- DOE: $2.4B for Plug-in Vehicles
- DOE: $535M Loan Guarantee to Solyndra
- Solar: Grew at a Record Pace in 2008
- Georgia Power to Switch Coal Plant to Biomass
- Regulators Propose Priorities for Smart Grid Standards
- Insurance Regulators Require Climate Change Risk Disclosure
DOE Offers $2.4B to Support Plug-In Vehicles
President Obama announced last week that DOE is offering up to $2.4 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to support next-generation plug-in vehicles and their advanced battery components.
Of the $2.4 billion, $1.5 billion in grants will go to U.S. manufacturers to produce high-efficiency batteries and their components; $500 million in grants will go to U.S. manufacturers to produce other components needed for electric vehicles, such as electric motors; and $400 million will go towards projects that demonstrate and evaluate plug-in hybrids and other electric infrastructure concepts.
When these vehicles are offered for sale, U.S. residents who purchase them will be able to claim a tax credit of up to $7,500. Building a U.S. plug-in vehicle industry will create tens of thousands of jobs.
DOE will provide assistance to construct or upgrade battery manufacturing, component, and recycling plants for lithium-ion and other advanced batteries, as well as for factories producing power electronics for electric drive vehicles. This will help lower the cost of battery packs, batteries, and electric propulsion systems. DOE will also support demonstration, evaluation, and education projects to help develop the market for advanced electric drive vehicles. The $2.4 billion in funding is divided between two Funding Opportunity Announcements. Applications for Transportation Electrification are due by May 13, and applications for the Electric Drive Vehicle Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative are due by May 19.
Plug-ins will travel up to 40 miles without recharging, allowing most U.S. commuters to drive to work and back without using any fuel. Beyond that 40-mile range, the vehicles will run much like today’s hybrids, achieving high fuel economies. Overall, plug-in hybrids are expected to achieve fuel economies as high as 100 miles per gallon. But for such vehicles to be practical will depend on the development of advanced, lightweight batteries that can meet tough requirements for durability and performance. See the DOE press release and the Vehicle Technologies Program.
DOE Offers $535M Loan Guarantee to Solyndra
DOE offered a $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra, Inc. last week to support construction of a commercial-scale manufacturing plant for its proprietary solar photovoltaic panels, which consist of arrays of glass tubes. It will be funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which provides billions of dollars in loan guarantee authority to build a new green energy economy. As the first to be offered through the DOE Loan Guarantee Program, the loan guarantee was offered as a "conditional commitment," which requires Solyndra to meet an equity commitment, as well as other conditions, before the loan guarantee is closed. The situation is similar to that of a homebuyer earning approval on a loan, but still having to meet certain conditions before closing.
Solyndra’s proprietary solar panel design transforms glass tubes into easy-to-install, inexpensive, high-performance solar panels, which can be installed on low-slope commercial, industrial, and institutional rooftops. Solyndra deposits thin films of copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS), a photovoltaic material, on the inner surface of glass tubes, which are then hermetically sealed on both ends with a metal caps. The glass tubes are then assembled into large, flat solar panels.
The cylindrical design enables the CIGS material to capture direct, diffuse, and reflected sunlight, allowing the panels to be mounted flat and close together. This makes greater use of the rooftop area than a traditional flat solar panel, which is typically mounted in racks that tilt the panels toward the sun. The design also allows air to flow through the panels, keeping the operating temperature down and reducing wind loads, which in turn makes installation easier.
DOE will guarantee the loan through the U.S. Treasury’s Federal Financing Bank, allowing Solyndra to build a new solar panel fabrication facility in California. The loan will cover 73% of the cost of the new facility, which will be capable of producing enough solar panels each year to generate 500 MW of solar power.
Solyndra estimates the facility will employ 3,000 people during its construction, and its operation will create nearly 1,000 U.S. jobs. In addition, hundreds of technicians will be needed to install the solar panels at projects located throughout the U.S. See the DOE and Solyndra press releases, the Web site for the DOE Loan Guarantee Program, and Solyndra’s overview of its solar panel technology.
Solar Energy Grew at a Record Pace in 2008
Solar deployment increased at a record pace in the U.S. and throughout the world in 2008. Last week, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) released its "2008 U.S. Solar Industry Year in Review," which found that U.S. solar energy capacity increased by 17% last year, reaching the equivalent of 8,775 MW: 342 MW of solar PV, 139 thermal MW of solar water heating, 762 thermal MW of pool heating, and 21 thermal MW of solar space heating and cooling.
The growth rate was highest for grid-connected PV electric systems, which increased by 58% to a total of 792 MW. California dominated this category, installing 178.6 MW of grid-tied PV, but the largest PV system, at 10 MW, was built in Boulder City, Nevada. Meanwhile, domestic PV manufacturing capacity increased by 65%, and preliminary estimates peg the total U.S. PV manufacturing capacity at 685 MW per year as of the end of 2008. See the SEIA press release and the full report (PDF 2.6 MB).
