ProjectDX acquired by Renewable Funding February 9, 2010

Renewable Funding, which finances clean energy projects, has purchased ProjectDX, a technology company that automates processes for governments seeking to increase participation in local sustainability programs.

The terms of the sale were not disclosed.

All Portland-based ProjectDX staff, business and technology will be absorbed by Oakland, Calif.-based Renewable Funding.

ProjectDX is an online property of Transformative Sustainable Solutions Inc., an Oregon corporation founded in 2007 by Portland-based professional and civil engineering firm David Evans Enterprises Inc.

Renewable Funding will use ProjectDX’s online services for education, awareness, and community-building in conjunction with its financing program. ProjectDX also brings with it an extensive GIS database and analytical systems help property owners make cost-effective choices about energy efficiency, water conservation and renewable energy improvements.

Project DX is already working with a number of communities across the country, including Portland, Seattle, Sonoma County, Calif., and Baltimore.

Renewable Funding, led by Cisco DeVries, grew out of a popular public funding program for renewable energy that launched in Berkeley, Calif. The Berkeley FIRST program set up a bond-financed Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) district, allowing residents to borrow from the district to finance solar installations and pay that loan back on their property tax bill over 20 years. The concept has taken off across the country and expanded to energy efficiency and water conservation. So far 16 states and hundreds of cities are starting their own programs.

The technology created by ProjectDX allows property owners to integrate renewable energy project planning with a marketplace of qualified vendors, online financing applications, and back-office support for program administrators. Renewable Funding and ProjectDX partnered on San Francisco’s Sustainable Financing energy efficiency and water conservation program, which is scheduled to launch in early 2010 and will be financed and administered through Renewable Funding.

Portland Business Journal – http://portland.bizjournals.com/portland/stories/2010/02/08/daily19.html

Bozeman company proposes solution to wind’s variability February 8, 2010

Carl Borgquist’s vision started with a whiteboard and a marker in his hands.

Five years later, the president of the Bozeman-based Grasslands Renewable Energy still flourishes a marker and sketches on the whiteboard to illustrate his plan for wind power in the Northern Plains.

Borgquist doesn’t build wind farms, rather he’s got a plan for collecting and transmitting wind power. Ultimately, he hopes to gather enough wind-generated electricity to equal the output of Hoover Dam, or two coal-fired power plants at Colstrip.

Borgquist refers to Grassland’s Wind Spirit Project as part of the theorized “smart grid.” What makes it “smart” is that it could solve the inherent problem of wind’s variability.

Should Borgquist’s vision come to fruition, he and his team at Grasslands are looking to build a system that will gather renewable energy from Montana, North Dakota and Canada and export a dependable 1,000 megawatts to markets in the Southwest and Northwest.

Grasslands has set a target date of 2017 for full build-out.

The project would involve roughly 1,300 miles of collector transmission lines, mostly in Montana, and a novel energy storage system. The two components together could cost $4 billion.

Add on the related wind farms and trunk transmission, which are not part of Grasslands’ project, and the entire package is likely to run in the $12 billion to $15 billion range.

“We have to do this big,” he said. “There’s no mileage in doing this small.”

Yet, Borgquist’s venture started small, literally “on a whiteboard.”

A tax attorney by training, with stints as a district attorney and U.S. Naval Judge Advocate in California, he was lured into the world of transmission while working with a client interested in developing a wind farm.

Borgquist knew that lack of transmission was the bottleneck that prevented the state from developing its plentiful wind resource. He saw the deficiency as a problem that needed fixing.

“Putting the wires in is not the sexy part of this,” he said. “But the way we move power is key. We need to get that figured out.”

Wind power, however, poses another drawback. Even if transmission were available, the erratic nature of wind threatens its economic feasibility.

Wind farm network

Even before Grasslands Renewable came into existence, Borgquist and founding group Absaroka Energy LLC were testing ideas. (Absaroka Energy later partnered with the Calgary-based Rocky Mountain Power to form Grasslands.)

By tracking wind at a variety of locations, they discovered that they could tap different wind sources to modify the peaks and valleys associated with individual wind farms. When wind was dead in Dickenson, N.D., for example, a gale could be blowing in Cut Bank, he said.

They postulated that, by packaging wind from several wind farms, the reliability of the resource would be enhanced.

Though the model proved promising, the data still failed to achieve the team’s desired result: to make wind power as reliable as a coal-fired power plant.

To approach their goal, they added a virtual 600-megawatt pump storage facility to the model.

The proposed closed-loop pump storage facility, which is planned for a site in central Montana, would consist of two large reservoirs of water, one of them 1,000 vertical feet higher than the other.

When wind blows in excess, the extra energy is used to pump water from the lower to the upper reservoir. When the wind dies down, water is released from the upper reservoir, creating hydropower for the grid.

“It’s like a big battery,” Borgquist said. “It’s clean and it’s environmentally friendly.”

The size of the reservoirs determines the hours of reliability, he said, and the vertical distance between the reservoirs determines the amount of energy that can be stored.

Though the concept is not uncommon in Europe, he said, the United States has only one utility-scale pump storage facility, built several decades ago in Virginia.

Lacing up the grids

As Grasslands refined its concept, the company drew the attention of Elecnor, a Spanish company that specializes in energy projects around the globe.

Founded in 1958, Elecnor employs nearly 5,000 people and saw $2.69 billion in sales in 2008.

“Elecnor found us, tracked us down,” Borgquist said, noting that the two companies are working on a deal that gives Elecnor the option to buy half of Grasslands.

Over the past few years, Borgquist and his expanding team have directed their efforts to all aspects of the project, from generation to delivery. He firmly believes the success of the Wind Spirit Project depends on coordinating all of the pieces together in one package.

As proposed, Grasslands’ large collection system would serve the eastern half of Montana and north-central Montana, with spurs branching out into Canada, North Dakota and possibly Wyoming.

The North Dakota line, a high-voltage 500 kilowatt direct current line, would cross from the Western Electricity Coordinating Council grid to the Midwest Reliability Organization grid, thus opening a new market for Montana wind and bringing additional reliability to the entire system, he said.

Once “lassoed” together, the power from many wind farms would be shipped to hubs planned for Toston and Harlowton. From there, trunk transmission lines such as the Mountain States Transmission Tie and TransCanada’s Chinook project, now in different stages of development, would move the electricity to population centers along the West Coast and in the desert Southwest.

“There’s no load to service in Montana,” Borgquist said, explaining why the power would go out of state.

“Montana will grow, but it won’t grow consistently with the amount of resource we have to develop,” he said.

Ready for FERC

With its feasibility study complete, its preliminary permit filed for the pump storage facility and its application set to go out to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in the next week or so, Grasslands is ready to introduce the project to a broader audience.

So far, Borgquist said, Grasslands has talked to 60 renewable energy developers, most working on wind projects. Already, they’ve completed initial agreements with seven of them and look forward to working with others.

Simultaneously, they’re poised to begin talks with landowners regarding right-of-way for the proposed collector line. Environmental analysis of transmission siting is also on the to-do list.

“We haven’t crystallized the map,” Borgquist said. “We’re still looking for resources to connect and ways to connect into the grid.”

Linda Halstead-Acharya, Billings Gazzette - http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_056320b6-1462-11df-a965-001cc4c002e0.html

Clean energy backers tout jobs at Tri-City conference February 8, 2010

The expansion of clean energy represents the next major source of economic development and job growth in Washington, and the Tri-Cities is at the epicenter, a Washington congressman said Sunday.

Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., told attendees during the opening day of the 10th Harvesting Clean Energy Conference that more than 11,000 jobs in the state are associated with the production of clean energy — including hydro, wind, solar, nuclear, biomass and more.

The goal of the conference, which runs through Tuesday at the Three Rivers Convention Center in Kennewick, is to promote rural economic development in the Northwest through clean energy development and production, organizers said.

And passage of energy legislation by Congress this year will help spur creation of even more jobs, said Inslee, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Agriculture and the development of the aerospace and software industries represented the first three waves of job creation in the state, with clean energy technology the newest rung, he said.

“The Tri-Cities is perfectly positioned for the next great wave of technological development,” Inslee said, citing in particular electrical generation work by Energy Northwest and solar technology by Infinia Corp. of Kennewick.

The House already has passed an energy bill. In the Senate, Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and John Kerry, D-Mass., are developing bipartisan energy legislation, Inslee said.

Approval of energy legislation is crucial, Inslee said, and not only for job growth and climate protection. America also is in a research and development race with China to create clean energy technology.

“They have made the decision they want to dominate the clean energy industrial base in the next 10 years,” Inslee said.

Conference workshops Sunday included sessions on hydropower, tapping the resources available to farms and rural communities from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the promise of biochar — charcoal prepared from biomass that is used to generate energy and improve the productivity of soil.

In agriculture and industry, electric vehicles quietly are becoming more commonplace because they don’t pollute and have lower long-term maintenance costs.

There are plug-in electric buses and hybrid school buses, short-haul trucks, tractors, forklifts used in agricultural warehouses and an electric utility vehicle — similar to an ATV — made by an Oregon-based company.

The electric utility vehicle made by Barefoot Motors of Ashland is being used by ranchers and those involved in vineyards and orchards, electric utilities and forestry companies, among others, because of its workload capacity, low energy and maintenance costs and quiet operation, said Barefoot’s Bob Acheson.

Electric vehicles, however, tend to be expensive because of the cost of lead-acid or lithium-ion batteries.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory are working to improve battery technology, said Tim Murphy, who is involved with the lab’s advanced vehicle testing effort.

“The potential payoffs for cost-effective batteries are huge for us,” Murphy said. “I look at it as a real energy, security and quality of life issue.”

Conference workshops today will include sessions on biomass, wind power, Smart Grid technologies and generating energy from food processing waste.

Richard Wynne, director of geopolitical and policy analysis for Boeing, will give the keynote address this morning on agriculture’s potential role in developing renewable energy sources for aviation.

Kevin McCullen, TriCity Herald – http://www.tri-cityherald.com/kennewick_pasco_richland/story/893449.html

Feds award $12M to plot out power lines in West December 18, 2009

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $12 million to the Western Governor’s Association to plan for new electricity transmission lines.

As the West’s population grows and electricity demand increases, companies and government agencies are poised to sink billions of dollars into power lines that would crisscross the region.

But it’s been a challenge to find the best routes and balance their construction against potential environmental harm.

The $12 million in federal funds announced Friday will be used to identify areas with potential for large-scale development of renewable resources. States will also receive money to determine which transmission routes could interfere with wildlife habitat and migration corridors.

Linda Davis with the Western Governor’s Association says the group hopes to narrow down possible routes by mid-2011.

Associated Press, KTVZ (TV) – http://www.ktvz.com/Global/story.asp?S=11701759

WSU to help implement Smart Grid December 13, 2009

Though the stimulus bill is no longer making headlines, its ripples are being felt throughout the country, even in Pullman.

WSU is partnering with Avista and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories for the $38 million Pullman section in the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project.

“We are involved because the whole system on campus will be automated,” WSU electrical engineering professor Anjan Bose said. “There will be communication between our grid and the control room at Avista.” Smart Grids use the automation to route power based on where it is needed. Both WSU and Schweitzer will serve as microgrids for Avista to study, Bose said.

WSU was chosen because of its electrical engineering college and its current grid, WSU Energy Systems Director Terry Ryan said.

