BRATTLEBORO -- Greenpeace representatives parked their Rolling Sunlight solar truck in Brattleboro Saturday to remind opponents of nuclear power that if ever there was a time to close down the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, this is it.
Rolling Sunlight is a biodiesel vehicle that has solar panels attached to it.
When it is at full power, the panels produce enough electricity to power three energy-efficient homes.
The truck has been all over the country, but for the first time Greenpeace is concentrating its work in a single state.
The group will be in Vermont through most of April to remind Vermonters that with a new administration in Washington, recent advancements in alternative energy technology and cutting edge companies in the state that are ready to put the resources to work, this is in fact the time to shut down Vernon's aging nuclear reactor.
"Vermonters have a choice here," said Greenpeace spokesman Ben Walsh, as he stood in front of the truck that was in the parking lot of the Brattleboro Food Co-op Saturday morning. "We want to take the focus away from all of the doom and gloom about Yankee and remind people that this is an opportunity to choose renewable energy as a way to replace the power that the state gets from Yankee.
Entergy Nuclear, the company that owns and operates the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, has applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an extension on the license of the plant.
That license expires in 2012 and the Vermont Public Service Board and the Legislature both have a say in whether the company will receive the license extension.
Greenpeace will drive their solar vehicle all over the state to encourage more alternative energy development and also to rally Vermonters behind the move to close down the plant.
Saturday was also the 30th anniversary of the accident at Three Mile Island and the truck was parked just a few miles upriver from the Vernon plant to show that clean and reliable alternatives are available to what organizers called the "dirty" energy produced by nuclear power.
Walsh said Brattleboro was specifically chosen as a kick off spot for the month-long Vermont tour.
"You have a unique perspective here because you are so close to the plant," he said.
Gabriel Gerow, a student coordinator with Greenpeace, has been traveling with the solar truck and he opened up a side panel to display the batteries and inverters that help convert and store the solar energy.
A Greenpeace staff member was charging up his cell phone off the truck.
"Everywhere we take this in the country it becomes a positive outreach tool to promote alternative energy," said Gerow. "We want to show that there are practical uses for this energy."
The truck has powered concerts and speaking events and on Saturday Greenpeace was handing out hot chocolate that was being made with energy from the solar truck.
Drew Hudson, from VPIRG, said that having a group like Greenpeace in the state for a month should boost the visibility of the activists who are fighting to close down Vermont Yankee.
Hudson said there are Vermont companies that are ready to move ahead with solar, hydro and biomass projects, and if Yankee closes in 2012 there would be more opportunities to move ahead with those plans.
"It's a very exciting time. There are billions of federal dollars on the table and these companies are waiting for the legislature to give them a green light," Hudson said. "Right now the big impediment to making that happen is Vermont Yankee we have to get that out of the way."
Ed Anthes, a Dummerston resident and a member of Nuclear Free Vermont, was there Saturday to support the state wide solar truck tour.
While the Legislature has put off the relicensing discussion until next year, Anthes said it was important to keep the pressure on lawmakers and remind them that the state has an opportunity to be a leader in the nationwide development of clean energy.
"The technology is there. The will is there, and the money is there," he said. "Everything is coming together and we shouldn't miss this chance."
Monday, March 30, 2009
Polk Sees Surge in Businesses' Use of Solar Power
LAKELAND | On a recent morning at Publix Super Markets headquarters, the sun was beating on the roof of a nondescript electrical plant building.
This is good news for Publix, which recently embarked on the latest phase of a solar power experiment.
The plant's roof is covered with 4,000 square feet of thin photovoltaic (solar) laminates. Nearby on the ground, a 15-foot-by-20-foot array of solar panels is soaking up some rays, aided by a tracking system that can turn the panels according to weather patterns.
"This is just a test for us. We're figuring out how we can best utilize this," says Shannon Patten, a Publix spokeswoman. "We love to learn today about what's going to help us tomorrow."
Publix is among the largest area businesses to adopt solar power in recent years, but this is hardly new to Polk County.
The converts include everything from an apartment complex in north Lakeland to a mini-storage facility in Winter Haven.
Lakeland Electric and Tampa Electric are planning major initiatives as well.
What's spurring the commercial use of solar?
Observers say it's a combination of incentives, falling costs and a growing emphasis on alternative energy.
