via Solar Industry Mag

The location of this year’s Solar Power International (SPI) conference in Dallas has sparked a great deal of curiosity among attendees regarding the past, present and future of the solar power market in Texas.

Texas’ entrenched fossil-fuel interests, as well as its sizeable utility-scale wind power sector (sufficient to satisfy existing renewable energy mandates), are often viewed as obstacles to the development of PV in the state.

However, a truly vibrant large-scale solar market is finally arriving in Texas, according to industry executives who spoke at an SPI session titled “Utility-Scale Solar – Pioneering Texas Projects and Negotiating the Trail Ahead.”

“We’ve reached that marker of megawatts instead of kilowatts,” said John Hoffner, solar PV program manager at C2M Hill. “It’s an exciting time.”

Hoffner recalled several mini-milestones in Texas over the past few decades – including the introduction of one of the U.S.’ first net-metering rules in 1984.  “We had a few installations then, but it didn’t really help the industry take off,” he noted.

The next few years were characterized as the era of utility demonstration plants, when a 300 kW tracking PV system in Austin, a 100 kW concentrating PV plant in Dallas and other solar projects sprang up as part of electric utilities’ efforts to learn more about various solar power technologies.

The 1990s brought several more small – yet critical – steps for Texas’ solar market: the formation of the Sustainable Energy Development Council and the release of several polls indicating that consumers favored the deployment of renewable energy and were willing to pay a premium for it through their electric bills.

“But the biggest eye opener, from a historical standpoint, is that in the mid-1990s, Texas became a net importer of energy – which was a huge wake-up call for our legislators,” Hoffner said.

The result of this awakening was Senate Bill 7 in 1999. This legislation established an RPS of 2,000 MW of renewable energy by 2009, with additional mandates for the following years.

Unfortunately for solar power stakeholders, without a specific solar carve-out, the RPS led to the development of 10,000 MW of utility-scale wind over the next several years.

“We don’t have a solar-specific program,” said John Lichtenberger, director of utility sales for SunEdison. “We have an RPS, and it’s been filled – and then some – through wind. So, right now, there isn’t a statutorily compelling reason to buy renewables.”

Lichtenberger and the other panelists stressed that they are nonetheless bullish on Texas’ solar power project development market.

Hala Balouz, president of consulting firm Electric Power Engineers Inc., noted that just one year ago, very little of her company’s work focused on utility-scale solar; now, solar projects constitute half the company’s business.

“Most of what we’re working on and what we’ve seen in Texas is solar photovoltaics,” she said. The project pipeline in Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) territory – which covers most of the state – currently includes 1,544 MW of solar PV projects under study.

Technology maturation, favorable pricing trends, rapid deployment capabilities and matching with daily load profiles all attract Texas’ utilities to PV, Balouz said. Additionally, the high-voltage grid work already under way in the state in order to accommodate renewable energy is expected to make PV integration significantly easier in Texas than in other states.

A recently launched nodal market map for the ERCOT area could also help accelerate the deployment of utility-scale solar in Texas.

“It allows you to study the market load by load and point by point,” explained Balouz. “We can decide – at every specific node – what the most cost-effective size solar project will be to make the most money for the developer and provide consumers with the best energy prices.”

Certain challenges now faced by other types of utility-scale power plants may give Texas’ utility-scale solar market another boost, according to Stephen Krebs, vice president of OwnEnergy.

Old fossil-fuel plants risk shutdown under new, stricter pollution rules, and proposed natural-gas plants statewide are under increasing permit-related scrutiny by the Environmental Protection Agency. Some wind power projects in West Texas, meanwhile, have been held up in development.

Solar developers in Texas must still contend with a number of obstacles, including low electricity prices and high property taxes from which utility-scale solar projects are not exempt.

But even now, the state’s utility-scale project portfolio boasts several notable projects: juwi solar’s 14 MW Blue Wing project came online last year in San Antonio, for instance, while Fotowatio Renewable Ventures’ 30 MW Webberville project is progressing in Austin.

Lichtenberger noted that a 60 MW project in Travis County and a 20 MW project in Hays County have yet to generate a great deal of attention, but these projects – and others – merit watching. Existing requests for proposals from several utilities – totaling hundreds of megawatts – will further enlarge the pipeline.

“The amount of activity occurring in the state right now is very healthy,” he said.

via City of Austin

The number of people who attended the City of Austin’s free home composting classes has more than doubled in the program’s second year.

In fiscal year 2011 (October 2010 through September 2011), Austin Resource Recovery taught 1,741 Austinites how to compost at home. Comparatively, 738 people attended the classes in fiscal year 2010 (October 2009 through September 2010), which was the program’s pilot year.

