California Greenhouse Gases Emissions Targets For Entire USA?

"Overheated Planet," New York Times, December 11, 2006.


California regulators on December 11, 2008 voted to adopt the USA's most comprehensive plan to cut greenhouse gases emissions. President-elect Barack Obama expressed hope that the USA Congress would adopt California's targets for the entire nation.

Yahoo News/Associated Press

December 11, 2008

California adopts tough greenhouse gas restrictions

By SAMANTHA YOUNG, Associated Press Writer

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – California air regulators adopted a sweeping new climate plan Thursday that would require the state's utilities, refineries and large factories to transform their operations to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The California Air Resources Board voted unanimously to adopt the nation's most comprehensive global warming plan, outlining for the first time how individuals and businesses would meet a landmark 2006 law that made the state a leader on global climate change.

The plan would hold California's worst polluters accountable for the heat-trapping emissions they produce — transforming how people travel, how utilities generate power and how businesses use electricity.

At the heart of the plan is the creation of a carbon-credit market designed to give the state's major polluters cheaper ways to cut the amount of their emissions. That market and the many other strategies referenced in the plan will be fleshed out and adopted over the next few years.

California's plan comes at a time when governments around the world are struggling with a financial crisis that threatens to undermine efforts to fight climate change. California itself is facing a forecast budget gap of $41.8 billion through June 2010.

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has said the state's climate law will stimulate the economy, said Thursday that California was providing a roadmap for the rest of the country.

"Today is the day we help unleash the full force of California's innovation and technology for a healthier planet, a stronger and more robust economy and a safer and more secure energy future," Schwarzenegger said in a statement released after the board's vote.

His sentiments echo those of President-elect Barack Obama, who also has promoted investments in energy efficiency and green technology to help spur the country out of recession. Last month, Obama said he hoped Congress would adopt California's targets for the entire country, essentially reversing eight years of U.S. policy against mandated emission cuts.

California's 2006 law, called the Global Warming Solutions Act but commonly referred to as AB32, mandates the state cut emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

The strategy chosen by air regulators relies on 31 new rules affecting all facets of life, from the fuels Californians put in their vehicles to the air conditioners businesses install in their buildings.

The average Californian, for example, could see more fuel-efficient cars at dealerships, better public transportation, housing near schools and businesses and utility rebates to equip their homes to be more energy efficient.

But there will also be costs.

California drivers will see more expensive cars on showroom floors and should expect to pay higher power bills as utilities increase their use of renewable energy.

Republicans, small businesses and major industries that will be forced to transform operations beginning in 2012 say jobs will be lost, companies might leave the state and energy prices will skyrocket. Many demanded the board perform more economic analysis before committing to policies they warned could worsen the economy.

"The deepening recession has affected businesses throughout the state," Amisha Patel, a policy advocate at the California Chamber of Commerce, told the board. "The reality of climate regulation is there will be costs."

The air board's background work has been criticized in reviews by California's nonpartisan legislative analyst and independent scientists, with both groups saying the costs to the state could be greater than projected.

Republican state lawmaker Roger Niello of Fair Oaks has asked the board to postpone its vote and complete a more thorough economic review.

An air board analysis published in September projected California's economy would grow at a faster rate by cutting emissions. It also estimated 100,000 more jobs would be created and the average California household would save $400 a year by driving more fuel-efficient vehicles and living in more energy-efficient homes.

Nichols said her board had done a thorough job of assessing the plan but vowed Thursday the board would conduct more studies as the regulations are developed over the next few years.

Most of the reductions in California's emissions will come from more detailed regulations that will be written over the next few years, including rules governing a cap-and-trade program that launches in 2012 to help the largest polluters achieve emission cuts.

But allowing businesses to buy their way out of the problem is another contentious part of the plan. Representatives of California's poor communities say the polluting power plants, refineries and factories in their neighborhoods could write a check rather than cut emissions.

Wind, Water & Sun Are Superior Energy Solutions

Vestas Horn Reef wind power facility off the coast of Denmark.

Stanford University on December 10, 2008 announces the results of the "...first quantitative, scientific evaluation of the proposed, major energy-related solutions..." and their respective impacts on "...global warming, human health, energy security, water supply, space requirements, wildlife, water pollution, reliability and sustainability."

This significant work debunks many of the myths surrounding our progress towards a new energy economy, notably the "clean coal" myth, the "nuclear power solution" myth, and the myths challenging the reliability and variability of wind, solar and wave power.

"Coal with carbon sequestration emits 60- to 110-times more carbon and air pollution than wind energy, and nuclear emits about 25-times more carbon and air pollution than wind energy..."

[Despite significant technological progress and applications of interconnected wind farms, stored solar energy, etc., that I have reported during the past two years, politicians, mass media, special interest groups, and others continue to dismiss wind and solar power potential for supplying baseline power. The potential is there, and we only must develop that potential while ignoring false claims that baseline wind, solar and wave power systems are not possible.]

See the reference links at the end of the article for supporting information and Professor Jacobson's 2007 work on interconnected wind systems for supplying baseline power. That study focused on interconnected wind system potential for an array of wind farms that have been growing for the past few years across eastern New Mexico, northern Texas, western Oklahoma, southwestern Kansas, and southeastern Colorado.

Note the priority lists of best to worst power and vehicle options near the end of the article.

Importantly, Mark Jacobson's work represents a high level of integrity inasmuch as the research "...received no funding from any interest group, company or government agency."


