supports the legislation and says he will bring it to the floor sometime in the next couple of months. Yet Democrats have described the package as a political ploy designed to appeal to the party's conservatives base and vigorously opposed many of Gregg's proposal – signaling a possible filibuster on the Senate floor. Committee Democrats offered their own proposal yesterday, which was ultimately rejected, that would have restored statutory "pay-go" rules, allowed reconciliation only for deficit reduction, required the White House to include war spending as part of the budget process rather than as stand-alone bills, and several other provisions.
The Gregg budget plan – dubbed the "Stop Over-Spending Act of 2006," or S.O.S. – pulls together several proposals that have floated around Capitol Hill for years and seeks to bring back tools used by Congress in the past. One piece of the proposal would put in place statutory limits on discretionary spending for both the appropriations bills and emergency spending. If Congress does not meet those statutory spending restrictions, a mandatory "sequestration" would begin by which the Office of Management and Budget would implement an across-the-board cut to meet the spending cap.
The budget plan would also set up a biennial budgeting and appropriations process, similar to some state legislatures. Under that proposal, Congress would spend odd-numbered years on the budget and appropriations bills and even-numbered years on oversight. Other parts of the plan would create a mechanism that would mandate a slowdown in the rate of entitlement spending, give the president line-item veto authority, start a bipartisan commission to study the "accountability and efficiency of government" programs and solutions to the "entitlement crisis," and advance language that would make it easier for Congress to pass reconciliation bills. Although there is no companion legislation in the House to the Gregg plan, lawmakers are slated to vote today on a line-item veto proposal. Source: Environment and Energy Daily, E&E Publishing, 6/21/2006.
A group of regional utilities on June 9 took the first step in the regulatory process for three new 345-kilovolt transmission lines in the Upper Midwest. One of the “ CapX 2020 ” utilities – an alliance of electric cooperatives, municipals, and investor-owned utilities – made a preliminary filing for one of the three lines, with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. The filing lays out plans for notifying local governments, landowners and residents. “We are pleased that the utilities have proposed transmission,” said Beth Soholt, director of Wind on the Wires, a collaborative organization that seeks to ensure that bottlenecks in the upper Midwest's electrical transmission system are removed and that rules are implemented in a way that puts wind power on a level playing field with other electrical technologies.
“CapX 2020 is a collaborative effort that aims to support customers’ growing demand for electricity by upgrading and expanding the backbone transmission system in Minnesota and neighboring states,” said Terry Grove of Great River Energy, a co-leader of the CapX 2020 effort. CapX 2020 is short for Capacity Expansion needed by 2020.
One of the proposed lines (all of which are 345 kV) would stretch 200 miles between Brookings, S.D., and the southeast Twin Cities, and would include a related 30-mile wire between Marshall, Minn., and Granite Falls, Minn. Another 200-mile line would go between Fargo, N.D., and the St. Cloud/Monticello, Minn., area. Finally, a 150-mile line would stretch between the southeast Twin Cities; Rochester, Minn.; and La Crosse, Wis.
Great River Energy filed the proposed public notice plan for the CapX Brookings, S.D.-Southeast Twin Cities transmission line with the Minnesota commission. Xcel Energy plans to file similar notice plans for the CapX Twin Cities-Rochester-La Crosse line and the CapX Fargo-St. Cloud/Monticello area line in the next few weeks.
While Great River Energy and Xcel Energy are taking the lead on the three 345-kV lines, other utilities also will be involved in permitting, building, and financing them. A fourth line-a 230-kV, 70-mile line in the Bemidji area of north central Minnesota-also is among the CapX 2020 Group 1 projects.
The first four projects represent a combined investment of approximately $1.3 billion. Xcel Energy, Great River Energy, and Otter Tail Power Co. are committed to financing a majority of the cost. The balance will be covered by other project participants in various amounts. Group 2 and Group 3 project phases are planned through 2020.
