PUC to increase renewables through auction

This could be a very good thing under consideration by the utilities commission.

In what might be a world first, the California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday proposed letting developers bid on contracts to install green energy projects. A solar company that offers to sell electricity to one of California’s three big utilities at a rate lower than its competitors would win a particular power purchase agreement.

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An auction would essentially let the market set electricity rates for photovoltaic projects that produce between one and 20 megawatts in California and can be built within 18 months.

“This mechanism would also allow the state to pay developers a price that is sufficient to bring projects online but that does not provide surplus profits at ratepayers’ expense,” utilities commission staff wrote in its proposal. “Providing a clear and steady long-term investment signal rather than providing a pre-determined price can create a competitive market.”
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“With this program I think you’ll see a lot of photovoltaic systems on otherwise unusable land, like railroad rights-of-way or wastewater plants that have lots of roof space,” said Mr. Browning. “One other advantage of this type of policy is that it guarantees that only the people who make good business decisions are going to get these contracts.”

Hat-tip GreenWombat.

Tesla moves down the road to Palo Alto

The Valley's celebrity car company looks go move.

Tesla has announced that it's moving from its current digs in San Carlos, CA a few miles down the road to Palo Alto. The EV start-up will take over a three-building complex in the Stanford Research Park formerly occupied by Silicon Valley pioneers Hewlett-Packard and its spin-off Agilent Technologies. The buildings will be renovated to house Tesla's offices, engineering and research staff along with a new powertrain manufacturing facility. At first, the facility will have 350 employees but that may eventually grow to 650.

This is the second time that Tesla has planned to move from its original offices. A year ago a similar plan to move to San Jose was canceled as the worldwide financial crisis took hold and funding became impossible. Now that Tesla has access to low-cost loans from the Department of Energy ATVM program, the new plan can move forward.

Tesla is still negotiating on another site somewhere in California that will house the assembly facility for the Model S.

Hat-tip Autobloggreen

Transmission for renewables

One of the contentious areas in the development of renewable sources of energy has been siting issues, both siting of generation and transmission. The SF Chronicle provides some background on an effort to address the transmission lines issue in California.

So several state agencies, electrical utilities, renewable power developers and environmental groups have joined together to figure out where to put new lines, hoping to prevent public fights. The effort, called the Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative, released its latest report this week.

The report examines where transmission lines are needed most, will cost the least and will cause the least harm to the environment. It doesn't recommend exact routes, nor does it specify how many lines must be built.

Instead, it presents options, suggesting broad pathways for lines that can link planned renewable power projects to the grid. Most of the proposed lines are in the Southern California desert, while one stretches to the Oregon border.

In concept at least, two lines would run through eastern Contra Costa and Alameda counties, while another would link Tracy to the South Bay. Building all the lines would cost $15.7 billion, but not all of them would need to be built.

It is striking that siting issues have divided the environmental community. Climate change will have a dramatic impact if we don't move quickly. Often those who argue against local siting of generation or transmission don't recognize that the very things they are trying to protect will be terribly impacted by climate - there are severe costs to inaction. Let's hope this effort helps reduce those tensions.

The full report available here.

Mobile meter may address EV infrastructure

An interesting potential solution to the infrastructure for electric cars.

Plug in anywhere — on the road, at a friend’s house, in a public parking lot — and add the cost of topping off your electric car’s battery to your monthly utility bill. That’s the idea of an intelligent mobile charger developed by Juice Technologies, an eight-person company founded early last year, and soon to be used in a project with Sempra Energy’s utility San Diego Gas & Electric.
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The reasoning behind this kind of off-board metering device, sized to fit in a typical trunk, isn’t just to make life easier for electric car owners. According to SDG&E Clean Transportation manager Bill Zobel, it could also “significantly reduce the cost of charging infrastructure over the long term.”

This is important, because if the plug has to have its own meter then new infrastructure is needed. If the car has its own meter - connected real-time to the utility - then millions of existing plugs in our current infrastructure become part of the solution.

More on clean-tech investment

Clean-tech investing is clawing its way back:

But clean tech — a broad array of environmentally friendly technologies ranging from solar power to electric cars — has taken a pounding over the past year, not only because of the economic downturn but also because of a raft of growing pains afflicting the young industry.

After attracting huge sums of venture capital over several quarters, clean tech suffered a stunning plunge in funding in the first quarter of this year, when the total fell to $294 million, down from a peak of $1.8 billion in the third quarter of 2008, according to Dow Jones VentureSource.

Now, just as abruptly, clean tech appears to be on the rebound. Figures for the second quarter showed a steep surge in clean-tech funding — a rise of 84 percent to $540 million. That still left clean-tech funding for the first half of the year down 60 percent from the first half of last year, while overall venture funding was down 44 percent.

Observers blame clean tech's bumpy ride on the miscalculations and overly optimistic expectations of investors and entrepreneurs, as well as on erratic oil prices and the economic downturn. But now a shakeout is under way and many experts are hopeful a stronger and more stable clean-tech industry will emerge.