MORE NEWS, 6-15 (GOVERNORS TALK NEW ENERGY; THE DIFFICULTY OF OCEAN ENERGY; SOLAR INSTALLER = ELECTRIC TECHNICIAN)

GOVERNORS TALK NEW ENERGY
Water, energy, climate top Western govs' agenda
Mike Stark, June 13, 2009 (AP via Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

"There are a few topics governors running states in the West just can't escape: water scarcity, a warming climate and energy development…[They] will get ample attention as Western governors and federal officials gather in Utah…The three-day Western Governors' Association meeting in Park City is meant to allow governors to step outside of their partisan affiliations to discuss unifying, cross-state issues…

"…[The association] represents the governors of 19 Western states and American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands…"

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"The political landscape has shifted dramatically since the last gathering. President Barack Obama's new administration has placed an increased emphasis on climate change and renewable energy. Several top administration officials are scheduled to be at the meeting, including Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

"Sunday's discussion will be dominated by talk about managing declining water supplies amid increasing demand and a warming climate…[P]rojections that the West will add 40 million people by 2030 have state leaders thinking about where they'll get basic resources, including water and electricity…Meanwhile, the West is expected to warm up and dry out more than any other part of the country under most climate change predictions…That poses problems for governors, federal officials and anyone else who will have a say in decisions on development and doling out water for farmers, businesses, and cities…"

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"On Monday, the focus turns to the potential for renewable energy in the West and, just as important, developing a transmission system that can deliver that power to the market…

"Other topics at the meeting include a session on climate change, discussion of the creation of a national climate service and global cooperation on energy and environmental issues."


THE DIFFICULTY OF OCEAN ENERGY
Making Waves: Why Getting Power from the Ocean Is So Tough
Brian Baskin, June 9, 2009 (Wall Street Journal)

"…[W]hy are ocean energy projects still waiting for the tide to come in?…In theory, generating power from the ocean’s waves seems like an easy sell. It’s a potentially massive, clean, domestic, constant source of energy that doesn’t depend on the vagaries of the weather or unsightly turbines. State governments—and soon, the federal government—are encouraging and mandating greater use of clean energy…Yet the same utilities and investors that tinkered with wind and solar farms for decades aren’t showing the same patience for waves…

"Wave power faces four primary obstacles. It’s very immature technology—there are about 80 different ways to snatch electricity from the ocean, and not all of them will be winners."

Ocean energy is still small projects being perfected. (click to enlarge)

"Ocean energy is also a lot more expensive than other energy sources, even other alternative energy sources such as wind power or solar power. Ocean energy backers say they could sell electricity at a competitive rate to wind or solar in 10 years…

"Ocean energy is also a lot smaller. A typical coal plant is about 600 megawatts; a typical wind farm can be as much as 200 megawatts. Most ocean energy projects, by contrast, tops out at about 2 megawatts—or about the size of a single wind turbine."


This one was towed ashore for repairs last fall. (click to enlarge)

"Ocean power also has to jump through more regulatory hoops–confusing, often conflicting regulations govern anything more than a couple test buoys. Until April, two federal agencies separately claimed they could grant permits for wave power stations…They’ve since announced a truce, but it’s too early to say how they’ll work together.

"Even some early poster children for ocean power are throwing in the towel. Finavera Renewables scrapped its planned West Coast projects in February…A few wave power projects are still in the works, chasing what backers believe could still be the next big thing in clean energy. Ocean Power Technologies is planning to install buoys off the coast of Oregon, and…hopes to develop more…Ocean Power Technologies is [also] deploying buoys off Spain, where… the government and utilities are more firmly behind the technology…"


SOLAR INSTALLER = ELECTRIC TECHNICIAN
Electrical contractors ready to embrace solar market
Jane M. Von Bergen, June 11, 2009 (Philadelphia Inquirer)

"…[T]he $100 million in the Pennsylvania Sunshine rebate program [will] make it possible for homeowners to afford an energy-saving solar system…[An] $800,000 solar system that Siemens Medical Solutions installed in 2006 is yielding $18,000 a year in savings. With a state grant reducing the cost to $400,000, building manager Kevin Matthews expects the system to pay for itself by 2013.

"…[To] electrical contractors, suppliers, and electricians' union officials… these examples prove that the solar-energy market is ready to yield its financial promise…That is why the contractors want everyone to understand that, fundamentally, it is electrical work and that their employees, members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers [IBEW], are already trained to handle the jobs…"

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"…IBEW Local 380 in Collegeville… has added green-energy training to its five-year electrical-apprenticeship program. Its facilities include a solar structure that apprentices use to practice installing solar panels and connecting them to the structure's electrical system…Union and management work together to develop and fund the training.

"But there are hitches in the pitch. Pennsylvania's Department of Energy, for example, wants solar contractors used in the Sunshine rebate program to be certified by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners…The national electrical contractors' association and the union are close to convincing the board that its training meets board standards…"

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"But there is another problem. The board requires contractors to have a certified practitioner on staff when they bid for the work…That is not an issue for Union Electrical Contracting Co., the Fort Washington company that handled the Siemens job. It employs 100 electricians, including a dozen who work on solar projects.

"…[S]maller contractors bidding on residential projects probably will not have that kind of person on staff. Instead, they would call the union for a journeyman trained in solar…[IBEW] and union officials [are] trying to persuade the state to amend regulations to accommodate this common type of building-trade business model."