Solar Energy Becoming a Cost-Effective Way of Generating Electricity in California
MUNICH and ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands, April 1 /PRNewswire/ -- "In 2010, PV will be by far the most cost-effective way of generating electricity. The solar PV market in California will explode once people discover that they can generate their own rooftop power for less than it costs from their utility," says Barry Cinnamon, long-term expert, CEO and founder of solar system integrator Akeena Solar in California. In 2008 the US PV market grew by over 60% to more than 350 MW of newly installed solar power. The majority of this new power was built in California. Barry Cinnamon is one of several CEOs to speak on 26 May in Munich at the international conference entitled "The Solar Future; count-down to grid parity".
Energy utility companies like PG&E in California are developing a large-scale solar PV power plant program. David Rubin is a director at PG&E, and he will be discussing the details of PG&E's proposed program. David is also chairman of the board of SEPA (the Solar Electric Power Association), representing 500 US electric utilities, solar companies and other industry stakeholders in the USA. He sees a significant number of energy utilities proceeding with various solar business models, including large-scale PV power plant initiatives. "SEPA has tracked 1500 MW in solar PV initiatives in the USA, and this number is growing".
In 2009, the USA is on the way to becoming the second largest photovoltaic solar energy market in the world after Germany. The Obama administration has introduced a new Renewable Energy stimulus package and financial incentives are guaranteed for the next 8 years. "The US market has the potential to grow by more than 50% a year, which could lead to a market close to 4000 MW within 5 years," according to Edwin Koot, CEO of SolarPlaza. "The USA is likely to become the world's largest PV market within a decade. The solar industry is counting down towards the moment government aid is no longer needed. The moment when this fledgling industry will have grown up and is standing on its own feet is closer than many people think," says Koot. "It will mark the start of the Solar Future and will offer unprecedented market and growth potential".
Apart from David Rubin, CEOs from the world's leading PV companies (such as Q-Cells, Suntech Power, Applied Materials and Centrotherm) will be speaking at "The Solar Future" conference organized by SolarPlaza.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
San Antonio named a ‘Solar America City’
Mayor Phil Hardberger said Tuesday that the City of San Antonio has been designated as a U.S. Department of Energy Solar America City.
With this designation, San Antonio will receive financial and technical assistance to fund innovative solar-energy initiatives that could serve as a model for other cities. San Antonio is home to the largest solar energy project currently installed in Texas. The solar project is located at Silver Ventures’ redevelopment project at the historic Pearl Brewery. The former brewery is being developed into urban space for lofts, restaurants and offices. CPS Energy is working with the developers to install a $1.35 million, 200-kilowatt photo voltaic system on one of Pearl’s 67,000 square-foot facility.
The announcement was made as part of the Department of Energy’s second Solar America Cities annual meeting, which will take place this year from March 31 through April 2. About 150 people are attending this conference. A total of 25 communities are being named Solar Cities. These cities are implementing solar technologies and programs to encourage the use of solar energy. Cities are also integrating solar energy into city planning and emergency preparedness plans and conducting workshops for building code officials, solar installers and the public.
“The Department of Energy’s investment in the city of San Antonio is welcome support for our commitment to implementing solar energy technologies and programs,” Hardberger says. “I am proud that our city is being recognized for our leadership in the planning and implementation of clean and renewable solar technology at the local level. Our partnership with the Department of Energy will provide a platform for us to continue our commitment while sharing our successes with other communities.”
Tom Kimbis, the Department of Energy’s director of the Solar America Cities program, says cities play an important role in the adoption of renewable energy.
“Solar is a key component of our national energy strategy, and through our Solar America Cities program we are working to improve the nation’s energy security and combat global climate change. Spotlighting progressive cities like San Antonio is helping us do just that,” Kimbis says.
With this designation, San Antonio will receive financial and technical assistance to fund innovative solar-energy initiatives that could serve as a model for other cities. San Antonio is home to the largest solar energy project currently installed in Texas. The solar project is located at Silver Ventures’ redevelopment project at the historic Pearl Brewery. The former brewery is being developed into urban space for lofts, restaurants and offices. CPS Energy is working with the developers to install a $1.35 million, 200-kilowatt photo voltaic system on one of Pearl’s 67,000 square-foot facility.
The announcement was made as part of the Department of Energy’s second Solar America Cities annual meeting, which will take place this year from March 31 through April 2. About 150 people are attending this conference. A total of 25 communities are being named Solar Cities. These cities are implementing solar technologies and programs to encourage the use of solar energy. Cities are also integrating solar energy into city planning and emergency preparedness plans and conducting workshops for building code officials, solar installers and the public.
“The Department of Energy’s investment in the city of San Antonio is welcome support for our commitment to implementing solar energy technologies and programs,” Hardberger says. “I am proud that our city is being recognized for our leadership in the planning and implementation of clean and renewable solar technology at the local level. Our partnership with the Department of Energy will provide a platform for us to continue our commitment while sharing our successes with other communities.”
