First Solar Developing a 550 MW Solar Project in California
On March 9, First Solar announced a power purchase agreement to supply California’s Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) with 300 MW of renewable energy from Desert Sunlight, a 550 MW utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar facility the company is developing in Southern California.
The other 250 MW portion of the project is already under contract to Southern California Edison (SCE). The facility, near Desert Center in eastern Riverside County, California, will produce enough power for about 160,000 homes, using the company’s thin-film PV modules made from cadmium telluride.
The Bureau of Land Management fast tracked the project’s permit application – First Solar plans to break ground this year and to complete it as early as 2013. First Solar recently completed the largest PV project in the state, and the second largest in the country, a 21 MW power plant in Blythe, which is also providing power to SCE. See the First Solar press releases on its Desert Sunlight project and the Blythe solar plant.
SCE and PG&E are also moving forward with other PV projects. SCE, which announced plans in 2008 to install 250 MW of solar panels on commercial buildings, made good on that promise on March 10 by signing a contract with SunPower Corporation for 200 MW of solar panels.
PG&E has contracted with Agua Caliente Solar, a subsidiary of NextLight Renewable Power, for 290 MW of PV power in Yuma County, Arizona. The first project with Agua Caliente was announced in June 2009 – 230 MW of PV in Antelope Valley, California. The Agua Caliente project is expected to start producing power in mid-2012 and become fully operational by late 2014. See press releases from SunPower and PG&E.
Chevron to Build 1 MW Concentrating PV Facility in New Mexico
Chevron Technology Ventures, a division of Chevron Corporation, plans to break ground this spring in Questa, New Mexico, on a 1 MW concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) facility, the largest of its type in the US and one of the largest in the world.
CPV systems employ lenses to concentrate the sun’s rays on relatively small, high-efficiency solar cells. Although the cells are typically expensive, the CPV technology reduces costs by requiring fewer cells, although that’s offset somewhat by the need for a solar tracking system.
Concentrix Solar GmbH of Germany will install the proprietary CPV system, which uses a two-axis tracking system and Fresnel lenses to focus solar rays on triple-junction solar cells. 175 high-efficiency solar panels will blanket 20 acres, and the electricity will be sold to the Kit Carson Electric Cooperative.
Concentrix installed a demonstration system at the University of California San Diego campus in July 2009, achieving system efficiencies of 25%. See the press releases from New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (PDF 68 KB) and Concentrix, as well as the CPV technology description on DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Program Web site.
The CPV facility will be built on the tailing site of a molybdenum mine operated by sister company Chevron Mining Inc. In September 2008, the U.S. EPA launched "RE-Powering America’s Land" to promote development of renewable energy on potentially contaminated land and mining sites.
The EPA partnered with DOE’s National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) to identify Superfund sites, brownfields, and former landfill or mining sites that may be used for renewable energy projects. As a result, EPA and NREL are evaluating the feasibility of installing wind, solar, or small hydropower systems at 12 sites in Puerto Rico and 10 states: California, Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. See the NREL press release, the EPA’s list of fact sheets for the 12 sites, and the EPA Web site for the RE-Powering America’s Land initiative.
Interior Dept Awards $3.7M to 13 Tribes for Renewable Energy
The U.S. Department of the Interior announced on March 11 that its Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development (IEED) awarded $3.7 million to 13 tribes that are developing renewable energy resources for their communities.
IEED selected six geothermal, four biomass, and three hydroelectric power projects for tribes located in California, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin. The projects were identified by the individual tribes, which developed comprehensive proposals that were evaluated by IEED under a competitive process. See the Interior Department press release for the full list of tribes.
Utilities in California, Ohio Test New Energy Storage Technologies
Utilities in several states are beginning to integrate energy storage technologies as part of the deployment of advanced Smart Grids.
In Ohio, International Battery will supply large-format lithium-ion batteries for a first-of-its-kind Community Energy Storage (CES) system, a distributed energy storage system developed by S&C Electric Company for American Electric Power (AEP).
AEP Ohio’s gridSMART Demonstration Project, funded in part by a $75 million DOE grant using Recovery Act funds, will be deployed to 110,000 of the utility’s customers in a patchy rectangular area stretching from northeast Columbus to about 25 miles east and about 15 miles north. The CES systems will be added to certain AEP circuits in the gridSMART test area to provide improved distribution line efficiencies, local back-up power in case of outages, better integration of community renewable power, and support for plug-in electric cars. See the press releases from International Battery and S&C, as well as the gridSMART map from AEP Ohio.
AEP has also been testing large-scale sodium-sulfur (NaS) batteries for energy storage on the grid. AEP installed a 1.2 MW NaS battery near Charleston, West Virginia, in 2006, followed by three 2-MW NaS batteries in Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia in 2008.
In California, the California Energy Commission (CEC) awarded $2 million to PG&E for a 36-month NaS battery demonstration project. The utility will invest an additional $13 million in the 4 MW system, which will have a storage capacity of 28 megawatt-hours. Once installed and operating, this will be the largest stationary battery energy storage system in California. See the CEC press release.
Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) and Ice Energy announced in January a 53 MW project using ice energy storage to provide utility-scale distributed energy storage. Ice Energy’s products produce ice during off-peak hours and use it for cooling commercial buildings during peak hours. By combining hundreds of these systems with the Smart Grid, the systems can work together to act as a large distributed energy storage system.
The SCPPA project could shift as much as 64 gigawatt-hours of on-peak electrical consumption to off-peak periods every year, improving the reliability of the grid. Installation begins in the first half of this year and will be completed by 2012. The SCPPA agreement also allows other municipal utilities and agencies in Southern California to deploy similar systems. See the Ice Energy press release and technology description.
FTC Proposes EnergyGuide Labels on Televisions
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has proposed that EnergyGuide labels be required on televisions sold in the US to help people make informed decisions about the energy consumption of different models. The labels are already required on many appliances, such as washing machines and refrigerators, and provide information such as the estimated yearly cost of operating the appliance and the cost range compared to other similar models.
In March 2009, the FTC issued a notice seeking comments on whether EnergyGuide labels should be mandatory on a range of consumer electronic products, including televisions. The FTC is seeking public comments on their proposal for TVs through May 14 and is looking for specific comments on issues such as the need for these labels; how the energy usage of TVs should be determined; the location, format, and content of energy disclosures; and the timing of the proposed labeling requirements. The proposal was published in the Federal Register on March 11. See the FTC press release and the Federal Register notice of proposed rulemaking (PDF 628 KB).
Poll: Clean Energy is the Best Solution to Energy, Climate Woes
Roughly two-thirds of respondents to a worldwide poll believe the solution to energy and climate change issues lies in developing low-carbon sources of energy, rather than reducing energy use.
The wording of the poll, which was not released by Accenture, may have influenced the finding, as people are generally in favor of more efficient ways to use energy, but don’t want to be personally restricted, nor do they want their country’s economic future harmed by draconian restrictions on energy use.
The Accenture poll found that 90% of respondents are concerned or extremely concerned by rising energy costs, and 76% are worried about the prospect of energy shortages. Large percentages of the respondents are also concerned about climate change, air pollution, energy imports, and their country’s reliance on fossil fuels. About 85% believed that more government control and intervention is required to address these energy challenges. See the Accenture press release.
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EREE Network News is a weekly publication of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
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