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Pickens’ plan is a very basic one in theory. America beefs up wind-powered generation to 20% or more of our total capacity. America in turn reduces our dependence on natural gas fired power plants. Then the natural gas that we’re not using in power plans gets utilized in the transportation sector. The use of natural gas in transportation greatly reduces America’s need for imported oil.

Mr. Pickens is currently taking steps to implement the wind portion of the plan by developing up to 18,000 megawatts of wind in the vast open spaces of the Texas panhandle. That plan took one more step towards reality this past week when the Texas Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved almost $5 billion in transmission upgrades to support the development of the wind projects. Benefits from the recently approved lines might be seen in as little as three years.

Does The Plan Make Sense?

The plan makes sense in that it sets out to develop a large amount of clean energy. Both the state of Texas and the country as a whole are likely to see economic and environmental benefits over the long term. The money invested in building massive wind farms and epic transmission projects will create sustainable employment for thousands of American workers. Once completed these projects will generate millions of megawatts of clean energy which means cleaner skies and less dependence on foreign oil. The energy generated will be less expensive than natural gas fired generation and that should help to bring down electricity prices for consumers.

The natural gas part of the plan does not make as much sense as the wind part. It’s true that new wind will reduce the need for natural gas generation. But massive wind farms won’t eliminate the need for natural gas in electricity production. Natural gas plants can generate on command. Wind farms can’t necessarily do that. Natural gas plants can ramp to meet unexpected demand. Wind farms can only ramp if a portion of their capacity is purposefully witheld. So while T. Boone’s wind farms will replace some of the need for natural gas plants, plenty of plants will still be necessary. And then there’s the transportation issue.

Natural Gas Vehicles

Natural gas use in the transportation industry in the U.S. is severely limited. According to the Pickens Plan Only 150,000 natural gas vehicles are in use in the U.S. In order for a shift in natural gas use to take place the auto industry will need to be on board with the plan.

Honda manufactures a natural gas vehicle with their Civic GX model. The car is sold in very few markets, has a $10,000 mark up over the standard Civic and requires special equipment installed in the home at extra cost to the buyer. These factors, and the lack of refueling stations, make the Civic GX a tough sell to most drivers.

And while there are various commercial natural gas fleets (some cities have natural gas buses) around the nation they represent only a small fraction of total vehicles on the road. If the Pickens Plan is to come to fruition then vehicle manufacturers will need to get on board and start developing more vehicles that run on natural gas. That does not seem likely as most of the buzz in the auto industry is focused on electric or hydrogen powered vehicles. Vehicle manufacturers are not likely to get on board until there is a workable plan to create a natural gas delivery infrastructure to support refueling. Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?

Transmitting That Power

The other major issue, which Pickens seems to have well in hand in Texas, is transmission. The state of Texas has vast open spaces that provide great opportunities for new transmission. Not so in the rest of the nation. Oh, and those lines will cost tens of billions of dollars to build. Plus there are “right of way” issues. All these details and more will continue to slow the integration of wind in areas that are populated enough to really need it.

Watching With Interest

Clean Energy Digest will be keeping an eye on T. Boone Pickens and his large Texas projects. If nothing else Mr. Pickens initiative just might become the standard bearer in the U.S. for building and transmitting wind energy on a massive scale.

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The graphic at left shows coal prices are up about 100% since the beginning of 2008. And although coal is still very inexpensive when compared with oil and natural gas it is very likely that these price increases will have a ripple effect in the marketplace for energy.

The allure of cleaner sources of energy will surely increase as the cost of coal increases. Google has stated goal of making renewable energy cheaper than coal via their RE<C initiative. Google probably didn’t count on coal prices rising sharply when they kicked off RE<C, but the effects of the coal price increase will be what Google intended just the same.

For the moment coal is still quite a bit cheaper than all other sources of energy except nuclear. Several other factors besides price close the economic gap between coal and clean energy sources. The future cost of emissions is an important cost and a big unknown in the U.S. at this time. Producing power with coal also yields costs with respect to goodwill and public relations. Energy companies whose portfolio contains significant amounts of coal fired generation must spend extra money to convince the public that they being as responsible as they can be. That is a cost that needs to be factored into the economics of coal too.