Tom Kimbis, the Department of Energy’s director of the Solar America Cities program, says cities play an important role in the adoption of renewable energy.
“Solar is a key component of our national energy strategy, and through our Solar America Cities program we are working to improve the nation’s energy security and combat global climate change. Spotlighting progressive cities like San Antonio is helping us do just that,” Kimbis says.
SunEdison Surpasses 100 GWh of Delivered PV Solar Energy Generation
SunEdison, North America's largest solar energy services provider, today announced it is the first owner/operator in the United States to surpass 100 GWh in delivered PV solar electricity generation. SunEdison's Renewable Operation Center (ROC) tracked the event as the ticker rolled over the 100 GWh milestone at 11:06 am ET on March 24, five years after the company activated its first commercial-scale PV solar energy system.
SunEdison's solar fleet of 221 solar power plants has avoided more than 124 million lbs of CO2, the same amount of emissions that would be produced by driving from New York City to Los Angeles 43,101 times. One hundred GWh is enough to meet the annual energy needs for more than 13,700 California residents.
"This 100 GWh milestone reflects our commitment to service delivery and investments in advanced control and monitoring technologies," said Mark Culpepper, Chief Technology Officer of SunEdison. "As the country increases investment in renewable energy, the solar industry must show results in a meaningful, transparent way."
Mark Buckley, Vice President of Environmental Affairs, Staples, Inc., noted, "The 24 systems hosted by Staples have generated more than 8 million kWh of power. Not only does SunEdison bring us electricity at predictable rates, we're able to make better usage decisions and make progress toward our short- and long-term carbon reduction goals."
SunEdison's Renewable Operations Center (ROC), located at the historic McClellan Air Force base in McClellan, California, is a key part of the company's services architecture. The ROC monitors the energy and power output of the SunEdison solar portfolio; analyzes and remotely diagnoses system performance; and then dispatches crews for rapid field service.
The SunEdison fleet operated at over 100 percent of expected generation in 2008.
SunEdison's solar fleet of 221 solar power plants has avoided more than 124 million lbs of CO2, the same amount of emissions that would be produced by driving from New York City to Los Angeles 43,101 times. One hundred GWh is enough to meet the annual energy needs for more than 13,700 California residents.
"This 100 GWh milestone reflects our commitment to service delivery and investments in advanced control and monitoring technologies," said Mark Culpepper, Chief Technology Officer of SunEdison. "As the country increases investment in renewable energy, the solar industry must show results in a meaningful, transparent way."
Mark Buckley, Vice President of Environmental Affairs, Staples, Inc., noted, "The 24 systems hosted by Staples have generated more than 8 million kWh of power. Not only does SunEdison bring us electricity at predictable rates, we're able to make better usage decisions and make progress toward our short- and long-term carbon reduction goals."
SunEdison's Renewable Operations Center (ROC), located at the historic McClellan Air Force base in McClellan, California, is a key part of the company's services architecture. The ROC monitors the energy and power output of the SunEdison solar portfolio; analyzes and remotely diagnoses system performance; and then dispatches crews for rapid field service.
The SunEdison fleet operated at over 100 percent of expected generation in 2008.
Study targets costs of Duke energy plans
A Durham environmental group says concentrating on conservation and cost-effective renewable energy would let Duke Energy Carolinas avoid costly new plants and soften steep rate increases.
The N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network’s new study says new-plant costs -- particularly for multi-billion nuclear plants -- will increase N.C. rates at least 50 percent by 2024.
Report coauthor John Runkle says the increases are likely to be even higher. Nuclear plant costs have increased significantly in recent years. The report used current estimates, but he thinks the plants will cost much more to complete. Prices, he says, could double if utilities go ahead with current plants.
Duke spokeswoman Paige Sheehan takes issue with the N.C. WARN report. She says it contends Duke alone could produce more renewable energy than a N.C.-commissioned report two years ago found was possible to produce statewide.
She also says N.C. WARN opposed Duke’s Save-A-Watt program for energy efficiency. And she says it didn’t support Duke’s rooftop-solar initiative, one of the largest renewable energy programs ever proposed in the state. And she says a proposal to cut the need for plants by reducing energy reserves would be unacceptable to Duke and probably to regulators.
N.C. WARN has been a frequent Duke critic. It has criticized Save-A-Watt as inadequate. It has been in the forefront of opponents to the 825-megawatt coal-fired expansion at the Cliffside Steam Station at the border of Rutherford and Cleveland counties.
It has opposed plans by both Duke and Raleigh-based Progress Energy Inc. (NYSE:PGN) to build four nuclear reactors to produce power. Duke proposes two units in Gaffney, S.C. Progress would add two units to the Shearon Harris Nuclear Station near Raleigh.
N.C. WARN has argued in the past that these plants are unnecessary. The need for them was based on inflated demand projections, the group says.
