Monday, March 31, 2014

Climate inaction to be 'catastrophe'

Climate inaction to be 'catastrophe' http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26824943

Monty Bannerman
ArcStar Energy
+1 646-402-5076

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Sunday, March 30, 2014

Fwd: Will the US Choose the Right Road to a New Energy Future?






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Monty Bannerman
ArcStar Energy
646.402.5076
www.arcstarenergy.com
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Why the Potential for Grid Defection Matters

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/03/why-the-potential-for-grid-defection-matters?page=all

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Monty Bannerman
ArcStar Energy
646.402.5076
www.arcstarenergy.com
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Fwd: PJM Grid Operators: We Can Handle 30 Percent Renewable Energy Integration, And Here's How

Longer term, the NJ project will stay valuable if the permits can be extended.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rebecca Van Nichols <rvan@tnag.net>
Date: Sunday, March 30, 2014
Subject: PJM Grid Operators: We Can Handle 30 Percent Renewable Energy Integration, And Here's How
To: M <mbannerman@arcstarenergy.com>





--
Monty Bannerman
ArcStar Energy
646.402.5076
www.arcstarenergy.com
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Fwd: Developer begins construction of 1-MW Allt Gharagain small hydro project - HydroWorld

What a nice pipeline gets you.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rebecca Van Nichols <rvan@tnag.net>
Date: Sunday, March 30, 2014
Subject: Developer begins construction of 1-MW Allt Gharagain small hydro project - HydroWorld
To: M <mbannerman@arcstarenergy.com>



Developer begins construction of 1-MW Allt Gharagain small hydro project

ACHNASHEEN, Scotland
03/28/2014
 
Online Editor
Allt Gharagain Small Hydro Project

Scottish energy developer Green Highland Renewables has begun construction of a 1 MW small hydroelectric project near Anchansheen.

The US$5.8 million Allt Gharagain plant will be a high-head, run-of-river complex that will be connected to the grid in December.

Allt Gharagain is a joint venture with capital trust manager Albion Ventures and marks the company's fourth venture in Scotland's Wester Ross region.

"It is good to get this project of the ground," Green Highland managing director Ian Cartwright said. "We secured planning consent in 2011 and it has been a long wait for our grid connection date to come around."

Cartwright said the company has been busy in recent years, with 37 projects receiving consent since 2010 -- seven of which have been built and eight that are under construction.

HydroWorld.com reported in January that Green Highland Renewables had received $5.1 million from Albion Venturesfor a 1 MW project in the Scottish highlands.

The company also received $5.27 million from the Scottish Equity Partner's Environmental Energies Fund in November 2012 to continue expanding its business.

For more small hydroelectric news, visit here.




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Monty Bannerman
ArcStar Energy
646.402.5076
www.arcstarenergy.com
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Saturday, March 29, 2014

Experts struggle with climate report

They are struggling with the report, not the data or the conclusions.
MB

Experts struggle with climate report http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26802192

Monty Bannerman
ArcStar Energy
+1 646-402-5076

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Fwd: NRG Buys Installer Roof Diagnostics in Rooftop Solar Push


