QUICK NEWS, 11-1: WIND DOWN AGAIN; NEW ENERGY POPS IN VIRGINIA; ANOTHER CA SOLAR POWER PLANT GO; COAL COSTS RISING

WIND DOWN AGAIN
U.S. wind industry reports slowest quarter since 2007, as China installs three times as much wind-powered electricity; U.S. industry awaits long-term policies for renewed expansion
October 29, 2010 (American Wind Energy Association)

"The U.S. wind energy industry, after employing 85,000 Americans through the depth of the recession, has experienced its slowest quarter since 2007 and seeks swift action to strengthen policies that unleashed a wave of private investment in 2008 and 2009…The U.S. industry added just 395 megawatts (MW) of wind-powered electric generating capacity in the third quarter of 2010, making it the lowest quarter since 2007. Year-to-date installations stood at 1,634 MW, down 72 percent versus 2009, and the lowest level since 2006. In 2010, wind projects in the U.S. are being installed at half the rate as in Europe, and a third of the rate as in China.

"Factors include lack of long-term U.S. energy policies, such as a Renewable Electricity Standard, and resulting lack of certainty for business, which has the country's utilities failing to move forward with wind build-out plans. Such policies are already in place in China and Europe, resulting in more than $35 billion of expected investment in 2010 –nearly four times the investment the U.S. will see this year. The industry [called] on Congress to match such efforts to establish long-term policy…"

From AWEA - click to enlarge

"Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and other third-party sources show that wind accounted for 39 percent of new installed capacity in 2009, versus 13 percent from coal; in the first nine months of 2010, however, the ratio flipped, and wind accounted for only 14 percent, versus 39 percent from coal…

"Swift, short-term action to extend tax credits for renewable energy in 2009 helped boost the U.S. wind industry to historic job growth and a high of 10,010 MW in new capacity last year. With swift passage of a Renewable Electricity Standard…the wind industry can get back on track, and add new generation faster than any other source of electricity…Fossil fuels still get five times the federal support that renewables do, according to the Government Accountability Office that advises Congress…"

click to enlarge

"…[D]omestic content of U.S. wind turbines has steadily increased with nearly 400 facilities in the U.S. manufacturing components for wind turbines, aided by a degree of stability of the Production Tax Credit, the support of a refundable tax credit under the Recovery Act, and state requirements for renewable energy…[T]he best way to galvanize the industry now will be continued tax credits and a federal benchmark of 15 percent renewables in the national electricity mix by 2020, as sponsored in the U.S. Senate by Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), John Ensign (R-NV), Mark Udall (D-CO), and Susan Collins (R-ME)…

"There are now 14 states with over 1,000 MW of wind installed, and 37 states with some utility-scale wind installed. Iowa, which got over 14 percent of its electricity from wind in 2009, is nearing 20 percent from wind…Oregon took the lead in adding the most capacity in the third quarter, the spot historically filled by Texas, where the industry now awaits investment in more electric transmission lines…Total utility-scale wind capacity installed in the U.S. through September 2010 reached 36,698 MW…Some 4,700 MW of projects have started construction in the past six months…Over 10 new requests for proposals for utility-scale wind projects were issued in the [3rd] quarter…[and at] least nine new wind projects [representing over 700 MW] signed long-term Power Purchase Agreements…"


NEW ENERGY POPS IN VIRGINIA
Home solar electric systems grow popular
Peter Bacque, October 31, 2010 (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

"…John Roberts has more than enough electricity for his needs… because he's installed a 2-kilowatt solar electric [photovoltaic] system…which makes electricity from sunlight…[It] cost Roberts $13,400, but he received a $3,500 federal tax credit and a $2,700 state renewable energy rebate that together reduced his expenditure to $7,200 [and he installed it himself under the direction of a licensed electrical contractor…Roberts uses only 1,400 kilowatt-hours of electricity for an entire year…

"…[T]he sun's energy powers [Virginia] homes that consume much more electricity…Tim Dolan's Newport News house uses almost 10,000 kilowatt-hours a year…The 8.1-kilowatt solar electric system Dolan uses cost $55,000. That was offset by a $16,100 federal tax credit and $14,000 from the state's renewable energy rebate program he received, bringing his price down to $24,900…Solar power can be used to generate electricity through photovoltaic cells or to produce hot water, and Virginia has sunshine for those uses. The state estimates solar energy could produce 11,000-13,000 megawatts in Virginia."

