The Energy Digest of May 2008

with thanks to Gil Masters

Interest in Smart Grids growing: DOE selects $50 Million in projects

The following projects are some of those selected in response to DOE's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability Funding Opportunity Announcement. DoE sought applications for research and development activities to improve the security of controls systems for energy delivery and increase the use of distributed generation during peak load periods.

ATK Launch Systems will demonstrate load reduction through an integrated network of diverse renewable generation technologies and intelligent automation. The project will integrate renewable generation and energy storage resources, including a novel compressed-air generation technology, wind-turbines, heat recovery systems, solar trough booster technology, a steam turbine, and hydro-turbine resources. (Duration: 5 years; Cost: $1.6 million federal/$2 million non-federal)

Chevron Energy Solutions will collaborate to significantly reduce peak load and measurably improve power reliability at the Santa Rita Jail. The project will integrate solar energy, fuel cell, energy storage and control systems. (Duration: 3 years; Cost: $7 million federal/$7 million non-federal)

San Diego Gas and Electric will develop a dispatchable distribution feeder for peak load reduction and wind-farming. The project aims to prove the effectiveness of integrating multiple distributed energy resources with advanced controls and communication systems to improve stability and reduce peak loads on feeders/substations. (Duration: 3 years; Cost $6.9 million federal/$4 million non-federal)

The University of Nevada will collaborate with homebuilder Pulte Homes, Nevada Power Company, and GE Ecomagination to address the construction of energy efficient homes that overcome electricity grid integration, control, and communications issues by building integrated photovoltaic systems, battery energy storage, and consumer products linked to advanced meters that enable and facilitate an efficient response to consumer energy demands. (Duration: 5 years: Cost: $6.9 million federal/$13.9 million non-federal)

RDSI focuses on integrating renewable energy, distributed generation, energy storage, thermally activated technologies, and demand response into the electric distribution and transmission system. This integration is aimed toward managing peak loads, offering new value-added services such as differentiated power quality to meet individual user needs, and enhancing asset use.

For more information visit: www.oe.energy.gov .

$130 Million to ESolar for solar-thermal power plants near towns

ESolar said it would use the money from Google.org, Idealab and Oak Investment Partners to make and install prefabricated solar-thermal power plants near towns and cities. The company said its plants will generate up to 33 megawatts, typically enough power for up to 25,000 California homes, and that several of these plants could be connected to create a larger facility.

Larger solar-thermal utility plants, being developed in the desert by companies such as Palo Alto's Ausra and Oakland's BrightSource Energy, require more land, cost more and take longer to build, said Rob Rogan, ESolar's executive vice president of corporate development.

"The key attribute of our technology is that it's economical at that smaller size," Rogan said. we can build smaller developments closer to where power is consumed."

The company said it will begin operating a plant in Southern California later this year, at an undisclosed location.

A Book Plug: Turning Numbers into Knowledge

The revised and updated 2d edition of our good friend, Jonathan Koomey's book "Turning Numbers into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving" has just been released by Analytics Press . It's now in both paperback and hard cover.

Proposed new fuel efficiency standards would negate Calif regulations

Federal regulators have proposed benchmarks for automakers to hit on their way to reaching a fuel-economy requirement of 35 miles per gallon by 2020. Auto fleets will have to average 27.8 mpg by 2011 and 31.6 mpg by 2015 -- a more aggressive timetable than was required by Congress. That's 35.7 mpg for passenger cars in 2015 (new cars averaged 31.3 mpg last year) and 28.6 mpg for light trucks (new trucks averaged 23.1 mpg last year).

Environmentalists were set to applaud the surprisingly ambitious targets before reading more closely; included in the 417-page proposal was a 24-word passage stating that the even stricter tailpipe-emissions laws favored by California and 17 other states are "an obstacle to the accomplishment" of the feds' proposed regulations and are "expressly and implicitly pre-empted" by federal law......

CA Cap and Trade....

California's law requires cutting greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020, about 25% below expected levels in that year, and aims to reduce them by 80% by midcentury. A draft plan on how to meet those goals will be released in June by the air board.

Under a cap-and-trade program, the state would impose a ceiling on emissions. Emissions permits would either be given away, auctioned or some combination of the two. Companies whose emissions are below the ceiling, or cap, could sell their pollution permits to industries that pollute above the cap. The system has been launched with mixed success in Europe, where it has been undermined by dubious emissions accounting.

Monitoring smokestacks inside California is the easy part of the regulation. But the power that California imports from states such as Utah and Arizona presents a problem.

Because California has no authority to clamp down on coal plants in other states, the utility and energy commissions are recommending that the air board regulate "first deliverers" who bring the power to the border of the state -- be they utilities or middlemen, such as the former Enron, who market imported electricity.

But Nahai calls that "bad policy, ripe for gaming and manipulation." He adds, "First deliverers can be faceless foreign companies beyond our control, with no assets and no interest in keeping the lights on."

Gary Stern, an economist for Southern California Edison, which supports the first-deliverer rule, acknowledged that out-of-state generators could obscure the source of their emissions from California regulators.

"If I want to buy power from Utah, then the Utah company can arrange a deal to sell coal to the Northwest, and buy hydro from the Northwest and sell it to us. It will look clean, and we won't know that it sold coal."

But he said that the rule would at least prevent California-based generators from gaming the system.

Call for proposals: 2008 Behavior, Energy and Climate Change Conference

Following the extraordinary, sell-out success of the first BECC Conference in 2007, the second annual BECC Conference will be held November 16 - 19, 2008. The conference is focused on understanding the behavior and decision-making of individuals and organizations and using that knowledge to help accelerate our transition to an energy-efficient and low-carbon economy. On-line registration starts June 1.

This year, because of the high level of interest and breadth of topics, the conference is expanding to 2 1/2 days of sessions, plus a not-to-be-missed conference kick-off program and reception. There will be a rich mix of invited speakers, panels and networking opportunities PLUS presentations, posters and roundtable topics selected from submitted abstracts.