Follow this link to sign up for events!

Archive for Global

SLevy | April 21, 2013
No comments

Retail Electric Business Predicted to Loose Market Share

The Edison Electric Institute has issued a report predicting that there will be a change in the market share for retail electric business if the present trend towards distributed renewable energy continues at it’s rapidly changing mix of standard electric power production and the increasing percentage of renewable energy sources, particularly solar PV continues to evolve. The report dated January 2013 entitled “Disruptive Challenges: Financial Implications and Strategic Responses to a Changing Retail Electric Business” was authored by Peter Kind of Energy Infrastructure Advocates. The key premise is that the increasing inclusion of solar PV will reduce market share for the electric power industry which will lead to higher risk for investors. The result of a higher risk will be increased cost for borrowing money for the power industry. The report sites two similar industries that were drastically changed by market forces and regulatory changes: the airlines and the telephone (AT&T) industry. The report concludes that near term actions are to “institute a monthly customer service charge”, develop a tariff structure to reflect the cost of service and value provided to DER (solar PV) customers and to “analyze revision of net metering programs in all states so that self-generated DER (solar PV) sales to utilities are treated as supply-side purchases at a market-derived price.”

It is my suggestion that the industry adapt itself to incorporate solar PV in such a way as to improve its retail electric business position. My advice to the industry: constructively adapt renewables into your energy mix: it is not a curse but a blessing.

The full report is available on the web at: http://www.eei.org/ourissues/finance/Documents/disruptivechallenges.pdf

Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, Energy Storage, financing, Global, Grants and Incentives, National, Political, Renewable Energy, Solar, Solar Performanc, Technology, Tennessee |
SLevy | April 10, 2013
No comments

Empowered by the Past: Red State Co-ops Go Green

Charles Cotton never gave much thought to the fact that he owns a piece of Jackson Energy Cooperative, the utility that delivers power to his home in Berea, Ky. But last November, Cotton’s membership paid off in a way he hadn’t expected: The cooperative gave him an energy upgrade, installing a plastic moisture barrier underneath his house and replacing his old furnace with an efficient heat pump. Jackson Energy’s status as a cooperative led directly to Cotton’s retrofit. It is one of four rural electric cooperatives participating in a pilot program called How$martKY, run by the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED). The program will let Cotton slowly pay back the cost of the retrofit: His bill is smaller than before, but he’s actually paying a bit more than the cost of the electricity he uses. The extra charge is how he repays the cost of the retrofit. It’s a scheme called on-bill financing—a way for people of all financial backgrounds to reap the benefits of energy efficiency without a big up-front cost.

more

Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, financing, Global, Grants and Incentives, jobs, National, Political, Renewable Energy, Technology, Tennessee, Training, West Tennessee News |
SLevy | April 3, 2013
No comments

Citigroup: How solar module prices could fall to 25c/watt

Energy analysts at global investment bank Citigroup suggest that the cost of solar PV modules could fall beyond most expectations in coming years – and reach a cost of just 25c a watt by 2020. The US Department of Energy, for instance, says its Solar Sunshot program aims to get the cost of solar PV down to $1/watt by 2020 (50c/W for the modules, the rest in balance of systems costs) – a situation that would deliver energy at a levelised cost of around $60/MWh, making it cheaper than new coal and gas-fired generation.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance makes a similar forecast. Greentech Media recently lowered its forecast for solar modules to 42c/W by 2015. On the other hand, Australia’s official government forecaster, The Bureau of Resource and Energy Economics, suggests that the starting point is higher than most current estimates, and predicts solar PV will not fall much below $140/MWh by 2020, and then make little progress over the following decade.

Citigroup’s report paints a very different picture in the two scenarios painted by the Citi team led by Jason Channell.

Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, financing, Global, jobs, National, Political, Renewable Energy, Solar, Technology, Tennessee, Training |
SLevy | March 28, 2013
One comment

City to Require Solar in New Construction

Every new housing development must average 1 kilowatt per house. Not here, but in California. California is a light-year ahead of Tennessee and most of the country when it comes to solar acceptance.