“The electrical engineering college is well known throughout the area,” he said. “They will be able to consistently develop new tests for the grid and analyze the data.” The project was officially announced by the Department of Energy three weeks ago. Before the project can officially begin, WSU’s grid needs to be upgraded, Bose said.

“It’s a tree of projects, and we will begin working on it early next year,” he said. “Everything needs to engineered and installed. It will take at least two years before everything will be online.” The goal of the system is to make the grids more efficient by having more sensors relaying more data to computers that analyze the data in real time. The grids can then adjust and transfer power were it is needed, Ryan said.

“We have a generating plant and supplies on campus,” Bose said. “If Avista were short on power in certain areas, the grid could turn on our generator and transfer power to where they needed it. It would work the same way if WSU was short on power.” While there is no way to predict if the system will reduce costs, a smart grid system should cut back on hidden costs, Ryan said.

“It should reduce the impacts of power outages and improve the reliability of the system,” he said. “It is definitely a behind-the-scenes improvement.” The project is costing WSU nothing at this point, but that could change throughout the project’s course, Bose said.

Ryan Horlen, The Daily Evergreen – http://www.dailyevergreen.com/story/30457

New transmission line christened between Great Falls and Alberta December 1, 2009

About 130 business, industry and government leaders from Montana and Alberta turned out Monday for a ceremony marking the start of construction of a 214-mile transmission line that will connect Lethbridge, Alta., and Great Falls.

“We’ve truly made history here,” said Johan van’t Hof, president of Tonbridge Power Inc., parent company of MATL.

The Montana Alberta Tie Line, which will cost about $215 million to build, will be the first merchant transmission line in the country, he said.

Three wind farm companies have purchased space to ship energy.

A merchant transmission line means a private company builds the line, then sells space to power generators to ship electricity. In the past, rate payers of utility companies typically paid for the cost of adding new transmission, but van’t Hof said the expects the MATL model to gain in popularity as demand for more transmission capacity grows.

Thanks to projects such as MATL line and its spinoff wind farms, Gov. Brian Schweitzer said the state is situated to become one of the top green energy producers in the country. “We are living in the most important corridor on the planet,” Schweitzer told the crowd.

Van’t Hof also said MATL would be the first international transmission line connecting Montana and Alberta.

Timothy Meeks, administrator of the Western Area Power Administration, also spoke at the MATL kick-off at The History Museum.

WAPA is loaning Tonbridge $161 million in federal stimulus funds for the project. Tonbridge is the first transmission builder to receive funding but WAPA is talking with six other potential partners in planning transmission projects in the West, Meeks said.

Bob Williams of Montana Alberta Tie Ltd., a Tonbridge subsidiary, said construction likely will begin in about a month with soil testing, with construction expected to take about 18 months. The project, which Tonbridge said will create 150 jobs in southern Alberta and northern Montana, involves erecting about 1,600 125-foot-tall poles that will be sunk 16 feet into the ground. Those poles will hold a 230-kilovolt power line capable of transporting 300 megawatts of power either north or south, which is enough to power about 35,000 homes.

Rocky Mountain Contractors Inc. of Helena, a subsidiary of North Dakota-based MDUC Resources, has been chosen the general contractor.

Karl Puckett, Great Falls Tribune – http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20091130/NEWS01/91130014/New+transmission+line+christened+between+Great+Falls+and+Alberta+

Pullman will be ‘smart grid’ model city November 29, 2009

Avista will lead a smart grid demonstration project that will create the first “smart community” in the Pacific Northwest. Matching funds for the $38 million project are part of a U.S. Department of Energy grant for a larger $178 million regional project which is administered by Battelle.

According to an Avista news release, the company will team up with several regional entities for the Pullman project. Participants include the City of Pullman, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Washington State University, Itron, Hewlett Packard and Spirae. Avista’s portion of the matching funds will be $12.9 million.

According to Avista, the project involves automation of many parts of the electric distribution system using advanced metering, enhanced utility communication and other elements of smart grid technologies. Once the work is completed, customers in the City of Pullman and nearby Albion are expected to experience greater reliability, shorter outage times and access to their own energy use information, allowing them to better manage energy expenses.

“This project will demonstrate the viability of modernizing our electric system with proven technology, and it will prepare us for things to come in the future,” said Scott Morris, Avista chairman, president and CEO.

“I have to especially thank Senator Maria Cantwell for her outstanding leadership in making smart grid a national priority,” Morris added. “I would also like to express my appreciation to the rest of our congressional delegation and to Governor Chris Gregoire for their support on this initiative.”

The project is expected to help move the region and the nation closer to establishing a more efficient and effective electricity infrastructure that is intended to help contain costs, reduce emissions, incorporate more wind power and other types of renewable energy, increase power grid reliability and provide greater flexibility for consumers.

A group of Washington State University researchers will be working with Avista on the project.

As part of the project, WSU along with Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories are set to serve as ‘micro-grids,’ locally-based, electricity producing power grids, says Anjan Bose, Regents Professor in the WSU School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). Serving as a micro-grid, WSU will communicate with Avista to improve electric power efficiency throughout the community.

WSU has its own generating plant, which runs on natural gas and diesel fuel. The generating plant is used primarily to produce steam to heat buildings on campus, but it also includes back-up generators which produce electricity. The campus back-up generators are used to provide power to critical facilities and systems in the event a utility power outage occurs. As part of the smart grid project, WSU will be communicating with Avista for the first time to optimize power generation throughout the community, so that the WSU power-producing facilities might be called upon to provide electricity if the Avista power grid should become unstable or over-loaded.

WSU will also identify loads which could be temporarily shed in response to Avista signals to assist with stabilizing the power grid. The EECS power engineering researchers and students will be involved in research, development, design, testing, and data analysis of the ‘micro-grid’ system.

“The micro-grid provides a local way of controlling electricity production and distribution and should make the whole system more responsive to people’s needs,’’ says Bose. “This is a good demonstration project of one of the ways that we can make the grid smarter.’’

“This Smart Grid project allows WSU to take a important role in addressing our nation’s most critical challenges in energy and the environment,’’ says Candis Claiborn, dean of the College of Engineering and Architecture. “I look forward to a future in which these smart grid innovations being studied here at WSU will lead to cleaner and more efficient energy use for all of us.’’

In addition to Bose, other EECS researchers on the project include Mani Venkatasubramanian, Dave Bakken, and Carl Hauser. Terry Ryan, director of WSU’s energy systems operations, has also taken a leading role on the project. In addition to WSU and Avista, other team members on the Pullman project include Schweitzer Engineering, Itron, Hewlett Packard, and Spirae.

Work is expected to begin by the end of 2009 and should be completed in 2014.

KLEW (TV) – http://www.klewtv.com/news/local/73024247.html

Ellensburg to join in ‘smart grid’ effort November 29, 2009

The city of Ellensburg will more than triple the size of its renewable energy park under a unique grant that taps a team from around the Northwest to build a “smart-grid” demonstration project.

The city will receive about $600,000 from the project, which
was announced this week by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The larger project is called the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project and includes utilities and energy companies from Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Wyoming.

Estimated to be a $178 million project, it will be managed by Battelle, which operates Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland.

Smart grid is the general concept of applying technological innovations to improve power delivery and enable such communications as real-time monitoring of electric use.

“Smart grid really has a lot of definitions,” said Bob Titus, Ellensburg’s energy services director. “Our focus is on distributed energy, which is expected to be much more prevalent in the future.”

Through the city utility company, customers can invest in renewable energy and receive a credit on their power bill. The city started the renewable energy park in 2006 on the west edge of Rotary Park, adjacent to Interstate 90. It is composed of about 60 kilowatts of solar panels.

With the grant, the city will add another 72 kilowatts of solar energy from different types of panel technology and 80 kilowatts worth of small wind systems.

Titus said that by expanding the park, more residents will be able to reap the benefits of solar and wind power.

“We’re making it so individuals can recognize same benefits as if the installation was on their own property,” he said.

Titus hopes to have all the paperwork associated with the project completed this spring so the installations can start in the summer, with a targeted completion date of 2011. Central Washington University will be involved in analyzing data from the project.

Leah Beth Ward, Yakima Herald-Republic – http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2009/11/26/ellensburg-to-join-in-smart-grid-effort

Tricities considering Oregon company’s EV-charging system November 26, 2009

An Oregon company wants the Tri-Cities to be ready for electric vehicles.

A company representative made a presentation Monday to about 18 community and business leaders on the OpConnect Electric Vehicle Charging System at the Richland Community Center.

The Tri-Cities may be small but it’s forward-looking, said Nathan Isaacs, business development manager for Beaverton, Ore.-based Optimization Technologies, and a former Herald reporter.

Electric vehicles are a viable alternative to vehicles that run on fossil fuel technology, and they are expected soon to grow in a big way, Isaacs said while talking about the benefits of the charging system his company has developed.

The production of electric cars like Nissan’s Leaf and General Motors’ Chevy Volt is being highly anticipated because they will help reduce carbon emissions, he said. “If you wait until something happens, then you’re too late.”

A DOE pilot project already is under way in several metro communities across the nation, including Seattle and Portland, to promote electric vehicles. The first part of the plan is to set up 2,500 charging stations before Nissan makes available 1,000 of its electric cars in those communities late next year, he said.

Though the whole concept may be more applicable to large metro areas, it has potential use in the communities like the Tri-Cities, Isaacs said.

A few years ago PNNL researchers concluded that the nation’s electric grid could meet the needs of about 70 percent of all U.S. light duty vehicles if their batteries were charged during nonpeak hours. And his presentation is the next step to educate decision makers about a new technology, he said.

His company’s system can be used by residential customers, businesses and public agencies, he said.

The system runs on a software with multiple smart applications that help customers charge their vehicles during nonpeak hours, help utility companies manage grid load, integrate renewable energies and provide useful data to car and battery manufacturers, Isaacs said.

The presence of more charging stations will help remove range anxiety for EV drivers, he said.

The system, which can simultaneously serve about four vehicles, can be installed — ready for use — for about $10,000, he said. A stripped-down home version would cost about $1,000.

It typically would take about two hours to fully recharge a battery, though a lot would depend on the battery and charging process, he said. Some of the new cars prevent total drainage of battery power by shutting off some ancillary operations, he said. That helps makes sure you never have to begin charging your car battery from an absolute low point, he said.

It’s a futuristic concept but Ben Franklin Transit would be interested in looking at the commercial version of the product as electric transit buses become popular, said Dick Ciccone, maintenance and special projects manager at BFT.

Pratik Joshi, Tri City Herald - http://www.tri-cityherald.com/business/story/804747.html

Avista to lead Pullman power grid project November 26, 2009

Avista Corp. will lead a $38 million “smart-grid” demonstration project in Pullman that will upgrade the electric distribution system to the city of 27,600 people.

Smart grids make the distribution system more reliable and energy efficient, said Hugh Imhof, an Avista spokesman. If a car hits a power pole in the middle of the night, for example, switches on the smart grid can reroute the electrical flow within seconds, so that a minimum of homes and businesses lose power. “We don’t have to do it manually from the control tower,” he said.

In addition, the smart grid’s two-way communication will give Avista more detailed information about energy use and trends.

