 |
|
|||||
| Responsibility for the factual accuracy of each press release rests entirely with the individuals or organizations identified on the release.
|
|
|||||
|
||||||||||
On May 17 the Green-e Governance Board voted in favor of creating a separate certification category for Tradable Renewable Certificate Brokers. Green-e TRC Broker Certification is available for TRC transactions that meet Green-e standards and are brokered between eligible generators and end-use customers. This approach is intended to provide a flexible, low-cost certification/verification option to brokers, generators and end-use customers.
End-use customers interested in promoting their renewable energy purchase through the use of the Green-e logo to can now purchase TRCs directly from a generator using a Green-e certified Broker without requiring each generator to become individually certified, and without the broker taking ownership of the TRCs. This strategy expands the options for acquiring access to the Green-e logo for end-use customers. It also allows generators to sell excess TRCs as Green-e certified through a broker without requiring a separate certification. Lastly, this approach allows brokers to market their transactions as Green-e certified and to use the Green-e logo. Evolution Markets is the first TRC broker to become certified under this new certification category. Green-e is excited to welcome Evolution Markets as the first Green-e certified broker.
For more information, call or e-mail Siobhan Doherty at, (415) 561-2100. Source: The Green-e News, 6/7/2005.
Presented each year by EPA, the Department of Energy, and the Center for Resource Solutions, the Green Power Leadership Awards honor exemplary national green power Purchasers, Suppliers and Market Builders. NOMINATIONS ARE DUE JULY 8. Nomination forms are available on the CRS Awards webpage.
The Market Development Awards recognize renewable energy marketers, nonprofit organizations, companies, educational institutions, individuals, and other industry leaders that have helped build the market for green power. Any party may submit nominations or provide self-nominations and there is no limit to the number of nominations that may be submitted per party for awards recognizing innovative marketing, cutting-edge outreach, and outstanding contribution by an individual.
Green Power Partners are eligible for the Purchaser Awards, and suppliers/generators are eligible for Supplier Awards recognizing increased market deployment of renewable energy technologies through green power markets. Call or e-mail Keri Bolding, (415) 561-2100, or Pam Mendelson at (303) 275-4819.
The 2005 Awards will be presented at a dinner banquet on Oct. 24 at the 10th National Green Power Marketing Conference, taking place in Austin, Texas, Oct. 24 to 26, 2005. Source: The Green-e News, 6/7/2005.
Green power will embark on the market in Shanghai: 15 enterprises including Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. and Panasonic will sign on June 12 an agreement on the purchase of electricity generated by wind power, despite a unit price 0.53 yuan higher than the common.
"Green power" refers to the power generated from reproduceable energy sources such as wind, solar energy, geo-thermal heat, tidal energy and bio-energy. Long seen in Shanghai, green power only takes up less than 1/10, 000 in the power consumption in the city due to the price bottleneck.
With the agreement, all the power generated from the new energy sources under operation in Shanghai will be consumed. Green power in Shanghai mainly comes from four wind power generating units built up in 2003 with total capacity of 34-million-kilowatt and a 10-kilowatt photo voltaics system. The wind power generating sets are capable of an annual generation of 6.1 million kilowatt-hour. A wind power plant with an installed capacity of 20,000 kilowatts will be put into operation this June. It is estimated that the plant can contribute 53.68 million kwh each year.
In the long run, it will be difficult to popularize green power if depending only on the social fund as it is now. As practice goes on, Shanghai will be able to develop a long-term effective mechanism with experience from foreign countries, said Yan Luguang, member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Shanghai is the first among China's cities to explore green power mechanism. In the second half of this year, Shanghai will launch a program on promoting green power in households. Source: By People's Daily Online, 6/10/2005.
The power plant at the University of Iowa received an award from The Association of Higher Education Facilities for its Biomass Fuels Project. The project involves burning waste hulls from the Quaker Oats plant in Cedar Rapids instead of coal to generate power. Coal used was reduced by 17,000 tons, resulting not only in a reduction of green house gas emissions and soot, but in cost savings of $5000 annually. Source: The Biomass Initiative Newsletter June 2005
Plans for a 12 MW wind farm near Velva, N.D., have been announced by Xcel Energy (Minneapolis, Minn.) and Global Renewable Energy Partners LLC (GREP, La Jolla, Calif.). The project has an estimated value of $10 million and construction is expected to begin in June or July this year.
