Environmental group sues to stop solar project

Riverside Press-Enterprise - Environmental group sues to stop solar project

By David Danelski, Jan 20

An environmental group has filed a lawsuit contending the federal government's "fast track" approval of a solar energy development -- already under construction in northeast San Bernardino County -- violated several laws.

The Western Watersheds Project, which works to protect watershed areas in six western states, wants a federal court to rescind the approvals and halt construction.

The complaint, filed Friday, names as defendants the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and other federal officials.

BrightSource Energy Co. broke ground in October on the 5.6-square-mile solar field in the Ivanpah Valley off Interstate 15 near Primm, Nev. The project was approved in an expedited process intended to help energy developers meet federal deadlines to qualify for stimulus subsidies.

BrightSource, based in Oakland, plans to focus heat from thousands of mirrors onto three "power towers" to generate steam and run turbines that would produce enough electricity for as many as 140,000 homes. The project is on public land controlled by the BLM.

"This project was just rushed," said Michael Connor, California director for Western Watersheds Project. "It was a rush to judgment. They had already decided they were going to build these things."

Lois Grunwald, a Ventura-based Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman, said she had not seen the complaint and could not comment on it. BLM officials also had no comment, spokesman David Briery said.

A BrightSource spokesman said in an e-mail that the company "does not comment on legal matters pertaining to governing bodies that regulate our industry."

The watershed group says the federal agencies cut corners on environmental reviews, violating the National Environment Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act, among other laws.

Among several allegations, the group accuses the government of inadequate reviews of alternatives, such as allowing BrightSource to build on nearby Ivanpah Dry Lake, which has little or no habitat value for desert tortoises, a species threatened with extinction, and other wildlife. The lawsuit says 30 tortoises have been found at BrightSource's current location.

The government also did not fully analyze how upgrading power lines will affect wildlife, the suit alleges.

The Western Watersheds lawsuit is one of several legal challenges to solar projects that the Obama administration approved last year on public land in the Mojave Desert.

The Sierra Club on Dec. 30 sued the California Energy Commission over its approval last fall of the Calico solar development, planned off Interstate 40 about 37 miles east of Barstow, said Gloria Smith, an attorney for the club. The suit, filed with the California Supreme Court, faults the commission for not detailing how the developer would compensate for lost wildlife habitat.

Also in December, a Native American cultural protection group and tribal members sued the Obama administration over the fast-track approvals of six large solar developments, including Ivanpah and Calico. They contend federal officials violated laws that protect sacred places.

Solar Power Towers coming to California

Solar Power Towers coming to California

CARB releases AB32 Draft

State unveils new rule for battling climate change

Key Highlights:

Begins in 2012
Credits issued representing 90% of all emissions per sector
Eliminates 273 million metric tonnes of CO2 by 2020 (ie. 1990 levels by 2020)

the electricity industry and large industrial plants that manufacture glass, paper, concrete and other products. In 2015 it will expand to fuel distributors and in all covers 360 businesses that work out of 600 sites across the state.

In 2012, the number of metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions estimated for California will be capped at what is forecast to be emitted that year. Over the next three years, the cap will shrink by 2 percent per year. From 2015 to 2020, the cap will drop by 3 percent per year.

33% RPS for CA by 2020

ARB News Release

California commits to more clean, green energy

New standard: 33% of electricity from renewable sources by 2020

SACRAMENTO - Today California took a decisive step toward a clean energy future by setting in place a standard that one-third of the electricity sold in the state in 2020 come from clean, green sources of energy.

California Cleantech Attacked by Prop 23

Cleantech Blog: California Cleantech Attacked by Prop 23

A recent UC study reported that California’s successful efforts to become cleaner have already created 1.5 million jobs with a total payroll of over $45 billion.

why Ontario should care about Prop 23

Clean Break » Blog Archive » Guest Post: Ontario Eco Commissioner Gord Miller on California’s Prop 23 and why Ontario should care

