MORE NEWS, 3-4 (CONSOLIDATION IN SOLAR; SCHOOLS FOR WIND; SMART GRID BY SUMMER; WHEN & HOW DOE WILL SPEND)

CONSOLIDATION IN SOLAR
First Solar buys rival utility project pipeline
Nicola Groom (w/Andre Grenon), March 3, 2009 (Reuters)

"First Solar Inc [will]…pay rival OptiSolar $400 million in stock for its pipeline of solar projects, including a major installation for California utility PG&E Corp and other nascent deals that will rapidly expand the company's presence in the U.S. utility market.

"The deal, which First Solar Chief Executive Mike Ahearn called a 'watershed acquisition' for the company, includes 1.3 gigawatts (GW) of solar development projects being negotiated with Western U.S. utilities and 136,000 acres of strategic land rights that have the potential to deploy up to 19 GW of additional solar projects…The addition of projects already at various stages of development will 'catapult us into a whole new league,' Ahearn said…"

click to enlarge

"The deal between First Solar and OptiSolar, expected to close in the second quarter, comes as the global credit crisis had dried up funding…California utilities, however, have been a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy solar market because they must comply with a state mandate to produce 20 percent of their power from renewables by 2010 and then 33 percent by 2020…[and] benefit from a 30 percent tax credit for building solar installations…

"Going forward, the projects included in the deal will incorporate First Solar's cadmium telluride solar panels rather than…OptiSolar's amorphous silicon panels. Both technologies are photovoltaic…[and] fall under the category of 'thin film' solar…[T]hey are cheaper to produce than traditional crystalline silicon panels…[but] produce less electricity than silicon-based rivals, making them less effective in small spaces such as residential rooftops."

click to enlarge

"Cheaper thin film panels have scored big deals with price-conscious utilities, however. Last year, OptiSolar made headlines when it secured a deal to build a 550-MW solar power plant in Central California for PG&E…SunPower Corp, a maker of silicon-based panels, inked a deal to build a 250-MW plant nearby.

"Then, at the beginning of this year, privately-held OptiSolar cut 300 jobs, or half its workforce, and halted the construction of a manufacturing plant because it could not secure the funding it needed…First Solar executives said the deal would add about $70 million to 2009 revenue, but would decrease earnings per share for the year by 35 cents to 40 cents a share…The deal is expected to add to earnings "modestly" in 2010…"


SCHOOLS FOR WIND
Wind-power industry seeks trained workforce
Marla Dickerson, March 1, 2009 (LA Times)

"Interest in green-collar jobs is surging among workers from struggling industries…Hard times have brought [construction workers withouit jobs] to a classroom in rural Kern County to learn a different trade. Tonight's lesson: how to avoid death and dismemberment.

"This is Wind Technology Boot Camp at Cerro Coso Community College, where eight weeks of study and $1,000 in tuition might lead to a job repairing mammoth wind turbines like the ones sprouting up across this region…The work requires smarts and stamina. It is potentially dangerous…"

From IowaPublicTelevision via YouTube

"As in previous recessions, this economic downturn is boosting enrollment at community colleges and vocational schools. Classrooms are swelling with workers… looking to change careers…[T]he difference this time is the surging interest in so-called green-collar jobs. President Obama wants to create 5 million of them over the next decade…

"Technical education for renewable-energy workers is scarce, particularly for the fast-growing wind industry. Only a handful of wind programs operate in community colleges. Cerro Coso filled the 15 slots in its boot camp within hours. The next course is already full…

…[T]he U.S. wind industry is clamoring for skilled technicians to maintain the 30,000 wind turbines already in the ground. The best workers combine the knowledge of a top-flight mechanic with the endurance of an alpine mountaineer…A typical 1.5-megawatt GE unit…sits about 30 stories above the ground at the hub, where its three 100-foot-long blades connect to the tower…Just behind the hub is the housing for the gearbox, drive train and other components…Reaching it means climbing rung by rung on a narrow steel ladder attached to the inside of the tower. An agile worker can do it in less than 10 minutes, several times a day…"

