Green Tech

Big levitated spinning disks will provide electricity to the grid in a project set to begin next month.

Flywheel energy storage company Beacon Power on Tuesday said it plans to begin construction of a 20-megawatt storage facility in Stephentown, N.Y. Twenty megawatts could supply thousands of homes at a given moment, but flywheels store only several minutes' worth of electricity.

Rather have many hours of stored energy on standby, the flywheels will store and dispatch bursts of electricity for what's called frequency regulation in the utility industry. Because of fluctuations in power demand, power generators need to deliver power to the grid to maintain a steady signal frequency.

George King, supervisor of flywheel assembly at Beacon Power, stands next to the company's 100-kilowatt flywheel.

(Credit: Beacon Power)

With flywheels, electrical energy is converted into mechanical energy and stored by the spinning disks. By absorbing electricity and dispatching it for quick bursts of a few minutes, utilities can maintain the frequency and avoid paying for frequency regulation services.

The project will help the utility better use renewable energy that supplies electricity intermittently to the grid, according to the New York State Public Service Commission.

The installation in upstate New York will be the first large-scale use of Beacon Power's technology, according to the company. The Tyngsboro, Mass.-based company secured a Department of Energy loan guarantee in July for $43 million to partially finance the project.

Until now, Beacon Power has operated a smaller 1-megawatt facility, where 25 flywheels are placed in a shipping container-size structure. The wheels themselves are made of carbon fiber composites, rather than metal, and spin at 16,000 revolutions per minute. To reduce friction, the mechanical components are stored in a vacuum and levitated with a permanent magnet, according to the company.

Another idea that has been pursued by Google for frequency regulation is using networks of electric-vehicle batteries. Rather than dispatch stored energy from batteries, plugged-in cars could have the charge rate throttled back, which a grid management system could use to maintain frequency.

Correction at 2:33 a.m. PDT November 12: This story incorrectly stated the name of the wireless communications technology used by AlertMe. The system uses ZigBee.

The Wi-Fi Alliance has formed a task group to determine what standards need to be modified to ensure Wi-Fi is the tool of choice for smart-grid applications.

The nonprofit industry association that approves devices for the Wi-Fi Certified seal released a report Wednesday called "Wi-Fi for the Smart Grid: Mature, Interoperable, Security-Protected Technology for Advanced Utility Management Communications." The report expounds on all the possibilities for Wi-Fi as a communication tool for smart appliances, home area networks, neighborhood networks, and wide area networks integrating with smart grids. It also details how the standards being set by the U.S. Department of Energy for smart grids might affect Internet Protocol standards for Wi-Fi.

Wi-Fi seems like an obvious choice for electronics and appliances communicating with a wireless, smart grid-integrated system. The low-power, short-range data transmission method is already the dominant standard for digital communications among computers and electronics in wireless home and neighborhood networks.

Both GE and Whirlpool have said they are close to bringing smart appliances to the consumer market. But Whirlpool has said it's still waiting for an "open, global standard for transmitting signals to, and receiving signals from, a home appliance."

Google PowerMeter has already partnered with AlertMe in the U.K. on a do-it-yourself smart-appliance integration system for homes that bypasses the need for a smart meter and it relies on ZigBee not Wi-Fi. AlertMe relays information between a wireless hub that plugs into a home's broadband connection, smart plugs used by appliances throughout the house, and an electric meter monitor. It allows users to observe and regulate electricity use of their home appliances from anywhere in the world via Google's Web-accessible PowerMeter platform.

"Wi-Fi networks can be deployed to meet the Smart Grid requirements for robustness, manageability, performance, and security," according to the report.

But from the contents of the report, the Wi-Fi cognoscente also seem to realize that Wi-Fi device manufacturers will need to step it up if they want to provide the standard for smart-grid-related communications.

Dropped or insecure connections between a laptop and wireless network is one thing. But once Wi-Fi communications can affect appliances and electricity use, device irregularities or shortfalls in cybersecurity won't be tolerated by the U.S. government or consumers.

If you wanted to start a business and help save the world, what would you do?

