Record-Shattering Solar

California’s record-breaking solar power generation run continues, solar desalination cleans up dirty irrigation runoff, NASA’s bad Ivanpah map causes flap

Another day, another solar power generation record shattered on the California grid. As Herman Trabish notes at Greentech Media, during the early afternoon of March 16, the use of solar as measured by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) reached 4.14GW—breaking the previous record set the day before, which broke the record set the day before that, which broke the record set 6 days week before that. (Do I sound like a broken record?) About 5.23GW of installed solar capacity are available to the grid operator, and another 1.1GW of rooftop doesn’t even get counted, according to GTM. The string of broken records–which will likely continue as the days get longer and more PV and CSP come online—has caused CAISO to change its policy of announcing every 50MW record-busting uptick to the 500MW level going forward. More data and details about other renewables and their impact on the California grid make the post even more read-worthy.

Speaking of a good read, an article by Kevin Fagan in the San Francisco Chronicle (via SFGate website) features the compelling tale of WaterFX’s parabolic-trough “concentrated solar still” desalination pilot plant in the agricultural heartland of California’s Central Valley. The facility “has been turning salty, contaminated irrigation runoff into ultrapure liquid for nearly a year for the Panoche Water and Drainage District,” according to the media outlet. “It’s the only solar-driven desalination plant of its kind in the country. Right now its efforts produce just 14,000 gallons a day. But within a year, WaterFX intends to begin expanding that one small startup plant into a sprawling collection of 36 machines that together can pump out 2 million gallons of purified water daily.” Given California’s droughty water crisis and the broader need for solar-powered desal plants in other corners of the globe, the startup’s intriguing, cost-competitive approach bears watching.

Desert defender Chris Clarke of the KCET Rewire blog casts a wary eye in his latest post on that other, much larger, and more notorious concentrating solar thermal plant, Ivanpah. Though a huge supporter of renewable energy in general, Chris is a consistent critic of utility-scale solar farms sited on ecologically sensitive lands. This time, his article actually takes NASA to the woodshed, because of a poor bit of mapping on the agency’s Earth Observatory website. Apparently, in a map of Ivanpah shown on the site, the location of the CSP plant is depicted incorrectly. The solar project “was not built ‘within Ivanpah Dry Lake,’ AKA ‘the playa.’ The project is actually several miles uphill from the barren dry lake, on an alluvial fan once teeming with wildlife. A half-trained eye could look at the Landsat image and see that’s so.”

Chris goes on to elaborate in detail why the distinction between the two locations is important. He notes that solar developers would not want to build a system in a dry lake bed and that alluvial desert areas—like the terrain where much of Ivanpah is located–are much richer in plant and animal life than the “playas.” Although he says NASA “may not have intended to downplay the site’s ecological significance,” its mistake “reinforced the spin of those who do so intend.” Whether one agrees with Chris’s vigorous environmentalist stance or not, his voice is a welcome counterbalance to those in the solar and renewables industry who, in the name of progress and the fight against climate change, downplay the possible impacts of major PV and CSP deployment on the delicate desert ecosystem.

Source: http://www.solarcurator.com/

Growing the Green Bond Market to Finance a Cleaner, Resilient World

Source: Christopher Neal, The World Bank    

The growing risks brought on by climate change are raising development costs for the world’s fast-growing cities and developing countries. Government funds alone will never be enough to build resilience to extreme weather and deal with the threats to energy, water, and food supplies — the private sector and institutional investors must be involved.

That’s where an innovative funding stream is starting to make a difference. Green bonds are delivering finance for clean energy, mass transit, and other low-carbon projects that can help countries adapt to and mitigate climate change, while giving investors high-quality-credit, fixed-income investment opportunities that have a positive impact.

“Green bonds create a new flow of finance for low-carbon development. That’s crucial. But they do more — they have the potential to move the finance fulcrum in a cleaner direction, away from traditional fossil fuel investments and into the projects that will build our low-carbon future,” said World Bank Group Vice President and Special Envoy for Climate Change Rachel Kyte.

It’s a young market, but with strong potential, and new developments are bringing its value for investors into the spotlight:

• At the World Economic Forum in Davos, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim called for doubling the global market for green bonds to $20 billion by September, when the United Nations convenes a high-profile climate summit, and reaching at least $50 billion by the UN climate negotiations in Paris in December 2015.
• A new green bond issue by the French company EDF in December showed that the depth of interest and ability to trigger climate finance is far wider than today. The 1.4 billion euro issuance was two-times oversubscribed from the start.
• New Green Bond Principles being developed by leading investment and commercial banks are also expected to encourage more investors.

Using Green Bond Proceeds To Address Climate Change

Two entities of the World Bank Group — the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) — have been instrumental to the development of the global green bond market, from the first World Bank offering in 2008 to IFC’s two benchmark $1 billion sales last year. Proceeds from these bonds are being used for investments that help address climate change.

