MORE NEWS, 2-3 (AUSTIN’S FUTURE IS SUN; PA WIND PROTECTS WILDLIFE; CCS COSTS BUT EFFICIENCY & WIND SAVE; MONEY COMING TO TIDE POWER)

AUSTIN’S FUTURE IS SUN
Austin's sunny future, if it prepares; The Austin area is slowly but steadily losing chip plant jobs, and that could threaten its high tech reputations and future, warns civic leader Pike Powers. Renewable energy, particularly solar, could
January 31, 2009 (Austin American-Statesman)

"The Austin metropolitan area, much like the state itself, has skirted the worst of the national economic storms thus far. But…Austin cannot take its role as a high-tech center for granted…The immediate problem is the steady loss of jobs…The job losses, however, are not just victims of a slowing economy but permanent casualties of aging factories and market shifts…Fortunately, there appears to be a good jump to be made from the computer chip plate to another — renewable energy technologies, mainly solar.

"For a long time, renewable energy — particularly wind and solar — was seen as feel-good power that cost too much and produced too little to rely on as a major source of electricity. But the state's experience with wind energy over the past 10 years has opened the eyes of many.

"Last year, the state's Public Utility Commission approved a $5 billion transmission project primarily to bring wind-generated power from West Texas to its cities. Texas has become a national leader in the use of wind-generated electricity…It's not too late, though, for the state to establish itself as a national and international center of solar power research and development…Such a center would attract and employ not just highly trained though relatively scarce scientific and engineering talent, but thousands of so-called "green collar" jobs for those who make solar equipment…"

Texas, especially West Texas, has some of the best sun in the country. (click to enlarge)

"The push to make Central Texas a national solar energy center makes so much sense in so many ways: In the University of Texas we have a world class research institution; this is a great place to live; and the area has a work force comfortable with high technology…

"Whether you're a chamber suit or a tree-hugger, there's good reason to support solar energy development…The Austin chamber already is trying bring a national consortium on battery research…Improvements in battery storage are an important part of renewable energy development…

"One player who could help drive Texas into the forefront in solar energy is Gov. Rick Perry…this isn't just about the energy or environment, important though they are, but ensuring a strong economy for the region's future."


PA WIND PROTECTS WILDLIFE
Game Commission Releases First Wind Energy Annual Report
January 23, 2009 (Pennsylvania Game Commission)

"As Pennsylvania and the nation seek alternative sources of energy, the Pennsylvania Game Commission has released its [PENNSYLVANIA GAME COMMISSION WIND ENERGY VOLUNTARY COOPERATION AGREEMENT FIRST ANNUAL REPORT] about the results of the voluntary agreement between the agency and 20 wind energy companies who have vowed to avoid, minimize and mitigate impacts on wild birds and mammals in the Commonwealth…

"On April 18, 2007, the first 12 wind energy companies signed the agreement at a public ceremony in the Game Commission’s Harrisburg headquarters. Since that time, an additional eight companies have signed the voluntary agreement, which requires the companies to work with the Game Commission to avoid, minimize and mitigate impacts on wild birds and mammals. The agreement also requires companies to report one year of pre-construction surveys of wild birds and mammals in the project area, as well as two years of post-construction monitoring for mortality of birds and mammals in the project area.

"The data made available for this annual report was made possible by pooling information from the 20 wind energy companies who signed the Game Commission’s Wind Energy Voluntary Cooperative Agreement."

click to enlarge

"Due to all the collaborative effort between the wind industry and Game Commission…the agreement has and will continue to provide all involved parties with valuable information needed in order to best manage for wildlife at wind energy sites…

"To assist in the development of wind energy in Pennsylvania in an environmentally responsible manner, Gov. Rendell convened the Pennsylvania Wind and Wildlife Collaborative, chaired by John Quigley of the Pennsylvania DCNR, which is a compilation of wind industry developers, natural resource agencies, and varied nongovernmental organizations…The Game Commission and many of the wind energy developers were dedicated to promoting renewable energy initiatives and arriving at uniform guidance, in the absence of comprehensive state regulations, to determine how best to avoid, minimize, and/or potentially mitigate adverse impacts to wildlife resources.

