Domestic Fuel

Earlier this week, Governor Jack Markell announced that he would be seeking legislation aimed at creating new green jobs, help home and businesses secure energy from alternative sources and spur the growth of emerging industries such as solar and wind power. The Clean Jobs Act would add a longer-range target to the state’s existing Renewable Portfolio Standard which sets a target for the state to receive 30 percent of its energy supplies from renewable energy by 2029.

“The purpose of the initiative – the Delaware Clean Energy Jobs Act – is simple: to create quality jobs, expand local manufacturing and establish Delaware as a national leader in the adoption of renewable energy,” Markell said. He continued, “To restore our economic promise and prosperity, the State can and will lead by example when it comes to creating efficiencies, supporting jobs and being good stewards of our environment.”

Solar power would get a boast in The Clean Jobs Act, which, if passed, would support nearly 300 MW of new solar photovoltaic systems by 2029. In addition, it would facilitate the installation of more than 1000 MW of utility-scale wind power by 2029. Hundreds, if not thousands, of new jobs would be created to fulfill this piece of legislation, and additional jobs would be created by prioritizing Delaware renewable-energy projects and incentivizing the use of locally manufactured systems.

Markell made the announcement at Motech Americas, a solar company in Newark. Motech Americas currently employs more than 70 people and is in the process of expanding manufacturing capacity. They are expected to add 75 more jobs before the end of the year. Markell was joined by many other state leaders and concluded, “We are working closely with our neighboring states to create a vibrant mid-Atlantic clean energy market, but we also want to maximize capital investment and quality jobs in Delaware. We can move more rapidly, respond to opportunities more quickly and get people back to work.”

Everyone needs an excuse to go to Italy and now you have one – Solarexpo. Solarexpo in an international conference and expo on renewable energy and distributed generation. The event will be held on May 5-7, 2010 in Italy and as part of the event, is launching the R4R – Research for Renewables event.

R4R is a “research consortium” of sorts representing Italy’s entire range of renewable energy technologies. Organizations involved in research, technology developments, university spinoffs and innovative startups have the opportunity to be involved. The concept has been developed and managed in partnership with Galileia, a spinoff from the engineering faculty of the University of Padua that specializes in the energy sector.

“With the R4R project, Solarexpo is building on its innovative approach and continuing to create new spaces in which the vast worlds of renewable energy can come together. R4R is our way of engaging with parts of the renewables sector that would only be marginally interested in a traditional exhibition event: the world of research and new companies in the renewable energy field,” said Luca Zigale, scientific director of Solarexpo. “This is an environment that is evolving rapidly and is full of new talents, ideas and projects, but isn’t very visible for more established companies and public sector decision makers.”

Another interesting twist of the R4R is that is will have a dedicated hall in Solarexpo and 20 of the most promising startup companies will be selected to exhibit at no charge. In conjunction with the expo, a series of networking events, informational sessions and workshops will take place around two themes: “Research Day” and “Green Financing Day”.

But what may be the coolest thing about 4R4 is its support of young, innovative companies that have great ideas but not enough funding. This event will give these companies that audience they need to attract investments and bring these cutting-edge technologies to market.

You can learn more about the conference by clicking here.

Gas Technology Institute (GTI) recently announced the opening of its Combine Heat and Power (CHP) and Renewable Energy Laboratory located on an 18-acre site in Des Plaines, Illinois. Much of the focus of this lab will be to bring to market more capabilities for developing a wide variety of efficient, sustainable renewable energy technologies such as solar thermal products. The site features a multitude of different types of low-to-medium temperature solar thermal technologies including tankless natural gas water heaters, boilers, space conditioning equipment, and more.

In a press statement Bill Liss, Managing Director, End Use Solutions said, “The advancement of renewable energy is crucial to reducing the demand for conventional fossil fuels while also reducing carbon emissions. A key challenge, however, is integrating renewable energy solutions – such as solar thermal – in a cost-effective way for homes, commercial businesses, and manufacturing facilities. We’re addressing these challenges, with a goal of bringing practical, clean, high-efficiency hybrid solar thermal energy technologies to the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors.”

According to GTI, their solar thermal R&D portfolio focuses on advancements of traditional lower-temperature solar thermal (less than 200°F) for hot water or space heating, and newer higher-temperature (over 200°F) systems that can be used for steam generation, absorption cooling, process heating, and other value-added uses.

“Solar thermal water heating technology has been around for more than a century,” said Liss. “However, innovative processes are breathing new life into this technology. When coupled with the most advanced natural gas water heating systems and the latest computer controls, new solar thermal energy solutions are creating a very dynamic and reliable renewable application.”

