QUICK NEWS, 6-29: BLUE-GREEN ALLIANCE, WIND, STEELWORKERS WANT RES; ITALY PV PASSES U.S. SUN; MORE TROUBLE WITH CCS; CALIF AIMS FOR 33% NEW ENERGY

BLUE-GREEN ALLIANCE, WIND, STEELWORKERS WANT RES
New Report Provides Blueprint for Building Domestic Wind Energy Component Supply Chain; BlueGreen Alliance, American Wind Energy Association, and USW Provide “Manufacturing Blueprint” to Build Out Domestic Wind Energy Supply Chain and Create U.S. Manufacturing Jobs
June 28, 2010 (American Wind Energy Association)

"According to a report…[from] the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), BlueGreen Alliance and the United Steelworkers, the U.S. wind industry can create tens of thousands of additional jobs manufacturing wind turbines and components if the U.S. passes long-term policies that create a stable market for the domestic wind energy supply chain…

"Winds of Change: A Manufacturing Blueprint for the Wind Industry highlights growth for the American wind industry despite the absence of a long-term and stable market for wind energy, or policies to support wind’s manufacturing sector. While the growth in wind energy manufacturing has been steady — growing from 2,500 workers in 2004 to 18,500 in 2009 — tens of thousands of additional jobs manufacturing wind turbines and components, such as towers, gearboxes, and bearings, could be created with policies that establish a long-term, stable market and support the manufacturing sector’s transition to the wind industry…"

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"…The report recommends a federal [Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) requiring that U.S. utilities obtain 25% of their power from New Energy sources by 2025] with meaningful mid-term targets, regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, and policies specifically aimed at building the U.S. wind energy manufacturing sector…"

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"Along with the RES, specific policies aimed at building the wind manufacturing sector include extending and strengthening the Recovery Act’s convertible tax credit program (1603), fully funding the Green Jobs Act, building a transmission grid infrastructure to meet the demand for clean energy and utilizing loan guarantee programs for commercial manufacturing of clean energy.

"The report recommends passing Senator Sherrod Brown’s IMPACT Act, which creates a state-level revolving loan fund to help small- and medium-sized manufacturers retool for clean energy markets and adopt energy efficient manufacturing. The report also recommends extending and strengthening the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit with specific incentives and accountability provisions to maximize domestic job creation, including giving highest priority to projects that manufacture clean energy component parts."


ITALY PV PASSES U.S. SUN
Italy Surpasses USA in Solar PV; Installing More Every Two Months than California in an Entire Year
Paul Gipe, June 28, 2010 (Wind-Works)

"In a dramatic display of the power feed-in tariffs have in driving markets, Italy installed more solar photovoltaics (PV) in 2009 than the entire US. Moreover, within the first quarter of 2010, Italy's total installed solar PV capacity was expected to exceed that of the US.

"Italy installed 720 MW of solar PV in 2009, nearly all of that on rooftops. In contrast, the US installed 435 MW during the same period…Italy introduced a system of feed-in tariffs for solar PV in February, 2007…By the end of 2007, Italy had installed five times more solar PV than in the previous year. Despite numerous bureaucratic roadblocks, the solar industry took off in 2008 and installed nearly 350 MW, then a record-breaking number. Solar PV installations have been doubling since then and are expected to reach 1,500 MW in 2010."

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"Italy is three-fourths the size of California, with which it is often compared because of their similarly-sized economies. Italy has a population of 60 million, to California's 40 million. The population of the US is five times that of Italy.

"Italy is now the world's second largest annual market for solar PV, after Germany…[T]here were 1,250 MW of total installed solar PV capacity in the US at the end of 2009…[and] the US is installing 40-50 MW per month…Italy [is installing] 125 MW per month. At this pace, Italy surpassed the US in total installed PV capacity before the end of the first quarter and likely by the end of February, 2010…Italy is installing more capacity--250 MW--every two months than California is installing per year."