Virginia is joining the national trend. (click to enlarge)

"…2-kilowatt systems are what…[solar companies] typically install… at a cost of about $15,000…[T]oo costly for widespread use in wholesale power applications…government and utility incentives for renewable energy encourage small-scale solar-electric generation, which is expected to grow rapidly over the next 25 years…Residential solar photovoltaic and hot-water systems are eligible for a federal tax credit of 30 percent of the system's total cost, with no upper limit…Interest in Virginia's solar and wind-power rebate program far outran the money available, and the state has stopped taking applications. The federal economic stimulus program gave Virginia $15 million to provide rebates of $2,000 per kilowatt, up to 10 kilowatts, for solar electric systems, and $1,000 per kilowatt-equivalent for solar thermal systems.

"Home electricity generators can also sell credits [for about $300 each] for the energy that their systems generate…Solar renewable energy credits -- RECs -- represent the clean energy benefits of 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity from a sun-powered system. Utility companies buy the credits to meet the state's renewable energy goals…Dolan will earn about $3,000 this year from the sale of his renewable energy credits…"

It's only going to get better. (click to enlarge)

"Payback times for solar installations vary depending on the cost of the system and the home's location, experts said, running from as few as nine years up to 18…Simpler and less expensive, solar thermal systems are especially cost effective for heating water…Virginia has seen installed solar generating capacity soar from essentially zero in 1999 to 2.47 megawatts by September of this year…So far, however, solar energy makes up only a small part of the state's total electric production. For instance, Virginia power companies and electric cooperatives have more then 23,400 megawatts of generating capacity in the state…Of Dominion Virginia Power's 2.4 million customers…355 residential customers are using solar generation, with an average system size of 5.4 kilowatts.

"Solar system owners can take advantage of Virginia's net-metering laws to sell excess power generation back to the owner's electric utility…Net metering allows customers generating power from a renewable resource like solar energy to interconnect with the electrical grid. Their solar energy output offsets electricity purchases from Dominion, and customer is billed monthly only for the net energy consumed…"


ANOTHER CA SOLAR POWER PLANT GO
Calif. Gov. Schwarzenegger Applauds Approval of Calico Solar Project in Southern California
Valerie Gotten, 31 October 2010 (California Newswire)

"Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger applauded the California Energy Commission (CEC) decision…to approve the Calico Solar Project, the seventh solar thermal power plant licensed by the state in the past two months, totaling 3,493 megawatts (MW) of renewable solar power. The Calico Project will generate 664 MW of clean, renewable energy and create nearly 900 jobs in San Bernardino County…

"The Calico Solar Project is a direct result of the successful partnership between California and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI). In October of 2009, the Governor and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar signed a historic memorandum of understanding…to ensure timely permitting of renewable energy projects…[It] made California the first state in the nation to work with the DOI through state and federal permitting processes. Projects, including Calico, can receive a 30 percent federal cash grant in lieu of a tax credit under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act by breaking ground or spending at least 5 percent of the projects total costs before December 31, 2010…"

Calico will use SunCatcher technology. (click to enlarge)

"…BrightSource Energy’s Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, another one of the projects jointly processed through the state and federal cooperative model [just broke ground]…The approximately $2 billion Ivanpah project is the first-of-its-kind to be built on federal land and will produce 370 MW of clean, renewable energy and create more than 1,000 jobs.

"California has consistently led the nation in renewable energy development. The state currently has over 270 renewable energy projects, totaling approximately 70,000 MW, seeking to build and run facilities…[T]he CEC has now approved seven [of ninde pending] large-scale solar projects totaling nearly 3,500 MW in clean, renewable energy that will likely start construction in California by the end of this year…If all nine projects are approved, more than 4,300 MW of solar power…providing more than 8,000 construction jobs and more than 1,000 operational jobs [will be built]."