Fifteen hundred homes will also be outfitted with technology that allows customers to better track their energy use. If they forget to turn down the furnace thermostat when they leave for work, for instance, the customers can log onto a computer and remotely adjust the temperature controls.

Smart grids are also more flexible at incorporating renewable energy, such as electricity generated from solar panels and wind power.

Smart grids have become a buzzword in the utility industry, as companies look for ways boost efficiency and conserve energy. The Pullman demonstration project is part of a $178 million regional project in the Northwest.

Funding for the five-year Pullman project was announced on Tuesday. The federal government will contribute $19 million; Avista is chipping in $12.9 million; and other partners will contribute the remaining dollars. Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Washington State University, Itron and Hewlett Packard are also involved in the smart grid demonstration.

Becky Kramer, Spokesman Review – http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/nov/24/northwest-power-grid-project-gets-89-million/

Let PSE manage your thermostat and get paid November 26, 2009

Puget Sound Energy wants to take control of hundreds of thermostats so it can decide when to heat homes and when to cool off.

And homeowners don’t seem to mind the plan.

Under the plan, an Internet-powered system will adjust the temperature inside 700 homes according to the utility’s needs across the grid.

“Customers who volunteer will see their water heater turned back a bit and their furnace turned back a bit to better manage energy on the coldest days of the year,” said PSE spokesman Andy Wappler.

The PSE is giving smart grid technology a trial run. If power use can be balanced, the need to build a new substation could be delayed. PSE says its Bainbridge Island is near its limit.

Theresa Torseth volunteered for the two-year trial. In exchange, she’ll get a $50 check at the end of each year.

“I don’t want my rates hiked up again and hopefully, this will help,” she said.

A device at Torseth’s home is hooked up to the PSE’s Internet-based system, and her furnace and water heater take the system’s cues. Torseth says she doesn’t mind giving up control of her own thermostat.

“I didn’t feel so much like it was giving control as it was letting somebody see where the peaks were across the island. So we could even it out and spread it across everybody, so nobody was having to have some spike and therefore be out of power,” she said.

PSE says the temperature will drop only a few degrees for participating customers. The utility hopes the little changes go a long way.

And ultimately, the volunteers do have control. There’s an override switch they can flip any time to turn up the heat.

Sabra Gertsch, KOMO News – http://www.komonews.com/news/local/73372437.html

$178M Smart Grid project to improve NW power system November 26, 2009

The Northwest has been selected for a landmark $178 million Smart Grid Demonstration Project that could help lay the groundwork for more energy-efficient power distribution nationwide.

Battelle will manage the Northwest project, which will involve more than 60,000 customers in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.

The Northwest project is one of 16 chosen by the Department of Energy, the agency announced Tuesday.

A smart grid is a system designed to improve power delivery and reliability and increase efficiency by using intelligent, two-way communication technologies, which includes everything from interactive appliances in homes to substation automation and sensors on transmission lines.

Generators of electricity, suppliers and users are all part of the equation.

With increased communication and information, smart grid technology enables real-time monitoring of electric energy use, an exchange of information about supply and demand and adjustments to power consumption when the grid is under stress to ensure consistent delivery of electricity.

About half of the project’s money will be provided by the Department of Energy through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the other half will come from utilities, technology companies and other participating entities.

The entire Northwest project should create about 1,500 jobs at its peak across the region in manufacturing, installing and operating smart grid equipment, telecommunications networks, software and controls.

Battelle’s Ron Melton, the project’s director, said it’ll take about two years for the project team, which includes 15 utilities and the Bonneville Power Administration, to install the smart infrastructure. Battelle operates the Richland-based Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for the Department of Energy.

“Around this time in 2011 we should have the infrastructure up and running,” he said.

The project team will then spend the next two years gathering information, evaluating the technology and researching the smart grid’s performance, Melton said.

In addition to the public utilities, Battelle and BPA, Melton said technology companies such as AREVA and IBM will help develop the smart infrastructure.

“The Smart Grid Demonstration Project is meant to push the envelope of the use of smart grid technologies,” he said.

Benton PUD is one of the 15 utilities on the project team.

Rick Dunn, Benton PUD’s director of engineering, said the public utility’s involvement will include installing intelligent electronic devices on four feeders that distribute electricity from its Reata substation. Those devices should allow the Benton PUD to better track the flow and demand of electricity distributed to customers.

“Smart grid is many things,” Dunn said, “but one thing for sure is it’s the convergence of IT infrastructure and electrical infrastructure.”

Dunn expects the PUD’s smart infrastructure to be installed at select sites in Benton PUD’s coverage area throughout the next year. Software also will be installed so the public utility can gather and collect data from the digital readers.

Benton PUD has installed thousands of advanced metering infrastructure, or AMI, meters, which also are called smart meters, throughout this year. The intelligent, digital readers and AMI readers should work together to give Benton PUD an accurate, almost real-time picture of energy use and distribution among customers.

The project will involve more than 112 megawatts of power, enough to serve 86,000 households.

Drew Foster – http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/northwest/story/968399.html

Ashland, Ore. EV manufactuer drops price to $7,995 November 19, 2009

In an effort to bring electric vehicles to the masses, Brammo Chief Executive Craig Bramscher announced this week that the Oregon-based manufacturer will drop the price of its Enertia electric motorcycle to $7,995. The suggested retail price had been $11,995.

“We set the retail price two years ago, and now that we’ve built dozens of prototype bikes and built 100 for customers, we now have the real data to determine what it’s going to cost us to build these and get them out in larger volumes, so we’re able to price that in accordance now,” Bramscher said.

The price reduction is possible because of “pricing in the supply chain and reducing labor and making systems more efficient,” Bramscher said, adding that it takes about two hours to assemble an Enertia at its Ashland production facility.

Additional price breaks on the bike are available through federal incentives, which allow buyers to write off 10% of the purchase price on their tax returns and, until the end of 2009, reimburse them for their state sales tax. Many states, including California and Oregon, provide additional incentives.

Anyone who’s already purchased an Enertia is eligible for the lower price. According to Bramscher, they simply need to call the company at (541) 482-9555 or e-mail the firm at www.brammo.com to request a refund.

– Susan Carpenter, Los Angeles Times – http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/uptospeed/2009/11/brammo-drops-enertia-price-to-7995.html

Editor’s Note: A quick life-cycle cost analysis shows these bikes pay for themselves within 4 years compared to most cars, when used as daily transportation. Also, these bikes are charged by  plugging into any normal power outlet, extremely simple. And, the battery is rated for 2000 recharges, which equates to just over 5.5 years. Wow!

OSU Researcher receives grant for Renewable Energy/Grid research November 16, 2009

Five researchers in the College of Engineering at Oregon State University have been recognized this year with National Science Foundation CAREER Awards. The 2009 award recipients are Thinh Nguyen, Ted Brekken, and Bechir Hamdaoui, Desiree Tullos, Michael Scott.

Each award provides funding of at least $400,000 for a new research project with an educational/outreach component.

Brekken is studying improved ways to deliver electricity from renewable but highly variable resources, such as wind, wave or solar energy, to the power grid. This could help reduce reliance on fossil fuel-based power

Gazette Times – http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/article_3b85ca20-d2d8-11de-9351-001cc4c002e0.html

Electric vehicles, infrastructure power 2009 Beyond Oil conference November 13, 2009

Shiny new electric vehicles, emitting only low-whirring sounds, glistened as they darted among the few sun breaks in Seattle outside a Cascadia Center conference titled Beyond Oil: The Sustainable Communities Initiative.

Charge Northwest displayed its ChargePoint charging technology, which is offered for plug-in electric vehicles in the Pacific Northwest.

The all-electric Ford Focus made its debut at the late-October event, co-sponsored by Idaho National Laboratory. Ford’s Focus added to a charged atmosphere around the Department of Energy’s $100 million grant for a 36-month transportation study in five states. The Pacific Northwest is jointly pursuing a vision of electrified transportation in the I-5 corridor from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Eugene, Ore., as part of the study.

More than 300 attendees convened on the Microsoft Redmond campus near Seattle to hear from more than 50 experts about innovative transportation strategies, e-car technologies, infrastructure challenges and the vulnerability of the nation’s reliance on oil. One presenter argued for vehicles capable of operating on a full spectrum of alternative fuels that includes electricity.

INL is a strong partner in helping the region pursue the electrified transportation vision by managing e-vehicle demonstrations, collecting data to adjust strategies for transportation systems, and devising new clean energy systems appropriate for the Pacific Northwest.

Most recently, INL joined eTec’s electric vehicle infrastructure demonstration project with the Nissan automotive company and regional partners. The project will analyze performance and infrastructure data for 1,000 Nissan “LEAF” zero-emission vehicles.

The forum built on previous planning sessions and joined with the Clean Cities Conference. Its goal was to learn from regional governments and organizations about activities to realize the vision of electrified transportation systems, new clean energy systems and new infrastructures for improving communities. As part of DOE’s larger study, Puget Sound’s Clean Cities received a $15 million grant for its petroleum reduction project to create a regional sustainable market for renewable alternative fuel and advanced vehicle technologies.

INL gets senatorial endorsement
Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah addressed the forum via recorded video message and opened his remarks by saying how pleased he was to see INL as a major sponsor.

“I am sure that you all are aware of the old phrase, ‘Hi, I’m with the government, and I am here to help,’” he said. “Well, if you hear someone from the Idaho National Lab say that, you can believe it because they mean it. And, they can really help.”

INL joined Ford Motor Company, Microsoft, the University of Washington, Puget Sound Clean Air Agency and the Cascadia Center in sponsoring the forum.

Sen. Orrin Hatch recognized INL’s efforts during a message televised at the Cascadia conference.

INL speakers opened and closed the conference. INL Deputy Lab Director David Hill joined representatives from Microsoft, Ford and the National Transportation Policy Project to welcome participants.

“The Pacific Northwest is a tremendous place to focus on electric vehicle integration where there are grand transportation challenges and a strong advocacy for change,” Hill said.

J.W. “Bill” Rogers Jr., INL’s associate laboratory director for Energy and Environment, closed the conference with a presentation that connected the need to develop clean energy systems with transportation advances such as both electric and plug-in electric vehicles. He also detailed INL’s groundbreaking research in hybridizing clean energy systems, as well as the potential contributions by both light-water and high-temperature gas nuclear reactors.

“Over the past few years, INL has built partnerships in the Pacific Northwest to support its DOE customer and continues today to serve as a key regional asset in providing clean energy solutions,” said Mike Hagood, INL’s program development manager. “Our growing relationships in the area will provide INL an opportunity to identify and address key research challenges associated with advanced transportation integration and their connection with clean energy sources.”

The combined forum offered more than 20 sessions about the challenges in electric vehicle technologies, infrastructure and marketplace competition.

Anne Korin of Set America Free advocated ending oil’s monopoly in the transportation sector by replacing the nation’s transportation fleet with flex fuel vehicles so the marketplace can determine which feedstock, fuel generation processes and fuels are most competitive. Korin cited the volatile impact exerted on global economies by OPEC’s 1973 oil embargo and high oil prices during 2008. She added that there is an excellent business case for vehicles operating on electricity and flex fuels made from a combination of gasoline and a variety of alcohols (ethanol, methanol and butanol made from renewable energy sources).

