| Funding | 12/25/2018 | 2018 Tribal Request for Applications OPEN DEADLINE EXTENDED TO APRIL 3, 2019 EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality is soliciting applications nationwide for Tribal projects that achieve significant reductions in diesel emissions and diesel emissions exposure, particularly from fleets located in areas designated as having poor air quality. EPA anticipates $2 million will be awarded to eligible Tribal applicants. Applications must be received by Wednesday, April 3, 2019, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) in order to be considered for funding. Application packages must be submitted electronically to EPA through
www.grants.gov.
Source: DOE Office of Indian Energy, 12/26/18 | | Green Power | 12/25/2018 | How Does Your State Make Electricity? Overall, fossil fuels still dominate electricity generation in the United States. But the shift from coal to natural gas has helped to lower carbon dioxide emissions and other pollution. Last year, coal was the main source of electricity generation for 18 states, down from 32 states in 2001. Source: New York Times, 12/24/18 (tiered subscription rate) | | Green Power | 12/25/2018 | SPP, ERCOT Set New Wind Generation Marks For the last two years, SPP and ERCOT have been saying, “Anything you can do, I can do better” in their friendly competition to see which can produce more wind energy or a greater share of its production. Both grid operators set new records for wind generation this month, with SPP producing a new wind peak of 16.4 GW at 7:40 a.m. on Dec. 20, six days after ERCOT topped out at a record 19.2 GW on Dec. 14. Source: RTO Insider, 12/23/18 | | Green Power | 12/11/2018 | Smart blades given US outing Three 20-metre long structures designed with bend-twist coupling by Fraunhofer IWES put to the test Three innovative 20-metre long wind turbine blades are undergoing testing in the US as part of a German government-backed project. The blades, which were designed by the Fraunhofer IWES research centre and built by the German aerospace centre, have been installed at the US Department of Energy's National Wind Technology Center in Boulder, Colorado, as part of the SmartBlade2 project. The aim is to clarify how well the blades – designed with bend-twist coupling – are able to effectively dampen peak loads during strongly variable wind speeds. Source: renews.Biz, 12/10/18 | | Funding | 12/11/2018 | DOE Announces Intent to Issue New Funding Opportunity for Tribal Energy Infrastructure Development Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs announced a Notice of Intent to issue a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) entitled “Energy Infrastructure Development on Indian Lands - 2019” early next year. Through the planned FOA, the Office of Indian Energy intends to solicit applications from Indian tribes, which, for the purposes of the FOA, include Alaska Native Regional Corporations and Village Corporations, and Tribal Energy Resource Development Organizations, to: - Install energy generating system(s) and/or energy efficiency measure(s) for tribal buildings;
- Deploy community-scale energy generating system(s) on tribal lands; or
- Install energy system(s) for autonomous operation (independent of the traditional centralized electric power grid) to power a single or multiple essential tribal facilities during emergency situations or for tribal community resilience.
