Milwaukee Shines Solar Loans

I had the pleasure of sitting in on a webinar about the Milwaukee Shines Solar Loans Program, where folks with Milwaukee Shines and the Midwest Renewable Energy Association discussed the pilot program implemented through the summer of 2012, lessons learned, and upcoming replication of the opportunity.

Milwaukee has been named a US Department of Energy Solar America City, and in 2012 the city became a part of DOE’s Sunspot rooftop solar program. Through the Sunspot Rooftop Solar Program, Milwaukee has promised to reduce the cost of photovoltaic panels, including the permitting process, financing, net metering and interconnection processes and zoning.

To achieve these ends, Milwaukee introduced the solar purchase program, Solar Power Pack (SPP). The goals of the SPP are to

1) Educate customers

2) Create a lower cost for customers

3) Create more jobs and sales leads for local solar industry

4) Create more business for local industry

Read more after the jump for a full summary of the webinar and additional contact information for further follow up!

Italy and Greece look to be solar power players

Despite of, or perhaps because of, Italy's economic troubles- the country is currently trying to push its renewable energy target up to 35% by 2020-  an ambitious jump of almost 10 percentage points.

The public discussion regarding the Renewable Energy Plan, currently occurring at the Ministries of Environment and  Economic Development is being interpreted as a positive sign for advocates of renewable energy. The provision s reportedly in the new plan include an annual subsidy limit of €200 million for solar projects over 6k; unlimited net metering for solar projects under 6kW; and an adjusted (reduced) Feed-in Tariff (FiT) of  €0.17/kWh.

Nearby, Greece is making similar moves, as the Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos recently named solar energy as a national priority. He also hopes to commit $25 billion to make Greece 100% powered by renewable energy.  Papademos recognizes a Greece comparative advantage in solar power- and plans to power its neighbors as well. However, according to EU Commissioner for Energy, Gunther Oettinger, Greece must significantly beef up its grid capabilities- first. Still it's widely accepted that the country could be the key to a trans-European electricity grid.

Read more about Italy and Greece's solar goals and power potential in this article by Steve Leone- Greece, Italy See Solar as Path to Economic Stability.

North Carolina plans for a renewable energy campus

Russell Thomas is planning North Carolina's first solar-powered business campus. The campus, in Asheville, NC, would consist of thousands of square feet of warehouse, office and retails space on a 12.5 acre tract of land. The campus, called Reems Creek Renewable Energy Campus, would generate enough electricity to power the campus and still have left-over power to feed back to the energy grid. 

Ideally businesses that manufacture and install solar systems would make the Reems Creek Campus home, but Thomas is also seeking other entities that value environmental sustainability for his spaces. The campus is still in planning phase, but you can see more about it at their website www.renewabilities.org/  or read  about it in the Asheville's Citizen Times here.

Thailand takes a giant solar step

Natural Energy Development (NED), is a partnership of local and foreign financial institutions teamed up with the manufacturer Sharp Corporation. Together they are preparing to develop the largest solar plant to date in Thailand.

The project is a 73MW solar plant in the Lopburi province (about 2 hours from Bangkok). The initial phase will start at 8MW and additional capacity will come on line in monthly phases until full capacity is reached in 2013.

The Asian Development Bank has loaned up to US$70 million, and the Kasikorn Bank PCL, Bangkok Bank PCL and Siam Commercial Bank PCL have provided an additional US$98 million). In addition, all of the banks have promised another US$39 million for the 11 MW second phase expansion.

NED has entered into a power purchase agreement with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand for purchasing 55 MW from the commercial operation date. When fully operational, the project is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 1.3 million tonnes over its life time, and reduce fossil fuel imports by more than 35,000 tonnes per year. But this isn't the only large project in the works in Thailand, and when they all come on line- Thailand is poised to be a new leader in solar. Read more about the NED project and the others in the works in Jeremy Wilcox's article Thailand Joins the Solar Fast Lane.

New State Law Aims to Increase Incentives in Massachusetts

Some US states are actively trying to make things a little more difficult for citizens interested in using renewable energy. Massachusetts, however, is trying to make it easier. The state Senate unanimously passed a law last week increasing the incentives to utilize renewable energy.  The bill will now move to the house.

The new law will increase the required amount of power utility companies must buy.  and aims to curb energy costs at the same time. According to the new law, utility companies will no longer conduct one on one negotiations with renewable power companies- but are required to competitively bid for these long term contracts.t

In a statement, Senate President Therese Murray said "the bill will help bring down the state's high electricity costs without compromising its commitment to renewable energy."

