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Interesting Technology Updates -Click on a title below

  • - A radical idea to get a high-renewable electric grid

    This is an interesting approach to optaining very high penetration of renewables such as photovoltaics and wind.  At present most large installations operate under Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) wherein the economics are based on a sell all output at predetermined prices. This contrasts with standalone systems wherein the system size Read More
  • - Breakthrough Batteries Powering the Era of Clean Electrification

    - Breakthrough Batteries Powering the Era of Clean Electrification Battery Storage Costs Drop Dramatically, Making Way to a New Era. A recent Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) report continues to confirm that clean electrification through batteries is advancing at impressive rates. Very interesting report: Breakthrough Batteries- Powering the Era of Clean Electrification Read More
  • - Interesting Technology

    An assortment of links to interesting information   Semiconductor Nanowires Could Double the Efficiency of Silicon Solar Cells A p/n semiconductor junction is not the only way of converting sunshine into useful electrical energy.  Light consists of a flow of photons of various energy levels (colors).  See this article-Solar Cells.  Nanowires Read More
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Interesting Videos

Arizona still a power in solar power, despite other states’ gains

The Solana facility near Gila Bend uses thousands of curved mirrors to focus sunlight,
which heats fluid that turns a turbine, creating electricity in the process. This plant
went online in 2012.

 Phoenix Business Journal

Jan 3, 2017, 8:09pm MST

WASHINGTON – A month after it announced plans to develop a new solar power plant in Gila Bend, Vasari Energy was back in November to double down on its Arizona investment, expanding the plant’s capacity to power more than 7,000 homes.

For California-based Vasari Energy it was a smart business move to bolster the company’s planned solar portfolio. But experts said it was just more evidence that Arizona is an ideal state for utility-scale solar projects, a status they expect will continue as the infrastructure needed for solar plants becomes more affordable.

“Arizona is a terrific place,” said Sean Gallagher, the Solar Energy Industries Association’s vice president of state affairs. “It’s got a lot of sun, a lot of clear days. There’s been a lot of installations on utility-scale projects. Which really contribute a lot to the numbers.”

Arizona currently ranks second in total installed solar capacity after California, the nation’s undisputed leader, despite rising challenges from new competitors across the South, such as North Carolina and Texas.

More than 100 solar facilities are operating or under construction in the state, according to SEIA data.

 

These projects could have a large effect on the Arizona economy, said Auriane Koster, a solar expert with the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability. The development of the solar industry in the state has the potential to attract and keep a skilled workforce.

“A private investor coming in and doing a large solar plant is going to increase the economy in the state. That brings in more money in the state. It provides jobs,” she said.

Nearly 7,000 people in Arizona were employed in a range of solar industry jobs in 2015, according to a jobs census produced by the Solar Foundation. It’s a factor that Vasari Energy considered when deciding to move to Gila Bend, said Vasari Executive Vice President Sam Lipman.

“We also have to look at what we give back to the community with these projects. Obviously being a solar company, we look at things a little differently,” he said.

Besides the environmental benefits, the solar industry “can provide some high-paying construction jobs and good revenue to an area that is relatively remote.”

Once online, the planned Vasari plant could produce 140 megawatts of electricity for homes across the state from Gila Bend, a town that encourages energy companies to build solar plants through special zoning rules.

It would not be the largest solar energy producer in the state, but by solar-production standards the Vasari plant would be relatively large, according to the Arizona Corporation Commission. Solar-panel plants typically produce between one and 50 megawatts of power.

By comparison, Arizona’s fossil-fuel power plants are capable of producing between 200 and 2,000 megawatts. The Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station can produce 3,937 megawatts of electricity, a commission spokeswoman said.

But in addition to its environmental and economic impacts, solar power boasts another benefit: When energy consumption is at its highest, so is its power source, the sun.

“It really helps in that solar is a peak-power fuel, so the highest, most costly part of energy (consumption) is during the daytime, the utility has to go out and buy power,” Lipman said. “If they have a ready source of daytime peak power it gives them more reliability.”

The more sunlight the panels collect during those hours, the more energy the plant can provide to utilities when customers need it the most.

Gallagher said utility companies in Arizona are becoming more comfortable with the idea of buying solar energy from large-scale solar projects to meet Arizona’s renewable portfolio standard. Arizona pledged 15 percent of energy generation would be renewable by 2025.

 

Will Trumping Obama’s Interior Department Help Solar?

