This edition is solar-heavy. I didn't plan it that way, it's just how the stories fell. Here we go.
If you live in Oregon, embracing solar energy could cushion your bank account:
Oregonians who install solar panels will soon be eligible to receive checks from utility companies at premium rates for the power they generate.
A pilot program unveiled Friday -- the first of its kind in the nation -- is designed to guarantee homeowners and businesses a long-term stream of income to cover their costs. Ratepayers of participating utilities will fund the program through higher monthly bills; that spooks utility-customer advocates who say expanding the program could push rates to unaffordable levels.
Overseen by the Oregon Public Utility Commission, the system will increase electricity rates by an undetermined amount for customers of Portland General Electric and Pacific Power -- and Oregon customers of Idaho Power. The five-year program is limited to a maximum 25 megawatts of production, roughly enough energy to serve 2,500 homes. It draws from approaches in Europe, where demand for solar systems soared as a result.
Customers can still claim the 30 percent federal tax credit, but must choose between this and other Oregon programs. They will receive payments as high as 65 cents a kilowatt hour for the energy they generate and use themselves.
A new waste to energy project heads to Georgia:
Waste Management has opened a landfill-gas-to-energy facility at its Superior Landfill and Recycling Center in Georgia, which uses methane gas to power up to 3,400 homes in the surrounding area. The facility is among the largest of its kind in Georgia and the Southeast, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data.
Methane gas, created from the natural decomposition of waste, is taken from the landfill through a series of wells placed around the site. From there, gas is used to power eight large engines to generate electricity, creating approximately 6.4 megawatts of power.
A similar facility powers the University of New Hampshire. Here's a video showing how that facility works:
Green jobs are headed to Hawaii:
South Korean electric car manufacturer CT&T announced plans Thursday to build an assembly plant in Hawaii that will eventually produce up to 10,000 vehicles a year and employ as many as 400 people.
The plant would make small two-seaters that reach speeds up to 40 mph and be deployed onto Hawaii's city and neighborhood roads.
Their batteries will last for 30 or 60 miles, depending on the model, and then be recharged at electric stations that are planned to begin popping up by the end of this year.
Hawaii would seem like a perfect place for projects that promote energy independence, considering its isolation from mainland America.
Illinois will soon see an increase in solar energy development:
Two pieces of legislation regarding solar energy are on their way to the governor's desk.
One bill sets targets for solar energy to be used in Illinois between by 2015; the other limits the power of condominium and homeowners' associations to prohibit solar panels. Both passed the House of Representatives this week.
Supporters say the legislation will produce more than 5,000 jobs.
We know about the attention this year's Defense appropriations bill received thanks to DADT, but another amendment that received little attention could have a big impact on our energy future:
As the US Department of Defense looks to expand its use of solar energy, the House of Representatives has passed an amendment from Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-Hurley) that will ensure any solar energy panels purchased by the Department of Defense through subcontractors be made by US manufacturers.
There is no such requirement today and the importance of the amendment to the Hudson Valley is the growth of the solar panel manufacturing business in the region.
"As the Department of Defense purchases solar panels to address very serious energy security concerns at defense installations around the country, we must ensure that those purchases support American solar energy manufacturing jobs, including those here in New York, rather than Chinese and other competitors," said Hinchey. "There is no good reason a company in China should be building the solar equipment that our military will use when we have a strong, emerging solar manufacturing presence here in New York."
Whether Congress passes a renewable energy bill or not, the transition to clean energy will continue:
Electric utility companies in the U.S. are starting shed their dependence on fossil fuels, what with some converting coal power plants to biomass and others launching ambitious plans for solar energy generation, including distributed solar micro-arrays. Now they are taking the pursuit of new solar energy technology to the next level, with a new partnership between the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the Solar Technology Acceleration Center (SolarTAC) in Colorado.
The partnership is significant because EPRI, a nonprofit research company, represents a good 90% of the electricity generated in the U.S. Hooking EPRI up with SolarTAC, one of the newest and largest solar test facilities in the world, sends a clear signal that U.S. utilities are picking up the renewable energy pace. And if that’s not clear enough, EPRI spells it out: "Anticipating renewable portfolio mandates and higher costs for fossil fuels, utilities are moving to develop renewable technology options."
The giant electric company Xcel Energy and solar experts SunEdison and Abengoa Solar were behind the development of SolarTAC, along with other public partners. The project, which has been in development since last year, aims to provide solar companies with a field-test site for technologies that are in or near commercialization. It also provides a platform for federal research programs to coordinate efforts with the private solar industry, and to that end the National Renewable Energy Laboratory also signed a letter of intent to join in. The lab, part of the Department of Energy, will contribute a $2 million thermal energy storage test facility to the SolarTAC site among other projects.
Oil companies & the "drill baby drill" crowd would have you believe that the only energy that comes from the ocean is oil or natural gas. But a project in the Gulf of Mexico proves this notion false:
The contrast could not be more extreme. This week, as British Petroleum’s undersea oil gusher continued to flow uncontrolled into the Gulf of Mexico, fouling the Louisiana coast and threatening other states, Independent Natural Resources, Inc. announced that it has passed a critical milestone in constructing a new wave energy installation in the Gulf off the coast of Freeport, Texas. The installation, engineered by INRI’s wholly owned subsidiary Renew Blue, is designed to use clean, renewable wave energy to power a desalination plant.
The project will use the SEADOG Pump system, which uses no blades or turbines to extract power from waves. CleanTechnica has followed Renew Blue’s wave energy project since last fall, and overcoming this latest hurdle – obtaining a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - could open the door to numerous other wave energy projects in the future.
