QUICK NEWS, 2-23: HUGE LOAN GUARANTEE TO SOLAR POWER PLANTS; NEW ENERGY GOOD FOR WISC; IOWA WIND TO MIDSOUTH; AUSTRALIA ZERO EMISSIONS BY 2020

HUGE LOAN GUARANTEE TO SOLAR POWER PLANTS
California solar project gets $1.4 bln US guarantee; BrightSource loan guarantee to help build 3 solar plants
Poornima Gupta and Ayesha Rascoe (w/ Tom Doggett, Peter Henderson and Marguerita Choy) February 22, 2010 (Reuters)

"The United States…gave its biggest backing yet to a renewable energy project, guaranteeing $1.37 billion in loans for a California development by BrightSource Energy… [that is] expected to generate about 400 megawatts of electricity and power about 140,000 California homes, giving it the heft to compete with plants fueled by coal and natural gas.

"President Barack Obama's administration has touted green energy investments as a way to create jobs and increase international economic competitiveness…The sector has seen projects being launched and agreements being signed with utilities, who count on solar thermal to meet California clean energy goals, but construction has yet to start on a large scale for the solar thermal industry."

Artist's rendering of the Brightsource solar power plant technology. (click to enlarge)

"Financing of projects has been a big challenge with the tightening of the credit markets as capital requirements of these green energy companies are very large…Solar thermal companies like BrightSource and rivals Abengoa Solar, eSolar Inc have technology that uses the sun's rays, reflected by thousands of small mirrors, to heat liquids to create steam in turbines and generate electricity.

"The conditional loan guarantees from the U.S. Department of Energy, the largest federal loan commitment offered to a renewable energy firm, would help BrightSource build three utility-scale solar thermal plants for its Ivanpah project, which will be located on federally-owned land in the Mojave Desert in southeastern California…California, and other parts of the world, are betting heavily on solar thermal. About a quarter of the clean energy contracts approved in 2009 in California by capacity was solar thermal…Construction on the first Ivanpah plant is expected to begin during the second half of this year, with commercial operations beginning in 2012…All three plants are expected be on line by 2014."

More detail. (click to enlarge)

"The loan guarantee is conditioned on BrightSource [obtaining] financial…environmental…local, state and federal regulatory approvals…The company earlier this month agreed to reduce the footprint for the Ivanpah project to minimize the environmental impact…[California utility] PG&E will purchase approximately two-thirds of the power generated at Ivanpah and [California utility Southern California Edison (SCE)] will purchase approximately one-third.

"…[T]he key value of federal loan guarantees is that it helps strong renewable energy projects get financed, especially since the credit markets have yet to reach normal levels of activity…The loan guarantee is the sixth such offer to renewable energy companies by the Obama administration…Under the program, the Department of Energy issues a conditional commitment to guarantee loans to be provided by the U.S. Treasury's Federal Financing Bank."


NEW ENERGY GOOD FOR WISC
Clean Energy Jobs Act will create more than 16,000 jobs
Thad Nation, February 19, 2010 (Wisconsin Business)
and
The Macroeconomic Impact of the Wisconsin Clean Energy Jobs Act on the State’s Economy
Dr. Steven Miller, Dr. Dan Wei and Dr. Adam Rose, February 18, 2010 (Center for Economic Analysis at Michigan State University, The Center for Climate Strategies and the University of Southern California)

"A study conducted by the Center for Climate Strategies [along with researchers from Michigan State University and the University of Southern California] showed that more than 16,000 full-time jobs will be created as a result of the proposed Clean Energy Jobs Act [CEJA]…[They] determined that 3,799 of the 16,221 jobs will be realized in the first five years of the bill’s enactment, with the rest coming by 2025…Among the industries that will benefit from the passing of the bill (AB 659) are construction and agriculture…"

["The Macroeconomic Impact of the Wisconsin Clean Energy Jobs Act on the State’s Economy] summarizes the macroeconomic impact of salient components of [CEJA as introduced in the 2009 Wisconsin Assembly Bill 649 and Senate Bill 450]... informed by assessments conducted by the Governor’s Task Force on Global Warming…"

