Windpower 2008: A Texas-Sized Conference

My first day at the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA)** annual conference and exhibition in Houston has given me one more nugget of evidence that things are just a little bigger in Texas. WINDPOWER 2008 is expected to draw over 10,000 attendees over the course of the four-day event - up from 7,000 attendees at the 2007 event in Los Angeles.

The massive 1/4 mile long exhibition floor at the George R. Brown Convention Center includes displays from some 770 exhibitors, ranging from wind turbine, and component manufacturers, to wind energy financiers, wind farm siting professionals, and construction/maintenace equipment vendors (to name just a few). 

The activity on the floor of the exhibition hall is only a part of WINDPOWER 2008 as the conference program will feature 300 speakers and moderators, 150 poster presentations, and over 50 panel sessions. The panel topics are organized into six daily tracks: Finance, Wind Power Growth, Resource Assesment, Key Issues, Wind at the Epicenter, and my personal favorite, Policy.

It is plainly clear to myself, and anyone attending this year's event in Houston, that wind energy is big business - a far cry from the days where wind energy was seen as a fringe power source only being harness by a few rural landowners and aging off-grid hippies. 

It seems fitting that AWEA's biggest conference to date takes place in here in Texas. Why? Texas has installed more wind energy and is planning more transmission infrastructure in the U.S. than any other U.S. state. Add to that, Houston's position as a leader in the oil and gas industry, and you have what seems like a good fit. I just wish it wasn't so humid.

It is quite clear to me, and anyone else attending this year's event in Houston that wind energy is big business - a far cry from the days where it was seen as a fringe power source only being harnessed by a few rural landowners and aging off-grid hippies. Wind energy has finally come of age. 

Stay tuned to ecopolitology and Green Options for more conference updates throughout the week.

**Very special thanks to the folks at AWEA for their generous support, which has afforded me the opportunity to attend this excellent event and report back to you all about all of the goings on.

The Week in Cleantech News (May 5-12, 2008)

[Originally posted at CleanTechnica on 5.18.08]
For those of you who are bettin' folks, traders on the Chicago Climate Exchange view the Democrats as more bullish on cap-and-trade systems. So if you're betting on a Democratic victory, you'll want to buy those contracts now, in anticipation of a price spike on Nov. 5 (Politico).

Toyota Prius sales have topped 1 million and dealers in most markets simply can't keep them on the shelves. Toyota says domestic inventory is limited by production capacity in Japan, which is shared by the Asian and European markets. The U.S. supply is at its lowest level in two years (Wired).

Imagine a high-speed train that could get you from San Francisco to Los Angeles in two hours forty minutes. Well, that dream is now one step closer to reality as the California High Speed Rail Authority has cleared environmental impact assessments and is beginning construction of what will be the most substantial high-speed rail network in the U.S. But don't make travel arrangements just yet. The project is not scheduled to be completed until 2030 (gas 2.0).

A joint biofuel effort was announced Thursday involving Air Bus, JetBlue, Honeywell, and Aero Engines that plans to study ways to make commercial aviation fuels out of second-generation feedstocks such as algae (Green Tech Blog).

A new wave of nuclear power plants in the U.S. is likely to cost $5 billion to $12 billion a plant, two to four times previous estimates, driving up electricity bills for consumers and inevitably reigniting public concerns about the costs and benefits of nuclear power (The Wall St. Journal).

Photo credits:

Karl Gunnarrsson via flickr Creative Commons License

compicpie via flickr Creative Commons License

Bistrosavage via flickr Creative Comons License

Is A Renewable Energy Bubble Looming?

Maybe.

According to a report issued by KPMG (download pdf), a bubble may be developing globally in the renewable energy sector as bidders compete for assets and send prices up.

Oil and gas companies are buying in the hunt for cleaner fuels and financial buyers are searching for stable long-term cash flow - the overall effect has been to push valuations up to record levels. The report indicates that 50 % of respondents, and nearly two-thirds in Europe, agreed that there is a real risk of a bubble in the renewable energy sector.

The KPMG press release also reported:

"On a more micro level, there are other issues including the fact that many sites have difficulty connecting to electricity grids and there is a shortage of turbines to build new wind farms. All this is also putting aside one the most basic risks of all - that investors are putting money into technology that could become obsolete very quickly."