GTI also notes that advanced “hybrid systems,” which use solar thermal energy along with natural gas or propane, can reduce energy consumption by up to 40 percent including lower capital and installation costs. With sponsorship from Utilization Technology Development, they are developing a residential hybrid-gas solar hot water system that will reduce materials, manufacturing and installation costs. GTI hopes to bring these types of technologies to market soon at a cost-effective price.

We’re kicking off a new podcast series this week called SolarCast. As the name suggests, the bi-monthly audio feature will take an in-depth look at the solar industry. The inaugural podcast features some of the antiquated policies that are slowing home solar projects in California.

I spoke with Dan Thompson, the CEO and founder of Newport Beach, California-based MasterCraft Homes Group, who built the largest home solar community in Los Angeles County, called The Gatsby Hollywood. Not only is it the largest solar community in the county, but it’s the first to feature integrated solar panels. In the past, solar panels were attached above the roof; however, Thompson explained, these solar panels become part of the roof, making them even more efficient than their predecessors.

By law, LA County does not allow integrated solar panels to be installed – quite ironic considering the state of California promotes itself as a leader in developing and implementing green technologies. After many, many months of working with legislators, Thompson was able to get a one-time exemption for the installation of the integrated solar panels in the Gatsby. Due to the great response of the first phase of the project, the second phase is underway, which needed, and received, its own exemption.

The current residents of The Gatsby Hollywood have already told Thompson how efficient the solar panels are. A typical, average monthly electric bill, seasonally adjusted is between $125-$150 for an 1,800 square foot home. Gatsby residents, who sell excess power to the grid, see electric bills ranging from $35-$45 per month.

The Gatsby is a green building project and MasterCraft Homes Group is a California Green Certified Builder. Even when factoring all the green elements of the home, including the solar panels, the cost of each house was competitive to a non-green project plus the residents have seen lower energy bills, proving that going green can really save you money.

While Thompson expressed frustration with the amount of time it is taking to try to change legislation — after two years, LA County has still not passed legislation that allows integrated solar panels to be installed -  his company is committed to paving the way for not only their future home solar projects, but projects of other home builders as well.

Listen here for my SolarCast with Dan Thompson.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.9MB)

A California company planning to build a large-scale solar power plant has received a Department of Energy $1.37 billion loan guarantee.

The New York Times reports that BrightSource Energy of Oakland will put in the first utility-scale solar power plant to undergo licensing in California in nearly two decades:

It would use solar thermal technology, in which mirrors concentrate sunlight to heat a fluid and generate steam. If built, it would be the largest of its kind.

“We’re not going to sit on the sidelines while other countries capture the jobs of the future — we’re committed to becoming the global leader in the clean energy economy,” Steven Chu, the energy secretary, said in a statement.

BrightSource has already signed contracts to deliver 2,600 megawatts of electricity to Pacific Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison. The plant in the Southern California desert is expected to create 1,000 construction jobs.

The REmapping World Initiative that was launched in March of 2008 is finially complete, this according to 3TIER. The goal of the program was to address the biggest barrier to global renewable energy adoption, which is the lack of reliable information regarding resource potential. Today, the company released the global solar map and dataset and has already released a 5 km resolution global wind map and dataset, based upon proven techniques and the application of advanced numerical weather prediction models, which accurately and consistently diagram wind spatial and temporal variability.

“3TIER’s aim in developing these maps is to help accelerate the adoption of renewable energy around the world by providing a blueprint for development,” said Kenneth Westrick, founder and CEO of 3TIER, the global leader in renewable energy information services. “The creation of these maps is part of a larger effort to build a renewable energy information services platform which will provide customers with on-demand access to 3TIER’s massive datasets for wind and solar resources. Access to this critical data will enable global decision-makers and organizations to look at wind and solar potential on a regional scale and help maximize the value of renewable resources while mitigating the risks of their inherent variability.”

According the the company, the global solar map and dataset is based on 10 to 13 years of half-hourly, high-resolution visible satellite imagery collected from nine different satellites, dispersed across the globe and covering the entire surface of the earth. Satellite imagery was processed using a uniform methodology based upon a combination of in-house and peer-reviewed research documents supported by the global atmospheric science community.

Westrick concluded, “This dataset provides the in-depth solar irradiance information essential to developers, financiers, and governments for targeting the best regions in the world for development. Our solar resource technology provides the critical data to make renewable power a viable alternative and will be increasingly important in areas where solar data only exists at coarse resolution and inferior quality or is simply unavailable.”