Tim Murphy, INL’s Energy Storage and Transportation Systems manager, described INL’s ongoing plug-in hybrid electric vehicle and electric vehicle infrastructure demonstrations across America. He explained how INL’s Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity and Vehicle Data Management System are used to collect and analyze vehicle, battery and infrastructure data critical to the successful implementation of the eTec-Nissan-INL electric demonstration in the region.

Proposed Smart Mobility Hub at Freighthouse Square in Tacoma, WA – integrating information technology and sustainable transportation and smart growth principles.

“We are growing our relationships in the West and Pacific Northwest,” he said, “where we have found exceptionally receptive and proactive partners for researching e-vehicle technologies.”

In addition to the new electric Ford Focus, Cascadia hosted displays of Tesla’s electric roadster, Ford’s Hybrid Plug In SUV and Ranger EV truck, Toyota’s Prius, Rapid Electric Vehicles (REV), and Véhicule Électrique. Other alternative vehicles included Western Washington University’s biomethane compressed natural gas-powered vehicle and several propane-propelled vehicles.

Infrastructure demonstrations included charging station technologies from Plug In America, Charge Northwest, as well as vehicles and support technologies from Pacific EV, Evergreen Fleets, MC Electric Vehicles and more.

INL presented a large graphic display on transportation and clean energy systems, which detailed the Pacific Northwest vehicle testing programs, DOE/INL’s Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity and INL’s Hybrid Energy System concept with a proposed testing laboratory to research various combinations of energy systems.

by Keith Arterburn, INL Communications & Governmental Affairs – https://inlportal.inl.gov/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=1269&mode=2&featurestory=DA_526613

Update on Idaho Power’s Smart Grid plans November 11, 2009

Imagine you could log on to the Internet to find out how much power you used this week.

If you have one of Idaho Power’s new smart meters, you already can.

And what if you could pay less to wash your dishes or dry your clothes by simply doing them at a different time of day?

If you live in Emmett, you already can. The Public Utilities Commission pushed Idaho Power to install the new meters there in 2004 and since 2005 the company has offered three different rates there for different times of the day and the week to help people reduce their own bills and the utilities’ demand for power at peak times.

These are the first steps Idaho Power has taken to move it toward the potential savings and efficiency offered by so-called “smart grid” technology. Thanks to a $47 million stimulus grant from the Obama administration’s Department of Energy, all of Idaho Power’s customers will have similar tools for reducing their power bills by 2012.

“This is giving you as a customer more control over your rate,” said Theresa Drake, Idaho Power’s manager for customer relations and energy efficiency.

Idaho Power will get new tools to make its larger distribution system more reliable and better able to integrate alternative energy sources like wind and solar power. The company also will get more sophisticated tools to examine customer demand so it can offer new programs to improve energy efficiency and reduce the need to build new power plants.

Rapid population growth in Idaho and eastern Oregon has made Idaho Power outgrow its hydroelectric power generation system that gave residents the cheapest power in the nation. Concerns over climate change have removed possible new coal plants from the table, and all other generation sources cost more than its hydroelectric base.

So experts – from both environmental and industry camps – agree that improving energy efficiency is the cheapest way to keep the utility’s rates down. The same is true for individual customers.

“It’s all about sending signals to the customers,” said Ken Miller, an energy efficiency expert for the Snake River Alliance. “If I use my washing machine at six at night, it’s going to cost more.”

Earlier this year, Idaho Power instituted a three-tiered rating structure that charges people who use the most power – more than 2,001 kilowatt hours per month – the highest rate. That hits people who have to air condition a large house and people who use electricity to heat their homes in the winter.

A family who used 2,001 kilowatt hours a month in 2006 would have had a $109 electric bill. Today that bill would be $163.

(An average home uses about 1,000 kilowatt hours a month.)

Idaho Power already offers a variety of programs to help people reduce their bills. The air conditioner Cool Credit Program pays customers to allow Idaho Power to turn off their air conditioners briefly at peak periods. Farmers get money to turn off their irrigation pumps at critical times.

And they offer a program to help people insulate and make their homes more energy efficient. Compact fluorescent light bulbs are discounted in stores due to a subsidy from Idaho Power.

But many of these programs are underused, Drake said, including one program that offers to install compact fluorescent bulbs in manufactured homes along with free help with insulation and other efficiency measures.

The smart-grid grant will move the program along as much as five years sooner than would have happened otherwise. So far, 120,000 smart meters have been installed, all paid for by Idaho Power and eventually its customers.

The federal grant also will pay for a pilot program in Pocatello that will install a new system to limit blackouts to 500 customers, where today 5,000 might be affected.

Another program will reduce large-scale blackouts.

Eventually, the communications features of the smart meters and the smart-grid system will connect with many of our household appliances to shave off even more power use.

As technology evolves, the smart grid will allow people to store and sell power in their electric car batteries or personal solar and wind generators.

With rates continuing to rise, power users will have to become more informed consumers, said David Angell, manager of delivery planning at Idaho Power, and the smart grid will help them.

“It used to be the rate structure insulated people from the true cost of energy,” He said. “Not anymore.”

ROCKY BARKER, Idaho Statesman – http://www.idahostatesman.com/business/story/967327.html

Idaho Power slowly rolls out smart grid technologies November 9, 2009

On Oct. 27, President Barack Obama announced $3.4 billion in funding for 100 high-tech electrical grid improvement projects across the country, using stimulus funds to set energy policy for the nation. The device that makes the so-called “smart grid” possible is a digital electric meter installed on people’s homes. Stimulus funds will boost the number of these smart meters to about 40 million in a few years time.

“Smart meters will allow you to actually monitor how much energy your family is using by the month, by the week, by the day, or even by the hour,” Obama told a crowd outside a Florida solar power plant. “So, coupled with other technologies, this is going to help you manage your electricity use and your budget at the same time, allowing you to conserve electricity during times when prices are highest, like hot summer days.”

Most Ada County residents can already do that, though few know about it. Idaho Power, which has been reluctantly experimenting with smart meters since 1998 and began installing them system wide in January, nabbed $47 million in stimulus funds for a variety of smart grid projects, including meters, hardware to process the new information and better protect the grid, and software to interpret the data both internally and for customers.

One key to encouraging customers to change their electricity habits is offering tiered rates depending on the cost and demand for power, something that has been available in the Emmett area for a number of years, and will soon be available statewide.

“As long as we’re not harmed by the programs, we’re more than willing to offer them,” said Dave Angell, delivery planning manager at Idaho Power. “Luckily in this state, the Idaho [Public Utilities Commission] has been working with us toward removing the disincentives to having new programs.”

While Idaho Power called the Emmett program a pilot project, the PUC called it Phase One of Idaho Power’s Advanced Meter Reading, or AMR, initiative. The PUC has encouraged Idaho Power to adopt smart meters and AMR since at least 2001. But the company fought the decree for several years, arguing that the technology was not fully developed and that the costs of installing the meters outweighed the benefits. In September 2008, Idaho Power assembled a “manager-level committee” to define what the smart grid would mean for the company, and in January, began to install smart meters across Ada County; 120,000 have been installed so far. Next year, the company will begin replacing meters in Canyon County and points west, and in 2011, the meter replacement program will spread to southern Idaho.

To Idaho Power, the smart grid is three things: the smart meters themselves, the information they provide to help consumers better use electricity and more control over the backbone of the grid including management of power outages.

But to the Obama administration, the potential of a more intelligent power grid can be a lot more.

One example, according to George W. Arnold, the national coordinator for smart grid interoperability, is a new clothes dryer that communicates with the electrical grid through the power lines to determine the price of electricity and to plan the most efficient time to dry clothes based on weather and demand.

But using that type of technology depends on the regulatory environment of the state and the attitude of the utility, Arnold said.

“If the utility companies view their business as basically selling electrons, if you help customers reduce their use of electrons, their revenues go down,” he said.

Another aspect of the smart grid touted by the Obama administration is the ability to integrate clean energy sources like wind and solar into the grid.

“If I were running a utility, one of the things that would drive me crazy is this daily fluctuation in load, and one of the things the smart grid can do is level that out,” said John Gardner, associate vice president for energy research, policy and campus sustainability at Boise State.

Gardner said that utilities will have the ability to tell customers the source and amount of power available so that if it’s a windy day and there is an excess of wind power coming on the grid, customers can be alerted to charge their cars or run electricity-hogging appliances.

“I don’t think that that’s a piece of information that any utility is that eager to share,” he said.

Mike Youngblood, Idaho Power manager for rate design, said that if the company has excess power, they sell it to other utilities, which benefits ratepayers.

While only a few hundred people in Emmett have taken advantage of variant pricing, on average, they have been able to save money and reduce Idaho Power’s peak summer demand for electricity. The stimulus funds assume that Idaho Power will offer optional variant pricing to about 5,000 new customers a year for the next three years, starting in Ada County sometime in the next year, Youngblood said.

In a few weeks, Idaho Power will meet with the Department of Energy to negotiate the terms of the stimulus grant. It is a matching grant, so the Feds will chip in up to $47 million of the $94 million in smart grid improvements Idaho Power has planned.

But Dave Angell is not worried about people shaving too many electrons off of their energy diets.

“They still have the same energy content, but peak power is reduced,” he said. “What we’re doing is managing demand. As more people move into the state and more industry and commercial business, there’s always this increase in demand.”

Nathaniel Hoffman, Boise Weekly – http://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/clever-power/Content?oid=1282961

Mid-Columbia could be smart energy center October 31, 2009

The Mid-Columbia’s future could be as a smart energy center, says the first public look at plans being developed by a coalition of area business leaders led by the Tri-City Development Council.

One opportunity to do that may be by launching a carbon-friendly project to reduce the 45,000 gallons of diesel that the Hanford vitrification plant could require per day when it begins treating radioactive waste, said Gary Petersen, TRIDEC vice president of Hanford programs.

He and Keith Klein, president of the Local Business Association, spoke about the new Smart Energy Initiative at the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce meeting Wednesday.

Community leaders have long been concerned that the region’s economy relies on the Hanford nuclear reservation’s environmental cleanup. Now about 11,500 people are employed there. But as soon as 2015, when areas of the reservation are cleaned up, employment could start a long decline.

“In the meantime, we have an opportunity to rebrand ourselves,” Klein said.

A vision for the region’s future began to develop after DOE began discussing the idea of focusing more cleanup money on reducing the contaminated footprint of nuclear weapons sites across the nation.

Newly available land then could be turned into industrial parks to research and produce clean energy.

At Hanford, about 60 square miles of land would be available for an energy park, primarily in the southeast corner. Land likely would be leased rather than sold.

Since January, a coalition of local leaders in energy businesses, economic development, job training and education have been meeting to brainstorm strategies to develop the Mid-Columbia’s potential as a clean energy center.

The TRIDEC group is looking at three potential projects with different energy sources for the vitrification plant, Petersen said. While the group is not ready to discuss specifics, two projects would be carbon-neutral and the third would produce a smaller carbon footprint than the diesel fuel now planned to be used at the plant.

Under the current plan, the vitrification plant would use a combination of diesel fuel, which could peak at 45,000 gallons per day on cold winter days, and 70 megawatts of electrical power.

As the Smart Energy Initiative moves forward, TRIDEC will need to know what land and facilities DOE would be willing to make available for private use, Petersen said.

Among TRIDEC’s interests is pitching the 250,000-square-foot Fuels and Materials Examination Facility at Hanford for recycling nuclear fuel that has been used once at commercial power production plants.