OK, so what do the vagaries and uncertainties surrounding an election in California have to do with Ontario? Simple. Both Ontario and California are key members of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI), a collaboration of seven US states and four Canadian provinces.
WCI’s goal is to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 15 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020 through a number of initiatives, the most important of which is a cap-and-trade system. Currently, two U.S. states (California and New Mexico) and three Canadian provinces (Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia) have passed the necessary enabling legislation required for the development of a cap-and-trade program. But, while Ontario has its enabling legislation in place (see Pricing Carbon: Can a Cap-and-Trade System Deliver the Tonnes from the ECO’s latest Annual Report) it has yet to publicly announce the specific design elements of its cap-and-trade program. It must do this through public consultation and the posting of its final decision on the Environmental Registry.
Losing California would be a major blow to the WCI and possibly to carbon trading systems elsewhere in North America, such as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Accord, and quite possibly to the developing international carbon market. Why? Because as California goes, so goes the rest of the U.S., the second largest carbon emitter after China and the third-largest emitter of GHGs on a per capital basis (just behind Australia and, yes, Canada). Without California’s leadership, the development of a North American-wide effort to put a price on carbon would likely be delayed for years.
As shown in the first chart below, California’s GHG emissions represent just over half of those WCI members ready to launch the trading system in January 2012, with a total of just under 480 million tonnes (Mt) of GHGs. Adding New Mexico brings the U.S. tally to almost two-thirds of the five jurisdictions’ emissions. Ontario is the next largest emitter at 190 Mt. Elections will also be held in New Mexico on November 2 and indications are it may withdraw from the WCI cap-and-trade provisions, too.

Can SolarReserve Top BrightSource? « TechPulse 360

Can SolarReserve Top BrightSource? « TechPulse 360

SolarReserve is one of the few next-generation solar-thermal vendors with field experience.
The company has the exclusive rights to the molten-salt technology United Technologies’ Pratt &Whitney RocketDyne tested at Solar Two in the California desert during the 1990s.
“We consider that to be a strong competitive advantage,” says Tom Georgis, vice president of development.
It also is a critical reason why the Santa Monica company believes its plants will match or top the efficiency of BrightSource’s Ivanpah. And the experience is at the foundation of SolarReserve’s belief it will find financing, despite the reluctance of private lenders.
SolarReserve is among the most promising of a new wave of solar-thermal developers. Instead of replying on parabolic mirrors, like the SEGS operating in the Southwest desert, these entrepreneurs hope to prove technologies just now moving from the drawing board to large scale deployment: ground-mounted heliostats, heat-concentrating towers, high operating temperatures and storage mechanisms, such as molten salt.
The company’s proposed plants (two in the United States and one in Spain) use as many as 17,000 heliostats to reflect sunlight to receivers atop of 653-foot towers. There the sunlight transfers heat to molten salt, warming the sodium and potassium mixture to 1,050 degrees Fahrenheit, after which it is transferred to a storage tank where it loses no more than 1 degree a day. (BrightSource also anticipates more than 1,000-degree temperatures at Ivanpah.) The superheated liquid is channeled to a heat exchanger where it boils water and powers a turbine.
Solar Reserves claims high efficiencies for much of its operations. The transfer of sunlight to heated salt is 88 percent efficient and the storage tank maintains 98 to 99 percent of the thermal efficient of the molten salt. The weak link is the steam generation system: about 39 to 42 percent efficient. Improvements in turbine technology should raise this.
Altogether, a SolarReserve plant will have an efficiency of 18 to 19 percent, says Georgis. This compares favorably to the 18 percent efficiency BrightSource expects at Ivanpah. (The new generation of solar-thermal plant with concentrating towers and heliostats in general should achieve efficiencies of 17 percent to 20 percent, says Electric Power Research Institute Project Manager Cara Libby – well above the 13 to 15 percent of the older trough plants in the Southwest and Spain.)
SolarReserve also expects to rival BrightSource with its capacity factor, a measure of the amount of time a plant can achieve full output.
The California plant, outfitted with a 150-megawatt turbine, is designed to generate peak-period power for PG&E. Running an average of 8.5 hours a day, it should achieve a capacity factor of 34 percent by heating and storing salt in the mornings and using it to deliver power well into the evening.
BrightSource’s 392 megawatt Ivanpah is to have a capacity factor of 30 percent.
SolarReserve’s Nevada plant should do better. It will have a smaller 100-megawatt turbine and operate longer hours, earning a capacity factor of 53 percent. (The longer the operating hours and the smaller the turbine, the higher the capacity factor is likely to go.)
Despite the ability of the SolarReserve facilities to storage energy, the challenge will be finding financing. Without federal loan guarantees, most plants won’t stand a chance. But the company doesn’t appear ready to buy into the theory.
“It is certainly a challenging environment,” agrees Georgis. “But we are confident we will secure financing for our projects.”
SolarReserve has applied for Department of Energy loan guarantees and is quick to defend their role. “Having the DOE loan guarantees makes it easier to finance,” he says. The extensive government due diligence makes private lenders more comfortable and debt cheaper.
That’s why the industry let out a sigh of relief when Abengoa’s Solana plant near Phoenix won $1.45 billion of Energy Department loan guarantees in July – the first granted since BrightSource’s $1.37 billion package in February.
But SolarReserve appears willing to push ahead even without a government award. It hopes to break ground in both California and Nevada by the end of the year.
The company argues that utilities wouldn’t sign power purchase agreements if they didn’t value the power – a key proof-point with banks. It also largely dismisses increasing competition from solar panels.
Panels are easier to finance, quicker to permit and simpler to deploy. They also are less expensive. With the collapse of module pricing last year, panel costs fell to between $3.50 and $5.50 a watt from $6 or more, says Ted Sullivan, senior analyst at Lux Research. Costs of solar thermal remain largely unchanged at $7 to $8 a watt.
Still SolarReserve isn’t deterred. “It’s more competitive now, no question,” concedes Georgis. But “our power plants are not intermittent resources (and) we’re offering competitive pricing.”
So will the new generation of plants be successful? “It’s too early to say,” says Sullivan. “There have been a lot of plans out there, but nothing has been built on that scale.”
With many technologies showing promise, it will be interesting to see who goes first.

