Turning down global warming directly....
Today’s post: Wednesday, 4-8-2009
We have started far too late to reverse the increase of the level of CO2 in the earth’s air and the global warming that is clearly going on almost certainly because of this increase.
And, though we are making progress & there is reasonable hope for more soon, our progress is about 5% of what’s required to reverse the increase -- if that much.
It was in today’s news from AP that John Holdren, the president's new science adviser, said that the dangerous effects of global warming will be so damaging that the Obama administration is discussing radical ways to cool the Earth's air.
Two methods were in the news story.:
1. Purposely causing a dust cloud similar to the ones created by huge volcanoes that would cool the earth by preventing some of the thermal heating from the sun.
He did note that the negative side effects of using this would be quite severe.
2. Using a device that has been invented and apparently at least partly developed called “artificial trees” that effectively removes carbon dioxide from of the air and stores it was the second method listed. He also said that there may be a way to make this more affordable to do than was at first thought.
First the bad news.:
The first alternative simply has too many harsh side effects to be considering as more than an out of the box creative effort that we respond to by saying, let’s keep trying to generate some more, we might find one that we can do or upgrade to one we can.
Global warming will already reduce our food supply by floods and droughts in places we now grow food. Should we make this problem worse by shading the plants we grow as food or as animal feed? This alone makes this idea completely unusable. It would make a problem this potential solution is supposed to help worse instead!
Second, to avoid economic collapse when fossil fuels run out; &/or a repeat of price increases and shortages of energy from burning fossil fuels for energy for over 90 percent of our use of it; AND to begin to turn off CO2 induced global warming at its source and stop making that problem even worse, it is of critical path importance that we begin to switch to renewables and some nuclear and some biofuels and begin to stop using fossil fuels as close to 100 % as we can get.
Solar power, including both photovoltaics and solar thermal, has the potential to do close to 100 % of the job and so far, the sun is a far safer source than nuclear power. And, if we fully fund making nuclear terrorist proof and its waste safely stored, it costs at least 10 times as much. So, if we purposely turn off a significant enough percentage of solar energy the earth gets to cool our planet, we quite literally will be shooting ourselves in the foot.
Last but potentially the most important, we already are massively impacting the ecology of our planet in enough ways already that it may make the living system we depend on to live dangerously unstable if we do this sun shading and make it a permanent state of affairs also.
In short, purposely shading the earth to cool it has what the computer people call several “fatal errors.”
Desperation has nothing to do with it, planetary sun shading will cause more problems than it would solve and must not be used.
However, the second method sounds promising in the extreme. That’s part of the good news.
If every coal fired plant we keep using was able to send its exhaust to algae that use the CO2 to make biofuels and any left over went to these CO2 removing artificial trees, that would enable us to keep using the plants longer and still stop releasing CO2.
And, since the costs of doing this would be added to the cost of the energy produced at these plants, that would make renewable energy less expensive sooner.
Second, if every urban area planted trees and made an effort to preserve those it already has AND built thousands of these artificial trees and hundreds of algae growing for biofuel and artificial tree using stations, far more C02 would be removed from our air as we generate it.
If this technology is developed and the cost of doing this is added to the price of fossil fuels still in use, it will also make renewable energy less expensive sooner.
So, that one is potentially a game winner and should be very aggressively pursued.
The other part of the good news is that we already a have proven way to massively increase our supplies of renewable energy that we are not using yet.
If we simply begin using it everywhere, we will begin to make enough progress on switching to renewable energy it will make the problem of excess CO2 more manageable and less extreme. It even will eventually turn off excess CO2 production. The sooner it’s used everywhere the safer we will be & the more solvable global warming will become.
Germany has already perfected this method & proved it works well to create new sources of renewable energy and to create jobs. With relatively little solar light and heat coming in due to their distance from the equator, in about 15 years, Germany has built about half the world’s solar installations, begun to get 16 % of its energy from renewable sources, and created 300,000 jobs.
Do you think we cannot use it because it would be hard to finance in today’s economy? You may be surprised to know you would be wrong. One of the reasons it works so well is that it makes financing renewable energy projects as safe or safer than investing in T-bills; but it pays a higher return.
It’s called the feed-in tariff, or FIT by acronym.
If used in every state in the United States, it has the potential to produce close to 100 % of the energy we are now using from renewable sources alone while creating 6,000,000 jobs. That’s enough jobs to end the recession all by itself.
So if your state’s Governor and state legislators don’t already know this kind of Feed-in tariff exists or why it’s important, let them know ASAP.
The main reason it’s not being used is they don’t know yet. My guess is that less than 1% now do.
Given what’s at stake, that’s not acceptable. So, let’s change it.
Showing posts with label how to increase renewable energy fast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label how to increase renewable energy fast. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
California may lead the US to more renewable energy....
Today’s post: Wednesday, 2-25-2009
California has more solar energy potential than most of the states in the United States although this is less true of wind energy.
But, of more importance, significant innovations in California are often gradually or even rapidly adopted throughout the rest of the United States.
So, for those two reasons, what California does to bring more renewable energy online not only benefits people in California, it will likely also begin to benefit people throughout the United States.
Similarly, significant innovations in California and the rest of the United States are often copied elsewhere in the world.
As you know if you have been reading this post or know renewable energy well, Germany is now the world leader in building new renewable energy. They have developed and are still using an innovation called feed-in tariffs that has enabled them to install HALF the world’s solar energy with only a tiny part of the world’s solar energy potential.