The utilities expect to file a single request for a certificate of need for the three 345-kV lines and associated system interconnections with the Minnesota commission late this year. Following a rigorous public process, the commission is expected to decide on the need for the lines sometime in 2008.
After Minnesota commission approval of the plans, Great River Energy and Xcel Energy will mail letters to potentially affected people in each of the broadly defined transmission line corridors to let them know how they can learn more and get involved in the state’s decision-making process.
Portions of the lines also will require approvals by federal officials and by regulators in North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The Minnesota Legislature adopted a new law in 2005 that encourages investment in strengthening power delivery systems by, among other things, allowing investor-owned utilities to recover costs as lines are being built. Source: Wind Energy Weekly, 6/19/2006.
Workers atop a generating unit near Bickleton, Klickitat County, wait to guide rotors into place 262 feet above the ground. Once assembled, the final structure is 357 feet tall. For many years, the wind was an unwelcome presence on John and Iva Grabner's wheat farm north of the Columbia River Gorge. Time after time, it would blow away clouds that might otherwise have offered rain for their crops.
Today, such gusts bring prosperity. One of the region's largest wind-power projects is being constructed on the Grabners' land. When the couple step outside their back door, they look across a shallow canyon to an altered landscape where dozens of turbines – each, with blades outstretched, about the size of a 30-story building – rise out of the field. Others yet to be assembled lie on the ground like pieces of gargantuan erector sets. Once the Big Horn project comes online, the Grabners will receive more than $160,000 in annual royalties. Four neighboring landowners with turbines will collect payments as well. The project also is expected to generate more than $1.1 million in property taxes for Klickitat County.
The first major commercial wind project – the Stateline near Walla Walla – began producing electricity in fall 2001. Today, four projects operate in Washington, and five more are under construction or through the permitting process, according to the Renewable Northwest Project. Around the Pacific Northwest, wind-power projects now operating, or expected to come online, will be able to generate about 3 percent of the region's electrical energy. Some of the energy will be sold out of state. Some of the projects are bankrolled by developers, others by private and public utilities. Klickitat County, with arid hills swept by winds, is a focal point of the boom. In a county hit hard by declines in the timber industry, sagging crop prices and the closure of an aluminum smelter, wind power is a rare growth industry, offering direct benefits to some rural landowners.
Wind-power projects, however, are not without controversy. They can take a toll on birds, although the deaths can be diminished through advances in technology and siting. Though they don't belch pollutants into the air or dam up salmon rivers, the plants do alter the landscape through their sheer size, and nighttime strobe lights that help alert aircraft pilots. Earlier this spring, Kittitas County commissioners rejected a proposed wind-power project and asked for additional setbacks to reduce the impact on nearby property owners.
The Big Horn project is the first under construction and is being developed by Portland-based PPM Energy, a subsidiary of ScottishPower, which recently opted to boost by 50 percent its wind-power production goals for the year 2010. The project will have 133 turbines, with 46 of those located on John and Iva Grabner's farm.
The electricity will be sold to three California public utilities under a long-term contract. To these utilities, the project "offers stable prices, and competitive prices, and that's a huge advantage to us," said John Roukema, a spokesman for Silicon Valley Power, one of the California utilities. To the Grabners, who are in their 70s, the project will fund a retirement that otherwise might have required them to sell their farm. The royalties also will help two of their sons stay on the land. "This has just been a godsend," John Grabner said. Reaction mixed.
Wind power is arriving in Bickleton at a time when local farming is in serious decline. Founded more than a century ago, this town of about 90 people prospered for decades as grasslands were turned into wheat fields. There once was a bank, meat market, hotel and theater. All are long gone. In recent decades, Bickleton has carved out a tourism niche as the "bluebird capital," with hundreds of nesting boxes set along fence posts and other spots. (Studies indicate the turbines will not hurt the bluebird population, which generally flies well below the blades. They are expected to kill fewer than 220 songbirds of all species annually, according to a project study.) Still, the town has struggled as farmers, discouraged by high fertilizer costs and low crop prices, turned much of their acreage back into grass under a federal program that offers conservation payments. Just last October, the hardware store closed down. In hopes of improving the economy, most of the residents have thrown their support behind the Big Horn project.