Stanford University News Service

Energy & Environmental Science

Stanford Report, December 10, 2008

Wind, water and sun beat other energy alternatives, study finds

BY LOUIS BERGERON

The best ways to improve energy security, mitigate global warming and reduce the number of deaths caused by air pollution are blowing in the wind and rippling in the water, not growing on prairies or glowing inside nuclear power plants, says Mark Z. Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford.

And "clean coal," which involves capturing carbon emissions and sequestering them in the earth, is not clean at all, he asserts.

Jacobson has conducted the first quantitative, scientific evaluation of the proposed, major, energy-related solutions by assessing not only their potential for delivering energy for electricity and vehicles, but also their impacts on global warming, human health, energy security, water supply, space requirements, wildlife, water pollution, reliability and sustainability. His findings indicate that the options that are getting the most attention are between 25 to 1,000 times more polluting than the best available options. The paper with his findings will be published in the next issue of Energy and Environmental Science but is available online now. Jacobson is also director of the Atmosphere/Energy Program at Stanford.

"The energy alternatives that are good are not the ones that people have been talking about the most. And some options that have been proposed are just downright awful," Jacobson said. "Ethanol-based biofuels will actually cause more harm to human health, wildlife, water supply and land use than current fossil fuels." He added that ethanol may also emit more global-warming pollutants than fossil fuels, according to the latest scientific studies.

The raw energy sources that Jacobson found to be the most promising are, in order, wind, concentrated solar (the use of mirrors to heat a fluid), geothermal, tidal, solar photovoltaics (rooftop solar panels), wave and hydroelectric. He recommends against nuclear, coal with carbon capture and sequestration, corn ethanol and cellulosic ethanol, which is made of prairie grass. In fact, he found cellulosic ethanol was worse than corn ethanol because it results in more air pollution, requires more land to produce and causes more damage to wildlife.

To place the various alternatives on an equal footing, Jacobson first made his comparisons among the energy sources by calculating the impacts as if each alternative alone were used to power all the vehicles in the United States, assuming only "new-technology" vehicles were being used. Such vehicles include battery electric vehicles (BEVs), hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs), and "flex-fuel" vehicles that could run on a high blend of ethanol called E85.

Wind was by far the most promising, Jacobson said, owing to a better-than 99 percent reduction in carbon and air pollution emissions; the consumption of less than 3 square kilometers of land for the turbine footprints to run the entire U.S. vehicle fleet (given the fleet is composed of battery-electric vehicles); the saving of about 15,000 lives per year from premature air-pollution-related deaths from vehicle exhaust in the United States; and virtually no water consumption. By contrast, corn and cellulosic ethanol will continue to cause more than 15,000 air pollution-related deaths in the country per year, Jacobson asserted.

Because the wind turbines would require a modest amount of spacing between them to allow room for the blades to spin, wind farms would occupy about 0.5 percent of all U.S. land, but this amount is more than 30 times less than that required for growing corn or grasses for ethanol. Land between turbines on wind farms would be simultaneously available as farmland or pasture or could be left as open space.

Indeed, a battery-powered U.S. vehicle fleet could be charged by 73,000 to 144,000 5-megawatt wind turbines, fewer than the 300,000 airplanes the U.S. produced during World War II and far easier to build. Additional turbines could provide electricity for other energy needs.

"There is a lot of talk among politicians that we need a massive jobs program to pull the economy out of the current recession," Jacobson said. "Well, putting people to work building wind turbines, solar plants, geothermal plants, electric vehicles and transmission lines would not only create jobs but would also reduce costs due to health care, crop damage and climate damage from current vehicle and electric power pollution, as well as provide the world with a truly unlimited supply of clean power."

Jacobson said that while some people are under the impression that wind and wave power are too variable to provide steady amounts of electricity, his research group has already shown in previous research that by properly coordinating the energy output from wind farms in different locations, the potential problem with variability can be overcome and a steady supply of baseline power delivered to users.

Jacobson's research is particularly timely in light of the growing push to develop biofuels, which he calculated to be the worst of the available alternatives. In their effort to obtain a federal bailout, the Big Three Detroit automakers are increasingly touting their efforts and programs in the biofuels realm, and federal research dollars have been supporting a growing number of biofuel-research efforts.

"That is exactly the wrong place to be spending our money. Biofuels are the most damaging choice we could make in our efforts to move away from using fossil fuels," Jacobson said. "We should be spending to promote energy technologies that cause significant reductions in carbon emissions and air-pollution mortality, not technologies that have either marginal benefits or no benefits at all".

"Obviously, wind alone isn't the solution," Jacobson said. "It's got to be a package deal, with energy also being produced by other sources such as solar, tidal, wave and geothermal power."

During the recent presidential campaign, nuclear power and clean coal were often touted as energy solutions that should be pursued, but nuclear power and coal with carbon capture and sequestration were Jacobson's lowest-ranked choices after biofuels. "Coal with carbon sequestration emits 60- to 110-times more carbon and air pollution than wind energy, and nuclear emits about 25-times more carbon and air pollution than wind energy," Jacobson said.

Although carbon-capture equipment reduces 85-90 percent of the carbon exhaust from a coal-fired power plant, it has no impact on the carbon resulting from the mining or transport of the coal or on the exhaust of other air pollutants. In fact, because carbon capture requires a roughly 25-percent increase in energy from the coal plant, about 25 percent more coal is needed, increasing mountaintop removal and increasing non-carbon air pollution from power plants, he said.