While I agree that investors should be cautious, I think that is always good advice. Although the KPMG report has raised some important questions about supply chain bottlenecks, and uncertainty in government incentives, I would argue that the renewable energy and cleantech sectors are relatively robust, despite the fact that many companies have yet to turn a profit.

In the U.S., a lot depends on what (if anything) comes out of Capitol Hill to stabilize the incentive structure for investment in clean energy technologies. I will argue, as I have before, that even if this current Congress does not pass meaningful extensions this year, some sort of tax credit will be passed early next year, and there is a good chance they could extend it retroactively.

Photo: Limbo Poet via flickr under a Creative Commons License

Dept. of Energy Selects Grid R&D Projects

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it will contribute $50 million in federal funding to nine demonstration projects to modernize the nation's electrical energy grid, with the goal of reducing the peak load electricity demand by 15 percent over five years. The list of demonstration projects are as follows:

1.Allegheny Power will develop the “West Virginia Super Circuit” in conjunction with West Virginia University, North Carolina State Universiy will improve distribution system performance, reliability, and security of electric supply through the integration of distributed resources and advanced technologies.

2. Rocky Mountain Power and P&E AUTOMATION, will demonstrate load reduction through an integrated network of diverse renewable generation technologies and intelligent automation. The project will integrate renewable generation and energy storage resources, including compressed-air generation technology, wind-turbines, heat recovery systems, solar trough booster technology, a steam turbine, and hydro-turbine resources.

3. Chevron Energy Solutions will collaborate with Alameda County, PG&E, the University of Wisconsin, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Energy and Environmental Economics to significantly reduce peak load and measurably improve power reliability at the Santa Rita Jail.

4. The City of Fort Collins, in cooperation with Larimer County, Colorado State University, InteGrid Lab, and others will research, develop, and demonstrate a 3.5 megawatt coordinated and integrated system of Mixed Distributed Resources in Fort Collins to achieve a 20-30 percent peak load reduction on multiple distribution feeders.

5. Consolidated Edison Co. of New York, Inc., along with Verizon, Innovative Power, Infotility, and Enernex, will develop and demonstrate methodologies to achieve true interoperability between a delivery company and end-use retail electric customers, enhancing the reliability of the distribution grid and the efficiency of its operations.

6. The Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and others will work to balance loads with distributed resources, advanced sensing, switching, feeder reconfiguration, and controls. This effort will be replicable at any municipality-sized system.

7. San Diego Gas and Electric will develop a dispatchable distribution feeder for peak load reduction and wind-farming in conjunction Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the University of San Diego, Motorola, and Lockheed Martin. The project aims to prove the effectiveness of integrating multiple distributed energy resources with advanced controls and communication systems to improve stability and reduce peak loads on feeders/substations.

8. The University of Hawaii, in cooperation with General Electric, Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc., Maui Electric Company, Columbus Electric Cooperative, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Sentech, and UPC Wind, will explore the management of distribution system resources for improved service quality and reliability, transmission congestion relief, and grid support functions.

9. The University of Nevada will partner with Nevada Power Company, and GE Ecomagination to address the construction of energy efficient homes that overcome electricity grid integration, control, and communications issues by building integrated photovoltaic systems, battery energy storage, and consumer products linked to advanced meters that enable and facilitate an efficient response to consumer energy demands.

Department of Energy press release
Photo: johnnyalive

Switching From Coal to Woody Biomass

A school district in the mountains of Northwestern Colorado is replacing its old coal-fired boilers with a system that will burn woody biomass - a suddenly plentiful resource - thanks to the region's pine beetle epidemic that is threatening to kill off nearly all of the state's lodgelpole pines in the next 3-5 years.

The South Routt School District will be spending the next few months replacing it's old coal-fired boiler with a biomass boiler that will use wood pellets for fuel instead. A significant portion of the pellets will come from the new Confluence Energy facility that is just about ready to open its doors in Kremmling, Colorado.

The project was financed The Governor’s Energy Of­­fice and a state bond program. McKinstry, an energy-oriented consulting and contracting firm based in the Seattle area, also is contributing free services for the boiler, which Reed said will be “cost-neutral” for South Routt schools. The change is part of a $4.1 million project to improve energy efficiency in schools and buildings, and could save the district $10,000 a year.