"…Thus, the voluntary cooperative agreement was developed in an effort to standardize wildlife monitoring protocols and wildlife impact review methods associated with the development of wind energy projects in a mutually beneficial and flexible manner and with high regard to both parties’ goals and objectives…"


CCS COSTS BILLIONS, EFFICIENCY & WIND SAVE
Grid operator says CO2 controls will cost billions
Scott DiSavino (w/ David Gregorio), January 28, 2009 (Reuters)

"PJM, the largest U.S. electricity grid operator, said…a study it commissioned indicates that Congressional proposals to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants could boost power prices…[PJM] said the study also showed energy efficiency programs and additional wind power would cut that price hike by billions of dollars and reduce CO2 emissions by millions of tons.

"The study, by PJM Senior Economist Dr. Paul Sotkiewicz and the market simulation department, concluded wholesale power prices would climb from $7.50 per megawatt hour to $45/MWh in 2013.

"Reducing electric consumption by 2 percent to 10 percent could lower prices between $3/MWh and $13/MWh, or between $3 billion and $17 billion per year, and lower CO2 emissions between 12 million and 60 million tons in 2013."

And the cheapest megawatt is the one that isn't used, the NEGAwatt. (click to enlarge)

"Installing 15,000 megawatts (MW) of wind power by 2013, about a third of the grid's proposed wind projects, would cut CO2 emissions by nearly 35 million tons and reduce wholesale prices by $3.55 billion to $4.74 billion…

"The study used models to simulate the impact of cap-and-trade or carbon tax policies. It based its calculations on projected carbon prices within ranges identified by government agencies from $10 to $60 per ton…

"The study said CO2 prices would have to reach $40/ton before natural gas combined cycle power plants would be run in place of coal-fired units on a large scale…Coal, which is much cheaper than other fossil fuels such as natural gas, generates about half the electricity used in the United States. But a coal plant produces about twice as much CO2 as a natural gas-fired plant…"


MONEY COMING TO TIDE POWER
Investors May Pour Billions Into Tide Power on Obama, EU Push
Alex Morales, January 30, 2009 (Bloomberg news)

"…[Marine Current Turbines, MCT] last year installed the world’s biggest grid-connected tidal power station in Strangford Lough, an Irish Sea inlet southeast of Belfast. The SeaGen project’s two turbines, which cost 2.5 million pounds ($3.6 million), can produce as much as 1.2 megawatts of electricity…

"The company is one of more than 30 trying to tap tidal currents around the world, six years after the first project sent power to the grid. Investors may pump 2.5 billion pounds into similar plants in Europe by 2020 as the European Union offers incentives for projects that don’t release carbon dioxide…"

MCT's SeaGen (click to enlarge)

"While tides are a free source of energy, generating power from them is three times more expensive than using natural gas or coal over the life of a project, according to the Carbon Trust, a U.K. government-funded research unit.

"Including capital expenses, fuel and maintenance, U.K. tidal current power costs 15 pence per kilowatt hour, compared with 5 pence for coal and gas and 7 pence for wind…Designing equipment to survive in salty, corrosive water and installing it in fast-moving currents boosts startup costs…Gearboxes and generators have to be watertight. The machinery must withstand flows up to 9.3 knots (10.7 mph) in Strangford Lough, which exert three times the force of projects that harness wind at similar speeds…"

OpenHydro's tide power device (click to enlarge)

"[MCT’s SeaGen]…operated at full capacity for the first time last month. The turbines are generating intermittently as engineers carry out tests and scientists monitor the effect on wildlife. Positioned between the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean, the British Isles have about 15 percent of the world’s usable tidal current resources, which could generate 5 percent of domestic electricity demand…Including wave power, the ocean may eventually meet 20 percent of the U.K.’s energy needs…

"Grid-connected tidal power moved from theory to reality in the past decade, with the construction of smaller, test projects…OpenHydro…linked a donut- shaped device with less than a quarter of the capacity of SeaGen to the grid at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, Scotland, last May. Hammerfest Strom AS…in 2003 made the first tidal turbine connection with a 300-kilowatt project near Hammerfest, Norway…

"The Carbon Trust says developers in Europe may build 2,500 megawatts of tidal current capacity…Across the Atlantic, the Obama administration’s stimulus program may help boost investment in green power…"