Silicon Valley’s Solar Innovators Forced to Retool - NYTimes.com

Silicon Valley’s Solar Innovators Forced to Retool - NYTimes.com

Investment Managers Still Lagging in Response to Climate Change

Investment Managers Still Lagging in Response to Climate Change

California State Teacher's Retirement System (CalSTRS) $130 B

"As a long-term investor, CalSTRS wants to invest in well-managed companies that can address the physical risks of climate change and adapt to the changing regulatory and market realities of a carbon-constrained economy," said Jack Ehnes, chief executive officer of CalSTRS, the nation's second largest public pension fund, with more than $130 billion of assets under management. "Our asset managers need to ask the right questions and critically evaluate how companies are positioned so that we’re sure that our investments will produce outstanding risk-adjusted returns for our members."

The survey was done at the request of the Investor Network on Climate Risk, a network of 80-plus pension funds and other institutional investors who rely on asset managers to manage their investment portfolios. Eighty-four asset managers managing $8.6 trillion in assets completed the survey, including 66 in the P&I top 500 list and 18 others who responded at the specific request of INCR client members.

In summary, the survey found only a few asset managers – MFS Investment
Management and F&C Asset Management plc, among those – that are including
climate risks and opportunities throughout their investment analysis – in their
asset allocation, portfolio valuation, and corporate governance due diligence. Like
companies that are rethinking and retooling their business strategies in response to
climate change, these asset manager leaders are positioning themselves to capture
the opportunities and understand and manage the risks of climate change across
their portfolios.
The vast majority of respondents, 84 asset managers managing $8.6 trillion
completed the survey, including 66 in the P&I 500, are in the preliminary stages
of including climate risk in their due diligence.

Ceres and CalPERS Announce Initiative to Accelerate Corporate Action on Global Sustainability Challenges

Ceres and CalPERS Announce Initiative to Accelerate Corporate Action on Global Sustainability Challenges

Announced today at the Clinton Global Initiative, the collaboration catalyzes a powerful group of investors, corporate leaders and other key market players to propel 1,000 companies to embed sustainability factors into day-to-day decision-making, including operations, product development and global supply chains.

The initiative will include roundtables and forums in California and other parts of the country with companies and investors. Much of the activity will evolve around The 21st Century Corporation: Ceres Roadmap for Sustainability, a comprehensive Ceres report that outlines the urgency, vision and competitive advantages for companies to fully embrace sustainability and 20 key expectations for achieving such a goal.

The Ceres “21st Century Sustainable Corporation” report is a key tool for integrating sustainability into the DNA of business – from the boardroom, to copy rooms, and across entire supply chains. The roundtables and forums will help drive companies to implement key expectations outlined in the Roadmap, including:

• Make energy efficiency and renewable energy the foundation for company operations;

• Design and implement closed-loop systems so that air and wastewater emissions are eliminated and zero waste is produced;

• Require 75 percent of top tier suppliers to meet company sustainability performance standards;

• Dedicate 50 percent of R&D investment to developing sustainability solutions;

• Compensate and provide incentives for top executives and other employees to drive sustainability into the business.

The full report is available at www.ceres.org/ceresroadmap.

Solaren Corp. to Launch Solar Panels into Orbit

Solaren Corp. to Launch Solar Panels into Orbit

Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) from San Francisco is in the energy sector for decades. They have produced power from atomic energy, natural gas and water. Now PG&E has gone ahead and collaborated with Manhattan Beach start-up called Solaren Corporation. But what put this deal apart from others? Actually Solaren Corporation aims to launch a series of giant solar collectors into orbit 23,000 miles above Fresno. They will beam the energy to earth in the form of radio waves. Now PG&E has finalized a contract with Solaren to buy the power on one condition if they can make the technology work.

