Sorry I couldn't post this yesterday, but for the first time in a long time I actually had stuff to do & I couldn't get around to it. One note: Monday, Sen. Jeff Merkley will introduce an energy bill of his own (seems like they're coming out of the woodwork). I say energy bill, though I don't know for sure that it is an energy-only bill. I just can't see him introducing a bill with a carbon cap, considering there are already 2 and the odds of either passing are incredibly slim. Anyway, on to the energy.
Solar energy is headed to Solar power is headed to consumers in various states:
American Municipal Power yesterday announced it has partnered with Standard Energy, an affiliate of Standard Solar, to develop up to 300 megawatts of new solar energy generation capacity.
The agreement between the two companies is for 30 years and is reported to yield one of the largest groups of solar electricity facility developments in the country, according to a joint press release from the two companies. The power generated by this venture will be offered to AMP’s 128 member utilities in six states which include Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia.
Off shore wind could be headed to a coast near you:
The governors of 10 East Coast states have joined federal authorities to form a consortium that will promote the development of offshore wind energy.
U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday the establishment of the Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Consortium will promote safe and environmentally responsible development, enhance the nation's energy security, and create jobs. Salazar says a regional renewable energy office has been set up to coordinate and expedite the development of wind, solar and other renewable energy resources off the Atlantic coast. Salazar in April authorized the nation's first offshore wind farm off Cape Cod.
The states are Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina.
The Department of Energy has made a new investment in biofuels:
ICM has announced that they have received $25 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to aid in the construction and operation of its cellulosic ethanol pilot plant located in St. Joseph, Missouri. The company is also contributing $6 million of its own funds required for the cost-share element of the DOE program. The $31 million cooperative agreement is administered by the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
Construction is expected to begin in August of 2010 and ICM anticipates that the first demonstration phase will be up and running by January 2011 and fully operational by 4th quarter 2011. The company will modify its existing dry fractionation grain-to-ethanol pilot plant located at LifeLine Foods, LLC to begin producing fuel ethanol from captive corn fiber and along with two cellulosic feedstocks switchgrass and energy sorghum. Novozymes will be providing the enzymes used in the process.
The company has developed new technology and will be testing pretreatment, hydrolysis and fermentation processes, all critical elements of cost competitive cellulosic ethanol production. Another strategy the company is applying is co-locating the cellulosic plant next to an existing grain ethanol plant to increase efficiencies and accelerate the production of cellulosic ethanol to commercial scale.
More news on a program I'm pretty high on, using Brownfield & Superfund sites for renewable energy:
It’s not often two government agencies get together to do something that is almost inspired. However, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have done that by joining forces in their evaluation of sites that could be used for renewable-energy production. These can be Superfund and brown field sites, as well as former landfills and mines. Although there are many such sites, 12 in particular will get a close look for development. They are in California, Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
The project will analyze the potential development of wind, solar, or small hydroelectric power facilities. Analysis will determine the best renewable energy equipment for the site, its best placement, the potential energy-generating capacity, and the economic feasibility of the renewable energy projects, including return on investment. Some sites under consideration have completed cleanup activities, while others are in various stages of assessment or cleanup. The EPA estimates there are about 490,000 sites and almost 15 million acres of potentially contaminated properties across the U.S.
For more info on this program, check out the EPA website.
The wide open spaces of rural America could be a great place to generate renewable energy, & that's just what is happening in New Jersey:
Seabrook Farms has signed a 15-year agreement to have over 21 acres of solar panel systems installed and maintained on its facility in southern New Jersey.
With each solar panel producing about 230 watts of electricity, the project will generate approximately 6.1MW of energy annually. That would be about enough to supply 785 homes with electricity each year.
The San Francisco bay area has taken another step towards shrinking its carbon footprint:
The Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit), which services the east San Francisco Bay area, is now operating a fleet of fuel cell buses and Linde North America is installing two new hydrogen fueling stations to fill them up. The hydrogen stations are being installed at AC Transit's Emeryville and Oakland depots and will use Linde's Ionic compression technology.
The ionic compressors are much more energy efficient than previous compression systems and can fill a bus with 30 kilograms of gaseous hydrogen in six minutes. Linde has been providing hydrogen fueling systems in Europe for several years with 70 installations in place both for fuel cell bus programs as well as BMW's Hydrogen 7 test program. The Linde system supports both 350 BAR and 700 BAR fuel systems. The stations will use liquid hydrogen produced off-site and brought in by Linde as well as gaseous hydrogen produced on-site by a 575 kilowatt solar installation for electrolysis.
A pending solar energy bill in New York would have a huge economic impact on the state:
A landmark solar power bill pending in the New York State legislature would create thousands of green jobs and billions of dollars in economic output for the state, according to a recent report released by Vote Solar, a national grassroots solar advocacy group.
By supporting the development of enough solar to power about one million homes by 2025, this legislation would drive significant economic opportunity in the state while adding less than the price of one postage stamp to New Yorkers’ monthly energy bills.
The specifics:
22,198 direct and induced jobs.
$20 billion dollars in wages, salaries and revenues that can be reinvested into the state economy.
Average Residential Electric Bill increase of $0.39 per month. Pretty good deal.
A pretty important deal was struck between wind energy companies & the steel workers union:
Wind-energy companies agreed to buy more parts from U.S. suppliers, and a labor union promised to join in lobbying Congress for a requirement to use more renewable energy.
The partnership calls for the "aggressive development and utilization" of domestically based equipment manufacturers and suppliers. Targets remain to be set, according to a summary of the agreement.
Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio who has opposed U.S. subsidies to projects dependent on equipment from abroad, said today the agreement will ensure that clean-energy investments revitalize domestic industries.
"This is really a big deal," Brown said on a conference call announcing the agreement. "It is a great story for American manufacturing."
Governor Bill Ritter of Colorado may not be running for re-election, but he's done a pretty damn good job of furthering Colorado's green economy in his lone term. He signed another bill this week:
House Bill 1267, sponsored by Rep. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood, which gives tax breaks to residential solar facilities that are leased but not owned by the homeowner.
House Bill 1328, sponsored by Rep. Joe Miklosi, D-Denver, which creates loans of up to $25,000 for homeowners to use for renewable energy-generating equipment.
House Bill 1333, sponsored by Rep. Ed Vigil, D-Fort Garland, which provides grants to colleges to provide clean-energy job-training programs.
Senate Bill 180, sponsored by Sen. Suzanne Williams, D-Aurora, which creates a task force to study implementation of a smart energy grid in Colorado.
House Bill 1098, sponsored by Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, which provides for more transparency in rural electric cooperative association governance.
Under Ritter, CO developed a plan for converting old coal-fired power plants into facilities run on natural gas and increased to 30 percent the amount of power that utilities must generate from renewable resources by 2020. The state now has the 4th highest concentration of clean-energy workers in the country and it is expected to have 100,000 solar rooftops by 2020. And the economic impact has been sizable. Since 2006, Colorado has gone from being the home of less than 100 solar-energy companies to more than 400. And where 300 megawatts of renewable energy powering the state in 2006, that number is now are 1,300.
Finally, earlier this year Nebraska passed a law that would make it easier for wind energy projects to be built in the state. The fruits of that effort are now becoming clear:
The Nebraska Public Power District is reviewing 34 proposals for wind energy projects.
NPPD says the projects could add between 50 and 300 megawatts of wind energy to the utility's generation mix.
In this round of request for proposals, the Columbus-based utility asked parties to focus on a site with existing wind study option agreements with NPPD in Madison County, or on a developer's site that has adequate transmission.
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