– Report: Global Renewable Energy Experiencing Double-Digit Growth
– Southwestern Utilities Team Up on Massive Solar Power Project
– Shell and HR Biopetroleum to Grow Algae for Biofuels
– Report: States Falling Short on Interconnection and Net Metering
– New York City Orders 850 Hybrid Buses, Switches to Hybrid Cabs
– DOE and GM Launch EcoCAR Competition to Follow Challenge X
– Renewable Energy Growth Boosted in EIA Outlook
Global Renewable Energy Experiencing Double Digit Growth
Renewable energy use is growing much faster than 10% per year throughout the world, according to a new report from the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21). Excluding large hydropower, the global electric generating capacity of renewable energy facilities reached 237 gigawatts (GW) this year, up 15% from last year. That’s about 5.5% of the electric generating capacity throughout the world. At 93 GW, wind power provided about 40% of that renewable generating capacity; wind power capacity increased by 25% over 2006. Grid-connected solar photovoltaic systems reached 7.8 GW in capacity, a 56% increase, while the global production of photovoltaic systems reached 3.8 GW per year, a 52% increase over 2006.
Among non-electric renewable energy sources, solar hot water capacity increased by 17% to 121 thermal GW. Global ethanol production increased 16% to 11.6 billion gallons, while biodiesel production increased by a third to more than 2 billion gallons.
The REN21 report estimates that global investment in renewable energy will exceed $100 billion in 2007, including $15-$20 billion invested in large hydropower facilities, at least $66 billion invested in other renewable energy facilities, $10-$12 billion invested in manufacturing plants for photovoltaic devices and biofuels, and $16 billion invested in public and private research and development. The full REN21 report will be published in January, but a pre-publication summary has been released in time for the climate conference in Bali. See the REN21 press release and pre-publication summary (PDF 765 KB).
Southwestern Utilities Team Up on Massive Solar Power Project
A multi-state consortium of southwestern electric utilities joined forces last week to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a large-scale solar power plant. The consortium members hope to persuade a third party to build a 250-megawatt solar thermal power plant in either Arizona or Nevada by 2012, in which case the utilities would jointly buy all the power produced by the power plant.
The solar facility must employ concentrating solar power (CSP) technology, which involves concentrating the sun’s heat using either trough-shaped mirrors, dish-shaped mirrors, or a series of flat mirrors that track the sun in unison. If truly built to a 250-megawatt capacity, the facility will be the largest solar power plant in either state. The minimum project size that will be accepted under the RFP is 100 megawatts, and the consortium members will give preference to facilities with thermal energy storage. To learn more about CSP technology, see the CSP section of DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Program Web site.
The utility consortium, dubbed the Southwest Energy Service Provider’s Consortium for Solar Development, includes the Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, Arizona Public Service (APS), the Southern California Public Power Authority, the Salt River Project (which provides power to Phoenix, Arizona), Tucson Electric Power, and Xcel Energy (which serves eight states in the West and Midwest), with APS coordinating the project. The consortium will hold a bidder’s teleconference in January, and bids will be due on March 19th, 2008. See the press release and the RFP on the APS Web site (PDF 171 KB).
Shell & HR Biopetroleum to Grow Algae for Biofuels
Royal Dutch Shell plc announced yesterday that it will work with HR Biopetroleum to build a pilot facility for growing algae as a source of biofuels. The facility will cultivate algae in seawater ponds, then harvest the algae and extract oil from them for conversion into fuels such as biodiesel. Construction of the facility will begin immediately on a parcel of land leased from the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA), which is located on the shore of the Hawaiian island of Kona.
The NELHA site is ideal for the project because it pipes in a constant supply of clean, fresh ocean water. NELHA was originally built to support a DOE project for ocean thermal energy conversion, and it continues to employ the project’s seawater supply pipes to support a variety of research projects and commercial enterprises, including facilities that currently grow and harvest algae for pharmaceuticals and nutritional supplements. Shell and HR Biopetroleum have formed a joint venture company, called Cellana, to develop the biofuels project.
Algae grow rapidly and can have a high percentage of lipids, or oils. They can double their mass several times a day and produce at least 15 times more oil per acre than alternatives such as rapeseed, palms, soybeans, or jatropha. Moreover, algae-growing facilities can be built on coastal land unsuitable for conventional agriculture.
The Cellana facility will grow only non-genetically modified, marine microalgae species in open-air ponds using proprietary technology. It will also use bottled carbon dioxide to test the algae’s ability to capture carbon. To support the facility, academic research programs at the University of Hawaii, the University of Southern Mississippi, and Canada’s Dalhousie University will screen natural microalgae species to find the strains that produce the highest yields and the most oil. See the Shell press release and the NELHA Web site.
Shell isn’t the only oil company that’s exploring the potential of algae. In late October, Chevron Corporation and DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced that they had entered into a collaborative research and development agreement to produce biofuels from algae. Under the agreement, Chevron and NREL scientists will collaborate to identify and develop algae strains that can be economically harvested and processed into transportation fuels such as jet fuel. See the NREL press release.