Read more about it in Business Week

North Carolina's Solar Lead

North Carolina is well known as a leader in renewable energy.  It was ranked 8th in the nation in renewable energy after installing 55 megawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity in 2011. The State boasts a portfolio standard to enable renewable energy growth, and a 35% corporate tax credit to encourage green energy adoption.  With the help of policies and increasing demand,  the cost of commercial scale solar PV systems have become competitive with the retail commercial electricity rates. The Charlotte Observer profiles a major investor that was attracted to spend money in North Carolina because of these policies; SunEnergy1.

And yet,  the small solar target of the renewable energy portfolio standards is now preventing NC's solar industry from reaching its full potential. The article reports that the current low portfolio standards are depressing the value of the renewable energy certificates. They point to the low REC values as a reason a "significant number of large companies are absolutely sitting on the fence as to whether to build a system." 

Click here to read the full article, SunEnergy1 wants North Carolina to shine in solar power by Bruce Henderson.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/04/14/3171419/sunenergy1-wants-north-carolina.html#storylink=cpy

Mobile, solarpowered classrooms bring education to rural South Africa.

Samsung has designed and is now building a 12-metre long shipping container with an array of gadgets including laptops, video cameras and 50 inch e- boards instead of blackboards. These portable schools have space for 21 students and connect to a central location- like the department of education to access other curriculum based content.  These schools-in-a-box can be carried by truck to remote areas, survive harsh weather conditions and operate even without electricity supply.

How, you might ask, could all of these gadgets run without saddling up to some power lines? Solar panels, of course. Foldaway solar panels power the classroom for up to 9 hours a day, and even over a full day without any sunlight at all- for those rainier seasons.

Samsung Electronics Africa has set a goal for themselves to positively impact 5 million lives by 2015. This seems like a pretty good step in the right direction. Read David Smith's report to the Guardian about Samsung's project here. 

Mowing the Lawn is the New Frontier

Researchers are working on a way to break down plant matter for it's photosynthetic molecules, and then spread that on solid instrument to create a solar panel. The ultimate hope is to be able to pour a mixture of chemicals on a bag of raked leaves or cut grass and create a paint that could then turn your windows into electricity producing panels. 

MIT researcher Andreas Mershin explains a different way of turning trash into treasure.

 Biophotovoltaics isn't a brand new idea, but low efficiencies, rapid degradation and dissemination of the paint-like mixture have stumped researchers up until now. Nine scientists recently published research on new advances that improve performance and could possibly allow the paint like mixture to be used on materials like recycled glass or metal. 

Read more about the science behind these biophotovoltaics in this report. Or check out Think Progresses take on the new advance!

Mera Gao Powers Indian Communities

Many governments  struggle with the immense expense of developing traditional infrastructure for electricity. In the world of competing priorities, and limited resources, rural communities are often left without access to energy. Mera Gao Power, however, is working to find a solution to this problem in India. According to a 2010 report by the World Resources Institute, 48% of rural households in India are unelectrified. That translates into 400 million people nationwide that cannot access electricity of any kind. Mera Gao Power, is using innovative off grid solar solutions to address this problem. They are building and maintaining solar powered micro grids that provide electricity to village houses. This electricity is used for powering lamps and charging mobile phones - impacting various aspects of daily life.

The systems need only four solar panels to supply electricity for  a village of 100 households. Each household that signs up receives two LED lights and one mobile-charging point for 25 rupees (about $.50) per week. The setup cost is an additional one time fee of 40 rupeees (about $.80).  USAID has provided enough funding to Mera Gao Power to set up 50 villages this year, but their aim is to power 100,000 households by 2016  with these solar micro grids.

MGP's Model: panels, battery, distribution, lights

Read more about it in the Guardian, or check out Mera Gao Power's website!

No Stone Unturned: New Research Captures More Light

Researchers from MIT, Zhejiang University, Taiyuan University and the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign are some of the first developing new ways to use metamaterials for solar panels to capture a wide range of light. This newest design of panels uses a pattern of wedge shaped ridges which can then capture light at a wide range of wavelengths and angles of incidence. In other words- no light goes unused- this new design has an efficiency of almost 95%.

credit: Yanzia Cui, MIT

Metamaterials are extremely thin, which reduces the weight and cost of the panels, and this new design is easily created using standard photovoltaic cell manufacturing equipment.  Researchers hope to use this discovery to create an extremely high efficiency solar cells or optical sensors. Check out MIT's news to learn more about the science behind this new design. It will also be detailed in an upcoming issue of the journal Nano Letters. But you can find a preliminary version of the paper here. 

Solar for Relief

LuminAID Lab has a neat product that has big implications for relief work and other areas that struggle to access electricity. The compact and highly portable lantern inflates to a pillow appearance with an LED light that gives off 4-6 hours of light at a time. Per usual, the LuminAID lantern takes about 3-5 hours to charge, but it holds that charge for quite a while making it quite ideal for transporting out to rural areas, conflict zones or communities recovering from disasters.

Watch the video LuminAID made about their product, or check out their website.