TRIDEC and the coalition of business leaders also need some seed money and would like a better way to cut across all the DOE offices for the support they need. For instance, land managed by the DOE Office of Environmental Management is proposed for an energy park at Hanford, but the office can only spend money on Hanford cleanup.

But it’s not just the Hanford resources that would contribute toward making the Mid-Columbia a clean energy center. It already has an impressive energy infrastructure, Petersen said.

About 40 percent of Washington’s total power and 100 percent of its wind power is produced within 100 miles of the Tri-Cities, Petersen said. Power generation within 100 miles comes from wind, hydroelectricity, coal, natural gas and a nuclear plant, with biomass power being developed.

It also has the science and technology backbone needed to become a smart energy center, with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Washington State University-Tri-Cities’ Bioproducts Science and Engineering Laboratory and the Tri-Cities Research District.

The area has multiple energy companies ranging from Areva, which produces the nuclear fuel for 5 percent of the nation’s power supply, to companies focused on wind and solar energy.

By Annette Cary – http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/northwest/story/934438.html

Richland gets look at ‘smart grid’ plan October 28, 2009

A $20.8 million, eight-year plan for creating a “smart grid” electrical system in Richland was laid out for the city council at a meeting Tuesday.

Energy Services Director Ray Sieler said a smart grid would allow Richland’s Energy Services department to distribute power more efficiently and reliably, and beef up the availability of broadband communications in the city.

The plan includes installation of “smart” meters at all 24,500 homes and businesses in Richland, about 60 miles of fiber-optic cable throughout the city, and other hardware, software and communications infrastructure.

The smart grid would be created in phases, with the first section being completed in north Richland where companies such as Pacific Northwest National Laboratory could reap the benefits, according to the plan.

The smart grid concept is intended to transform the power grid with new technology to reduce the cost of using and delivering electricity, integrate renewable energy such as wind and solar power, give consumers more control over their energy use and improve the efficiency of the entire grid system.

The system could be used to curtail energy consumption during periods of peak use. Combined with real-time pricing, it would enable consumers to use less energy as costs go up.

The system could communicate with appliances in homes to schedule tasks such as pumping water or thawing an ice box at times of less demand on the system.

The city had hoped to receive about $10 million in stimulus money from $3.3 billion set aside for Department of Energy smart grid technology development grants, but learned Tuesday that its application didn’t make the list.

By Michelle Dupler, Tricity Herald – http://www.tri-cityherald.com/kennewick_pasco_richland/story/770434.html

Idaho awarded $49M in Smart Grid Stimulus Funds October 27, 2009

Boise – Idaho Power Company
Modernize the electric transmission and distribution infrastructure, including deploying a smart meter network for all 475,000 customers throughout the service area and implementing an outage management system and irrigation load control program that will reduce peak and overall energy use and improve system reliability. Will also benefit customers in OR. $47,000,000

Boise – M2M Communications
Install smart grid-compatible irrigation load control systems in California’s central valley agricultural area in order to reduce peak electric demand in the state. $2,171,710

Washington receives $36M for Smart Grid from Feds October 27, 2009

The money is slatted to go to two projects. One in Spokane and the other in Everett.

Here are the details so far:

Spokane – Avista Utilities
Implement a distribution management system, intelligent end devices, and a communication network to reduce distribution system loses, enable automatic restoration to customers during outages, and allow for the integration on-site generating resources. Will also benefit customers in ID. – $20,000,000

Everett – Snohomish County Public Utilities District
Install a smart grid framework on the utlity side, including a digital telecommunications network, substation automation and a robust distribution system infrastructure, that will allow enable the implementation of future smart grid technologies. – $15,825,817

Oregon gets $30 million in stimulus funds for smart grid projects October 27, 2009

President Barack Obama announced $3.4 billion of taxpayer investment in so-called smart grid projects during a visit to Florida today, and about $30 million of that is headed to Oregon.

Smart grid improvements are meant to make energy use more efficient and include things like meters that charge homeowners less for power that’s used when overall electricity demand is low.

The state-by-state list of projects that will receive the funding, which is part of the federal stimulus bill, has two entries for Oregon.

In Portland, the Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative will get about $20 million to “implement a smart grid system, including more than 95,000 smart meters, substation equipment, and load management devices, that will integrate 15 electric cooperatives across four states.”

And the Central Lincoln People’s Utility District in Newport will receive nearly $10 million to install smart grid technology for its 38,000 customers.

Obama said the stimulus money would create thousands of jobs while building a “smarter, stronger and more secure electric grid,” the news agency Reuters reported from Florida.

“At this moment, there’s something big happening in America when it comes to creating a clean energy economy,” Obama said.

By Matthew Preusch, The Oregonian – http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/10/oregon_gets_30_million_in_stim.html

 

WSU gets $1M for transmission grid research and development October 23, 2009

Researchers from WSU’s College of Engineering and Architecture have been working on developing better power grid technology.

Sen. Patty Murray included $1 million for transmission grid research and development at WSU in the 2010 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill.

The Senate passed the bill Oct. 15.

Eli Zupnick, Murray’s deputy press secretary, said he expects President Barack Obama to sign the bill into law soon.

“Our nation’s transmission system is badly aged and vulnerable to disruptions,” Zupnick said. “WSU researchers are working to develop faster, more advanced technologies that will ensure the stability of the power grid.” WSU’s specialty is creating computer and communication systems that allow the power grid to function in real time and increase efficiency, reliability and stability, said Anjan Bose, a co-principal investigator and Regents professor in the College of Engineering and Architecture.

The technology helps to avoid and anticipate major blackouts as well as incorporating renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar, Bose said. The grant will be used to create a platform to simulate the behavior of the large grid to test the computer and control algorithms being developed for the smart grid.

“This platform should be running in about a year,” Bose said.

Other professors from the College of Engineering and Architecture, Dave Bakken, Carl Hauser and Mani Venkatasubramanian, will work with Bose as the other co-principal investigators for the transmission grid research and development.

Last year, the professors received a similar grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, and with a team of graduate students, research associates and postdoctoral fellows, they started researching and developing this summer, Bose said. They are having the first of many meetings with the DOE on Monday.

WSU has also been working with local companies like Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. and Avista Corp. on similar projects.

Improving the electric grid to smart grid technology is a national focus, and an initiative for the smart grid was included in the $819 billion stimulus package passed by the House of Representatives on Jan. 28.

Avista has paired with other regional partners, such as Battelle, and proposed implementing smart grid technology through the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project. The project would make Pullman the region’s first smart grid community to be followed by the rest of the Northwest. The companies hope to get matching stimulus money from the DOE to pay for the total implementation cost of $178 million.

If approved, this would create benefits for students as well as Avista customers, Avista spokesman Hugh Imhof said.

Avista customers’ rates would remain the same, but new technologies, like a smart-meter, would allow consumers to better control and cut down their usage and essentially save them money, Imhof said.

“People don’t realize how much they can save by making a few adjustments,” he said.

WSU is one of the multiple partners that would participate in the smart grid project for Pullman, and the university already has a lot of interaction with Avista, Imhof said.

Kerry Gugliotto, The Daily Evergreen – http://www.dailyevergreen.com/story/29871

Smart grid to get testest in Spokane/Pullman Area & Salem, OR in NW September 9, 2009

Researchers across the Northwest have demonstrated that new technology can help manage electricity use. Now they’re betting they’ll get the same results with new experiments and show the whole country how it’s done.

Twelve utilities in five states – including Avista Utilities and Inland Power and Light Co. in Spokane – have signed on to a proposal to test the so-called smart power grid under the direction of Battelle, the company that operates the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, in Richland. Battelle has applied for federal stimulus money.

The term “smart grid” has come to include any improvements in the way energy is transmitted, stored and consumed. And the federal Department of Energy has taken proposals from utilities across the country wanting to demonstrate their smart-grid projects.

Carl Imhoff, a research director with Battelle, said that the regional reach of this proposal, with participants from Wyoming to Oregon, makes it stand out. “It’s cutting across a layer of the utility system that has not been done as aggressively,” he said.

“Using 12 different entities like this is a very compelling and bold experiment.”

As far as experiments go, this one isn’t as experimental as some; researchers are confident the grid will benefit from more smarts. But directions from the Department of Energy are clear: The goal isn’t to see whether proposed changes will improve the nation’s electrical system, but how those changes will improve the system.

The Northwest has a natural advantage in this area. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory already tested smart-grid technology in a 2006-2007 study in Washington and Oregon. The Bonneville Power Administration participated in that study, and would take part in the proposed project as well.

That earlier study, also paid for by the Energy Department, showed that customers shift their energy use to times when there’s less stress on the grid if it saves them money. Another piece of the same study showed that a utility can use specially designed appliances to flatten peaks in electricity demand.

Battelle’s $178 million plan would build on that earlier study. “That was just 120 homes,” Imhoff said. “We’re extending that to up to 60,000 units participating, not just 120.”

Participating utilities would maintain test sites, working on various pieces of the smart grid.

Inland Power’s project will be in the Airway Heights area, and Avista’s will be in Pullman, Wash.

Portland General Electric, which managed smart appliances in the earlier study, would run a project in Salem.

The project serves as a microcosm of the bigger smart grid effort, said Mark Osborn, the utility’s distributed resources manager. PGE would mix various power generation and storage systems to shift electricity where it’s needed.

That’s essential for an electrical system dominated by renewable energy sources. Wind and solar power aren’t always available, so emphasis is placed on storage and smart transmission, Osborn said.

The project will incorporate better transmission lines, high-tech meters, smart appliances, battery storage, diesel generators – basically everything available, Osborn said. “We did a few pilots here and there with appliances and battery technology. But we need to integrate them in one location where they’re all functioning together.”

What PGE proposes to do with its Salem customers, Battelle would do with the whole region, Imhoff said. Officials there expect to learn by the end of the year whether their proposal was accepted.

“The group felt this would offer the most compelling test of what the smart grid would be to consumers and utilities in the region,” he said. “There have been a number of one-off things, smart meters (etc.), but the group felt the next level of investigation is to evaluate the true benefit of orchestrating a broad number of concepts at all the levels of the power system.”

Justin Carinci, Daily Journal of Commerce - http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/sep/09/smart-grid-to-get-test/

National: FERC Proposes Priorities for Smart Grid Standards March 26, 2009

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a proposed policy statement and action plan last week for standards governing the development of a smart grid. A smart grid involves adding communication technologies and control systems to the electrical grid, increasing its reliability and its ability to accommodate advanced energy systems. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to coordinate the development of smart grid standards, which FERC would then promulgate through official rulemakings. However, FERC notes that the electric industry is already moving ahead with smart grid technologies, so it is proposing to establish some general principles that the smart grid standards should follow.

Specifically, FERC proposes to make cyber security and grid reliability the top priorities for smart grids. Cyber security is already a concern with today’s grid systems, and the two-way communication ability of a smart grid could make the situation worse if the system is not secure. FERC also wants clear standards to allow systems to communicate with each other, so that grid operators can have a clear picture of how the power grid is functioning over a large area. The lack of such abilities contributed in part to the blackout that struck the United States and Canada in the summer of 2003. But FERC is also looking at the growth in clean energy, so the commission wants to be sure that smart grids will better accommodate renewable energy resources, demand response systems, energy storage systems, and electric vehicles. For electric vehicles, FERC at least wants the smart grid to allow charging during times of low power demand, but ideally the commission would like the smart grid to accommodate vehicle-to-grid technologies, which would use the nation’s electric vehicles as a vast, distributed, energy storage system. See the FERC press release.