Nuclear power poses other risks. Jacobson said it is likely that if the United States were to move more heavily into nuclear power, then other nations would demand to be able to use that option.

"Once you have a nuclear energy facility, it's straightforward to start refining uranium in that facility, which is what Iran is doing and Venezuela is planning to do," Jacobson said. "The potential for terrorists to obtain a nuclear weapon or for states to develop nuclear weapons that could be used in limited regional wars will certainly increase with an increase in the number of nuclear energy facilities worldwide." Jacobson calculated that if one small nuclear bomb exploded, the carbon emissions from the burning of a large city would be modest, but the death rate for one such event would be twice as large as the current vehicle air pollution death rate summed over 30 years.

Finally, both coal and nuclear energy plants take much longer to plan, permit and construct than do most of the other new energy sources that Jacobson's study recommends. The result would be even more emissions from existing nuclear and coal power sources as people continue to use comparatively "dirty" electricity while waiting for the new energy sources to come online, Jacobson said.

Jacobson received no funding from any interest group, company or government agency.


Energy and vehicle options, from best to worst, according to Jacobson's calculations:

Best to worst electric power sources:

1. Wind power
2. Concentrated solar power (CSP)
3. Geothermal power
4. Tidal power
5. Solar photovoltaics (PV)
6. Wave power
7. Hydroelectric power
8. A tie between nuclear power and coal with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).

Best to worst vehicle options:

1. Wind-BEVs (battery electric vehicles)
2. Wind-HFCVs (hydrogen fuel cell vehicles)
3. CSP-BEVs
4. Geothermal-BEVs
5. Tidal-BEVs
6. Solar PV-BEVs
7. Wave-BEVs
8. Hydroelectric-BEVs
9. A tie between nuclear-BEVs and coal-CCS-BEVs
11. Corn-E85
12. Cellulosic-E85.

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles were examined only when powered by wind energy, but they could be combined with other electric power sources. Although HFCVs require about three times more energy than do BEVs (BEVs are very efficient), HFCVs are still very clean and more efficient than pure gasoline, and wind-HFCVs still resulted in the second-highest overall ranking. HFCVs have an advantage in that they can be refueled faster than can BEVs (although BEV charging is getting faster). Thus, HFCVs may be useful for long trips (more than 250 miles) while BEVs more useful for trips less than 250 miles. An ideal combination may be a BEV-HFCV hybrid.


Related Information

Professor Mark Jacobson discusses alternative energy sources

Jacobson's paper in Energy & Environmental Science

Jacobson's Stanford web page

Stanford December 2007 press release on interconnecting wind farms to smooth power delivery

Jacobson's interconnecting windfarms paper in J. Applied Meteorology and Climatology

European Union's 20:20:20 Renewable Energy Plan Agreement

The European Union reached an agreement that more than one-third of EU electricity must come from renewables by the year 2020. Each state of the EU must have drawn up an action plan by June 2010 to meet the 20:20:20 targets.

Renewable Energy World/European Union

December 10, 2008

EU Passes New Climate Directive

Brussels, Belgium [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

Agreement on the European Union Renewable Energy Directive has paved the way for the economic bloc to achieve its plans for a 20% renewables contribution to total energy demand and a 20% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, the so-called 20:20:20 plan. The deal, between the European Parliament, the French Presidency on behalf of the Council and the European Commission, means that more than one third of EU electricity must come from renewables by 2020.

A move welcomed by the renewable energy and environmental sector, European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) president Arthouros Zervos noted, "This European Directive will be the most important piece of legislation on renewable energy in the world," adding that the legislation will provide for much-needed investor confidence in the renewable energy sector, and thereby enable the European Union to achieve in the most cost-efficient way the binding 20% renewable energy target.

Under the terms of the Directive, for the first time each Member State has a legally binding renewables target for 2020 and by June 2010 each state will have drawn up a National Action Plan (NAP) detailing plans to meet their 2020 targets. Member states will report on progress every two years.

"At a time when international climate negotiations are ongoing, the European Union gives a strong signal to other countries worldwide. I am confident that this piece of legislation will inspire other parts of the world to help us achieve a sustainable energy future," Zervos said.

The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) further noted that the Directive confirms Europe as the leader of the energy revolution the world needs. "Moreover, the directive addresses existing barriers that prevent Europe from fully exploiting its largest domestic energy resource," said a statement from EWEA.

Christian Kjaer, EWEA's chief executive said, "The grid and administrative barriers whose shadows loom long over wind energy project developers will finally be tackled throughout Europe thanks to the directive."

Ahead of the agreement, which had been in doubt following calls for a 2014 review from Italy and France, Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said that the climate change and energy package was one of the most significant pieces of work the EU had carried out over recent years. He added that a low carbon economy would boost Europe's competitiveness and encourage innovation.

British Government & Giant USA Utilities Announce Feed-In-Tariffs For Clean Enegy Development

Two momentous events in the evolution of policy for a new energy economy for the planet occurred in late November 2008.

The Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, the largest municipal utility district in North America, announced on November 24, 2008 that it is prepared to launch one of the continent's largest solar power programs, also making use of a feed-in tariff by 2016. Los Angeles joins Gainesville Regional Utilities in Florida, Toronto Hydro (Canada's largest municipal utility, and second largest to LAWPD in North America), and a few other smaller cities in using FITs as a centerpiece for encouraging rapid clean energy development.

