*News and Events
California to Host World’s Largest Photovoltaic System
L.A. Utility Pursuing Power Production from Yard Waste
New Water Pipeline Feeds World’s Largest Geothermal Facility
California Marks the Success of its Renewable Energy Program
Arizona Public Service Doubles Incentives for Solar Energy
Toyota Boosts Prius Production for U.S. Market by 31 Percent
*Site News
Wind Energy Development Programmatic EIS Information Center
*Energy Connections
New DOE Reports Highlight Climate Change Technologies
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NEWS AND EVENTS
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California to Host World’s Largest Photovoltaic System
TrueSolar Solutions, LLC will build a 5-megawatt solar photovoltaic power system — the largest of its type in the world — in southern California’s Mojave Desert next year, according to Southern California Edison (SCE). The utility will buy all the power produced by the system under an agreement approved by the California Public Utility Commission on December 4th. TrueSolar Solutions will work with Global Solar Energy to begin construction of the system in early 2004. The solar power plant will be located on a 40-acre site near Barstow, about 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles. [sorry this link is no longer available]
As reported in this newsletter a year ago, the largest photovoltaic system in the world is currently a 3.3-megawatt system in Serre, Italy. However, two Arizona utilities are each building systems that will eventually achieve peak capacities of 4 to 5 megawatts. See the December 18th, 2002, edition of this newsletter at:
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The northern California city of Oroville — the Butte County seat — will also join the “solar megawatt” club next year, as a one-megawatt photovoltaic system will be built there by Sun Power & Geothermal Energy, Inc. The new solar power system will consist of two ground-mounted arrays, one roof-mounted array, and an array of panels mounted
on parking shade structures for the county parking lot. The system will include more than 9,000 185-watt solar modules, manufactured by Sharp Manufacturing Company of America. It will provide all the power needs for the Butte County administration building and the county’s two jails. See the Sun Power press release at:
L.A. Utility Pursuing Power Production from Yard Waste
The Los Angeles Department of Power and Water (LADWP) announced last week that it plans to buy 40 megawatts of power from a new facility that will use anaerobic digestion to convert grass clippings and other yard waste into power. The L.A. Board of Water and Power Commissioners approved the power purchase agreement on December 2nd, but the L.A. City Council must also approve the agreement. Under the proposed agreement, LADWP will buy all the power from the facility, which will be built by BioConverter LLC by 2008. According to that company, the
new facility will be more efficient than previous anaerobic digesters, producing 30 to 50 percent more energy from the same amount of biomass. The facility is expected to convert 3,000 tons of plant material into biogas each day, which will be used to produce about 333 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. See the LADWP
press release at: [sorry this link is no longer available]
New Water Pipeline Feeds World’s Largest Geothermal Facility
Calpine Corporation announced last week that a 40-mile pipeline is now supplying recycled water to The Geysers, the world’s largest geothermal facility. The Santa Rosa Geysers Recharge Project is meant to extend the commercial life of The Geysers geothermal resource, located in northern California. The Geysers is a rare type of
geothermal field in which the energy is carried by dry steam. Although the geothermal heat supplying the resource remains essentially constant, the constant release of steam from the underground resource threatens to deplete the subterranean supply of water, which is essential to transport the geothermal energy to the surface. To remedy
that situation, the new pipeline is carrying 11 million gallons of recycled water per day from the City of Santa Rosa’s municipal water system to The Geysers, where it is being injected into the underground reservoir of steam. See the Calpine press release and the project description from the City of Santa Rosa at:
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Calpine owns 19 of the 21 geothermal facilities at The Geysers, which covers a 30-square-mile area that straddles the border of Lake and Sonoma counties. According to the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA), the power plants at The Geysers have a total rated capacity of 1,650 megawatts, although the plants are currently achieving an
average annual net capacity of only 862 megawatts. See the GEA Web
site at: [sorry this link is no longer available]
While the new Geysers pipeline aims to maintain an existing geothermal energy source, researchers at DOE’s Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) are working to help geothermal developers find new resources to tap. The researchers have generated a new regional geothermal resource map and individual resource maps for 13 Western states (including Alaska and Hawaii), available on the INEEL Web site at: http://geothermal.id.doe.gov/maps-software.shtml
California Marks the Success of its Renewable Energy Program
While California is home to many large wind energy, solar power, and geothermal energy installations, it is also home to a growing number of smaller wind and solar energy installations, in part because of the financial support provided by the state’s Renewable Energy Program, administered by the California Energy Commission (CEC). According to the CEC’s annual report, released last week, the program has provided more than $82 million in rebates for a total of 5,300 solar and wind energy systems installed at homes and businesses throughout the state.