The Lancaster, California City Council unanimously approved changes to the city’s zoning code that require housing developers to install solar with every new home they build.
This is the latest piece in what Republican Mayor R. Rex Parris described at the City Council meeting as a plan to make Lancaster “the solar capital of the universe.”
Lancaster’s now official Residential Zones Update specifies, along with a range of green building provisions, that new single family homes meet minimum solar system requirements in the same way that they must meet minimum parking space requirements.
“The purpose of the solar energy system standards,” it reads, “is to encourage investment in solar energy on all parcels in the city, while providing guidelines for the installation of those systems that are consistent with the architectural and building standards of the City.” It is further intended “to provide standards and procedures for builders of new homes to install solar energy systems in an effort to achieve greater usage of alternative energy.”
Residential homes on lots of 7,000 square feet or more must have a solar system of 1.0 kilowatts to 1.5 kilowatts. Rural residential homes of up to 100,000 square feet must have a system of at least 1.5 kilowatts.

Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, financing, Global, Grants and Incentives, jobs, National, Political, Renewable Energy, Solar, Solar Performanc, Technology |
SLevy | March 27, 2013
No comments

Nominate an expert to the TVA board — Are you kidding?

personal note: I would have never guessed that our U.S. Senators would oppose the nomination of one of this country’s most outstanding expert in the area of money saving energy efficiency. Why?? I ask each of our readers to let their two senators hear their opinion as the Brown nomination

Our Tennessee senators don’t like whom our president is trying to reappoint to the Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors: an expert on energy issues. Dr. Marilyn Brown, a Georgia Tech professor and former research administrator at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory with a long list of work and research mostly ending in “energy efficiency,” has been re-nominated by President Obama to a term on the TVA board after she’d been vetoed here at home back in January.

The nomination, sent to Capitol Hill Thursday night, comes more than two months after Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker used Senate procedures to block Obama’s previous attempt to appoint her to a six-year term.

Brown, who came to the board in 2010 to fill out the a vacated term and served through the end of 2012, is widely recognized for her expertise in energy efficiency and other “sustainable” energy policies. She teaches in Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy after formerly working for the Department of Energy at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

“This is another example of the Obama White House not listening,” Alexander said in a statement Friday.

“I told the White House in advance that the TVA board needs a nominee with a better understanding of the relationship between low electricity rates and better jobs in the Tennessee Valley. The Senate now has the responsibility to exercise its constitutional role of advice and consent on the nominee.”

Corker was even more critical.

“TVA needs leaders who enthusiastically support the mission of producing economical electricity and have an abiding appreciation of its important economic development role and impact on the well-being of Valley residents,” he said.

“Unfortunately, during my discussions with Dr. Brown, it was clear she does not share that point of view.”

original article here and Sundog Blog

Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, East Tennessee News, Global, jobs, Middle Tennessee News, National, Political, Renewable Energy, Solar, Technology, Tennessee |
SLevy | March 25, 2013
No comments

story about solar starting to break into the mainstream

Home Depot expands its solar service offerings to the East Coast by partnering with two other fast-growing providers, Sunrun and Clean Power Finance.
The experience of Roof Diagnostics Solar — a leading contractor partnering with Sunrun, Clean Power Finance, and Home Depot on the East Coast — offers a window into how these arrangements are boosting solar sales.
A year and a half ago, Roof Diagnostics participated in a Home Depot pilot program with one other company in fourteen New Jersey stores. It set out a kiosk with a laptop, 40-inch television, and a solar specialist who could do a simple assessment of a home from the store.
The immediate reaction was “explosive,” said Pegler Jr., with 68 sales coming in the first 60 days. A couple weeks later, they were given twenty-one stores. And the company will be offering solar in 100 locations by the end of the year in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts — with most of those kiosks located in the first aisle of the stores.