"The biggest resource we have in Florida is our rooftops, and particularly commercial rooftops, because they're so large and flat and not shaded by trees," said Bob Reedy, director of the solar energy division at the University of Central Florida's Solar Energy Center. "It's really a major power source."
Publix's solar effort began last summer when the company installed panels on the roofs of two stores in South Florida.
Officials estimate the panels generate 4 percent of the total power needs at each store; roughly 2 percent is generated by solar at the corporate offices.
Patten says the results are being monitored for the possibility of future expansion.
Bill Cook, who owns a construction business and mini-storage facility on Dundee Road in Winter Haven, installed 213 solar panels on his roof last summer.
Between the panels and high-efficiency LED lighting, Cook said he has eliminated a $1,500 monthly power bill and racked up credits with Tampa Electric through an energy-sharing incentive program.
"The last four months, TECO owes us money," Cook said. "We couldn't be happier."
Cambridge Cove apartments, off Mall Hill Road in Lakeland, recently flipped the switch on an array of panels mounted atop the complex's carports, supplying power to the main office and common areas.
Cambridge's owner, Winter Park-based Atlantic Housing Partners, has installed solar systems at two other complexes in Central Florida, and has three more in the permitting stage.
"We're designing systems for other communities that haven't come online yet," said Scott Culp, Atlantic's executive vice president. "We want to be out ahead of the technology."
The list goes on. Mulberry-based Community First Credit Union will soon finish work on a new South Lakeland branch that features a roof blanketed with solar panels.
Earlier this month, TECO announced plans for a solar plant near Mulberry that will have the capacity to power more than 3,400 homes.
In addition, Lakeland Electric has signed an agreement with Maryland firm Sun Edison to install more than 80 solar power systems here during the next decade.
Sun Edison will front all installation costs and sell the energy to Lakeland Electric, said Jeff Curry, the utility's alternative-energy coordinator.
Some of the systems could be mounted on the roofs of local businesses, which would receive credits on their power bills.
Yet in many cases solar remains a tough sell, with price tags stretching into tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of dollars.
Cook, the Winter Haven businessman, said he spent about $50,000 on his system, after incentives. Atlantic spent roughly $500,000 total for the carports and panels at Cambridge Cove, Culp said.
But "the capital cost of buying and installing systems is diving exponentially," said Reedy, of UCF's Florida Solar Energy Center.
That's mainly because of a surge in demand and sales of solar technology.
In the United States, shipments of photovoltaic components more than doubled between 2005 and 2007, following a federal tax credit that went into effect in January 2006, according to the government's Energy Information Administration.
A $5 million budget for solar rebates in Florida - earning commercial adopters up to $100,000 apiece - was completely expended last year after it attracted a "large volume" of applications, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection said.
Both Reedy and Curry say they expect solar to be priced competitively with coal power within the next decade, especially as higher sales volumes lead to lower prices. Reedy said that could happen by 2015, if not sooner.
Curry said a Lakeland Electric program that gives credits to solar users had just five participants, both commercial and residential, two years ago, but has nearly tripled since then.
"We all recognize that legislators are breathing heavy when it comes to renewable energy," Curry said. "We know it's becoming a cultural requirement."
This is good news for Publix, which recently embarked on the latest phase of a solar power experiment.
The plant's roof is covered with 4,000 square feet of thin photovoltaic (solar) laminates. Nearby on the ground, a 15-foot-by-20-foot array of solar panels is soaking up some rays, aided by a tracking system that can turn the panels according to weather patterns.
"This is just a test for us. We're figuring out how we can best utilize this," says Shannon Patten, a Publix spokeswoman. "We love to learn today about what's going to help us tomorrow."
Publix is among the largest area businesses to adopt solar power in recent years, but this is hardly new to Polk County.
The converts include everything from an apartment complex in north Lakeland to a mini-storage facility in Winter Haven.
Lakeland Electric and Tampa Electric are planning major initiatives as well.
What's spurring the commercial use of solar?
Observers say it's a combination of incentives, falling costs and a growing emphasis on alternative energy.
"The biggest resource we have in Florida is our rooftops, and particularly commercial rooftops, because they're so large and flat and not shaded by trees," said Bob Reedy, director of the solar energy division at the University of Central Florida's Solar Energy Center. "It's really a major power source."
Publix's solar effort began last summer when the company installed panels on the roofs of two stores in South Florida.
Officials estimate the panels generate 4 percent of the total power needs at each store; roughly 2 percent is generated by solar at the corporate offices.