The systems have a combined capacity of more than 20 megawatts, and systems comprising another 9 megawatts in capacity are under construction. The program’s support for new commercial renewable energy plants has thus far yielded 40 new projects that total 259 megawatts in capacity, and the program has helped 275 existing facilities — totaling 4,400 megawatts — either remain competitive or return to service. The program has also supported more than 200,000 purchases of renewable energy by consumers. See the CEC report, a 1.28-megabyte PDF file, at:
California provides a tax credit for solar and wind energy
installations, and is currently offering incentive payments of
$3.80 per watt for solar power systems less than 30 kilowatts in
capacity, and $2.30 per watt for wind energy systems up to
7.5 kilowatts in capacity. Those incentives are scheduled to drop by
20 cents per watt on January 1st, but due to the large response to the
solar incentive, the CEC is considering decreasing the solar power
incentive to $3 per watt. The CEC will hold a public workshop tomorrow
to solicit comments on that change. See the announcements on the
CEC’s Consumer Energy Center Web site at:
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Arizona Public Service Doubles Incentives for Solar Energy
Arizona Public Service (APS), the state’s largest electric utility, announced last week that it will double its incentive for grid- connected solar power systems starting January 1st. The utility currently offers an incentive of $2 per watt, up to half the cost of the installation, but has realized that nearly all of the 200 customers that took advantage of the incentive were located off of the electric grid. The new incentive of $4 per watt for grid-connected systems will help APS meet its requirements for generating power from solar energy. To further sweeten the deal, Arizona residents can also receive a state solar energy credit equal to one-quarter the cost of the system, up to $1,000.
APS is also doubling its incentive payment for solar water heating systems to $700. See the press release: [sorry this link is no longer available]
Toyota Boosts Prius Production for U.S. Market by 31 Percent
Toyota Motor Sales announced on Monday that it will increase its production of the hybrid electric Prius for the U.S. market by 31 percent. Toyota originally planned to produce 36,000 of the vehicles for the U.S. market in 2004, but has now boosted that number to 47,000. The increase is Toyota’s response to high demand for the vehicle: Toyota received 12,000 pre-orders before the vehicle launched in mid-October and delivered 10,000 vehicles in its first six weeks on sale.
Last week, Toyota announced that the second-generation Prius enjoyed a second consecutive record sales month of 5,584 vehicles in November — more than double the sales of the first-generation Prius’ best-ever month, March 2003, when Toyota sold 2,532 vehicles. See the December 2nd and 8th press releases on the Toyota Web site at:
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The Prius continues to earn kudos from the critics: last week, Car and Driver magazine named the Prius to its list of “10Best Cars,” which represents both value and drivability. The Prius beat out an impressive list of nominees to make the list. See the “10Best Cars” link on the Car and Driver Web site at:
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SITE NEWS
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Wind Energy Development Programmatic EIS Information Center
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is preparing a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate issues associated with wind energy development on western public lands administered by
the BLM, excluding Alaska. This Web site, administered by DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory, provides access to information about the project and invites public participation in the process.
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ENERGY CONNECTIONS
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New DOE Reports Highlight Climate Change Technologies
DOE released a report last w
eek that profiles near- and long-term technologies for addressing climate change. The report includes a range of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, as well as hydrogen energy. It also includes such options as low-emission fossil energy, nuclear fission and fusion, carbon sequestration technologies, and other approaches. An accompanying report summarizes the current state of research on these technologies. See the reports and a link to the DOE press release on the “New” page of the U.S. Climate Change Technology Program Web site at: [sorry this link is no longer available]
eek that profiles near- and long-term technologies for addressing climate change. The report includes a range of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, as well as hydrogen energy. It also includes such options as low-emission fossil energy, nuclear fission and fusion, carbon sequestration technologies, and other approaches. An accompanying report summarizes the current state of research on these technologies. See the reports and a link to the DOE press release on the “New” page of the U.S. Climate Change Technology Program Web site at: [sorry this link is no longer available]
Meanwhile, a report released by the Prototype Carbon Fund — a public and private partnership to combat climate change — finds that the global trading of carbon emission credits doubled in 2003. As of November, more than 70 million tons of carbon dioxide were traded worldwide. See “State and Trends of the Carbon Market” on the
Prototype Carbon Fund home page: [sorry this link is no longer available]
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| Kevin Eber is the Editor of EREE Network News, a weekly publication of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). |
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