The benefits include new money for the local fire district, a volunteer operation with an annual budget expected to jump from less than $26,000 to more than $133,000. That money will result from the new property-tax collections that will be assessed against the Big Horn wind project, and will pay for updated fire equipment and a better ambulance. Since construction began last fall, local businesses such as the cafe have had a surge of customers. To help win community support, at least one company has proposed spreading out the royalties to include landowners who don't have turbines on their lands but still are affected by the projects. Source: By Hal Bernton, Seattle Times Staff Reporter, 6/19/2006.
Colorado's state geologist says the state rests on a vast energy reserve — but he's not talking about coal, oil or natural gas. Vince Matthews has put together a report and map outlining the state's geothermal resources.
Direct geothermal generation has been limited to areas where superheated steam flows out of the ground, but new technologies have made it possible to generate power from water that leaves the ground at temperatures below the boiling point. Matthews says that kind of water can be found in many parts of Colorado, including the San Luis Valley and the Arkansas Valley from Salida to Buena Vista. Matthews says Colorado fields likely could produce about five megawatts — enough to serve local communities. Source: KKTV, Colorado Springs/Pueblo, Colorado, 6-20/2006.
Citizens and elected leaders came together Saturday to spread information and work for a common goal: decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. The Utah Sierra Club hosted a rally to gain public support for a resolution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Utah modeled after the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty on climate change. The Sierra Club wants Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to sign the Utah Global Warming Initiative, which requires the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 7 percent lower than 1990 levels and incrementally decrease emissions thereafter.
The Sierra Club maintains that global warming is a problem especially in Utah. Denying that global warming exists and that it is human-caused is like denying the sky is blue, said Tim Wagner a conservation coordinator for the Utah Sierra Club. The resolution has been endorsed by Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, Park City Mayor Dana Williams and Moab Mayor Dave Sakrison.
Last week Wagner presented the resolution to Laura Nelson, the state's energy policy adviser. Nelson said she had not had time to discuss the program with Huntsman. She did, however, note the governor's announcement in April of a policy to increase the state's energy efficiency by 20 percent by 2015. The Sierra Club applauded that action.
At the rally volunteers were dressed in shorts and snow goggles to illustrate what global warming could do to the snow and the economy.
Many said Utahns should involve their elected officials, because officials are unaware of the problem and its consequences. "My colleagues up in the state Legislature are clueless," said House minority leader Rep. Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake. "Almost all elected officials . . . love hearing from their constituents. . . . Right now, more than ever, they want to listen to you." The solution may be elusive, rally participants said, but it will come. "We will solve it, we will make it work and this planet will last for a long time," said former Salt Lake City Mayor Ted Wilson. Source: By Brittani Lusk, Deseret Morning News, 6/18/2006.
The proposed pipeline from Coos Bay to Malin could satisfy Jackson County's growing thirst for natural gas, officials say, as well as provide a boon to the Southern Oregon economy. By 2012, Avista Utilities expects it will need more natural gas to keep up with demand locally. "We've added thousands of new customers in just the past few years," said Kris Ransom, manager of industrial markets in Oregon for Avista. As a result, Avista is contemplating tapping into the new pipeline near Trail, Ransom said. "If it's built it could potentially be another supply for this region." Cost to connect the new pipeline to an existing Avista transmission line in Eagle Point would be about $7 million in today's dollars, she said.
The pipeline is estimated to generate $7 million in annual taxes for the four counties it will traverse. Jackson County would receive about $2 million. The project could benefit homeowners who depend on natural gas for heat because more sources could translate into more stable pricing, said Ransom.
She said this area receives gas from pipelines that run from Roseburg and Klamath Falls. Gas in these pipelines flows from Canada and two areas in the Rocky Mountains. The Coos Bay line would bring gas from around the world, benefiting not only Jackson County, but the western states. "This will be a new source of gas for the Pacific Northwest," said Ron Fox, executive director of Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development Inc.