NYC Switches to Hybrid Buses, Cabs, Intiatives Efficiency Projects
The streets of New York City will soon feature many more hybrid vehicles, as the city’s buses and taxis shift to the fuel-saving technology. On Monday, Orion Bus announced that the city has ordered 850 diesel-electric hybrid transit buses for use by the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) Bus Company and MTA New York City Transit. When delivered to the city in early 2010, the buses will make the MTA’s diesel-electric hybrid bus fleet the largest in the world, with nearly 1,700 hybrid buses. The buses will be powered by a hybrid drive system developed by BAE Systems and incorporating lithium-ion batteries, achieving a fuel economy improvement of as much as 30% relative to standard diesel buses. The buses will also produce only 10% of the particulate emissions and 60% of the nitrous oxide emissions produced by conventional diesel buses. See the press release from Daimler Buses North America, which owns the Orion Bus brand.
In addition, the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) voted last week for new regulations that require all new taxicabs in the city to achieve 25 miles per gallon (mpg), starting on October 1st, 2008. The TLC requirements increase to 30 mpg a year later, and exempt accessible taxicabs. The new regulations effectively require a shift to hybrid taxis in the city and are expected to result in an all-hybrid taxi fleet by 2012. The regulations follow a goal set by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in May 2007. At that time, the city had only 375 hybrid vehicles in its fleet of 13,000 taxicabs, but since then the number of hybrid taxis has nearly doubled to 627, which is more than any other U.S. city. See the TLC press release (PDF 46 KB) and the article from this newsletter on Mayor Bloomberg’s May announcement.
In May, we covered a project of the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) to perform energy efficiency retrofits in 16 cities, including New York. That effort expanded on December 7th, when the city teamed up with CCI and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on a sustainability partnership for the NYC Housing Authority (NYCHA), the nation’s largest public housing authority.
The partnership will help provide access to energy-efficient and clean-energy technologies at reduced prices. NYCHA’s comprehensive plan includes building retrofits as well as boiler and heating system modernizations for the more than 2,600 buildings managed by NYCHA throughout the city. NYCHA also plans to pursue remote monitoring and control for its 210 large, central heating plants; instantaneous water heating to replace aging hot water tank heaters; and energy-efficient lighting upgrades. See the articles from the December 12th and May 23rd editions of this newsletter and the recent announcement from Mayor Bloomberg.
New York City has identified 132 energy efficiency projects at municipal facilities that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 34,000 tons annually. This is the first step toward a goal of reducing the greenhouse gas emissions caused by municipal buildings and operations by 30% by 2017, which will require an emissions cut of 1.1 million tons. The plan includes 108 interior lighting upgrades, a quarter of which will also include other efficiency measures, as well as 8 heating system upgrades, 3 street and highway lighting projects, and a variety of other projects and pilot studies. One of the more visible projects involves replacing the 100-watt mercury vapor lamps on the Brooklyn Bridge with 24-watt LED (light-emitting diode) lamps.
The city has committed to spend an amount equal to 10% of its energy expenditures each year for the next 10 years to achieve the greenhouse gas emissions goal, an effort it calls "PlaNYC." For example, in fiscal year 2008, the city plans to spend $800 million for energy, so it will also spend $80 million on energy efficiency projects. Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed legislation last week that codifies the PlaNYC emissions targets. See the Mayor’s press releases on the short-term plan and the bill signing, as well as the entire short-term action plan (PDF 331 KB).
While the city government moves toward improved energy efficiency, so do some of the city’s most notable institutions, including the New York Times. The "old grey lady" has moved to a new green building, and the grand opening for the new 52-story New York Times Building was held in late November. The innovative building, designed by the Renzo Piano Workshop, features a dimmable lighting system and a dynamic shading system that result in energy savings of 30% percent on the 26 floors occupied by the Times Company (floors 2 through 27). Horizontal ceramic rods on the exterior of the building act as a sunshade capable of blocking half of the sun’s energy. This unique feature allowed the use of floor-to-ceiling ultra-clear glass that maximizes views and light for the occupants.
The Times Company gets 40% of its power from a 1.4-megawatt gas-fired cogeneration system, which also produces hot water for heating in the winter and for powering an absorption chiller to help cool the building through the warmer months. The building also features an under-floor air distribution system, demand-controlled ventilation, and a system to purge the building air at night. See a compilation of press releases from those involved in the project (PDF 6.6 MB) and the New York Times Building Web site.
States Falling Short on Interconnection, Net Metering
A new report concludes that all 50 states are failing to provide easy access to the electrical grid for home-grown renewable energy systems, while only four states are doing their best to assure that the owners of such systems earn credit for power fed into the grid.