Austin Resource Recovery hosted 41 classes during fiscal year 2011, several of which were taught in both English and Spanish. The classes are part of the City’s composting rebate program, which challenges Austinites to complete a free composting class, downsize to a 32-gallon trash cart and purchase a home composting system. Austin Resource Recovery curbside customers who do these three things are eligible for a rebate of 75 percent up to $75 off the cost of their new home composting system. In addition to receiving the rebate, customers also can save $60 to $200 per year by switching to the 32-gallon trash cart.

Just as the number of class attendees doubled, the number of Austin residents who applied for the rebate in fiscal year 2011 also doubled, when compared to fiscal year 2010.

Austin Resource Recovery scheduled additional composting classes at Austin City Hall in October:

• Oct. 14, 6 p.m.
• Oct. 26, 6 p.m.
• Oct. 27 (Bilingual class – English and Spanish), 6 p.m.

via ABJ

Solar Royal LLC has raised $50,000 of a planned $500,000 equity financing.

The Austin-based manufacturing company collected the capital from a lone investor, according to a Monday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Solar Royal lists as its president Roy Stocker, a Houston native who has operated businesses in Germany, France and Switzerland, according to his online profile

In 1996, he launched MacTell Corp., an Austin-based company that developed computer clones based on Apple Inc.   

via Green Living Tips

LED lighting is fast becoming popular and great outcomes can be achieved in terms of electricity savings and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, but buyers should be aware of certain factors when considering an LED purchase decision.

LED Colour

Home owners looking to retrofit LEDs into existing fixtures typically want to obtain the same look and feel as their existing lamps.

A true warm white colour will range from between 2700K to 3000K (K = kelvin), however cheaper LED lamps tend to just say “warm white” and the colour of the light turns out to be a thick yellow with a mix of green; so be aware of LED globes that do not list a colour temperature.

LED Output

There are many LED lamps on the market today that claim to replace 50W halogens or 60W incandescents, but only a certain few actually do.

Cheaper LED manufacturers often exaggerate what their LED product’s light output is, and in some cases, they can achieve a reasonable output for the same power rating as a quality LED globe…. but at what cost?

Quality LED lights are lucky to achieve 75 lumens per watt in an incandescent warm white, whilst cheaper priced LED lights often boast up to and above 100 lumens per watt.

The warm white color of a burning filament in traditional lighting is hard to achieve using LED but one way of increasing the output of a LED is to use a higher color temperature LED chip and changing the color output of the lamp.

So you really need to ask yourself how they can achieve this when these products are cheaper?

LED Light Quality

Traditional globes are very good at reproducing the color of an object compared to natural sunlight. Quality LED globes can also achieve a similar light quality, but once again, be aware of cheaper LED lamps that do not specify the color quality (CRI/Ra).

Low light quality LED chips can make objects look dull and off color whilst in some cases it can also cause eye strain.

What to look for

When searching for your LED lighting, consider a lamp that has a high color rendering index of 75 and above, maintains a high efficacy of 65 lumens per watt and above, and has the exact color temperature you want.

Quality LED lighting providers should always specify the lumen output, colour temperature and light quality (CRI), without these important details, a bulb you purchase could have you end up looking like the green goblin.

Doing your bit for the environment by choosing more energy efficient lighting doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice light quality!

As a special offer to Green Living Tips readers, you can purchase any CREE LED light products from Lighting Matters and save 10% by entering this coupon code at the checkout – GLT – and yes, Lighting Matters ships overseas.

via ABJ

Microinverter developer SolarBridge Technologies Inc.    SolarBridge Technologies Inc. Latest from The Business Journals SolarBridge, AstroWatt get DOE grantsSolarBridge closes M funding roundXtreme Power top VC getter in ’10 Follow this company has been awarded a $1.75 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy one month after the DOE awarded SolarBridge $2.3 million.

The grant was awarded by the DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency. It was one of 60 research projects funded with a total $156 million, officials said.

Austin-based SolarBridge plans to use the funds to perform research and development for a electronic technique that improves the output of solar panels.

The company, which was founded in 2004 as SmartSpark Energy Systems Inc., develops a microinverter designed to increase solar panel efficiency. The company employs 60 workers.

It moved to Austin from Illinois in 2009. In June, the company completed a $19 million Series C round of funding, increasing to more than $46 million the amount of financing the company received since launching.

In September, SolarBridge received a $2.3 million grant from the DOE’s SunShot Initiative, designed to reduce the cost of solar energy systems by 75 percent by the year 2020.

via the Statesman

PFLUGERVILLE — Some 500 solar panels on the roof and grounds of Pflugerville’s water treatment plant will help power the plant, the city’s largest electricity user, and save the city $415,000 over the 20- to 25-year life of the panels.

A $870,038 renewable energy grant from the Texas Comptroller’s State Energy Conservation Office paid for most of the 141-kilowatt panels. That money came from a federal stimulus grant. Dallas-based Oncor, which operates the electrical infrastructure in the city, covered the rest of the cost, about $174,000.

Work was completed last week , according to Terri Waggoner, public information officer for the City of Pflugerville.