Patten says the results are being monitored for the possibility of future expansion.
Bill Cook, who owns a construction business and mini-storage facility on Dundee Road in Winter Haven, installed 213 solar panels on his roof last summer.
Between the panels and high-efficiency LED lighting, Cook said he has eliminated a $1,500 monthly power bill and racked up credits with Tampa Electric through an energy-sharing incentive program.
"The last four months, TECO owes us money," Cook said. "We couldn't be happier."
Cambridge Cove apartments, off Mall Hill Road in Lakeland, recently flipped the switch on an array of panels mounted atop the complex's carports, supplying power to the main office and common areas.
Cambridge's owner, Winter Park-based Atlantic Housing Partners, has installed solar systems at two other complexes in Central Florida, and has three more in the permitting stage.
"We're designing systems for other communities that haven't come online yet," said Scott Culp, Atlantic's executive vice president. "We want to be out ahead of the technology."
The list goes on. Mulberry-based Community First Credit Union will soon finish work on a new South Lakeland branch that features a roof blanketed with solar panels.
Earlier this month, TECO announced plans for a solar plant near Mulberry that will have the capacity to power more than 3,400 homes.
In addition, Lakeland Electric has signed an agreement with Maryland firm Sun Edison to install more than 80 solar power systems here during the next decade.
Sun Edison will front all installation costs and sell the energy to Lakeland Electric, said Jeff Curry, the utility's alternative-energy coordinator.
Some of the systems could be mounted on the roofs of local businesses, which would receive credits on their power bills.
Yet in many cases solar remains a tough sell, with price tags stretching into tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of dollars.
Cook, the Winter Haven businessman, said he spent about $50,000 on his system, after incentives. Atlantic spent roughly $500,000 total for the carports and panels at Cambridge Cove, Culp said.
But "the capital cost of buying and installing systems is diving exponentially," said Reedy, of UCF's Florida Solar Energy Center.
That's mainly because of a surge in demand and sales of solar technology.
In the United States, shipments of photovoltaic components more than doubled between 2005 and 2007, following a federal tax credit that went into effect in January 2006, according to the government's Energy Information Administration.
A $5 million budget for solar rebates in Florida - earning commercial adopters up to $100,000 apiece - was completely expended last year after it attracted a "large volume" of applications, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection said.
Both Reedy and Curry say they expect solar to be priced competitively with coal power within the next decade, especially as higher sales volumes lead to lower prices. Reedy said that could happen by 2015, if not sooner.
Curry said a Lakeland Electric program that gives credits to solar users had just five participants, both commercial and residential, two years ago, but has nearly tripled since then.
"We all recognize that legislators are breathing heavy when it comes to renewable energy," Curry said. "We know it's becoming a cultural requirement."
JCP&L New Jersey solar proposal gets approval
MORRISTOWN, NEW JERSEY: Jersey Central Power & Light's (JCP&L) proposal to help increase the pace of solar energy project development in the state has been approved by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU).
The JCP&L program will establish long-term agreements to purchase and sell Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SRECs) to provide a basis for financing solar generation projects in the company's service area.
JCP&L expects the plan to support the phase-in of around 42 MW of solar generating capacity over the next three years to meet Renewable Portfolio Standards through 2012. This is enough to power about 32,000 homes.
JCP&L will seek proposals for SREC purchase agreements with terms of 10 to 15 years, and will solicit proposals through a series of Requests For Proposals (RFPs). JCP&L will work through an independent RFP manager to perform solicitations. SRECs purchased through the contracts will then be sold to energy suppliers through an auction process, and revenues from the sales will be used to offset program costs.
Only projects that have been approved by the Office of Clean Energy as being qualified to receive credit for SREC generation will be eligible to participate. One SREC represents the solar renewable energy attributes of one MW/h of generation from a solar generating facility that has been certified by the BPU office of Clean Energy. The BPU had asked all the state's electric delivery companies to submit SREC-based financing plans with the goal of providing a predictable cash flow for solar generation projects.
The JCP&L program will establish long-term agreements to purchase and sell Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SRECs) to provide a basis for financing solar generation projects in the company's service area.
JCP&L expects the plan to support the phase-in of around 42 MW of solar generating capacity over the next three years to meet Renewable Portfolio Standards through 2012. This is enough to power about 32,000 homes.