In Tunisia, green bonds issued by the World Bank help improve efficiency in irrigation and reliable water supply in rural areas where groundwater sources are stressed. In China, they help reduce communities' vulnerability to natural disasters through flood control management and warning systems. In Colombia and Mexico they support energy efficient mass transit systems, and elsewhere, renewable energy projects.

Green bonds issued by IFC support private sector investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency. This includes diversifying South Africa's electricity away from coal-fired power by using energy generated from mirrors that reflect and concentrate the sun’s rays, and helping a bank in Armenia introduce lending for energy-efficient housing, reducing power demand and lowering utility bills for residents.

In the case of green bonds issued by the World Bank and IFC, investors benefit from the Aaa/AAA ratings of the issuers and also help rally the climate financing the world desperately needs to confront the challenges of climate change. Investors ranging from pension funds to global asset managers, leading companies and central banks are refocusing their investment strategies to include climate considerations.

IFC's most recent $1 billion offering, in November 2013, attracted a new set of green bond investors, including the Ford Motor Company, Microsoft, and the central banks of Brazil and Germany. A floating rate green bond issued by the World Bank in January 2014 drew large institutional investors such as BlackRock, TIAA-Cref and Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management in addition to other pension funds and sustainable investors. Zurich Insurance recently announced it would invest $1 billion in green bonds issued by the World Bank, IFC, and other development banks.

With growing investor demand for green bonds, there are also growing numbers of green bond issuers in North America, Europe and Asia setting up programs to meet the demand, ranging from development banks to local authorities, corporates and utilities.

Financial Institutions Launch Green Bond Principles

To provide greater clarity and transparency for issuers and investors, last month 13 commercial and investment banks launched a set of voluntary Green Bond Principles that describe a process for designating, disclosing, managing and reporting on green bonds. The principles were developed by the banks in consultation with IFC, the World Bank, and other green bond issuers and investors.

President Kim called the principles a key step toward attracting more financing for renewable energy and clean technology, especially for emerging markets where the green growth financing gap is significant.

"We need to seize the opportunity, one that many financial leaders have been calling for," President Kim said at Davos. "Let's use appetite for green bonds to expand the universe of investors who are investing in green assets."

By providing guidance to new issuers and more bond underwriters, the Green Bond Principles are expected to further broaden the issuer and the investor base. Reaction from across the market has been extremely positive.

Green Bonds and the World Bank Group

Since 2008, the World Bank has mobilized over $4.5 billion through 60 green bond transactions in 17 currencies, and the IFC has issued $3.4 billion in green bonds, including two benchmark-sized $1 billion issuances in 2013. Proceeds from World Bank and IFC green bonds are earmarked through separate accounts that are set up to support the financing of projects that meet specific eligibility criteria.

Both institutions have sizable climate programs, with the World Bank approving an average of $5.5 billion in climate adaption and mitigation projects annually over the past three years. IFC's climate-smart investment portfolio grew by 50 percent in fiscal year 2013, to $2.5 billion.

This article was originally published on The World Bank.

New Poll Shows Bipartisan Support for Rooftop Solar in Florida

77% of Florida voters support current rooftop solar policy

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., March 12, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new poll, commissioned by The Alliance for Solar Choice, finds that more than three out of four Florida voters (77%) support net metering, a successful renewable energy policy that gives residents, schools and businesses full retail credit for the excess solar energy they put back on the grid. Utilities sell that clean energy to the customers' neighbors at the retail rate even though they paid nothing to generate, transmit and distribute it.

Harstad Strategic Research Inc surveyed 801 likely Florida voters from February 6-11, 2014. Poll results show that broad, bipartisan support for net metering and rooftop solar energy exceeds 75 percent across all key voter groups in the state. Only 13 percent of voters oppose net metering, with 10 percent unsure.

"Preserving net metering and alleviating barriers to financing will keep the Florida solar industry poised for growth," said Dr. Stephen Smith with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.

"Turns out that Floridians really do want to put the sun in the Sunshine State. That slogan isn't just for license plates – it's a call to action," said Adam Browning, Executive Director of Vote Solar. "People are looking for leadership to tap into a powerful source of energy for the state."

Seventy-one percent of Floridians oppose changing the existing rooftop solar policy by imposing a new fee on net metered solar customers. This policy change has been proposed by large utilities companies in other states as an effort to boost their profits and kill customer choice.

"This poll sends a strong message to Florida utilities that customers won't stand for attacks on rooftop solar," said Bryan Miller, President of the Alliance for Solar Choice (TASC) and VP of Public Policy for Sunrun. "The findings are consistent with polls nationwide that show overwhelming public support for rooftop solar and opposition to anti-solar monopoly utilities."