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"By the end of 2010, Italy will have a total installed capacity of more than 2,500 MW. This is two and one-half times more capacity than expected in California, and one and one-half times more than expected in the US…Italy's 2007 decree also set a solar PV target of 1,200 MW…[which they reached] earlier this year.

"…The proposed revision to [Italy’s] feed-in tariff program…currently waiting approval, reduces the tariffs and sets a new target of 3,000 MW for the three-year period from 2011 to 2013…[It] cuts the tariffs 18% in three equal steps of 6% during each of the first three quarters in 2011…93% of all solar PV in Italy is installed on rooftops in distributed applications…"


MORE TROUBLE WITH CCS
'Carbon storage' faces leak dilemma – study
27 June 2010 (AFP)

"Dreams of braking global warming by storing carbon emissions from power plants could be undermined by the risk of leakage, according to a [new] study…

"Rich countries have earmarked tens of billions of dollars of investment in carbon capture and storage (CCS), a technology that is still only at an experimental stage…[that would capture]…carbon dioxide (CO2)…from plants that are big burners of oil, gas and coal…[and] buried in the deep ocean or piped into underground chambers…"

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"CCS supporters say the sequestered carbon would slow the pace of man-made warming. It would buy time for politicians to forge an effective treaty…Critics say CCS could be dangerous if the stored gas returns to the atmosphere. They also argue that its financial cost, still unknown, could be far greater than tackling the source of the problem itself.

"The new research, published by the journal Nature Geoscience, wades into the debate with an estimate of capturing enough carbon to help limit warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit)…Storing CO2 in the ocean will contribute to acidification of the sea, with dangers that reverberate up the food chain…It also carries a higher risk of being returned to the atmosphere by ocean currents and storms."

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"Underground storage is a better option, but only if the geological chamber does not have a significant leak or is breached by an earthquake or some other movement…The gas will have to be stored for tens of thousands of years to avoid becoming a threat to future generations, a scenario similar to that for nuclear waste…[L]ess than one percent of the stored volume [per 1,000 years] can be allowed to leak…To offset any bigger leak, re-sequestration [i.e., grabbing and storing an equivalent amount of CO2 from the air]…would be needed…But this would be a cost burden that could last for millennia…

"Until only recently, CCS was widely dismissed as fantasy or a last-ditch option…In 2008, the Group of Eight (G8) summit recommended launching 20 large-scale CCS demonstration projects by 2010…[O]ver the past two years, countries have committed 26 billion dollars in CCS projects…"


CALIF AIMS FOR 33% NEW ENERGY
KEMA, California ISO Examine Renewables Integration, Energy Storage
23 June 2010 (KEMA via Renew Grid)

"KEMA and the California Independent System Operator (California ISO) recently completed a collaborative research project that modeled the effects that high levels of renewable generation would have on the grid and examined how grid-connected electricity storage could be used to accommodate renewables on the system.

"KEMA concludes that accommodating 33% renewable generation by 2020 (the state's renewable portfolio standard) will require major alterations to system operations…[and] notes that California may need between 3 GW and 5 GW or more of conventional (fossil-fuel-powered or hydroelectric) generation to meet load and planning reserve requirements."

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"Existing studies have generally concluded that the variability and high-ramping characteristics of renewable generation create operational issues for grid operators. [Research Evaluation of Wind Genration, Solar Generation and Storage Impact on the California Grid] quantifies these effects with a dynamic model that simulates system performance on a time scale of one second or less…"

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"The report analyzes the effect of increasing renewable energy generation on California's electricity system and assesses and quantifies the system's ability to keep generation and energy consumption in balance…

"The study also examines the relative benefit of deploying fast-response electricity storage versus utilizing conventional generation to regulate and balance load requirements…[It] concludes that a 30 MW to 50 MW storage device is as effective as a 100 MW combustion turbine used for regulation…The prospective benefits to California from the development of fast electricity storage resources for use in system regulation, balancing, and renewable ramping mitigation are significant…"