There’s a very good lesson to be learned here. As excited as people are about bringing clean, renewable energy to their communities they should always perform due diligence when evaluating clean energy projects or vendors. In Minnesota you would need to have absolute assurance that a system exposed to the elements (which I would imagine could get extreme in Minnesota in the winter) will perform in all weather conditions.

1. Alternative Energy – Part 1
2. Alternative Energy – Part 2
3. Government’s Role
4. Learning About Energy

“We want to have the ability to procure renewable energy to offset power usage of our operations,” said Niki Fenwick, a Google spokeswoman. Ms. Fenwick said that having access to more renewable energy could help the company fulfill its goal to become “carbon neutral.”

Well that’s what Ms. Fenwick said, but simply procuring renewable energy is probably not the end game here. Here’s why. In Google’s application they have applied to become a power marketer. That means they will be able to buy and sell electricity on the wholesale market. Okay, fine. But check out the following passage from the FERC  filing.

In addition to engaging in sales of electricity that are unregulated by the Commission, Applicant proposes to act as a power marketer, purchasing electricity and reselling it to wholesale customers. Applicant may also engage in other, non-jurisdictional, activities to facilitate efficient trade in the bulk power market, such as arranging services in related areas such as transmission and fuel supplies.

That section of the filing clearly indicates that Google Energy plans to do much more than just purchase renewable energy. They plan to sell energy too. Later on in Section III, Paragraph D of the filing you’ll find the following statement.

Applicant requests authority to sell specified ancillary services that the Commission has authorized market-based entities to sell in the markets operated by…

They go on to list almost all of the organized electricity markets in the U.S. as places where they would like to sell ancillary services. For those not in the know, ancillary services involves providing services, such as energy reserves for example, to the electric grid that help to maintain the stability and security of the grid. We don’t need to delve too much further into the details of that to know that it goes beyond merely providing for Google’s own energy needs.

There are many options for Google Energy with respect to electric market participation if their application is approved by the FERC. It’s true that Google Energy could simply purchase electricity to meet their own needs and do nothing more. But Google could do that without becoming a power marketer. The filed application indicates that Google has even larger aspirations than just purchasing power from the markets. We’ll just have to wait and see.

On September 2nd of this year the New York Times published a story titled, Energy Company Calls Halt to Drilling Project. The main reason the project was halted was due to the fact that AltaRock was unable to drill a sufficient hole, only going down about 800 feet from their starting point of 3,200 feet. In order to move forward the NY Times story states that the drilling needed to reach 12,000 feet. Concerns about the project were already inflated at the time of the shutdown due to the fact that a similar effort in Switzerland had been blamed for an earthquake.

At the time of the original announcement we had our doubts about the viability of the project.

EGS may be indeed be a viable clean energy generation technology. It is also a very a risky and expensive technology that yields its share of negative environmental impacts.

Unfortunately it appears that our instincts were correct. There’s no such thing as a free lunch in power generation. If you want to extract power from the earth the earth makes you pay a heavy price. In this case the price seems to have been too high for AltaRock, their investors and the State of California. AltaRock Energy indicated in their official press release that they continue to seek out other enhanced geothermal projects.

We are continuing with the development of our EGS technology and are currently evaluating a number of alternative well locations, at the Geysers and elsewhere for demonstrating this technology.

Neighbors around the Altona wind park reported hearing loud explosions before the turbine apparently snapped in half around 10 a.m. and then caught fire.

Helen Morales, who lives near the fallen Fisher Way turbine, didn’t hear anything, but earlier saw the blades on one turbine “spinning at a high rate of speed” and noted that the air appeared “cloudy” around it.

The 97.5 megawatt facility is run by Noble Environmental Power of Connecticut.  Noble released a pair of statements on Friday commenting on the incident. The first statement confirmed the collapse and subsequent fire while also indicating that there were no injuries. The second statement provided an update on the situation and indicated that the collapsed turbine was manufactured by General Electric.

The facility is currently closed and Noble has indicated that an investigation will take several months.