With many utilities already moving ahead to deploy smart grid technologies, FERC is also proposing an interim rate policy for such efforts. FERC proposes to allow utilities to recover their costs for smart grid efforts, so long as the systems do not adversely affect the reliability and security of the grid. However, such systems should have the ability to be upgraded to meet future standards. FERC would also require the utilities to share information on their projects with the DOE Smart Grid Clearinghouse, which was authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act but has not yet been established. FERC will accept comments on its proposed policy statement and action plan for 45 days after their publication in the Federal Register. See the proposed policy statement and action plan (PDF 103 KB).

Senate leader offers plan for Renewable power grid March 5, 2009

The Senate’s top Democrat is proposing special power lines to carry renewable energy – like solar and wind power – from remote places.

The Federal government would be able override states and direct where the lines would go and who would pay for them.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada unveiled his proposal Thursday. It is expected to become part of a broader energy bill the Senate plans to take up in the coming weeks.

The green power lines would boost development of solar, wind and geothermal energy projects otherwise cut off from the nation’s electric grid. It’s also a proposal that Reid acknowledged in a news release would give “an enormous boost” to his own state of Nevada where companies are eyeing large solar projects.

By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press – http://www.theolympian.com/nationworld/story/777901.html

Oregon Transmission Project an Early Stimulus Success Story February 24, 2009

We already heard that the stimulus bill will help build California’s high speed rail and now a project to add electrical transmission capacity in Oregon is being pushed forward thanks to the bill. Bonneville Power Administration can go ahead with their $246-million, 870-MW McNary-John Day project after the bill’s funds removed a “major uncertainty” about its future.

When completed in 2012, the project will enable the transmission of 700 MW of wind power within the 870 MW of new capacity created and it will create 700 jobs when construction begins this spring. The transmission lines will run from Umatilla, Oregon, parallel with the Columbia River all the way to the John Day substation.

As renewable energy grows across the U.S., increased transmission capacity will be necessary to get that energy to the grid. The fact that this project alone will enable 700 MW of wind energy to get to Northwest grid is great proof that along with technological innovation, we also need infrastructure upgrades to make sure renewable energy is successful in our country. I hope that the energy portion of the bill brings many more positive stories like these.

Written by Megan Treacy, EcoGeek.com – http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/2582/86/

Check out this previous post for more background on the project: http://nwrenewablenews.wordpress.com/2009/02/20/bpa-to-build-246m-transmission-line-to-transport-mostly-wind/

Feds may override states in debate over placement of power grid February 24, 2009

Democratic congressional leaders and the Obama administration plan to push for greater federal authority to locate electric transmission lines.

They say the current power grid stands in the way of developing alternative energy sources.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada plans to introduce legislation that gives federal regulators authority to override states on electric grid placement decisions.

While states should be given every opportunity to participate, Reid says there may come a time when the federal government will have to step in.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he’s ready to open federal land to renewable energy projects and to map out energy corridors. But, he warned, the power grid of today won’t get the new energy to the markets that need it.

Associated Press – http://www.localnews8.com/Global/story.asp?S=9896041&nav=menu554_2

BPA to build $246M transmission line to transport mostly wind February 20, 2009

The Bonneville Power Administration plans to start building the McNary-John Day high-voltage transmission line, which would run through southern Benton County, this spring.

Construction on the $246 million project is expected to create about 700 jobs at its peak, BPA announced Thursday.

The decision to proceed with the project was based in part on increased BPA borrowing authority included in the federal stimulus bill signed this week by President Obama.

“BPA is moving quickly to put people to work,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., in a statement. “That’s because this funding gives BPA the room to breathe in these tough economic times and the certainty to move forward with new projects. It will also help to bring alternative sources of energy online throughout the Northwest.”

When construction is completed in late 2012, the line will allow BPA to provide transmission service for more than 870 megawatts of energy, including service for more than 700 megawatts of new wind energy.

The 500-kilovolt transmission line will start at the McNary Substation in Umatilla and cross the Columbia River just north of the substation into Washington. The line then would travel west for about 70 miles along the river through Benton and Klickitat counties before crossing the river again at John Day Dam to end at the John Day Substation.

The line will be built mostly in existing right of way.

An environmental study was done for the proposed 75-mile transmission line in 2002, but the project was put on hold because of changing energy market conditions.

Requests by new power generators to use the transmission system in Southeast Washington and Northeast Oregon led BPA to consider reviving the plan in 2008. The version of the plan that has been approved reduces the project’s transmission services from the 1,250 megawatts originally considered to 870 megawatts to match its planned use now, which is mostly for wind generation.

“We are not able to get much of the wind power on the grid because it’s old, needs to be rebuilt and does not go to the right places,” Murray said earlier as she worked to get the extra borrowing authority included in the economic stimulus bill and the bill approved.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes $3.25 billion in borrowing authority for BPA from the U.S. Treasury Department for capital projects, such as modernizing the region’s power grid. BPA is the largest marketer of wholesale electricity in the Northwest.

“This project is a fine example of infrastructure spending that provides the most bang for the buck,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., in a statement.

The additional borrowing capacity for BPA in the economic stimulus bill will allow a total of 4,700 megawatts of wind energy to come online and create 20,000 green jobs, Murray’s staff said.

The McNary-John Day transmission is one of four high-voltage transmission lines BPA has proposed to meet the region’s transmission needs. It’s the most “shovel-ready” of the projects, BPA said last month. Since then the agency has completed a supplemental environmental study to update the 2002 study.

Environmental studies on the other three transmission projects should begin soon, BPA said. Those studies could take 18 months to three years for each of the proposed lines, depending on their complexity.

By Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald – http://www.tri-cityherald.com/kennewick_pasco_richland/story/484899.html

Clean Energy Aspects of now signed recovery act February 18, 2009

President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on Tuesday and the measure includes US $16.8 billion for the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). The funding is a nearly tenfold increase for EERE, which received $1.7 billion in fiscal year 2008.

The act also directs DOE to analyze the nation’s electrical grid to determine if significant potential sources of renewable energy are locked out of the electrical market by a lack of adequate transmission capacity. DOE must then provide recommendations for achieving adequate transmission capacity.

While the bulk of the new EERE funding is supporting direct grants and rebates, $2.5 billion will support EERE’s applied research, development and deployment activities, including $800 million for the Biomass Program, $400 million for the Geothermal Technologies Program, and $50 million for efforts to increase the energy efficiency of information and communications technologies.

An additional $400 million will support efforts to add electric technologies to vehicles. And separate from the EERE budget, $400 million will support the establishment of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), an agency to support innovative energy research, modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The economic stimulus act also stipulates that $5 billion will go towards the Weatherization Assistance Program, and the act also increases the eligible income level under the program, increases the funding assistance level to $6,500 per home, and allows new weatherization assistance for homes that were weatherized as recently as 1994.

A complementary measure in the act provides $4 billion to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to rehabilitate and retrofit public housing, including increasing the energy efficiency of units, plus an additional $510 million to do the same for homes maintained by Native American housing programs. HUD will receive an additional $250 million to increase the energy efficiency of HUD-sponsored, low-income housing.

The act also directs $2 billion in EERE funds toward grants for the manufacturing of advanced battery systems and components within the United States, as well as the development of supporting software. The battery grants will support advanced lithium-ion batteries and hybrid electric systems. Another $300 million will support an Alternative Fueled Vehicles Pilot Grant Program, and an additional $300 million will support rebates for energy efficient appliances, while also supporting DOE’s efforts under the Energy Star Program.

The act also stipulates that $3.2 billion will go toward Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants, which were established in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, but were not previously funded. The grants will go toward states, local governments and tribal governments to support the development of energy efficiency and conservation strategies and programs, including energy audit programs and projects to install fuel cells and solar, wind, and biomass power projects at government buildings. For background on the program, see pages 176-183 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

The act also stipulates that $3.1 billion of EERE funds will go toward the State Energy Program for additional grants that don’t need to be matched with state funds, but the act only allows such grants for states that intend to adopt strict building energy codes and intend to provide utility incentives for energy efficiency measures. To help states implement the measures, a separate portion of the act allocates $500 million to the Department of Labor to prepare workers for careers in energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Renewable Energy and Smart Grids

The act includes $6 billion to support loan guarantees for renewable energy and electric transmission technologies. The funds are expected to guarantee more than $60 billion in loans. The act requires the DOE Loan Guarantee Program to only make loan guarantees to projects that will start construction by September 30, 2011, and that involve renewable energy, electric transmission, or leading-edge biofuel technologies.

The act also directs DOE to analyze the nation’s electrical grid to determine if significant potential sources of renewable energy are locked out of the electrical market by a lack of adequate transmission capacity. DOE must then provide recommendations for achieving adequate transmission capacity. To help achieve those recommendations, the act includes a provision allowing the Western Area Power Administration to borrow up to $3.25 billion from the U.S. Treasury for transmission system upgrades, particularly for facilitating the delivery of power from renewable energy facilities.

In addition, the act provides $4.5 billion for the DOE Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability for activities to modernize the nation’s electrical grid, integrate demand-response equipment and analyze, develop and implement smart grid technologies. The funds will also support research in energy storage technologies, efforts to facilitate recovery from energy supply disruptions and efforts to enhance the security and reliability of the nation’s energy infrastructure. A complementary section of the act opens smart grid demonstration projects to electric systems in all areas of the country and establishes a smart grid information clearinghouse to share data from the demonstration projects.

Greener Federal Buildings and Fleets

Federal buildings and fleets will become greener under a measure of the new bill. The act provides $4.5 billion to the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to convert federal buildings into high-performance green buildings, which generally combine energy efficiency and renewable energy production to minimize the energy use of the buildings. The act also directs $4 million toward the establishment of an Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings within the GSA. In addition, the act provides $100 million for the Energy Conservation Investment Program within the Department of Defense, as well as another $100 million for energy conservation and alternative energy projects at facilities of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps.

For federal vehicle fleets, the act provides $300 million to cover the costs of acquiring greener motor vehicles, including hybrids, electric vehicles, and plug-in hybrid vehicles, once they become commercially available. Buying plug-in hybrids could be an iffy proposition, however, as the funds must be spent by September 30, 2011.

Renewable Energy Tax Credits

The tax section of the act provides a three-year extension of the production tax credit (PTC) for most renewable energy facilities, while offering expansions on and alternatives for tax credits on renewable energy systems. The extension keeps the wind energy PTC in effect through 2012, while keeping the PTC alive for municipal solid waste, qualified hydropower, and biomass and geothermal energy facilities through 2013.

In addition, a two-year extension of the PTC for marine and hydrokinetic renewable energy systems will keep that tax credit in effect through 2013. The PTC provides a credit for every kilowatt-hour produced at new qualified facilities during the first 10 years of operation, provided the facilities are placed in service before the tax credit’s expiration date.

For 2008, biomass facilities fueled with dedicated energy crops (“closed-loop biomass”), as well as wind, solar, and geothermal energy facilities earned 2.1 cents per kilowatt-hour, while other qualified facilities earned 1 cent per kilowatt-hour.