So this method works incredibly well. And, it’s still working. Just last year Germany added about 10 times as much new solar as all of California.: “In 2008, Germany added 1.5 gigawatts of solar while California added less than 160 megawatts -- a factor of nearly 10 times even though 160 megawatts, from the RPS and CSI programs combined, set a record for California!“
This method is called the Feed-in Tariff. No new taxes or government money need be spent or authorized as the new renewable energy is paid for as the renewable energy comes online by gradual and relatively small increases in the utility rates.
Despite its incredibly effective success in Germany, it has NOT been widely copied or emulated in the United States.
THAT may be about to come to a screeching halt.
A man called Craig Lewis is working to have a very carefully worked out feed-in tariff used soon throughout California.
Anything you can do to help him succeed from lobbying your local California representative to praying for his success, please do it.
This is because if it is enacted and used in California in its present form, it will be used even more in California; AND it will be used throughout the United States and in more of the world than now uses feed-in tariffs.
This should be front page news in every newspaper in California.
As you may know or have read here, it is critical that we bring very large amounts of renewable energy online in just the next two or three decades for many reasons. Having a robust economy is one of them. Economies run on energy; and fossil fuels are beginning to be and already have been too dangerous to use; they will keep getting bid up in price if there is no large scale competition for them; and they will run out relatively suddenly at some point if we have no alternatives in place which will cause world wide economic collapse.
So, if California adopts this program for feed-in tariffs, it has huge and dramatically positive implications.
Even better, by focusing on relatively small installations near existing electrical transmission hubs, the renewable energy will come online quite soon!
That’s equally important. But once we do this feed-in tariff program, we need to add a longer acting feed-in tariff to develop larger installations and those that will go into areas that have very large solar potential but do not as yet have transmission lines in place.
Craig sent me this.:
“The Renewable Energy & Economic Stimulus Act of 2009
SUMMARY
REESA will direct the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to follow the December 2008 recommendation by the California Energy Commission (CEC) to immediately implement a comprehensive, cost-based Feed-In Tariff (FIT) in California. The REESA FIT creates a highly effective regulatory tool for bringing renewable energy online in a timely manner. The frustratingly slow progress of the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) program, and the limited nature of the California Solar Initiative (CSI) and the Small Generator Incentive (SGIP) Program, require that a far more effective solution is implemented for achieving California's current RPS mandate of 20% of delivered electricity by 2010, and the goal of 33% renewables by 2020, which is likely to become law this year. The RPS program is many years behind schedule due to many factors that include the typical 10-year dependency that large projects have on significant transmission improvements. The REESA FIT is a simple and streamlined program that will bring significant levels of renewable energy capacity online in a timely manner -- capacity that will not require major transmission improvements. The economic benefits of the REESA FIT include substantial in-state job creation, with all REESA FIT facilities being built within the State of California, providing a vital boost for the many California-based, renewable energy and clean-tech companies.
BACKGROUND
For economic, energy security, public health, and environmental reasons, California desires to be a leader in transitioning from fossil fuel energy sources to renewables. Unfortunately, California's RPS program is many years behind schedule, and the CSI and SGIP programs are too limited in scope to bring significant levels of renewable energy online. At the same time, many countries around the world have introduced effective FIT programs that are bringing renewables online in levels that are orders of magnitude greater than California has achieved over the last eight years under the RPS program. This is true despite the fact that California has far better solar, wind, and other renewable energy resources. For example, while Germany has the solar intensity of lower Alaska, it has consistently added far more solar capacity than California: In 2008, Germany added 1.5 gigawatts of solar while California added less than 160 megawatts -- a factor of nearly 10 times even though 160 megawatts, from the RPS and CSI programs combined, set a record for California!
FIT programs have now been implemented in dozens of countries around the world, and have proven to be the most effective policy mechanism for bringing renewable energy online in a timely manner.
EXISTING LAW
California currently has three programs for attracting renewable energy generation: the RPS program, which is focused on attracting large central station renewables, and the CSI and SGIP programs, both of which facilitate relatively small, behind-the-retail-meter installations that rely on net metering benefits combined with incentives.
The REESA FIT is designed so that it will not interfere with any of the existing programs. Rather, it fills a critical programmatic gap by unleashing the tremendous potential of the Wholesale Distributed Generation (WDG) market segment: the 20 megawatt-and-under market segment in which projects are interconnected to the distribution grid. REESA FIT facilities will have dedicated meters that measure all energy generated, and as such, the energy generated will not offset any onsite load, be net metered, nor be eligible for CSI or SGIP incentives. Instead all the energy will be sold to utilities, bundled with the renewable energy attributes, including the Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), which will count toward utilities' RPS requirements.
THIS BILL
The REESA FIT will direct the CPUC to implement a comprehensive FIT with rates that are not limited by the Market Price Referent (MPR), which has proven to be a contentious pricing construct used in the RPS program. Features of the REESA FIT include the following:
" Applies to all RPS-eligible technologies in projects sized 20 megawatts and under.
" Sets technology-differentiated rates that are based on typical manufacturing costs, typical renewable resource intensities, and profit margins commensurate with those allowed for utility-owned generation.
" Sets an upper limit on FIT rates, assuring that California ratepayers are well protected.
" Follows a simple and streamlined Standard Must-Take Contract (SMTC) that is developed by the CPUC.
" Applies to all California utilities, investor-owned (IOUs) and publicly-owned (POUs), but provides more discretion to POUs in developing their program.
