Distributed Generation Conferences Throughout October

A healthy dose of get-togethers around the country in October will highlight the successes and challenges of on-site power production. Take a look at what events are coming soon.

INFORMATION REMOVED SINCE EVENTS HAVE LONG SINCE PASSED.

Cooperative Utility Membership Will Vote on Renewable Energy Standard

UPDATE NOVEMBER 2006: At the November 2-3, 2005, annual meeting, the members of Basin Electric adopted a resolution that calls for obtaining renewable resources by 2010 that will be equal to 10 percent of the generating capacity needed to meet its member demand.

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Members of the primarily coal-based Basin Electric Cooperative, headquartered in Bismarck, ND, will vote in November on whether to require the cooperative to acquire 10 percent of its electric generating capacity from renewable energy.

Earlier this week Basin Electric along with Florida Power and Light broke ground on a 50 MW wind energy project in North Dakota. Scheduled to be operational by the end of the year, this newest acquisition of wind energy will give Basin Electric a total of nearly 135 MW of renewable electric capacity. If the renewable energy standard resolution passes, Basin Electric will acquire another 75 MW block of wind energy by 2010.

Basin Electric is a regional, customer-owned wholesale power supplier - a generation and transmission cooperative. Electricity is distributed to 121 member-owned rural electric cooperatives in nine western states. The costs of the RPS will be negligible when they are spread out among 1.8 million end use customers.

John Bailey, editor of the Democratic Energy e-Bulletin notes, "This is a great example of how cooperatively-owned utilities should be developing renewable energy today. Too many coops have adopted a "green pricing" approach to renewable energy development [letting individual members/ratepayers pay extra for small blocks of renewable energy] rather than putting the issue to a vote by the whole membership."

Bailey added, "Other G&T cooperatives thinking about adopting Basin Electric's approach should be more agressive and base their RPS on megawatt-hours (MWhs) rather than MWs." A 10 percent standard based on MWhs might increase the wind energy capacity needed by 2-3 times due to generally lower capacity factors than traditional energy resources.

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Distributed Generation in New Mexico Will Expand Under Proposed Solar Program

PNM, New Mexico's largest electric and gas utility, is seeking approval of a plan to expand on-site solar photovoltaic (PV) in its service territory. The two-pronged incentive program would pay project owners for "green" attributes and for excess electric generation.

As currently proposed, the program would be available to customers with existing or new interconnected PV systems rated 10 kilowatts or less. The program would help customers recoup some of the cost of installing a PV system in the following ways:

Ontario Developing Standardized Pricing for On-Site Renewable Electricity

Ontario's Premier, Dalton McGuinty, has directed the Ontario Power Authority and the Ontario Energy Board to prepare a standard offer approach by the end of the year for distributed generation projects under 10MW. The new rules will be designed to encourage homeowners, farmers, schools and community co-ops to build renewable energy systems and sell excess clean electricity back to the grid at standardized prices.

The directive stems from recommendations put forth in a May 2005 report by the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA). The authors conclude that standard offer contracts over a 20-year fixed period and the right to interconnect with the grid are the best policy options to move renewable energy forward in Ontario. The report states, "Furthermore, European experience indicates that small, distributed projects with community or local participation result in more renewable energy developed more quickly and increases the public’s acceptance of the technology."

The standard offer program is one piece of the puzzle as the Ontario government plans to meet its commitment to close four coal power plants by 2009 [6,400 MW]. It plans to replace that power with a mix of renewable energy, nuclear and natural gas facilities as part of a more distributed electricity system.

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Update: California's Agressive Solar Energy Plan Stalls in Committee

The multi-year legislative effort to establish the nation's most agressive solar power initiative was killed in committee on the last day of California's legislative session. Early, broadbased support for 3,000 MW of new photovoltaic capacity and bi-partisan votes wasn't enough to overcome some sensitive last-minute amendments to the original proposal.

According to Environment California, after passing the California Senate, the bill was derailed when it reached its second to last stop, the Assembly Appropriations Committee where three amendments were added to the bill after intense lobbying efforts.

Known as the Million Solar Roofs Bill [SB1], it would have achieved its goals in three main ways:

Model Local Ordinance for Siting Energy Projects

The Oregon Department of Energy (ODE), in an effort to help local and county governments, has drafted a model ordinance for siting energy projects that are not subject to state-level review. Although still a work in progress, the model ordinance's concepts could serve the interests of cities and counties nationwide.

The most recent iteration of the Model Ordinance was released in July 2005. The ordinance is a guide for cities and counties in approaching the siting of certain wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and cogeneration projects. It also addresses siting of transmission lines and pipelines. The document is nicely formatted with side-by-side commentary and background information on each section of the proposed rules.

In Oregon, the Energy Facility Siting Council has responsibility for siting large energy projects. The Siting Council has no authority to regulate energy projects that fall below certain thresholds. For example, wind and solar energy projects below 105 MW and natural gas plants less than 25 MW fall to local jurisdiction.

There has been a steady trickle of inquiries about the Model Ordinance since an earlier version was put online three years ago, yet the ODE is still awaiting the day when a city or county actually goes through the formal process of adopting the ordinance. ODE's John White noted, "We would love to work with a county and their land use planners on enacting the ordinance so that we can really learn what aspects of the ordinance work and what doesn't."

The Model Ordinance attempts to balance the public interest with the need for energy development by establishing a clear process at the local level that marries well with the established state-level process for larger energy projects.

The ODE doesn't expect to make any significant changes to the Model Ordinance over the next 12 months but is interested in getting feedback on the language from cities and counties in Oregon and elsewhere around the country. Send your feedback by e-mail to ODE's John White.

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Report: The Net Energy of Ethanol Debate Must End

A new report from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance offers a scathing critique of a 2005 study by biofuels critics, Professors David Pimentel and Tad Patzek. David Morris, ILSR's vice president and author of the study, The Carbohydrate Economy, Biofuels and the Net Energy Debate, stresses that "A carefully designed biofuels strategy may be the answer not only to our energy problems but to another global dilemma as well: the plight of agriculture."

Morris notes, "It often seems every public discussion about our most used and visible biofuel, ethanol, starts, and sometimes ends, with the question, 'Doesn’t it take more energy to make ethanol than is contained in the ethanol?'" In 1980, the short and empirical answer to this question was yes. In 1990, because of improved efficiencies by both farmer and ethanol manufacturer, the answer was, probably not. In 2005 the answer is clearly no.

The new report focuses on the energy balance of biofuels production. In doing so, it inevitably focuses largely on the studies of David Pimentel, who has been ethanol’s most visible critic. Reporters and interested parties who want to examine the numbers and report on or participate in the debate might take into account six key points.

Fed Up With The Feds, States Sue Over Lack of New Efficiency Rules

More than a dozen states along with New York City have banned together and filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy for falling 6-13 years behind in adopting efficiency standards that were mandated by Congress.

The suit was filed September 7, 2005, and is being led by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The suit maintains that DOE has failed to set new energy standards for nearly two dozen common appliances.

The standards addressed in the lawsuit, according to the federal government's own numbers, would save consumers billions of dollars and reduce air pollution and global warming emissions from power plants.

Stronger efficiency standards for refrigerators, air conditioners, water heaters, furnaces, dishwashers and clothes dryers and other appliances, as well as lighting, motors and transformers, would reduce U.S. electricity use by the equivalent of 13 to 42 large power plants annually, according to the suit.

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