Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:August 26, 2003

*News and Events

Hydropower and Conservation Contributed to Blackout Recovery

New York State may draw on a wide number of energy sources for its electricity, but when it needed to recover from the August 14th blackout, it turned to hydropower. Hydroelectric power plants have the ability to “blackstart” — start generating power without help from any external power source — and to produce power immediately. In contrast, nuclear and fossil-fuel power plants require significant startup times, and nuclear power plants are not permitted to operate while the power grid is not energized. According to the National Hydropower Association (NHA), hydropower facilities were the first to be placed in operation in order to establish a stable power grid, the critical first step in restoring power to the region. See the press release on the NHA Web site at: http://www.hydro.org/

Energy conservation also played an important role during the recovery, as power supplies remained tight for several days after the blackout. See, for example, the press releases from two utilities that serve New York State, Niagara Mohawk and Consolidated Edison:
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The San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a $16.3 million energy efficiency pilot project for the city in late July. The city’s environment department will work with the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) to run the program, which aims to reduce peak electricity demand for both homes and businesses. The program will include nine elements aimed at reducing peak power use by 16 megawatts in the city by January 2005. The nine program elements include installing energy efficiency measures in the homes of low-income families, providing energy audits and other technical support to businesses, and offering rebates to multifamily housing units and businesses. See the PG&E press release at:
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New Jersey Awards $2.7 Million to Renewable Energy Companies

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) announced in early August its award of $2.7 million to 10 renewable energy businesses. The awards are part of the state’s Renewable Energy and Economic Development Program, which promotes renewable energy business development in the state. The firms will use the grants to explore wave energy, develop a variety of solar energy technologies, investigate means of producing hydrogen from renewable energy sources, and produce power from that hydrogen using fuel cells. The grants will also go toward efforts to assist local government officials in buying green power and to assist energy service companies in providing renewable energy services. See the New Jersey BPU press release at: [sorry this link is no longer available]

Two companies in recent weeks have announced new solar power products that will allow solar power to be integrated into buildings. Solar panels are expensive, and one approach to alleviating that expense is to make the panels serve a dual purpose, producing power while acting as a functional part of the building — an approach called building- integrated photovoltaics, or BIPV.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) announced on August 12th that it has reached an agreement with automakers and car dealers that will end litigation over the state’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) regulation. The litigation involved three lawsuits — filed by DaimlerChrysler Corporation, General Motors Corporation, Isuzu Motors Limited, and several car dealers — challenging CARB’s authority to promulgate the regulation. The agreement calls for the plaintiffs to dismiss their lawsuits once the new 2003 ZEV regulation is finalized. See the CARB press release: http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/zevprog/zevlitigation/exhibitc.pdf

As reported in the April 30th edition of this newsletter, the new 2003 ZEV regulation gives automakers greater flexibility, allowing automakers to earn credits by selling clean hybrid-electric or natural-gas vehicles, extremely clean conventional vehicles, or vehicles powered by fuel cells. See the April 30th story at: http://www.eere.energy.gov/news/news_detail.cfm?news_id=584

Despite the changes in the ZEV regulations, which greatly reduce the requirement to sell all-electric vehicles in California, a number of programs are underway throughout the country to promote electric vehicles. In mid-July, the State of Hawaii and Hyundai Motor Company announced a two-year extension of a program that is testing 15 electric sport utility vehicles in local fleets. Enova Systems provided a 90-kilowatt electric drive for the vehicles. In late July, the New York Power Authority (NYPA) and Global Electric Motorcars (GEM), a DaimlerChrysler subsidiary, donated 300 small electric vehicles for use in 40 locations around the state. Called neighborhood electric vehicles, or NEVs, the low-speed vehicles are mainly being used on campuses. GEM has reached a number of milestones recently, including sales of 10,000 NEVs in California, 1,000 NEVs in New York, and introductions of the vehicles in New Hampshire and Maine. And according to a study by the Green Car Institute, California owners of NEVs are using them for 65 percent of their daily short-distance trips, driving a total of 12.6 million zero-emissions miles each year. See the press releases from Enova Systems, NYPA, GEM, and the Green Car Institute at: [sorry this link is no longer available]
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In the wake of the August 14th blackout, energy groups are already trying to answer the most crucial question: How can we prevent this from happening again? The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) thinks it already has the answer. A new EPRI report articulates a vision of a unified, digitally controlled power grid that can move power precisely and reliably throughout North America, a concept first articulated by EPRI in its 1999 Electricity Technology Roadmap. The new report also calls for advanced meter technologies and increased use of distributed energy resources. See the 1999 roadmap and the August 25th press release at: [sorry this link is no longer available]
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