Renewables “Rock” U.S. Energy Growth

Joanna Schroeder

The SUN Day Campaign’s Ken Bossong, has noted once again that renewable energy sources are dominating the new energy landscape according to the latest “Energy Infrastructure Update” report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) Office of Energy Projects. The reports shows wind and solar accounted for all new generating capacity placed in-service in April. For the month, two “units” of wind (the 300 MW Hereford-2 Wind Farm Project in Deaf Smith County, TX and the 211 MW Mesquite Creek Wind Project in Dawson County, TX) came on line in addition to six new units – totaling 50 MW – of solar.

In addition, wind, solar, geothermal, and hydropower together have provided over 84 percent (84.1%) of the 1,900 MW of new U.S. electrical generating capacity placed into service during the first third of 2015. This includes 1,170 MW of wind (61.5%), 362 MW of solar (19.1%), 45 MW of geothermal steam (2.4%), and 21 MW of hydropower (1.1%). The balance (302 MW) was provided by five units of natural gas.

Hereford Wind ProjectFERC has reported no new capacity for the year-to-date from biomass sources nor any from coal, oil, or nuclear power.

The reports finds the total contribution of geothermal, hydropower, solar, and wind for the first four months of 2015 (1,598 MW) is similar to that for the same period in 2014 (1,611 MW – in addition to 116 MW of biomass). However, for the same period in 2014, natural gas added 1,518 MW of new capacity while coal and nuclear again provided none and oil just 1 MW. Renewable energy sources accounted for half of all new generating capacity added in 2014.

“Members of Congress and state legislators proposing to curb support for renewable energy, such as Renewable Portfolio/Electricity Standards and the federal Production Tax Credit and Investment Tax Credit, are swimming against the tide,” noted Bossong, executive director of the SUN DAY Campaign. “With renewable energy’s clear track record of success and the ever-worsening threat of climate change, now is not the time to pull back from these technologies but rather to greatly expand investments in them.”

Today renewable energy sources now account for 17.05 percent of total installed operating generating capacity in the country: water – 8.55 percent, wind – 5.74 percent, biomass – 1.38 percent, solar – 1.05 percent, and geothermal steam – 0.33 percent (for comparison, renewables were 13.71 percent of capacity in December 2010 – the first month for which FERC issued an “Energy Infrastructure Update”).

For renewable energy supporters, what may be the best news: renewable energy capacity is now greater than that of nuclear (9.14%) and oil (3.92%) combined. In fact, the installed capacity of wind power alone has now surpassed that of oil. In addition, total installed operating generating capacity from solar has now reached and surpassed the one-percent threshold – a ten-fold increase since December 2010.

biomass, Electricity, Geothermal, Hydro, Natural Gas, Nuclear Energy, Oil, Renewable Energy, Solar, Wind

NV Energy & TASC Reach Net Metering Compromise

Joanna Schroeder

Nevada-operating utility company NV Energy has reached a net metering agreement after working with The Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC). The state is one of several currently attempting to alter favorable net metering policies as rooftop solar energy grows in popularity.

The Alliance for Solar Choice logoAmendment to SB 374 would:

  • Define the existing 3% net metering cap to be 235 megawatts. This 235 megawatts will be the maximum amount of net metering permitted under the current net metering rules until December 31, 2015.
  • Require the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada to design a future net metering tariff, with wide latitude for the Commission to structure that tariff.
  • Require the Commission to finalize the new tariff by December 31, 2015. Should the Commission not meet this deadline, the existing net metering tariff will remain in place until the Commission finalizes the new tariff.

TASC and NV Energy thanked several policymakers and organizations for their support during the negotiation process including: The Governor’s Office; State Senator Patricia Farley; State Senator James Settelmeyer; State Senator Kelvin Atkinson; the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada; the Nevada Bureau of Consumer Protection; and Rose McKinney-James, representing Bombard Electric, LLC.