The 12 MW project will include 18 65m/213-ft tall wind towers, manufactured at DMI Industries (West Fargo, N.D.) and will have the capacity to serve between 4,000 and 6,000 homes. GREP estimates that developing the wind farm will produce 50 local construction-related jobs and expects the turbines to be operational by the end of 2005.
A new map of wind power has determined that there is sufficient wind energy to easily supply the world's power.
Researchers from Stanford University collected wind speed measurements from 7,500 surface stations and 500 balloon-launch stations to determine global wind speeds at 80 m above surface, equivalent to the hub height of modern turbines. When results are interpolated over the world, authors Cristina Archer and Mark Jacobson estimate that 13 percent of the world experiences winds with average annual speeds of 6.9 m per second, which is strong enough for power generation.
Such wind speeds were found in every region of the world, although North America was found to have the greatest potential, they explain in the Journal of Geophysical Research, published by the American Geophysical Union. Locations with suitable wind resources could generate 72 trillion watts of power, compared with an estimate from the U.S. Department of Energy of 3.5 trillion watts.
“The main implication of this study is that wind, for low-cost wind energy, is more widely available than was previously recognized," says Arche. “The methodology in the paper can be utilized for several applications, such as determining elevated wind speeds in remote areas or to evaluate the benefits of distributed wind power."
Some of the strongest winds were observed in northern Europe along the North Sea, while the southern tip of South America and the Australian island of Tasmania recorded significant and sustained strong winds at the turbine blade height. In North America, the most consistent winds were found around the Great Lakes and from ocean breezes along the eastern, western and southern coasts. Overall, the researchers calculated winds at 80 m travelled over the ocean at 8.6 m/second and at 4.5 m/sec over land.
Capturing even a fraction of the potential from locations with sustainable Class 3 winds could provide the 1.8 TW of electricity that the world consumes. Converting as little as 20 percent of potential wind energy to electricity could satisfy the entirety of the world's energy demands, but the researchers caution that there are considerable practical barriers to reaping the wind's potential energy.
The largest barrier would be to create and maintain a dense array of turbines to harness the wind, with some sources suggesting that millions of turbines would be needed, while conventional power facilities would still be needed to provide power when wind speeds fall below a threshold. Creating a large field of turbines could also be hazardous to birds and may produce unacceptable noise levels, the report notes.
Global wind capacity has increased by 34 percent per year during the past five years, but the perceived intermittency of winds and the difficulty in identifying good wind locations in developing countries have been the two main barriers, it explains. “The first barrier can be ameliorated by linking multiple windfarms together; such approach can virtually eliminate low wind speed events and thus substantially minimize wind power intermittency.”
Offshore windfarms have higher wind speed and greater power production, and data from 81 buoys or platforms showed that 60 percent had average wind speeds of 9.34 m/sec (class 6) at 80 m height, which is 90 percentgreater than land-based turbines on average. Source: ReFocus, 6/9/2005.
SunPower Corporation recently announced a new solar panel product line that incorporates such features as larger-area solar cells. According to SunPower, the new product line includes three new solar panels rated at 100, 215 and 220 watts. With panel efficiencies of up to 18.3 percent, SunPower said the new products are capable of producing up to 50 percent more power in a given roof area than conventional solar panels.
SunPower noted that the new panel line will be available starting later this year in North America through the company's dealer network and in Europe through its exclusive channel partner SunTechnics. call or e-mail Julie Blunden, SunPower, phone 408-470-4277. Source: EIN Renewable Energy Today, 6/6/2005.
This month's "IREC Interconnection Newsletter" is available online. Access the "Connecting to the Grid" Web page, where you can read past e-newsletters in the "Newsletter Archives" area. Source: IREC, 6/9/2005.
A product's life cycle starts when raw materials are extracted from the earth, followed by manufacturing, transport and use, and ends with waste management including recycling and final disposal. At every stage of the life cycle there are emissions and consumption of resources. The environmental impacts from the entire life cycle of products and services need to be addressed. To do this, life cycle thinking is required. To learn more about the life cycle assessment process, visit United Nations Environment Progams or EPA's Web site.
Presented by The American Bar Association Renewable Energy Resources Committee with its cosponsors:
July 20, 2005: The Utility Point Of View On Renewable Energy
Seminar 12 to 2 p.m. Eastern Time, Teleconference 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Representatives of the utility industry will describe the industry's participation in renewable energy programs, the practical steps that must be taken to encompass renewables and distributed generated power, the issues that must be addressed from a regulated or non- regulated utility perspective, and some cautionary notes.