Regarding "interconnection," or the connection of customer-owned power systems to the grid, many states set an arbitrary maximum size of the system that can be connected to the grid, or they set a cap on the total combined capacity of the systems connected to the grid. In many states, utility customers must pay high fees for interconnection, while also having to meet unreasonable requirements for safety features, liability insurance, and approval paperwork.
Regarding "net metering," which provides a utility bill credit for customers who feed power into the grid, some states allow utilities to credit the power at a rate that’s lower than the retail rate, to limit the amount of credit earned, or to limit the credit that can be carried over from month to month. Net metering often excludes commercial and industrial partners and sometimes requires the installation of an extra meter. And of course, many states don’t have a policy for interconnection or net metering at all.
The report, "Freeing the Grid," is an update of a 2006 report and is prepared by the Network for New Energy Choices, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), the Vote Solar Initiative, and the Solar Alliance. The report finds that as of September 2007, only 34 states and the District of Columbia had statewide interconnection policies, and of those, 8 states and the District of Columbia received failing grades. New Jersey and Arizona have the best interconnection policies, both earning a "B" from the report’s authors. Likewise, only 38 states and the District of Columbia had statewide net-metering policies, and of those, 4 states and the District of Columbia received failing grades. Five states—California, Colorado, Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania—earned an "A" for their net-metering policies. See the report on the Network for New Energy Choices Web site (PDF 2.2 MB).
DOE, GM Launch EcoCAR Competition
DOE and General Motors Corporation (GM) are sponsoring a new collegiate competition in which university teams will re-engineer a production GM vehicle to meet the requirements for earning Zero Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) credits from the California Air Resources Board.
The competition, called "EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge," will require teams to explore advanced propulsion technologies such as hybrids, plug-in hybrids, all-electric vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles. The teams could also explore alternative fuels, lightweight materials, and improved aerodynamics. And it truly is the next challenge, as DOE and GM are currently sponsoring Challenge X, a three-year university competition to re-engineer a Chevrolet Equinox to minimize its fuel consumption and emissions. With that competition concluding in May 2008, the EcoCAR competition will take its place in fall 2008.
The new engineering competition will begin with university teams developing their vehicle designs using the same simulation process currently used to develop all of GM’s vehicles. The teams will design sophisticated hardware and software systems to meet their goals, leading to actually rebuilding the production vehicles in the second and third years of the competition. At the end of both the second and third years of the competition, the student vehicle prototypes will compete in a week-long series of engineering tests, similar to the tests conducted by GM to determine if a prototype is ready for production. The third year allows the teams to learn from their second-year results and to continue to refine, test, and improve their vehicle’s operation. DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory will manage the competition.
DOE and GM issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the competition on December 3rd, but to receive the RFP, schools must first complete an online form, as described in the "Notice of Program Interest" document that was issued in late November. DOE and GM expect to select 16 teams for the competition, which is open to all accredited engineering schools in North America. Each team will receive a GM production vehicle, $10,000 in seed money, a wide range of advanced powertrain components, and technical and mentoring support from the competition sponsors. Responses to the RFP are due by March 3rd, and the teams will be selected in April. See the GM press release (PDF 42.2 KB), the EcoCAR announcement (PDF 94 KB), and the Notice of Program Interest for the EcoCAR Challenge (PDF 94 KB).
Renewable Energy Growth Boosted in EIA Outlook
DOE’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) is now projecting renewable energy to experience 23% faster growth between now and 2030 than previously anticipated. The EIA’s latest "Annual Energy Outlook" foresees renewable energy providing 12.2 quadrillion Btu (quads) of energy by 2030, up from only 9.9 quads in last year’s outlook. For comparison, total U.S. energy use was 100 quads in 2006 and is projected to increase to 123.8 quads by 2030.
The EIA projections include hydropower, which is expected to increase from 2.89 quads in 2006 to 3 quads in 2015, staying level after that. In contrast, biomass energy is projected to increase from 2.97 quads in 2006 to 5.52 quads in 2030, an 86% increase, while "other renewable energy" is projected to increase from 0.88 quads in 2006 to 2.49 quads in 2030, a nearly threefold increase. And this is just the EIA’s reference case, often characterized as the "business as usual" case; a full EIA report examining alternative scenarios will be released early in 2008.
Breaking down the numbers for electricity production, geothermal power production is expected to increase 88.4% by 2030, while the power generated from wood and other biomass is expected to increase nearly ninefold. Solar thermal power generation is expected to increase more than fourfold, while grid-connected solar power, which provided a miniscule share of the country’s power in 2006, is projected to experience a 73-fold increase.
Wind power is projected to experience a fivefold increase, but the EIA does not project any significant offshore wind power in its reference case. Meanwhile, the contributions from biofuels are expected to nearly quadruple, growing from 0.5 quads in 2006 to 1.87 quads in 2030. In addition, residential and commercial use of geothermal heat pumps, solar hot water, and solar and wind power are expected to contribute only 0.17 quads by 2030.
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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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