"Regardless of how or even whether it follows through, Los Angeles, as one of North America's largest cities, has put feed-in tariffs, at least for solar, on the continent's public policy map."

Two days later, The British Government on November 26, 2008 approved its Energy Bill that includes implementing a system of feed-in tariffs (FITs) for small renewable energy producers by 2010. The feed-in tariff provisions until recently were unthinkable in the British political landscape.

"The move by the British government has far reaching ramifications. The English speaking world has been more resistant to feed-in tariffs than non-English speaking countries, sometimes on ideological grounds, sometimes simply out of ignorance. Many North Americans, for example, attribute continental Europe's success with renewable energy to renewable portfolio standards, which is not the case.
 Now that the British have clearly moved toward the camp favoring feed-in tariffs, there may be less reticence to do so elsewhere in the Anglophone world."

See full details in the second article below, and note that FITs are the basis for accelerated clean energy development in Germany, Spain, France, and Denmark, for example.

For a primer on FITs, see the easily readable and well illustrated 16-page 2008 report from the World Future Council: "Feed-In Tariffs -- Boosting Energy for our Future: A guide to one of the world's best environmental policies," by the World Future Council, 2008

It looks like a very promising 2009 awaits us in moving rapidly from a obsolescent fossil fuel/dirty energy economy to a modern clean energy economy.


Renewable Energy World/Los Angeles Department of Water & Power

December 3, 2008

North America's Largest Municipal Utility Proposes Solar Feed-in Tariff

by Paul Gipe, Contributing Writer

Los Angeles, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced to much fanfare on November 24 that the city's municipal utility would launch one of the continent's largest solar power programs. The mayor's plan would direct the city's municipal utility, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), to build or purchase 1,300 MW of solar energy by 2020.

Among provisions of the plan is a feed-in tariff for 150 MW of solar photovoltaics by 2016. This is the first official announcement of a feed-in tariff proposal by a California city, but it is not the first in the United States. Gainesville, Florida previously announced that it was formally considering a feed-in tariff to replace its solar rebate program.

Recently, the Palm Springs Desert Sun reported that Palm Desert, California was also considering solar feed-in tariffs after city officials toured Spain, one of the world's leading developers of solar energy. Spain uses feed-in tariffs.

LADWP is the continent's largest municipal utility. It was briefly at the forefront of solar energy development in California from 1999 to 2003, before inexplicably abandoning its program.

The city and LADWP provided no details on the solar feed-in tariff or on the other renewable energy proposals that were part of the mayor's press release. There were no further details on LADWP's web site. Photos of wind turbines on the web site were standard stock photos and all were of wind turbines outside the utility's service area.

LADWP claims that 8.5% of its electricity currently comes from renewables and that the utility is on track to meet its 20% target by 2010. The last report on the utility's web site about its renewable energy program, however, is dated 2003, the year the utility canceled its successful solar program.

Los Angeles' 120 MW Pine Tree wind project is slated to come on line in 2009. The project also is outside of the Los Angeles Basin, just north of the Tehachapi Wind Resource Area.

Interestingly, it was a municipal utility that launched the modern version of Germany's famed feed-in tariffs. Aachen introduced the first solar-specific feed-in tariff in the mid-1990s. Subsequently other German cities followed suit. In 2000 Germany's parliament incorporated the concept behind Aachen's policy in its groundbreaking system of Advanced Renewable Tariffs.

Municipal utilities in the Americas may be able to emulate Aachen and be the first to launch true feed-in tariffs. Because municipal utilities are governed by city officials, they can be more responsive to public demands for action on renewable energy than the often more distant state or provincial legislatures.

Toronto Hydro, North America's second largest and Canada's largest municipal utility, briefly considered a solar PV feed-in tariff in 2007, but took no action. The proposal before Toronto Hydro employed a differentiated feed-in tariff that was intended to work with the province of Ontario's Standard Offer Contract Program.

The proposal of Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) is the most advanced in the United States.
GRU's commission has ordered preparation of a tariff.


In contrast to Gainesville's approach, LADWP made public little or no information on the details of its proposal. GRU prepared a detailed report which it presented to Gainesville's utility commission when the utility went public with its proposal.

Los Angeles incorporates Hollywood within its city boundaries and there's always an element of showmanship in its pronouncements. The city's proposal is aggressive, more than one-third of the California Solar Initiative's 3,000 MW of solar PV, if it is more than simply aspirational.



The portion of the plan devoted to a feed-in tariff is about one-tenth of the entire program. Countries that have been the most successful at rapidly developing renewable energy (Germany, France, and Spain) use feed-in tariffs as the principal if not only policy mechanism.

Despite the uncritical media accounts of the "world's most ambitious solar plan," attention has focused not only on the targets, but also on the various mechanisms that may be used to reach those targets, including feed-in tariffs.

Regardless of how or even whether it follows through, Los Angeles, as one of North America's largest cities, has put feed-in tariffs, at least for solar, on the continent's public policy map.


Renewable Energy World/Britain’s Energy Bill

December 1, 2008

British Feed-in Tariff Policy Becomes Law - Was Once Unthinkable

by Paul Gipe, Contributing Writer

London, UK [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

The Queen gave her "royal assent" to Britain's long-debated Energy Bill on November 26, 2008, putting into law Britain's commitment to dramatically cut its greenhouse gas emissions. The Energy Bill also contained provisions calling on Gordon Brown's Labour government to implement a system of feed-in tariffs for small renewable energy producers by 2010.

