Arizona Coalition for New Energy Technologies Update

3 October 2002

In this Edition:

• Welcome to New Coalition Member:  Stirling Energy Systems

• Tom Acker Elected to Coalition Board of Directors

• “Bright Light, Big Industry”:  Growth in Renewable Energy Creates Tremendous Job Gains

• Utilities Negotiate for Wind Energy in Arizona

• “It Takes a Solar Village”

  • How Can You Build a Solar Home?

• New Map Available of Mountain/Southwest Renewable Energy Potential

• “Wind Rights:  the New Negotiable Asset”

  • Why Iowa likes wind power—by the numbers

• NARUC Adopts Model DG Interconnection Agreement and Procedures

• Government Issues New Solicitation for Energy Services

• NREL Seeks Companies Interested in Commercialization Opportunities

• GAO Report Says that Renewable Energy Shortchanged in Ex-Im Bank Loans and Loan Guarantees

• Market, Legislation Make Wind an Attractive Investment in Texas

• Green Mountain Energy Company and Hometown Connection Announce Marketing Partnership

• “Time to Get Serious About Energy Conservation Info”

• Clogged Grid Hampers U.S. Power Market Plan

• EPA Recognizes Green Power Purchasers

• The Case for Environmental Optimism:  or, Why the Good News Shouldn’t Scare You

• Upcoming Events:

  • 9-12 October:  Energy Efficient Building Association Conference & Exposition

  •  9 October:  Sedona/Verde Valley Chapter Meeting of the Arizona Solar Energy Association

WELCOME TO NEW COALITION MEMBER

Stirling Energy Systems, Inc.

http://www.stirlingenergy.com/

Phoenix

Stirling Energy Systems (SES) was founded in 1996 as a systems integration and project management company dealing in renewable energy technologies and projects.  SES utilizes its own proprietary technology for a dish Stirling concentrating solar system (developed by McDonnell Douglas), Vestas-American wind systems, and distributed power generation devices.  The SES dish Stirling system provides grid-quality electricity to utilities, large end users or remote users in quantities ranging from 28 kW to hundreds of megawatts of electricity.  SES believes its solar technology can finally unlock the promise of solar power and harness the energy of the sun in the southwestern U.S. and in other arid areas of the world, delivering large quantities of emission-free, reliable energy at affordable prices and reducing U.S. dependence on foreign energy supplies.

A complete list of members of the Arizona Coalition for New Energy Technologies is available on the coalition’s website at www.newenergytechnologies.org.

TOM ACKER ELECTED TO COALITION BOARD OF DIRECTORS

—Northern Arizona University Associate Professor Brings Geographic and Professional Diversity to Board

At its last meeting in April, the board of the Arizona and Colorado Coalitions for New Energy Technologies elected Dr. Tom Acker as its newest member.  Dr. Acker is currently an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, where he has been a faculty member since 1996.  In 1997 he spent three months on a faculty fellowship to the National Wind Technology Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado.  His professional record includes employment at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the Climate Modeling Division, and work as a research engineer at the Electric Propulsion Laboratory.

Dr. Acker received a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado State University in 1995 and has been working on renewable energy systems since joining NAU, with an emphasis in wind energy, village-scale energy systems, Native American energy projects, and rural energy development.  He is currently involved with several organizations, including serving as Team leader of the NAU Sustainable Energy Solutions research group and Team leader of the Arizona Wind Working Group.  In addition, he is an appointed member of the Arizona Solar Energy Advisory Council that advises the Governor on issues related to renewable energy and is a reviewer for the ASME Journal of Solar Energy Engineering.

“BRIGHT LIGHT, BIG INDUSTRY”

—Growth in Renewable Energy Creates Tremendous Job Gains

In a story in the 23 September issue of Newsweek magazine, reporter Fred Guterl reports that “in this flat economy, renewable energy is creating job openings for entrepreneurial types,” and adds that employment in solar energy firms alone is expected to rise to 150,000 people by 2020 from 20,000 today.

The Newsweek story, available for a fee from the magazine’s website at www.newsweek.com, features coalition member First Solar and the benefits that solar energy has brought to remote Navajo villages in Arizona located far from the power grid.

UTILITIES NEGOTIATE FOR WIND ENERGY IN ARIZONA

—Negotiations Could Bring State’s First Windfarm

Angela Gonzales reports in the 20 September Phoenix Business Journal that “the Valley's two largest utilities [Salt River Project and Arizona Public Service] are in early negotiations with Western Wind Energy Corp. to buy wind energy for use in Arizona, bringing the first wind turbines to the state.”