The Ignite Clean Energy (ICE) competition on Wednesday, announced the winners of a business plan competition that offers a peek into how university students are approaching environmental problems through business. There is a wide range of technologies being pursued--everything from ocean power to providing off-grid power systems to developing countries.

A conceptual design of a microbial fuel cell where microorganisms reacting with organic material create a chemical reaction that induces an electrical current.

(Credit: IntAct Labs)

The awards were decided on Tuesday afternoon after student teams pitched their business plans to a panel of judges at the Massachusetts State House. Winners are eligible for cash and in-kind services, ranging from $50,000 to $12,500 in total with a sizable portion coming in the form of legal advice.

The first-place winner for this year's competition was IntAct Labs, which is working on a range of bio-energy technologies. The company is developing microbial fuel cells that make electricity from wastewater, sensors made of proteins, and photoactive proteins that could act as solar cells.

New Jersey-based InnoSepra won second place for a technology it says reduces the cost of separating carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants. It is using a "microporous" material for capturing CO2 and demonstrated its feasiblity at bench scale, according to the company.

Third place went to EGG-Energy, which has a business mission of bringing affordable electricity to people in poor countries. Its team last summer traveled to Tanzania to test out how its battery and electric light combination work as an alternative to kerosene lighting.

Among the "people's choice" awards in the competition were Velkless, which is developing flywheels for energy storage, and HydroCoal, which is working on a coal gasification process to make a substitute for natural gas.

For business plan summaries of all the participants, see here.

The Ignite Clean Energy competition is one of many cropping up around the country to fund entrepreneurs working in green technology. The event at the Massachusetts State House is part of a "clean energy week," which also includes a showcase of ongoing energy research on Wednesday and the Fifth Annual Clean Energy Conference starting on Thursday.

New Jersey regulators on Tuesday approved a proposal from utility Public Service Electric and Gas to expand its solar loan program by $143 million and 51 megawatts.

The program expansion means a total of $248 million in loans, translating into an estimated 81 megawatts worth of solar systems available to interested homeowners, businesses, and municipalities across the state.

Public Service Electric and Gas already has a program to install 200,000 solar panels from Petra Solar on N.J. utility poles and street lamps.

(Credit: Petra Solar)

Since Public Service Electric and Gas' (PSE&G's) first loan program for installing photovoltaic panels was approved in April 2008, about $105 million in loans, totaling 30 megawatts worth of solar systems, have been applied for by its customers, according to company statistics. While its seen as an expansion, the next round of funding is technically a completely new program approved by the N.J. Board of Public Utilities (BUP) with specific regulations.

The Solar Loan II Program will run on a first-come, first-served basis for the next two years, or until 51 megawatts in solar systems have been installed.

The loans should cover half the cost of a solar system installation, according to BUP estimates. They will be offered as 10-year loans for residential homeowners, and 15-year loans for commercial or municipal customers, which can be repaid in cash or via earned Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SREC). One SREC is earned for every megawatt hour of solar energy created, according to PSE&G. The BUP also set preliminary monetary rates for SREC credits.

"Initially, the SREC floor price for residential systems is $450; for nonresidential systems up to 150 kw the price is $410; and for systems larger than 150 kw up to 500 kw it is $380. The floor prices offered for SRECs for new loan applications will be reduced by about 3 to 6 percent every 6 months," according to a statement from the BUP.

For the other half of installation costs, the BUP is recommending solar system owners apply for New Jersey Clean Energy Program rebates and federal tax credits.

"There's no question that providing a source of stable, secure capital--especially in our tough economy--has helped boost the number of solar energy systems in New Jersey," Ralph LaRossa, president and COO of PSE&G, said in a statement.

"We're pleased to do our part to make New Jersey a leader in solar energy installations, second only to California," he said.

LaRossa is justified in his assertion. While it can't compare to California, which has huge projects in the 550-megawatt range underway, New Jersey is a leading state for solar installations, as well as clean-tech projects in general.

The greater New York metropolitan area, which includes a large portion of N.J., was recently ranked No. 3 in the country for most clean-tech job activity in the U.S. by a recent report, with the solar sector leading the clean-tech job market overall. It was only lagging behind the greater metropolitan areas of San Francisco and Los Angeles in California, respectively. New Jersey was also ranked 7th by another recent report listing U.S. states doing the most to wean its residents off foreign oil.

