Solar Changing Hawaii’s Electric Future

Solar Changing Hawaii’s Electric Future

Joanna Schroeder February 3, 2015

Hawaii has been getting a lot of attention recently for its efforts to reduce its use of fossil fuel-based energy. The state has the highest electricity costs in the U.S. Most recently, NextEra Energy announced its intent to acquire Hawaiian Electric Industries who owns three electric utilities that supply power to 95 percent of the state’s population. NextEra Energy Resources is one of the largest developers of renewable energy in the U.S. and intends on continuing the trend of adding solar power to its portfolio.

According to a recent “Today in Energy” published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), high electricity prices in Hawaii have made wind and solar technologies economically attractive alternatives – even more so as prices have come down in recent years. This has led to a growing use of wind and solar energy at both utiity scale and in distributed applications such as rooftop solar PV.

EIA’s monthly net metering utility data finds 9,200 net-metered PV systems were added in 2014 through October, bringing the total number of customers with net-metered PV to around 48,000. In Oahu, where most of the state’s population resides, the Solar Electric Power Association finds that roughly 12 percent of customers have rooftop solar compared to only .5 percent average throughout the rest of the U.S. The average capacity of residential net-metered PV systems in Hawaii has also been increasing as larger and more efficient PV systems are installed.

However, the state has seen delays in adding additional solar to the power grid. EIA attributes the delays to circuits on the Hawaiian Electric distribution grids reaching levels of rooftop PV capacity that are 120 percent or more of the circuit’s daytime minimum load—a key threshold for Hawaiian Electric’s interconnection approval process. Once that threshold is passed, an interconnection study may be required before the new PV system can be approved, which has resulted in a backlog of PV applications.

EIA notes that Hawaiian Electric recently entered a cooperative research partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Electric Power Research Institute, and SolarCity to study the operational effects of high levels of solar PV on electric grids.Preliminary research results have lead Hawaiian Electric to announce plans to clear its backlog of PV applications by April 2015.Read More

Electricity, Renewable Energy, Solar, Wind

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder February 3, 2015

Alstom and Andrade Gutierrez have inaugurated an industrial joint venture dedicated to the production of steel towers for wind turbines, Torres Eólicas do Nordeste (TEN). The unit is located in Jacobina, Bahia, 350 km from Salvador. The joint venture, 51% owned by Andrade Gutierrez and 49% by Alstom, received investment of around 30 million euros last year. The plant occupies a built-up area of 22,000 sq. meters on a 140,000 sq. meters plot, next to the main current and potential wind projects of the region.
The Geothermal Resources Council (GRC) is hosting a GRC Workshop, June 22-26, 2015. The event will include a field trip of the major geologic features of Yellowstone Park, the first national park in the world and the site of the greatest concentration of geothermal features on the planet, and discussions of its volcanic history, geochemistry, and hydrology. In addition, attendees will visit the 13 MW net capacity U.S. Geothermal Inc. Raft River geothermal power plant and the Raft River Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) site, where reservoir stimulation activities are being conducted.
Solar Power, Inc. has announced the completion of its $70 million private placement, previously announced on December 15, 2014. The private placement consisted of $35 million of common stock sold at a purchase price of $2.00 per share and $35 million of convertible promissory notes. Net proceeds from the sale of the common stock and convertible promissory notes are intended to be used for expansion of SPI’s global PV project activities, the development of its energy internet businesses and general corporate purposes.
Geronimo Energy is teaming up with St. Paul Public Housing (“SPPHA”) to bring solar to their residents under Xcel Energy’s Community Solar Garden Program. Geronimo Energy’s project was selected from a group of competitive proposals received by SPPHA. The project will help offset roughly 90% of SPPHA’s electricity usage at 16 high-rise buildings, comprised of 2554 housing units, as well as the main office facility in Saint Paul. Over the life of the contract with Geronimo, SPPHA will support the generation of 864,354,001 kWh of solar electricity and save over $4,000,000 in electricity expenses.