December 20, 2016
By Andrew C. Bell
 
 
The solar industry is large enough to seek U.S. Department of the Interior (Interior) regulatory relief, irrespective of any debate over climate change.
The President-elect is skeptical of anthropogenic climate change. He made clear on the campaign trail that he intends to roll back regulations affecting domestic oil and gas and coal production on public lands. But Mr. Trump has also evinced a more pragmatic, market-based “all of the above” approach to energy. Preserving and creating jobs appear to be some of his highest priorities. At 300,000 jobs to date, the solar industry is large enough to seek and possibly obtain regulatory relief in stride with more traditional resource extraction industries, irrespective of any debate over climate change.
Many Obama Administration initiatives will be reviewed by the Trump Administration to “identify and eliminate unnecessary regulations that kill jobs and bloat government.” This article shows how Interior initiatives focusing on the solar industry may be modified as part of the Trump Administration’s broader effort to reduce regulation in general.
Landscape-Scale Strategies
The concept of landscape-scale public land planning has been a hallmark of Interior Secretary Jewell’s tenure. But developers across many industries believe Interior has used the concept to sharply restrict multiple-uses of public lands.
The new Administration will likely take a long and critical look at Interior’s landscape-level efforts. Chief among these will be Interior’s 67 million-acre Federal Sage-Grouse Strategy, which is currently subject to eight pending legal challenges. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) “BLM Planning 2.0” rule, which seeks to update BLM’s planning regulations with landscape-scale concepts, is another example. The new Administration’s scrutiny of these planning efforts could extend to recent large-scale planning initiatives focusing on renewable energy.
Western Solar Plan
Interior’s six-state, 100-million-acre 2012 Western Solar Plan is one such plan. While presented as a planning initiative designed to encourage utility-scale solar energy, many in the industry view the massive series of land use plan amendments (LUPAs) as a hindrance, in no small part because the plan removed 79 million acres of BLM lands from development. The plan did set aside a quarter million acres as preferential solar zones, but the best management practices imposed on those zones have often been viewed as much more restrictive than would otherwise be the case.
When the oil and gas, mining and agribusiness industries seek relief from the new Administration for the Federal Sage-Grouse Strategy, the solar industry could collaborate to gain an audience over the Western Solar Plan as well. There is a reasonable chance of revision because the Western Solar Plan can be modified administratively by a series of LUPAs instead of by formal rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act or by act of Congress.
Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (“DRECP”)
The DRECP is a 22.5-million-acre LUPA that covers most of the southern quarter of the state of California, including some of the best solar and wind energy resources in the state. Initially presented as a tool for streamlining endangered species permitting for wind and solar projects on public and private lands, the DRECP has received a cold reception, with California counties notably refusing to sign on to the private lands segment of the plan.
BLM nevertheless pressed forward in September 2016 by adopting the plan insofar as it applied to BLM lands. That decision designated roughly 6.5 million acres of lands as off limits to any form of development. The DRECP process reduced California BLM lands open to solar development under the Western Solar Plan by more than 50 percent, with further restrictions imposed on the remaining acres. While all indications point to a Trump Administration that will not favor renewable energy development over fossil fuels, landscape-level LUPAs like the DRECP risk modification if they are perceived to limit economic growth through unnecessary regulation.
Migratory Bird Treaty Act
On May 26, 2015, US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) published a Notice of Intent outlining a proposal for a rule requiring a multi-layered permitting program under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). The permitting program would regulate private activities that inadvertently injure or kill members of most bird species in the U.S.
The program would affect a wide range of industries and activities, reaching well beyond the renewable energy and oil and gas sectors that have been the subject of enforcement actions over the last several years. If finalized, the proposal almost certainly would draw legal challenges from industry stakeholders. No progress has been made since the initial announcement, however. The Trump Administration is unlikely to take the process any further.
MBTA enforcement may also be influenced by the new Administration. FWS has relied on Court of Appeal decisions in the 2nd and 10th Circuits to enforce (or threaten to enforce) the MBTA’s strict criminal liability provisions against multiple wind and oil and gas facilities, sometimes resulting in multi-million-dollar settlements.
However, the 5th, 8th and 9th Circuits have disagreed with this interpretation, holding that the MBTA applies to purposeful activities only (such as unlicensed hunting) and does not apply to unintentional “take” of migratory birds. The Interior Secretary under the Trump Administration could rely on the 5th, 8th and 9th Circuit court precedents to issue a regulation, or at a minimum, an internal policy memorandum, that prohibits enforcement of the MBTA against non-purposeful forms of take.
This could help the solar industry. In June 2016, Region 8 of FWS released a draft bird and bat conservation strategy template that replicates similar guidance for the wind industry by recommending significant monitoring burdens for all photovoltaic facilities over 20 MW. While not mandatory, FWS would exercise “prosecutorial discretion” over enforcement of the MBTA in exchange for compliance with the guidance. Region 8 has indicated the draft template could be replicated nationally.
Industry members have opposed the draft, in no small part because of a lack of conclusive data showing a “lake effect” that causes disproportionate avian mortalities at PV projects.
FWS Region 8 lies within the 9th Circuit. If the Trump Administration eases enforcement of the MBTA, it would be a small step to extend its directive to Region 8’s proposed guidance as well.
Wind and Solar Competitive Leasing Rule
On Nov. 10, Interior released a final rule to establish a framework for the designation of preferred designated leasing areas (DLAs) for wind and solar projects that would be subject to competitive leasing rather than the current first-in-time, first-in-right regime.
The rule would also codify certain wind and solar bonding, rental, megawatt capacity fee, and pre-application policies implemented by BLM for the past five years without formal rulemaking. The solar and wind industries have strenuously opposed the rule.
Whether the competitive leasing concept remains will likely depend on whether the Trump Administration decides to alter the analogous competitive leasing regime applied to public land oil and gas leases for the past 30 years. The top-down DLA zoning concept might strike a Trump Administration as contrary to a market-based approach. The megawatt capacity fee may be perceived as an illicit tax outside Interior’s statutory mandate.
However, the final rule likely will be published in the Federal Register before Dec. 22, 2016 and therefore take effect before the President-elect is sworn in. If that is the case, rescinding or modifying the competitive leasing rule would require a new rulemaking. The formal rulemaking process may handicap efforts to modify a rule that focuses almost exclusively on renewable energy facilities.
Conclusion
There is little doubt Interior will place greater emphasis on the consumptive use of resources under the Trump Administration. In addition to reducing restrictions on fossil-fuel development, President-elect Trump’s focus on creating jobs and reducing regulation in general could extend regulatory change to the solar industry as well, irrespective of climate change persuasions.