Unfortunately, the current slump in business activity means that fewer businesses are seeking tax credits, which means that renewable energy producers are having trouble taking advantage of the PTC. With that in mind, the act also allows owners of non-solar renewable energy facilities to make an irrevocable election to earn a 30% investment credit rather than the PTC. The option remains in effect for the current period of the PTC, that is, through 2012 for wind energy facilities and through 2013 for other qualified renewable energy facilities.

Alternately, the facility owner could choose to receive a grant equal to 30% of the tax basis (that is, the reportable business investment) for the facility, so long as the facility is depreciable or amortizable. The grants are also available for renewable energy facilities that would normally earn a business energy credit of 10%-30%, including systems using fuel cells, solar energy, small wind turbines, geothermal energy, microturbines and combined heat and power (CHP) technologies.

To earn a grant, the facility must be placed in service in 2009 or 2010, or construction must begin in either of those years and must be completed prior to the termination of the PTC. For facilities that would normally earn a business tax credit, construction must be completed prior to 2017. The grants will be paid directly from the U.S. Treasury. A separate measure in the act removes limitations on the business credit based on how the systems are financed and also removes a business credit limit on small wind energy systems.

The stimulus bill also provides greater tax credits for clean energy projects at homes and businesses and for the manufacturers of clean energy technologies. For homeowners, the act increases a 10% tax credit for energy efficiency improvements to a 30% tax credit, eliminates caps for specific improvements (such as windows and furnaces), and instead establishes an aggregate cap of $1,500 for all improvements placed in service in 2009 and 2010 (except biomass systems, which must be placed in service after the act is enacted).

The act also tightens the energy efficiency requirements to meet current standards. For residential renewable energy systems, the act removes all caps on the tax credits, which equal 30% of the cost of qualified solar energy systems, geothermal heat pumps, small wind turbines and fuel cell systems. The act also eliminates a reduction in credits for installations with subsidized financing.

For businesses and individuals buying electric vehicles, the act simplifies and expands the available tax credits. For electric low-speed vehicles, motorcycles, and three-wheeled vehicles, a 10% tax credit is available through 2011, with a cap of $2,500. For vehicles converted into qualified plug-in electric vehicles, a 10% tax credit is also available through 2011, with a cap of $4,000. And starting in 2010, full-scale commercial plug-in electric vehicles can earn a maximum tax credit of $7,500, depending on their battery capacity. The credit will phase out over a year for each manufacturer after they sell 200,000 plug-in vehicles.

The act also provides a bonus to homeowners or business owners installing clean fuel refueling systems at their homes or businesses. For businesses, the maximum credit for installing such refueling systems increases to $50,000 for most systems, up from $30,000, and it increases to $200,000 for hydrogen refueling stations. For homeowners, the credit is doubled from $1,000 to $2,000. Homeowners might install their own natural gas refueling system for a natural gas vehicle, or they might install recharging systems for plug-in electric vehicles. The credit is available through 2010 for most refueling systems and through 2014 for hydrogen refueling systems.

The economic stimulus act has also added a new tax credit to encourage investment in the manufacturing facilities that help make such clean energy projects possible. A new 30% investment tax credit is available for projects that establish, re-equip or expand manufacturing facilities for fuel cells, microturbines, renewable fuel refineries and blending facilities, energy saving technologies, smart grid technologies and solar, wind and geothermal technologies.

The credit also applies to the manufacture of plug-in electric vehicles and their electric components, such as battery packs, electric motors, generators and power control units. The credit may also be expanded in the future to include other energy technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Secretary of Treasury must establish a certification program within the next 180 days and may allocate up to $2.3 billion in tax credits.

Clean Energy Bonds Expanded

Two bonding mechanisms for financing renewable energy and energy efficiency systems have been expanded under the tax section of the act. The act authorizes the allocation of as much as $1.6 billion in new Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs), which are tax credit bonds for financing renewable energy projects. CREBs were previously limited to a maximum of $800 million. The act also authorizes the allocation of $2.4 billion in qualified energy conservation bonds, up from the current limit of $800 million. These tax credit bonds are allocated to states and large local governments to finance a variety of clean energy projects.

Unlike normal bonds that pay interest, tax credit bonds pay the bondholders by providing a credit against their federal income tax. In effect, the new tax credit bonds will provide interest-free financing for clean energy projects. But because the federal government essentially pays the interest via tax credits, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service must allocate such credits in advance. However, tax credit bonds require the investment of a bondholder that will benefit from the federal tax credits, and those investors may be hard to find during the current business downturn. To try to draw more investment, a separate measure in the tax bill will allow regulated investment companies to pass through to their shareholders the tax credits earned by such bonds. Yet another measure adds a prevailing wage requirement to projects financed with CREBs or energy conservation bonds.

RenewableEnergyNews.com – http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2009/02/clean-energy-aspects-of-the-american-recovery-and-reinvestment-act

Stimulus expected to add jobs to update energy system February 16, 2009

Many of the jobs that the economic stimulus would create are generated by the parts of the plan that also are intended to help combat global warming and reduce the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels.

The $787.2 billion stimulus plan that President Barack Obama will sign Tuesday includes the nation’s largest investment to date in cleaner energy. More than $80 billion in spending and tax cuts will go toward renewable domestic energy, a better grid to transmit electricity, energy research and programs to reduce the use of fossil fuels, such as weatherizing homes and federal buildings.

It’s difficult to put precise numbers on how many new green jobs to expect. Government economists use a formula to figure out how a fiscal stimulus translates into jobs, but uncertainties remain. Some of the results will depend on decisions that the Department of Energy and the states make about how to spend the money.

Even so, it’s possible to look at the big picture and see how the environmental spending can create some jobs in the hard-hit manufacturing and construction sectors.

Dorothy Coleman, the vice president of tax and domestic economic policy for the National Association of Manufacturers, said she didn’t have an estimate of the number of energy jobs the stimulus plan might produce but that the association expected the renewable energy provisions to help some of its members expand production and add workers.

The association supported incentives for wind and solar development for that reason, Coleman said. Similarly, weatherizing schools, hospitals, federal buildings and homes would create a need for goods made in the United States, such as energy-efficient windows, she said.

The White House’s economists have said that the overall stimulus plan would create or save more than 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010. The government estimates that nearly 500,000 jobs will be created by the end of 2010 from investments in the energy transmission system, advanced battery technology and energy efficiency.

Robert Pollin, a professor of economics and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, said the green investment portion of the stimulus more broadly should yield about 1.7 million jobs, about 30 percent of them in construction.

“Of course, the jobs crisis is deepening quickly, so that much of an increase in spending for green investments and job creation is not big enough on its own to fight the countervailing recession forces,” Pollin said.

Still, Pollin has said that investments in green technology create more than three times as many U.S. jobs as fossil fuel production because they generally require more workers and much of the money stays in the U.S. economy.

Daniel Weiss of the Center for American Progress, a liberal policy-research group in Washington, said that Obama’s recovery plan would more than triple clean-energy investments.

The efficiency elements of the plan are useful because they put people to work quickly and put money into the pockets of people who pay heating or air-conditioning bills every month – and those savings keep adding up, year after year, said Nathan Hultman of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy.

“Arguably, it’s better than any other rate of return you can get in the economy,” he said.

The White House estimates that the average family would save $350 per year on heating and air conditioning after weatherizing.

The spending on weatherization would create jobs quickly, Hultman said, because there’s no need to invent anything; the materials and skills are readily available.

The bill sets aside $5 billion to improve energy savings in more than 1 million modest-income homes and about $4.5 billion to weatherize federal office buildings.

Weatherizing buildings across the United States offers an easy, relatively cheap way to put people to work and cut energy consumption and costs, said Phil Angelides, the chairman of a coalition of labor, business, community and environmental leaders called the Apollo Alliance that promotes investments that build clean-energy industries and cut energy costs.

About 40 percent of energy use and carbon emissions in the United States come from constructing, operating and powering buildings.

Other parts of the stimulus plan related to cleaner energy that might create jobs:

-Transportation: The measure provides $8.4 billion for public transit and $8 billion for high-speed rail.

The American Public Transportation Association surveyed transit agencies starting a year ago and recently released the results. It found that 227 public transportation agencies said they could provide 787 projects that were ready to start within 90 days that otherwise wouldn’t have been able to proceed. It said these projects would “create and sustain more than 440,000 new jobs in the coming months.”

The bill also provides a tax credit of up to $7,500 for plug-in hybrid vehicles and funding for advanced battery technology in an effort to stimulate the automotive industry.

Menzie D. Chinn, an economist in the School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin, said that tax credits for fuel-saving cars might have helped the auto industry incrementally, but a more important benefit would come from boosting the economy overall and fixing the financial system to encourage more people to buy cars.

-Renewable energy: Over the next decade, the government will provide $20 billion in tax incentives for renewable energy and energy efficiency, including grants and an extension of the production tax credit for renewable energy.

Greg Wetstone, the American Wind Energy Association’s senior director of government and public affairs, said the plan would create jobs in the wind industry and was a “critical down payment” on ways to increase the nation’s use of renewable energy. A developer needs only six months to set up a wind plant to generate electricity, he said.

Wind advocates also say that since many of the parts of wind turbines are so large, it makes economic sense to build them in the United States to save on transportation costs.

The U.S. wind market grew rapidly last year: Its power-generating capacity increased by 50 percent. The industry also created 35,000 jobs in the U.S. for a total of 85,000, according to the Global Wind Energy Council in Brussels, Belgium. By late 2008, however, the financial crisis hit the wind industry and greatly slowed wind-farm projects and turbine manufacturing.

(McClatchy Newspapers correspondent Jack Chang contributed to this article.)

By Renee Scahoof, TriCity Herald – http://www.tri-cityherald.com/918/story/480821.html

Energy Related Washington stimulus items at a glance February 16, 2009

From the Associated Press:

Highlights of Washington state-specific spending in the federal stimulus package, as provided by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. In all, the state will receive more than $6.7 billion from the $787 billion package that was passed by Congress Friday night and is awaiting President Barack Obama’s signature.

POWER GRID: $3.25 billion in additional borrowing authority to expand the Pacific Northwest power grid.

WEATHERIZATION: Nearly $61 million to help weatherize homes and businesses.

STATE ENERGY PROGRAM: More than $60 million for the state to address energy needs, including expansion of renewable energy.

For the entire story click here

Stimulus bill includes funds for BPA’s power grid, wind energy February 3, 2009

The economic stimulus bill working its way through Congress includes $3.25 billion in additional borrowing authority for the Bonneville Power Administration, which says it will use the money to expand the Northwest’s power grid.

The increased borrowing authority would help the power agency bring wind farms and other alternative energy sources online throughout the Northwest.

The projects would generate power for up to 1 million homes and businesses from northern California to Montana and create thousands of “green” jobs, supporters say.

“This investment will help give BPA the resources needed to create family-wage jobs and bring new energy sources online across the Northwest,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. “This will allow us to get working today on creating a smarter, more sustainable power grid that is essential to our energy future.”

Murray and other lawmakers called the BPA spending an investment with short-term and long-term benefits.

“This will help build critical infrastructure to facilitate renewable and energy efficient projects that BPA has planned but cannot currently build due to a lack of capital and the frozen credit markets,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. The energy projects should create thousands of jobs in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, he said.