In the past year, utilities have failed at several attempts to stop rooftop solar growth by undermining net metering, which is a policy on the books in 43 states. These utilities are following the anti-rooftop solar playbook put forth by their trade association, Edison Electric Institute (EEI). Many utilities across the country adhere to this playbook, and they have even resorted to dirty tactics to preserve their antiquated monopolies. As demonstrated by the broad support of this recent poll, is unlikely that this playbook would succeed in the Sunshine State.

SOURCE The Alliance for Solar Choice. Copyright 2014 PR Newswire.

U.S. Solar Industry Has Record-Shattering Year in 2013

What would Alexandre Edmond Becquerel be thinking now?

In 1839, at the age of just 19, Becquerel built the world’s first photovoltaic panel, later inspiring the imaginations of millions of people worldwide, including legendary scientist Albert Einstein.  Still, it took another 115 years before Bell Labs invented the first modern silicon solar cell. 

By comparison, it’s no stretch to say that the solar timeline has rocketed forward at warp speed in recent years.

Continuing its explosive growth, the U.S. solar industry had another record-shattering year in 2013.  According to GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association’s (SEIA) Solar Market Insight Year in Review 2013, photovoltaic (PV) installations expanded rapidly last year, increasing 41 percent over 2012 to reach 4,751 megawatts (MW) of new capacity.  In addition, 410 MW of concentrating solar power (CSP) came online in 2013.  Consumers nationwide benefited from this growth as the cost to install solar fell throughout the year, ending 15 percent below the record low set at the end of 2012.

When the final 2013 numbers were added up, there were 440,000 operating solar electric systems across the United States, totaling more than 12,000 MW of PV and 918 MW of CSP.

What does this mean to you?  Well today, solar is the fastest-growing source of renewable energy in America, generating enough clean, reliable and affordable electricity to power more than 2.2 million homes – and we’re just beginning to scratch the surface of our industry’s enormous potential.  Last year alone,solar created tens of thousands of new American jobs and pumped tens of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy.  In fact, more solar has been installed in the U.S. in the last 18 months than in the 30 previous years combined. That’s a remarkable record of achievement.

California continues to lead the U.S. market and installed more than half of all new U.S. solar in 2013.  In fact, the Golden State installed more solar last year than the entire United States did in 2011.  North Carolina, Massachusetts and Georgia also had major growth years in 2013, installing 663 megawatts – more than doubling their combined total from the year before. On the whole, the top five states (California, Arizona, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and New Jersey) accounted for 81 percent of all U.S. PV installations in 2013.

Here are some of the other highlights of the report:

• The amount of PV installed last year in the U.S. was nearly 15 times greater than the amount installed in 2008.
• Q4 2013 was by far the largest quarter ever for PV installations in the U.S. with 2,106 MW energized, up 60 percent over the next largest quarter (Q4 2012).
• The market value of all PV installations completed in 2013 was $13.7 billion.
• Solar accounted for 29 percent of all new electricity generation capacity in 2013, up from 10 percent in 2012.  This made solar the second-largest source of new generating capacity behind natural gas.
• Weighted average PV system prices fell 15 percent in 2013, reaching a new low of $2.59/W in the fourth quarter.
• The new report forecasts 26 percent PV installation growth in 2014, with installations reaching nearly 6 GW.  Growth will occur in all segments but will be most rapid in the residential market.
• The U.S. installed 410 MW of concentrating solar (CSP) in 2013, increasing total CSP capacity in the U.S. more than 80 percent.
• And finally, Brightsource’s massive Ivanpah project also began operating this year and SolarReserve’s Crescent Dunes project began commissioning.

So while 2013 was a record-breaking year for the U.S. solar industry, 2014 promises to be even better with 30 percent growth being forecast.  Part of this unprecedented expansion is due to the fact that the average price of a solar system has dropped by more than 50 percent since 2010, benefiting consumers, businesses, schools and government entities.

Today, 40 years after SEIA was first formed, there are nearly 143,000 Americans employed by the U.S. solar industry at more than 6,100 American companies – with SEIA leading the fight to expand markets, remove market barriers, strengthen the industry and educate Americans about the benefits of solar energy.  These efforts have led to the adoption of a wide range of smart public policies, including the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) in Congress and Net Energy Metering (NEM) at the state level.

And to think it all started when a 19-year-old in the 19th century came up with the idea of turning sunlight into electrical energy.

Source: Writer- Rhone Resch. The information and views expressed in this blog post are solely those of the author and not necessarily those of RenewableEnergyWorld.com or the companies that advertise on this Web site and other publications. This blog was posted directly by the author and was not reviewed for accuracy, spelling or grammar.

Tesla Plans Monster Battery Factory

Laying the groundwork for mass defection from the grid.