Solar Reserve's (spun out of UTI) Molton Salt CSP Technology

Molten Salt Solar Plant

Molten Salt Solar Plant

A Santa Monica-based energy firm known as SolarReserve in association with a rocket maker in Canoga Park is planning to set up a much larger plant in this desert area to power around 100,000 homes. This power plant will consume molten salt, water, sun’s heat and rocket science to generate electricity. SolarReserve have already patented the technology. Engineers from Rocketdyne are instrumental in developing this technology. Terry Murphy who is the president of SolarReserve says, “Molten salt is the secret sauce.” Many technological ideas are being in various state of readiness to be implemented in California. But analysts found molten salt technology as most unusual and at the same time promising idea. Nathaniel Bullard, a solar energy analyst with New Energy Finance in Alexandria, Va, thinks, “It’s actually something we’ll likely see in a few years. It’s moving along in a nice way, and they have good capital behind it.” Last year the company secured $140 million in venture capital.


The biggest advantage of the molten salt is once cooled, it could be reutilized for the same purpose. The molten salt can be stored for days to generate electricity. We know that storage of power is great problem as far as energy generated from alternative sources. We can store power in a battery on a small scale basis such as car or home. But power for such a large scale can’t be stored in batteries. Murphy elaborates on the solution to power storage, “You can put that (molten salt) into a storage tank that would look much like a tank at an oil refinery. We can store that energy almost indefinitely.”
SolarReserve, is providing funds to the venture and doing the marketing of the project. Many environmentalists groups are voicing concern about the amount of water utilized. But SolarReserve officials are sure that the plant would use one-tenth the amount of water required by a conventional plant.

World’s Most Ambitious Solar Plan in LA

PoliWorld’s Most Ambitious Solar Plan in LA

The city of Los Angles is taking up the world’s most ambitious solar power project. Till date this project will be the largest solar power plan started by any city in the world. They are planning to install 1.3 Giga Watts (GW) of solar power and register their city’s name in the book of green economy. The plan was announced by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, City Council President Eric Garcetti, Council member Jan Perry and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). This program is known as Solar LA. They aim to replace the fossil fuels during peak energy requirement and the program lays out a far-reaching and long-lasting course of action for a network of residential, commercial and municipally-owned solar systems to replace fossil fuels during peak energy demand.

The Solar LA plan covers three primary components: first one is the programs to boost residential and commercial customer solar systems; second one will be the LADWP-owned solar projects in Los Angeles; and the third one will be the large-scale solar projects owned by the LADWP outside of the LA basin.

Cash Incentives for Solar Energy in California

Cash Incentives for Solar Energy in California

Assembly Bill 920, authored by Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-Marin, and signed by the governor of California, requires utilities to pay solar customers who produce more energy than they use.

Currently homeowners that produce more solar energy than they produce can zero their bills but they’re not paid for the extra energy they feed back into the grid. The payment for producing extra energy is known as “feed-in tariffs” and such an incentive has seen great success in European countries like German and Spain.
Under the new law, the California Public Utilities Commission is required to set the rate for the paybacks by Jan. 1, 2011.

Google Plans New Solar Mirror Technology

Google Plans New Solar Mirror Technology

They are developing a new mirror technology for cheaper solar power. Weihl confirms, “Typically what we’re seeing is $2.50 to $4 a watt (for) capital cost. So a 250 megawatt installation would be $600 million to a $1 billion. It’s a lot of money.” That amounts to 12 to 18 cents a kilowatt/hour. They are using solar energy to heat up a substance that produces steam. This steam will turn the wheels of turbines. Mirrors will start the whole process by directing the sun’s rays on the substance to heat it up. Bill Weihl reaffirms his company’s commitment, “We’ve been looking at very unusual materials for the mirrors both for the reflective surface as well as the substrate that the mirror is mounted on.”

Prototype Solar Power-Assist for Buses

Prototype Solar Power-Assist for Buses

Sunpods Inc. is California-based manufacturing company. They produce modular, fully integrated and tested solar power generation systems. Recently they have come out with an idea of the first solar power-assist system for buses. They should be applauded for developing it in a mere six weeks. Their partner is Bauer Intelligent Transportation

Brightsource-Luz Pilot Program in Israel

Brightsourse Energy CPV Promo Video

NOVA | The Big Energy Gamble | Watch the Program | PBS

NOVA | The Big Energy Gamble | Watch the Program | PBS

A one hour PBS special on California's proposition AB32 and a profile on thin-film producer Nanosolar.