California's RPS program is many years behind schedule, and the CSI and SGIP programs are too limited in scope to bring significant levels of renewable energy online. At the same time, many countries around the world have introduced effective FIT programs that are bringing renewables online in levels that are orders of magnitude greater than California has achieved over the last eight years under the RPS program. This is true despite the fact that California has far better solar, wind, and other renewable energy resources. For example, while Germany has the solar intensity of lower Alaska, it has consistently added far more solar capacity than California: In 2008, Germany added 1.5 gigawatts of solar while California added less than 160 megawatts -- a factor of nearly 10 times even though 160 megawatts, from the RPS and CSI programs combined, set a record for California!
FIT programs have now been implemented in dozens of countries around the world, and have proven to be the most effective policy mechanism for bringing renewable energy online in a timely manner.
EXISTING LAW
California currently has three programs for attracting renewable energy generation: the RPS program, which is focused on attracting large central station renewables, and the CSI and SGIP programs, both of which facilitate relatively small, behind-the-retail-meter installations that rely on net metering benefits combined with incentives.
The REESA FIT is designed so that it will not interfere with any of the existing programs. Rather, it fills a critical programmatic gap by unleashing the tremendous potential of the Wholesale Distributed Generation (WDG) market segment: the 20 megawatt-and-under market segment in which projects are interconnected to the distribution grid. REESA FIT facilities will have dedicated meters that measure all energy generated, and as such, the energy generated will not offset any onsite load, be net metered, nor be eligible for CSI or SGIP incentives. Instead all the energy will be sold to utilities, bundled with the renewable energy attributes, including the Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), which will count toward utilities' RPS requirements.
THIS BILL
The REESA FIT will direct the CPUC to implement a comprehensive FIT with rates that are not limited by the Market Price Referent (MPR), which has proven to be a contentious pricing construct used in the RPS program. Features of the REESA FIT include the following:
" Applies to all RPS-eligible technologies in projects sized 20 megawatts and under.
" Sets technology-differentiated rates that are based on typical manufacturing costs, typical renewable resource intensities, and profit margins commensurate with those allowed for utility-owned generation.
" Sets an upper limit on FIT rates, assuring that California ratepayers are well protected.
" Follows a simple and streamlined Standard Must-Take Contract (SMTC) that is developed by the CPUC.
" Applies to all California utilities, investor-owned (IOUs) and publicly-owned (POUs), but provides more discretion to POUs in developing their programs.
" Bundles all renewable energy attributes with the energy sold.
" Allows any party to own FIT facilities, including 3rd party developers, utilities, and utility customers.
" Limits the REESA FIT program to two percent of annual delivered energy for each utility for each year of the FIT program.
" Mandates a program start-date of 1 July 2010.
" Assures total separation from CSI and SGIP programs by requiring dedicated FIT meters, instead of net metering on retail meters. Among many benefits, separate meters expand renewable energy generation opportunities to owners of leased properties and/or multi-unit buildings, and to any site that has a deployment capacity over the 1 megawatt incentive limit of the CSI and SGIP programs.
" Utilizes Rule 21 to assure that interconnection system upgrade costs are either minimal or covered by FIT project developers.”
The Renewable Energy & Economic Stimulus Act of 2009
SUMMARY
REESA will direct the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to follow the December 2008 recommendation by the California Energy Commission (CEC) to immediately implement a comprehensive, cost-based Feed-In Tariff (FIT) in California. The REESA FIT creates a highly effective regulatory tool for bringing renewable energy online in a timely manner. The frustratingly slow progress of the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) program, and the limited nature of the California Solar Initiative (CSI) and the Small Generator Incentive (SGIP) Program, require that a far more effective solution is implemented for achieving California's current RPS mandate of 20% of delivered electricity by 2010, and the goal of 33% renewables by 2020, which is likely to become law this year. The RPS program is many years behind schedule due to many factors that include the typical 10-year dependency that large projects have on significant transmission improvements. The REESA FIT is a simple and streamlined program that will bring significant levels of renewable energy capacity online in a timely manner -- capacity that will not require major transmission improvements. The economic benefits of the REESA FIT include substantial in-state job creation, with all REESA FIT facilities being built within the State of California, providing a vital boost for the many California-based, renewable energy and clean-tech companies.
BACKGROUND
For economic, energy security, public health, and environmental reasons, California desires to be a leader in transitioning from fossil fuel energy sources to renewables. Unfortunately, California's RPS program is many years behind schedule, and the CSI and SGIP programs are too limited in scope to bring significant levels of renewable energy online. At the same time, many countries around the world have introduced effective FIT programs that are bringing renewables online in levels that are orders of magnitude greater than California has achieved over the last eight years under the RPS program. This is true despite the fact that California has far better solar, wind, and other renewable energy resources. For example, while Germany has the solar intensity of lower Alaska, it has consistently added far more solar capacity than California: In 2008, Germany added 1.5 gigawatts of solar while California added less than 160 megawatts -- a factor of nearly 10 times even though 160 megawatts, from the RPS and CSI programs combined, set a record for California!
FIT programs have now been implemented in dozens of countries around the world, and have proven to be the most effective policy mechanism for bringing renewable energy online in a timely manner.
EXISTING LAW
California currently has three programs for attracting renewable energy generation: the RPS program, which is focused on attracting large central station renewables, and the CSI and SGIP programs, both of which facilitate relatively small, behind-the-retail-meter installations that rely on net metering benefits combined with incentives.