The feed-in tariff provisions were once unthinkable in the British political landscape. They said it "couldn't be done" is how British campaigners described the remarkable success.



Since Margaret Thatcher, Britain has relied on a series of call for tenders and eventually a complex quota system to build a modest wind energy industry dominated by the word's largest electric utilities. There was little more than token support for small-scale renewables through traditional subsidy programs under successive Conservative and Labour governments.



Meanwhile on the continent, renewables were booming, first in Denmark, then in Germany, France, and Spain through the use of innovative systems of feed-in tariffs. These systems of Advanced Renewable Tariffs spurred growth of a variety of renewable energy technologies at all scales. In Germany, a large percentage of solar and wind energy are being developed by homeowners, farmers, and small investors.



The feed-in tariff provisions of Britain's Energy Bill are modest in comparison to those in other countries. In contrast to continental European policies, projects are limited to no more than 5 MW. There are no project size limits in Germany, for example. Nor does the Energy Bill contain the specific provisions or prices that are part of such acts in France and Germany. Specific provisions will be determined administratively in 2009.

The Energy Bill leaves in place Britain's existing Renewable Obligation Certificate trading program for larger projects. The two programs, the Renewable Obligation and the feed-in tariff system, will operate in parallel.



There was cross party agreement on amendments to the bill that included the essential elements of any successful feed-in tariff policy. For example, there was an amendment that called for different tariffs for different renewable energy technologies a key feature of the policies in Germany, France, and Spain. The cross party agreement included both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.



The campaign for the Energy Bill was led by Friends of the Earth UK (FOE) and Britain's Renewable Energy Association.

According to FOE campaigner David Timm, the Labour government now appears committed to introducing a true system of feed-in tariffs by the end of 2010.



Alan Simpson, Labour MP, led debate in the House of Commons, taking issue not only with expected opposition to feed-in tariffs from electric utilities but also from the renewable energy industry itself.

"On the record, many of the big energy suppliers have been fighting tooth and claw to prevent us from doing anything as bold and imaginative as we are doing. The Association of Electricity Producers had lobbied for a threshold of 50 kW. The British Wind Energy Association lobbied, until the last moment, for a threshold of 500 kW. Such demands would preclude the opportunity to develop genuine, transformational renewable energy systems on a community, town or city scale. The Secretary of State should be praised for his determination and willingness to push the boat out much further than many of those vested interests would have felt comfortable with," he said.

Observers noted that no one rose in Commons to oppose final passage. Conservative Party leaders put the ruling Labour Party on notice that if the feed-in tariff provisions didn't pass, they would support the policy in a subsequent Conservative Government. Previously, Gordon Brown suffered an embarrassing back-bench revolt over the issue from his own party members.



The move by the British government has far reaching ramifications. The English speaking world has been more resistant to feed-in tariffs than non-English speaking countries, sometimes on ideological grounds, sometimes simply out of ignorance. Many North Americans, for example, attribute continental Europe's success with renewable energy to renewable portfolio standards, which is not the case.



Now that the British have clearly moved toward the camp favoring feed-in tariffs, there may be less reticence to do so elsewhere in the Anglophone world.

World's First Hybrid Solar/Natural Gas Power Plant Comes To Florida

Greetings, All -- Florida Power & Light Company breaks ground for the world's first hybrid utility-scale solar power plant in Indiantown, Florida. The plant will use 180,000 mirrors spread over about 500 acres of land that is colocated with existing, older technology power plant facilities. The image here is an artist's illustration of the completed solar/natural gas hybrid facility. See related photos and images at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fplsolar]

With a combined total of 110 megawatts of emissions-free energy, the facilities will make Florida the No. 2 producer of solar energy nationwide.


Florida Power & Light Company

December 2, 2008


Here comes the sun!

FPL's Next Generation Solar Energy Center to be world's first hybrid solar plant, first utility-scale solar facility in Florida

INDIANTOWN, Fla. – Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp and local community leaders joined officials of Florida Power & Light Company here today to break ground on FPL’s Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center, which will be the world’s first hybrid solar energy plant and the first utility-scale solar facility in Florida.

With Florida and the nation facing the twin challenges of climate change and energy security, FPL’s new 75-megawatt Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center marks an important early step in Florida’s quest to use more sun to power the Sunshine State.

“Florida’s future growth and economic strength depends on how we address climate change, and we know we can reduce greenhouse gases by using fewer fossil fuels and more natural energy sources like solar,” said Gov. Charlie Crist. “This solar facility is a significant step in that direction.”

As the first hybrid solar facility in the world to combine a solar-thermal field with a combined-cycle natural gas power plant, the Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center will use less fossil fuel when heat from the sun is available to help produce the steam needed to generate electricity. This innovative technology will help protect customers from volatile fossil fuel costs as it reduces Florida’s carbon footprint. The solar facility will consist of approximately 180,000 mirrors over roughly 500 acres of land at the existing FPL Martin Plant location.

“The next generation of Floridians is counting on us to address the most pressing energy challenges of our time. With the Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center, we will capture the power of the sun to fight climate change and provide the state with clean, affordable energy,” said FPL Group Chairman and CEO Lew Hay.

“At this innovative facility, each sunrise will be the equivalent of easing our foot off the gas pedal as solar power is being produced. With the continued support of Gov. Crist, the Florida Legislature and the Public Service Commission, FPL will do more – much more – in the coming years to build Florida’s renewable energy industry,” said Hay.

Gov. Crist has made clean energy and protecting Florida’s environment a priority since taking office.

"The Governor and I want to commend FPL for being a leader in the use of solar energy as the world’s No. 1 producer of solar thermal energy and one of the largest generators of wind power,” said Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp. “We believe there is no better place than here, in the Sunshine State, to lead the way in expanding solar technology to homes and businesses."

The Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center will provide enough power to serve about 11,000 homes. Over 30 years, the solar facility will prevent the emissions of more than 2.75 million tons of greenhouse gases, which is the equivalent of removing more than 18,700 cars from the road every year for the life of the project, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The implementation of solar thermal technology will also decrease fossil-fuel usage by approximately 41 billion cubic feet of natural gas and more than 600,000 barrels of oil.

The facility will be the nation’s second-largest solar energy facility when it is fully operational in 2010. The Martin facility is the largest of three solar projects FPL is building in Florida. With a combined total of 110 megawatts of emissions-free energy, the facilities will make Florida the No. 2 producer of solar energy nationwide and will avoid nearly 3.5 million tons of carbon dioxide over the lives of the plants.

In addition to the Martin facility, FPL will also build two other solar projects in Florida – one at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and the other in Desoto County. These facilities will add 35 megawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity to the state. Combined, these projects help strengthen FPL Group’s position as the nation’s clean energy leader.

Among the company’s clean energy credentials:

• FPL Group is the nation’s No. 1 producer of renewable energy from wind. The company has 58 projects in 16 states with a capacity of more than 5,800 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power more than 1 million homes and businesses with zero carbon emissions.


• FPL Group is the nation’s No. 1 producer of renewable energy from solar. The company operates the largest solar-thermal plant in the world in California’s Mojave Desert, the 310-megawatt Solar Electric Generating System.


• Florida Power & Light Company is the nation’s No. 1 utility for energy conservation, according to U.S. Department of Energy data. FPL’s conservation programs have helped the company avoid the need to build 12 medium-sized power plants since 1980, more than any other utility.

More information about FPL’s next-generation solar energy centers is available at www.fpl.com/solar. For downloadable, high-resolution photos of solar thermal technology, please visit www.flickr.com/fplsolar.

Florida Power & Light Company is a subsidiary of FPL Group, Inc. (NYSE:FPL), nationally known as a high quality, efficient and customer-driven organization focused on energy-related products and services. With annual revenues of over $15 billion and a growing presence in 27 states, FPL Group is widely recognized as one of the country's premier power companies. Florida Power & Light Company serves 4.5 million customer accounts in Florida. FPL Energy, LLC, FPL Group's competitive energy subsidiary, is a leader in producing electricity from clean and renewable fuels. Additional information is available on the Internet at www.FPL.com, www.FPLGroup.com and www.FPLEnergy.com.

Clean Energy Self Reliance Using Homegrown Renewable Power In Each USA State

Greetings, All -- The information below was originally reported on November 11, 2008.

I call to your attention a new report by The New Rules Project that estimates the potential of individual states in the USA to tap into their own and nearby renewable energy resources. The relatively brief, 14-page report is well illustrated with maps and data to help change our way of thinking about renewable energy supplies and options.

For example, in our American Southwest, the New Rules reports says New Mexico has the potential to generate 2700 (twenty-seven hundred) percent of its electricity demands using wind power, and/or 37 (thirty-seven) percent of its electricity demands using rooftop solar photovoltaic power.

One also might consider that the immediate reaction to a solar power potential map for the USA is to believe that solar power must come from the American Southwest from a band extending from southern California eastward to west Texas. However, a more thoughtful reaction to the same map is that there is significant solar power potential in every state of the USA, and the solar resource can be more economically developed locally when long distance transmission costs (and power losses) are considered.

The report has its flaws. For example, The wind data are based on a 1991 study and on 30 m heights, and there is much research done since that provides more accurate data. The report data are based on average wind speeds whereas it is important to take into account fluctuations because loads do not vary linearly with speed. Also, the references used are not scientific peer-reviewed literature but mainly internet resources and blogs.

For an up-to-date report on wind power for the USA, see the 2007 edition of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Annual Report on U.S. Wind Power Installation, Cost, and Performance Trends

Nonetheless, we should be more concerned with the concept of locally generated energy as an alternative or complement to central station power generation with long-distance transmission. The precise scientific numbers and estimates re wind, solar, and other resources in the New Rules report are perhaps less relevant than creating an immediate national review and debate on retooling our energy infrastructure for our new energy economy.

What is happening, unfortunately, is that many political and technical advisors on our energy future have already adopted a model based on old-line thinking that applies to an obsolescent national power generation and transmission infrastructure -- without considering the merits of Distributed Generation. [There will be more on this page about Distributed Generation, Micro-Grid Technology, etc. in other posts.]

Consider this statement published November 14, 2008: "Another point that all [renewable energy] associations agreed was of utmost importance to bring the U.S. out of its economic woes was major investment in interstate electrical grid infrastructure, including new transmission and smart grid technologies. Many of the best renewable energy resources are located in remote areas that do not have ready grid-access. New transmission corridors will be necessary to bring wind, water, solar, and geothermal energy that is harvested in remote areas to areas of the country in which people reside."
See: http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/story?id=54078&src=rss

Most of the best renewable energy resources in our nation are co-located with old technology power stations already connected to the national grid. [As one obvious example, the same 40,000 square miles of New Mexico already given over to oil and natural gas production in the San Juan and Permian Basins -- clearly connected to our national transmission grid -- could provide our entire nation's electrical demands via solar power for the remainder of this century.]