Sept. 21, 2005: Biofuels: Their Future is Now
Seminar 12 to 2 p.m. Eastern Time, Teleconference 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time. An expert panel will discuss how current environment, tax and energy law (combined with rising oil prices and emerging trading markets) are changing the energy transportation landscape.
Oct. 19, 2005: Meeting Expectations? An Overview of RPS Program Implementation Experiences RPS programs promulgated to encourage the development of new renewable energy projects have drawn a mixed response with some developers finding states without such programs to be more hospitable while others have been able to use these programs to obtain the contracts or funding needed to build new power plants. This program will explore what is happening with these RPS initiatives and look at some of the key issues, such as renewable energy credits, that have yet to be resolved.
Other programs will follow: The teleconference/seminar series is being organized by Committee Vice Chairs Edna Sussman, Esq. of the New York City law firm of Hoguet Newman & Regal LLP and Robert Faron, Esq. for the ABA Renewable Energy Resources Committee, chaired by Roger Feldman of Bingham McCutchen LLP. To offer suggestions for later programming or for more information about these programs: e-mail Edna Sussman or Robert Faron. Source: Deirdre Murphy, 6/9/2005.
The new edition of the BP Statistical Review of World Energy will be available starting Tuesday June 14. Updated with 2004 data, the Review will present global and regional energy statistics on prices, production and consumption dating back to 1965. Use the online charting tool to create custom charts by energy type, region and year, or download ready-made charts, maps and PowerPoint slides. Source: BP Release, 6/9/2005.
Tenth National Green Power Marketing Conference
The Tenth National Green Power Marketing Conference is scheduled for Oct. 24 to 26 in Austin, TX. The purpose of the National Green Power Marketing Conference is to review the status of green power marketing in electricity markets and to explore strategies to increase the development of renewable energy resources through customer choice. Conference organizers include the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Center for Resource Solutions.
This year's conference will celebrate and build on a decade of success by examining the growth of green power markets, with particular emphasis on communicating "best practices" for product design and marketing, and program implementation. Attendees will hear from national and regional experts on important topics such as:
The Fifth Annual Green Power Leadership Awards will be presented in conjunction with the conference.
Please save the date and make plans to join us for this leading-edge forum in Santa Fe. Conference attendees will choose from policy and technical sessions on developing renewable energy throughout the Southwest. Policy sessions will include Energy Policy Best Practices, Forums for Advancing Clean Energy Policy, Voluntary Green Power Market, Re-Valuing Renewable Energy and more. Technical sessions will offer Case Studies in Integration and Interconnection, Transmission Access in the West, Renewable Energy Technology Costs and Trends, and Project Development Case Studies, to name a few. Plenary sessions will be offered on Climate Change and Western Energy Choices, and Creating Regional Renewable Markets. Historically, the Southwest Renewable Energy Conference has been held at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. In an effort to broaden the reach of the Conference, we will convene this year in New Mexico. We will return to Arizona in 2006. A limited number of rooms are available at the Conference Rate. Source: Amanda Ormond, Conference Director.
The Center for Resource Solutions released the 2003 Verification Report, revealing an 82 percent increase in total volume of Green-e certified energy sales over the previous year. This report, featuring results from the Green-e Program's annual verification process, also shows positive growth in total customers, renewable energy supply, and resulting pollution reduction due to certified renewable energy in 2003. The Report is available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF. Source: The Green-e News, 6/7/2005.
A team of Florida International University student engineers and architects are working on the ultimate energy-efficient home. The FIU team will be one of 18 collegiate teams traveling to Washington, D.C., to participate in the second solar decathlon in October. The competition, sponsored by the Department of Energy, challenges students to incorporate cutting-edge architecture and technology in the building of self-sufficient homes.
Nathaniel Belcher, associate professor of architecture and among the faculty advisors to the project, said the home's structural frame is complete and the home is between 40 percent and 60 percent finished. He said it aims to capture the lifestyle of South Florida, and will uses new technology to allow more light and energy.
Students from FIU schools of architecture, engineering, and journalism and mass communication make up the team, which has been working on the project since the application to participate was accepted in 2003. Putting the house together requires design, construction and working with the community.
Some of the support and materials come from local businesses, and Belcher said the team has been working with institutions including the Florida Solar Research Center. The FIU team received a $5,000 grant from the Department of Energy, which was matched by the university.