EIA Coal News and Markets (Archive)

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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.

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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.

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A Set Price For Production

A feed-in tariff sets a flat rate that a utility must pay someone who generates renewable electricity. Feed-in tariffs allow small producers of renewable energy a certain return on investment without the volatility of wholesale and retail market pricing.

Germany is well known as an early mover in the creation of feed-in tariffs. Germany’s tariff is widely believed to be the reason that they are now the world leader in solar powered energy production. In February of 2008,The State of California approved a feed-in tariff applicable for up to 480 megawatts of renewable energy created by small producers.

On June 11, 2008 Rep. Jay Inslee announced that he would be introducing a bill that would establish a federal feed-in tariff in the United States.

Feed-in tariff legislation is not a slam dunk by any stretch of the imagination. Because the rates paid under these tariffs are set higher than standard energy prices, they are effectively subsidized by the utilities who purchase the power. Those utilities may pass the extra costs related to the tariff on to their customers.

Balancing Production And Use

Net metering rules allow small producers of renewable energy to offset their use of energy with production from their renewable generators. Under these rules production of energy effectively rolls back the meter so that the producer is ultimately charged (or paid) for the net of their production and use. This type of pricing scheme is especially effective for small energy producers who consume more power than they generate.

The EIA reports that over 34,000 customers in the U.S. utilized net metering programs in 2006 with the vast majority (about 75%) of these customers located in California. The number of customers accessing net metering programs represents about 1% of all the customers in the United States. Net metering rules are implemented at the state level vary widely from state to state.

While net metering seems to be a very beneficial aspect of a retail electric market there are some potential drawbacks to these schemes. According to the EERE, “Net metering has the potential to be a bad deal for utilities. If market penetration of solar and other renewable energy-powered buildings becomes substantial, utilities are likely to become concerned with revenue losses.”

Common Technology Issues

The electric meter is the common technology element that is important to both of these programs. In order for these programs to work effectively a customer must have a meter that can either register produced power or effectively spin backwards in order to provide the net of consumption and production. In some cases the meter must register supply and demand time-stamped at different times of day. I plan to explore advanced metering technology and its effect on clean energy in future posts.

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$45 trillion urged in battling carbon emissions “ The International Energy Agency said Friday that investment totaling $45 trillion might be needed over the next half-century to prevent energy shortages and greenhouse gas emissions from undermining global economic growth.”

Clear Skies Solar plans $44 million Californian solar farm “Clear Skies Solar has purchased 34 acres of land in Cantil, California, the planned site of a US$44 million eight MW solar farm.”

DOE Announces $30 Million for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles “Assistant Secretary of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Andy Karsner today announced up to $30 million in funding over three years for three cost-shared Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) demonstration and development projects.”

US Rep. Boucher offers bill to create CCS demonstration fund “US Rep. Rick Boucher, who chairs the House Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee, introduced a bill on Thursday that would establish a private multi-billion-dollar fund to finance large-scale projects designed to demonstrate carbon-capture and sequestration technologies.”

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

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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.

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Many people are inclined to ask, "What happened on Friday?" That’s not the right question though. Something has been happening over a much longer period of time. It’s only now that anyone is taking notice. The chickens are coming home to roost if you will.

The situation is this. We have fast rising fuel prices, not only for oil but natural gas too. Almost everything we do requires fuel. Fuel allows people to use technology to create energy. Energy powers our homes, businesses our lifestyles. The need for energy is ubiquitous, hence the need for fuel is ubiquitous. The vast majority of the energy in the United States is generated via fossil fuels.

The U.S. isn’t the only consumer of fuel in the world. The U.K. and Europe also demand vast quantities of fossil fuels, albeit much less than the U.S. There was a time when the market was driven by demand in the U.S., U.K. and Europe. That time has past. Demand is also driven by India, China and other developing nations as well. The irony of the situation is the fact that prosperity in the U.S. and other places is the direct cause of the demand coming from India and China. Don’t blame India and China though. They’re building their economies just like the U.S. has done for decades. And we in the U.S. are driving that growth.