Tesla chairman Elon Musk last week revealed plans to build a $5 billion battery factory in the southwest United States. Scheduled to open in 2017, the plant should be capable of making batteries for 500,000 cars a year by 2020. The Albuquerque Journal reported that the Giga factory will be able to make up to 30 gigawatt-hours of storage capacity annually.

Potential partners in the venture are said to be Panasonic (which currently makes batteries for Tesla) and Samsung. The scale of the project suggests that Tesla expects to drive the price of lithium-ion battery packs down at least 30 percent.

In addition to serving the EV market, Tesla’s investor newsletter said the factory will build units for grid storage. SolarCity has recently begun selling Tesla batteries into the residential market. Tesla appears to be laying the groundwork for mass defection of customers from the utility grid.

Source: Seth Masia. Solar Today Magazine. American Solar Energy Society.

Stimulus Dollars Advance Energy Efficiency And Renewable Energy In America's Cities

The nation's mayors this week released the results of a new survey pointing to city successes in using Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). 

Participating Washington state cities included Everett, Redmond, Seattle, Tacoma and Vancouver.

Gresham (OR) Mayor Shane Bemis, Bridgeport (CT) Mayor Bill Finch and Carmel (IN) Mayor Jim Brainard presented the survey findings on a national press conference call to highlight local energy innovations championed by mayors in every part of the country. The results document the responses of 204 mayors – representing cities of all population sizes and from all regions – to a series of questions from the Mayors' Climate Protection Center designed to show generally how cities invested their EECBG program funds to help further local initiatives to reduce energy use, deploy new energy technologies and curb harmful energy emissions, among other local outcomes. 

"These findings underscore that mayors have been leading by example on energy efficiency and conservation for years," said Gresham Mayor Shane Bemis, Chair of the Conference's Energy Committee.  "Mayors all across the country have been actively working to advance energy-saving measures in communities large and small, and what we see in this report translates into real budgetary savings, local job creation and small business growth."

While the full report can be found at www.usmayors.org, some of its key findings are below:

• The three top uses of EECBG dollars by cities were energy retrofits of government buildings (83%of cities), LED/other energy-efficient street lighting (42%), and solar energy systems on public buildings and facilities (31%).
• Most mayors directed a majority of their EECBG funds to investments in municipal projects and operations.  Nearly seven in eight mayors (87%) expended a majority of their EECBG grant dollars on municipal projects and operations.
• LED/other energy-efficient lighting ranked first among energy technologies that have already been deployed by cities, with local and federal resources, most notably EECBG grants, providing the primary sources of funding for these deployments. 
• The availability of EECBG funds to cities has influenced city budgetary priorities, and also prompted new partnerships with a range of private sector and governmental entities.
• A majority of mayors cited energy service contracting as the innovative energy financing strategy that EECBG funds helped most often.

Of the report's findings, Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, who Co-Chairs the Conference's Energy Independence and Climate Protection Task Force said, "Even as mayors were confronting budget constraints due to the recession and federal spending cuts, this report shows that cities leveraged EECBG dollars by making investments that are still paying dividends today.  In my city, we are reducing electricity usage and making solid waste and sewage sludge operations more efficient.   So, clearly, this modest federal commitment has bolstered mayors' efforts to advance energy efficiency, conservation and technology deployment initiatives in their cities." 

Five years ago, as part of ARRA, EECBG formula grants were distributed directly to cities by the U.S. Department of Energy. Of the $2.7 billion provided to the program in formula funding, about half of these dollars ($1.3 billion) were distributed directly to cities to support their energy and climate efforts, a commitment that ranked among the largest provided to local governments in the ARRA legislation.

The Conference of Mayors conceived the EECBG Program to engage the federal government in supporting the nation's mayors in accelerating local energy and climate initiatives, especially the more than 1000 mayors who have joined as signatories to the Conference's Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, which was a landmark pledge for mayors all across the country to take bold action to significantly reduce carbon emissions in cities in alignment with Kyoto Protocol standards.

"The mayors who signed the USCM Climate Protection Agreement represent more than 86 million people in the U.S. who are learning how important it is to work locally to curb harmful greenhouse emissions and adapt to climate change," said Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard, Co-Chair of the Conference's Energy Independence and Climate Protection Task Force.  "The success mayors are having in deploying these resources makes the case for a stronger local-federal partnership on our nation's energy and climate challenges, including continued EECBG funding to support cities and local areas as they develop new energy solutions." 

Last month, the Conference released a related report, Energy Efficiency and Technologies in America's Cities, which was unveiled during the USCM 82^nd Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C. at a session with mayors and U.S. Energy Secretary Moniz at the Capital Hilton.  That survey can be found at usmayors.org/2014energysurvey.

About the United States Conference of Mayors:
The U.S. Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are nearly 1,400 such cities in the country today, and each city is represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the mayor. 

SOURCE: The U.S. Conference of Mayors. WASHINGTON, March 1, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire.