Model Efficiency Standards Let States Pick Up What the Feds Are Missing

States and consumers can benefit dramatically by enacting appliance and equipment efficiency standards that will save more energy than recently enacted Federal standards. A recent study provides the roadmap and the estimates on the impacts that new standards will have for each state.

The Appliance Standards Awareness Project and the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy's (ACEEE) report, "Leading the Way: Continued Opportunities for New State Appliance and Equipment Efficiency Standards," shows how states have led the nation to improved energy efficiency and identifies 15 additional products for which new state energy-saving standards make sense. Only 3 of these are currently covered by federal standards. The most dramatic energy savings potential comes from increasing the standard on residential furnaces and boilers, metal halide lamp fixtures and liquid filled distribution transformers.

For each newly recommended standard, the report provides detailed information on the product, market and the specifc technical standard.

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Integrating Wind Energy With the Grid - Study Says No Problem

The Utility Wind Integration Group (UWIG) has released of an assessment on the impact and issues related to the integration of wind energy into existing utility power systems. The key conclusion from the group is that they don't see any fundamental technical barriers to wind energy penetrations of up to 20 percent of system peak demand.

According to UWIG, "Utility Wind Integration State of the Art" is a summary of the best information available from around the world on what is known about integrating wind power plants into electric utility systems. UWIG produced the report in cooperation with the American Public Power Association (APPA), Edison Electric Institute (EEI), and National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA).

The report examined wind energy's impacts on the operating costs of the non-wind portion of the existing power system and the impacts on the system's electrical integrity. "The consensus view is that wind power impacts can be managed with proper design and operation of the system. There is still a lot of work to be done to get the message across and get everyone up the learning curve, but we are well on the way," said UWIG executive director Charlie Smith.

Some of the conclusions from the UWIG assessment:

• On the cost side, at wind penetrations of up to 20% of system peak demand, system operating cost increases arising from wind variability and uncertainty amounted to about 10% or less of the wholesale value of the wind energy. These incremental costs, which can be assigned to wind-power generators, are substantially less than imbalance penalties generally imposed through Open Access Transmission Tariffs under FERC Order No. 888. In many cases, customer payments for electricity can be decreased when wind is added to the system, because the operating-cost increases could be offset by savings from displacing fossil fuel generation.
• In areas with limited penetration, modern wind plants can be added without degrading system performance. System stability studies have shown that modern wind plants equipped with power electronic controls and dynamic voltage support capability can improve system performance by damping power swings and supporting post-fault voltage recovery.
• The addition of a wind plant to a power system increases the amount of variability and uncertainty of the net load. This may introduce measurable changes in the amount of operating reserves required for regulation, ramping and load-following. Operating reserves may consist of both spinning and non-spinning reserves. In two major recent studies, the addition of 1,500 MW and 3,300 MW of wind (15% and 10%, respectively, of system peak load) increased regulation requirements by 8 MW and 36 MW, respectively, to maintain the same level of NERC control performance standards.
• Fluctuations in the net load (load minus wind) caused by greater variability and uncertainty introduced by wind plants have been shown to increase system operating costs by up to about $5/MWH at wind penetration levels up to 20%. The greatest part of this cost is associated with the uncertainty introduced into day-ahead unit commitment due to the uncertainty in day-ahead forecasts of real-time wind energy production.

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Minnesota Legislation Will Curb Mercury Pollution from Coal Plants

Under a compromise agreement, legislation was passed into law in May 2006 that requires Minnesota's largest coal-fired power plants to cut mercury emissions by 90 percent by 2015.

Utilities were brought on board by allowing immediate recovery from ratepayers the cost of installing the necessary pollution control equipment.

The legislation exceeds the Federal government's requirement of a 70 percent reduction by 2018. Activists supporting the state legislation were convinced that the cap and trade aspects of the proposed Federal rules would not result in substantial mercury reductions within the state of Minnesota. A May 2006 report by the US Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Inspector General expressed similar concerns about EPA's cap and trade proposal.

To meet the MN legislative directive, the coal plants plants must install emissions collectors that will be funded by an estimated monthly increase in residential electricity bills of $0.55 to $1.55 once all requirements are met.

Mercury Free Minnesota, a consortium of environmental and conservation groups, estimates Minnesota's total mercury emissions at 3,340 pounds per year, with 1,650 of that coming from coal plants. Once fully implemented, the new law combined with an existing coal-plant repowering program is expected to reduce mercury emissions from the coal-power sector to 280 lbs/yr.

The bill focuses only on the coal plants with the largest mercury emissions, collectively responsible for 70 percent of the total. They are Xcel Energy plants at Oak Park Heights and Becker, and a Minnesota Power facility in Cohasset.

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Pennsylvania Crafts Model Wind Energy Siting Ordinance for Local Governments

A stakeholder's group has unveiled a model ordinance that will help Pennsylvania's local governments decide how to direct the location and development of wind energy projects within municipal borders.

Stakeholders began meeting last fall to craft the model ordinance. The ordinance is designed as a template that local governments can adjust to their specific needs. Issues addressed in the model ordinance include visual appearance of wind turbines and related infrastructure, sound levels, shadow flicker, minimum property setbacks, interference with communications devices, protection of public roads, liability insurance, decommissioning and dispute resolution.

The ordinance was crafted by many individuals and groups including, Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS), County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities, PennFuture, Community Energy, FPL Energy, PPM Energy and Gamesa Corp.

Pennsylvania currently is a wind energy leader among eastern states with almost 153 megawatts of wind energy installed. The state's Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard will require between 3,000 and 4,000 megawatts of wind energy to be developed in the coming years.

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California Wants Biofuels Production to Be Within the State

With a stroke of the pen, Gov. Schwarzenegger signed an executive order (S-06-06) that establishes in-state production goals for ethanol - from 5 percent today to 75 percent by 2050. The order also requires in-state biomass electricity to meet 20 percent of the state's renewable energy requirements in the coming years.

California currently uses more than 900 million gallons of ethanol annually, but only 5 percent is produced in the state. According to the executive order, the new goals are to produce 20 percent of the state's biofuels within the state by 2010, increasing to 40 percent by 2020 and 75 percent by 2050.

The new goals were part of recommendations in a recent policy report, Bioenergy Action Plan for California, issued by the California Energy Commission (CEC). The CEC report indicates that biofuels used for transportation in California will increase to 1.2 billion gallons by 2010 and at least 2 billion gallons per year by 2020. To meet the new in-state targets will require at least 800 million gallons of in-state ethanol production by 2020.

The new biomass electricity goals will require approximately 1,450 MW of new biomass capacity by 2020. The CEC assumes that 350 MW of landfill gas and biogas projects and 1,100 MW of solid biomass capacity will be installed by 2020 to meet this goal.

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Report: Iowa Schools Investments in On-Site Renewable Energy Paying Off

According to a recent report by the Iowa Policy Project, ten Iowa schools have renewable energy projects that are supplying a portion of their energy needs. These districts are spending less on electricity and more on students who now have an up-close opportunity to learn about wind energy.

The report, "Wind Power and Iowa Schools," shows that the ten Iowa schools with turbines are saving between $3,500 and $120,000 each year. Projects range in size from a 50 kW turbine at the Clarion-Goldfield school to a 1.65 MW project at the Iowa Lakes community college.

The study provides significant details about each of the ten projects. This information will be useful to other school districts considering developing wind energy projects of their own. Included in the project profiles are discussions of the motivations, key people, legal/zoning issues, interconnection issues, pricing issues, construction issues, manufacturer issues and funding issues.

In addition to the ten schools that operate wind turbines, the report provides information on the five additional schools that seriously considered, but decided against installing a turbine.

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