See Also:
"Should We Pursue Biofuels From Beetle-Killed Wood?" :: CleanTechnica (2/2008)
"Jamtland: A County Fueled by Biomass" (Video) :: ecopolitology (3/2008)
Steamboat Pilot (4/2008)

Photo: Steve Roe

New Vestas Plant Spurs Growth in Colorado Supply Chain

Woodward Governor, which designs, manufactures and services energy controls for engines, aircraft and industrial turbines and electrical power system equipment, plans to add a new production line in Northern Colorado expanding its wind turbine inverter business. The move comes just weeks after Vestas Wind Energy opened its first North American turbine blade plant in nearby Windsor, CO.

"The wind business has just taken off here," CEO Tom Gendron said. The company made a commitment to its customers to expand its U.S. production, a move Gendron called critical to customers' "future sales success."

Woodward also announced a new Workforce Initiative that connects educators, primary employers and the work force. Front Range Community College will begin offering a two-year degree next fall to train technicians suited for the green-collar industry, including jobs at Woodward.

The collaboration will work to retrain unemployed or underemployed residents for careers in the clean-energy sector. According to a 2007 survey, the region has more than 30,000 underemployed workers, many of whom leave the region to work every day.

Woodward Governor’s sales increased 20 percent during the first quarter of 2008, which ended Dec. 31, and it is forecasting an 8 percent to 10 percent increase in sales this year, including $100 million in wind energy sales.

Fort Collins Coloradoan

World's First Commercial-Scale Tidal Power Turbines

A narrow channel in Northern Ireland with notoriously strong marine currents is just a little closer to producing electricity with the world's first commercial-scale tidal power turbines. As was reported a couple weeks back by Maria Surma Manka at CleanTechnica, the massive structure, known as SeaGen, began its journey to the turbulent waters at the mouth of Strangford Lough. And as of 4AM local time on April 2, 2008, Marine Current Turbines safely lowered the 1000 ton structure onto the seabed between Strangford and Portaferry. The 1.2 megawatt tidal power turbine array is four times the size of any tidal power generator currently in operation. When fully operational later in the summer, its 16m diameter, twin rotors will operate for up to 18-20 hours per day to produce enough electricity to power about 1100 homes.

(Click here to see an excellent animation of the SeaGen turbines in action.)

The installation of the turbines is proving to be tricky. "I can promise you it's a pretty challenging environment, for the mariners and all the rest of it," said MCT's Martin Wright in an article at Cleantech.com. "And it's actually happening in the narrows, which is the entrance between the Irish Sea and the vast body of the Strangford Lough itself." Wright added, "It's a neck where you get these highly accelerated flows, and it's a heck of tide that runs through here. And that's what we're seeking to harvest."

This is a particularly important wildlife area, and so its operation will be closely monitored. Project developer, Marine Current Turbines has established a £2million program to closely monitor the environmental impact of the project, involving scientists from the Queen’s University Belfast and St Andrew’s University. The chief fear is that the turbines may threaten marine mammals such as seals, but scientists say that the turbines will turn too slowly, and that the animals are too nimble, for this to be a serious concern.

If all goes well, the company will then work on the next development, a "tidal farm" of seven SeaGen devices, together capable of generating 10.5MW, which it hopes will start operating by 2012.

Five of the Best Micro Wind Turbines

I recently published a list of five of the top 'micro' wind turbines at CleanTechnica.com. Despite it's billing as a 'top-five,' this short piece was intended to showcase five very different products, sizes, and applications.It wasn't scientifically rigorous, but it was hardly random. Please use this information with caution: you must not cloud your judgment with images of backward-spinning electric meters and negative utility bills, as the economics will be different for everyone. Interconnection laws vary by country, state, province, municipality, etc. So, before spending ANY money on one of these gizmos, be certain that you have an adequate wind resource, and if you are planning on connecting to the grid, that you understand the interconnection standards that apply.

Read more...

Did CSU Name Their New 'Clean Energy Supercluster' Biz After an Oilfield Logistics Company?

One of my almae matres, Colorado State University has finally launched the business-end of its long-awaited renewable energy "supercluster." The supercluster will serve as a clean tech incubator, moving research and development of clean energy and energy efficiency from the lab to the marketplace. CSU President Larry Penley joined Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter and Colorado Senators Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar to make the announcement Thursday at the state Capitol.