She reports that New Brunswick, Canada-based Western Wind, a publicly traded corporation that recently formed Verde Resources in Arizona, signed an agreement with the Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. (AEPCO), a customer-owned utility in Benson, Arizona.  AEPCO to set up a testing station at AEPCO's Apache Generating Station in Cochise, Ariz., to determine if sufficient wind resources exist in the area to warrant construction of a generation project.

If there is enough wind generated there, a wind park would be developed to generate up to 40 megawatts of electric power, which is enough energy to serve about 14,000 homes, according to Mike Boyd of Western Wind.

“IT TAKES A SOLAR VILLAGE”

Reporter Caroline Kettlewell writes in the 27 September Washington Post about the Solar Decathlon taking place on the National Mall in Washington. 

She reports that “[o]n the National Mall, 14 college and university teams have squared off for the final two weeks of a competition more than four years in the making – to design and build the most efficient, livable and aesthetically inviting home possible, run entirely by the sun...they’ll be tested and measured against one another on performance, but also on something more difficult to quantify. Which home, the contest will ask, most successfully marries aesthetics and technology?  Which represents not so much the ‘solar home of the future,’ but rather the house any one of us might happily and comfortably inhabit today?”

Kettlewell goes on to write about the logistical and financial challenges to each participating school of building their homes, pointing out that the college design teams will be living in the homes during the competition on the National Mall and that “[e]ach home was required to include a kitchen, a bathroom, a bedroom, a living area and even a home office, all of it squeezed into a minimum of 450 square feet, with a footprint of no more than 800 square feet. Each home has to run entirely on the solar energy it can capture through its own systems...Climate controls have to maintain interior living areas at a constant 72 degrees Fahrenheit, regardless of whatever weather the District [of Columbia] may be dishing out.”

Kettlewell provides detailed descriptions and impressions of a number of the Solar Village’s houses in her article, pointing out how comfortable and attractive they are.  She quotes the University of Colorado team’s faculty adviser, Michael Brandemuehl, as saying that after visitors see the comfortable and highly efficient homes at the Solar Village, they will ask “If a bunch of college kids can do this, why can’t the building industry do this?”

The winning home will be announced next Saturday, 5 October.  As of 3 October, the University of Colorado is in first place, leading second-place Auburn University and third-place University of Virginia.  For more information on the Solar Decathlon, visit http://www.eren.doe.gov/solar_decathlon/.  This site is updated frequently during the competition.

HOW CAN YOU BUILD A SOLAR HOME?

As the Solar Decathlon raises interest in solar homebuilding, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has recently issued a fact sheet entitled “How to Size a Grid-Connected Solar Electric System.”

This fact sheet provides the consumer with a concise overview of how to size a grid-connected solar electric system.  The initial process for collection of data is explained, followed by a description of how to use the data to determine the correct size of the system.  A worksheet for determining the required number of panels for the consumer’s home is included.

 

NEW MAP AVAILABLE OF MOUNTAIN/SOUTHWEST RENEWABLE ENERGY POTENTIAL

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently announced the availability of its Mountain Renewable Potential Map.  This map presents an integrated picture of renewable energy resources in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.  Solar, geothermal, and wind energy potentials and indicators of hydroelectric, biomass, and wood energy potentials are shown.

This map can be viewed and downloaded from EIA’s website.

“WIND RIGHTS:  THE NEW NEGOTIABLE ASSET”

—Wind Energy Providing New Economic Development Opportunities in Rural and Agricultural Areas

Kathleen McFall writes in the September 2002 issue of Energy Business & Technology:  “As fans of fossil-fueled power generation are quick to point out, mitigating global warming will be costly.  But the economics of wind power in the U.S. are changing to reflect America’s growing demand for electricity produced with little or no greenhouse gas emissions as a byproduct...Where once it was mineral rights that had the potential to make landowners wealthy, ‘wind is the new negotiable asset,’ says Ken Starcher, assistant director of the Alternative Energy Institute (AEI) at West Texas A&M University in Canyon.”

For the full story on how wind energy is providing profitable and sustainable new economic development opportunities for rural and agricultural communities, visit the website of Energy Business & Technology.