>
> New York -- NRG Energy Inc. (NRG), the largest independent U.S. electricity producer, bought rooftop solar installer Roof Diagnostics Solar Inc. as it seeks to capitalize on the growing decentralized power market.
>
> Roof Diagnostics will be re-branded as part of NRG's existing solar installation unit, Princeton, New Jersey-based NRG said in a statement today. Terms weren't disclosed. The 475-employee company headquartered in Wall Township, New Jersey will complement and be rolled into NRG's existing rooftop unit NRG Residential Solar Solutions that mainly consists of licensed dealers.
>
> Self-generation using solar panels is becoming competitive with the retail price of power in many states, reaching half of all states by next year, NRG Chief Executive Officer David Crane said yesterday in an interview. He outlined plans to accelerate NRG's shift into a more distributed generation model and the purchase of companies such as Roof Diagnostics.
>
> The shift fits into Crane's vision that the U.S. energy industry is in the midst of a profound transformation. Producing electricity on residential rooftops is upending the century-old model that relied on utilities to deliver power from large generating plants. Instead, NRG is planning for a network that uses many, smaller generating sites located close to where electricity is consumed.
>
> "People thought I was crazy," Crane said, about his prediction last year that these distributed power plants are making the grid increasingly unnecessary. "Now, almost everyone accepts that it is going to happen."
>
> NRG already owns large solar farms that sell energy to utilities, and commercial sites that generate power for businesses. It also delivers electricity to about 3 million customers through its retail businesses. Moving into the residential solar market offers the chance to boost sales to consumers. "The most valuable customers for us are the home energy customers," where margins are higher, Crane said.
>
> Crane detailed his vision of the evolving energy industry in an annual letter to shareholdersyesterday. A system that relies on building more large solar projects and wind farms in remote sites would be "an expensive and pointless white elephant," he said.
>
> NRG foresees "a prolonged period through which the traditional centralized grid-based power system co-exists with the fast-emerging high-growth distributed generation sector," Crane wrote. "We are doing everything in our power to head in that direction."
>
> Copyright 2014 Bloomberg
>
> Lead image: Man during intallation of photovoltaic solar panels on roof, via Shutterstock
>
> Read More Solar Energy News Here
>

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Fwd: CPV Update: SunPower Ramps Up in China, Soitec Achieves South Africa Milestone