But the group’s latest report accepts the demand projections by Duke and Progress at face value. It argues there are better and less expensive ways to get the energy needed.
Runkle the attorney for N.C. WARN. He wrote the report issued Tuesday with John Blackburn, former chairman of the Duke University economics department.
The report recommends four steps it says could save or produce enough energy to replace the need for Cliffside and the nuclear plants. Blackburn says those steps would ultimately cost less than building the new plants.
Rates would still go up, he says. But he contends they would go up more slowly than if the utilities built the plants now planned.
The report addresses energy production and conservation statewide. But it also breaks out demand and production proposals for Duke and Progress separately.
Titled North Carolina’s Energy Future, the report calls for more stringent efficiency requirements; greater production from solar, wind and other alternative technologies; improvements in demand mangement to shift load from peak energy hours, and greater use of waste heat in large industrial plants to produce electricity.
Blackburn argues efficiency programs would be virtually cost-free to customers. Renewable-energy alternatives are generally more expensive than current energy technologies -- coal, gas and nuclear. But the study says energy from the proposed nuclear plants would cost three times as much as current costs.
Solar energy costs more now than the anticipated production costs for nuclear, Blackburn concedes. But he says solar costs are dropping. The costs for nuclear production, he says, are likely to rise.
Sheehan says N.C. WARN has repeatedly argued to state regulators that Duke does not need the proposed plants. She says the arguments it makes against them in the new report have been made before in regulatory hearings. Regulators have so far supported Duke on the construction of the new plants.
She says the proposals in the study distort what can reasonably be saved by efficiency and produced by renewables.
“Duke welcomes critics to the table, but when N.C. WARN continues to misinterpret the numbers, it concerns us,” she says.
The N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network’s new study says new-plant costs -- particularly for multi-billion nuclear plants -- will increase N.C. rates at least 50 percent by 2024.
Report coauthor John Runkle says the increases are likely to be even higher. Nuclear plant costs have increased significantly in recent years. The report used current estimates, but he thinks the plants will cost much more to complete. Prices, he says, could double if utilities go ahead with current plants.
Duke spokeswoman Paige Sheehan takes issue with the N.C. WARN report. She says it contends Duke alone could produce more renewable energy than a N.C.-commissioned report two years ago found was possible to produce statewide.
She also says N.C. WARN opposed Duke’s Save-A-Watt program for energy efficiency. And she says it didn’t support Duke’s rooftop-solar initiative, one of the largest renewable energy programs ever proposed in the state. And she says a proposal to cut the need for plants by reducing energy reserves would be unacceptable to Duke and probably to regulators.
N.C. WARN has been a frequent Duke critic. It has criticized Save-A-Watt as inadequate. It has been in the forefront of opponents to the 825-megawatt coal-fired expansion at the Cliffside Steam Station at the border of Rutherford and Cleveland counties.
It has opposed plans by both Duke and Raleigh-based Progress Energy Inc. (NYSE:PGN) to build four nuclear reactors to produce power. Duke proposes two units in Gaffney, S.C. Progress would add two units to the Shearon Harris Nuclear Station near Raleigh.
N.C. WARN has argued in the past that these plants are unnecessary. The need for them was based on inflated demand projections, the group says.
But the group’s latest report accepts the demand projections by Duke and Progress at face value. It argues there are better and less expensive ways to get the energy needed.
Runkle the attorney for N.C. WARN. He wrote the report issued Tuesday with John Blackburn, former chairman of the Duke University economics department.
The report recommends four steps it says could save or produce enough energy to replace the need for Cliffside and the nuclear plants. Blackburn says those steps would ultimately cost less than building the new plants.
Rates would still go up, he says. But he contends they would go up more slowly than if the utilities built the plants now planned.
The report addresses energy production and conservation statewide. But it also breaks out demand and production proposals for Duke and Progress separately.
Titled North Carolina’s Energy Future, the report calls for more stringent efficiency requirements; greater production from solar, wind and other alternative technologies; improvements in demand mangement to shift load from peak energy hours, and greater use of waste heat in large industrial plants to produce electricity.
Blackburn argues efficiency programs would be virtually cost-free to customers. Renewable-energy alternatives are generally more expensive than current energy technologies -- coal, gas and nuclear. But the study says energy from the proposed nuclear plants would cost three times as much as current costs.
Solar energy costs more now than the anticipated production costs for nuclear, Blackburn concedes. But he says solar costs are dropping. The costs for nuclear production, he says, are likely to rise.
Sheehan says N.C. WARN has repeatedly argued to state regulators that Duke does not need the proposed plants. She says the arguments it makes against them in the new report have been made before in regulatory hearings. Regulators have so far supported Duke on the construction of the new plants.
She says the proposals in the study distort what can reasonably be saved by efficiency and produced by renewables.
“Duke welcomes critics to the table, but when N.C. WARN continues to misinterpret the numbers, it concerns us,” she says.
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