As with all wave energy harvesters, the main attraction of the SEADOG Pump system is the fact that it can draw an endless supply of renewable, non-polluting energy from the sea. This particular system differs from many other wave energy projects because it generates energy by enabling water to be drawn in and discharges passively through valves, minimizing harm to sea life.
Here is a video of the SEADOG system:
In Florida, work has begun on what will be the world's 2nd largest solar plant:
Florida Power & Light Co.'s newest solar-energy plant will have enough mirrors to cover 80 football fields. But those mirrors will focus sunlight onto surfaces that add up to slightly less than the area of a single football field. That concentration of solar power will generate temperatures of more than 700 degrees — hot enough to make electricity for 11,000 homes.
Conventional wisdom holds that solar plants using mirrors — which generate heat that produces steam that, in turn, spins an electrical generator — aren't worth the effort in Florida because of the regularity of afternoon rain clouds much of the year. So far, all of the solar plants built in the state convert sunlight directly into electricity using photovoltaic panels, which produce a charge, if only a reduced one, even on cloudy days,
But FPL is building its "thermal" solar plant on a campus near Lake Okeechobee that already has 13 generators fueled by oil and natural gas. Steam from the solar plant will be combined with steam produced with the heat exhaust from four natural-gas plants to spin an existing generator — an approach not taken before. FPL thinks that makes thermal more feasible, because the utility won't have to spend millions of dollars building a generator for the solar plant.
The project will add 16 cents/month to the average residential customer's bill. Not a bad deal.
Also in Florida, a new biomass plant:
Florida's Public Service Commission (FPS) last week approved Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) and American Renewables' joint petition for the Gainesville Renewable Energy Center, a planned 100-megawatt (MW) biomass power plant that will be located in Gainesville, Florida.
American Renewables will build, own and operate the facility and will sell all energy and environmental attributes generated from the facility to GRU for a period of 30 years. The plant will be fueled by a local supply of leftover clean woody waste using urban wood waste, wood processing wastes and logging residues.
Construction of the plant will bring more than 1,100 direct and indirect construction jobs to the area during its approximate 34-month construction phase. American Renewables plans to begin construction on the biomass facility in December 2010. After the plant is completed, more than 200 direct, permanent positions will be created to operate and maintain the plant as well as procure biomass fuel. The project will support an additional 500 indirect, permanent positions in the region.
While oil leaks into the water near it, Louisiana considers cutting its dependence on the crude:
As millions of gallons of leaked oil swirl around the Gulf of Mexico and enter Louisiana's delicate coastal wetlands, several bills that would help Louisiana harness more energy from renewable sources are winding through the state Legislature.
The measures, if passed, would help Louisiana capture energy from the Mississippi's churning currents, make it easier for residents to install solar panels on their homes and allow cities and parishes to trade in their fleets of gas guzzlers for more efficient vehicles.
The bills' sponsors, Sen. Nick Gautreaux, D-Meaux, and Rep. Franklin Foil, R-Baton Rouge, said this year's alternative energy bills move Louisiana further along on the path to becoming an alternative energy leader.
Finally, there is a massive, untapped land area in this country that is in prime position to capitalize on clean, renewable energy. Native American tribal lands:
In the Southwest, projects to harness the sun's and wind's energy are the most promising, according to a new report from the National Tribal Environmental Council, Native American Rights Fund, Intertribal Council on Utility Policy and National Wildlife Federation.
For example, tribal lands have the potential to produce 17.6 trillion kilowatt hours of electricity a year from solar power, about 4.5 times the total amount of electricity generated in the United States in 2004.
4 wind projects are the focus for 1.6 million acres of Hopi tribal lands in Northern Arizona:
• The Sunshine Wind Park, 35 miles east of Flagstaff, is being developed with a goal of providing 60 megawatts, which would supply 14,000 homes.
• Clear Creek Ranch, 17 miles south of Winslow, is the primary site for a feasibility study to develop a utility-scale wind farm, where wind data are being collected.
• Hart Ranch, 17 miles east of Flagstaff, is an alternative utility-scale wind farm if Clear Creek doesn't pan out.
• On the main Hopi Reservation, 8 miles west of Hotevilla village, is the Hotevilla meteorological-tower project.
These are not the only projects:
Another Arizona tribe, the Hualapai, depends on tourism at its popular Grand Canyon West reservation. But strained infrastructure and water resources have long limited the tribe's capacity for expanding necessary tourism facilities.
The tribe used Department of Energy funds to build two photovoltaic arrays and pump houses to power its 13-mile water pipeline with solar energy. The Hualapai Tribe currently sees about 150,000 visitors annually and projects a tenfold increase once the utility infrastructure is complete.
Eighty miles west of Flagstaff, the Navajo Nation is developing the Big Boquillas Wind Project, with construction of 48 turbines capable of generating 85 megawatts. It is scheduled to begin this December.
The Navajos also have meteorological towers up in Cameron and are considering another wind site and a possible solar-utility project in the Four Corners area.
Some tribes are reluctant to embark on such ventures, because as tax-exempt entities, they aren't eligible to claim a federal production-tax credit for renewable energy projects. Legislation pending in Congress (Sen. Tim Johnson's Senate Bill 802 and Rep. Raúl Grijalva's "Fair Credit Act" House Resolution 29820) would allow tribes to transfer their share of the tax credit to private entities financing projects in a joint venture.
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