Friday, April 9, 2010
... And We're Back!
Two Greentech Media featured articles this week caught my attention that I wanted to share. The first touches on a subject that will gain more attention in the next year- utility deregulation as a demand-response driver of efficiency gains. Usually one would not think that regulatory restrictions being lifted from an essential service like an energy utility would result in the utility reaping windfall profits at the expense of the consumer. That would be the eventual fate of the upcoming deregulation of Pennsylvania's energy utilities, except that a new law recently passed requires utility companies to decrease their peak-demand energy use. Act 129 will require reductions in overall energy usage as well as peak energy usage reductions by 2011 and additional targets for 2013. The full text of the bill can be found here.
This is particularly good news for residential solar system owners in Pennsylvania, who produce power during peak hours when rates will become extremely high. It is also good news for smart grid companies whose technology will be essential to implementing these reductions, which brings me to the second Greentech article. The DOE recently announced a package of grants totalling $100 million for smart grid training programs. The cleantech industry will thrive if smartgrid technologies can be implemented across the country. Our archaic, analog grid designed like a string of christmas lights that shuts down completely when one bulb burns out is incredibly vulnerable to failure, disruption, and the severe security threats presented by such incapacitation. A distributed generation system capable of sensing and fulfilling energy requirements in realtime will save billions in lost or wasted energy.
Monday, March 1, 2010
The Northeast Poised to Become Solar Giant Driven by State Incentives
Friday, February 26, 2010
Regulatory Uncertainty is Crippling the RE Industry
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Bloom Box: The Shakedown
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Bloom Box Unveiled
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
It's Official (sort of): BrightSource wins first Dept of Energy Loan Guarantee to a Solar Developer at a Whopping $1.4 Billion
Monday, February 22, 2010
Balancing Policy Objectives with Bureaucratic Timelines
With the proposed alternative design, BrightSource is trying to avoid the habitat of rare plants and other species. The company mentioned that the alternative design would reduce expected desert tortoise relocations by around 15%.
BrightSource is reportedly in the running for a Department of Energy loan guarantee and must begin construction close to their planned start date of late 2010 in order to qualify.
Another news item featuring the partnership of American company Fluor with Spanish Elecnor to provide engineering services on a 50 MW CSP plant in Badajoz, Spain mentions that services on that project began in 2009 and the engineering phase is not scheduled to be complete until 2011. The global financial freeze left many projects dead in the tracks for months now going on years, and the liquid capital required to bring projects far enough along for short or long term financing is scarce.
Granted, the point of ARRA is to help finance shovel-ready projects to get job creation jump started immediately. The Department of Energy also stated on the record at RETECH 2010 that any remaining funds after the current solicitation is closed will likely be rolled into a second solicitation.
The issue with this promise is that banks have been leery of the regulatory uncertainty surrounding renewables for a long time. Because of its highly politicized nature, incentives and programs are at the mercy of changes in the legislature and presidential administrations. Continuity has come to carry a high premium and the uncertainty leads to stagnation. When nations have implemented long-term energy programs that have been allowed to run their course, entire industries have blossomed and economies have grown.
Today's American politics of one-upsmanship and strictly polarized debates, the constant tug of war for power, are neglecting the very thing they claim to cherish. It is very difficult for a nation to flourish in spite of its leaders' worst efforts.