Bioenergy Bytes

Do You Have an All Time Favorite Tractor?

Jamie Johansen February 3, 2015

Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “What’s your favorite Super Bowl party food?”

The XLIX Super Bowl is a wrap and so is our most recent ZimmPoll. Chips and dip topped the charts, but wings were a close second. I couldn’t agree more with those who responded to our poll. I love chips and dip of any kind. I have always preferred salty and savory over sweets. Your favorite team may not have won, but let’s hope you walked away with a satisfied, full belly.

Here are the poll results:

Chili – 17%
Wings – 24%
Chips & Dip – 27%
Sliders – 3%
Anything with bacon – 18%
Potato Skins – 8%
Hot Dogs – 3%

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, Farm & Ranch Living compiled a list of the Top 10 Tractors of All Time. Which is your favorite?

Recently, the Farm & Ranch Living magazine asked their readers to share their favorite tractor of all time. Their compiled list inspired our very own, Leah Guffey, to chat with them about their readers favorite tractors in a recent Hick Chick Chat. Using their list of tractors, we want to know which is your all time favorite.

ZimmPoll

Bacterium, Nitrogen Gas to Partner for Ethanol

John Davis February 3, 2015

Researchers at the University of Indiana might have come upon a way to partner bacterium with nitrogen gas to make more ethanol. This news release from the school says biologists there have found a faster, cheaper and cleaner way to increase ethanol production by using nitrogen gas, the most abundant gas in Earth’s atmosphere. The discovery could help make cellulosic ethanol more competitive with corn-based ethanol.

The raw materials for cellulosic ethanol are low in nitrogen, a nutrient required for ethanol-producing microbes to grow, so cellulosic ethanol producers are estimated to spend millions of dollars annually on nitrogen fertilizers like corn steep liquor and diammonium phosphate. But an IU team led by biologist James B. McKinlay has found that the bioethanol-producing bacterium Zymomonas mobilis can use nitrogen gas (N2) as a nitrogen source, something that the more traditional ethanol-producer, baker’s yeast, cannot do.

“When we discovered that Z. mobilis could use N2 we expected that it would make less ethanol. N2 utilization and ethanol production demand similar resources within the bacterial cell so we expected resources to be pulled away from ethanol production to allow the bacteria to grow with N2,” McKinlay said. “To our surprise the ethanol yield was unchanged when the bacteria used N2. In fact, under certain conditions, the bacteria converted sugars to ethanol much faster when they were fed N2.”

Knowing the bacterium could use N2 without hindering ethanol production, the team reasoned that N2 gas could serve as an inexpensive substitute for nitrogen fertilizers during cellulosic ethanol production.

“Until recently, ethanol has been produced almost entirely from food crops, but last year there was a surge in cellulosic ethanol production as several commercial facilities opened,” McKinlay said. “Cellulosic ethanol offers more favorable land use and lower carbon emissions than conventional ethanol production. Even so, cellulosic ethanol is struggling to be cost-competitive against corn ethanol and gasoline.”

The researchers believe N2 gas, which can be produced on-site at production facilities, could save an ethanol production facility more than $1 million dollars a year. They have filed for a provisional patent on the idea.

biofuels, Ethanol

Springboard Biodiesel Partners with 75th School

John Davis February 3, 2015

Biodiesel equipment manufacturer Springboard Biodiesel has hit a bit of a milestone. The company says the Putnam County School system of Georgia will be the 75th school to own and operate a BioPro™ biodiesel processor.

“Putnam is doing what any school with dining facilities on campus can do,” reports Springboard Biodiesel CEO Mark Roberts. “Converting used cooking oil into locally made fuel for less than a dollar per gallon saves money on fuel costs, significantly reduces a school’s carbon footprint and makes students smarter.”

Springboard offers financing through several third party lenders thereby enabling any accredited US educational institution to get started quickly with a program that compliments many existing recycling programs.