The situation is simple and complex at the same time. Higher fuel costs increase the cost of energy. Since energy is required to do almost everything this means that every aspect of the economy is affected by rising fuel costs. Of late the market has seen flat supply of the most necessary fuels while demand has increased. So if supply of fuel is increased along with a reduction in demand then we are likely to see lower prices for fuel and energy. Those lower prices will help to stabilize the economy in the U.S. That’s the simple part.

The hard part is figuring out what the most important problem is and how to solve it. There is a supply problem. Not enough oil is being pumped to give the market a good feeling that the value will go down. There is a demand problem. If supply increases but demand does not decrease then there may not be a drop in prices. There is a technology problem. The technology required to greatly reduce demand for fossil fuels is moving along slowly. There’s no doubt that for all the funding they’ve received of late that clean energy technologies still cannot compete with fossil fuels in terms of the ability to meet our energy requirements. These problems and others constitute the complex part of the scenario.

Countries really need strong leaders to assist in solving these sorts of complex problems. The problems related to fossil fuels are no different. The situation is dire. The rapid rise in fuel costs is starting to ripple through the U.S. economy with companies like Ford, General Motors, American Airlines, Continental Airlines (heck all the airlines) crying uncle. Gas prices are sharply higher. Food costs are sharply higher of late. This rapid rise in fuel costs is a very real problem that affects everyone. So how do we get costs under control?

Our leaders (and that means Mr. President and elected representatives) need to step up and get cracking on a pragmatic energy policy. The policy should include aggressive measures to diversify the mix of fuels we use. That means more wind, solar and biomass. It also means more nuclear power (that’s right nuclear) and electric transmission to go along with it. It also means cars that use much less gasoline than they do today.

A new energy policy should also devote assets to increasing the U.S. supply of fossil fuel. New sources of natural gas and oil are desperately needed. Without these we have no way to counter the reduced output and growing demand around the world. Drilling is unpopular but very necessary if we want to build energy security for the U.S. and the world markets.

Education should be a very key component of a new energy policy as well. All the public sees now is sound byte rhetoric from legislators looking to make headlines. Where are the leaders getting on television, explaining the situation and telling people what they can do to help? They don’t exist today. The President of the United States could do this and I have no idea why he hasn’t. Are these issues not of utmost national importance?

The situation we are in today has taken decades to create. So there’s no reason to believe that it won’t take that long to reverse. If we get started today, the United States can continue to reduce our demand for fossil fuels. We can also continue to increase our fossil fuel supplies in order to stabilize the market. We can also become the leaders who will reap great benefits from implementing the latest clean energy technologies. Finally, every American (especially those who live very large) can pitch in today by getting smarter about energy and changing their ways accordingly.

Are our leaders in Washington ready to lead the way? For the sake of the nation and the world, I sure hope so.

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Purpose

The purpose of the Act is stated within as follows:

(1) to establish the core of a Federal program that will reduce United States greenhouse gas emissions substantially enough between 2007 and 2050 to avert the catastrophic impacts of global climate change; and

(2) to accomplish that purpose while preserving robust growth in the United States economy, creating new jobs, and avoiding the imposition of hardship on United States citizens.

In short, the bill aims to reduce harmful emissions between 2012 and 2050 without destroying the U.S. economy.

Method

The purpose will be achieved by creating caps on emissions from certain ‘covered’ facilities. For the most part the caps will apply to any coal, natural gas or oil fired power plant. The caps will also apply to companies that operate large vehicle fleets.

The caps will be acknowledged via emissions allowances that will be doled out to a variety of parties. Companies that own ‘covered’ facilities will have the right to emit greenhouse gases up to the limit of their allowances. If a company exceeds their limit they can buy allowances from other parties or pay heavy penalties for exceeding the cap.

Emissions allowances are tradeable and bankable. Allowance holders can sell them to just about anyone they like. Allowance holders can also bank unused allowances for use in future years.

Companies who emit greenhouse gases will initially be allocated enough allowances to cover their emissions but as years go by they will be issued fewer allowances.