Why Iowa likes wind power—by the numbers

“Iowa’s 354 wind turbines have a maximum output of 246 MW, and produce about 646 million kWh per year.  This is enough for 66,204 average Iowa residential customers.  Iowa gets 87% of its power from coal, 100% of which is imported from outside the state at a cost of $310 million in 1995.  Iowa’s wind turbines displace 382,094 tons of coal each year, which is brought to Iowa in 3821 train cars, enough cars to make a train 36 miles long.  This coal probably would have come from Wyoming, at a cost of $6.2 million per year.  Iowa’s wind turbines produce zero emissions.  The coal that they displace would have produced 1.3 billion pounds of greenhouse gases (CO2), equivalent to the emissions of 175,000 cars or 100,000 sport utility vehicles.  They also eliminate 5.9 million pounds of acid rain emissions (SO2), 2.8 million pounds of smog emissions (NOx) and about 44 pounds of mercury.  Mercury poisons fish and the people who eat them.  Wind farms near Clear Lake and Storm Lake pay rent to 115 landowners to site their wind turbines.  They pay about $2,000 per turbine, for a total of $640,000 per year.  They also pay $2 million per year in taxes to counties, money that is used for schools, roads and health care.  It took 200 people six months to build the wind farms.  About 40 people work there now.”

—From http://www.iowawind.org/, as quoted in the September 2002 issue of Energy Business & Technology.

NARUC ADOPTS MODEL DG INTERCONNECTION AGREEMENT AND PROCEDURES

At its July meeting in Portland, Oregon, the Board of Directors of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) adopted and recommended to its members (all state public utility commissions) the use of its new model interconnection agreement and procedures developed by a working group of commissioners and staff.  The project, with support from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, created a model interconnection agreement and procedures that were, for the most part, compiled from the "best practices" of states that had previously held fully open, fair proceedings to address interconnections of distributed energy resources.

NARUC stated that increased national consistency will lower entry barriers and enhance business economic efficiency and that the ready availability of NARUC-developed model agreements and procedures will aid in the challenge of incorporating distributed generation into the nation’s energy infrastructure.

To download a copy of this useful document, visit http://www.naruc.org/Programs/dgia/dgiaip.pdf

GOVERNMENT ISSUES NEW SOLICITATION FOR ENERGY SERVICES

—GSA Seeks Range of New Energy Services for Federal Supply Schedule

The U.S. General Services Administration has issued a “refreshed” solicitation for companies interested in being included on the Worldwide Federal Supply Schedule for Energy Services from which the Government contemplates award of contracts for supplies/services listed.

GSA notes that types of Energy Services sought in this solicitation include:  Energy Management Program Support (includes but not limited to Energy Planning and Strategies, Energy Choice  Analysis, Billing and Management Oversight); Energy Audit Services (includes but not limited to Energy Audits, Use of Alternative Energy Sources, Resource Efficiency Management, Building Commissioning Services); Managing the Procurement and Use of Natural Gas; Managing the Procurement and Use of Electricity (includes but not limited to Supplying Renewable (Green) power to customers in deregulated markets, and Emergency Power Sources); and Introduction of New Services.

According to GSA’s notice in the 14 July issue of Federal Business Opportunities, proposals are accepted on a continuous basis.  For more information, interested parties can call 800-241-7246 and select “ENERGY” prompt or send an email to energy@gsa.gov, referring to Sol# TFTP-EJ-000871-1.

NREL SEEKS COMPANIES INTERESTED IN COMMERCIALIZATION OPPORTUNITIES

The 9 June issue of Federal Business Opportunities notes that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is soliciting interest from companies interested in obtaining license rights to commercialize, manufacture and market technologies developed at NREL.  Information on technologies available for licensing is located at: http://www.nrel.gov/technologytransfer/license.html.

For more information, contact Richard Bolin, referring to Sol# GenLic.

GAO REPORT SAYS THAT RENEWABLE ENERGY SHORTCHANGED IN EX-IM BANK LOANS AND LOAN GUARANTEES

The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) released a report on 17 September saying that renewable energy accounted for only three percent of the U.S. Export-Import Bank’s nearly $28 billion in energy loans and loan guarantees from 1990 through 2001, though a 1989 law called on Ex-Im Bank to provide at least five percent of its energy financing for renewables.  Most renewable energy projects financed between 1990 and 1996 were for the construction of hydroelectric and geothermal power plants.

Ex-Im Bank and renewable energy industry officials have acknowledged that Ex-Im Bank can do a better job of promoting their products and services to renewable energy sectors.  The GAO report notes that “officials identified Ex-Im Bank’s establishment of a Renewable Energy Exports Advisory Committee in May 2002 as an effort to help the Bank expand its support of U.S. renewable energy exporters.  Over the next 2 years, the advisory committee will focus on specific issues such as how Ex-Im Bank can modify its existing programs, what new financing products or changes to existing products should be considered, and how to improve its outreach to U.S. renewable energy exporters and foreign buyers.”

The full report is available on GAO’s website in PDF format.