 

Green Building Lecture Series - Season Opener: Can Green Homes become the standard?

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Date: Thursday, Nov. 5 2015
Time: 7 - 8:30 p.m.
Title: Can Green Homes become the standard in Scottsdale? A Look at Scottsdale's New Green Home Standards

Location: Scottsdale Granite Reef Senior Center, 1700 N. Granite Reef Road (northwest corner of McDowell and Granite Reef, behind the convenience store)

We’ve been busy updating standards for what home dwellers expect in a green healthy home. Why does it matter and how we can do better? Get the answers to these questions and more at the Nov. 5 Green Building lecture season opener. Participants will get an overview of the city’s updated green home standards and will hear about practical applications from Alan Kravitz, Bella Verde Homes; Tom Norris, Norris Architects; and Kevin Edwards, Edwards Design Group. They will discuss how the new green home standards are being used in their projects to create healthier, water resourceful and energy efficient environments which include “living fences,” developer supplied vegetable gardens, rain water collection, gray water reuse, cooler paving materials, ground source heating and cooling, solar powered micro-grid, and universal design for aging in place.

Speakers:

  • Alan M. Kravitz, AIA, President, Bella Verde Homes
  • Kevin Edwards, Principal, Edwards Design Group
  • Tom Norris, AIA, Norris Architects

For more information about this program, go to City of Scottsdale - Green Building Program

Admission: The lecture series is sponsored by the Scottsdale Green Building Program. The lectures are free and open to the public; no reservations are needed.

Contact: Anthony Floyd, green building program manager, city of Scottsdale, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.,
480-312-4202.

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     This is your source for solar and renewable energy information in Arizona. Explore various technologies, including photovoltaics, solar water heating, solar architecture, solar cooking and wind power. Keep up to date on the latest industry news. Follow relevant lectures, expositions and tours. Whether you are a homeowner looking to become more energy efficient, a student learning the science behind the technologies or an industry professional, you will find valuable information here.
  • About The Arizona Solar Center

    About The Arizona Solar Center Arizona Solar Center Mission- The mission of the Arizona Solar Center is to enhance the utilization of renewable energy, educate Arizona's residents on solar technology developments, support commerce and industry in the development of solar and other sustainable technologies and coordinate these efforts throughout the state of Arizona. About the Arizona Solar Center- The Arizona Solar Center (AzSC) provides a broad-based understanding of solar energy, especially as it pertains to Arizona. Registered Read More
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