The competing teams, from institutions in the United States, Canada and Spain, have been working on the designs, research and testing necessary to construct and power their homes. In mid- or late September, all of the teams' homes will be shipped to Washington, D.C., where they will make up a "solar village."
The homes will be judged on 10 different criteria: architecture, livability, comfort, power generation for heating and cooling, water heating, and powering lights and appliances. Each house must also power an electric car. The first solar decathlon was held in 2002. Source: South Florida Business Journal, 6/10/2005.
The Senate energy bill finally reaches the floor this week as members begin debating amendments that will influence the trajectory of eventual conference negotiations with the House. The bill is slated to come up tomorrow, and debate is expected to span two weeks as members address planned amendments on global warming, renewable energy mandates, offshore drilling in now-restricted areas, ethanol and other hot-button issues. Passage is expected.
Lawmakers and aides said last week that plans by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) — the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee — to attach a renewable electricity mandate to the bill will be among the first major issues debated. Amendments addressing climate change are more likely to come up for votes during the second week of debate, said majority staff director Alex Flint during a briefing with reporters Friday.
Flint predicted the renewables measure creating a 10 percent mandate by 2020 has enough votes to pass, setting up a collision with the House, which did not include a mandate. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas) last week said the House would oppose the measure in conference, which he will chair.
The renewables mandate would join the question of MTBE manufacturer liability protection — which is included in the House bill — among the measures bound to create a fight between the chambers. While several amendments will be addressed on the Senate floor, the minority chief of staff on the Senate energy committee, Bob Simon, predicted the measure will ultimately clear the floor, with the bigger battles looming in conference.
"As he [Bingaman] tries to peer through the crystal ball of what is likely to happen on the floor, the issues that are likely to come up and the ways they will be resolved, he is very optimistic about the potential to be on a path in the Senate that would have a good strong ... very legitimate and large bipartisan vote for an energy bill," Simon said. "The big question is what happens to all this stuff in conference," he said.
Climate change a key focus: Bipartisan Senate negotiations are moving quickly in anticipation of at least three climate amendments, and Flint predicted votes during the second week, with discussions off the floor before that. Bingaman is negotiating with Senate Energy Chairman Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) on the New Mexico Democrats' plan for an amendment that would adopt the National Commission on Energy Policy's plan for a cap-and-trade system with a "safety valve" to prevent economic harm if the price of carbon credits rise too high. It is not clear what final language may look like or whether the two will reach a deal as talks proceed.
Supporters of Bingaman's plan say they are trying to sell their approach to about a dozen senators who voted in 2003 against a separate cap-and-trade plan by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.). That list includes Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) and Republican Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Arlen Specter (Pa.). Environmentalists are trying to thwart the Bingaman plan, noting that lawmakers stand to gain more with the McCain-Lieberman cap-and-trade plan because that approach would give U.S. agriculture a place in carbon sequestration credits. That could be a boon for Republican Senate states with high wheat and soy yields.
"Look at the map of the different crops where they're grown," said Annie Petsonk, international counsel at Environmental Defense. "This can get very interesting." She added that Bingaman's plan, in contrast, would keep the United States out of the European Union's carbon market.
McCain last week said he could see his plan getting 51 votes, only to see it stall in the House over opposition from GOP leaders. Domenici was lobbied last week by the National Commission's Linda Stuntz, who served in the Energy Department under former President George H.W. Bush and is a proponent of the Bingaman plan. Flint confirmed a growing — and fluid — Senate effort to craft an accord on climate language. "I think the ground is shifting under us on the politics of climate change, certainly faster than I anticipated," he said.
Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) is also engaged in climate negotiations, and he has pulled into his corner Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), two Democrats who voted against McCain-Lieberman. Hagel has introduced climate bills that steer clear of mandatory cuts in favor of providing financial incentives for new technology that reduces greenhouse gas emissions. "It's practical, it makes sense, it's something the senator thinks is doable," said Rodell Mollineau, a Pryor spokesman.
Climate language appears likely to evolve in coming days, with aides familiar with the McCain and Bingaman bills saying more changes are possible. Jason Grumet, the top staffer on the National Commission on Energy Policy, said he anticipated some lawmakers would vote for all three climate plans. "I believe in the quantum political theory that electrons can be in more than one place at the same time," he said.