Natural gas is also used as a fuel source in several electric generating stations in Oregon, which "is as far from proven natural gas resources in the U.S. as just about anywhere," he said. For Coos Bay, a proposed $500 million plant to convert liquid natural gas back into its gaseous state would generate up to 800 jobs during construction and require about 30 to 50 workers for ongoing operations, said Jeffrey Bishop, executive director for the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay. Bishop said the project could help kick-start a port that has been in the doldrums since the 1980s, when the timber industry all but died out. Back then, more than 300 ships would pull into the port annually, compared to 45 now.
If the natural gas plant is built, an additional 80 vessels would use the port, said Bishop. The terminal also would bring in ancillary jobs, including firemen, tug boat operators, Coast Guard officials, longshoremen and others, said Bishop. The port has had interest from other industries, amounting to about $2.5 billion of "tire-kickers," said Bishop. One of the companies, Tokuyama Corp. of Japan, is considering building a $500 million factory to make raw materials for solar panels, although the deal could be in jeopardy because news of Tokuyama's interest was leaked despite confidentiality agreements signed by state officials.
A 30-day public comment period is expected to begin within a few weeks on the proposed natural gas pipeline project between Coos Bay and Malin in southwestern Oregon. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will first issue a notice of intent about the developer's plans to build the project, said Shannon Dunn, FERC's assistant manager for the proposal. The notice will be sent to landowners affected as well as the media, she said. Public meetings also will be held, she said, and comments will be accepted after the formal 30-day period has elapsed. A 45-day comment period will begin after the draft environmental impact statement is released in 2007, and additional public meetings are planned.
Source: By Damian Mann, Mail Tribune, 6/18/2006.
Germany's booming solar-energy industry expects to export 30 per cent of the equipment it manufactures this year, said Carsten Koernig, the head of the Solar Industry Federation BSW, on Sunday.
He was speaking to Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa before the Thursday opening of the annual trade fair Intersolar in the south-western city of Freiburg. Koernig said the German industry's workforce would rise from 40,000 to more than 50,000 in the course of this year. Investors have rushed for shares in German companies making sun- powered water-heating and electricity-generating gear, encouraged by German government tax breaks. Last year, the German sector scored a sales growth of 30 per cent. "We expect steady growth this year," said Koernig, predicting total sales of more than 4 billion euros (5 billion dollars).
"That would mean a gain of about 10 per cent," he said. "Last year, the industry here left Japan and the United States in second and third place." Exports had been rising sharply during this year with the current level at 30 per cent. Intersolar is expected to attract 20,000 trade visitors from 60 nations. Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 6/18/2006.
As energy prices hover at record levels, Ohio should consider adopting an experimental program to use wind, the sun and other renewable resources for 4 percent of its overall power use, the state's top regulator said Thursday. Ohio, like the rest of the country, is too dependent on foreign sources of energy and must look into wind power, solar power, landfill gases and other renewable sources, Alan Schriber, chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, told a Senate subcommittee on energy. Schriber said a five-year pilot program could work if big energy producers don't reduce the price of their power to drive the alternatives away. Renewable energy sources provide less than 1 percent of Ohio's power, most of that from hydroelectric plants along the Ohio River. "Let's see how it works. Let's see how we use it. Let's see if it's cost-effective after five years," Schriber said after the hearing.
Schriber and Ohio Consumers' Counsel Janine Migden-Ostrander said they believe the project would work. Four percent is too small a market share to lead large utilities to try to stop it, and the growth of power use over five years likely will weaken the program's market share, Migden-Ostrander said. Under such a program, the state would be encouraged to provide startup money or tax breaks for wind farms, solar-panel fields or hydroelectric plants, Schriber and subcommittee Chairman Sen. Robert Schuler said. The cost would be determined later, said Schuler, a Cincinnati Republican. Schuler said he wants to complete work on his bill, which would set a state energy policy, in September if lawmakers meet then, or after the November election. Source: BY John McCarthy, The Associated Press, 6/16/2006.