JCP&L will seek proposals for SREC purchase agreements with terms of 10 to 15 years, and will solicit proposals through a series of Requests For Proposals (RFPs). JCP&L will work through an independent RFP manager to perform solicitations. SRECs purchased through the contracts will then be sold to energy suppliers through an auction process, and revenues from the sales will be used to offset program costs.
Only projects that have been approved by the Office of Clean Energy as being qualified to receive credit for SREC generation will be eligible to participate. One SREC represents the solar renewable energy attributes of one MW/h of generation from a solar generating facility that has been certified by the BPU office of Clean Energy. The BPU had asked all the state's electric delivery companies to submit SREC-based financing plans with the goal of providing a predictable cash flow for solar generation projects.
Nightfall Comes to Solar Land
A YEAR AGO, REFINED silicon for solar cells cost 450 bucks a kilo on the spot market. You can have it today for closer to 100 and if you wait a month it may be cheaper still. Thanks to the workings of international capitalism, the 90% margins available in last year's market spurred silicon-factory expansions around the planet. But the new supply arrived just as end-market demand for solar panels got eclipsed by faltering government incentives, lower oil prices and the world financial freeze.
Cheaper solar silicon is of course a great thing for the planet's living creatures. But solar companies and investors who planned for silicon that was scarce and high-priced must adjust their business models for a glut that looms larger than most anyone expected. New government subsidies will help in the U.S. and in China, which energized solar stocks last week with a plan to help China's struggling photovoltaic industry. Lower prices will also stimulate sales volumes as solar panels become cost-competitive with fossil-fueled power. The question is whether solar energy's volume producers will end up resembling the high-margined Intel or the profitless memory-chip makers. "An industry with 30 suppliers would be a nightmare," says analyst Dan Ries of the brokerage firm Collins Stewart. The "flash-memory market managed to be a nightmare with just 2½ suppliers."
The memory-chip analogy seems most apt. Barron's duly warned readers last summer ("Forecast: Clouds With Sunshine," July 21) that supply/demand shifts would hit silicon producers like MEMC Electronic Materials (ticker: WFR), which subsequently lost two-thirds of its value. But we supposed that some solar power firms would escape harm. Now it looks as if silicon panels could become so cheap that they even take share from technologies that were lower-cost substitutes -- namely, the "thin film" solar panels promoted by First Solar (FSLR) and Energy Conversion Devices (ENER).
A key selling point of thin-film panels is their reduced use of costly materials like silicon: a 97% reduction, in most thin-film technologies. Now that silicon is cheaper, First Solar is hustling around to investor conferences explaining how it aims to fly under silicon's descending cloud ceiling (see the bottom chart to the left). Some silicon panels have already become cheaper than the products of Energy Conversion. Sadly, First Solar's margins and its premium stock multiple of 22 times this year's estimates seem fated to decline. Energy Conversion will likely revert to the losses that dogged it for almost 50 years, leaving little solid value in the 15.77 stock except its net cash of $3.30 a share. Neither company responded to our repeated inquiries aboutcheap silicon.
From the start of the transistor era in the 1950s, the price of purified silicon mainly rose and fell with the tides of the semiconductor industry. Then in 2003, Germany jump-started a worldwide solar boom with an environmental imperative that its utilities subsidize solar-power providers. That one nation's utility customers underwrote half the world's solar panel sales until 2008, when even richer incentives appeared in Spain. In just August and September of last year, Spain's solar developers hooked up over a gigawatt of solar modules -- equivalent to the output of a small nuclear plant. "Spain last year was essentially Germany on steroids," says Daniel Englander, a researcher with Greentech Media. "They were willing to pay a euro per watt more than the Germans were...which totally messed-up pricing."
Those guarantees sent developers scrambling for solar panels, and sent solar-panel makers like SunPower (SPWRA), Q-Cells (QCEL) and Suntech Power (STP) scrambling for silicon. In the three years through June of last year, module maker Yingli Green Energy (YGE) reported that its contract price for silicon rose over 400%. It was a heady time to be a silicon refiner. With production costs of $30 to $40 per kilo, sales at spot- market prices of $450 could yield 90% margins for low-cost producers like Hemlock Semiconductor (a joint venture of Dow Corning and Japanese partners), Wacker-Chemie (WCH.Germany) or MEMC. Cash-flow margins for Munich-based Wacker rose last year from 40% to 50%. Even a new manufacturer like China's GCL Silicon Technology Holdings showed gross margins of more than 75% when it filed a registration to come public in the U.S.