In recent months the installed capacity of wind in New York state has grown to over 1000 megawatts. The Altona wind farm represents a little less than ten percent of the total installed wind capacity in New York State. The outage is likely to affect the wind farm owner a lot more than it will the state electric grid. Like many renewable power companies Noble has cut back on spending in recent months and implemented staff reductions as the credit markets have frozen up.

This incident is likely to raise questions about wind turbine installation and maintenance procedures. Wind power has been exploding in the U.S. over the last few years. And even though the technology is widely used around the world there is still a lot to learn about it. Hopefully wind turbine manufacturers and plant operators will take a cue from this incident and review their procedures to ensure that turbines are manufactured, installed and operated with the highest standards of safety and durability in mind.

Pickens delays world’s biggest wind farm project

T Boone Pickens, a renowned Texan oilman who is raising the capital for the wind farm, told a US television station today that the twofold problem was slowing down his ambitious plan. Pickens, who made a fortune from the oil industry but has been converted to renewable energy as a means of ending US dependence on foreign oil, announced the original plan for the wind farm last year and construction was supposed to start in 2010.

Chrysler Launches New Hybrids, then Cancels Production

In a sign of these strange economic times, Chrysler LLC is simultaneously preparing to launch its first hybrid vehicles and to shut down their production. Chrysler announced that it will close the Newark Assembly Plant in Newark, Delaware, at the end of this year, a move that will bring an end to the Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen in all their forms, including the new hybrids.

Evergreen Solar files suit against Lehman Bros.

Evergreen Solar Inc., a Marlborough manufacturer of solar power panels, said today it has filed suit against Barclays and Lehman Brothers in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy cases. Evergreen Solar said it is demanding the immediate return of Evergreen stock shares loaned to Lehman Brothers in July as Evergreen Solar seeks to challenge Barclay’s ownership claim to shares transferred during Lehman Brothers bankruptcy proceedings.

FPL Group to cut spending, wind power growth

FPL Group, the largest operator of wind-power generation in the United States, said on Monday it would slash its 2009 spending because of the economic slump, reducing its wind turbine additions. The company said it would cut 2009 planned capital expenditures nearly 25 percent to $5.3 billion and add 1,100 megawatts in new wind-power generation rather than the 1,500 megawatts it originally had planned.

More items on the news page. Follow all of the clean energy news that I pick up around the web by bookmarking my link account at http://delicious.com/cleanenergydigest.

The chief reason given for the rejection was related to viability of the project. According to the story, “The commission noted that a prototype buoy deployed by Finavera off the Oregon coast in 2007 sank before its six-week test period was concluded.”

The buoy in question sank in November of 2007 just one day before it was to be removed from the ocean.

Wind-farm Workers Laid Off

Noble Environmental Power has stopped work at its Bellmont and Chateaugay wind-energy projects and laid off its workers. And it appears the bankruptcy of one of its major financial backers may have played a part. “Due to conditions in the financial markets, Noble Environmental Power has had to scale back its development plans for 2009,” Noble Chief Executive Officer Walter Howard said in a written statement.

Tesla Motors Hits Brakes Amid Credit Crisis

Citing “extraordinary times,” Tesla Motors, maker of the battery-powered, $109,000 Roadster, said Wednesday that difficult market conditions were forcing it to delay production of its next-generation vehicle, close two offices, lay off an unspecified number of employees and replace its chief executive.

Like all power projects, clean energy projects rely on investment capital. Investment capital is in short supply right now and is likely to be in short supply for the foreseeable future.

GM set to bring Volt electric car to Europe “General Motors is planning to rebadge its Chevrolet Volt electric car as an Opel and bring it to Europe as part of the US carmaker’s plans to expand the model range of its highly anticipated new vehicle.”

First Tidal Power Generator “This summer, the first commercial electrical generator to draw power from the ocean tide began supplying Northern Ireland with energy.”

Juhl Wind plans three new wind farms in Minnesota “Juhl Wind has signed agreements for three new wind farm projects in Minnesota.”

