EREN Network News

October 3, 2001

News and Events

• Tuscon Electric Achieves One Megawatt of Solar Capacity
• California PUC Decision Prohibits New Green Power Marketing
• Two New Wind Installations Online in California
• Ford, DaimlerChrysler Increase Commitment to Ballard
• GAO Study Finds Promise in Bus Rapid Transit
• IBM Launches Low-Power Computing Effort

Site News

• Canadian Agricultural New Uses Council

• Summer 2001 Fifth Warmest on Record in United States

News and Events

Tuscon Electric Achieves One Megawatt of Solar Capacity
Tuscon Electric Power Co. (TEP) announced Monday its successful installation of more than one megawatt of solar generating capacity, enough to meet the energy needs of roughly 200 homes. TEP owns 315 kilowatts of solar generating capacity in Tucson and recently installed 619 kilowatts of solar panels at its Springerville Generating Station near Springerville, Arizona. TEP, Global Solar Energy, and Southwest Energy Solutions plan to expand the Springerville facility to 1.35 megawatts (1,350 kilowatts) by the end of this year. The system is being financed by customers through their voluntary participation in the company's GreenWatts program. See the TEP press release.

Utility programs such as GreenWatts, known as "green pricing" programs, have led to new or planned installations of 282 megawatts of renewable energy — enough to supply the power needs of 110,000 homes — according to a new report from DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Such programs are now offered by 85 utilities in 29 states.

The NREL study found that the design and marketing of the green pricing program is the key to success. In terms of the amount of new renewable energy produced, the most successful programs are run by the Los Angeles Department of Power and Water (LADWP), Austin Energy in Texas, and the Public Service Company of Colorado. In terms of customer participation, the leaders are Moorhead Public Service in Minnesota, LADWP, Holy Cross Energy in Colorado, and Madison Gas and Electric in Minnesota. See the NREL press release.

Consumers Energy, Michigan's largest utility, is the latest to offer a green pricing program. The company announced Monday that customers can now sign up for its Green Power Pilot Program. The surcharge for 100 percent green power is 3.2 cents per kilowatt-hour. See the Consumers Energy press release.

California PUC Decision Prohibits New Green Power Marketing

The California Public Utility Commission (PUC) decided in late September to suspend so-called direct access in the state, thereby prohibiting current utility customers from buying their electricity from other power providers. The decision effectively prohibits the marketing of green power products directly to consumers in the state, although it allows green power companies to continue existing agreements with their customers.

California's Department of Water Resources (DWR) started buying power for the state in January when financial difficulties hit the state's largest utilities. To stabilize power prices, DWR then entered into long-term contracts to purchase power. This power will be sold to California consumers through their utilities, but alternative power providers offered a way for consumers to avoid buying that power. To assure that consumers continue to buy power from their utilities and thus repay the state for those long- term power contracts, a state bill required that the PUC suspend direct access and cut off those alternative ways of buying power. Although some had hoped that the PUC would make an exception for the green power market, no exception was included in the PUC's final decision.

See the final decision on the PUC Web site. Also see the PUC's discussion of the issue, published for comment in late August.

Note that although green power marketing is halted in California, the state's new power authority is committed to buying renewable energy for the state's power supplies. See the September 19th edition of EREN Network News.

Some of the DWR's long-term contracts also draw on renewable energy sources, as demonstrated by the following story.

Two New Wind Installations Online in California
SeaWest WindPower, Inc. and PG&E National Energy Group announced Monday that two new wind projects — Mountain View Power Partners I and II — are now online in California. With a total capacity of 66.6 megawatts, the wind installations will produce enough power for more than 40,000 homes. The projects are located near the San Gorgonio Pass in the Palm Springs area, a strong wind resource area that has been producing wind power since the early 1980s. The California Department of Water Resources will buy the power from the projects under a long-term contract. See the SeaWest WindPower press release on the Web site.

Ford, DaimlerChrysler Increase Commitment to Ballard
Ford Motor Company and DaimlerChrysler AG announced an agreement yesterday with Ballard Power Systems Inc. of Canada that further cements the commitment of the two auto companies to Ballard as a fuel cell supplier. The agreement passes ownership of XCELLSIS GmbH, a fuel-cell engine company, and Ecostar Electric Drive Systems LLC, a producer of electric drive trains, to Ballard. Those companies were previously owned jointly by the three parties. In return, DaimlerChrysler and Ford will increase their ownership of Ballard by an estimated $348 million (in U.S. dollars) worth of stock trades. The three parties are also entering into a 20-year alliance, and Ford and DaimlerChrysler are committing to invest an additional $103.5 million (in U.S. dollars) over the next three years. See the Ballard press release.

GAO Study Finds Promise in Bus Rapid Transit
With many cities balking at the high cost of light rail and other forms of mass transit, some are considering an alternative approach using buses — bus rapid transit. This approach attempts to gain some of the advantages of light rail by using buses on exclusive highways, on high- occupancy vehicle lanes, or similar approaches. A recent Government Accounting Office (GAO) study examined bus rapid transit, comparing it to light rail and noting its advantages and disadvantages. The study, released last week, confirmed that bus rapid transit has lower capital costs than light rail and found that neither system has an advantage in terms of operating costs. Although bus rapid transit has more flexibility than light rail, transit officials believe the permanence of light rail encourages economic development along its path, which helps to justify its higher capital cost. See the GAO report, "Bus Rapid Transit Shows Promise," (PDF 1.12 MB), (Download Acrobat Reader).

IBM Launches Low-Power Computing Effort
International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) announced on Monday its launch of a new low-power computing research effort, aimed at achieving energy efficiency in information technology. Coordinated out of its research lab in Austin, Texas, the research effort will accelerate the development of energy-efficient chips, computers, servers, and other components. A complementary consulting service will help customers lower their information technology energy use.

IBM has already demonstrated some success in energy- efficient computing. The company's eServer z900 mainframe was recently recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its energy-saving capabilities, and Gap Inc. recently bought one because of its energy efficiency, according to IBM. The company has also developed new chip designs that it claims will allow computers to use only one-tenth of their current energy consumption. See the IBM press release.

IBM isn't the only information technology company that's targeting energy efficiency — Tadpole and Platform Computing announced last week a new system called "PowerBack" for use in data centers. The companies claim the new system will power down servers when computing demand is low, and then automatically power them back up when computing demand increases. See the press release on the Tadpole Web site.

Yet another company has a simpler energy-saving solution for data centers. Instead of cooling the entire room, Sanmina Corporation claims its new enclosed cabinets will allow data centers to cool only the equipment-packed cabinets. The company claims energy savings can be as high as 50 percent. See the Samnina press release.

Site News

Canadian Agricultural New Uses Council
This site provides information on the industrial uses of agriculture, including biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, biopower (producing electricity from agricultural products), and bioproducts (products made from crops instead of petrochemicals). The site is built around two databases — an "expert network" and a document library — and it allows users to access this information by country, by technology, by end product, and via many other categories. The Council is also producing analyses of product supply chains and posting them on the site.

For this and other recent additions to the EREN Web site.

Energy Facts and Tips

Summer 2001 Fifth Warmest on Record in United States
The period from June through August in 2001 was the fifth warmest on record in the continental United States, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). August 2001 was the fourth warmest on record. See the NOAA press release.

The situation looks worse on a global scale — the global average land and sea surface temperature was the second warmest on record. For a detailed account, including maps and trend graphs, see the "U.S. National" and "Global Analysis" sections of NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) Web site.

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