Cheaper solar silicon is of course a great thing for the planet's living creatures. But solar companies and investors who planned for silicon that was scarce and high-priced must adjust their business models for a glut that looms larger than most anyone expected. New government subsidies will help in the U.S. and in China, which energized solar stocks last week with a plan to help China's struggling photovoltaic industry. Lower prices will also stimulate sales volumes as solar panels become cost-competitive with fossil-fueled power. The question is whether solar energy's volume producers will end up resembling the high-margined Intel or the profitless memory-chip makers. "An industry with 30 suppliers would be a nightmare," says analyst Dan Ries of the brokerage firm Collins Stewart. The "flash-memory market managed to be a nightmare with just 2½ suppliers."
The memory-chip analogy seems most apt. Barron's duly warned readers last summer ("Forecast: Clouds With Sunshine," July 21) that supply/demand shifts would hit silicon producers like MEMC Electronic Materials (ticker: WFR), which subsequently lost two-thirds of its value. But we supposed that some solar power firms would escape harm. Now it looks as if silicon panels could become so cheap that they even take share from technologies that were lower-cost substitutes -- namely, the "thin film" solar panels promoted by First Solar (FSLR) and Energy Conversion Devices (ENER).
A key selling point of thin-film panels is their reduced use of costly materials like silicon: a 97% reduction, in most thin-film technologies. Now that silicon is cheaper, First Solar is hustling around to investor conferences explaining how it aims to fly under silicon's descending cloud ceiling (see the bottom chart to the left). Some silicon panels have already become cheaper than the products of Energy Conversion. Sadly, First Solar's margins and its premium stock multiple of 22 times this year's estimates seem fated to decline. Energy Conversion will likely revert to the losses that dogged it for almost 50 years, leaving little solid value in the 15.77 stock except its net cash of $3.30 a share. Neither company responded to our repeated inquiries aboutcheap silicon.
From the start of the transistor era in the 1950s, the price of purified silicon mainly rose and fell with the tides of the semiconductor industry. Then in 2003, Germany jump-started a worldwide solar boom with an environmental imperative that its utilities subsidize solar-power providers. That one nation's utility customers underwrote half the world's solar panel sales until 2008, when even richer incentives appeared in Spain. In just August and September of last year, Spain's solar developers hooked up over a gigawatt of solar modules -- equivalent to the output of a small nuclear plant. "Spain last year was essentially Germany on steroids," says Daniel Englander, a researcher with Greentech Media. "They were willing to pay a euro per watt more than the Germans were...which totally messed-up pricing."
Those guarantees sent developers scrambling for solar panels, and sent solar-panel makers like SunPower (SPWRA), Q-Cells (QCEL) and Suntech Power (STP) scrambling for silicon. In the three years through June of last year, module maker Yingli Green Energy (YGE) reported that its contract price for silicon rose over 400%. It was a heady time to be a silicon refiner. With production costs of $30 to $40 per kilo, sales at spot- market prices of $450 could yield 90% margins for low-cost producers like Hemlock Semiconductor (a joint venture of Dow Corning and Japanese partners), Wacker-Chemie (WCH.Germany) or MEMC. Cash-flow margins for Munich-based Wacker rose last year from 40% to 50%. Even a new manufacturer like China's GCL Silicon Technology Holdings showed gross margins of more than 75% when it filed a registration to come public in the U.S.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Texas hopes to become a leader in solar energy
Texas lawmakers are considering legislation that would significantly increase incentives for solar power. More than 50 bills currently before the legislature promote the use of solar power, including one measure that would allow local governments to provide a property-tax financing program for solar power. Meanwhile, some business owners have cautioned lawmakers against subsidizing solar energy at the expense of residential, commercial and industrial consumers.
Source: http://www.smartbrief.com/news/nrca/storyDetails.jsp?issueid=CB4F9D43-2CF1-42B8-92A4-1A7CB8DBE6DA©id=8EF6D255-C6E2-44FA-8305-27FEBF19B2EA
Source: http://www.smartbrief.com/news/nrca/storyDetails.jsp?issueid=CB4F9D43-2CF1-42B8-92A4-1A7CB8DBE6DA©id=8EF6D255-C6E2-44FA-8305-27FEBF19B2EA
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