Affected Parties

Companies that own fossil fuel powered electric generation facilities will be subject to caps and thus receive allowances. The vehicle fleet clause will likely affect companies like UPS, Federal Express and large over the road trucking companies as well.

Because emissions allowances are tradeable, it is likely that emissions traders will buy and sell allowances as well. These traders will likely consist of established commodity trading houses as well as emissions trading start-ups that arise as a result of this legislation.

State governments, Electric and Natural Gas load serving entities (LSEs) will receive allowances as well. These parties are directed to sell the allowances and use the money for a variety of purposes. The most popular revenue spending requirements are aimed at mitigating impacts on low-income energy consumers and promoting energy efficiency.

New Government Entities

This bill creates the Climate Change Credit Corporation. The CCCC will administer the cap-and-trade program. They will be responsible for doling out emissions allowances and allocating revenue to a wide variety to companies and programs.

The Carbon Market Efficiency Board is also established. The CMEB will be responsible for assessing the economic impact of the program as well as maintaining the market for emissions allowances.

New Government Programs

The Federal Greenhouse Gas Registry will be created to track emissions of greenhouse gases. Entities that emit greenhouse gases will be required to submit data to this registry. The Domestic Offset Program will be responsible chiefly for distributing allowances to companies that produce verifiable, permanent reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. This will allow organizations to meet some of their emissions requirements by purchasing offset allowances which they can then submit to meet cap requirements. The Deficit Reduction Fund will be created to bank allowances that are not otherwise allocated. This fund increases yearly as fewer allowances are distributed.

The Program For Tribal Communities will deliver assistance to tribal communities affected by climate change. The Climate Change Worker Training Program will be established to create jobs in fields related to renewable energy. A Science Advisory Board will be established.

The International Climate Change Adaptation and National Security Program will be established. This program will be responsible for the submission of annual reports to the President and other government agencies

A number of funds are created by this bill including: The Energy Assistance Fund, The Climate Change Worker Training Fund,The Adaptation Fund, The Climate Change and National Security Fund, The Bureau of Land Management Emergency Firefighting Fund, The Forest Service Emergency Firefighting Fund, The Climate Security Act Management Fund and The Energy Independence Acceleration Fund.

How It All Works

Creation of emissions allowances effectively puts a price on greenhouse gas emissions. Emitters will then have to pay for their emissions starting with nothing at first and then more in the future as they are allocated fewer and fewer allowances. As such, emitting greenhouse gases will get more and more expensive. This will create incentives for emitters to invest in low carbon and carbon free technologies that will ultimately help in reducing all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.

Meanwhile the federal government will be collecting revenues via the auctioning of allocated allowances and the sale of allowances that the government allocates to themselves. The resulting revenue is used to monetize the programs, funds and agencies mentioned in the paragraph above. Ostensibly these programs, funds and agencies will serve to accelerate the development of low-carbon and carbon free technologies as well as mitigating the impact of these changes on low-income consumers of energy.

The Projected Effects

The Energy Information Administration has written an extensive impact assessment of S.3036 which I recently reviewed. The short answers are these. The emission of GHG will be significantly reduced during the time period of this bill. Most of this reduction will be due to changes in the electric power sector. It is likely that Natural Gas will become an increasingly dominant fuel source for electric generation. Coal consumption is greatly reduced. Energy prices and this energy bills for consumers will be greatly increased. The impact of increased energy prices will affect the overall economy by reducing purchasing power and lowering demand for goods and services. Industrial activity is significantly effected by the changes. Significant revenue (between $300 and $800 Billion) is generated by Federal and State Governments auction and sale of emissions allowances.

The actual effects of S.3036 depend on a lot of factors. The ability of the U.S. to develop and deploy nuclear and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technologies is a very important one. If the U.S. is not able to develop these technologies then the increased reliance on natural gas will be pronounced. This would likely lead to significantly higher natural gas prices which would cause a greater negative impact on the overall economy.

The Road Ahead

This is a wide ranging and controversial piece of legislation. S.3036 essentially changes the landscape with respect to the economics of energy production and consumption for the next forty years. The Act also greatly increases the size and funding of the U.S. government as a result of the agencies, programs and funds contained in the Act.