DOE envisions awarding multiple financial assistance awards in the form of grants. Under the planned FOA and as required by statute, a 50% recipient cost share of the total project costs is required and must come from non-federal sources, unless otherwise allowed by law. Source: DOE Office of Indian Energy, 12/12/18 | | Funding | 12/2/2018 | First deadline approaching for USDA 2019 guaranteed loans, grants The Department of Agriculture provides guaranteed loan financing and grant funding to agricultural producers and rural small businesses to purchase or install renewable energy systems or make energy efficiency improvements. The deadline for Energy Audit and Renewable Energy Development Assistance Grants is Jan. 31, 2019. Source: Van Ness Feldman, 12/3/18 | | Reports and Studies | 11/26/2018 | State of the US Renewables Market: Rapid Growth and a ‘Lot of Risk’ The worlds of power markets and renewables are colliding, and nobody seems quite sure what to do about it. Though still a miniscule fraction of grid power in many places, renewable energy resources have momentum on their side. As they grow, they alter the functioning of the markets in ways that look different from traditional generation. Wood Mackenzie launched its Power & Renewables Summit last year to unpack these changes, and in the intervening time, the signs of change have grown clearer. Deployment queues in every U.S. region show a dramatic turn toward wind and solar, proving this is not just a groovy California thing anymore. Once built, these resources, which are essentially free to dispatch but cannot be called on command, push down wholesale prices, initiate transmission congestion and create sharp ramping needs for dispatchable power plants. Source: Greentech Media 11/16/18 | | Reports and Studies | 11/26/2018 | Explaining the plummeting cost of solar power Researchers uncover the factors that have caused photovoltaic module costs to drop by 99 percent. The dramatic drop in the cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules, which has fallen by 99 percent over the last four decades, is often touted as a major success story for renewable energy technology. But one question has never been fully addressed: What exactly accounts for that stunning drop? A new analysis by MIT researchers has pinpointed what caused the savings, including the policies and technology changes that mattered most. For example, they found that government policy to help grow markets around the world played a critical role in reducing this technology’s costs. At the device level, the dominant factor was an increase in “conversion efficiency,” or the amount of power generated from a given amount of sunlight. Source: MIT News, 11/20/18 | | Funding | 11/25/2018 | NREL Awarded $2.8M from ARPA-E to Develop Low-Cost Thermal Energy Storage The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has been awarded nearly $2.8 million in funding from DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to develop a system for grid electricity storage and power generation. The system includes a high-temperature charging device, low-cost thermal energy storage modules, a high-performance heat exchanger, and a closed-loop Brayton cycle turbine. As NREL Principal Investigator Zhiwen Ma explains, "When electric power is cheapest, electric heaters will ‘charge' the storage modules by heating stable, inexpensive solid particles to more than 1,100 degrees Celsius. And when it's time to discharge this energy, the hot particles will move through a heat exchanger to heat a working fluid that drives a high-efficiency closed-Brayton combined cycle attached to an electric generator." Source: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 11/26/18 | | Funding | 11/18/2018 | DOE Announces Funding for Advanced Wind Turbine Generator R&D The U.S Department of Energy's (DOE's) Wind Energy Technologies Office has announced a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled "Advanced Next-Generation, High-Efficiency, Lightweight Wind Turbine Generator." The primary objective of this FOA is to develop a lightweight, more efficient wind turbine drivetrain system (gearbox and generator, or direct drive generator) that minimizes the use of rare earth magnets and contributes to the scaling of wind turbine power capacities beyond 10MW. Projects funded through this funding opportunity will result in the design, fabrication, and up-tower testing of advanced multi-megawatt-scale wind turbine prototype drivetrains. This work will further DOE's goal to reduce the cost of energy from wind by decreasing nacelle and tower mass, reducing O&M and replacement costs, and improving performance. Source: DOE Wind Energy Technologies Office, 11/14/18 | | Reports and Studies | 11/14/2018 | Study says Minnesota can economically reach renewable energy goals by 2050 Minnesota can economically get 70 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2050, as prices for wind, solar and battery storage continue to fall, a study has found. The deployment of more solar and wind generation would be no more costly than new natural gas power, a cheap source of electricity, according to the study done for the state Department of Commerce. Enough solar generation could be added cost-effectively by 2030 to meet Minnesota’s ambitious solar-power goals. Source: Minnesota Star Tribune, 11/15/18 | | Green Power | 11/14/2018 | Green Power Partnership Program Update Issue 61 • November 2018 Green Power Partnership (GPP) Program Updates are published monthly and provide the latest news and updates on the Partnership. In This Issue - 2018 Green Power Leadership Award Winners Announced
- Top Partner Rankings & Green Power Communities List Updated October 29