Ivanpah will use solar power tower technology. (click to enlarge)

"Additionally, there are 12 large wind and photovoltaic projects working to break ground…California is also home to the world’s largest wind energy project, the [1,550 MW] Alta Wind Energy Center….[which will create] more than 1,500 domestic manufacturing, construction and operation and maintenance jobs…[contribute] more than $600 million to the local economy in Kern County…increase the installed wind power capacity in California by 30 percent… reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 52 million metric tons, the equivalent to taking 446,000 cars off the road and result in $1.2 billion in direct local economic benefits over the life of the project…

"Governor Schwarzenegger has a strong and proven commitment to expanding California’s clean energy development…[He] signed into law a new program [created by SB X8 34] to make it easier to conserve land for endangered species and for developers to build renewable energy projects in California…signed an Executive Order directing the California Air Resources Board (ARB) to adopt regulations increasing the state’s RPS to 33 percent by 2020…established the world’s first [Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS)]…[created the $2.9 billion] Million Solar Roofs Initiative…[which] will lead to one million solar roofs in California by the year 2018, provide 3,000 megawatts of clean energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3 million tons…[and] championed and signed SB 71…exempting all clean technology manufacturing equipment from sales tax…"


COAL COSTS RISING
Rising coal costs will be felt in electric bills; Mining expenses and foreign demand will bring higher prices to electric bills
Mark Jaffe, )ctober 25, 2010 (Denver Post)

"When it comes to making electricity, nothing is cheaper than coal — but with growing foreign demand, rising mining costs and declining East Coast reserves, not even coal is going to be as cheap…[and] those prices will find their way into [Colorado] electric bills…Colorado has mandated that 30 percent of electricity from regulated utilities come from renewable energy sources by 2020, and there is a plan to replace three aging Xcel Energy coal plants with natural gas…Still, coal will be a major source of electricity in the state for decades to come…Since last October, the price for a one- month contract for Wyoming's Powder River Basin coal, a main Colorado supplier, has risen 67 percent to $13.80 a ton…[When] that coal began to be shipped east…the price ticked up…[M]ore than 1.6 million customers in Colorado…depend on coal from the Powder River Basin…

"The price impact is dampened by long- term contracts and hedging…[but these] price pressures don't take into account the impact of possible legislation to curb man-made emissions of carbon dioxide, a so-called greenhouse gas, linked to climate change…Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of man-made carbon dioxide in the U.S., accounting for 40 percent of emissions…Climate change legislation that's now stalled in Congress could have placed up to a $17 charge on a ton of carbon emissions. Burning a ton of coal creates about 2.8 tons of carbon dioxide. What is driving prices now is the market, not legislation."

click to enlarge

"Since 2000, demand for coal has been growing 5 percent annually…[T]he U.S. isn't running out of coal and it will remain a low-cost fuel, analysts and industry executives say…The U.S. has the largest reserves of any country — 260 billion short tons, or 29 percent of world reserves…At current production levels, there is a 150-year supply for the nation in the Powder River Basin, said James Luppens, chief of the U.S. Geological Survey's U.S. Coal Assessment…China, the No. 1 coal producer, has an estimated 40 years of reserves left…

"…[E]ven if the price of Powder River Basin coal jumped another 20 percent to $17 a ton, it would still be less expensive than natural gas, said James Rollyson, an analyst with Raymond James & Associates…At $17 a ton, adding a $20 transportation cost to Colorado, Rollyson estimated, the cost of Powder River Basin coal would be equal to $2.39 per million BTUs, compared with the New York Mercantile Exchange spot natural gas price, which has averaged $4.45 this year…Prices will continue to climb because of deep changes in the coal market, Rollyson said."

click to enlarge

"The biggest change is China's shift in 2009 from a coal exporter to an importer and the growing demand from India…By 2030 China's coal consumption will quadruple and India's will double…Powder River Basin, or PRB, coal is the most-used coal in the country — about 45 percent of all consumption…Powder River Basin producers are already sending some coal to Vancouver, British Columbia, for shipment to China, South Korea and South America…

"…Compounding the price pressures are rising costs in mining the Powder River Basin as coal seams run deeper underground…The trucks used in the Powder River Basin are now so big that the operators depend on video screens to drive and a single tire costs $25,000…A USGS study of the Powder River Basin showed the price of coal was about $7.80 a ton to mine when the ratio of overburden to the coal seam was 2 to 1…When the thickness of the overburden doubled and a new cut for a strip mine had to be made, the price rose to $17.80 a ton…"