QUICK NEWS, February 18: $150M NEW ENERGY MANUFACTURING TAX CREDITS RELEASED; GE BUYS CSP; IPC ADVANCES GRID POWER STORAGE

$150M NEW ENERGY MANUFACTURING TAX CREDITS RELEASED Energy Department, Treasury Announce Availability of $150 Million in Tax Credits for Clean Energy Manufacturers

February 7, 2013 (Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Program/U.S. Department of Energy)

“As part of President's Obama's all-of-the-above approach to American energy, the U.S. Departments of Energy and the Treasury…[has made] $150 million in Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits for clean energy and energy efficiency manufacturing projects across the United States…

“The [48C] Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit was established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act [in 2009] to support investment in domestic clean energy and energy efficiency manufacturing facilities through a competitively-awarded 30% investment tax credit. The initial round provided $2.3 billion in credits to 183 projects across the country…[These] $150 million in tax credits…were not used by the previous awardees.”

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“Over the past four years, the United States has more than doubled clean, renewable energy generation from wind, solar, and geothermal sources, and has strengthened its position as a global leader in the clean energy race. At the same time, the American manufacturing sector has begun to rebound, with 500,000 manufacturing jobs added since the beginning of 2010. These tax credits will help continue this growth…

“…These remaining tax credits will be allocated on a competitive basis. Projects will be assessed by the Department of Energy based on the following criteria: commercial viability, domestic job creation, technological innovation, speed to project completion, and potential for reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The Department of Energy will also consider additional factors including diversity of geography, technology, project size, and regional economic development…”

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GE BUYS CSP GE to buy two Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants in Spain...

2013 February 13 (Helioscsp)

“...[T]aking steps to reduce its massive debt…[ACS] has reached an agreement…[with General Electric for the concentrating solar power (CSP) Manchasol I and II parabolic trough projects]…in Alcazar de San Juan and CityReal [in Spain]…Both assets [are] already in operation, totaling about 100 megawatts of power…[A final price has not yet been announced]…

“…[Spain’s] Minister of Energy…[just announced] the fourth electricity reform that, unlike the previous ones, also punishes [the country’s many CSP projects owned primarily by Abengoa, Acciona, and ACS…[The amount of the tariff cut-back is not yet clear but the value of the assets will be reduced because it will not] be updated according to the CPI, but with inflation…[The loss is estimated at] 3% annually…”

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“Manchasol complex is the third largest in Europe and fourth in the world. The second plant built in Ciudad Real was the eighth of those developed by ACS in the boom of renewable energy in the stage where Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian subsidized the implementation of all types of clean energy.

“However, because of its huge debt, the holding company…was forced to divest assets valued renewable at 5,000 million euros [though deals have only been closed on half o them to date. Still for sale are the Andasol CSP project and placement five wind farms]…”

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IPC ADVANCES GRID POWER STORAGE Ideal Power Converters Achieves Key Certification for Grid Storage Battery Converter; Higher efficiency and lower installed cost of storage expected to result

February 6, 2013 (Ideal Power Converters)

“…[The] Ideal Power Converters (IPC)…30kW Battery Converter has…[won UL1741 certification for safety and grid compatibility. The distributed generation technology…supplies power to the electric grid…

“IPC has invented and patented indirect Energy Packet Switching™ topology that uses a standard lightweight hardware design and embedded application-specific software to serve the fragmented multi-billion dollar power conversion market…”

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“IPC’s initial focus is on photovoltaic (PV), grid storage, and electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure applications…[The] Battery Converter provides both battery charging and inverter functions…[For] grid-storage applications [it could provide] commercial peak demand reduction, utility load shifting, buffer storage for EV fast charging, and bi-directional EV charging…

“IPC’s 30kW Battery Converter weighs only 97lbs, much less than the weight of conventional bi-directional battery chargers…reducing shipping and installation costs by up to 90 percent. It is built on the same Universal Power Converter Platform™ as the Company’s initial PV inverter product…[and] provides greater than 96 percent charging and inverter efficiency on average…”

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