Some will see this as an onerous increase in the power and responsibility of the government. While others will view S.3036 as landmark legislation that will change the planet for the better. Some see S.3036 as a vehicle for massive wealth redistribution. While others will call it a necessary sacrifice during a time of dire need for reductions in emissions. As such, expect intense debate and discussion that will likely end up passing the issue to the next Presidential administration.

It is also worth noting that the Warner-Lieberman legislation is not the only game in town. Recently Representative Edward Markey from Massachusetts announced a bill with stricter emissions requirements than S.3036. Perhaps the two pieces of legislation will give rise to a third bill that blends provisions included in each of them.

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Those who can’t make it to the conference can view the conference via webcast at http://www.google.org/recharge/dcpluginsconference/index.html.

Description: The conference will place a spotlight on plug-in electric vehicles, examining their potential, their viability, and the pros and cons of different federal policies to promote them.

Date: June 11-12, 2008

Place: Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, Washington DC

Links: Registration, Agenda, Google Announcement, Brookings Institution

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Iberdrola commits $8B investment to U.S. cleantech sector “Spanish utility and renewable heavyweight Iberdrola has revealed that it will invest a hefty $8 billion in the American cleantech sector over the next 3 years. Though it plans on focusing most of its investment activities in the U.S.’s burgeoning wind sector, it also hopes to gain a foothold in the country’s other clean energy markets.”

First Wind Energy Co. IPO Planned In US “In a first-ever for the U.S., a company focused entirely on wind energy is planning to come public, with Noble Environmental Power Inc. registering an IPO to list on the Nasdaq later this year.Based in Essex, Conn., Noble Environmental registered earlier this month with the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise as much as $375 million through an initial public offering.”

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

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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.

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Duke Energy plans $100M investment in solar ” Duke Energy Carolinas is ramping up plans to generate some of its own renewable energy. That will include a $100 million investment in rooftop solar energy, a program that will involve working with commercial and even residential customers.”

Google, BP, StatoilHydro invest in solar thermal firm “BrightSource Energy, Inc., a specialist in harnessing the heat from the sun to create steam for electric power generation, on Wednesday said it closed a $115 million round of financing from a diverse group of blue-chip backers.”

FloDesign gets $200K from MIT competition for better wind turbines “Wind power turbines have looked pretty much the same for decades, and the basic design concept has stuck for centuries. That’s something FloDesign wants to change, with a turbine design that takes its cues from jet engine design.”

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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In conjunction with their plan for Boulder, Xcel energy has created this video that explains their vision for the Smart Grid. I recommend that you take a few minutes to view the video below if you want to get a better picture of the future of electricity in the home. You can find out more about Xcel’s Smart Grid initiative and on their website which contains several other interesting items including a white paper and some graphics showing a Smart Grid city and home.

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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.

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Government of Canada Invests Over $13.6 Million in Vancouver’s Fuel Cell Industry “The Government of Canada today announced a $13.6 million investment in the National Research Council (NRC)’s Vancouver-based fuel cell and hydrogen industry and officially opened the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Gateway”

DOE Makes up to $60 Million Available for Concentrating Solar Power Research “DOE announced on April 30 that they would provide up to $60 million for concentrating solar power (CSP) projects in the areas of advanced thermal energy storage or heat transfer fluids, with funding options for both new research and development and demonstrations of technologies already under development.”

Solar Thermal Startup SkyFuel Scores $17M “SkyFuel, an Albuquerque, N.M.-based company that has created a cheap, light material called “ReflecTech” for its sunlight-catching troughs, has raised $17 million in a Series B round of funding from Leaf Clean Energy.”

Ireland’s NTR makes $150-mil investment in US’ Wind Capital Group “Dublin-based NTR, a developer and operator in renewable energy and sustainable waste management, is investing $150 million in Wind Capital Group, a St. Louis-based wind developer, the companies said Thursday.”

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

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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.

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Defining Demand Response

Demand response programs pay electric customers to reduce their load during high electric demand hours. This product provides the opportunity for customers to earn money by shifting their electric consumption to off-peak hours. Across the United States the vast majority of the customers for demand response fall into the Commercial & Industrial (C&I) category.