That growth rate is still dwarfed by the world’s fastest-growing PV markets, namely, Spain and Germany. According to Solarbuzz, Spain added 2,460 MW of solar PV power in 2008, while Germany added 1,860 MW of PV power, leaving the U.S. in a distant third place. Solarbuzz estimates global market growth at 5,950 MW in 2008. World PV production reached 6,850 MW per year in 2008, a significant jump up from the capacity of 3,440 MW per year for 2007. Contributing to that rapid growth, the production of thin-film solar modules more than doubled, reaching 890 MW per year by the end of 2008. See the Solarbuzz press release.
Georgia Power Wins Approval to Switch Coal Plant to Biomass Power
The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved a request from Georgia Power Company to convert its Plant Mitchell Unit 3 from a coal-fired power plant to a biomass power plant. Located near Albany, Georgia, the facility will produce 96 MW of power once the conversion is completed in June 2012, making it one of the largest biomass power plants in the U.S.
It will draw on surplus wood fuel from suppliers within a 100-mile radius of the plant. Georgia Power, the largest subsidiary of Southern Company, requested the conversion last summer and plans to begin the conversion by spring of 2011. The Georgia PSC approved Georgia Power’s request last week, while also approving the utility’s construction of two new nuclear power units at its Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant in southeast Georgia. See the Southern Company press release on the initial request and the press release on the approval from the Georgia PSC (PDF 153 KB).
A recent report from the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy notes that such biomass power plants would be key for a near-term shift to renewable energy in the Southeast. According to the report, 11 southeastern states currently draw on renewable energy for about 5% of their electricity sales, but that percentage can increase to 15% by 2015.
To do so, the utilities in the region would mainly need to draw on biomass power, which has the advantages of being a constant, baseload power source. The region would also need to draw on much smaller amounts of hydropower, solar power, and wind power. In the long term, the report foresees utilities drawing on increasing amounts of solar power and offshore wind power to meet their energy needs. See the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy press release and full report (PDF 690 KB).
Biomass is also making headway in other parts of the country. In late February, Xcel Energy filed for approval to convert the remaining coal-fired unit at its Bay Front Power Plant to biomass by adding a biomass gasification facility to the Ashland, Wisconsin, facility. The utility already burns wood in two of the three boilers at the power plant, and the conversion will make it the largest biomass power plant in the Midwest. If approved, construction will start next year, with commercial operation anticipated in late 2012.
Meanwhile, the California Energy Commission (CEC) has initiated its review of two 53.4-megawatt solar thermal power plants that will each include a 40-megawatt biomass power plant to supplement the solar power. If approved, San Joaquin Solar 1 and 2 will be built just east of Coalinga in Fresno County, and the plants should start operating in early 2011. See Xcel Energy’s Web page for the Bay Front Biomass Gasification Project, and see the CEC press release and licensing case for the solar thermal-biomass hybrid project.
Federal Energy Regulators Propose Priorities for Smart Grid Standards
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a proposed policy statement and action plan last week for standards governing the development of a smart grid. A smart grid involves adding communication technologies and control systems to the electrical grid, increasing its reliability and its ability to accommodate advanced energy systems. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to coordinate the development of smart grid standards, which FERC would then promulgate through official rulemakings. However, FERC notes that the electric industry is already moving ahead with smart grid technologies, so it is proposing to establish some general principles that the smart grid standards should follow.
Specifically, FERC proposes to make cyber security and grid reliability the top priorities for smart grids. Cyber security is already a concern with today’s grid systems, and the two-way communication ability of a smart grid could make the situation worse if the system is not secure. FERC also wants clear standards to allow systems to communicate with each other, so that grid operators can have a clear picture of how the power grid is functioning over a large area. The lack of such abilities contributed in part to the blackout that struck the U.S. and Canada in the summer of 2003.
But FERC is also looking at the growth in clean energy, so the commission wants to be sure that smart grids will better accommodate renewable energy resources, demand response systems, energy storage systems, and electric vehicles. For electric vehicles, FERC at least wants the smart grid to allow charging during times of low power demand, but ideally the commission would like the smart grid to accommodate vehicle-to-grid technologies, which would use the nation’s electric vehicles as a vast, distributed, energy storage system. See the FERC press release.
With many utilities already moving ahead to deploy smart grid technologies, FERC is also proposing an interim rate policy for such efforts. FERC proposes to allow utilities to recover their costs for smart grid efforts, so long as the systems do not adversely affect the reliability and security of the grid. However, such systems should have the ability to be upgraded to meet future standards. FERC would also require the utilities to share information on their projects with the DOE Smart Grid Clearinghouse, which was authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act but has not yet been established. FERC will accept comments on its proposed policy statement and action plan for 45 days after their publication in the Federal Register. See the proposed policy statement and action plan (PDF 103 KB).
Insurance Regulators Require Disclosures of Climate Change Risks
Insurance companies will need to educate themselves and their policyholders about the risks of climate change under a new mandatory requirement of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). The new requirement, adopted last week, mandates that large insurance companies disclose to regulators the financial risks they face from climate change, as well as actions the companies are taking to respond to those risks. The scope of issues covered by the new disclosure requirement is broad, reflecting the many ways in which climate change will impact the insurance industry. In addition to reporting on how they are altering their risk-management and catastrophe-risk modeling in light of the challenges posed by climate change, insurers will also need to report on steps they are taking to engage and educate policymakers and policyholders on the risks of climate change, as well as whether and how they are changing their investment strategies. See the NAIC press release.
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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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