It is not yet clear how the White House, which has long opposed mandatory carbon caps, would react to a Senate energy bill that includes climate language it opposes. Some in industry are warning against efforts that would create mandatory restrictions on greenhouse gases. The National Association of Manufacturers released a report today saying policymakers should steer clear of policies "restricting" energy supplies that would impede economic and employment growth.
The report claims the McCain-Lieberman target for 2010 would increase gasoline and diesel prices by 8 to 9 percent and also increase prices sharply for commercial, residential and industrial electricity consumers, with electricity costs tripling by 2020 under the plan. It would also lead to higher industrial natural gas costs, NAM said.
The NAM report also endorses allowing access to currently restricted offshore natural gas reserves, new nuclear capacity and a smooth process for allowing siting and construction of liquefied natural gas infrastructure, and calls for increased access to onshore natural gas, among other features.
Looking ahead to conference: Flint, in a briefing with reporters, pointedly declined to predict the ultimate schedule for completing and voting on a conference report assuming the Senate bill passes. In contrast, Barton is confident lawmakers can get a bill to the president's desk before the August recess.
Flint, in fact, was downcast about prospects for the MTBE issue, which is in the House bill but not the Senate measure and faces strong resistance in the upper chamber. He said he did not see a solution and that the White House would probably have to be key player if the dispute is to be resolved.
He cited several reasons why MTBE will continue to vex efforts to craft legislation acceptable to the Senate. Flint said manufacturer liability language the House favors can be considered an unfunded mandate that would be subject to a point of order by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) — an opponent of MTBE safe harbor — that would require 60 votes to waive. It would not even get close to that number, Flint said.
"Failing to waive that point of order, the conference report would fall, it would be done," Flint said. At the same time, he said rough calculations — derived from analysis of New Mexico-specific cleanup costs — estimated nationwide cleanup at $50 billion to $75 billion, well beyond what can be provided for in the bill even if a funding mechanism was decided upon. "I have a very hard time delivering any kind of pay-for-it solution in the context of an energy bill," he said.
In what amounted to dueling shots across the bow last week as the bill slouches toward conference, Barton said the House would not look favorably upon a renewable energy mandate or "almost any" global warming amendment. Flint warned that any conference report must be bipartisan or will collapse in the Senate.
He said that despite the enlarged GOP Senate majority, it was wrong to conclude the GOP could run roughshod over the Democrats and pass a conference bill they do not support. He noted, for example, that Democratic votes would be harder to come by if Democratic issues are not addressed in conference. Last time around, then-Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle (S.D.) backed the bill in large part because of the ethanol mandate, while current Democratic leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) fought against it, Flint noted.
Now, he said, neither Reid nor Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) "have an overriding interest the way Daschle did on ethanol," despite Durbin coming from a farm state. He said a "Republican only" conference report could get less than 50 votes. "It has to be a bipartisan conference report," he said.
"In all likelihood that means Sen. Bingaman has to sign the conference report and has to support the conference report," he said. "Whether or not the ranking member supports the conference report is a huge factor in how many rank-and-file Democrats are going to vote for it. That means we are not going to be able to do a lot of things the House is insisting upon including in the conference report."
Bingaman last week said he would support the current Senate bill as written even though he is seeking changes in climate and renewable energy. The bill's tax package has not cleared the Finance Committee yet, but Domenici said it could be set for attachment to the bill as soon as this week. Simon predicted it would be later in the process and Flint declined to speculate. Source: E&E Daily, By Ben Geman and Darren Samuelsohn, E&E Daily Reporters, 6/13/2005.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal recently reported that the Nevada state legislature has approved a new energy bill that encourages energy conservation and an increased use of renewables. According to the newspaper, the new legislation increases electric utilities' minimum renewables requirement to 20 percent by 2015 from 15 percent by 2013 under a 2001 bill.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal noted that the bill also eliminates taxes for renewable energy systems, while allowing state utilities Nevada Power Company and Sierra Power Company to obtain energy credits from their conservation efforts for potential use in complying with state renewable requirements.
Additionally, although the legislation requires that solar photovoltaic systems installers acquire licenses, it also extends a state solar demonstration initiative in an effort to increase renewables usage at local public and private locations. Source: Las Vegas Review Journal, 6/8/2005 via EIN Renewable Energy Today, 6/9/2005.