GM to install solar panels at Baltimore plant “General Motors Corp. said Thursday it will install solar panels on the roof of its transmission assembly plant in White Marsh, Md., allowing the automaker to displace 20 percent of the power that it buys from a local utility.”

Fresh Kills, New Yorks Next Wind Farm? “Having spent decades persuading the city to close the giant Fresh Kills landfill, Staten Island officials are now arguing that the vast site would be the perfect home for the energy-creating windmills that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has proposed as a way to make New York City more sustainable.”

More items on the news page. Follow all of the clean energy news that I pick up around the web by bookmarking my link account at http://delicious.com/cleanenergydigest.

“Mr. Bloomberg said he would ask private companies and investors to study how windmills can be built across the city, with the aim of weaning it off the nation’s overtaxed power grid, which has produced several crippling blackouts in New York over the last decade.”

Rooftop wind installations are on the rise across the country but in some cases they don’t really pay off in the area of carbon reductions. And although a variety of designs for rooftop wind turbines exist, standard commercial wind turbines are still the most proven and efficient wind generation technology.

In addition to efficiency issues there are plenty of potential pitfalls ahead in the quest to bring commercial grade wind power to New York City. Safety will be one concern. If the city attempts to maximize their output by using a standard commercial turbine they will have to consider the potential impact of ice throw during the winter months. The visual footprint of proposed turbines is likely to attract great scrutiny as well.

Mayor Bloomberg also mentioned offshore wind planning in addition to urban installations. There’s no doubt that the potential is there to generate large amounts of clean electricity not too far from the coast of southeastern New York. The process to site such wind will likely be onerous (see Cape Wind) as questions about economics, impact to ocean based industries and environmental concerns are explored.

According to a story on EurActiv.com, Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy are supporting a plan that would involve the construction of massive solar plants in North Africa. Energy from the plants would be delivered to European consumers via a new high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission system.

The idea is based on the construction of a €45 billion high voltage direct current (DC) grid that could transfer electricity produced by Saharan and North African solar installations to consumers thousands of kilometres away. The construction of a new DC grid would be necessary since most of the EU’s existing power grids operate on the basis of alternating current (AC) and as such lose too much electricity over long distances to make such a project viable.

To call this plan incredibly ambitious would be an understatement. Between the price tag and logistics it is likely that such a project would take many years to actually complete. The idea of using HVDC to transport reneweable power over long distances is becoming a popular one. The state of California is investigating the prospect of accessing clean energy from Vancouver, British Columbia.

According to a press release from Puget Sound Energy, “Prior to the revision, federal regulations (interpreting section 45 of the Internal Revenue Code) restricted federal tax credits for renewable energy production in a way that barred their use by utilities that were partnering with investors to generate renewable energy.”

Many larger utilities will sell their generated power to an affiliate company which then brokers the power on the open market. In order to qualify for the credit the final sale of the energy generated by the facility must be sold to a party unrelated to the utility. This allows the utility to sell the power to an affiliated intermediate party who can then broker the energy and complete the sale.

The Wall Street Journal recently published a special feature section on the topic of energy. A few of the stories focused on clean energy issues including the ones listed below.

The Case For and Against Nuclear Power “Proponents insist that nuclear is a necessary alternative in an energy-constrained world, while opponents are convinced that the costs are way too high to justify the safety hazards. The debate rages on.”

Shedding Light On Solar “Why is solar power so expensive? And what’s being done to bring down the costs? Here are some answers for the befuddled.”

You Can’t Get There From Here “Utilities are moving to harvest more power from renewable-energy sources like the wind and sun. The problem is getting that power to the places that need it.”

View these articles and more at the Wall Street Journal Energy section.

On May 29, 2008 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced a temporary moratorium on applications to site solar projects on public lands. According to the statement issued by the BLM, ““Preparing a programmatic EIS is a necessary first step in evaluating to what extent public lands with high solar energy potential may be able to help meet the Nation’s need for renewable energy…”

This temporary moratorium might be alarming if there was no good reason for it. But there is a good reason. The surge of applications to site solar on public lands has created the need for such evaluation. As it stands there are 125 projects for land covering almost one-million acres in the BLM queue. If those projects were to be completed the resulting energy output would be enough to power 20 million American homes.

