MORE NEWS, 2-11 (BETTER PLACE GETTING BIGGER; BIG UTILITY IN WAVE ENERGY TEST; WIND NEEDS EDUCATORS; OFFSHORE ENERGY)

BETTER PLACE GETTING BIGGER
Stars align for maker of electric car infrastructure
Bill Vlasic, February 9, 2009 (International Herald Tribune)

"When Shai Agassi set out in 2007 to develop an infrastructure to service electric cars, circumstances were hardly in his favor…But now Agassi and his start-up company, Better Place, are riding the tailwinds of an industry that is suddenly obsessed with going electric.

"Nearly every major auto company in the world is committed to building electric cars, and President Obama has made reducing oil consumption a centerpiece of his energy policy.

"It's a fortuitous turn of events for Agassi, a former software executive who is bringing his Silicon Valley business acumen to devising a system to increase the driving range of electric cars…"

Meet Shai Agassi. From loiclemeur via YouTube.

"The key to consumer acceptance of electric cars, he said, is installing a network of stations that can replace drained batteries with fresh ones - just like filling a vehicle with a new tank of gas.

"By building its first battery-changing stations in test markets like Israel, Denmark and Japan, Better Place is positioning itself to be a critical link in the evolution of the electric-car market…Advances in lithium-ion battery technology have increased the range and reliability of prototype electric models. Agassi is betting that batteries will become commodity products that can be leased and then replaced on demand in the ordinary course of driving.

"Better Place has joined forces with governments in several countries to test its switching stations, and has also signed agreements in Hawaii and with a nine-city alliance of communities in the San Francisco Bay area [as well as in Denmark, Japan, Australia, and Canada].

"Agassi has no previous experience in the auto industry, but has been a devotee of electric cars for some time. He owns one of the 1,500 battery-powered RAV4 sport utility vehicles that Toyota built for testing purposes in the late 1990s…The Better Place system includes software that analyzes a vehicle's battery consumption, and can direct drivers either to small-scale charging spots or full-size switching stations."

Better Place. From twenny12 via YouTube.

"Agassi estimates that a single battery-switching station will cost about $500,000 to build. A vehicle will park on a conveyor similar to the track in a car wash, and within minutes its depleted battery will be removed and replaced with a fully-charged one.

"The batteries themselves might possibly be owned by Better Place, with consumers simply purchasing electric charges as they would cellphone minutes…One auto industry analyst said the business model should be particularly appealing to automakers…

"Better Place will open its first battery-switching stations by 2010, in Israel. Agassi expects that tax credits for electric cars will be widespread in several countries by then. Demand for the vehicles, he said, will grow in proportion to the ease of charging batteries or exchanging them."


BIG UTILITY IN WAVE ENERGY TEST
E.ON to test wave power energy generation in Britain
Philip Waller (w/ Greg Mahlich), February 9, 2009 (Reuters)

"E.ON is to launch a wave power energy generation trial in Britain next year, the British arm of the German energy group said…

"E.ON UK plans to install and trial a single generation device, which is being built in Edinburgh in Scotland, at the European Marine Energy Centre in the Orkney Islands off the north Scottish coast, it said in a statement."

click to enlarge

"The first year of testing of the 750 kilowatt Pelamis P2 technology will be an extended commissioning period, with the next two years designed to improve the operation of the equipment.

"E.ON claimed it would become the first utility to test a marine energy device at the Orkney centre, which is the only grid-connected marine test site in Europe.

"It expects the programme to help pave the way for the commercialisation of the technology in the UK and worldwide and the rollout of more of the equipment around Britain…"


WIND NEEDS EDUCATORS
Wind power jobs are abundant, but training is scarce
Mark Larabee, February 9, 2009 (The Oregonian)

"Last spring, Vestas Wind Systems donated a 12,000-pound turbine hub to Columbia Gorge Community College in The Dalles so students enrolled in the wind technician training program could get their hands on the very equipment they would one day maintain.

"Today, it sits in storage near Portland International Airport waiting for completion of a new lab building…The college, which runs the only certified wind technician training program in the West, needs more money to meet a huge demand for skilled workers…[There is] a $400,000 state grant for the lab [but]… Gov. Ted Kulongoski's proposed budget didn't include $8 million toward a $19.5 million, 23,000-square-foot training center."

A montage of wind turbines. Windy. From windpowernow via YouTube.

"One thing that did make it into Kulongoski's spending plan is up to $19 million cash to entice Vestas to expand its North American headquarters in Portland. Vestas is the world's leading supplier of wind power…In this economy, no one is sure what will remain in the state budget…The state is facing an estimated $1 billion shortfall for 2009-11…

"This spring, 72 Columbia Gorge graduates will have jobs waiting, maintaining wind turbines that are going up by the dozens east of the Cascades. Demand for the skilled workers, who can earn $22 to $33 an hour depending on experience, is many times what the college is able to provide…The school offers one-year certificates and two-year degrees…In the next four years…wind farms from Oregon to Montana will need 500 to 600 technicians…It takes one technician to maintain every nine wind turbines…"

Climbing up the inside of a wind turbine. Slow but fascinating. From tiondgren via YouTube.

"Wind energy companies, including PGE, Vestas, Iberdrola Renewables, and Suzlon Energy, have donated more than $1 million to Columbia Gorge Community College over the past three years in cash, equipment, scholarships, staff time and technical assistance…The school also received a $1.7 million U.S. Labor Department grant to expand over three years. By 2010, 106 technicians will graduate from the school, still not enough to meet demand.

"The bright spot for everyone in the debate is what might happen with the federal stimulus package being worked out between Congress and the White House. No one is sure how much money Oregon will receive, but policymakers are gearing up for the day the cash arrives. "


OFFSHORE ENERGY
US Interior Secretary breaks with 'drill-only' energy policy
February 10, 2009 (AFP)

"US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar…moved away from "drill-only" energy policies as he blocked a last-minute attempt by the administration of George W. Bush to push through the sale of offshore leases to gas and oil companies...

"What Salazar called a "midnight action" by the previous administration favored big oil while ignoring developers of renewable energy…Salazar also decried the previous administration's decision to give the public just six weeks to comment on the proposal…The administration of President Barack Obama, who has pledged to make government transparent and inclusive, would hold meetings in the four regions affected by the offshore lease proposal, Salazar said."

offshore wind (click to enlarge)

"And the new interior secretary has commissioned a report from the US Geological Survey and the Minerals Management Survey (MMS) which would "assemble all the information we have about offshore resources, conventional and renewable."

"Salazar's promises to change the way the United States forges its energy policies…[and] to move toward an energy policy not focused solely on fossil fuels."

wave energy (click to enlarge)

"'For the last eight years, America has taken one road to energy independence, which was drill, drill, drill…I intend to do what the prior administration failed to do and that is to build a framework for offshore renewable energy development so that we can incorporate the great potential for wind, wave and ocean current energy into our offshore energy strategy,' Salazar said…

"Under Obama, the United States would move from a drill-baby-drill energy approach to a comprehensive plan that does not torpedo renewable energy sources…"