>
> New Hampshire, USA -- SunPower says it has sold 70 MW of concentrated solar PV (CPV) "cell packages" to its joint venture in China's Inner Mongolia region for the first phase of two projects using the company's C7 low-concentration CPV (LCPV) technology: a 20-MW (dc) project in Saihan and a 100-MW (dc) project in Wuchuan, both scheduled for completion in 2015.
>
> The JV, Huaxia Concentrated Photovoltaic Power — involving SunPower and Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor, with regional independent power grid company Inner Mongolia Power and state-owned Hohhot Jinqiao City Development Company — was formed in December 2012 and officially registered last November to establish a foothold in China for SunPower's C7 Tracker technology, which combines a horizontal single-axis tracking with parabolic mirrors to focus sunlight at 7× concentration onto the company's third-generation Maxeon solar cells, which boast conversion efficiencies exceeding 24 percent. These specific Inner Mongolia operations, like other arid regions, have to deal with cold weather and soiling, so the company also plans to use its recently acquired Greenbotics robotic solar panel cleaning technology which uses far less water than traditional panel washing, noted Matt Campbell, SunPower's senior director of power plant products.
>
> LCPV is a good fit for regions that have good solar irradiance, but it doesn't need the especially high-DNI areas required to make high-concentration CPV (HCPV) economically feasible. Those high-DNI regions also tend to be remote, so LCPV can work in areas that are nearer to load centers. Other areas suitable for CPV are the Middle East, South Africa, Chile, North Africa — and the Southwest U.S. Campbell highlighted a 20-MW installation at Apple's Nevada data center is scheduled to begin construction later this year.
>
> Average annual direct normal irradiance in kWh/m2. Credit: SolarGIS, via GlobalData
>
> CPV is talked about in terms of overall systems costs, or levelized cost of energy (LCOE), rather than the metric of $/Wp on which conventional solar PV is focused. In some regions LCOE savings can reach 20 percent, according to Campbell. Those savings gets achieved in a number of ways. Concentrating the sunlight on these cells means fewer are needed for the same output; the company says a 400-MW plant with C7 technology requires fewer than 70 MW of PV cells. Helping to lower costs even more is a "significant localization" of manufacturing and supply chain not easily achieved with conventional silicon solar PV. "A polysilicon-ingot-wafer-cell cluster requires a scale of at least 1 GW to be cost-effective and requires very large capital expenditure," whereas SunPower's C7 CPV technology can be localized at a smaller scale and capex, Campbell said. For example, these CPV cell packages now being shipped to China incorporate a laminate of solar cells that's converted to a receiver in the JV's receiver manufacturing facility in the region, and almost all the components for these two CPV projects in Inner Mongolia will made in China, he said.
>
> Soitec's CPV Milestone in South Africa
>
> Meanwhile, in South Africa, Soitec says its medium-concentration CPV project, the 44 MWp Touwsrivier, has achieved "full commissioning" on 50 percent of its total capacity, indicating performance to contractual specs and validating the entire project's power purchase agreement. This also triggers the project's refinancing through proceeds of bonds issued on the Johannesburg stock exchange last spring. "Reaching this point shall entitle Soitec to have access to the restricted cash and significantly increase its cash resources," the company said in a related statement. More than 60 percent of the plant has been installed, and the company pledges to complete the entire thing "in the coming months." Earlier this month the South African Department of Energy approved a shuffled financing structure by which Soitec would offload majority ownership of the project to an unidentified investor.
>
> In the U.S., Soitec just sold its 7-MWp (5-MWac) Desert Green project in Borrego Springs, CA (north of San Diego) to Invenergy Solar Development. It's the first of five Soitec projects with PPAs hand from San Diego Gas & Electric, which collectively total 155 MW and were the stimulus for the company's $150 million CPV module factory in San Diego, which opened last winter. Last fall the company said that new site would be its new central manufacturing operations, as it closes its older and smaller CPV facility in Freiberg, Germany.
>
> CPV Still Finding Its Way
>
> Overall CPV is still a technology seeking to break through into mainstream use. In the past several years a number of the early developers haveconsolidated or driven out of the market, unable to compete with the plunging prices of conventional solar PV. Those remaining include Suncore, Soitec, Solaria, SunPower, and Magpower which now account for more than 80 percent of the CPV market, IHS calculates, with French firm Heliotrop and U.S.-based Semprius also in the mix. GlobalData says there's just shy of 154 MWcumulatively installed CPV across the globe, but it sees this more than doubling to 358 MW in 2014 and topping 1 GW cumulatively by 2020.
>
> There's enough promise in CPV, with continued technology improvements and targeting the right locations and applications, that keep analysts bullish. Unlike solar PV where the emphasis has shifted from manufacturing improvements to streamlining soft costs, in CPV (and especially HCPV) efficiency remains the key to greatly lowering total systems costs. And there's still a lot of headroom to go, especially in HCPV which eschews the familiar silicon-based PV material with its known efficiency limitations for combinations of more exotic materials. IHS sees high-concentration CPV cell efficiencies boosted from 40-42 percent now to more than 45 percent in the next three years, leading to entire system efficiencies exceeding 40 percent vs. today's 35 percent. GlobalData projects the LCOE for a HCPV system with ~960× concentration and 39 percent cell efficiency falling from $2.05/W in 2013 to $1.77/W by 2016.
>
> Read More Solar Tech News Here
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Fwd: Can Europe Achieve a Clean, Affordable Power Balance?