In addition to its solar loan program, PSE&G was approved in July for a partnership with Petra Solar to install over 200,000 photovoltaic panels on N.J. utility poles and street lights to tie into the state's electrical grid. It was also approved to install 5 megawatts worth of solar equipment in New Jersey urban enterprise zones, and an another 10 megawatts to be installed on the properties of interested third parties.

Painting the Golden Gate Bridge yellow might cause less fuss than trying to install a wind farm off Cape Cod's historic coast.

But when you're trying to build where the wind is strongest or the sun is brightest, you never know what obstacles you may run into.

In Massachusetts, a proposed wind farm called Cape Wind was dealt a blow last Friday that will delay what would be the first offshore wind farm in the U.S. The Massachusetts Historical Commission agreed with local Indian tribes who claim that the location for the wind farm should be considered for listing in the National Historic Register because the Wampanoags' history and culture are "inextricably linked to Nantucket Sound," according to the opinion.

An offshore wind farm in north Wales, U.K.

(Credit: Vestas)

"If the tribes are successful, that would have a severe chilling effect (on the entire wind industry) because tribes up and down the coast could make the same claim," said Mark Rodgers, the communications director for Cape Wind. "Never before has an open ocean been caught up in this kind of declaration."

Then again, never before has a rare combination of private and government investment pumped so much into alternative energy projects. As these projects grow in frequency and scale, a new breed of NIMBY (not in my backyard) is emerging: Opponents of wind or solar installations who generally support renewable energy, just as long as they are built somewhere else. Coal and nuclear plants, it turns out, aren't the only energy facilities people don't want built in their backyards...or coastlines.

The Cape Wind fight, in particular, has brought together a testy combination of excellent wind conditions, opposition from well heeled local residents including members of the Kennedy clan, and a surprising assertion of Native American rights.

The National Historic Register is expected to make a ruling on whether the Sound can be considered eligible for protection as a traditional cultural property within 45 days. In its environmental review, the U.S. Minerals Management Service had previously concluded that it should not because the agency found the visual effects from the farm would be minor, and no historical archaeological resources in the Sound were identified. (Click for PDF of report excerpt).

Two tribes of the Wampanoags, who are descendants of the people who greeted the 17th century Pilgrims to Massachusetts, say they have long opposed Cape Wind because an unobstructed view of the ocean is vital to their culture, which calls for them to greet sunrise each day.

If there is a ruling in favor of the Wampanoags, it could delay approval by up to a year, according to reports. So far, Cape Wind, which is run by a group of investors who developed natural gas plants in the past, has spent $40 million over eight years. Developing the project, which would benefit from a tax credit or cash subsidy, is expected to cost more than $1 billion.

The claim is coming to a head at a time when Cape Wind had cleared all state-level environmental and siting permits, despite opposition from well organized local groups and powerful politicians, including the late senator Edward Kennedy. The family's compound would have a view of the 130 turbines, which would be placed five miles off the coast of Cape Cod. The project would supply about 75 percent of the electricity used on Cape Cod with 130 offshore turbines that would be visible as small spikes on the horizon, according to simulations.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said last week that he wanted his agency to make a decision on whether to give Cape Wind federal approval by the end of year--a deadline that is now in question.

On Monday, Massachusetts representative Edward Markey, who heads the House Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, sent a letter to Salazar on Monday, urging his department to approve the project before the start of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in early December because it would "send a strong message to international negotiators about the United States' commitment to developing sources of clean energy and reducing global warming pollution."

Green vs. green
Wind isn't the only form of clean energy that's running into opposition. Earlier this year, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce established a Web site called Project No Project, where it lists dozens of energy-related projects caught up in "green tape." The Chamber blames delays on NIMBY or "radical environmentalism."

The Chamber of Commerce has come under fire by environmentalists and a handful of its members for its opposition to proposed climate change legislation, but a number of renewable energy projects, mostly in wind, are being held up along with coal and nuclear projects, according to the Chamber.

Directly related to renewable energy is the thorny issue of transmission lines. Most of the wind and solar resources are in the middle of the country, far away from the areas of heavy electricity demand, which means that new lines need to be built to take advantage of the country's renewable resources.

There are a number of proposals to carry renewable energy around the country, including high-voltage power lines where less electricity would be lost in transmission. But many face local opposition because of the visual impact from these added wires.

For example, a coalition in Texas has formed called Protect North Palo Duro Canyon, where there is a proposal to string transmission lines across the canyon to carry electricity generated by wind turbines. The group wants to stop the development because of the environmental and historical significance of the place, the group says.

"Wind energy generated in the Texas Panhandle can serve the needs of populous cities such as Dallas and Austin and is important to the future of this state, but not at the cost of natural treasures such as the north Palo Duro Canyon and other beautiful areas in Texas," said Bob Currie, a coalition member.

In addition to drawing opposition from local landowners, the national push for clean energy is raising a "green vs. green" debate between the environmental benefits of renewable energy versus preservation of valuable ecosystems.

An illustration of the proposed Ivapah project in the Mojave Desert shows how much land is needed for utility-scale solar. This project, still being pursued by BrightSource Energy, would take up six square miles to supply electricity to 140,000 homes per year, using mirrors arrayed in a circle around a tower. Using less than 2 percent of the Mojave Desert's land would supply electricity for all the homes in California and cut carbon emissions by 30 million tons a year, according to the company.

(Credit: BrightSource Energy)

Driven by a California state mandate that utilities get a significant portion of their electricity from renewable sources, there's a land grab going in the desert areas of the U.S. Southwest that get the direct sunlight suitable for concentrating solar power.

These machines, which concentrate the sunlight to make steam for an electricity turbine, require large tracts of land for utility-scale power generation. As a result, most of these project developers have submitted project proposals to the Bureau of Land Management for siting and environmental reviews, which has created a backlog of applications.

BrightSource Energy, which has been picked to supply hundreds of megawatts of electricity to utilities, last month had to scrap a plan to build a solar power plant in a region of the Mojave Desert that had been set aside for conservation by the environmental group Wildlands Conservancy. California senator Dianne Feinstein said that specific location is not suitable for wind or solar development because it would lead to destruction of the desert ecosystem. Although she supports solar and wind development, she is proposing added protections for the region near other conservation lands, including Joshua Tree National Park.

Common sense?
With the list of clean-energy projects growing, there are efforts to speed up reviews. The Interior Department said last week that it would fast-track environmental reviews of six solar power plant proposals in California. Altogether, these projects would occupy 28,000 acres of land--almost the same area covered by the City of San Francisco--and generate 2.5 gigawatts of electricity, or enough for two million homes, Salazar told reporters.

In Massachusetts, which is encouraging development of clean energy businesses, state officials are considering a way to unblock reviews of a number of stalled wind energy projects.

Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick said last week's decision on Nantucket Sound and historic preservation listing was "ridiculous." In a statement, he said, "We are going to have to get serious about alternative energy installations where they make sense, and every environmental and regulatory review has concluded that Cape Wind makes sense."

The project's well organized opposition group, the Alliance to Save Nantucket Sound, says that placing turbines offshore will damage the environment and hurt tourism. It even recruited regular Martha's Vineyard visitor Walter Cronkite to record radio and TV spots, but he later changed his position, saying he "hadn't done his homework."

Meanwhile, environmental groups are trying to find ways to distinguish NIMBY sentiment from the real need for environmental protection. In general, groups like the Sierra Club favor renewable energy development, even though wind turbines, for example, do pose a danger to birds and bats. Even the Massachusetts chapter of the Audubon Society, which counts many birders in its members, has given conditional support to Cape Wind.

What's needed is data to rule out specific locations that pose too many risks, environmental groups say. Environmental advocacy group the National Resources Defense Council earlier this year developed an online mapping tool to choose the sites best suited for renewable energy. The point of the application is to show people the most suitable sites, which should avoid roadblocks during the review process.

"We need to develop our renewable resources if we are to address the challenge of climate change, but that development must be carried out in an environmentally responsible way," said Johanna Wald, a senior attorney at the NRDC in a blog post. "If it is done right, informed environmentalists will, I believe, stand up in support."

U.S. Senator John Kerry said on Tuesday he will try to "outline" a compromise climate control bill before December's international global warming conference and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave an upbeat assessment of Washington's intentions.

"From what I heard today, there is great support in the Senate for action on climate change," Ban told reporters following a meeting with a small group of senators in the U.S. Capitol to encourage them on.

Ban repeated a prediction that the December 7-18 U.N. global warming summit in Copenhagen will not produce a final deal on a new international regime for severely reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

But he said he held out hope for a "robust" foundation being built in Copenhagen and said further progress by the U.S. Senate on domestic goals for reducing carbon dioxide pollution would send a "strong message" to the assembled 192 countries.

Kerry, a Democrat who is coordinating work on a Senate compromise bill, told reporters: "We are engaged in a process that will hopefully put us in a position to go to Copenhagen with a framework or outline of where the Senate will be heading in legislation."

Kerry added that Ban "made it crystal clear that leadership by the United States of America is critical" to Copenhagen and beyond.

Democrats on a Senate environment committee last week approved a bill to reduce U.S. industry's carbon emission by 20 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.

But that measure does not have enough support to pass the Senate. Kerry is working with Republicans and moderate Democrats on a bill that could reduce the 20 percent target as well as give new incentives for expanding U.S. nuclear power generation and domestic oil and gas production.

Despite the upbeat talk, deep political problems were on display in Washington.

Democratic Senator Max Baucus, who chairs the powerful Senate Finance Committee that will write portions of a climate bill, warned on Tuesday that tough trade protections would have to be part of any legislation.

"We can not allow our manufacturing industries to fade as a result of trade with countries that refuse to negotiate global solutions to global concerns," said Baucus.

Debate over jobs
U.S. moves to protect energy-intensive industries like steel, glass and cement have angered trading partners, including China, and many observers argue such provisions likely would violate international trade rules.

"It may not be what they (China) want to hear, but it isn't anything they don't already know," Dave Hamilton, a global warming expert at the Sierra Club environmental group, said of Baucus' new warnings.

Baucus said a "border measure" would be consistent with Washington's international trade obligations. Such language is seen as key to gaining the votes of moderate senators from industrial states.

Republican Senator Richard Lugar, a moderate who in the past has voiced fears that global warming could lead to conflict and instability in developing countries, had domestic concerns on his mind on Tuesday.

He said the meeting with Ban provided an opportunity to discuss "problems of recession and unemployment in our country." Many lawmakers fear that moving the U.S. away from cheap polluting fossil fuels to cleaner alternative energy will cost jobs and raise consumer prices.

A climate change bill already has passed the House of Representatives, where President Barack Obama's Democrats have a large majority. Although Democrats also control the Senate, it's easier for opponents there to delay legislation using procedural hurdles.

Baucus' Finance Committee held a hearing on Tuesday focusing on the job creation that could flow from a climate bill.

Van Ton-Quinlivan, a director of jobs development at Pacific Gas and Electric Co, a major California-based utility, said designing and creating a U.S. low-carbon energy system could require as many as 150,000 workers by the 2020s.

About 60,000 people will be needed to operate and maintain things like wind and solar farms by 2030, she said.

Margo Thorning, chief economist at the American Council on Capital Formation, said job losses under the House climate change bill may total 80,000 in 2020 and between nearly 1.8 million to more than 2.4 million in 2030.

At that hearing, Kerry shot back at Thorning: "Your studies aren't credible. You don't take into account the cost of inaction."

Story Copyright (c) 2009 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

Would you be willing to pay for home security services if they could also help cut your electricity bills?

In a nutshell, that's what start-up iControl is pitching to consumers with its energy management software and home automation gear. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company is also working with utilities to get its energy management system installed as part of smart-grid trials.

On Tuesday, it said that its home automation equipment can now use the Zigbee wireless protocol to communicate with two-way smart meters.

Will home energy management enter through home automation networks?

(Credit: iControl Networks)

It's part of the company's plan to enter the field of home energy efficiency, where there are dozens of companies already vying for business. The path it's taking is either through security service companies, utilities, or broadband suppliers, such as cable companies or phone companies, said CEO Paul Dawes.

iControl's technology is software for managing home area networks for home security. It also makes reference designs for Internet gateways and networked thermostats manufactured by third parties. The system allows a person to set up a network of security cameras which can be controlled by a touch-screen device.

With some additional equipment, the system can also be used to monitor energy usage and help homeowners cut energy usage, said Dawes. He expects these services will be offered for free as part of monthly security services, which cost about $30 to $35 per month. Security company ADT said that it plans to use iControl's software system to include services beyond home security, he added.

iControl's energy management system will also work with smart meters installed by utilities. Using a Zigbee-based gateway box and a networked thermostat, the system can get data via the smart meter which can help cut consumers' electricity bill, Dawes said.

For example, the meter can signal when cheaper rates are in effect or when there is a demand-response program in effect. In those cases, appliances on the iControl network can be scheduled to take advantage of those lower rates.

By buying some additional equipment, a consumer could program lighting and heating and cooling using the system, but the company is mainly working through utilities at this point.

"We don't see consumers willing to pay a recurring fee for energy management. They're willing to spend $50 for some energy management solution. What's going to change is when utilities go to time-of-use metering (where there are different prices at different times). Then, the economic incentive is much higher," Dawes said.

iControl is expecting that telecommunications and cable providers will start offering Internet-based home security services and then home energy management. But at this point, it's not clear how those companies will make money in energy management, Dawes said.

The world faces a surge in energy costs, as well as in planet-warming carbon emissions, unless it can swiftly agree a climate change deal, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday.

Arguing strongly for a global deal at the U.N. Climate Change summit in Copenhagen in December, the IEA said use of fossil fuels will increase quickly if policies remained unchanged.

Without an international agreement on climate change, the ratio of energy spending to gross domestic product for the largest consumer countries would double by 2030.

The world would have to spend an extra $500 billion to cut carbon emissions for each year it delayed implementing a deal on global warming, the IEA said in its annual World Energy Outlook.

"As the leading source of greenhouse-gas emissions, energy is at the heart of the problem and so must be integral to the solution. The time to act has arrived," it said.

IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol told Reuters in an interview the world needed to stabilize the concentration of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere at 450 parts per million of CO2 equivalent.

"The world needs to go to the 450 parts per million target, not only because of climate change but because of growing problems within our energy system and its possible implications again on the economy," Birol said.

Global energy demand would rise by an average of 2.5 percent per year over the next five years if governments made no changes to their existing policies and measures.

Under these circumstances, which the IEA called its reference scenario, world primary energy demand would rise by an average of 1.5 percent per year over the next two decades.

Oil demand, excluding biofuels, would increase by 1 percent per year to 105 million barrels per day by 2030 from 85 million barrels per day in 2008. This was a slight decrease in its demand forecast, reflecting the impact of the global economic downturn.

Last year the agency, which advises 28 industrialized nations, forecast oil use would reach 106 million barrels per day by 2030.

But the IEA stressed the trend toward heavier use of hydrocarbons would be unabated without a climate change deal.

"Fossil fuels remain the dominant sources of primary energy worldwide in the reference scenario, accounting for more than three-quarters of the overall increase in energy use," it said.

A key driver of energy demand would be inexorable growth in power generation, it said, forecasting in its reference scenario world electricity demand would grow 2.5 percent a year to 2030.

Stressing the need to move away from dependence on fossil fuels, Birol said that without a climate change deal, the European Union's annual energy bill would more than double to $500 billion by 2030, up from $160 billion in the last 30 years.

Oil prices soared to a record of nearly $150 a barrel in July 2008. They then collapsed to less than $33 last December, but have since recovered to around $80.

The price collapse, combined with the credit crisis, choked off investment and the Paris-based IEA has warned the oil market could surge back, damaging still fragile economic growth.

Birol said the oil price was likely to reach $100 per barrel by 2015 and $190 by 2030: "This means that if we don't do anything to our energy system, we will be in difficulty."

Bank of Ireland analyst Paul Harris said the IEA had taken a "rather cautious approach" in the report.

"There's an emerging consensus that the demand and supply balance is really going to start to tighten by 2015 which should sound the death knell for cheap oil."

Story Copyright (c) 2009 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.