The existing applications will continue to move forward during the programmatic EIS process. According to the BLM statement, “During work on the PEIS, the BLM will focus attention on the 125 applications already received for rights-of-way for solar energy development, while deferring new applications until after completion of the PEIS. ” In short, there are plenty of solar projects to be evaluated and developed. Also consider the fact that the scope of these projects does not include many private solar projects that are taking place all over the country.

Most people don’t understand that there is more to locating a solar plant than just dropping panels onto the ground. Consider the issue of connecting all these solar projects to the grid. Transmission line construction will be required. And you can bet your bottom dollar that such construction is likely to be opposed by many of the same groups that criticize the programmatic EIS in the first place. The process announced by the BLM can address some of the issues that are likely to be debated before companies invest millions into projects that become hampered by the protests of environmental interest groups.

The U.S. government has the obligation to perform due diligence to ensure that solar energy projects sited on public lands are feasible. This program, if operated consistent with the stated plans, assists the government in meeting that obligation while affording them the ability to focus on the robust queue of current requests.

Duke Energy to invest $100 million in solar power “Duke Energy Corp said on Monday it plans to spend $100 million to install solar panels at up to 850 homes, schools, stores and factories in North Carolina.”

New solar farm goes online “Sunrays falling on a 10-acre plot of solar panels in Oakdale have quietly begun to produce electricity for the South San Joaquin Irrigation District’s water treatment plant next door.”

NY to support carbon burial demonstration plant “The state of New York will grant $6 million for a demonstration coal-burning power plant that would permanently store underground emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.”

Towering Fuel Cell “The New York Power Authority (NYPA) has inked a $10.6m deal with UTC Power that will make the redeveloped World Trade Center the site of one of the largest fuel cell installations in the world.”

Gamesa, Iberdrola Renovables ink world-biggest wind turbine deal “Spanish turbine maker Gamesa said Friday it had won the world’s largest ever wind turbine sales order from Iberdrola Renovables, for generation capacity amounting to 4,500 MW.”

More items on the news page. Follow all of the clean energy news that I pick up around the web by bookmarking my link account at http://del.icio.us/cleanenergydigest.

Biopower Systems Builds Ocean Power Technologies “Yet Sydney, Australia, based BioPower Systems, in seeking to prove the old dictum that you can’t improve on nature, has done just that: building two ocean power conversion systems modeled around a shark’s fin and a sea plant’s fronds.”

We Energies turns on Fond du Lac County wind farm “We Energies said that it placed 88 turbines at its $300 million Fond du Lac County wind power development into commercial service Monday, marking the launch of a renewable energy source that’s expected to power 36,000 homes.”

Stantec Bringing Solar and Wind Energy to Brooklyn Navy Yard “Stantec today announced that a new, 89,000-square-foot building under construction at the Brooklyn Navy Yard will feature energy-saving solar and wind-generated power as part of a renewable energy pilot program.”

World’s largest smart meter group set up “A private investment group today launched the world’s largest smart metering company under the Landis+Gyr brand to capitalise on a worldwide push toward greater energy efficiency.”

South Africa switches on 1st wind farm “South Africa’s energy minister inaugurated the country’s first wind farm Friday, acknowledging that the government has done too little to develop renewable energy over the past decade.”

More items on the news page. Follow all of the clean energy news that I pick up around the web by bookmarking my link account at http://del.icio.us/cleanenergydigest.

Biggest U.S. Solar Rooftop Planned “A Pennsylvania energy company is putting up what it says will be the largest rooftop solar installation in the country. The 1.7-megawatt solar system will go on the rooftops of eight buildings at the Summit, N.J., campus of pharmaceutical company Schering-Plough Corp.”

Shell, E.ON Stall Offshore Wind Projects EU Needs “Equipment shortages and rising costs are stalling as much as $120 billion of offshore projects the European Union and other governments are counting on to reduce the use of fossil fuels and combat global warming.”