MARKET, LEGISLATION MAKE WIND AN ATTRACTIVE INVESTMENT IN TEXAS

—NREL Brochure Outlines Keys to Wind’s Success in Texas

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory recently issued a three-page brochure entitled “Market, Legislation Make Wind an Attractive Investment in Texas.”  The brochure, issued under the auspices of DOE’s “State Energy Program Stellar Projects,” says that “West Texas has a new crop: electricity.”  The brochure points out that “[o]nce too expensive for commercial production, the addition of computers to wind turbines and the rise in fossil fuel prices has brought the cost of wind-generated electricity in line with other power sources.”

This colorful and informative brochure can be downloaded from NREL’s website.

GREEN MOUNTAIN ENERGY COMPANY AND HOMETOWN CONNECTIONS ANNOUNCE MARKETING PARTNERSHIP TO OFFER RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY PROGRAMS TO PUBLIC POWER UTILITIES

Green Mountain Energy Company and Hometown Connections International, LLC announced on 30 September that the two companies have entered into an exclusive partnership to provide a national 100 percent renewable energy program designed specifically for public power utilities.

Green Mountain Energy is the nation’s largest and fastest growing retail provider of cleaner energy.  A subsidiary of the American Public Power Association, Hometown Connections secures national group pricing and service arrangements for public power utilities from leading industry suppliers.

As a result of the new partnership, electric utilities owned by local, regional and state governments can now work with Green Mountain Energy Company to develop customized “green” pricing programs to offer Green Mountain Energy Company brands of renewable electricity to their customers.  Public power utilities serve over 40 million people or about 15 percent of the nation’s electricity consumers.  All of these customers could now be served under a renewable energy program designed by their utility in conjunction with Green Mountain Energy Company at little or no cost to the public power utility.

Green Mountain Energy Company will provide interested public power utilities with electricity products generated from 100 percent renewable sources, such as wind, hydropower, biomass, geothermal, and landfill gas.  These electricity products will contribute renewable energy to the utilities’ regional power grids.

Depending on the individual needs of each municipality, Green Mountain Energy Company will also provide a range of sales and marketing services —from simple enrollment tools to more extensive consulting and marketing programs— needed to help the designated municipality cost effectively and efficiently run a “green” pricing program.

[From Green Mountain press release]

“TIME TO GET SERIOUS ABOUT ENERGY CONSERVATION INFO”

—Energy Efficiency Expert Counsels Utilities to Upgrade their Website Information

Marty Watts, President & CEO of V-Kool Inc., notes in the September 2002 issue of Electric Light & Power that “[m]any utility company Web sites are not very helpful to either residential or business customers seeking serious information about energy conservation...Utility company Web sites often don’t clearly identify energy conservation information, forcing the site visitor to search for what’s available.”

In his article, Watts provides examples of utility websites that he considers helpful and provides other advice on disseminating information on energy efficiency through utility sites.  His final advice to utilities is that “[u]pgrading your energy conservation Web pages will not only satisfy customer demand for serious and comprehensive energy conservation information, but it may also be the most convincing way to encourage increased customer online account management, thereby saving additional costs overall.”

Read Watts’ entire article in Electric Light & Power.

CLOGGED GRID HAMPERS U.S. POWER MARKET PLAN

—Congestion, Bottlenecks, Lack of Investment Hindering Development of National Market

Federal energy regulators are pushing a sweeping plan to set up a new interstate electricity market.  But without a multibillion-dollar overhaul of the nation’s power lines, the plan could unravel, according to a 2 October Reuters story by Leonard Anderson.

The price tag for new power poles, electrical cable and other gear to get the grid in shape could reach $56 billion by 2010, according to energy analysts at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, who note that the nation’s 158,000-mile electricity transmission system has not kept pace with growing consumer demand for power, projected to rise by 25 percent over the next 10 years, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.  Annual spending on electric transmission has been falling by about $120 million a year for the past 25 years.

“The current investment climate for electric power infrastructure is negative,” Lawrence Makovich, senior director for Cambridge Energy Research Associates, told the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources this summer.

Some observers note the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s plan to develop a new national electricity market “is a good step forward, something that’s really needed, because it can create the right economic incentives and price signals to build more transmission cable.”  The commission’s plan for a “standard market design” intends to reduce electricity costs for consumers and set common rules to allow open access to the grid.

EPA RECOGNIZES GREEN POWER PURCHASERS

—Kinko’s Among 2002 Award Winners

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency honored several organizations on 30 September for their environmental leadership by purchasing green power.  These organizations were recognized at two different events coinciding with the seventh National Green Power Marketing Conference that has just concluded in Washington, D.C.

