[From Red, Green, and Blue]Hindus have praised the Vatican and Pope Benedict for finishing the installation of its 2400-panel solar photovoltaic array, a move that will cut its carbon monoxide emissions by about 225 tons and save the equivalent of 80 tons of oil each year.

Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, applauded His Holiness Pope Benedictus XVI Joseph A. Ratzinger in a statement, for this “environment friendly move and frequent calls to save the planet and curb environmental degradation.”

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it will contribute $50 million in federal funding to nine demonstration projects to modernize the nation’s electrical energy grid, with the goal of reducing the peak load electricity demand by 15 percent over five years. The list of demonstration projects are as follows:

1.Allegheny Power will develop the “West Virginia Super Circuit” in conjunction with West Virginia University, North Carolina State Universiy will improve distribution system performance, reliability, and security of electric supply through the integration of distributed resources and advanced technologies.

2. Rocky Mountain Power and P&E AUTOMATION, will demonstrate load reduction through an integrated network of diverse renewable generation technologies and intelligent automation. The project will integrate renewable generation and energy storage resources, including compressed-air generation technology, wind-turbines, heat recovery systems, solar trough booster technology, a steam turbine, and hydro-turbine resources.

3. Chevron Energy Solutions will collaborate with Alameda County, PG&E, the University of Wisconsin, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Energy and Environmental Economics to significantly reduce peak load and measurably improve power reliability at the Santa Rita Jail.

4. The City of Fort Collins, in cooperation with Larimer County, Colorado State University, InteGrid Lab, and others will research, develop, and demonstrate a 3.5 megawatt coordinated and integrated system of Mixed Distributed Resources in Fort Collins to achieve a 20-30 percent peak load reduction on multiple distribution feeders.

5. Consolidated Edison Co. of New York, Inc., along with Verizon, Innovative Power, Infotility, and Enernex, will develop and demonstrate methodologies to achieve true interoperability between a delivery company and end-use retail electric customers, enhancing the reliability of the distribution grid and the efficiency of its operations.

6. The Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and others will work to balance loads with distributed resources, advanced sensing, switching, feeder reconfiguration, and controls. This effort will be replicable at any municipality-sized system.

7. San Diego Gas and Electric will develop a dispatchable distribution feeder for peak load reduction and wind-farming in conjunction Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the University of San Diego, Motorola, and Lockheed Martin. The project aims to prove the effectiveness of integrating multiple distributed energy resources with advanced controls and communication systems to improve stability and reduce peak loads on feeders/substations.

8. The University of Hawaii, in cooperation with General Electric, Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc., Maui Electric Company, Columbus Electric Cooperative, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Sentech, and UPC Wind, will explore the management of distribution system resources for improved service quality and reliability, transmission congestion relief, and grid support functions.

9. The University of Nevada will partner with Nevada Power Company, and GE Ecomagination to address the construction of energy efficient homes that overcome electricity grid integration, control, and communications issues by building integrated photovoltaic systems, battery energy storage, and consumer products linked to advanced meters that enable and facilitate an efficient response to consumer energy demands.

Department of Energy press release
Photo: johnnyalive

TOPEKA, Kan. – Supporters of a proposed coal-fired power plant in Kansas that would provide power to most parts of rural Colorado are working to revive it after the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) became the first government agency in the United States to cite carbon dioxide emissions as the reason for rejecting an air permit for a proposed coal-fired electricity generating plant. Tri-State Generation and Transmission’s partner in the project, Sunflower Electric, has filed papers with the KDHE Secretary Rod Bremby to reconsider his rejection of the air permit.

In the written decision to deny the Tri-State/Sunflower permit last Friday, Secretary Bremby said that “it would be irresponsible to ignore emerging information about the contribution of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to climate change and the potential harm to our environment and health if we do nothing.” Sunflower and Tri-State have already begun the appeal process. “We are disappointed with the Secretary’s arbitrary and capricious action,” said Earl Watkins, Sunflower’s president and chief executive officer.

I see the denial of the air permit as an opportunity for Tri-State’s 44 member owned co-ops to seize opportunities in efficiency and renewable energies. Not only is Northern Colorado blessed with excellent wind, solar, and biomass resources that can all be harnessed to make clean, reliable, and cost-effective energy, much the same can be said for most of Tri-State’s coverage area. Tri-State needs to see the writing on the wall that carbon-emission legislation is coming, and that it is only a matter of time before we are living in a carbon-constrained world. In stead of frittering away member-owners’ valuable resources fighting for the construction of new coal-fired power plants, Tri-State should be investing in efficiency, smart-grid technologies, distributed generation, and other ways in which its many members can directly capitalize on the new energy economy.