Additionally, many of the best renewable energy resources -- especially solar -- are colocated with major metropolitan areas in our nation where multi-millions of people reside [Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Tuscon, Albuquerque, Denver, El Paso, Austin, San Antonio, Salt Lake City, etc., etc.]. Thus, there is no immediate need to pursue the hugely wasteful process of building remotely located power plants and thousands of miles of new transmission lines with their inherent power losses with distance.

Nonetheless, political planning and the groundwork for economic resource allocation are already well in progress toward the obsolescent and uneconomical idea that we must necessarily think of our future energy infrastructure as we remember it from our past.

The new report is available for download at: http://www.newrules.org/de/energyselfreliantstates.pdf The Executive Summary follows.


Energy Self-Reliant States: Homegrown Renewable Power

Executive Summary

How much energy could be generated by states tapping into internal renewable resources? To date, no study has addressed this question comprehensively. This report is a first attempt to do so.

The data in this report, while preliminary, suggest that at least half of the fifty states could meet all their internal energy needs from renewable energy generated inside their borders, and the vast majority could meet a significant percentage. And these estimates may well be conservative.

A national renewable energy policy should reflect the unique distribution of these energy sources. Wind and solar and, to a lesser extent, biomass, can be found in abundance in virtually all parts of the country. A federal policy that focuses on harnessing local renewable resources for local markets could dramatically expand the number of communities and states economically benefiting from the use of renewable fuels while minimizing the transportation-related environmental impact of moving energy products long distances.

Yet current federal energy policy is largely focused on harnessing renewable energy in a few states and transporting it hundreds or even thousands of miles to customers in other states.

The rationale for this reliance on long distribution lines is that while renewable energy is widely distributed, the resources and cost of harnessing them vary widely state-by- state.

That is true. Agricultural states in the heartland can grow biomass in larger quantities and at a lower cost than states on the coasts. A state like Nevada has significantly more annual solar energy than Oregon. North Dakota’s high wind speeds translate into lower production costs.

However, while significant variations in renewable energy among states exist; in most cases, when transmission or transportation costs are taken into account, the net cost variations are quite modest. Homegrown energy is almost always cheaper than imports, especially when you factor in social, environmental and economic benefits.

Policies that encourage energy self-reliance at a state and even in many cases a local level could enable communities and regions to achieve economic and environmental goals simultaneously. It’s a win-win situation.

China Positions For World leadership In "Smart Grid" Applications

Hello, All -- This information was originally reported on November 13, 2008.

China, in its economic stimulus plan, invites investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Notably, China seeks to modernize its electrical transmission grid by merging the existing electricity infrastructure with information technology -- the "Smart Grid" concept.

The article explains cooperative agreements between the USA and China, facilitated by the Joint US-China Cooperation on Clean Energy and involving major USA/International utility companies.

Note the plans for nationwide electric vehicle charging stations, and the involvement of General Motors of USA in this venture. Also note the investment opportunities for foreign nations in China's overhaul of its electricity infrastructure.

The article concludes, "China is in a unique position to develop the world's most advanced power distribution network by adopting smart grid technologies as it further develops and enhances its power grid. The question is whether China is willing to take the lead and be at the forefront of the "smart grid" revolution that is surely the future of worldwide power distribution."

The USA is well positioned to be a co-leader in the global effort to revolutionize our power sources and distribution systems. There is no better time than now to move ahead with this effort.


http://www.RenewableEnergyWorld.com/rea/news/story?id=54061&src=rss

Renewable Energy World/China

November 13, 2008

"Smart" Energy Management for China's Transmission Grid

by Lou Schwartz and Ryan Hodum

Beijing, China [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

On November 9th the Chinese government approved a US $586 billion stimulus plan focused on large-scale investment in low-income housing, water, rural infrastructure and electricity in China. Though the primary purpose of this initiative is to spur economic growth at a time when exports are falling, as the Chinese stock market is in the doldrums and GDP growth is flagging, a secondary effect of this stimulus plan may be increased investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency in China.

This effort would include accelerating efforts to achieve the goal of reducing China's energy consumption per unit of GDP by a cumulative 20% by 2010. One very promising approach for China to build energy conservation into its infrastructure is the construction of a "smart grid."

The "smart grid" is the merging of electricity infrastructure with information technology. The purpose is to add monitoring, analysis, control and communication capabilities to any national electrical delivery system to maximize efficiency while reducing energy consumption. Creating a unified power grid and upgrading aging power systems will increase productivity, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and increase national security.

The Need for a "Smart Grid" in China

In 2002, China established five independent electricity generating companies and several transmission companies. The five generators have an equal share of the assets — China Huaneng, China Datang, China Huadian, Guodian Power, China Power Investment — and compete to sell electricity.

The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), the Southern Power Grid Corporation and the Eastern China Grid Corporation are among China's transmission companies. The largest utility in the world, SGCC serves 26 provinces and 1.08 billion people with a peak load of 343 gigawatts (GW) and total investment in grid construction valued at US $31.8 billion in 2007. China's second largest utility, China Southern Power Grid, is ranked 226th in Fortune Magazine's Global 500 listing with revenues exceeding US $30 billion.

