NewEnergyNews: QUICK NEWS, September 26: GE AND WIND BUILDERS BREAK TEXAS WIREJAM; JERSEY BUYS 15 MW DELAWARE SUN; THE MILITARY SALUTES NEW ENERGY

NewEnergyNews

Gleanings from the web and the world, condensed for convenience, illustrated for enlightenment, arranged for impact...

Every day is Earth Day.

YESTERDAY

  • TODAY’S STUDY: CLIMATE CHANGE IN AUSTRALIA – A CASE STUDY
  • QUICK NEWS, May 22: WHAT THE U.S. CAN LEARN FROM GERMAN SOLAR SUCCESS; EARLY RESULTS SHOW WIND CAN PROTECT EAGLES; TEXAS GROWING NEW ENERGY, QUADRUPLES SUN

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    GET THE DAILY HEADLINES EMAIL: CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS OR SEND YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS TO: herman@NewEnergyNews.net

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    THE DAY BEFORE

  • TODAY’S STUDY: WHAT UTILITIES THINK
  • QUICK NEWS, May 21: U.S. EMISSIONS DROP AS ELECTRICITY OUTPUT RISES; THE SPACES BETWEEN THE WINDS; WTO RULES FOR IMPORTED SUN

    • THE DAY BEFORE THE DAY BEFORE

  • TODAY’S STUDY: THE BEST UTILITIES FOR SUN
  • QUICK NEWS, May 20: INSURANCE COMPANIES PREPARE FOR CLIMATE CHANGE; UK’S GREEN BANK BRINGS THE BIG BUCKS; UTILITY GOES FOR BETTER SUN, WIND FORECASTS

    • THE DAY BEFORE THAT

  • Weekend Video: Spray On Solar
  • Weekend Video: Wind In The Rural Landscape
  • Weekend Video: What Dark Snow Means

    • AND THE DAY BEFORE THAT

  • FRIDAY WORLD HEADLINE-CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
  • FRIDAY WORLD HEADLINE-WHERE NEW ENERGY NEEDS TO BE
  • FRIDAY WORLD HEADLINE-KUWAIT’S POSSIBLE SOLAR
  • FRIDAY WORLD HEADLINE-WHAT INDIA WIND NEEDS

    • THE LAST DAY UP HERE

  • TTTA Thursday- HOW CLIMATE CHANGE DENIAL WORKS
  • TTTA Thursday-HOW WOMEN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
  • TTTA Thursday-POLITICS AND THE EPA
  • TTTA Thursday-THE ENORMOUS LED OPPORTUNITY

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    Anne B. Butterfield of Daily Camera and Huffington Post, is a biweekly contributor to NewEnergyNews

  • NEW BILLS AND NEW BIRDS in Colorado's recent session (May 20, 2013) by Anne Butterfield (Boulder Daily Camera via NewEnergyNews)

    Out with the old and in with a new. Gone are the five feet of snow from April and May - and in with this sudden summer heat. The feeder and fountain in view from this keyboard are graced with migratory birds such as Evening Grosbeak, Spotted Towhee and one Ruby-Throated hummingbird that loved on that sugar water when all fragrant things were cloaked by heavy snow. And in Denver, flown from the coop are all our state legislators from their tightly compressed legislative session. What have they gotten done?

    “This has been an extraordinary legislature,” said a seasoned Democratic fundraiser in Denver, Sallyanne Ofner by Facebook message. The range of work was wide:

    For civil unions came a meaningful redress of the wrong-headed vote of 2006 to limit marriage to one man and one woman. Now LGBT couples can commit for life and legally reap respect and due benefits.

    Firearm safety has been enhanced with popular universal background checks on purchases plus size limits on high capacity magazines.

    On behalf of rape victims, parental rights of attackers over the children they spawn have been severed, and sexual assault victims have access to a payment program for their medical needs.

    One gripping disappointment was the failure to repeal the costly and conspicuously racist death penalty in Colorado.

    Also disheartening: the failure to pass seven out of nine bills to regulate hydraulic fracturing. A notable failure was minimum fines for serious spills -- needed apparently because spills now don’t invoke the maximum fines allowed. The 30-hour spill that erupted in mid-February near Fort Collins still has not been fined, according to the Colorado Oil and Gas Association. The Governor has ordered a formal review of how fines are imposed.

    Also targeted was a ban on energy industry employees from serving on the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to regulate their own companies - failed. Lawmakers also failed to require more frequent inspections at Colorado’s tens of thousands of wells, though they did secure budgeting for 11 more inspectors and a lower spill amount threshold at which companies must report. More health and water testing around fracking areas? Also failed.

    Visiting The Camera this week, representatives from the Colorado Oil and Gas Association lamented the session as being polarized, and that legislators with no knowledge of industry surprised them with a slew of bills that COGA hadn’t seen much less collaborated on. This came off poorly as they and their 23 lobbyists certainly know that the session is compressed and filled with the slew of matters just mentioned.

    Coming this fall is still more action on fracking, in a rule making session by the Air Quality Control Commission. Judging by the Governor’s oft-stated goal to see “zero” fugitive emissions from natural gas infrastructure, let’s hope the AQCC can screw some new regulations to the sticking point.

    On the bright side for clean energy, Boulder’s own Will Toor is uniquely proud of a suite of successful bills for electric vehicles that led his agency, South West Energy Efficient Project, to launch Colorado to a leading grade of A- among six western states for EV’s. New bills included extended rebates for private purchases of EV’s and conversions of hybrids. For state and local governments to purchase EV’s, life cycle costs may now be considered as well as contracting through energy service companies to have EV’s paid for through fuel savings. PACE financing for commercial buildings and parking lots was expanded to cover charging stations. Also, apartment buildings and HOA’s will have to allow charging stations. And to address an old sore spot, a decal program will have EV owners pay a $50 tax per year for road maintenance and the construction of more public charging stations.