Some of Springboard Biodiesel’s other customers for its small-scale biodiesel processing systems include Toyota, Honda, The Florida National Guard, The Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica, Jimmy Dean Sausages, many restaurants and schools, and the Federal Prison system.

Biodiesel

Book Review: Fractured Land

Joanna Schroeder February 2, 2015

When is the last time you filled up your tank with a gallon of gas that was less than $2? For me, today. As oil prices have plummeted with gas prices falling suit, many people are attributing all the extra oil to fracking. But what is the cost, financially and environmentally speaking, of oil drilled in this manner?

A new book by Lisa Westberg Peters, “Fractured Land: The Price of Inheriting Oil,” takes a look at these very issues. Interestingly, Peter is a self-proclaimed environmentalist who inherited land in North Dakota that is part of the state’s “fracking” oil boom. She acknowledges her discomfort with fracking technology, but attempted to keep an open mind during her educational journey to learn more.

When Peters father passes away and she is going through his things, she comes across all the documents related to his oil/fracking royalties that she will eventual inherit. The book follows her as she learns more about her family’s oil history, her research about fracking, which she is theoretically opposed to, and the family’s trip to North Dakota, where they have oil contracts, and spread her father’s ashes. The prose flows nicely as she weaves in and out between her family history and the information she learns about fracking.

From an energy perspective, despite being from the Midwest and current residing in Minnesota, she is opposed to the use of biofuels. She writes, “We don’t have petrochemicals in Minnesota, so we grow corn for ethanol. Homegrown alternative energy! I should be enthused about ethanol, but the production plants are water and energy hogs.”

Peters does address the chemicals and water used in fracking, albeit briefly and I feel she could have done a better job of addressing her environmental concerns over some of the issues brought on by fracking (potential for contaminated water, excessive water use that is much worse than other forms of alternative energy, mining of the frac sand, etc.).

Ultimately she chooses to keep her mineral rights when they come to her but she decides to donate a portion of them back to North Dakota to aid those who are struggling with high rents or the natural areas threatened by oil development. She concludes that while she will benefit financially from oil drilling, it brings her little joy.

Click here to purchase the book.

book reviews, Ethanol, Oil

BioEnergy Bytes

Joanna Schroeder February 2, 2015

Readers and editors of the international online publication, Biofuels Digest, for the fifth consecutive year, recognized Advanced Biofuels USA executive director Joanne Ivancic as one of the Top 125 People in the Advanced Bioeconomy.
Secretary Castro, of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Governor Brown of California have announced a number of actions to expand financing for energy efficiency and solar energy in multifamily housing. The programs also set the U.S. on a track to reach President Obama’s goal of installing 100 megawatts of renewable energy across federally subsidized housing by 2020.
MillerCoors, a U.S. brewer with more than 400 years of American brewing heritage, today announced the completion of a 3.2 megawatt capacity solar panel installation at its Irwindale, Calif., brewery. The new solar array is the largest installed at any brewery in the U.S. and will significantly increase the brewery’s energy independence. With more than 10,000 solar panels installed across 10 acres of the brewery grounds, the MillerCoors solar array will produce enough energy to brew more than 7 million cases of beer annually. The brewery also creates biogas from wastewater to power two GE Jenbacher engines.
SunEdison, Inc. has completed its previously announced acquisition of First Wind Holdings, LLC. In the transaction, TerraForm Power purchased 500 MW of operating wind power plants and 21 MW of operating solar power plants from First Wind. The portfolio has an average counterparty credit rating of A- and brings the weighted average remaining PPA life to 16 years for the entire TerraForm fleet. The portfolio is expected to add $73 million of cash available for distribution (CAFD) in 2015. TerraForm Power reiterates its 2015 guidance of $214 million of CAFD and dividends of $1.30 per share.