REI To Convert 11 Stores To Solar Power “Recreational Equipment Inc. said it will convert 11 of its stores in three states to utilize solar electric technology that the retailer said will provide up to 35 percent of the stores’ energy needs.”

Alabama Power to install “smart meters” for all customers “Over the next three years, Alabama Power plans to phase in new “smart meters” for its residential customers.”

More items on the news page. Follow all of the clean energy news that I pick up around the web by bookmarking my link account at http://del.icio.us/cleanenergydigest.

GM is conducting a pilot program called Project Driveway that provides 100 hydrogen fuel cell powered cars to drivers in New York, California and Washington, D.C. The vehicle in provided is a hydrogen-powered Chevy Equinox sport utility vehicle.

A writer from the New York Daily News took the vehicle for a test drive and reported, “The Equinox makes a series of mechanical sounds reminiscent of the robot from “Lost In Space,” and off we drive. The brakes are mushy, but the ride is quietly smooth — though not too powerful.”

Hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles have sounded like a great idea for years. We can easily make hydrogen here in the U.S. And vehicles powered by fuel cells emit no harmful gases. Development of the fuel cells still has a ways to go before they are considered viable for mass use in automobiles. Another issue with fuel cell powered vehicles involves refueling. There are a very limited number of hydrogen refueling stations, which is the main reason why Chevy is limiting their pilot to three metro areas.

General Motors isn’t the only major car company with a hydrogen powered vehicle in development. Kia, Mazda, BMW and Honda also have models that they hope to put on the road in large numbers sometime in the future.

Start-Ups Race To Produce ‘Green’ Cars “Spurred by the belief that the market for fuel-efficient vehicles is about to take off, a slew of tiny car companies is springing up in Europe and the U.S. They are racing to produce the next “green” car, betting that soaring demand will allow them to survive alongside the giants of Detroit, Stuttgart and Tokyo.”

DOE Helps Greensburg, Kansas, Rebuild as a Wind-Powered City “DOE’s work with the city of Greensburg, Kansas, over the past year is bearing fruit, as the city is now rebuilding with a new emphasis on energy efficient buildings and renewable energy, particularly wind energy.”

U.S. wind industry installs 1,400 MW in 1st quarter “With the fate of a key federal incentive in the balance, the U.S. wind energy industry continued new installations at a breakneck pace in the first quarter of 2008, putting 1,400 megawatts (MW) or approximately $3 billion worth of new generating capacity in place, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said today in its quarterly market report.”

EBay opens building with largest solar roof in San Jose “ Building 17, which will get a name like Earth or Eco today, has the largest commercial solar roof in San Jose, the company says. It’s the first new building the 13-year-old online auction company has ever built.”

Energy Secretary Talks About Future Gen Alternatives “Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Thursday he scrapped a plan to build a $1.8 billion clean-coal power plant in central Illinois when its projected price tag ballooned, but he couldn’t explain the cost increase.”

More items on the news page. Follow all of the clean energy news that I pick up around the web by bookmarking my link account at http://del.icio.us/cleanenergydigest.

Go to the fleet dashboard and you can find links to the vehicles that are submitting data that can be viewed on the web. I took a detailed look at the Comoe vehicle and was able to see the info below.

You can see a lot more info and look at the data for the other vehicles by going to the RechargeIT site. The key point here is the fact that the technology Google is using may represent the future of hybrid vehicle technology where performance and gas mileage can be stored for later analysis. By analyzing the performance of the vehicle after the fact, drivers or fleet owners may be able to identify engine problems or driving patterns that are reducing the efficiency of the vehicle.

Duke Renewables Pipeline Triples in 12 Months “Duke Energy said Friday that its renewable energy development business has increased its “pipeline” of projects to more than 3,000 MW and has 280 MW of wind capacity under construction in Texas and Wyoming.”

GM CEO says 2010 Volt Launch On Schedule “General Motors Corp Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said on Thursday the No. 1 U.S. automaker had not hit any obstacles yet that would force it to delay the planned 2010 launch of its plug-in hybrid, the Chevrolet Volt.”