    We will see more charging stations – this comes with nice timing as Consumer Reports just named the Tesla Model S the best car. And as Colorado’s electric power sector cleans its emissions, the use of EV’s will leverage reductions in emissions from transportation.

    But that electric sector still has serious business leftover. Colorado has until June 7th to persuade the Governor to act on the gloriously debated SB 252 that would require rural electric providers to get 20 percent of their power from renewables. Since coal costs have about doubled over 10 years and Tri-States’ coal-rich power expenses have risen four times faster than sales, SB252 needs to pass for pocketbooks and to deal with that horrific new 400 ppm of CO2 in our atmosphere.

    Author's note: Want to support my work? Please "fan" me at Huffpost Denver, here (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anne-butterfield). Thanks.

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    Anne's previous NewEnergyNews columns:

  • Lies, damned lies and politicians (October 8, 2012)
  • Colorado's Elegant Solution to Fracking (April 23, 2012)
  • Shale Gas: From Geologic Bubble to Economic Bubble (March 15, 2012)
  • Taken for granted no more (February 5, 2012)
  • The Republican clown car circus (January 6, 2012)
  • Twenty-Somethings of Colorado With Skin in the Game (November 22, 2011)
  • Occupy, Xcel, and the Mother of All Cliffs (October 31, 2011)
  • Boulder Can Own Its Power With Distributed Generation (June 7, 2011)
  • The Plunging Cost of Renewables and Boulder's Energy Future (April 19, 2011)
  • Paddling Down the River Denial (January 12, 2011)
  • The Fox (News) That Jumped the Shark (December 16, 2010)
  • Click here for an archive of Butterfield columns

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    Some details about NewEnergyNews and the man behind the curtain: Herman K. Trabish, Agua Dulce, CA., Doctor with my hands, Writer with my head, Student of New Energy and Human Experience with my heart

    email: herman@NewEnergyNews.net

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    Your intrepid reporter

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      A tip of the NewEnergyNews cap to Phillip Garcia for crucial assistance in the design implementation of this site. Thanks, Phillip.

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    Pay a visit to the HARRY BOYKOFF page at Basketball Reference, sponsored by NewEnergyNews and Oil In Their Blood.

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    • Wednesday, September 26, 2012

    QUICK NEWS, September 26: GE AND WIND BUILDERS BREAK TEXAS WIREJAM; JERSEY BUYS 15 MW DELAWARE SUN; THE MILITARY SALUTES NEW ENERGY

    GE AND WIND BUILDERS BREAK TEXAS WIREJAM GE Working With ETT On Upgrades To Texas Transmission System

    21 September 2012 (North American Windpower)

    “GE…is working with Electric Transmission Texas LLC, a joint venture between subsidiaries of American Electric Power and MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., on upgrades to the Texas transmission system that will allow more wind energy to be transmitted from rural generation facilities to high-demand urban areas.

    “As a part of the $7 billion Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ) initiative, the companies will undertake a series-compensation project. Under the terms of the contract, GE will install eight series-compensation banks at four different facilities owned by ETT in western and central Texas.”

    click to enlarge

    “For this project, GE will provide series-compensation banks - complete with bypass breakers, relay control houses and battery equipment - to ETT. In addition, GE will provide project management, installation services, training and long-term maintenance support…

    “Materials for this project will be shipped throughout the first and second quarters of 2013, and banks will be installed and tested in the second half of the year. Commercial operation is slated to begin between October and November of 2013.”

    JERSEY BUYS 15 MW DELAWARE SUN PSEG Solar Source Buys 15 MW Delaware Project

    25 September 2012 (Solar Industry)

    “PSEG Solar Source has completed the acquisition of a 15 MW solar project in Milford, Del., from juwi solar Inc. (JSI)… JSI will engineer, procure and oversee construction of the facility, as well as perform operation and maintenance services…[Construction] will begin this month.

    click to enlarge

    “The project has a power purchase agreement in place for energy and solar renewable energy credits with Delaware Municipal Electric Corp. It will be owned by PSEG Solar Source, a subsidiary of PSEG, a diversified energy company based in New Jersey…Upon completion, which is scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year, the installation will be largest solar farm in Delaware…This is the fifth solar project built by JSI for PSEG Solar Source.”

    THE MILITARY SALUTES NEW ENERGY Renewable Energy for Military Applications; Solar, Wind, Biomass, Geothermal, Hydrokinetic Energy, Biofuels and Synfuels, Fuel Cells, Microgrids, Smart Meters, and Energy Efficiency: U.S. Market Analysis and Forecasts

    3Q 2012 (Pike Research/Navigant)

    “As the largest single consumer of energy in the world, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is one of the most important drivers for the cleantech market today. The DOD has developed a comprehensive strategy to reduce energy consumption, improve battlefield effectiveness, increase energy security, and reduce costs. The Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps are each implementing detailed plans to achieve ambitious renewable energy and energy efficiency targets that, in most cases, are likely to be achieved by 2025, including 3 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power generation at military facilities, primarily via third-party financing.”

    click to enlarge

    “Spanning from research and development to base and battlefield deployment, military applications of clean technologies are growing, but there are considerable operational and political challenges that, as in cleantech markets in civilian markets, pose threats to fully realizing these opportunities. Pike Research expects that the expenditures on renewable energy by the Department of Defense will reach $1.8 billion by 2025, growing from $163 million in 2013.”

    posted by Herman K. Trabish @ 6:13 AM

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