> http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/03/maintaining-the-power-balance-in-europe?cmpid=SolarNL-Saturday-March29-2014
>
> Can Europe Achieve a Clean, Affordable Power Balance?
> The challenge of finding a balance between affordable, clean and reliable electricity has become ever more acute for the European power sector in recent years. Only now, however, are the costs and implications of meeting this challenge becoming apparent.
>
> Nigel Blackaby, Power Engineering International 
> March 27, 2014  |  6 Comments
>
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>
> Change is sweeping the European power industry as the integration of renewables gains pace. How Europe eventually navigates through these dramatic changes will fascinate power decision makers globally. The debate over whether renewables would form a significant part of the future power generation infrastructure has moved on considerably within the last two years: the question is no longer ‘if’ the transition will take place, but ‘how’ an industry traditionally comprised of large units of coal, gas or nuclear power generation running 24/7 as base load is going to adapt to accommodate it.
>
> Renewables and low carbon technologies are only going to increase as a proportion of the installed base, yet genuine integration of these onto European grids has been relatively slow and the practical implications of this industry transformation are becoming ever more evident. Moreover, many European nations are actually burning more coal now than they have been in recent years, due largely to the drop in coal prices relative to gas prices (the shale boom in the U.S. leading to a flood of cheap coal on world markets) and also because the collapse of the EU’s emissions trading scheme has enabled nations to rely more heavily on older, less clean and efficient coal plants still in operation.
>
> As such, Europe is struggling both on the delivery of its clean energy goal and the provision of affordable power. Although the debate surrounding the recent price hikes by large utilities in countries such as the UK and Germany is somewhat ill-informed and politicised, there is no doubt that consumers are feeling the pain and all indicators are that this may get worse before it gets any better.
>
> The lights may not have gone out yet, but experts are predicting that within the next year or two, some European countries will see power cuts, brownouts or rolling blackouts because of aging infrastructure no longer being available to cover the intermittency of renewable power. The fact is that the European power industry has so far failed to put in place the necessary framework to support renewed investment in its aging infrastructure.  Add in the perverse situation that modern, often relatively new gas fired power plants across Europe are being mothballed or closed down because they don’t fit the current market model and it becomes very clear that the industry urgently needs renewed focus.
>
> German Microcosm
>
> Nowhere has the scale and complexity of the challenge been more apparent than in Germany, where the politically driven ‘Energiewende’ (Energy Transition) has placed the delicate balancing act that Europe’s power industry must perform at the heart of business and political discussion: on the one hand, consumers want clean and affordable energy, politicians want reliable supply, greater interconnection and a single market for electricity; on the other, the rise in renewables is placing the margins of established utilities under immense pressure, whilst replacing conventional power with intermittent sources that ultimately are less reliable and more costly for the electricity system as a whole.
>
> Germany’s mandated phase-out of nuclear power and boom in renewable energy has cut dependency on major utilities to the extent that some have seen the value of their balance sheet drop by half since 2008. This brings with it a significant impact on the ability of these established players to invest in the infrastructure required to support for example, the transmission of electricity to heavy load areas in the South of the country from the offshore wind turbines being constructed in the North.
>
> To address this challenge, one of Germany’s major utilities, RWE, is looking to adopt a new ‘capital-light’ approach under which it will partner with third parties to fund more expensive renewable projects. It has also outlined plans to expand in the retail market, in areas such as energy services and management. Meanwhile, Germany is also seeing the role of its municipal utilities — which are known as ‘Stadtwerke’ — grow in prominence as dependence on larger players declines.
>
> Municipal utilities are majority state-owned, have more flexibility in that they offer combined heat and power, and in some cases water and steam, and their success is cited by those in Germany pushing for a renationalising of the power industry — a trend known as ‘re-municipalisation’. One other model being explored by municipals in partnership with technology providers is the creation of ‘virtual power plants’, in which a number of small-scale, distributed energy sources are pooled and operated as a single installation.
>
> Interconnection and Decentralisation
>
> Certainly, utilities across Europe will need to reconfigure their business models in light of the role they will play moving forward. Their core expertise lies in constructing and operating plants, but they own assets across the value chain — i.e. power generation, transmission grid, and renewables. It will be vital for the industry to exploit this invaluable expertise and for the utilities to position themselves more as enablers of the system, rather than being centralised producers of power.
>
> Decentralisation of the system is already apparent in Germany and other countries such as Scandinavia and Eastern Europe where municipal models are already established, but outside these markets, other solutions will be needed. One potential option is greater cross-border interconnectivity, but this too can be a mixed blessing. Poland’s interconnection with Germany for example, has seen the influx of surplus German wind power place its domestic power plants under extreme pressure.
>
> In ideal generating conditions renewables can lead to occasional oversupply, but since their delivery is intermittent, conventional power plants must back them up in order to guarantee supply and balance of the grid. Fossil-fired generation and traditional plants are large scale, operating at extremely high pressures and temperatures, and therefore cannot simply be fired up and down on demand. Much like a car, they cannot be taken on frequent short journeys without requiring shorter gaps between servicing.  As this type of maintenance can take large plants off-grid, this has serious implications for both cost and security of supply.
>
> Up until recently, carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology was seen as a means of continuing with large amounts of fossil-fired power to support base load and at the same time de-carbonisation. However, development of CCS technologies has not progressed as anticipated and has failed to materialise on any commercial scale. 
>
> Keeping the Lights On
>
> The recession and economic slowdown across Europe has meant the political focus has been on financial markets, with energy pushed to the sidelines. But as the economy recovers and the banks become stronger, the power industry needs to ensure it doesn’t become the next crisis. At a time when the market is in transition and flux, and with on-going conflict between European energy policies and those of individual member states, it is all the more important for power industry professionals to come together to devise strategies and solutions to keep the lights on and the industry pumping. 
>
> Lead image: Europe map via Shutterstock
>
> Read More Solar Energy News Here
>