- GPP Kicks Off 2018–19 College & University Challenge
- Partner Spotlight – Bank of America
- Green Power Partners in the News
- GPP Featured on Twitter
- NEW – Solar Project Portal Video for Local Governments
- Webinar: Solar Project Site Assessment for Local Governments
- NREL Releases Status and Trends Report on Voluntary Green Power Market
- National Scorecard Reports How States Stack Up on Shared Renewable Energy Programs
Source: EPA Green Power Partnership, 11/14/18 | | Green Power | 11/12/2018 | BLM Soliciting Public Input On NextEra’s Borderlands Wind The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Socorro Field Office will hold a public meeting to accept written public comments, provide information and answer questions related to the 100 MW Borderlands Wind Project, a New Mexico facility proposed by NextEra Energy. The meeting will be held at Quemado Elementary and High School, 3484 Highway 60, Quemado, NM, on Wednesday, Nov. 14, from 5-7:30 p.m. Borderlands Wind LLC, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, is proposing a wind generation facility in western Catron County. The Borderlands Wind Project would be built near Quemado and the Arizona-New Mexico border on 40,348 acres of land. Source: North American Windpower, 11/5/18 | | Funding | 11/12/2018 | Golden's NREL Federal Grant: $7 Million For Solar Energy Research Golden-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory received $7 million in federal grant funding for solar energy research, the U.S. Department of Energy announced Tuesday. The grant is part of a $72 million package aimed at developing solar energy systems that can generate extreme heat for industry and thermal storage systems. NREL's Pathway to SunShot team, led by Principal Investigator Craig Turchi, proposes a "molten salt power tower." According to the Dept. of Energy, the project will "design, develop, and test a two-megawatt thermal system consisting of the solar receiver, thermal energy storage tanks and associated pumps, heat exchangers, piping, valves, sensors, and heat tracing." Source: EnergyCentral.com, 11/5/18 | | Green Power | 11/12/2018 | Navajo Nation Eyes Utility-Scale Solar with Growing Interest Momentum is growing around modernizing tribal renewable-energy policies on the Navajo Nation of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, according to a report published today by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. The report —“Growing Interest in Developing Navajo Utility-Scale Solar Industry: Policy Momentum and Grassroots Support; Vast Tribal Natural Resource Remains Largely Untapped”— details movement on three fronts. Source: Renewable Energy World, 11/1/18 | | Reports and Studies | 11/8/2018 | How Will Wind Industry Find the Answer? With WISDEM When doctoral student Katherine Dykes visited the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC) at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) eight years ago for an inaugural workshop on combining wind energy with systems engineering, she saw a similar PowerPoint slide at each of the presentations: "What is systems engineering?" "Thankfully, I haven’t seen it in a while," said Dykes, who joined the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) NREL in the summer of 2011 and now works as a senior engineer at the NWTC. From there, Dykes has spread the word throughout the wind industry about systems engineering. This interdisciplinary approach takes everything into account so that customer needs and wind turbine design, performance, and cost are all equally important. Source: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 11/7/18 | | Funding | 11/4/2018 | Learn about the DOE Tribal Energy Loan Guarantee Program Nov. 7
Noon-1 p.m. MT In July, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released its initial solicitation for the Tribal Energy Loan Guarantee Program (TELGP), which made up to $2 billion in loan guarantees available for tribal energy development. As with all new programs, we think it is important to share information with potential beneficiaries and make sure they know how best to engage with the program. As part of DOE's effort to create awareness about TELGP and learn more about tribal energy needs, the program has participated in a number of events over the past few months, including the Fall Finance & Tribal Economies Conference of the Native American Finance Officers Association. As a follow-up to that conference, DOE is partnering with NAFOA to host a webinar about TELGP on Wednesday, Nov. 7, from 12–1 p.m. Mountain Standard Time. The topics to be covered in this conversation include: - Goals of TELGP
- Project eligibility
- How the TELGP application process works
- Case studies of DOE’s experience with its similarly structured Financial Institution Partnership Program
- How DOE engages with borrowers as a collaborative partner
Register for the webinar. Source: DOE Office of Indian Energy, 11/5/18 | | Green Power | 10/26/2018 | Can the price of rooftop solar keep falling? Rooftop solar's growth has slowed nationally, but its price to customers continues to fall, leaving market watchers questioning its future. In 2017, the installed price of residential photovoltaic (PV) solar continued its 20-year price decline, but at a slower pace than the 2009 to 2013 glory years. Tariffs on imported solar products and the rising cost of finding customers slowed the price decline and flattened growth, leaving installers, policymakers and utilities asking if the price will keep falling and, if it does, how low it will go. Changing solar incentives make this question especially important. Source: Utility Dive, 10/18/18 | | Reports and Studies | 10/26/2018 | California regulators prod utilities to start