Four out of every ten people who visit the Home Depot kiosk sign up for a solar lease or power purchase agreement with Roof Diagnostics. Pegler Jr. believes it’s a sign that the Northeastern solar market is maturing. Because states like New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts have strong solar programs, consumers generally know about the opportunity. But seeing a kiosk in a Home Depot store can be the difference between someone thinking about solar and actually taking action.

original article

Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, financing, Global, jobs, National, Political, PV Tech Newscast, Renewable Energy, Solar, Technology, Training |
SLevy | March 18, 2013
No comments

Latest Prices from Energy Trend

This is the latest estimated pricing for solar material dated March 2013.

Category: Business / Economics, financing, Global, Grants and Incentives, jobs, Renewable Energy, Solar |
SLevy | March 17, 2013
No comments

Let Our Legislators Know If You Think the President’s Energy Security Proposal is a Good One

Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, financing, Global, Grants and Incentives, jobs, National, Political, Renewable Energy, Solar, Technology, Tennessee, Training |
SLevy | February 13, 2013
No comments

Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island – RFP Announced For Renewable Energy Project

The Carbon War Room (CWR), Homer Energy, and Reznick Think Energy, LLC (RTE) launched a request for proposals (RFP) today on behalf of Virgin Limited Edition for the provision of renewable energy and energy services on Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands, home of Sir Richard Branson.

The Request for Proposal has two phases of bids:

Phase 1: Engineering and design solutions for a 750 kW of solar PV in an open field, 8 kW of PV on the Great House, and Solar Carports.

Phase 2: Indicative bids sought for a wind turbine, significant load controls and batteries, and an overall energy supply and management contract.

Virgin Limited Edition will purchase all services and products from one party or multiple products and services from a variety of parties, and the selected bidders will have the ability to take advantage of significant marketing opportunities throughout the project’s lifecycle and beyond. All respondents will be able to access the entire RFP or sections of the RFP after signing a Non-disclosure Agreement (NDA) and paying an administration fee.

Interested parties should use the following link to learn more about the RFP: http://reznickthinkenergy.com/news-events

Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, Energy Storage, financing, Global, Grants and Incentives, jobs, National, Renewable Energy, Solar, Solar Performanc, Technology |
SLevy | February 12, 2013
No comments

Policies to enhance economic feasibility of a sustainable energy transition

A commentary reported in this month’s Journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences states a unique concept to provide an incentive for shareholders of energy generation industry stocks. Thought is was worth mentioning in our blog because of the what strikes at the hearts of investors: profit and accountability. S. Levy

An important task of contemporary academic research is the design of policy that promotes a sustainable energy transition. Dangerman and Schnellnhuber (1) (D&S hereafter) explain theoretically, and show empirically, that it is very difficult to move away from unsustainable technologies. The role of investment funds that go disproportionally to dominant, pollutive technologies is emphasized. The policy suggestion of D&S is modifying corporate law to make shareholders legally liable for environmental impacts of firms in which they invest. The resulting “legal negative feedback loop” to shareholders’ decisions will alter the allocation of capital investment in favor of cleaner “niche” technologies. According to D&S, this would “balance the shareholders’ zest for unrestricted expansion.” They add that it can have a precautionary effect by discouraging investment away from pollutive industries in an early development phase.

Studies on environmental policy tend to focus on changing the behavior of consumers and producers and give considerably less attention to investors. The D&S proposal is therefore a welcome addition to the literature. Investors receive more notice in research on “environmental innovation” and “sustainability transitions”. A central policy finding here is that a combination of environmental regulation and innovation support is needed to foster a sustainable energy transition . The first will change the costs and benefits of production and thus the profits in the positive feedback cycle of both the dominant and alternative technologies.

reference:

Category: Business / Economics, Call to Action, financing, Global, National, Political, Renewable Energy |
« Older Entries   Recent Entries »