“These efforts to support clean, renewable energy show that environmental stewardship can also mean good business,” said EPA Administrator Christie Whitman.  “This Administration believes that through partnerships with industry — such as the Green Power Partnership — we can harness the creativity and innovation of industry — and put it to work for the environment.”

Leading green power purchasers from across the country were recognized with Green Power Leadership Awards.  These awards were presented to eight organizations, with the top two awards going to coalition member Kinko’s and the city of Chicago.  Kinko’s is purchasing green power for stores in states across the country.  The city of Chicago decided to obtain one fifth of its electricity from green power sources.

The Green Power Leadership Awards are part of the recognition offered through the Green Power Partnership, a voluntary program working to standardize green power purchasing as part of best practice environmental management.  The partnership provides technical assistance and public recognition to organizations that commit to using green power for a portion of their electricity needs.  The program now has over 80 partners — including Fortune 500 companies, states, federal agencies, trade associations and universities.

Partners in the Green Power Partnership have made a combined total commitment to procuring over 500 million kilowatt hours of green power annually.  If generated by conventional means, the emissions associated with that much electricity would include over 800 million pounds of carbon dioxide.

[From EPA Press release]

THE CASE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL OPTIMISM:  or, WHY THE GOOD NEWS SHOULDN’T SCARE YOU

The following are excerpts from a speech presented at the EPRI Summer Seminar on 6 August 2002 by Gregg Easterbrook, Contributing Editor of the Atlantic Monthly:

Action does not necessarily entail sacrifice: there is a strong argument that fossil fuel use can become far more efficient without economic harm or lifestyle disruption.  But because individuals, not just corporations, would have to change, the political system is, I think, years away from facing the tough choices of greenhouse reform.  Republicans as a group still want to do nothing, while Democrats as a group only want to blame industry, when industry is in effect complying with Kyoto, and average American suburbanites are the big Kyoto violators!

None of this is reason to despair.  Conquering smog in Los Angeles once seemed “impossible,” and now L.A. has gone three straight summers without a stage-one ozone alert-versus an average of 60 per year in the 1970s.  Controlling acid rain while coal use rose once seemed “impossible,” and now has happened.  The public does not know about either development because reporting them would be inconveniently positive.  But both developments show that pollution control works and usually costs less than expected.

* * *

Washington today lacks the will to advocate carbon trading—both the White House and Democrats are terrified of actual action.  So why doesn’t the power industry take the lead?  Not with more voluntary plans, which may help, but let’s face it, have no credibility with the public.  Why doesn’t the power industry draw up the first binding greenhouse-gas trading plan and propose it?

Let me close by challenging the power industry to become an advocate of prompt greenhouse gas action via a binding carbon-trading scheme.  Jump all the way out in front of this issue, and pick your own details rather than waiting for Congress, in some future overnight panic, to pick the details for you.  Amaze the Republicans, confound the Democrats, ruin the enviros’ fundraising campaigns and hit the media where they least expect it.  The history of pollution control, which is almost entirely positive, tells me that if you do this the result will almost certainly be positive.

[Thanks for these excerpts to Terry M. Peterson, Manager, EPRI Solar Power & Green Power Marketing]

UPCOMING EVENTS

Energy Efficient Building Association Conference & Exposition

9-12 October, Phoenix

EEBA’s Excellence in Building Conference, to be held at the Sheraton Phoenix East Hotel in Phoenix, is the place to be for the best in building science education, strategies for increased building performance and profitability and the latest in technology.  New this year:  the USDA Forest Products Laboratory/Advanced Housing Research Center and RESNET have brought their respective conferences under the EEBA umbrella, making the 2002 Excellence in Building Conference the industry’s most comprehensive educational opportunity.

For more information on this event, visit http://www.eeba.org/conference/.

Sedona/Verde Valley Chapter Meeting of the Arizona Solar Energy Association

9 October, Sedona

The October meeting of the Sedona/Verde Valley Chapter of the Arizona Solar Energy Association is Wednesday, 9 October at 7:00 p.m. at the Sedona Winds retirement community (formerly Kachina Point), 405 Jacks Canyon Road, Village of Oak Creek, east of the Prime Outlet Mall.  It will be held upstairs in the Activity Room.

This meeting’s guest speaker is Joe Costion, Department Chairperson of Coconino Community College's Construction Technology.  He will present a slide show on Passive Solar Design, an integral part of an energy efficient building.  For more information, contact ASEA Director Jeff Magus at 928-284-5450 (divinedesign@sedona.net).

These and many other events are posted on ACNET's website.

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