Prison Cells Host Solar Cells

"The Rock" is famous for being inescapable. But now it has a new claim to fame. It's the newest success of the National Park Services and US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory joint effort to bring clean energy to national parks and landmarks. Alcatraz Prison has gone green.

For the past 75 years the prison has been powered by diesel fuel ferried across the bay. But this year, Alcatraz installed 1,300 solar panels to power the tourist attraction. The roof of the main Cellhouse building is now home to a 307 kW photovoltaic array and two 2,000 amp hour battery strings and an inverter plant. The system will produce close to 400,000 kW a year and will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 337,000 kilograms a year. And as if that wasn't enough, the pv project only costs about 71 cents a kW hour- including the captial costs of buying and installing the solar panels.

Read more about the installation and the process in any of the articles listed after the jump.

New Jersey passes encouraging legislation

Governor Christie signed Assembly bill A2966 into law this week to diversify New Jersey's energy supply and encourage the solar industry's role in energy production. Renewable energy advocates hope that more states will adopt more aggressive legislation like this to address oversupplies of solar renewable energy credits, stabilize solar markets and incentivize the infant renewable energy industry. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), this particular legislation will address:

1. Accelerate the Solar RPS requirement
2. Reduce the solar alternative compliance payment
3. Defines program eligibility for grid-connected projects
4. Establishes SREC program eligibility for grid-connected projects
5.  Promotes development of projects located on brownfields and landfills
6. Authorizes aggregated net metering for certain public entities
7. Extends the shelf life of SREC's

Read more about this legislation and the issues it will specifically address in this article on the SEIA's website.

International Collaboration

Jon Woodhead over at the Guardian wrote a nice piece this week about successful collaborations of Governments, NGOs and leading companies teaming up together to promote sustainable energy. Woodhead points out the massive commitments the international community has made towards providing access to modern affordable energy. As he say as he says “providing universal energy access by 2030 is estimated to increase global energy demand by 179m tonnes of oil equivalent with 54% of this increase based on fossil fuels.”

But what if that new demand was met with renewable energy? Woodhead points to the UK based organization SolarAid which is using solar light to reach unelectrified communities. Read Woodhead’s whole article, Joining forces to achieve sustainable energy for all, to learn more about the global goal of providing modern affordable energy to everyone and the cutting edge collaborations that are working towards fulfilling that heroic commitment. 

Solar App for your Phone

Onyx Solar just released a free app for your smartphone (android or iPhone). This cool new app allows you to calculate the energy produced by a photovoltaic installation, the hours of light generated, CO2 emissions avoided and even the distance traveled by an electric car with the energy generated by the PV installation.

Sure this app is fun for those of us with PV panels installed- we can budget, estimate, show off our energy production and money savings. But one of the best things about this cool new tool, is that you don't need an installed system to use the app. You plug in the chosen technology, and details about the area you have in mind, and it will calculate the potential energy production.

This app can be used to compare products, estimate savings, and illustrate in numbers exactly how much energy you can produce with renewable energy.  Everyone from consumers, to producers to advocates and educators could use this app to add to discussions of renewable energy production.

Renewable Energy Financing: Crowdfunding and MLPs

Ron Pernick, the co-founder and principal of Clean Edge, a research and advisory firm for the clean energy sector, wrote a piece for Renewable Energy World, titled Crowdsourcing, Limited Partnerships and Other Tools for Financing our Clean- Energy Future. The piece analyzes two promising avenues for financing clean technology in the 21st century; one a traditional financing mechanism, the other a brand new- but potentially game changing tool.

The first, a Master Limited Partnership (MLP), relies on traditional capital models that have been historically employed for fossil fuel energy production. The MLPs trade like corporate stock, and allow investors to earn dividends. In terms of MLPs, however, current legislation is antiquated and is only applicable to oil and gas. However, as Pernick points out, there is reason for optimism in the clean tech world, as legislators start to acknowledge the gap, and attempt to address it. For instance, Senator Chris Coons (D- Delaware) has introduced the Master Limited Partnerships Parity Act, which would let MLPs include renewable energy.

The second, crowdfunding, allows thousands of investors to provide small investments that add up to millions. The crowdfunding (or crowdsourcing, or peerfunding) model democratizes the financing process of solar installations. An example is Solar Mosaic, which is the first of its kind, but uses the KickStarter model to finance solar. Solar Mosaic provides an online platform that could raise millions of dollars from thousands of investors with the potential of a decent return.

Read more about these two options in financing clean energy in Pernick's article.

NRDC Assesses India's Solar Progress

Natonal Resources Defense Council (NRDC) published a new report assessing the progress of Phase 1 of India's National Solar Mission: Laying the Foundation for a Bright Future. The report analyzes available funding, political support and current and planned projects- country-wide. As the NRDC says, "even with 300 sunny days a year in most regions, creating a new solar energy market in India is no easy task." The report provides recommendations to scale grid-connected solar energy development, and is a great start for anyone interested in building solar panel systems in India's burgeoning market. 

The assessment presents research, and findings from stakeholder discussions to highlight major achievements of Indian State's efforts thus far. These achievements range from generating solar energy from panels mounted on a body of water, in Gujarat to creating policy in Odhisha to target 3000 villages for renewable energy electrification by 2014.  In Phase 1 of installations the states of  Rajasthan and Gujarat took the lead, but a the market grows many states are poised to take that lead in Phase 2. Read the whole report here. Or if you're looking for just a quick rundown- check out this factsheet the NRDC produced.

Solarize Connecticut

The Connecticut Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority (CEFIA) will be implementing a Solarize Connecticut Program this summer. The Solarize Connecticut pilot program is based on its successful Massachusetts counterpart. It will encourage the adoption of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects through coordinated education, marketing and outreach efforts, coupled with a tiered pricing structure that provides savings as more homeowners choose to install solar panels.

CEFIA published a Request for Information (RFI) as the application for Connecticut municipalities to express interest in participating in the program. This competitive review process required applicants to demonstrate a clear commitment to increase education and outreach through community groups and resident volunteers. They were also required to illustrate a willingness to streamline their permitting process. Depending on their progress with renewable energy at the time of application, municipalities were either labeled "Clean Energy Communities", or they chose to take a "Municipal Clean Energy Pledge" to demonstrate their commitment. Through the competitive application process CEFIA chose four towns to pilot the first phase of the Solarize Connecticut program in 2012, which include Durham, Fairfield, Portland and Westport.

Details of the program are being fine-tuned this summer, and CEFIA will begin promoting the program at more length starting in August. Phase II of the program will include four more towns, and begin in early 2013.

You can read about Westport's activities in particular in Chase Wright's article Westport Selected for Solarize Connecticut Or go directly to the source, and check out the CEFIA's Solarize Connecticut page.