Bioenergy Bytes

Alt Electricity Surpasses Natural Gas

Joanna Schroeder February 2, 2015

According to the latest “Energy Infrastructure Update” report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) Office of Energy Projects, new renewable energy sources generated more capacity than natural gas in 2014. Sources including biomass, geothermal, hydroelectric, solar and wind provided 49.81 percent (7,663 MW) of new electrical generation brought into service. Natural gas accounted for 48.65 percent (7,485 MW). By comparison, in 2013, natural gas accounted for 46.44% (7,378 MW) of new electrical generating capacity while renewables accounted for 43.03% (6,837 MW).

New wind energy facilities accounted for 26.52 percent of added capacity (4,080 MW) in 2014 while solar power provided 20.40 percent (3,139 MW). Other renewables – biomass (254 MW), hydropower (158 MW) and geothermal (32 MW) – accounted for an additional 2.89 percent.

For the year, just a single coal facility (106 MW) came online; nuclear power expanded by a mere 71MW due to a plant upgrade; and only 15 small “units” of oil, totaling 47 MW, were added.

Renewable energy sources now account for 16.63 percent of total installed operating generating capacity in the U.S.:

water – 8.42%
wind – 5.54%
biomass – 1.38%
solar – 0.96%
geothermal steam – 0.33%

Renewable energy capacity is now greater than that of nuclear (9.14%) and oil (3.94%) combined.

“Can there any longer be doubt about the emerging trends in new U.S. electrical capacity?” noted Ken Bossong, executive director of the SUN DAY Campaign. “Coal, oil, and nuclear have become historical relics and it is now a race between renewable sources and natural gas with renewables taking the lead.”

biomass, Electricity, Geothermal, Natural Gas, Renewable Energy, Solar, Wind

Blossman Develops Bi-Fuel Propane Cop Car

Joanna Schroeder February 2, 2015

Blossman Services is developing a Bi-Fuel Propane Autogas Ford Interceptor for use for the law enforcement community. The company also offers other propane autogas vehicles including EPA emissions certifications for the Dodge Charger, Chevrolet Tahoe, Ford Crown Victoria, F150 and now the Interceptor.

According to Blossman, the bi-fuel system conversion on the Interceptor is precedent setting in that no intake manifold drilling, cutting, or splicing of wiring is required. The plug and play conversion will offer an additional 21 gallons of useable fuel and offer no comprises to the vehicle’s current safety or operational benefits.

The Bi-Fuel Propane AutoGas Ford Interceptor will be available this spring.

Alternative Vehicles, Propane

Process to Make Renewable Fuel for Under $1/Gallon

John Davis February 2, 2015

A new process looks to make renewable fuel out of algae, waste water and even vegetable for under $1 per gallon. Duckweed USA says its new thermodynamically reversible process can make clean jet fuel, diesel fuel or gasoline from the less common feedstocks.

Using the patented Linear Venturi Kinetic Nozzle changes the aquatic-mass-to-energy process to one that requires no high-heat processes nor chemicals. 90% of the energy used in production is recoverable and feedstock is self-replenishing. With 3 variables in production cost nearly eliminated, the ideas of energy independence and financial self-sufficiency are now viable options at any level. For investors, no plummet in oil prices can spoil profitability projections when production is under $40 per barrel. Domestically and globally, this breakthrough opens doors to new opportunities of growth never before seen.

For stakeholders at any level, the bottom line is, as Michael Rigolizzo states, “Our system turns energy liabilities into assets. Every school bus that needs gasoline to every jet that needs fuel is a point of profit for synfuel-producing communities instead of a cost.” Duckweed believes its patented process could revolutionize the President’s action plan, the combination of energy types needed and especially the costs to be incurred by taxpayers. “By the time the 5-year initial phase of the action plan would be completed, the Duckweed process could be established – and turning profits – in every community along the Keystone Pipeline,” says Rigolizzo.

Duckweed says it already has interest from groups, such as Sparta, Georgia, Rutgers University and countries from Europe to Africa.

algae, biofuels, biojet fuel, green diesel, Waste-to-Energy

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