The REESA FIT is designed so that it will not interfere with any of the existing programs. Rather, it fills a critical programmatic gap by unleashing the tremendous potential of the Wholesale Distributed Generation (WDG) market segment: the 20 megawatt-and-under market segment in which projects are interconnected to the distribution grid. REESA FIT facilities will have dedicated meters that measure all energy generated, and as such, the energy generated will not offset any onsite load, be net metered, nor be eligible for CSI or SGIP incentives. Instead all the energy will be sold to utilities, bundled with the renewable energy attributes, including the Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), which will count toward utilities' RPS requirements.
THIS BILL
The REESA FIT will direct the CPUC to implement a comprehensive FIT with rates that are not limited by the Market Price Referent (MPR), which has proven to be a contentious pricing construct used in the RPS program. Features of the REESA FIT include the following:
" Applies to all RPS-eligible technologies in projects sized 20 megawatts and under.
" Sets technology-differentiated rates that are based on typical manufacturing costs, typical renewable resource intensities, and profit margins commensurate with those allowed for utility-owned generation.
" Sets an upper limit on FIT rates, assuring that California ratepayers are well protected.
" Follows a simple and streamlined Standard Must-Take Contract (SMTC) that is developed by the CPUC.
" Applies to all California utilities, investor-owned (IOUs) and publicly-owned (POUs), but provides more discretion to POUs in developing their progra
California's RPS program is many years behind schedule, and the CSI and SGIP programs are too limited in scope to bring significant levels of renewable energy online. At the same time, many countries around the world have introduced effective FIT programs that are bringing renewables online in levels that are orders of magnitude greater than California has achieved over the last eight years under the RPS program. This is true despite the fact that California has far better solar, wind, and other renewable energy resources. For example, while Germany has the solar intensity of lower Alaska, it has consistently added far more solar capacity than California: In 2008, Germany added 1.5 gigawatts of solar while California added less than 160 megawatts -- a factor of nearly 10 times even though 160 megawatts, from the RPS and CSI programs combined, set a record for California!
FIT programs have now been implemented in dozens of countries around the world, and have proven to be the most effective policy mechanism for bringing renewable energy online in a timely manner.
EXISTING LAW
California currently has three programs for attracting renewable energy generation: the RPS program, which is focused on attracting large central station renewables, and the CSI and SGIP programs, both of which facilitate relatively small, behind-the-retail-meter installations that rely on net metering benefits combined with incentives.
The REESA FIT is designed so that it will not interfere with any of the existing programs. Rather, it fills a critical programmatic gap by unleashing the tremendous potential of the Wholesale Distributed Generation (WDG) market segment: the 20 megawatt-and-under market segment in which projects are interconnected to the distribution grid. REESA FIT facilities will have dedicated meters that measure all energy generated, and as such, the energy generated will not offset any onsite load, be net metered, nor be eligible for CSI or SGIP incentives. Instead all the energy will be sold to utilities, bundled with the renewable energy attributes, including the Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), which will count toward utilities' RPS requirements.
THIS BILL
The REESA FIT will direct the CPUC to implement a comprehensive FIT with rates that are not limited by the Market Price Referent (MPR), which has proven to be a contentious pricing construct used in the RPS program. Features of the REESA FIT include the following:
" Applies to all RPS-eligible technologies in projects sized 20 megawatts and under.
" Sets technology-differentiated rates that are based on typical manufacturing costs, typical renewable resource intensities, and profit margins commensurate with those allowed for utility-owned generation.
" Sets an upper limit on FIT rates, assuring that California ratepayers are well protected.
" Follows a simple and streamlined Standard Must-Take Contract (SMTC) that is developed by the CPUC.
" Applies to all California utilities, investor-owned (IOUs) and publicly-owned (POUs), but provides more discretion to POUs in developing their programs.
" Bundles all renewable energy attributes with the energy sold.
" Allows any party to own FIT facilities, including 3rd party developers, utilities, and utility customers.
" Limits the REESA FIT program to two percent of annual delivered energy for each utility for each year of the FIT program.
" Mandates a program start-date of 1 July 2010.
" Assures total separation from CSI and SGIP programs by requiring dedicated FIT meters, instead of net metering on retail meters. Among many benefits, separate meters expand renewable energy generation opportunities to owners of leased properties and/or multi-unit buildings, and to any site that has a deployment capacity over the 1 megawatt incentive limit of the CSI and SGIP programs.
" Utilizes Rule 21 to assure that interconnection system upgrade costs are either minimal or covered by FIT project developers. “
As you can see, it is fairly detailed and designed to work without interfering with existing programs and will add huge amounts of renewable energy soon if we do it.
I think this should be enacted within 30 days if it can be.
In an email to me Craig added this.:
“Note that a relatively sophisticated impact analysis has been run on the REESA FIT showing that, acting alone, the REESA FIT can satisfy more than 90% of the anticipated 33% RPS requirement by 2020. At the same time, the analysis shows that maxing the REESA FIT to its annual program limit would have a worst-case ratepayer impact of less than 1% per year. This translates into a ratepayer impact of less than 10% over a 10 year period, while nearly satisfying the entire 33% RPS requirement on its own! I believe that it is safe to say that such a low 33% RPS ratepayer impact is far lower than nearly everyone expects -- it is even considerably less than the avoided inflationary effects that are forecasted over the same period; meaning that ratepayers are likely to benefit from a net savings.