From tlondgren via YouTube

"Technicians must be hyper-vigilant in an occupation that combines dizzying heights, tight spaces, high-voltage electricity and spinning metal. Fatalities are rare but unspeakably gruesome…Teaching students to respect these beasts is the job of wind instructors…[P]rivate wind-training firm [Airstreams is] working with Cerro Coso to put on the eight-week boot camp…

Mesalands Community College in Tucumcari, N.M., launched its wind program last fall with 32 students. GE offered to hire every qualified graduate for three years…The school has since been flooded with hundreds of inquiries from across the country…It's much the same at Iowa Lakes Community College, where wind students have "two to three job offers each" by the time they complete the two-year program…Students are jumping at the few seats available now…"


SMART GRID BY SUMMER
"Smart grid" draft standards seen available by summer
Ayesha Rascoe (w/Christian Wiessner), March 3, 2009 (Reuters)

"Initial draft guidelines for the development of "smart grid" technology to modernize electricity transmission across the nation may be available by summer…

"'What's desperately needed is an overall road map,' said Patrick Gallagher, deputy director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in testimony at a hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

"Gallagher's agency has the primary task of coordinating the adoption of a framework for smart grid devices and systems. Many of the standards will be set by the private sector, but Gallagher said his agency would help coordinate that process…to provide some draft standards for smart grid development this summer."

click to enlarge

"Smart grids utilize computers and sensors at power plants to create more efficient and less costly methods of moving electricity.

"The economic stimulus package passed by Congress last month provided the Energy Department with $4.5 billion for electricity delivery and energy reliability, but Gallagher and other federal regulators at the hearing said standards should be developed to help guide these investments…

"Suedeen Kelly, a commissioner with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission…said guidelines must be created to address cyber security issues associated with smart grids and possibly to promote uniform software communication throughout the industry…[T]he framework should allow system operators to offset inconsistent power generation from sources such as wind energy and to support the use of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles."


WHEN & HOW DOE WILL SPEND
Chu Unveils DOE Changes, Timeline for Stimulus Energy Spending
Josie Garthwaite, February 19, 2009 (Fortune via CNN Money)

"Secretary Steven Chu [and]…the Department of Energy… announced a series of reforms designed to expedite the dispersal of loans and loan guarantees — changes that the DOE says will position it to start offering loan guarantees from a much-delayed loan guarantee program by late April or early May…[N]ew loan guarantees will be offered by early summer, and at least 70 percent of its share of the stimulus will be dispersed by the end of 2010."

click to enlarge

"This means new allotments for the smart grid, advanced batteries, alternative-fuel vehicles and the array of clean energy initiatives supported by the stimulus will likely avoid languishing in the kind of multiyear application and evaluation process used for the $25 billion low-interest loan program for fuel-efficient vehicles and the Loan Guarantee Program for clean energy technologies. Planned reforms include:
- Rolling appraisals of applications…when they are submitted so that decisions can be made more quickly.
- Streamlining and simplifying… paperwork.
- Accelerated loan underwriting by using outside partners.
- …[T]he opportunity to pay [up-front] fees as part of the loan at closing…Further reduction…by restructuring credit subsidies so they are paid over the life of the loan.
- Additional staff and resources to process applications.
- Working with the industry to attract good projects…and helping them navigate…
- A web site that will provide increased transparency…"

click to enlarge

"Earlier this month, DOE Loan Guarantee Program Director David Frantz revealed at a Senate hearing that even the most progressed applications under the older program (created under the Energy Policy Act of 2005) would take a few months to process…

"…If all goes according to Chu’s plan at the DOE, approved projects in Tesla’s [$350M Model S loan application] cohort could have guarantees disbursed in the 4-5 month time frame…The green light on a loan guarantee, however, does not mean money in the bank. As the DOE explains, 'These offers may still require recipients to secure their own share of the financing –- similar to earnest money in a home mortgage – or meet other conditions prior to closing.'"