Throughout China, the existing regional grids have weak interconnections between provinces and largely non-existent interconnections between grids. In order to solve this deficiency, the Chinese government has plans to create a unified national power grid network by 2020.

The plans include what is known as the "West-East Electricity Transfer Project," which requires the construction of three major west-east transmission corridors: North, Central and South. The transmission capacity of each corridor is expected to reach 20 GW by 2020. While planning for such major infrastructure investments, the government would be well-positioned to lay the foundation for "smart grid" capacity across the country.

The Eastern China Grid Corporation initiated a feasibility study of "smart grid" technology in October 2007. Shi Junqing, the General Manager of Eastern China Grid Corp. described the findings earlier this year. In terms of the large load on its grid, the assets that it has built into its system, the necessity of continuing to build out the network and the increasing environmental, safety, reliability and efficiency pressures that it faces, Eastern China Grid Corp. believes that the conditions are now ripe for it to put in place a smart grid system; to that end the company has established a goal of gradually putting in place the elements of a "smart grid" over the coming years.

International Collaboration on "Smart Grid"

Efforts to develop and deploy "smart grid" technology are underway across the globe, supported by industry alliances such as the GridWise Alliance in the United States, Smart Grid Europe, and Smart Grid Australia.

In the United States, for example, although the transmission grid is 99.97% reliable, brief power interruptions have cost the country nearly US $100 billion each year; apart from enhanced reliability, smart grids promise to increase efficiency of power distribution and usage, with corresponding savings in power and power consumption.

With respect to China, international cooperation that focuses on energy efficiency includes the efforts of the philanthropic arm of Google, which has awarded a grant of US $250,000 to the U.S. National Academies and the Chinese Academies of Sciences and Engineering to develop recommendations for U.S.-Chinese cooperation on renewable electricity - central to which is a focus on grid connectivity and energy storage.

The Joint US-China Cooperation on Clean Energy (JUCCCE), a non-profit organization that brings together international experts to accelerate the use of clean and efficient energy in China, has been selected by the Clinton Global Initiative to organize The China Smart Grid Cooperative. JUCCCE received US $770,000 to run this initiative and has plans to partner with international companies such as Duke Energy and GridPoint to accelerate "smart grid" development in China.

This week (Nov. 10-11), JUCCCE is convening the JUCCCE Energy Forum in cooperation with the Energy Foundation and the National Development and Reform Commission. The JUCCCE Energy Forum will include a presentation on smart grids by IBM and will surely afford the opportunity to further the efforts of JUCCCE to engage the leadership in Beijing to urge the development of a plan to develop a smart grid in China.

Business Opportunities for Foreign Companies

Opportunities exist for foreign corporations to benefit from "smart grid" investments in China. In March, American-owned Composite Technology Corporation announced an order valued at approximately US $3.1 million for high efficiency conductors. In June, ABB Ltd., a Swiss-owned manufacturer of power-generation equipment, won a US $70 million order for power equipment from the State Grid Corporation for a high voltage DC (HVDC) transmission link in northeastern China to transmit 3,000 megawatts (MW) from Inner Mongolia to Liaoning Province.

Siemens recently announced an order from China Southern Power Grid Corporation to build the first 800-kV ultra high voltage DC system able to transfer 5000 MW of power to load centers on the southeast coast. In addition, IBM has developed products to implement smart grids that it is promoting throughout the world, including in China.

"Smart Grid" Accommodates Breakthrough Technology

The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) has plans to create a nation-wide electric-vehicle charging network with charging stations currently installed in Shanghai, Beijing, and Tianjin to name a few. It was recently announced that General Motors is collaborating with the SGCC to meet Chinese market demand for the Chevy Volt.

However, without aggressive investment in "smart grid" technology, this initiative may stumble as it attempts to expand across the country. The plug-in electric vehicle will depend on network improvements as much as today's car depends on petrol stations, which will require sophisticated appliances to communicate oscillations in energy supply and demand.

Exporting Smart Grid Technology to Other Asian Countries

In addition to creating a "smart grid" infrastructure, China also has the opportunity to export "smart grid" best practices. Recently it was reported that the State Grid Corporation of China won a US $3.95 billion bid for a 25-year contract to manage the Philippines' electricity grid (arguably the largest privatization deal in Philippines' history). A significant opportunity exists for China to collaborate with the rest of the world on investing in the grid of the future.

China is in a unique position to develop the world's most advanced power distribution network by adopting smart grid technologies as it further develops and enhances its power grid. The question is whether China is willing to take the lead and be at the forefront of the "smart grid" revolution that is surely the future of worldwide power distribution.

Lou Schwartz is president of China Strategies LLC, and publisher of the China Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development Report and the China Aluminum Industry Report. He has degrees in East Asian Studies from the University of Michigan and Harvard University where he studied Chinese language and literature, economics and law, among other disciplines. Lou also earned a J.D. from George Washington University Law School.

Ryan Hodum is an environmental and renewable energy professional who recently earned a Master of Arts in Global Environmental Policy from American University in Washington, D.C. with a focus on renewable energy utilization in China. He now works for David Gardiner & Associates LLC, a strategic consulting firm focused on climate and energy solutions. Ryan spearheaded the development of China Strategies' China Renewable Energy Interactive Map and the China Solar Map, which can be found on China Strategies' website.

See: http://www.chinastrategiesllc.com/index.htm