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Fwd: Good News from America's Heartland: Another Attack on Clean Energy Falls Short

> http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2014/03/good-news-from-americas-heartland-another-attack-on-clean-energy-falls-short?cmpid=SolarNL-Saturday-March29-2014
>
> Good News from America's Heartland: Another Attack on Clean Energy Falls Short
>
> Pierre Bull 
> March 28, 2014  |  0 Comments
>
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> Good news from America’s heartland: A bipartisan coalition in the Kansas House stood with Kansans today in support of clean and renewable energy, turning back yet another attempt to repeal state Renewable Portfolio Standard aimed at fostering homegrown resources like wind and solar power.
>
> Specifically, 77 members of the Kansas House of Representatives defeated a “Senate companion bill” aimed at repealing the state Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) that the state Senate passed 15-25 after using a rare legislative maneuver on Monday.  
>
> Today’s vote, which kills the repeal effort for now, marks another major defeat for ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) and the other front groups backed by fossil fuel interests trying to stymie the growth of clean energy in America. ALEC tried to repeal Renewable Portfolio Standards — targets requiring that a certain percentage of electricity be generated from clean energy — in Kansas and 12 other states last year, but failed each time.
>
> It’s extraordinary to witness the lengths that the ALEC-sponsored Senate bill sponsors went this year in order to move their RPS repeal efforts in defiance of strong popular support expressed by nine out of ten Kansans who say they want more clean energy including energy efficiency and renewable energy like wind and solar.  They know that the Kansas  RPS has spurred over $7 billion in in-state investment and created over 13,000 jobs in an otherwise sluggish economy.
>
> The Kansas Senate bill’s sponsors had pulled a rarely-used legislative procedural trick known as “gut and go” – essentially gutting the contents of an existing bill in committee and getting the new language to “go” to a full floor vote, lickety split. But today, the Kansas House reminded their Senate counterparts of the consequences of using such tactics by defeating the companion measure in their chamber.
>
> Perhaps taking cues from their fossil fuel industry backers, these Senators thought they could just drill beneath the daylight of transparent lawmaking procedures and public support for clean energy. Once they were deep underground they realized it’s not easy to see what’s in front or beside them. Their counterparts in the House came to the rescue, which is fortunate for Kansans.
>
> Unfortunately, however, attempts to repeal the Kansas RPS are becoming an annual rite in the wind and solar-rich heartland state. My Midwest NRDC colleague David Weiskopf noted last week:
>
> Here in the Midwest we are seeing the perennial first signs of Spring: a few early buds are appearing on the magnolia trees, rivers and lakes are starting to thaw, and of course, ALEC and the Koch brothers are pushing yet another pointless and harmful attack on Kansas’s wildly successful  Renewable Energy Standard.
>
> This year’s bill, SB 433, is sponsored by the Kansas Senate’s Committee on Ways and Means, which is chaired by Ty Masterson, a known ALEC member and supporter of last year’s failed attack on renewable energy policy in Kansas.
>
> Today’s action in the Kansas House doesn't defeat the issue for this year. However, the vote today sends a very strong signal to the opposition that Kansans care deeply about sustaining prosperity in their state and they know that policies such as the state RPS align strongly with this core value, bringing thousands of new jobs and billions in business opportunities back to the heartland.
>
> This blog was originally published on NRDC and was republished with permission.
>
> Lead image: Stop hand via Shutterstock
>
> The information and views expressed in this blog post are solely those of