Imagine a manufacturing plant that operates on shifts. During the summers that plant might be able to eliminate their afternoon shift and replace it with an overnight shift, thereby reducing the overall load on the electric system during peak hours of the day. Alternatively, the same plant might have their own generation resources on site that can be utilized in the event that they are called to reduce demand.

C&I customers weigh the financial benefits of the demand response program against the inconvenience and cost of making changes to their electricity usage.

Demand Response Technology

Participation in demand response programs requires the use of advanced electric metering technology. This technology allows a central operations center to communicate with the C&I customer to let them know when to reduce demand.

In order to access the necessary technology demand response providers will contract with companies that aggregate demand response as a resource. Two well known demand response aggregators are Enernoc and Comverge. The companies provide electric customers with the necessary technology and act as an intermediary between the customer and the utilities and electric system operators who run the demand response programs.

Enernoc has posted a video that explains how their system and processes work.

Residential Demand Response

The availability of residential demand response is extremely limited in the United States. There are two main reasons for this. Residential electric prices are rarely tied to the wholesale electric markets in any way. As a result the reduction of demand provides no financial benefits for the residential consumer. Electric meter technology also requires an upgrade. The vast majority of electric consumers have older meters that do not provide the granularity required to track electric consumption changes within the day.

Some customers do have the option to benefit from reducing demand via Time Of Use (TOU) rates. Time of use rates adjust the price of residential electricity based on the time of day when the electricity is consumed. TOU rates are a form of passive demand response because the customer is not obligated to change their habits. As a result, electric system planners don’t have a strong ability to factor the effects of TOU when determining generation schedules.

Bringing residential customers into the demand response fold will require advances in technology and market rules, as well as an investment by local utilities. Such advances generally fall under the umbrella of smart grid technologies.

The Future of Demand Response

I expect demand response to become increasingly popular and eventually make a stronger move into the residential electric market for the following reasons.

• Demand response is considered a clean energy resource since its activation can reduce the output of fossil fuel powered resources
• Demand response will allow many states to meet increasingly onerous electric efficiency requirements that mandate reduced electric demand
• Unlike nuclear, clean coal, and even wind projects, there is no consumer opposition to demand response programs
• Competitive electric markets are expanding the opportunities for providers of demand response in order to meet ever increasing demand
• As electricity prices increase all classes of consumers will demand products that allow the flexibility to control costs via shifts in demand

Wide integration of demand response is going to take some time. But when you compare the effort and cost to siting a nuclear plant or offshore wind farm it’s easy to see why investing in demand response is a better bet than counting on those technologies in the near future.

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• DTE Energy is seeking suppliers for their GreenCurrents program in 2009 and 2010. Proposals are due by close of business on Friday, May 2nd
• AEP subsidiary Appalachian Power is seeking 100 megawatts of clean power for operation by the end of 2010. Proposals are due by the close of business on May 30th
• AEP subsidiary Southwest Electric Power Co. is seeking between 65 and 100 megawatts of clean power for operation by the end of 2010. Proposals are due on May 19, 2008
• The Long Island Power Authority is seeking up to 50 megawatts of solar power. Final proposals are due on June 27, 2008
• Portland General Electric is seeking up to 218 megawatts of clean energy for delivery between 2009 and 2014. Proposals are due on May 23, 2008.

Renewable RFPs typically seek energy supply from sources of energy that do not produce harmful emissions and could include wind, solar or biomass. In some cases, such as the LIPA RFP, the utility will request a specific type of supply.

U.S. utilities have not typically been in the business of developing clean energy technologies. The RFP process allows those utilities to make connections with companies who specialize in clean but much smaller scale projects.

Expect to see more RFPs issued as we enter the summer of 2008. The demand for clean energy supply by utilities is partly driven by state and regional renewable supply requirements. Its also driven by the realization that utilities can’t count on fuel costs for oil or natural gas to drop anytime soon.

The amount of energy produced by these projects is not very significant. By getting into the clean energy business now these power companies can lay the groundwork for much larger clean projects that they might need down the road.

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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.

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