Two California energy companies are proposing wind farm projects in Benton County, northwest of Lafayette.
Orion Energy LLC wants to erect at least 75 turbines capable of generating 130 megawatts, enough to power 30,000 to 40,000 homes. It has opened an office in the county seat of Fowler and hopes to start construction on the $150 million to $175 million project by 2007. Meanwhile, enXco Inc. is planning a 100-megawatt farm. The two projects would be Indiana's first large-scale wind farms.
Indiana has two very breezy regions — one just northwest of Indianapolis and the other northwest of Lafayette, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Sustained winds in both areas are 14 mph to 16 mph at 150 feet off the ground, where turbines with three huge blades would spin.
Currently, Indiana's wind turbines only generate about 20 kilowatts of power, Purdue University estimates. Studies have shown the state could produce up to 40,000 megawatts of electricity from the wind, said Brian Wright, coal policy director for the Hoosier Environmental Council. Environmentalists are pushing Indiana to join 21 other states and require that a set percentage of the state's power come from renewable sources. A bill that would have done that failed in the last General Assembly. Critics say wind farms are unsightly, reduce property values and kill birds in large numbers. Source: IndyStar, 6/17/2006.
Developers of a proposed electric transmission line between Lethbridge, Alta., and Great Falls, Mont., said wind developers have bought one-half of the line's capacity and part of the route has been changed to satisfy federal regulators in Canada. The tentative rerouting means the line would cross the international border at a different location than proposed earlier and the line's path between the border and Cut Bank, Mont., would change. The rerouting will be discussed June 26 at a Cut Bank public meeting held by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. Montana Alberta Tie Ltd., developer of the $90-million US project, intends to have representatives there.
Montana Alberta Tie wants to build and operate a 230-kilovolt, 306-kilometre power line that would start northeast of Lethbridge, extend to a NorthWestern Energy substation at Great Falls and tie in with existing transmission lines. Vice-president Bob Williams said about one-half of the proposed line's capacity has been sold to companies intending to develop wind power. Great Plains Wind Energy and GE Wind have 15-year contracts, said a news release from Toronto-based Tonbridge Power Inc., owner of Montana Alberta Tie.
The power line's remaining capacity is up for bid and is drawing the interest of wind developers, Williams said Thursday from his office in Calgary. The line's proposed rerouting in Alberta and at the border came about after Canadian officials said the line should go around an elevated area, the province's Milk River Ridge, Williams said. The original plan had the line going over the ridge. The rerouting moves the line's entry to Montana about 11 kilometres eastward, within two kilometres of the Glacier County-Toole County boundary, Williams said. In Montana, the line would mostly cross private land, DEQ's Tom Ring said. Some state land is part of the route, as well. Montana-Alberta Tie remains hopeful construction of the line will begin late this year, Williams said. The project requires federal approval in both the United States and Canada and provincial and state approval. Ring said DEQ expects to release an environmental impact statement late this summer or in the fall. The agency will accept written public comment on the transmission line until July 10. Source: Canadian Press, 6/15/2006 .
Great news! The Senate Agriculture Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee finished work on the 2007 budget today. The news is great for the Farm Bill Renewable Energy/Energy Efficiency grant program— Section 9006— and good for other programs:
Section 9006 – Farm Energy Grants and Loans – The subcommittee funds this at $25 million, which is $2 million above the $23 million mandatory funding authorized in both the original Farm Bill and proposed by the House for FY2007.
Section 6401 – Value Added Producer Grants – This program is funded at $20 million, down from the $40 million funding authorized in the original Farm Bill. The House proposes to fund Section 6401 at $28 million, a $7.5 million increase from FY2006 funding.
Three other programs listed below will continue to be funded at their original authorized levels in the 2002 Farm Bill:
The budget will next be taken up by the full Senate Appropriations Committee later this week, then on to the full Senate for a floor vote. After that, the funding differences will be worked out between the two houses later this year. We'll update you as the year progresses.