A recent deal with environmentalists has put Colorado Springs Utilities on the verge of meeting mandated renewable energy targets through 2010. The compromise, which tweaked Amendment 37 approved by Colorado voters in November, allows the state’s second-largest utility to count electricity produced at its Tesla Hydro Plant as renewable energy.
That means the city-owned utility has 90 percent of the power generated from renewable sources it needs to meet the amendment’s requirement — that large utilities supply 3 percent of their electricity from renewable energy sources from 2007 to 2010, said Drew Rankin, general manager of energy supply for the utility.
The Tesla plant at the Air Force Academy produces 28 megawatts of electricity by harnessing the energy of water flowing from Rampart Reservoir. That’s enough electricity to serve 15,000 homes. The plant, which began running in 1997, initially was excluded as a renewable energy source under Amendment 37, which allowed hydro plants of 10 megawatts or less.
The environmentalists who wrote Amendment 37 wanted to discourage large hydro projects that might require new dams on rivers. The Tesla facility takes water from a nearly vertical tube from Rampart Reservoir, generating power without blocking a river. It’s the sort of project environmentalists generally want to encourage.
The tweaks to Amendment 37, approved by state lawmakers and Gov. Bill Owens, also exclude Colorado Springs Utilities from requirements that it produce a certain amount of electricity from expensive solar technology. The compromise also caps any increase in utility bills for meeting the renewable energy standard to 1 percent of residential and business customers’ annual bill, said Andy Colosimo, government affairs manager for Colorado Springs Utilities.
Those changes make it likely that the Colorado Springs City Council, acting as the Utility Board, will accept the requirements of Amendment 37, said City Councilman Richard Skorman, who helped broker the compromise between environmentalists and large utility companies. “Allowing for some extra flexibility was key for many of us on the Utility Board,” he said. “I think this sets the ground firmly for us to comply with this.”
Under the amendment, utility companies can ask their customers to opt out of the renewable energy plan. Colorado Springs Utilities will brief the board on the changes to Amendment 37 on July 20. “Opting out has certainly got to be discussed, but I can’t imagine we would do that,” Skorman said.
The utility is still looking at options to supply the additional renewable energy needed to meet the 2007-2010 goal — and the requirement that it supply 10 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2015. Rankin said the utility is considering four small hydro projects that could be built from 2006 to 2008. It is also looking into buying wind power, developing electricity from biomass or biogas and possibly buying renewable energy credits from any Colorado utilities, probably Xcel, that generate more wind power than they need.
The city also is investigating the possibility of building a small wind farm at the utility’s waste disposal site south of the Ray Nixon power plant. Rankin said, though, that meeting the requirement of 10 percent renewables by 2015 is going to cost the utility — and its customers. In fact, the utility is assessing whether it can or should try to meet a commitment it made in 2004 in a long-range internal plan to buy or build 10 megawatts of wind power.
He said the reassessment comes on the heels of recent bids from wind producers. Those bids came in far higher than the utility anticipated: $54 to $90 per megawatt hour of electricity. The utility’s generation costs for the same amount of energy from its coalfired plants is $15, and electricity generated at the gas-fired Front Range plant, built with a partner, costs $50 per megawatt hour.
Rankin said the utility continues to struggle with other drawbacks of wind. Those include high transmission costs and the dependability of the electricity — wind often blows the hardest at 2 a.m., exactly when it isn’t needed in the city. Also, wind producers demand that utilities buy wind in 25 megawatt blocks, far more than the utility needs.
Rankin said the city won’t need a new major source of electricity for at least another 10 years. When that happens, he said, the utility continues to expect it will be supplied by a newer-technology coal plant, perhaps built with partners. Source: By Bill McKeown, The Gazette, 6/12/2005.
Desperate for an economic comeback, this struggling community is embracing plans to turn this landscape of low-lying cropland into a skyline of gigantic towers.
Forty stories tall, with twirling arms as long as several semis, at least 243 wind towers would be scattered over 50 square miles in what the wind industry says will be the most productive land-based wind farm on Earth. Farmers who toil to make $50,000 in a good year could rent their land to developers and add half that much — guaranteed — by watching the wind blow.
Elsewhere in Illinois, wind projects far less daunting have met stiff opposition. But not here in McLean County, where towns have been dying, shops closing, schools shuttering, population falling and farming fading. In Ellsworth, located a 25-minute drive east of Bloomington, Ill., a town patriarch meets regularly with wind developers over steaks and baked potatoes while hashing out annual compensation over 30 years for neighbors and farmers. McLean County zoning officials, anticipating a $1 million tax windfall annually, are mindful of the developers' every need.
