1. Home
  2. Articles posted by: Rona Fried (Page 2231)

New York, New Jersey Set to Become Clean Energy Powerhouses

The passage this week of rules allowing small clean generators to use the New Jersey power grid, and to increase renewable energy usage in New York, could turn the Northeast into a new hotbed of clean technology development, according to clean energy experts. This past week, New Jersey passed the simplest state standards yet seen for connecting clean "distributed generation" units like fuel cells or solar panels to the grid, and letting their users get the same amount back from the utility for power going out as what they pay for power coming in. This came on top of existing, strong incentives for clean energy devices. "Where once the customer might have to fill out an application that ran on for hundreds of pages, now it's a two-page application," noted Tom Leyden, Vice President of PowerLight Corporation, a large solar systems integrator. "In the past, solar owners might be required to pay thousands of dollars in fees for utilities to study the impact of renewable systems on the grid network…that's been eliminated. " New York, in turn, approved a standard requiring utilities to provide one quarter of their electricity from renewable sources, and singling out behind-the-meter technologies for accelerated incentives. […]

Read More

Wind – A Growing Force?

by Charles Thompson It's not likely to have the employment impact that King Coal once had, but if wind power is truly picking up steam as an energy source, yesterday could be a day to remember for the 21st century economy in Pennsylvania. Spanish wind-energy company Gamesa Corp. announced its intent to locate its U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia and build a plant to make state-of-the-art turbines and giant windmill blades elsewhere in the state. Gamesa officials also announced the first sale of Pennsylvania wind power, noting that they are finalizing letters of intent to sell 400 megawatts of electricity a day to three mid-Atlantic utilities, including PPL Electric Utilities Inc. Wind is currently used to generate 129 megawatts of electricity a day in Pennsylvania, making the state the largest wind energy producer east of the Mississippi. Gov. Ed Rendell, who held a Capitol news conference to celebrate Gamesa's decision, said the firm's commitment marks "a giant step [for Pennsylvania] into becoming one of the leaders in this country in renewable energy." Ineki Lopez Gandasegui, Gamesa's CEO, said the company chose Pennsylvania because of the Rendell administration's commitment to developing new sources of energy, the efficiency of the regional power grid […]

Read More