USDA has now received all applications for grants this year under Section 9006 (the Farm Bill renewable energy/energy efficiency grant and loan program) is processing them. Preliminary figures follow.
Overall, the number of applications is up to 617 applications in 2006, from 374 applications the year below, an increase of 65 percent! Funding requests, for grants alone, are at $62 million, which is equivalent to 2006. However, since the loan guarantee program application period is still open (see below), it is too early
for a complete yearly comparison.
With persistently high energy costs, energy efficiency measures have gotten more focus this year; applications for energy efficiency are significantly up. Other technology categories growing in applications include small-scale wind, small scale solar and bioenergy.
Perhaps reflecting confusion over the impact of the Production Tax Credit on grants, the largest drop in applications was in large-scale wind projects. A large number of anaerobic digester applications were funded in previous years and applications this year fell as well.
Remember, the loan guarantee deadline is July 3rd. Application information is available online. Source: GetActive Software, Inc., 6/20/2006.
The following grant opportunity postings were made on the Grants.gov Find Opportunities service:
German financial services giant Allianz has said that it is to increase its investment in renewable energy as it looks to deal with the impact of climate change on other areas of its business. News of Allianz's increasingly pro-active stance on climate change stems from an interview given via the company website by Otto Steinmetz, chief risk officer of Dresdner Bank and head of the expert group on climate at the Allianz group.
As an international financial group, we are also directly affected by climate change – on the insurance side by liability for climate-induced claims, and on the banking side by a reduction in borrowers' ability to pay and impairment of collateral," Mr Steinmetz said. "That's why we decided to address the issue proactively for ourselves and for the benefit of customers by developing a comprehensive Allianz climate strategy."
One of the methods to be promoted by the group, he said, would be a greater level of investment in renewable energy from Allianz's private equity unit. "During the next five years, our subsidiary 'Allianz Specialized Investments' will invest between E300 and E500 million in this area – primarily in solar and wind energy. In December of last year, we invested in a wind park on Sicily. He added that, apart from Italy, Spain, Greece, France and the UK are all interested in promoting wind energy. Internally, Allianz says it will reduce its CO2 emissions by 20 percent by 2012 against 2000 levels. Source: By Nick Kingsley, 6/20/2006.
Renewables in Utah
PacifiCorp requests proposals from prospective bidders for tradable Renewable Energy Credits, also known as Green Tags, for the Blue Sky Block voluntary retail renewable energy program. This RFP focuses on the Investment of Green Tags from a new renewable facility in Utah. Responses due 6/26/06. For more info, contact Blueskysurplus@pacificorp.com. Source: Green Power Network 6/7/06
Land, Air, Water, and Energy Conservation in Iowa
The U.S. Department of Agriculture requests applications for Technical Assistance to Develop and Implement Conservation Programs in Iowa. The project will contribute to the conservation and/or wise development of natural resources in Iowa and support USDA goals which includes but is not limited to: An adequate energy supply; high quality, productive soils; clean and abundant water, clean air. $1 million expected to be available, individual awards NTE $90K. Responses due 7/7/06.
For more info, contact Michelle Bales, or visit Grants.gov. Refer to Sol# USDA-NRCS--IA-06-01. Source: Grants.gov 6/5/06.
Natural Gas Efficiency
The California Energy Commission requests proposals for the Energy Innovations Small Grant Natural Gas Research Solicitation. Through this RFP, the CEC seeks research that establishes the feasibility of new, innovative energy concepts. Actual R&D work can be performed anywhere, however, the proposed research must be clearly relevant to California’s natural gas market. Natural gas subject areas of interest include: Energy efficiency, environmental impacts, renewable energy technologies, strategic analysis, and advanced generation concepts. For individual awards, up to $95K available for hardware projects and up to $50K for modeling projects. Responses due 7/31/06. Source: U.S. DOE Western Regional Office.
This news item comes to you as a service of Western's Renewable Resources Program.
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