And where hardly a vehicle can be seen on Main Street for hours at a time, locals are dreaming of a stream of tourists diverting off nearby Interstate Highways 57 and 55 to gawk at the towers. Maybe a restaurant will open in Ellsworth — the first one in years, they hope. Or a bar, a fancy coffee shop or a souvenir stand selling items promoting Ellsworth as America's newest wind Mecca. "We see nothing but good things coming from this," said Jay Smithson, the village president. "After all these years of hardship, we're blessed, just richly blessed. ... Who would have ever thought a dying place would be saved by the wind?"
What is planned for this wide expanse of corn and soybean farms dwarfs most wind developments in scope and height and sets a staggering standard as the Midwest embraces alternative energy ideas. Zilkha Renewable Energy of Houston plans a $500 million wind development, to be completed in the summer of 2007. It will include 243 of the 40-story-tall structures. Chicago, by comparison, has 152 buildings at least that tall, with five more under construction, according to a Tribune survey.
It would harness enough wind energy to power an estimated 120,000 Chicago-area homes. With an output of 400 megawatts, it would outpower a 300 megawatt project in California that is now the nation's biggest. The highest things for miles around Ellsworth are a few grain elevators, some cellular telephone stations and a handful of water towers — all less than 10 stories tall.
"It's like dropping in a city-style skyline in the middle of emptiness," said Sally Chappell, an emeritus professor of architectural history at DePaul University who has written on rural landscape issues. "Height and scope mean everything, and in this case it's way off the charts."
Illinois' largest wind project to date has 63 wind towers along Interstate Highway 39 in northern Illinois. They are about two-thirds as tall as the ones proposed here. Wind power is the darling of environmentalists and legislators. In his State of the State speech, Gov. Rod Blagojevich vowed to have nearly a quarter of Illinois' 4.6 million households powered by renewable energy — mostly wind-generated — by 2010.
A study released last week by the University of Illinois at Chicago that was commissioned by the governor's office predicted renewable energy would bring $7 billion in economic generation and 7,800 jobs by 2012. The impact of the Ellsworth project was factored into that study by UIC's Energy Resources Center.
Throughout Illinois and the Midwest, though, wind farms have encountered vehement opposition, mostly from those living in their shadows. Opponents see them as an intrusive blight on the landscape that diminishes their property values and invades their privacy. They also complain about noise and glare.
In DeKalb County, residents waged a legal fight in 2003 and claimed victory after a Florida energy company decided to scrap its project. A few miles away in Lee County, where the 63 wind towers are operating, people still complain about the disruption from construction two years ago and bristle about the sight intrusions.
Just south of Lee County, a Bureau County resident took his battle against another wind developer to the state Supreme Court, but the court declined to hear the case. Robert Bittner, a computer consultant, said he has given up battling wind towers.
'Accept their fate': "It's futile to fight them," said Bittner, who looks at the wind towers from his home-office window. "The state is behind it. The federal government is behind it. The environmentalists are behind it. Those people [in Ellsworth] might as well just accept their fate."
Many in Ellsworth admit they are wide-eyed over the economic benefits. "It sure sounds scary," said Phil Dick, McLean County's director of building and zoning. "But we're kind of OK with the size because it will bring so many benefits." Zilkha still needs formal zoning approval pending a public hearing scheduled for July 5, Dick said, but many of the issues, from height to locations, have already been settled.
Increasingly, rural Illinois counties in need of economic infusion — such as Marshall County — are easing requirements for wind developers and making it easier for towers to be built. In most cases, county zoning officials are the sole government watchdog over wind tower approvals.
With some $3 billion in incentives and tax revenues expected to be dangled before Illinois counties by wind developers, the lure is irresistible. "It offers economic hope to places that really need it," said Barry Matchett, a policy advocate and wind energy proponent for the Environmental Law and Policy Center in Chicago. "And that is a good thing." Until the wind developers came to town, hardly a stranger ever visited Ellsworth, population 271.
In November 2001, Bill Whitlock, Zilkha's point man in Illinois, came rolling through town looking for a place where the winds blow. He stood at a barren intersection and was pounded by the howling gusts. He looked across the flat land and marveled at the swirling dust.