drafting roadmap to 100% clean energy The sum of renewables procurements from California electricity providers is not enough to achieve the state's 2045 target, and regulators are struggling for solutions. California's 44 electricity providers are updating their formal plans to meet the state's new 60% renewables by 2030 mandate and its 100% clean energy by 2045 goal. Investor-owned utility (IOU) regulatory filings say they have adequate renewables to meet the 2030 requirement and will begin procuring again after that. Customer choice aggregator (CCA) filings say they will procure adequate renewables to meet the 2030 mandate, though they do not specify how or when. And electric service providers (ESPs) say they don't do long-term procurements. Source: Utility Dive via Wind Energy SmartBrief, 10/25/18 | | Green Power | 10/15/2018 | EPA Honors 2018 Green Power Leaders Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces its 18th annual Green Power Leadership Awards, recognizing 10 Green Power Partners across the country, including Google, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Starbucks, T-Mobile, and University of California. “The 2018 Green Power Leadership Award winners have proven real leadership, demonstrating to American businesses that through their investments they can together not only grow America’s renewable energy market, but also reduce air emissions and protect the environment,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation Bill Wehrum. The award winners are being recognized for their efforts in advancing the nation’s voluntary green power market. From using enough green power to meet 100 percent of electricity needs to signing long-term contracts that enable new green power project development, these organizations are demonstrating leadership by furthering the case for accessible, affordable green power use. Source: EPA Green Power Partnership, 10/10/18 | | Reports and Studies | 10/12/2018 | Combined wind and solar made up at least 20% of electric generation in 10 states in 2017 Wind and solar electric generation, including small-scale solar photovoltaics, reached or exceeded 20% of total generation in 10 states in 2017. During some months in 2017, wind accounted for more than 50% of in-state electricity generation in Iowa and Kansas, and solar accounted for more than 20% of in-state electricity generation in California. Total annual generation from wind and solar in the United States in 2017 reached 8% for the year and peaked at 11% in April of that year. Wind and solar resources are unique among sources of electricity. Unlike most other generating technologies, grid operators generally do not dispatch wind and solar generation because these generators produce electricity only when the associated resources are available. Even so, some wind and solar plants may allow for limited dispatcher control on a minute-to-minute basis. For example, by setting operating levels to slightly lower than achievable levels for current conditions, operators have some flexibility to increase or decrease output in response to market signals. Source: US Energy Information Administration via Chron, 10/11/18 | | Green Power | 9/26/2018 | Solar trade groups roll out tool to streamline permitting, interconnection
Dive Brief: - Two national solar groups on Monday launched a new campaign aimed at streamlining the permitting and inspection process, which they say adds approximately $1/watt to the cost of a typical residential solar energy installation.
- The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and The Solar Foundation (TSF) teamed up on the proposal to replace the current "patchwork" of rules and regulations with "standardized online permitting and interconnection" tools they say could save $7,000 on the average rooftop installation.
- The groups say a move its Solar Automated Permit Processing (SolarAPP) could mean the development of an additional 1.1 million residential solar systems and 30,000 jobs over a five year period.
Source: Utility Dive, 9/25/18 | | Reports and Studies | 9/26/2018 | NREL releases report on solar potential for low income households Rooftop Solar Technical Potential for Low-to-Moderate Income Households in the United States expands upon previous NREL research investigating the technical potential of rooftop solar in the United States, aiming to improve the understanding in the residential sector, particularly for low-to-moderate income households. Technical potential is a metric that quantifies the maximum generation available from a technology for a given region and does not consider the economic or market viability. A unique contribution of this work is to estimate rooftop solar technical potential of residential buildings per U.S. Census Tract by income, building type, and tenure. NREL researchers actively publish their latest scientific findings and breakthroughs in technical reports, journal articles, conference papers, patents, presentations, and more. Source: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 9/1/18 | | Funding | 9/25/2018 | Energy Department Announces $5 Million for Energy Planning, Innovative Energy Practices, and Technical Assistance in 16 States Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced approximately $5 million in funding for 16 states to enhance energy security, advance state-led energy initiatives, and improve energy productivity. Through DOE’s
State Energy Program (SEP), each of the 16 awardees will work to advance energy efficiency, renewable energy, grid resiliency, and improve energy reliability and affordability. Several of the SEP projects are multi-state partnerships, expanding the impact of these investments. Learn more about the projects announced today
HERE.