A Colorado company has come up with a way to harness to power of the sun to unlock the energy in biomass.

This post from the CalFinder blog says Sundrop Fuels has developed the world’s first hybrid solar-biomass refinery that uses concentrated solar power (CSP) to heat plant scraps and wood chips to create biofuel:

The use of solar power to reduce consumption of biomass at the refinery should considerably improve their product’s energy balance, i.e. energy put into production versus energy pulled out. Sundrop’s SurroundSun reactor technology is similar to relatively new Power Tower tech now used to create solar thermal electricity. In fact, Sundrop has licensed CSP technology from well-known start-up eSolar to make their prototype biorefinery a reality.

Instead of using mirrors to reflect sunlight and to heat water or molten salts in a central tower, Sundrop Fuels’ design will use that solar energy to heat biomass to very high temperatures. The solar heat “blasts organic materials with super high temperatures…tearing apart the materials at the molecular level…which creates a synthetic gas that can be formed into gasoline or diesel,” said Sundrop CEO Wayne Simmons.

Sundrop officials admit they will have to burn some biomass to hit the temps needed, but the process will get about 30 percent of the heat needed from the sun.

The company is hoping to find some investors for a demonstration project and another $100-150 million to build an 8-million-gallon-a-year plant.

While alternative energy continues to get a boost from the Obama administration, geothermal still doesn’t seem to be garnering much of the spotlight. However, the energy sector is growing and recently the state of Idaho announced that it will increase its percentage of energy output from wind, solar and biomass and is looking to add more geothermal derived energy.

Photo Credit: U.S. Geothermal Inc.

Based its 20 year Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) filed with the state last December, the most promising form of geothermal energy for Southern Idaho is binary cycle geothermal development. In this type of plant, the hot geothermal water is passed through a heat exchanger which then heats a binary liquid. From there, the liquid is vaporized and the vapor spins the turbine-generator unit where it is then reliquefied and reused in the heat exchanger. After a portion of geothermal water is used for heat, it exits the plant and is returned back to the reservoir.

The first project, Raft River, is already producing electricity and Idaho Power is looking to develop additional projects over the next decade. To date there are only 12 binary cycle geothermal plants in operation in the US.

In the near-term, Idaho Power plans on adding 266MW of wind capacity in 2010 through long-term power purchase contracts and plans to have over 600MW of wind by the end of 2012. In addition, they have hired Black and Veatch to conduct a feasiblity study for solar techologies.

In an effort to increase geothermal funding and projects across the US, the industry is gathering in San Francisco next week for the GeoPower Americas conference where the goal is to raise more attention to this promising form of alternative energy.

Solar energy is not just for roofs. Petra Solar, a company that specializes in pole mounted solar systems for utilities, announced that it has raised $40 million in funding to be used for expansion initiatives. Current investors in the company participated in this round including Element Partners, Blue Run Ventures, OnPoint Technologies (U.S. Army’s Venture Fund) and Kuwait’s National Technology Enterprises Company, and were joined by two new investors Craton Equity Partners and Espírito Santo Ventures.

“The Petra Solar management team is very pleased to have Craton Equity Partners and Espírito Santo Ventures as investors, especially given their experience in cleantech growth investing and their expertise in the regulated energy sector.  We are also thankful for the continued support of our existing investors,” said Petra Solar CEO and President, Dr. Shihab Kuran. “Petra Solar has a proven model for green job creation including installation and manufacturing jobs that are local to system deployment. We are very gratified that our business interests line up directly with the public’s interest in producing reliable, clean energy and green jobs.”

The company plans to use the additional funding to add green jobs and expand its customer base. Petra Solar anticipates that it will immediately add 30 new employees and have a team of 165 people by year end. The company’s SunWaveTM system generates clean energy and increases reliability to the distribution grid. In the future, the company plans to expand its product line to address new applications and market segments that leverage its Smart Energy Module TM platform, which integrates utility grade power management, smart grid communications and grid availability features into a single system.

A California-based solar company capable of building solar facilities that put out as much energy as a plant running on non-renewable fuels is being bought by a French engineering firm best known for its nuclear capabilities.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Areva will buy Ausra, a startup specializing in large-scale solar power:

The deal will give Areva a way to break into the growing worldwide business for big solar facilities that can generate as much electricity as a fossil fuel power plant. Although Areva is best known for its nuclear expertise, the company has branched out into other forms of renewable power generation, such as biomass and wind.

“By combining Areva’s strengths and Ausra’s technology, now we have the complete package we need to go to market,” said Robert Fishman, Ausra’s chief executive officer.

Ausra’s business headquarters will stay in California.