"I knew I had found the perfect place," Whitlock said. Tests later confirmed this part of Illinois rivaled Denmark for its wind consistency. "We always said if we could just figure out something to do with the wind, we'd all be rich," said Jack Doyle, 76, who for three decades has run the family's auto repair garage, one of just two businesses remaining here.
With energy-needy Chicago about 130 miles away, Zilkha began negotiating to send the energy to the metro Chicago area via transmission lines. Those negotiations are now in their final stages, Whitlock said. To mitigate local opposition, Zilkha hired an archeologist to comb the area for historic sites and found few. They scoured the plains for any signs of the endangered Slippershell mussel and found none; they looked for major migrating bird paths and found none.
Developer seeks support: Armed with a promotional video, Whitlock courted farmers and residents. Zilkha rented a bus and took locals to northern Iowa where the company runs another, far smaller, wind farm. Zilkha seems to have a proposal to confront every obstacle.
If the towers impede television reception, Zilkha will either arrange for subsidized cable service or build switches to relay television signals. The company will repave roads after construction that will involve hundreds of big rigs, several monstrous cranes and numerous rigging crews.
"These are not just some environmentalists wearing tin hats and promoting wind use," Matchett said. "They are professional businessmen who have done their homework." To placate residents who will live near the tall towers, Zilkha promises monetary compensation for their sight disruptions. Farmers who agree to have towers on their land will at first receive $5,000 a year. With 30-year leases that include an annual escalation clause, farmers envision working less and letting the wind make money for them. "It's great retirement income," said Dennis Cradduck, a Lee County farmer who has nine wind towers on his land and is promoting wind energy throughout the state. After 30 years of farming, Cradduck has decided to live off his wind energy leases and rent the family farmland. "They pay a steady income, and you don't have to get up before dawn," he said.
Noise and property values: But farmer Elroy Swope, who has four towers on his Lee County land, says there are pitfalls. He resents the noises and the interruption. He now figures that his land value will decrease by as much as $200,000 over the 30 years because the towers will be seen as a nuisance for buyers. "Everything you hear is so positive about them, but nothing negative ever gets out," he said. "And if they go bankrupt or something in the next 10 years, I will be in sad shape. Who the hell is going to take them down then?"
But, Doyle, 76, said benefits far outweigh potential negatives. He remembers the days when he had two dozen donuts and two pots of coffee ready for the many residents who came by his repair shop every morning. These days it's down to just a few donuts and a half pot of coffee. Doyle feels the breeze and sees resurrection in the wind as he drives his Cadillac over rural roads. He figures by next summer he'll need many more pots of coffee and plenty of donuts for the construction workers. "I just can't wait," he said. "I hope I don't die before I can see it all go up. Imagine all these towers. ... It'll make us famous." Source: Chicago Tribunem By E.A. Torriero, Tribune Staff Reporter, 6/12/2005.
Northland Power Income Fund recently announced it has opened a new 54-megawatt wind farm in the Gaspesie region of Quebec. According to the fund, the $95-million Mont Miller project, which began delivering power in February, employs 30 Vestas turbines and will provide electricity to Hydro-Quebec under the terms of a 21-year purchase power agreement. The fund noted that the facility's annual production is forecast at more than 195,000 megawatt-hours per year. Source: EIN Renewable Energy Today, 6/9/2005.
The EISG provides funding to small businesses, small non-profits, individuals and academic institutions for establishing the feasibility of new energy concepts. Qualifying entities outside of California are eligible. Projects must develop innovative and original energy concepts that address a clear market need, provide benefit for California electricity ratepayers and target one or more areas of interest: industrial/agriculture/water end-use efficiency; building end-use efficiency; advanced generation; renewable generation; energy-related environmental research; strategic energy research. Government Agency: California Energy Commission. Schedule: EISG has up to four cycles of grants per year. Source: The Biomass Initiative Newsletter June 2005
Description: The U.S. Department of Agriculture requests applications for the Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements Program. This program assist agricultural producers and rural small businesses that demonstrate financial need to purchase renewable energy systems and to make energy efficiency improvements. This program is designed to help agricultural producers and rural small businesses reduce energy costs and consumption and help meet the nation's critical energy needs. $11.4 million is available for grants, and additional $11.4 million will be set aside through 8/31/05 for guaranteed loans. 75 percent cost share required. Government Agency: U.S. Department of Agriculture. Schedule: Responses due June 27, 200. Source: The Biomass Initiative Newsletter June 2005
This news item comes to you as a service of Western's Renewable Resources Program.
|