I would like your support for the REESA FIT and would appreciate your help in getting the REESA in front of key organizations, like leading environmental and social justice organizations (clean energy, clean jobs, preempting the use of dirty power plants in poor neighborhoods, etc)...
Cheers,
Craig Lewis
Principal, RightCycle Enterprises
Advisor, GreenVolts
16 Palm Ct
Menlo Park, CA 94025”
Today’s post: Wednesday, 2-25-2009
California has more solar energy potential than most of the states in the United States although this is less true of wind energy.
But, of more importance, significant innovations in California are often gradually or even rapidly adopted throughout the rest of the United States.
So, for those two reasons, what California does to bring more renewable energy online not only benefits people in California, it will likely also begin to benefit people throughout the United States.
Similarly, significant innovations in California and the rest of the United States are often copied elsewhere in the world.
As you know if you have been reading this post or know renewable energy well, Germany is now the world leader in building new renewable energy. They have developed and are still using an innovation called feed-in tariffs that has enabled them to install HALF the world’s solar energy with only a tiny part of the world’s solar energy potential.
So this method works incredibly well. And, it’s still working. Just last year Germany added about 10 times as much new solar as all of California.: “In 2008, Germany added 1.5 gigawatts of solar while California added less than 160 megawatts -- a factor of nearly 10 times even though 160 megawatts, from the RPS and CSI programs combined, set a record for California!“
This method is called the Feed-in Tariff. No new taxes or government money need be spent or authorized as the new renewable energy is paid for as the renewable energy comes online by gradual and relatively small increases in the utility rates.
Despite its incredibly effective success in Germany, it has NOT been widely copied or emulated in the United States.
THAT may be about to come to a screeching halt.
A man called Craig Lewis is working to have a very carefully worked out feed-in tariff used soon throughout California.
Anything you can do to help him succeed from lobbying your local California representative to praying for his success, please do it.
This is because if it is enacted and used in California in its present form, it will be used even more in California; AND it will be used throughout the United States and in more of the world than now uses feed-in tariffs.
This should be front page news in every newspaper in California.
As you may know or have read here, it is critical that we bring very large amounts of renewable energy online in just the next two or three decades for many reasons. Having a robust economy is one of them. Economies run on energy; and fossil fuels are beginning to be and already have been too dangerous to use; they will keep getting bid up in price if there is no large scale competition for them; and they will run out relatively suddenly at some point if we have no alternatives in place which will cause world wide economic collapse.
So, if California adopts this program for feed-in tariffs, it has huge and dramatically positive implications.
Even better, by focusing on relatively small installations near existing electrical transmission hubs, the renewable energy will come online quite soon!
That’s equally important. But once we do this feed-in tariff program, we need to add a longer acting feed-in tariff to develop larger installations and those that will go into areas that have very large solar potential but do not as yet have transmission lines in place.
Craig sent me this.:
“The Renewable Energy & Economic Stimulus Act of 2009
SUMMARY
REESA will direct the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to follow the December 2008 recommendation by the California Energy Commission (CEC) to immediately implement a comprehensive, cost-based Feed-In Tariff (FIT) in California. The REESA FIT creates a highly effective regulatory tool for bringing renewable energy online in a timely manner. The frustratingly slow progress of the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) program, and the limited nature of the California Solar Initiative (CSI) and the Small Generator Incentive (SGIP) Program, require that a far more effective solution is implemented for achieving California's current RPS mandate of 20% of delivered electricity by 2010, and the goal of 33% renewables by 2020, which is likely to become law this year. The RPS program is many years behind schedule due to many factors that include the typical 10-year dependency that large projects have on significant transmission improvements. The REESA FIT is a simple and streamlined program that will bring significant levels of renewable energy capacity online in a timely manner -- capacity that will not require major transmission improvements. The economic benefits of the REESA FIT include substantial in-state job creation, with all REESA FIT facilities being built within the State of California, providing a vital boost for the many California-based, renewable energy and clean-tech companies.
BACKGROUND
For economic, energy security, public health, and environmental reasons, California desires to be a leader in transitioning from fossil fuel energy sources to renewables. Unfortunately, California's RPS program is many years behind schedule, and the CSI and SGIP programs are too limited in scope to bring significant levels of renewable energy online. At the same time, many countries around the world have introduced effective FIT programs that are bringing renewables online in levels that are orders of magnitude greater than California has achieved over the last eight years under the RPS program. This is true despite the fact that California has far better solar, wind, and other renewable energy resources. For example, while Germany has the solar intensity of lower Alaska, it has consistently added far more solar capacity than California: In 2008, Germany added 1.5 gigawatts of solar while California added less than 160 megawatts -- a factor of nearly 10 times even though 160 megawatts, from the RPS and CSI programs combined, set a record for California!
FIT programs have now been implemented in dozens of countries around the world, and have proven to be the most effective policy mechanism for bringing renewable energy online in a timely manner.
EXISTING LAW
California currently has three programs for attracting renewable energy generation: the RPS program, which is focused on attracting large central station renewables, and the CSI and SGIP programs, both of which facilitate relatively small, behind-the-retail-meter installations that rely on net metering benefits combined with incentives.
The REESA FIT is designed so that it will not interfere with any of the existing programs. Rather, it fills a critical programmatic gap by unleashing the tremendous potential of the Wholesale Distributed Generation (WDG) market segment: the 20 megawatt-and-under market segment in which projects are interconnected to the distribution grid. REESA FIT facilities will have dedicated meters that measure all energy generated, and as such, the energy generated will not offset any onsite load, be net metered, nor be eligible for CSI or SGIP incentives. Instead all the energy will be sold to utilities, bundled with the renewable energy attributes, including the Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), which will count toward utilities' RPS requirements.