Clean Energy, Electricity, Renewable Energy, Solar

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

  • BioEnergyBytesDF1JinkoSolar has announced that its production facility in Penang, Malaysia has officially begun operations. The production facility, which began construction in March 2015 and received TUV certification in late April, has begun to produce highly-efficient cells and multi-crystalline modules. Full production capacity of 500 MW of cells and 450 MW of modules per year is expected to be reached within two months.
  • SolarCity has announced the hiring of J. Radford Small as Senior Vice President, Business Development and Investor Relations. In his new role, Radford will help execute the company’s long term growth strategy with a focus on increasing shareholder value. Radford joins SolarCity from Goldman, Sachs & Co. where he was a Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer for the Clean Technology and Renewables group.
  • In an effort to expand awareness of the importance of diversity in the workplace – as well as solar energy’s growing contributions to the economy and environment – the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) is now featuring a Spanish-language section on its website. An Español click-through button is now located just below SEIA’s logo on its home page banner. Among other things, the new Spanish-language section will include a Solar 101 tutorial, information about the solar industry’s diversity efforts and how solar has become one of the fastest-growing industies in America.
  • According to the Borneo Post, a biodiesel plant with a capacity of 10 tons per day in the village of Telagasari, Kelumpang Hilir, Kotabaru District, South Kalimantan, should begin operating at the end of 2015. The project is waiting to complete the central government grant process to be used for plant improvements including some new machinery.
Bioenergy Bytes

Massachusetts Town Preps for $4 Mil Biodiesel Plant

John Davis

co-op powerA Massachusetts town is making final preparations for a $4 million biodiesel plant. This story from WWLP 22News says hundreds of families in the town of Greenfield have invested in the Co-op Power project.

The plant will be able to collect and recycle used cooking oil to produce 3 and half million gallons of biodiesel fuel per year. That fuel will then be used for heating, construction equipment and transportation.

However, Co-op Power, which is the company building the plant, says they need to raise about 850,000 dollars more to make this plant a reality.

The CEO of the company told 22News, the inspiration behind this plant is the need for sustainable energy production, “Yea, this plant here is owned by hundreds of families in the region and we got together and decided that a biodiesel plant was one of the most important things we could do to help us transition to a more sustainable future,” said Lynn Benander, Northeast Biodiesel Company.

Co-op Power will have an update on the project later this week. The company hopes to raise all the money it needs by June 1st.

Biodiesel

EcoTech: Clean Jobs Continue to Grow

Joanna Schroeder

Clean jobs continue to grow with more than one million green energy job postings across the nation during Q1 2015 according to Ecotech Institute’s Clean Jobs Index. The index is based on Bureau of Labor Statistics and includes jobs in which workers’ duties involve making their company’s production processes more environmentally friendly or use few natural resources.

Clean Job Openings Q1 2015“As more businesses look for ways to conserve energy and renewables continue to gain traction, more jobs are becoming available,” said Chris Gorrie, Ecotech Institute’s President. “States have come to see clean energy sources as an important piece of infrastructure, opening the door to great opportunities in renewable energy.”

In Q1 2015 there were 1.2 million clean job postings in the U.S. with the top states for jobs being California, Texas and New York. States with the Highest Rise in Clean Jobs Openings, Compared to Q1 2014 include: Rhode Island, New York, Texas, North Carolina and Maryland.

States with Most Clean Jobs per 100,000 People:

  • North Dakota
  • Iowa
  • Rhode Island
  • Colorado
  • Wyoming
  • Idaho
  • Illinois
  • Ohio
  • Indiana
  • South Dakota

EcoTech Institute created the Clean Jobs Index to provide objective information about renewable energy jobs and to compare states’ use and development of clean and sustainable energy.