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Fwd: Offshore Wind Updates: Cape Wind Financing, Deepwater Proposal, Massive UK Project Approvals

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Rebecca Van Nichols" <rvan@tnag.net>
Date: Mar 29, 2014 7:59 PM
Subject: Offshore Wind Updates: Cape Wind Financing, Deepwater Proposal, Massive UK Project Approvals
To: "M" <mbannerman@arcstarenergy.com>
Cc:


Offshore Wind Updates: Cape Wind Financing, Deepwater Proposal, Massive UK Project Approvals

As US offshore wind continues to inch towards fruition, the UK moves forward with another GW-sized project.

Meg Cichon, Associate Editor, RenewableEnergyWorld.com 
March 27, 2014  |  1 Comments
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New Hampshire, USA -- The offshore wind industry saw some action from both sides of the pond this week, with several announcements coming from projects off the coast of Massachusetts, New York and Scotland.

After recent wins in court, Cape Wind officially announced that it has secured an additional $600 million in financing with The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU). The bank secured two lead arrangers, Natixis and Rabobank, to help structure the financing to additional lenders. BTMU project finance director Takaki Sakai said there is significant additional “interest in Cape Wind among other commercial banks active in project financing,” and expects to complete commercial bank syndication soon.

Combined with Danish credit export agency EKF’s $600 million and PensionDanmark’s $200 millionpledges, the project will secure more than $1 billion in debt financing when all bank approvals are finalized, which is expected by the third quarter of this year, according to Cape Wind president Jim Gordon. Upon completion, the project is set to finally commence construction by the end of 2014 after more than a decade of hurdles.

“New England urgently needs the jobs and clean energy that Cape Wind will produce,” said Gordon in a release. “We are pleased that these experienced offshore wind lenders are supporting our efforts to diversify our region's energy mix and helping to launch the U.S. offshore wind industry."

Further south in New Jersey, Deepwater Wind (currently racing with Cape Wind to commission the first U.S. offshore wind project) hopes to supply eastern Long Island with more than 200 MW of offshore wind energy. In response to Long Island Power Authority’s request for new sources of renewable energy, Deepwater proposed its Deepwater ONE offshore farm located off the coast of Rhode Island and 30 miles east of Montauk, New York — just far enough to be out of sight, according to Deepwater Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski. 

“Our proposal not only provides a cost-effective source of new clean energy,” said Grybowski in a release, “but it also has the unique ability to deliver large quantities of energy to the East End — where demand is growing — without being seen.” 

Deepwater won a 30-year lease last year to develop wind projects in the first-ever competitive auction for offshore renewable energy in the U.S. It pledged $3.8 million for two parcels that cover more than 164,000 acres and hold more than 3 GW of potential. 

According to the proposal, Deepwater ONE would provide peak power to an existing substation via buried cables. Construction could begin in 2017 and the project could be up and running by 2018. 

Crossing the Atlantic to the U.K., which is no stranger to offshore wind, the 1.1-GW Moray Offshore Wind Farm was granted consent for construction and operation by the Scottish government earlier this month, and has now been approved by environmental advisor Natural Power. Located 13.5 miles off the Caithness coast in Scotland, the project will be the second-largest in U.K. waters and third largest in the world. 

Natural Power completed a four-year assessment, which included scoping, consulting and an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that involved an evaluation of bird and marine life.

“This is a critical step not only in the delivery of this project, but in the development of offshore wind in deeper water, further from shore,” said João Manso Neto, CEO of developer EDP Renováveis. “This project will provide the U.K. with a significant new generation resource at a time when many aging thermal power stations are coming off-line, generation capacity is shrinking, and gas prices are rising. It will deliver improved security of supply, and greater insulation for consumers from volatile fossil fuel prices.” 

We will continue to watch these projects and provide updates as they develop.

Lead image: Offshore wind via Shutterstock


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