via ABJ

A new City of Austin landscape rebate program will pay you to switch out St. Augustine for a more drought-resistant grass, like Buffalo or Bermuda.

Residents who replace their lawn will use up to 40 percent less water, according to an official with Austin Water.

Get more information here from KVUE-TV.

via ABJ

Solar cell maker HelioVolt Corp.   reported collecting $85 million just four days after company officials announced that a Korean company is investing $50 million in the company.

The Austin-based business collected the capital from 25 investors, according to a Friday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

On Monday, HelioVolt officials disclosed a partnership deal with divisions of SK Group — a Korean energy, chemicals and telecommunications giant — enabling the solar panel maker to expand globally.

The SK Group investment would have increased the total that HelioVolt has collected since launching in 2001 to $200 million. More importantly, the investment would create additional engineering jobs for HelioVolt, company officials said.

Last year, the company was required to extend its deadline for creating a certain number of jobs, a condition of a Texas Enterprise Fund grant. In June, the Austin Business Journal reported that the company was behind on several milestones, including an important certification needed to ultimately sell its novel solar panels, which are a thin film that can be laid over materials such as glass and concrete.

The original agreement required creating 158 jobs by December 2010 in return for $1 million in two equal payments. The amended agreement with Gov. Rick Perry’s office extended the job creation deadline to December 2012.

In 2007, HelioVolt secured a $101 million funding round and received incentives worth more than $600,000 from the city of Austin to build the 125,000-square-foot plant.

In July 2010, HelioVolt reported raising $31.5 million of a planned $32 million round of financing from 25 investors. Earlier this year, the company reported plans to sell $10 million in debt securities, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

via ABJ

The Environmental Protection Agency has named Sprouts Farmers Market LLC    Sprouts Farmers Market LLC as the nation’s two top winners in the government’s GreenChill Partnership.

Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFM), which is headquartered in Austin, and Phoenix-based Sprouts are being recognized by the government for reducing harmful refrigerant emissions. Sprouts has six stores in the Austin area.

Whole Foods received the Most Improved Emissions Rate Award for having the most significant reduction in its corporate refrigerant emissions rate from the previous year.

Sprouts earned GreenChill’s top award, Best Emissions Rate, for achieving the lowest corporate-wide emissions out of all participating GreenChill supermarket companies. To participate in the GreenChill Partnership, grocery stores must invest in more environmentally friendly refrigerants, reduce the amount of refrigerant they use, eliminate leaks, adopt green refrigeration technologies and environmental best practices.

More than 7,300 stores belong to the EPA’s GreenChill Partnership.

via The Statesman

For the third time this year, Austin Energy has looked to the Texas coast to satisfy its green ambitions.

The utility will pay as much as $29 million per year for electricity produced by a wind farm in Sarita, in Kenedy County near Padre Island, that is capable of generating as much as 200 megawatts.

The 25-year deal with Portland, Ore.-based Iberdrola Renewables Inc. follows two other recently signed coastal-wind contracts, with Duke Energy and MAP Royalty Inc.

The three coastal wind farms are expected to produce enough electricity over the course of a year to power 140,000 average homes, said Michael Osborne, a special assistant to Austin Energy’s general manager.

The contracts mean Austin Energy will be close to reaching its 10-year goal of 35 percent renewable energy by 2020.

“We’ve gotten some good deals,” Osborne said, “and we’re rolling along.”

The Austin City Council is expected to approve the newest contract Thursday. The 84 wind turbines are expected to come online at the end of next year.

Coastal wind is not a clean-energy silver bullet. It does not blow all the time, so other sources, usually natural gas, have to be ready on standby.

But unlike West Texas wind, which mostly blows at night when it’s least needed, coastal wind tends to blow during the afternoon, when the day is hottest and electricity demand is highest.

Austin Energy had rejected several previous coastal-wind proposals because they were too expensive. But now both Austin and San Antonio’s CPS Energy have deemed coastal wind cost-effective.

All three of Austin’s coastal-wind projects will cost it about 4 cents to 4.5 cents per kilowatt hour. Austin will not be paying the wind farms when they are not producing electricity.

Austin Energy officials say those wind contracts are among the cheapest deals available, when the cost of building power plants is taken into account, and comparable to what the historically volatile natural gas market has been offering recently.

City officials say they want to encourage the spread of solar power and other types of renewables, but they have a powerful incentive to prefer wind now.

Electric rates are scheduled to rise 12 percent next year, with previously signed deals for solar (16.5 cents per kilowatt hour) and wood-waste (expensive, although figures have not been made public) partially responsible. Austin’s 10-year plan calls for keeping rate increases to 2 percent after 2012, and wind is now the least expensive renewable widely available.

Austin will be at 30 percent renewable energy by 2013, even when accounting for the fact that some short-term West Texas wind contracts will be expiring, Osborne said.

mtoohey@statesman.com; 445-3673

via ABJ

A Korean company is investing $50 million in solar cell maker HelioVolt Corp.

The deal with SK Group, a Korean energy, chemicals and telecommunications giant, would create an undetermined number of additional jobs in Austin.