Clean Energy, Education, Electricity

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

  • BioEnergyBytesDF1JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with its Indian business partner, Essel Infraprojects Limited (“EIL”), to establish a solar cell and module manufacturing facility joint venture. The MOU declares a 500MW production capacity for the JV and outlines the duties of each party.
  • Broadwind Energy, Inc. has announced that Peter Duprey, President and CEO, was elected to the American Wind Energy Association’s Board of Directors. Duprey brings over 12 years of wind industry experience and insight to the group.
  • SunEdison, Inc. has announced that it has been awarded contracts to build 33 MW DC of rooftop solar with Southern California Edison (SCE) in the utility company’s latest round of solar procurement. The solar systems will be built on rooftops throughout the Orange County and Inland Empire industrial corridors as part of SCE’s plan to upgrade and modernize the grid for customers in densely populated metro areas and reduce power interruptions during periods of peak demand.
  • Equinix, Inc., an interconnection and data center company, and Bloom Energy have announced a 1 MW, biogas fuel cell project at its SV5 International Business Exchange data center, located in Silicon Valley. The deployment of fuel cells supports Equinix’s long-term sustainability goal of using 100 percent clean and renewable energy across its global platform of more than 100 data centers.
Bioenergy Bytes

Report Details Use of Biodiesel in Heating Oil

John Davis

noraA new report details how biodiesel could play a significant role in heating oil in the U.S. The congressionally mandated report, titled, “Developing a Renewable Biofuel Option for the Home Heating Sector” from the National Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA) says ultra-low sulfur heating oil (ULSHO) has been one of the biggest transitions in heating oil, and biodiesel blends at 20 percent (B-20) with ULSHO are lower in Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) than natural gas when evaluated over 100 years, while blends of 2 percent (B-2) or more are lower in GHG than natural gas when evaluated over twenty years.

Other key findings in the report include:

– Biodiesel blended at 5 percent would require approximately 300 million gallons of biodiesel produced per year. Assuming the biodiesel industry average of 50 million gallons per year per plant. Bioheat® would be responsible for 6 plants built and continuously operated. Thus, nearly 270 full time jobs can be directly attributed to Bioheat®.
– Studies on the operation of Bioheat® on the basic burner operation with biodiesel blends at B-20 (at least) is the same as with unblended heating oil.
– NORA (the Alliance) and the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) have communicated the value of using biodiesel and selling Bioheat®. The Alliance features information about Bioheat® on its consumer website, OilheatAmerican.com. The NBB has a webpage, Bioheatonline.com that describes the advantages of Bioheat®. Further, the Alliance and its affiliated state associations have worked to provide education on this product to consumers and retail oil companies through the use of mass media and informational brochures.
– State and local governments have utilized a number of strategies to encourage the use of biofuels in their communities. It is often necessary to encourage its use with incentives or mandates to develop the infrastructure and overall market acceptance for a new fuel.

Biodiesel

AWEA: Prez Candidates Must Back Wind

Joanna Schroeder

During WINDPOWER 2015 this week, new American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) Board Chair Mike Garland declared that it is time for the wind industry to start flexing its muscle.

“From the smallest companies to the largest, we have a shared responsibility to make this vision a reality,” said Garland, president and CEO of Pattern Energy. “Everyone in this industry needs to demand a five-year PTC.” The Production Tax Credit (PTC) is the primary federal incentive for building more new wind farms.

windpower-2015-logoAccording to AWEA, the cost of wind power has declined over 58 percent in just five years, but to meet the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Wind Vision will require a long-term stable policy environment that allows for a continued downward trajectory of wind’s costs.

Garland noted that Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida and potential presidential candidate, has already come out in favor of a multi-year extension of the PTC, and that “it’s the industry’s job to make sure other candidates do the same”.

“What we do now will determine our success for years to come,” said Garland. “Let’s do our part and remind everyone that wind energy helps everyone, that wind is American’s clean, domestic and cheap fuel.”

Garland called on companies big and small to help the industry stay on track to meet the scenarios laid out in the DOE Wind Vision report released earlier this year. That starts with American wind power doubling from where it is today to 10 percent of the U.S. electricity mix by 2020, 20 percent by 2030 and become one of the leading sources of electricity by 2050.