Exactly how the co-ops will be able to take advantage of the upcoming energy legislation remains to be seen. Rumors continue to swirl that the final bill may be only a skeleton of its former self. I am not playing prognosticator here, but it is quite possible there may be no RPS, no solar tax credit, no extension of the federal production tax credit, and only a meager increase in CAFE standards. I believe that something useful will be passed out of the legislature, I’m just a little skeptical about how many of those good things will make it.

Yet there may be one kernel of hope for renewable energy that is tucked away in the otherwise much-maligned farm bill that would grow renewables by incentivizing distributed microgeneration through a tax credit for small wind. More on this later this week…

Photo Credits:
1. Brian Brainerd, Denver Post

When the Colorado Rockies host their first-ever World Series homestand next week against their still to be determined AL foes, there will be flashing coming from more sources than the leather gloves of their pesky infielders. The team will also have a chance to flash the lights of their new solar-powered LED scoreboard. The project at Denver’s Coors field is the first commercial-scale solar electric power system to be installed in a Major League Baseball park. As the result of a partnership between the Rockies and Xcel Energy, the system should produce more than enough electricity to power the scoreboard over the course of a year. The sleek SunPower solar modules are grid-tied and integrated with a flat-panel monitoring system that allows fans at the park to observe real-time system performance and scoreboard energy use (the same real-time data has also been made available online here). Thus far, the project has been a net exporter of 2200 kWh of electricity since the system was installed in April.

Not to be one-upped by corporate interests, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter was eager to take some credit and quick to congratulate the Rockies for their leadership as he called upon MLB, the NFL and “stadium owners throughout the nation to follow the example we’ve set by deploying solar at Coors Field” (emphasis added). I am not completely certain who the “we” Ritter is referring to but, I suppose that last year’s passage of a bill that doubled Colorado’s renewable energy standard from 10 to 20%, Gov. Ritter is entitled to some credit-claiming. The renewable requirement has thus far meant that investor-owned utilities like Xcel have been eager to buy renewable energy credits and sign long-term power purchase agreements from nearly any energy provider.

Installed in April by Independent Power Systems of Boulder, CO, the project consists of an array of 46 high-efficiency SunPower 215 watt modules that cover what was a mostly open walkway below the bleacher section. In a bit of serendipity, the girders over the walkway happened to slope a perfect 36 degrees. “It’s as if they designed the stadium for a 10-kilowatt solar system,” said Tony Boniface, president of Independent Power. But, because the panels are in straight-away centerfield, the contractors had to conduct a “glare analysis” to ensure the reflections wouldn’t blind batters. “We didn’t want to give slumping hitters an excuse,” Boniface said. Considering how the Rockies are playing and hitting the ball, the panels do not seem to be causing too much of a glare problem (at least lately).
Greenwashing?
Consider how much electricity a modern sports stadium draws from the grid to power the extensive infrastructures of lighting and climate control systems, cooking stations, hot water, refrigeration and (in Colorado’s case) humidors. Now consider the light being emitted by the small scoreboard in the center of the first image as compared to the other sources of light in the first image. Skeptics might charge that the solar-powered scoreboard exemplifies greenwashing, as it is nothing more than an expensive billboard that creates the illusion of corporate and social responsibility, while masking the more difficult problems related to demand and consumption.

Part of me sides with the skeptic on this one, but I also see that this is not only a smart marketing move by all of the parties involved (especially if they buy adtime or if they are featured in one of those little side-line stories), but that it has some positive political and social effects as well. The high-visibility of the solar array, located in what is essentially a public good, combined with the interactivity of the installation educates people by allowing them to see the costs and benefits of renewable energy generation firsthand (Although I’ll admit that I found a little humor whilst looking at the small scoreboard within the larger context of flashing lights, fireworks and thumping music).

[Note: My original intent was to post this on the day after the NL pennant-clinching game, but I needed a day to recover after a fit of revelry that kept us from returning home from the game until quite late.]

Photo Credits:
1. Tim Hurst
2. Independent Power Systems