SK TIC and SK Innovation, members of the SK Group, plans to make the investment and collaborate with Austin-based HelioVolt, enabling the solar panel maker to expand globally, HelioVolt spokeswoman Iga Hallberg said.

The investment would increase the total that HelioVolt has collected since launching in 2001 to $200 million.

“It’s too early to tell how many new jobs the investment will enable HelioVolt to create,” Hallberg said. “We’re working through those numbers.”

Last year, the company had to extend its deadline for creating a certain number of jobs, a condition of a Texas Enterprise Fund grant. In June, the Austin Business Journal reported that the company was behind on several milestones — including an important certification needed to ultimately sell its novel solar panels, which are a thin film that can be laid over materials such as glass and concrete.

The original agreement required creating 158 jobs by December 2010 in return for $1 million in two equal payments. The amended agreement with Governor Rick Perry’s office extended the job creation deadline to December 2012.

In 2007, HelioVolt secured a $101 million funding round and received incentives worth more than $600,000 from the city of Austin to build the 125,000-square-foot plant.

In July 2010, HelioVolt reported raising $31.5 million of a planned $32 million round of financing from 25 investors. Earlier this year, the company reported plans to sell $10 million in debt securities, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

via Austin Energy

The Austin City Council today approved two new wind contracts totaling 291 megawatts (MW) and authorized Austin Energy to negotiate a third wind contract of an additional 200 MW which if approved will bring Austin Energy’s renewable energy portfolio to 30% of its generation needs by the end of 2012 – well within reach of its 35% by 2020 goal.

The new wind projects are near the Texas coast and will produce their highest output during peak demand times in the afternoon throughout the year when generation is needed the most as opposed to West Texas wind that blows primarily during evening hours during the spring and winter. The location of the new wind projects also is in an area with sufficient transmission infrastructure and Austin Energy does not foresee transmission congestion issues similar to wind power from West Texas.

The new projects are priced in the $35 to $45 per megawatt-hour range which is comparable to current and near-term pricing for natural gas power. These prices reflect a significant drop in power prices in general and in wind since 2008. The prices are indicative of the declining demand due to the economic downturn and lower natural gas prices because of increases in shale gas supplies.

“These contracts assist our clean air and sustainability goals, better positions the utility for increasing federal emissions requirements and delivers more wind-generated power on hot summer afternoons — all of which will reduce overall costs to our customers,” said Austin Energy General Manger Larry Weis.

The first contract is a 25-year purchase power agreement totaling $675 million with Duke Energy Generation Services for 200 MW from a wind farm (Los Vientos project) located in Cameron County. The second 25-year agreement approved for $375 million is with MAP Royalty Inc. for 91 MW from the White Tail project in Webb County near Laredo.

The City Council also authorized Austin Energy to negotiate a 25-year purchase power agreement with Iberdrola Renewables Inc. for 200 MW from the Penascal III project in Kenedy County. The projected cost of the contract is estimated at $725 million and is scheduled to be considered by the City Council on Sept. 22.

The Duke and Iberdrola projects are within 15 miles of the coast while the MAP project is 75 miles from the coast. The contract prices are on a per megawatt-hour basis, are fixed and will not change over the term of the agreements. Austin Energy is only obligated to pay for the energy produced.

With a purchase power agreement for 30 MW from a solar project in Travis County scheduled to come online late this year and another purchase power agreement for 100 MW of biomass from East Texas scheduled to come online next year, the three wind contracts due online next year will increase Austin Energy’s renewable energy generation to 30% by the end of 2012 with almost 1,000 MW of renewable energy generation.

via Community Impact

This year’s Austin City Limits festival has several green initiatives to urge concert-goers to become more eco-friendly.

AUSTIN — Attendees can visit the ACL Cares section of the festival, where organizations such as Red Cross of Central Texas and the Texas Wildfire Relief Fund will accept donations for wildfire relief.

Austin Parks Foundation, Austin Music People, Anthropos Arts, Grounded in Music, HeadCount, Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, Love Hope Strength Foundation, One, Rock the Vote, SharedEarth.com and the SIMS Foundation will be on hand to promote parks and trails, music education, political activism and green living.

The Nature Conservancy, a global organization dedicated to protecting ecologically important land and water, will offer information about their mission.

The group recently released a list of “green bands” who help spread the message, including Pearl Jam, Jack Johnson, Guster, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews Band, The Roots and the Court Yard Hounds, who perform this year.

“This is the first year we’re partnering with ACL and we are just thrilled because what our studies tell us is that the music industry is a really critical component of inspiring the next generation of environmental leaders,” said Vanessa Martin, spokeswoman for the Nature Conservancy’s Texas Chapter.

The study shows that teens and young adults today are almost as equally likely to listen to their favorite musician as they are to their parents or friends about environmental issues and the importance of nature.

That made the connection with ACL and Austin’s music scene that much more relevant, she said.

The organization plans to raffle off a large blue kayak, which also serves as a visual landmark to find the booth. They will also have personal cooling devices and information about water in Texas. Those who purchase a $10 membership will receive a limited edition ACL t-shirt.