Expanding on Garland’s comments were six other leading wind industry executives, including Chris Brown, president of Vestas. “For us, it’s pretty simple. We want to be the undisputed global wind leader. Full stop. It’s about one thing. Least cost of energy. We’re economic against a lot of forms of energy in most of the parts of the country. If we continue to drive that, we don’t become a political story, we become an economic story.”

Clean Energy, conferences, Electricity, Renewable Energy, Wind

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder

  • BioEnergyBytesDF1The International Solar Energy Expo & Conference (EXPO Solar) will be held at KINTEX in Korea for 3 days from September 9 –11, 2015. More than 320 companies from over 20 countries, including China, Europe, Japan, the Middle East and the U.S. will participate in the ‘EXPO Solar 2015’, which celebrates its 7th anniversary this year. Over 28,000 foreign and Korean buyers and visitors will attend the expo.
  • Sunrun has announced a partnership with the Westfield Corporation to bring interactive stations to malls in New York and California. Beginning this week, Westfield malls will unveil stations that educate consumers on the ease and cost savings of making the switch to solar, and provide customized home proposals in minutes.
  • Southern Company subsidiary Southern Power has acquired the 103 MW Butler solar facility from Community Energy, Inc., in Georgia. Southern Power has acquired or is constructing more than 1,100 MW of renewable energy generating capacity with 16 solar, wind and biomass projects, including four solar projects in Georgia.
  • Trina Solar Limited has received the esteemed Innovation Award for the company’s Duo-Max module, a 72-cell frameless dual glass module (PEG14 series) at the Mexico International Renewable Energy Conference (MIREC), held this week in Mexico City.
Bioenergy Bytes

GEA Tells Senate: Geothermal Yes

Joanna Schroeder

The Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) is vocally supporting a bi-partisan legislation package that they say “would help expand geothermal power by addressing some of the most important barriers to geothermal development in the U.S.” according to Karl Gawell, Executive Director of the Geothermal Energy Association, GEA. The association singled out 562, S. 1057. (Note S. 822 is included as a provision of S. 1057.)

GEA logoS.562, Sponsored by Senator Heller (R-NV) and co-sponsored by Senator Risch (R-ID) would provide help for new geothermal projects to shorten delays at one of the most critical and risky phases of development – exploration, GEA explained. “Given the multiple NEPA processes required for geothermal development, and the inclusion of a restriction for lands involving extraordinary circumstances, we believe this process improvement can be made without risk to the environment,” GEA said. This legislation would provide geothermal exploration the same treatment afforded oil and gas exploration under the 2005 Energy Policy Act – a limited categorical exclusion — with the additional restriction for lands or resources viewed as involving extraordinary circumstance.

S. 1057, Sponsored by Senator Wyden (D-OR) and co-sponsored by Senator ester (D-MT) proposes several initiatives that GEA supported. It would:

  • set a 50,000MW National Geothermal Goal;
  • direct federal agencies to identify priority areas for development;
  • allow federal oil and gas lease holders to obtain a non-competitive geothermal lease to facilitate coproduction of geothermal from their wells — today 25 billion barrels of hot water is produced annually from oil and gas wells within the United States that is wasted;
  • authorize cost shared exploration of geothermal energy resources;
  • re-authorize the use of geothermal lease revenues to support the expansion of our knowledge of the resource base; and
  • facilitate new discoveries, by allowing the limited non-competitive leasing of adjacent lands where a new discovery has been made.

According to GEA, the Wyden bill would “help spur the discovery and development of the substantial untapped geothermal energy resources here in the U.S. The clean baseload geothermal energy produced as a result of these important measures will help the nation achieve a more diverse and reliable electricity supply, even as it reduces emissions, helps state and local economies, and creates jobs in both the oil and gas, and the renewable sectors.”

Clean Energy, Electricity, Geothermal, Renewable Energy