“When the city saves money, we all save money,” Waggoner said. “It’s good for the environment, and it’s good for us to be good environmental stewards. We don’t just say that we’re green. We’re living it.”

RRE Austin Solar, which is building a large solar array in Pflugerville, helped the city get the grant. The Pflugerville Solar Farm will have more than 400,000 solar panels on 720 acres that had been used for farming.

via Environmental Leader

via Community Impact

Solar panel installations in Oak Hill, western Travis County and eastern Hays County will be on display during the Hill Country Solar Tour on Saturday, Oct. 1.

The tour, hosted by the Pedernales Electrical Cooperative and the Texas Solar Energy Society, will begin at 10:30 a.m. at the PEC’s Oak Hill Office at 9115 Circle Drive, according to a PEC statement.

Cathy Redson of ImagineSolar will describe the basics behind solar technology. Participants may take a self-guided tour of six sites accessible from West Hwy. 290 from noon to 6 p.m.

A PEC statement said that the co-op has seen an increase in both interconnection agreements—which allow the mutual flow of electricity between the utility’s and consumer’s systems—and member interest in solar technology.

PEC Communications Supervisor Kay Jarvis said that the Oak Hill area has the most interconnection agreements of any district in the cooperative. It has 34 agreements—32 solar and two wind agreements.

Tour locations

Commercial:

PEC Oak Hill Office—9115 Circle Drive

Wesley Gallery—27008 RR 12, Ste. A

Residences:

190 Harris Drive

13430 Trail Driver

9717 Peakridge Drive

819 Meadow Oaks Drive

For more information, visit www.pec.coop/solar or www.txses.org.

via The Texas Tribune

Just off a dirt road in northwest Austin stand hundreds of 12-foot-tall tubes filled with green liquid. Nearly 15,000 gallons of algae grow inside the tubes, which are housed in a massive structure called a shade house. Lab workers have to climb ladders to peek inside and tend to the tiny organisms.

For decades, scientists have been trying to find ways to mass-produce algae as a viable source of fuel for vehicles. High costs and environmental factors have created insurmountable roadblocks.

Now, researchers hope, a new facility at the University of Texas will help them move closer to that goal.

“You need three things to grow algae: carbon dioxide, dirty water and sunshine,” said Michael Webber, an assistant professor in UT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. “Texas has abundant supplies of all three.”

The university opened the large facility that houses the algae tubes three weeks ago at the J.J. Pickle Research Campus with the objective of mass-producing algae for use as biofuel and other byproducts. AlgEternal Technologies, L.L.C., a company based in Austin whose CEO is state Rep. Rob Eissler, R-The Woodlands, partnered with the university’s UTEX Culture Collection of Algae — one of the largest algae collections in the world — to develop the technology to grow the plants for the project. Another Texas company, OpenAlgae, L.L.C., works with the university’s Center for Electromechanics to cost-effectively extract oil from the algae.

Algae can be used to make products other than biofuel, including animal feed, food supplements and pharmaceuticals, said Jerry Brand, the Jack S. Josey professor in energy studies and the director of the UTEX Culture Collection of Algae.

Michael Jochum, AlgEternal’s chief scientist, said one potential key to successfully growing large quantities of algae for commercial use is the project’s Vertical Growth Module — those giant tubes. The facility grows algae in a closed system that uses the sun as its main source of energy and reduces production costs and the chances of predators or diseases attacking the algae. Growing the cultures vertically also means scientists can produce a lot of algae in a relatively small area.

“Algae has typically been grown horizontally in open ponds, where limiting factors like poor sunlight and contamination from outside organisms have prevented large-scale algae production,” Jochum said.

The UTEX Culture Collection of Algae works with AlgEternal to decide which kinds of cultures should be grown and under what conditions, Brand said.

“They have the potential to play a role in reducing greenhouse gases and decreasing our dependence on crude oil,” Brand said. “Algae can grow much faster than plants. They don’t require as much water, and they can grow in places that plants can’t, like deserts.”

That is especially important for Texas because of the severe drought gripping most of the state.

Beyond the central problem of figuring out how to economically grow large amounts of algae, Brand said, is the complexity of working with vast amounts of it.

“No one has ever grown microorganisms on a huge scale before,” he said. “As you scale up, more unexpected problems arise.”

via ABJ

Building Turbines Inc. has partnered with the University of Texas at Austin    University of Texas at Austin Mechanical Engineering Design Project program on a wind turbine project.

Engineering students will study the rooftop wind turbine for a semester and then make recommendations for improving its design and mechanical integrity.

“The study ultimately will improve its efficiency and make our systems more attractive from a return on investment perspective,” said founder and CEO of Building Turbines John Graham.

Building Turbines, an Austin-based renewable energy company, is focused primarily on designing, manufacturing and installing rooftop-mounted, horizontal-axis wind turbines.