Green Mountain Energy is offering carbon offsets along with ticket sales. The $3 “FanTag” offsets the equivalent of 220 pounds of carbon dioxide. The program is meant to make up for the emissions of generators, shore power, staff travel and festival vehicles.

Look for the ACL Cares section near the Barton Springs Road entrance or visit www.aclfestival.com.

When most people think of green energy and growing, they probably do most of their thinking on dry land. This is no surprise. In fact, it’s quite easy to forget about our autotrophic friend algae, peeking out from the water to say hello. Especially when in extreme cases, algal floods and their abundant decomposition ponds and lakes kill so many fish, tadpoles and worms within (but don’t blame the algae, phosphorus and nitrogen runoff invited them to the party).

AlgEternal, located just outside of Austin in Weimar, hopes to reconnect people with algae in a big way. They will soon open a facility in the J.J. Pickles Research Campus at UT, where they plan to grow a large amount of algae in a small space, using a vertical method that involves glass tubes, a process reminiscent of restructured mushroom farms with just a handful more of the precise technology needed with carbon fixing phototrophs (temperamental photosynthesizers).

This partnership between UT’s Electromechanical department, UTEX Culture Collection of Algae and the commercial company represents the vested interests of all three. The University has always been interested in the commercial production of bioefficient energy (they have their own green electric company, after all), while AlgEternal has received invaluable help and practical application from the Scientists at the University (especially the vast resources of the UTEX Culture Collection of Algae ).

The production of algae will be used for biofuels(because of their similar structure to petroleum) as well as for cosmetics and pharmaceutical use (algae produces up to 50% of their weight in vitamin rich oils), as well as having quite a bit of Omega 3 in it(which you might know if you’ve ever had the green kombucha). AlgEternal hopes to work with a neighboring company at the J.J. Pickles Campus OpenAlgae, who extracts oils, to create a thriving algae community, and hopefully inspire similar production methods around the country. They are not the first to harvest in this way, but have the potential to succeed on an entirely new scale).

The proposed rate increase of 13 percent would apply to all customer classes. The average residential electric bill will rise by about $15 a month.

A rate increase was last considered in 2006, but better than expected financial results the following years combined with budget-tightening and drawing down utility reserves allowed for a delay.

Austin Energy is proposing four residential rate design options and redesigned rates for commercial and residential customers, including consolidating these customers into seven classes, phasing-in demand charges over three years for the smallest commercial customers, adding a customer charge and a new electricity delivery charge, and increasing the power factor adjustment from 85 to 90 percent for commercial customers with a demand charge.

The city’s Electric Utility Commission will hold four public meetings on the proposed changes; Sept. 1, Sept. 19, Oct. 3 and Oct. 17.

The Austin City Council will hold public meetings in November and December with the goal of approving and implementing new rates by early 2012.

The Rate Analysis and Recommendations Report, the four residential rate design options, the commercial rate design, the schedule of public meetings and background information on prior public meetings can be found here.

Posted on August 24, 2011 at 6:00 am by Tom Fowler

A number of Texas power plants may need to cut back operations or shut down completely if the state’s severe drought continues into the fall, an official with Texas’ main transmission manager told FuelFix.

At least one North Texas power plant has had to reduce how much it generates because the water level in its cooling reservoir has fallen significantly, said Kent Saathoff, vice president of system planning and operations for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.

If the state’s drought continues for much longer and water levels continue falling at other power plant reservoirs, other units could be forced to curtail operations or shut-down completely, Saathoff said.

“Right now we don’t have a significant problem with it, but it could become one,” Saathoff said in an interview. “This has been the driest 12-month stretch we’ve seen in Texas in a long time.”

ERCOT has declared power emergencies several times this summer as record demand met a large number of unplanned power plant outages. Plant operators say the long hot summer has also meant more wear-and-tear due to longer operating hours for power plants.

On Aug. 4 the state came close to initiating rolling blackouts when the margin between power supply and demand grew too  thin. It would have been just the fourth time in 21 years the state would have taken such extreme measures.

ERCOT – which oversees the high voltages transmission system that connects 75 percent of the state, including most major cities – can call on industrial customers to cut about 1,500 megawatts of demand during emergencies.

And in a few cases there are programs where utilities are able to temporarily cut residential demand during peak hours – Austin Energy has been able to cut 35 to 45 megawatts of peak demand by cycling off air conditioners in about 90,000 homes twice per hour for 10 minutes.

But with those resources close to tapped out during recent peak demand days, ERCOT asked two power plant operators – Garland Power & Light and NRG Energy – to bring two power plants each out of mothballs to have available through the end of October.

Garland’s two 61 megawatt gas-fired units were online this week while the two NRG gas-fired units located on the Houston Ship Channel are expected to be ready by Sept. 1.

ERCOT may need to ask other power plant operators to bring other mothballed units back online this winter if the drought continues, Saathoff said.

“There’s another 2,000 megawatts of mothballed capacity we can call on, but it will take a couple of months for them to come back,” he said.

For the time being, that appears to be all ERCOT can do to deal with the drought, he said.

“The bottom line is there’s not much we can do absent rain,” Saathoff said. “Cooling reservoirs just aren’t being replenished.”