THIS BILL
The REESA FIT will direct the CPUC to implement a comprehensive FIT with rates that are not limited by the Market Price Referent (MPR), which has proven to be a contentious pricing construct used in the RPS program. Features of the REESA FIT include the following:
" Applies to all RPS-eligible technologies in projects sized 20 megawatts and under.
" Sets technology-differentiated rates that are based on typical manufacturing costs, typical renewable resource intensities, and profit margins commensurate with those allowed for utility-owned generation.
" Sets an upper limit on FIT rates, assuring that California ratepayers are well protected.
" Follows a simple and streamlined Standard Must-Take Contract (SMTC) that is developed by the CPUC.
" Applies to all California utilities, investor-owned (IOUs) and publicly-owned (POUs), but provides more discretion to POUs in developing their program.
California's RPS program is many years behind schedule, and the CSI and SGIP programs are too limited in scope to bring significant levels of renewable energy online. At the same time, many countries around the world have introduced effective FIT programs that are bringing renewables online in levels that are orders of magnitude greater than California has achieved over the last eight years under the RPS program. This is true despite the fact that California has far better solar, wind, and other renewable energy resources. For example, while Germany has the solar intensity of lower Alaska, it has consistently added far more solar capacity than California: In 2008, Germany added 1.5 gigawatts of solar while California added less than 160 megawatts -- a factor of nearly 10 times even though 160 megawatts, from the RPS and CSI programs combined, set a record for California!
FIT programs have now been implemented in dozens of countries around the world, and have proven to be the most effective policy mechanism for bringing renewable energy online in a timely manner.
EXISTING LAW
California currently has three programs for attracting renewable energy generation: the RPS program, which is focused on attracting large central station renewables, and the CSI and SGIP programs, both of which facilitate relatively small, behind-the-retail-meter installations that rely on net metering benefits combined with incentives.
The REESA FIT is designed so that it will not interfere with any of the existing programs. Rather, it fills a critical programmatic gap by unleashing the tremendous potential of the Wholesale Distributed Generation (WDG) market segment: the 20 megawatt-and-under market segment in which projects are interconnected to the distribution grid. REESA FIT facilities will have dedicated meters that measure all energy generated, and as such, the energy generated will not offset any onsite load, be net metered, nor be eligible for CSI or SGIP incentives. Instead all the energy will be sold to utilities, bundled with the renewable energy attributes, including the Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), which will count toward utilities' RPS requirements.
THIS BILL
The REESA FIT will direct the CPUC to implement a comprehensive FIT with rates that are not limited by the Market Price Referent (MPR), which has proven to be a contentious pricing construct used in the RPS program. Features of the REESA FIT include the following:
" Applies to all RPS-eligible technologies in projects sized 20 megawatts and under.
" Sets technology-differentiated rates that are based on typical manufacturing costs, typical renewable resource intensities, and profit margins commensurate with those allowed for utility-owned generation.
" Sets an upper limit on FIT rates, assuring that California ratepayers are well protected.
" Follows a simple and streamlined Standard Must-Take Contract (SMTC) that is developed by the CPUC.
" Applies to all California utilities, investor-owned (IOUs) and publicly-owned (POUs), but provides more discretion to POUs in developing their programs.
" Bundles all renewable energy attributes with the energy sold.
" Allows any party to own FIT facilities, including 3rd party developers, utilities, and utility customers.
" Limits the REESA FIT program to two percent of annual delivered energy for each utility for each year of the FIT program.
" Mandates a program start-date of 1 July 2010.
" Assures total separation from CSI and SGIP programs by requiring dedicated FIT meters, instead of net metering on retail meters. Among many benefits, separate meters expand renewable energy generation opportunities to owners of leased properties and/or multi-unit buildings, and to any site that has a deployment capacity over the 1 megawatt incentive limit of the CSI and SGIP programs.
" Utilizes Rule 21 to assure that interconnection system upgrade costs are either minimal or covered by FIT project developers.”
The Renewable Energy & Economic Stimulus Act of 2009
SUMMARY
REESA will direct the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to follow the December 2008 recommendation by the California Energy Commission (CEC) to immediately implement a comprehensive, cost-based Feed-In Tariff (FIT) in California. The REESA FIT creates a highly effective regulatory tool for bringing renewable energy online in a timely manner. The frustratingly slow progress of the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) program, and the limited nature of the California Solar Initiative (CSI) and the Small Generator Incentive (SGIP) Program, require that a far more effective solution is implemented for achieving California's current RPS mandate of 20% of delivered electricity by 2010, and the goal of 33% renewables by 2020, which is likely to become law this year. The RPS program is many years behind schedule due to many factors that include the typical 10-year dependency that large projects have on significant transmission improvements. The REESA FIT is a simple and streamlined program that will bring significant levels of renewable energy capacity online in a timely manner -- capacity that will not require major transmission improvements. The economic benefits of the REESA FIT include substantial in-state job creation, with all REESA FIT facilities being built within the State of California, providing a vital boost for the many California-based, renewable energy and clean-tech companies.