Source: DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, 9/21/18 | | Green Power | 9/20/2018 | First Distributed Energy Conference to be held in Colorado Oct. 15-17
Denver Marriot West
Golden, Colorado Drawing on the experience and 135+ year history of POWER magazine, along with two decades of success in bringing together power generation professionals with the ELECTRIC POWER conference, our team is launching the Distributed Energy Conference (DEC), providing a platform for power industry executives and operational specialists with hands-on experience to exchange insights and ideas. DEC offers a fresh look at distributed generation through a conference program and sponsor opportunity prospectus focused on commercial, industrial, and utility applications; business case strategies; regulatory issues; and grid integration challenges. Source: Power Magazine, 9/20/18 | | Green Power | 9/20/2018 | Demand Response & Distributed Energy Resources World Forum: Optimizing Auto-DR and Distributed Energy Resources for the Future Network Oct. 16-17
Costa Mesa, California Utilities around the world are under increasing pressure to accommodate energy efficiency, control load, and integrate distributed energy resources such as renewables. These factors plus an urgent need to control greenhouse gasses are driving new requirements for energy resiliency, sustainability, and power quality -- all of which impact the traditional utility business case. For utilities to thrive in this changing market, they must embrace greater network agility and work with customers to maximize value for all stakeholders in the value chain. Source: Utility Dive, 9/19/18 | | Funding | 9/20/2018 |
DOE provides $148M in funding for separate energy storage research efforts
Dive Brief: - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Tuesday announced $148 million in funding for two separate initiatives aimed at advancing research into energy storage technologies.
- The DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program announced awards totaling just over $28 million for 10 projects that aim to increase the duration of energy storage systems up to 100 hours.
- The DOE also said it would provide $120 million over five years to renew funding for the Joint Center for Energy Story Research (JCESR) program that does research and development on new battery materials
Source: Utility Dive, 9/19/18 | | Reports and Studies | 9/17/2018 |
OK, You Met Your Renewable Goals — Now What? State laws boosting wind and solar power have seen remarkable success over the past two decades. But in the past couple of years, the role of renewable portfolio standards — state requirements for utilities to supply a minimum amount of retail electricity from renewable energy — has waned, according to a Lawrence Berkeley National Lab study. In some cases the use of renewables has grown even without mandates, but many environmental leaders contend they are still necessary to drive growth in the industry.
Source: Stateline, 9/12/18 | | Reports and Studies | 9/17/2018 | Led by Surging Residential Sector, Q2 US Energy Storage Deployments Grow 200% Year-Over-Year Highlights from the latest U.S. Energy Storage Monitor. For the first time ever, the U.S. saw more home energy storage than front-of-meter storage deployed in a single quarter. According to the latest U.S. Energy Storage Monitor from the Energy Storage Association and Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables (formerly known as GTM Research) 156.5 megawatt-hours of energy storage were deployed in the second quarter of 2018, triple what was deployed in the second quarter of 2017. The residential segment led the way, growing tenfold year-over-year. Residential deployments were concentrated in two states, California and Hawaii, which together account for 72 percent of megawatt-hours on the quarter. Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables senior analyst Brett Simon notes that there are no signs these two states will relinquish their residential market lead; however, he posits that there is an exciting race for the No. 3 spot. Simon points to both Massachusetts with its new SMART program and Arizona, which may see some new tariff structures, as key contenders. Source: Greentech Media, 9/6/18 | | Reports and Studies | 8/27/2018 |
Updated Guide to Purchasing Green Power Released EPA is pleased to announce the release of the updated Guide to Purchasing Green Power. The Guide provides current and potential buyers of green power with information about green power purchasing. It covers the green power procurement process, different green power supply options, benefits of green power purchasing, as well as information on how to capture the greatest benefit from your purchase.
Source: EPA Green Power Partnership, 8/22/18 |
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