Shell Pulls Out of Key Wind Power Project “Plans for a massive expansion of offshore wind power generation were in disarray on Wednesday night after Shell pulled out of the UK’s flagship project.”

Philadelphia Brownfield To Get Solar Power Plant “It’s not always sunny in Philadelphia, but the city is getting a solar power plant. Exelon Generation Co., a unit of Exelon Corp. in Chicago, is joining forces with Epuron LLC to build, operate and sell energy from the plant in South Philadelphia.”

More items on the news page. Follow all of the clean energy news that I pick up around the web by bookmarking my link account at http://del.icio.us/cleanenergydigest.

There are other offshore wind projects being proposed, most notably the Bluewater Wind project off of Maryland and a Winergy Power proposal off of Long Island, NY. Winergy’s project is notable because they recently upped the size of their farm to a very robust 940 megawatts.

Getting approval for the Winergy project is going to be tough. An offshore wind proposal by Florida Power & light (FPL) for the same general area was rejected due to cost concerns in 2007. Times are changing and so is the price of oil which closed today at $117.48 per barrel.

The head of the Long Island Power Authority nixed the FPL proposal but seems to have softened his stance, calling the proposal, “something to explore…especially as oil hits $113 a barrel and the cost of fuel continues to increase.”

Offshore wind can definitely be viable and may soon be desperately needed to meet rising demand in cities like New York and Boston. As fossil fuel costs rise and the public calls for more action on environmental issues it’s likely that those who oppose offshore wind will find fewer friendly ears to bend when making their case to stop these projects.

• U.S. Department of Energy Invests in Solar Cities – Twelve cities have been selected and will receive $200,000 each, “to integrate a variety of solar technologies, such as solar water heating, solar photovoltaic electric systems, and large-scale solar thermal electric systems, which are also known as concentrating solar power.”
• Southern California Edison Will Install 250W of Solar Panels – Spread out over the next five years, “The project is the nation’s largest solar photovoltaic project, covering 2.33 square miles of rooftop at an estimated cost of $875 million.”
• PG&E Enters Into 900MW Solar Contract – The California utility, “has contracted with BrightSource Energy Inc. to receive up to 900 megawatts worth of solar power per year.”

Solar stocks moved briskly northward this past week as well. First Solar (FSLR) was up 21%. Evergreen Solar (ESLR) was up 17.6%. SunPower (SPWR) Corporation was up 22.7%. PowerShares Wilder Hill Clean Energy Fund (PBW) was up 9.5%.

Solar has an advantage over wind power in many areas of the United States because installations have a very low footprint compared to windmills. Solar technologies can also be implemented in urban areas without any cause for alarm. On the downside, solar effectiveness depends on a strong concentration of sun’s rays that is only evident in a small percentage of the U.S. footprint.

Worldwide demand for solar is growing though. And the investment due to this demand will assist with improvements in solar technology that will benefit the U.S. as well.

Disclosure: I own shares in the PowerShares Wilder Hill Clean Energy Fund.

California also lead in capacity added in 2007 with 1,618 megawatts. Colorado was second with an added wind capacity of 776 megawatts in 2007. The state of Iowa took the crown for largest percentage of electricity generated from wind at 5.5%.

It may surprise some that California is not even close to Texas in these metrics. After all, the state of California has been very aggressive in support of renewable energy over the last decade. We must consider topographical and infrastructure issues though.

A considerable amount of the land mass in California is occupied by mountainous regions that are very unfriendly to the sighting of wind farms. Texas, on the other hand, is mostly flat.

California is also running into transmission bottlenecks. They would like to site even more wind but in order to do so they need more power lines to deliver the energy from the desert (where much of California’s wind capacity resides) to the  population centers.  Texas will be running into the same problem very soon.

Solving the transmission bottleneck issue will be expensive for both states. ERCOT, the Texas electric market operator just filed a report that assesses the wind related infrastructure costs in Texas to be between $2.95 and $5.75 billion dollars.

AWEA 2008 Annual Rankings Report