BACKGROUND
For economic, energy security, public health, and environmental reasons, California desires to be a leader in transitioning from fossil fuel energy sources to renewables. Unfortunately, California's RPS program is many years behind schedule, and the CSI and SGIP programs are too limited in scope to bring significant levels of renewable energy online. At the same time, many countries around the world have introduced effective FIT programs that are bringing renewables online in levels that are orders of magnitude greater than California has achieved over the last eight years under the RPS program. This is true despite the fact that California has far better solar, wind, and other renewable energy resources. For example, while Germany has the solar intensity of lower Alaska, it has consistently added far more solar capacity than California: In 2008, Germany added 1.5 gigawatts of solar while California added less than 160 megawatts -- a factor of nearly 10 times even though 160 megawatts, from the RPS and CSI programs combined, set a record for California!
FIT programs have now been implemented in dozens of countries around the world, and have proven to be the most effective policy mechanism for bringing renewable energy online in a timely manner.
EXISTING LAW
California currently has three programs for attracting renewable energy generation: the RPS program, which is focused on attracting large central station renewables, and the CSI and SGIP programs, both of which facilitate relatively small, behind-the-retail-meter installations that rely on net metering benefits combined with incentives.
The REESA FIT is designed so that it will not interfere with any of the existing programs. Rather, it fills a critical programmatic gap by unleashing the tremendous potential of the Wholesale Distributed Generation (WDG) market segment: the 20 megawatt-and-under market segment in which projects are interconnected to the distribution grid. REESA FIT facilities will have dedicated meters that measure all energy generated, and as such, the energy generated will not offset any onsite load, be net metered, nor be eligible for CSI or SGIP incentives. Instead all the energy will be sold to utilities, bundled with the renewable energy attributes, including the Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), which will count toward utilities' RPS requirements.
THIS BILL
The REESA FIT will direct the CPUC to implement a comprehensive FIT with rates that are not limited by the Market Price Referent (MPR), which has proven to be a contentious pricing construct used in the RPS program. Features of the REESA FIT include the following:
" Applies to all RPS-eligible technologies in projects sized 20 megawatts and under.
" Sets technology-differentiated rates that are based on typical manufacturing costs, typical renewable resource intensities, and profit margins commensurate with those allowed for utility-owned generation.
" Sets an upper limit on FIT rates, assuring that California ratepayers are well protected.
" Follows a simple and streamlined Standard Must-Take Contract (SMTC) that is developed by the CPUC.
" Applies to all California utilities, investor-owned (IOUs) and publicly-owned (POUs), but provides more discretion to POUs in developing their progra
California's RPS program is many years behind schedule, and the CSI and SGIP programs are too limited in scope to bring significant levels of renewable energy online. At the same time, many countries around the world have introduced effective FIT programs that are bringing renewables online in levels that are orders of magnitude greater than California has achieved over the last eight years under the RPS program. This is true despite the fact that California has far better solar, wind, and other renewable energy resources. For example, while Germany has the solar intensity of lower Alaska, it has consistently added far more solar capacity than California: In 2008, Germany added 1.5 gigawatts of solar while California added less than 160 megawatts -- a factor of nearly 10 times even though 160 megawatts, from the RPS and CSI programs combined, set a record for California!
FIT programs have now been implemented in dozens of countries around the world, and have proven to be the most effective policy mechanism for bringing renewable energy online in a timely manner.
EXISTING LAW
California currently has three programs for attracting renewable energy generation: the RPS program, which is focused on attracting large central station renewables, and the CSI and SGIP programs, both of which facilitate relatively small, behind-the-retail-meter installations that rely on net metering benefits combined with incentives.
The REESA FIT is designed so that it will not interfere with any of the existing programs. Rather, it fills a critical programmatic gap by unleashing the tremendous potential of the Wholesale Distributed Generation (WDG) market segment: the 20 megawatt-and-under market segment in which projects are interconnected to the distribution grid. REESA FIT facilities will have dedicated meters that measure all energy generated, and as such, the energy generated will not offset any onsite load, be net metered, nor be eligible for CSI or SGIP incentives. Instead all the energy will be sold to utilities, bundled with the renewable energy attributes, including the Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), which will count toward utilities' RPS requirements.
THIS BILL
The REESA FIT will direct the CPUC to implement a comprehensive FIT with rates that are not limited by the Market Price Referent (MPR), which has proven to be a contentious pricing construct used in the RPS program. Features of the REESA FIT include the following:
" Applies to all RPS-eligible technologies in projects sized 20 megawatts and under.
" Sets technology-differentiated rates that are based on typical manufacturing costs, typical renewable resource intensities, and profit margins commensurate with those allowed for utility-owned generation.
" Sets an upper limit on FIT rates, assuring that California ratepayers are well protected.
" Follows a simple and streamlined Standard Must-Take Contract (SMTC) that is developed by the CPUC.
" Applies to all California utilities, investor-owned (IOUs) and publicly-owned (POUs), but provides more discretion to POUs in developing their programs.
" Bundles all renewable energy attributes with the energy sold.
" Allows any party to own FIT facilities, including 3rd party developers, utilities, and utility customers.
" Limits the REESA FIT program to two percent of annual delivered energy for each utility for each year of the FIT program.
" Mandates a program start-date of 1 July 2010.
" Assures total separation from CSI and SGIP programs by requiring dedicated FIT meters, instead of net metering on retail meters. Among many benefits, separate meters expand renewable energy generation opportunities to owners of leased properties and/or multi-unit buildings, and to any site that has a deployment capacity over the 1 megawatt incentive limit of the CSI and SGIP programs.