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"The Task Force report identified over 50 actionable policy recommendations that formed the bases of the CEJA. Explicit targets of the CEJA include reducing Wisconsin’s GHG emissions in 2014 to 2005 levels, reducing 2020 emissions to at least 22 percent less than 2005 levels and reducing 2050 emissions to at least 75 percent less than 2005 levels. The emissions reduction targets in the bill are goals, not statutory mandates. Additionally, the bill sets the goal that by 2030 all new residential and commercial structures will use no more energy than is generated onsite using renewable resources. Finally, the bill sets out to reduce overall energy consumption in the state…"

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"The State of Wisconsin retained the Center for Climate Strategies (CCS)… CCS researchers applied well-recognized methodologies along with the Regional Economic Modeling, Inc. Policy Insight Plus (REMI PI+) model…Impact estimates take into consideration the public and private implementation costs, cost savings, price impacts and associated transactions…

"Findings suggest that the CEJA will stimulate economic growth for Wisconsin…[with] immediate and positive net impacts on state employment. Over time, the CEJA is expected to increase gross state product (GSP) by $250 million in 2015, by $710 million in 2020, and by $1.41 billion in 2025 with a net present value of $4.85 billion…"


IOWA WIND TO MIDSOUTH
Tennessee Valley begins 20-year contract for Iowa wind energy
Lynda Waddington, February 22, 2010 (Iowa Independent)

"The nation’s largest public power company will soon be powering homes and businesses across a seven state area with Iowa wind energy..."The Tennessee Valley Authority, a federal corporation, entered into a 20-year contract with Texas-based Horizon Wind Energy LLC…[to] purchase up to 115 megawatts…from the Pioneer Prairie Wind Farm…in northeastern Iowa.

"Generation is expected to begin this fall, subject to applicable environmental requirements and firm transmission arrangements being secured. The contracts are a result of a request for proposals TVA issued in December 2008."

Iowa has begun a national energy powerhouse and is still growing. (click to enlarge)

"Horizon, owned by EDP Renováveis S.A., operates more than 20 wind farms across the U.S. that produce more than 2,800 megawatts of power…[including] three wind farms in Iowa.

"TVA provides electricity for utility and business customers in most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia…The company makes no profits and receives no taxpayer money. It is funded by sales of electricity to its customers, and electricity prices in TVA’s service territory are below the national average."


AUSTRALIA ZERO EMISSIONS BY 2020
Australia Group Rolls Out Plan for 100% Renewable Energy by 2020
February 22, 2010 (SolveClimate)

"A report to be released in the first half of this year finds that Australia can use solar and wind power to produce 100 percent of its electricity in 10 years using technologies that are available now.

"…[Zero Carbon Australia 2020 by Beyond Zero Emissions] is based on the research of engineers and scientists…Australia now gets nearly 80 percent of its power from coal plants. Only 1 percent comes from wind power; less than half of 1 percent comes from solar energy…"

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"The report calls for 40 percent of power to come from wind turbines. Concentrating solar power (CSP) plants, with molten salt to store energy, would form the backbone of the scheme, providing 60 percent of total electricity…CSP uses mirrors instead of solar cells to collect sunlight to produce steam and drive turbines to produce power…[A] 50-square-kilometer area covered in solar mirrors could theoretically meet all of Australia's electricity demand.

"The report claims that 20 percent of the proposed CSP systems could be installed in four years, from 2011 to 2015…12 sites with a capacity of 3,500 megawatts each have already been selected for the solar installations…[B]iomass co-firing would be needed to back up solar plants in the throes of winter. The plan would also require new transmission lines between the solar- and wind-intensive areas and population centers…[It] calls for the total elimination of natural gas, not just coal…[and] envisions 100 percent electric vehicles by 2020…"

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"…[T]he plan is ambitious…[yet] feasible…despite the price tag…The cost of quitting carbon entirely is estimated at around $36 billion per year, or up to 3.5 percent of Australia's annual GDP…Chances for any kind of clean power transformation appear slim in Australia. The Senate in December failed to pass climate legislation that would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent by 2020 through a cap-and-trade program. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Labor government says it will reintroduce the legislation in late February.

"The Beyond Zero Emissions plan…has been publicly endorsed by the Australian Greens…So far, the group has not received any real backlash from opponents…Wind and solar power could completely displace conventional fossil fuels, with no new nuclear power needed…Stanford University and University of California-Davis researchers] published a plan for 100% renewable energy for the entire world by 2030, fueled by a mix of solar, wind and hydroelectric power…with construction costs for [such] a global electricity shift…[around] $100 trillion worldwide over 20 years…"