"CSU is home to the world's finest faculty and student brain trust in the environmental sciences, in the development of alternative energy technology and biofuels and in the management of state forest lands," said CSU President Penley. "In the long run, all these achievements are insufficient if we can't get our research to market rapidly and in ways that are sustainable from a business perspective," Penley said.


The university's new business arm of the Clean Energy Supercluster took the painfully ironic name, Cenergy. Not to be confused with the large corporation of the same name, that provides logistical support for onshore and offshore oilfields worldwide. You'd think that someone at the university would have done a Google search on the name 'Cenergy' before getting the new stationery printed!

These are supposed to be researchers we're talking about, right?

Photo: Tim Hurst
Press Release
Colorado State University Clean Energy Supercluster

Clean Tech: "It's the Institutional investors, stupid."

[The following article was originally published at CleanTechnica on February 15, 2008]

Nearly 50 leading U.S. and European institutional investors managing over $1.75 trillion in assets released a climate change action plan at the United Nations that calls on Congress to introduce national policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90% below 1990 levels by 2050. U.S. institutional investors also pledged $10 billion dollars over two years in renewable energy technologies and project development, energy efficiency, green building and clean technologies. The group of investors also wants the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to insist that companies listed in New York and elsewhere disclose their exposure to climate change risk. The plan aims for a 20% reduction in energy used in core land and building investments over a three-year period.

The two largest pension funds in the US, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, with some $246.7 billion under its management, and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, $168.8 billion strong, were both on board with the institutional investor coalition. These two large and incredibly wealthy pension funds tend to be leaders in the institutional investor arena. George McPherson, senior managing director of the DC-based private equity firm Global Environment Fund said he expects other pension funds to create more programs geared towards clean technology over the next year.

The initiative was unveiled at the Investor Summit on Climate Risk hosted in New York by the United Nations Foundation and Ceres’ Investor Network on Climate Risk. Ceres is a national network of investors, environmental organizations and other public interest groups working with companies and investors to address sustainability challenges such as global climate change.

John Sweeney, the president of the AFL-CIO, a federation of unions, told the summit that some of the $5 trillion of union workers’ retirement funds should be invested in ways that help fight climate change. “These deferred wages of working people are the capital that can fuel the energy economy of the future,” he said.

Summit attendees were also given information from a new report, which concluded that major investments in energy productivity over the next 10 years could bring in double-digit rates of return.

The Take-Home Points:

1. Institutional investors are one of the most important macro-economic drivers in this economy. Many of the assets that the large institutional investment funds have to invest, are collections of people’s retirement funds and 401Ks. People often do not worry a whole lot about their pension funds, and how they are invested, as long as they see a return on their investment. With that said, it is good to see institutional investors combine their tremendous economic clout to put pressure on the federal government while taking some social responsibility themselves.

2. The record-breaking profits of the big oil companies like Exxon Mobil and Chevron over the last few years was made possible, in part, by the large amount of broad-based investment from large institutional investors. People may talk out of one side of their mouth about the evils of big oil without even knowing that their retirement nesteggs are being lined with the profits of those same companies. Institutional transparency and accountability are important to socially-conscious investors, and I see this as a step in the right direction.

3. Clean tech investors (both large and small) want long term security and stability before they are willing to invest significant capital. Investors and industry need certainty over what the regulatory regime will be over the next two to three decades before they release the billions of investment capital that will finance the shift we need to make to a low-carbon economy.

ClimateBiz

Earth Times

Reuters

LiveMint (India)

International Herald Tribune

Photo Credit: chatirygirl via flickr

The Birth of CleanTechnica

As some of you may already know, I have begun to publish some of my work on the Green Options network. While this has been mostly at Jeff McIntire-Strasburg's long-running, sustainablog, I have also done a few posts at Planetsave. While I will continue contribute to these and other GO projects, one of the blogs that I was brought on board for has finally launched, and I am very excited to be a regular contributor at CleanTechnica.com, where I will publish every Friday (and as timely news rolls in). The folks at GO have assembled a collection of authoritative voices on clean energy technologies, the cleantech industry, renewable energy policy, and more. There should be lots of good stuff going on at CleanTechnica, and I am happy to be a part of it.

Here at ecopolitology, business will carry on as usual. I'll still provide the same brand of comparative ecopolitical analyses and continue with my less formal takes on the (re)emergence of the global green energy movement (and probably more regularly, too).

Video: World's First Manure-Fired Ethanol Plant