" Utilizes Rule 21 to assure that interconnection system upgrade costs are either minimal or covered by FIT project developers. “
As you can see, it is fairly detailed and designed to work without interfering with existing programs and will add huge amounts of renewable energy soon if we do it.
I think this should be enacted within 30 days if it can be.
In an email to me Craig added this.:
“Note that a relatively sophisticated impact analysis has been run on the REESA FIT showing that, acting alone, the REESA FIT can satisfy more than 90% of the anticipated 33% RPS requirement by 2020. At the same time, the analysis shows that maxing the REESA FIT to its annual program limit would have a worst-case ratepayer impact of less than 1% per year. This translates into a ratepayer impact of less than 10% over a 10 year period, while nearly satisfying the entire 33% RPS requirement on its own! I believe that it is safe to say that such a low 33% RPS ratepayer impact is far lower than nearly everyone expects -- it is even considerably less than the avoided inflationary effects that are forecasted over the same period; meaning that ratepayers are likely to benefit from a net savings.
I would like your support for the REESA FIT and would appreciate your help in getting the REESA in front of key organizations, like leading environmental and social justice organizations (clean energy, clean jobs, preempting the use of dirty power plants in poor neighborhoods, etc)...
Cheers,
Craig Lewis
Principal, RightCycle Enterprises
Advisor, GreenVolts
16 Palm Ct
Menlo Park, CA 94025”
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
How to have more renewable energy here....
Today’s post: Wednesday, 2-18-2009
To have more renewable energy in the United States, three new things need to happen.
1. Every political jurisdiction and utility company in Canada needs to put feed-in tariffs for renewable energy producers. In Canada, that will be mostly solar photovoltaic & wind. Some new transmission lines may help.
2. Every political jurisdiction and utility company in the United States needs to put feed-in tariffs for renewable energy producers. We have wind, solar photovoltaic, and solar thermal we can develop. Since wind & solar potential, particularly solar thermal potential, is often in a different part of our country than where the most people live, we definitely will need new transmission lines for much of this renewable electricity.
3. Every political jurisdiction and utility company in Mexico needs to put feed-in tariffs for renewable energy producers. The map we posted some time back of solar potential shows that almost all of Mexico has about three to five times as much or more potential for solar photovoltaic and solar thermal as the entire Southwestern United States.
This one is a bit more complex. It will also be important to help Mexico use this power to build clean industry that can provide jobs to people in Mexico and to help Mexico become enough safer in many places to allow investment and travel to reach its full potential. The good news is that if this is done, Mexico will still have enough electricity generated by renewable sources that by also building some new transmission lines, they will be able to export electricity to the United States.
Between these 3 countries, by using feed-in tariffs in each one, in 15 years or so we could easily have 60 to 100 times more renewably generated electricity as we do now.
Feed-in tariffs have been proven to work. (Germany has about as much solar potential as just British Columbia and over the past 15 years or so has built something like HALF the world’s solar capacity. They make building the renewable energy projects fundable by banks. And they are paid for as they come online by the utility ratepayers. They do NOT need new taxes to pay for the renewable energy. And, the ratepayers see only gradual increases in their bills. Even better, as fossil fuel sources become more expensive for several reasons, the utility bills using feed-in tariffs will eventually be LESS than they would otherwise have been.
Ask your representatives in your government and your local utility companies if they know what feed-in tariffs are. And if they do, why aren’t they already using them.
They work and are the key to fast and fundable increases in renewable energy.
Today’s post: Wednesday, 2-18-2009
To have more renewable energy in the United States, three new things need to happen.
1. Every political jurisdiction and utility company in Canada needs to put feed-in tariffs for renewable energy producers. In Canada, that will be mostly solar photovoltaic & wind. Some new transmission lines may help.
2. Every political jurisdiction and utility company in the United States needs to put feed-in tariffs for renewable energy producers. We have wind, solar photovoltaic, and solar thermal we can develop. Since wind & solar potential, particularly solar thermal potential, is often in a different part of our country than where the most people live, we definitely will need new transmission lines for much of this renewable electricity.
3. Every political jurisdiction and utility company in Mexico needs to put feed-in tariffs for renewable energy producers. The map we posted some time back of solar potential shows that almost all of Mexico has about three to five times as much or more potential for solar photovoltaic and solar thermal as the entire Southwestern United States.
This one is a bit more complex. It will also be important to help Mexico use this power to build clean industry that can provide jobs to people in Mexico and to help Mexico become enough safer in many places to allow investment and travel to reach its full potential. The good news is that if this is done, Mexico will still have enough electricity generated by renewable sources that by also building some new transmission lines, they will be able to export electricity to the United States.
Between these 3 countries, by using feed-in tariffs in each one, in 15 years or so we could easily have 60 to 100 times more renewably generated electricity as we do now.
Feed-in tariffs have been proven to work. (Germany has about as much solar potential as just British Columbia and over the past 15 years or so has built something like HALF the world’s solar capacity. They make building the renewable energy projects fundable by banks. And they are paid for as they come online by the utility ratepayers. They do NOT need new taxes to pay for the renewable energy. And, the ratepayers see only gradual increases in their bills. Even better, as fossil fuel sources become more expensive for several reasons, the utility bills using feed-in tariffs will eventually be LESS than they would otherwise have been.
Ask your representatives in your government and your local utility companies if they know what feed-in tariffs are. And if they do, why aren’t they already using them.
They work and are the key to fast and fundable increases in renewable energy.
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