The House approved the stimulus plan last week, despite unanimous opposition from Republicans. The Senate is expected to take up its version of the bill this week.

The BPA, based in Portland, is a not-for-profit federal agency that markets power from 31 federal hydroelectric dams and a nuclear plant in the Northwest. The agency accounts for about 40 percent of the electricity consumed in the region, serving about 150 utilities in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana, as well as parts of northern California, Nevada, Wyoming and Utah.

BPA said the additional borrowing authority would allow it to speed about eight alternative energy projects now being considered. The agency now has about $2.5 billion available for capital investment, but the stimulus bill would more than double that. The legislation would lift the agency’s borrowing “cap” from $4.5 billion to about $7.75 billion.

“Limited capital is our biggest roadblock to accomplishing infrastructure investments that support a transition to a green economy. It is very encouraging to see Senator Murray and the Northwest Congressional delegation successfully working to help us meet these goals,” said BPA Administrator Steve Wright.

Most of the wind projects being considered are in Washington and Oregon, but the projects would benefit customers throughout the West, said BPA spokesman Scott Simms.

By Matthew Daly, Associated Press Writer - http://www.theworldlink.com/articles/2009/02/02/news/doc49873d7197a8f110294780.txt

Smart-Grid Infrastructure: Large Nevada Transmission Line Proposed January 21, 2009

For years, utility industry executives and regulators have longed to have one transmission line that directly connected Nevada Power Co. of Las Vegas with Reno-based Sierra Pacific Power Co.

The two companies, now both known as NV Energy, have been isolated from each other although they are part of the same holding company, NV Energy Inc.

A few weeks ago, LS Power of East Brunswick, N.J., was approved to build a transmission line on the east side of Nevada linking Las Vegas with transmission lines near Ely that run to Reno. LS Power hasn’t said whether it can sell enough transmission capacity to make the line feasible.

Now, Vulcan Power Co. of Bend, Ore., wants to build a second line on the west side of Nevada.

Vulcan wants state approval to build a 347-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line that would run from Yerington in the north to Jean in the south, giving Las Vegas and Southern California access to geothermal power resources in northern Nevada.

NV Energy continues to plan its own transmission lines on both sides of the state, spokesman Adam Grant said.

Vulcan is seeking Public Utilities Commission approval under the state’s Utility Environmental Protection Act. Separately, the company has applied to the federal Bureau of Land Management for a 200-foot right of way.

The transmission line would interconnect with Vulcan’s planned line that would run from Fernley to Bishop, Calif. The Fernley-Bishop line is undergoing environmental review, and Vulcan expects to start building it later this year.

http://www.modbee.com/state_wire/story/571579.html

Smart-Grid Infastructure: New Transmission lines looking to connect with wind farms January 16, 2009

“Open season” sounds like something for big game hunters, but for Butte’s NorthWestern Energy it’s for companies hunting for energy.

NorthWestern is telling a federal agency that it wants to declare “open seasons” to allow potential customers to reserve space on two new transmission line projects.

There are more than 5,000 megawatts of proposed new electric generation facilities in the state, much of it wind energy, and the Montana company said it wants to help transport all that new power around the West.

Northwestern representatives said the company it has already met state environmental standards for the lines and they think there is great potential for new business even during a slowing economy.

The new lines are expected to be in service by 2013.

http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=9687435&nav=menu227_2

Smart-Grid Infastructure: power line moving forward January 13, 2009

TransCanada told the governor Monday that its plans for a big electricity line stretching to the Southwest are moving forward.

The line was first announced in 2006. TransCanada says it is awaiting federal approval for its concept, which it hopes to receive next month.

Then the company expects to announce a partnership with a large wind power generator. TransCanada says it needs a commitment from a wind power company large enough to use about half of the transmission line’s 3,000 megawatts.

TransCanada has similar line planned for Wyoming. They will provide “green energy” to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Southwest energy markets.

If everything goes well, the company says the transmission line could be in operation by 2014.

http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=9659831&nav=menu227_7

Boise startup creates smart-Grid solar-Powered streetlight – January 13, 2009

A Boise company’s solar-powered streetlight doesn’t just save electricity by tapping the sun to run its lamp – it one day may feed power back to the grid at times of peak demand.

The Inovus Solar SmartPole – created and marketed from a small office in Downtown Boise – demonstrates the promise of “smart grid” technology, which could revolutionize electric power in the United States.

And the young outfit behind it represents what some local business leaders say could help define Boise’s future: A cluster of high-tech energy companies that could tap into the nation’s “green” revolution and attract the kind of creative professionals that Micron and Hewlett-Packard have brought here for years.

Inovus is emblematic of the companies to be discussed at the Northwest Energy Innovation Summit that begins Monday at the Boise Centre on The Grove. The summit will bring top experts to talk about the opportunities in the new industry.

Inovus was one of the first tenants of the Water Cooler, a tech-friendly and low-cost business center built by the summit’s organizer, Mark Rivers. The Water Cooler and the conference were both designed to help bring together the creative forces that can encourage and attract new industry.

“We need to be doing everything and anything we can to turn this tiny industry into a new strategic industry in Idaho,” Rivers said.

INTELLIGENT STREET LIGHTS?

The SmartPole doesn’t need to be hooked to the electric grid at all, which makes it ideal for areas wires don’t reach – whether they’re in the outskirts of Boise or in Third World nations like Vietnam.

But on the grid, its computer can automatically reduce energy use when power demand is high. And the light’s battery, which holds enough power to operate for more than six days without sun, could even send power back in times of peak need – which can reduce the need for electricity companies like Idaho Power to build new plants.

Inovus Solar’s outdoor lighting system has caught the attention of Southern California Edison, which has 600,000 street lights. The utility is looking at upgrading its electric power grid with computerized appliances with batteries – even electric cars – to maximize the efficient use of each electron in the system.

“We’re really focused on the smart grid technology,” said Clay Young, Inovus Solar’s president and CEO. “We are trying to make street lights a more intelligent part of the grid.”

Young and solar inventor Seth Myer started Inovus Solar in 2007. They now have eight employees and contractors with more than 35 employees across the Valley are building the lights for shipment across the country and overseas.

The startup has raised enough capital to carry through its plan for two years. Young and Myer expect to grow three to four times in size by the end of 2009 – but others are even more optimistic.

“I honestly think this is going to scale to a company that is going to do hundreds of millions of dollars worth of sales in a couple of years,” said Chris Winn, principal of SSI, a technical marketing company in Orange County that is partnering with Inovus. “It’s going to create a lot of jobs.”

LIGHTING DESOLATE (FOR NOW) SPOTS AT HOME

The city of Boise installed eight SmartPole lights along a road past Idaho IceWorld where WinCo Foods is building a new warehouse. With the cost of running electrical lines to the isolated location, the street lights would have cost WinCo $12,000 each. Inovus Solar’s lights cost $8,000 each – a $32,000 savings on eight lights.

Read More: http://www.idahostatesman.com/235/story/629155.html

Report: 280,000 New U.S. Jobs Tied Directly to Smart Grid Deployment January 6, 2009

Here is the complete news release:

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6  – In a Smart Grid Jobs Report released today by the GridWise Alliance, it is estimated that up to 280,000 new jobs can be created directly from the deployment of smart grid technologies. The report explains that Federal investment in a smart grid could act as a catalyst for these planned and immediate direct jobs as well as spawn many indirect jobs.

The Smart Grid Jobs Report was written by GridWise member company, KEMA, Inc. In addition to the 280,000 direct jobs, the report notes that a smart grid will drive a substantial number of indirect jobs as it enables the deployment of new technologies such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, distributed renewable energy resources such as solar, smart appliances, home automation software and hardware, and wind energy generation. The report does not quantify the number of these indirect jobs. To view the full report visit www.gridwise.org.

“Increasingly a smart grid is seen as a key enabler for the new energy economy and as such, is foundational for the millions of ‘green collar jobs’ President-Elect Obama is aiming for,” says Guido Bartels, Chairman of the GridWise Alliance and General Manager Global Energy & Utilities Industry at IBM.

The report projects that a $16 billion Federal investment in smart incentives over the next four years would drive $64 billion in smart grid related projects resulting in approximately 280,000 new direct positions across various categories. “Over 150,000 of these jobs would be created by the end of 2009 and nearly 140,000 newly created high-value positions would become permanent after a smart grid deployment,” explained Ralph Masiello, Sr. VP, Energy Systems Consulting, KEMA, Inc.

“We know first-hand that a smart grid allows our electric infrastructure to be more reliable, resilient, and secure. There is also a growing consensus that a smart grid is one of the critical and necessary enablers for optimizing renewable resources, maximizing energy efficiency, and unleashing the potential of distributed energy storage technologies,” said Katherine Hamilton, President of the GridWise Alliance.

President-Elect Obama and key Senate and House leaders have frequently mentioned a smart grid as an economic and infrastructure booster. The GridWise Alliance, with 70 members from all across the energy value chain, believes that a smart grid is essential to achieving goals for integrating energy from renewable resources and energy efficiency technologies such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

“A smart grid will enable a transformed electric supply sector and related job creation; incentivize a strong domestic market for U.S. smart grid technology firms; and create high value permanent positions in the energy economy,” concludes Hamilton.

About the GridWise Alliance

The GridWise Alliance was founded in 2003. The Alliance advocates a vision of an electric system that integrates the infrastructure, processes, devices, information and market structure so that energy can be generated, distributed, and consumed more efficiently and cost effectively; thereby achieving a more resilient, secure and reliable energy system. Its members include utilities, IT companies, equipment vendors, new technology providers and educational institutions.

Current members of the GridWise Alliance include: 3Tier, ABB, Accenture, Alcatel-Lucent, Ambient Corporation, American Electric Power, Arcadian Networks, AREVA T&D, Austin Energy, Autodesk, BC Hydro, Beacon Power Corp., Bridge Strategy Group, British Columbia Institute of Technology, Cellnet+Hunt, Center for the Commercialization of Electric Technologies, CenterPoint Energy, Cisco Systems Inc., CMEA Ventures, Con Edison of New York Inc., Constellation Energy, Consumers Energy Company, Cooper Power Systems, CURRENT Group, Duke Energy, Electricite de France, Elster Integrated Solutions, Energy Insights, EnergySolve, EnerNex Corp, Environmental System Research Institute, Florida State University – Center for Advanced Power Systems, GE, Google, GridPoint, Inc., Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Institute of Electric Power Engineering – TU Clausthal, Itron, KEMA, Inc, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft Corporation, Midwest ISO, Milsoft Utilities Solutions, National Grid, New York ISO, Northern New Mexico College, Open Systems International, Optimal Technologies International, PJM Interconnection, Progress Energy, R.W. Beck, RockPort Capital Partners, RuggedCom, SAP, Sempra Energy: San Diego Gas & Electric, SensorTran, Inc., Serveron Corporation, Sharp Laboratories of America, Inc., Siemens Power Transmission & Distribution, Site Controls, SmartSynch, Solar Integrated Technologies, Tendril Networks, Tennessee Valley Authority, Utilities Telecom Council, VELCO, Washington State University, and ZIV USA, Inc.

    CONTACT:
    Katherine Hamilton,
    202-530-9740,
    khamilton@gridwise.org

Web site: http://www.gridwise.org/