Solar panels installed at Canyon County school .

NAMPA -- Solar panels are the newest addition at Idaho Arts Charter School. The school was given a grant for the solar panels through Idaho Power's Solar 4R Schools program and Bonneville Environmental Foundation.  It is the first Canyon County School to be part of the Solar 4R Schools program.
Idaho Arts Charter School is the first school to use thin film solar technology. The solar panels are placed directly on top of the schools roof. Patti Best with the Solar 4R Schools program says the panels should produce enough energy to power one classroom for a year.
The amount of energy the panels produce is minimal when you look at how much energy the school uses. But Idaho Power says the project isn't about how much energy the panels produce but how much the students learn.
"The real purpose of this program is to educate the students and to get them excited about all the different technologies that are coming down the pipe," said Best. "These panels are a great way to get hands-on experience. They can really learn on a sunny day what do these panels do, on a cloudy day hey they are still going to produce a little bit of power and how does that compare.  Maybe inspire them to say how do we make these panels better."
Principal Jacki Collins hopes the solar panels may inspire students to think of new technology or ways to improve the solar panels people already use.
"You give that to kids and their minds begin working and their creativity," said Collins. "So they go out and they start to think of different ways to use solar energy and different ways to create panels. That is where it all gets started."

Solar panels to line roof of U building

By the start of 2012, a building on the University of Minnesota campus will be partially powered by the sun.
The University will use $230,000 of a $1.35 million grant to install solar panels on the roof of the University Office Plaza Building. The city of Minneapolis authorized the University to use part of the grant from the Minnesota Department of Commerce Office of Energy Security  for the installation, which will be finished by the end of the year.
Located next to TCF Bank Stadium, the building’s solar panels will create an estimated 38.4 kilowatts of solar electric power — enough energy to supply five homes a year, said Brad Hoff, chief administrative officer for Facilities Management.
“38 kW is a sizable amount, and it will provide a significant amount of energy,” said Louise Goldberg, director of the University’s Energy Systems Design Program.
But Hoff said they’ll have a small impact on reducing the University’s total energy output when compared to other energy-saving practices.
The University is hoping the panels will help save 3 to 5 percent of the building’s energy consumption, Hoff said.
Other energy-saving practices like re-commissioning — a process performed every five years that adjusts functions in University buildings like temperature levels, fan schedules and light usage — save 15 to 20 percent in energy reductions, he said. Hoff compared it to “tuning a car.”
“I think the solar panels will be a good learning experience,” he said, “but it’s not like they’re going to put a huge dent in our carbon footprint.”
Once installed, the University will create an online interface where anybody can see a live feed of the energy generated and saved by the solar panels.
The installation of solar panels at the University Office Plaza Building, which houses the Minnesota Daily suite, is part of a regional effort to improve energy sustainability.
The project is part of the Energy Innovation Corridor — a string of energy efficient projects, like LEED-certified buildings and charging stations for electric cars, along the 11-mile stretch of the Central Corridor light-rail line.
Numerous green projects along the corridor have already been completed, such as the Target Center’s Vegetated Roof, as well as installation of solar panels on the roof of the Minneapolis Convention Center, the Seven Corners Apartment Building on the West Bank and atop Fire Station 19 in Stadium Village.
The corridor is using the $1.35 million grant to harvest a total of 190.2 kW in solar electric power along the light rail.
Because most of the funding comes from a state grant, the city will make its money back from the entire network of solar panels in less than three months, according to the city.
While Goldberg appreciates the city’s commitment to alternative energy, she said she questions whether solar energy is the most effective energy source to promote.
“What really is important with renewable energy is the cost effectiveness of each dollar spent,” Goldberg said.

Deepwater to build first U.S. offshore wind farm

(Reuters) - Deepwater Wind is racing to build the first U.S. offshore wind farm off Rhode Island and hopes to parlay that into a string of East Coast farms that could partially replace embattled nuclear power plants.The privately held U.S. wind power developer plans to begin construction of the $205 million, 30-megawatt Block Island project in 2013 or 2014, ahead of a farm proposed by Cape Wind which had been expected to be the nation's first offshore facility, according to Deepwater's CEO.
"Believe it or not, the first offshore wind farm will probably happen in little Rhode Island," CEO William Moore told Reuters in an interview.
The energy generated by the 30-megawatt Block Island project will be enough to power about 10,000 homes in Rhode Island. The company is planning other projects off the Atlantic Coast as well, with three 1,000-meagawatt projects currently in the works.
The company says a 1,000-megawatt offshore wind project will produce enough electricity for 350,000 homes.
Deepwater, majority owned by New York investment firm DE Shaw and minority owned by onshore wind developer First Wind, gained ground against other developers after Rhode Island picked the company, based in the state capitol city of Providence, as its preferred developer.
Rhode Island was not the first state to consider the clean energy prospects offered by offshore wind farms, but it moved decisively after concluding offshore wind power should be part of its energy mix.
Moore said Deepwater, as Rhode Island's preferred developer, last year submitted an unsolicited application with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) for a lease to build a separate 1,000-MW Deepwater Wind Energy Center in federal waters off Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
"The federal government has said it will give consideration to states that have conducted these kind of preferred developer competitions in terms of their decision about who can lease the federal waters," Moore said.
Moore said the second Rhode Island project would consist of about 200 turbines and could be connected via cables to the Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York power grids.
"In order to get a competitive cost level, we need to get to scale, which means 750 to 1,000 MW, and at that size you are better off trying to sell into multiple markets," Moore said.
The company has already bid the Deepwater project into the Long Island Power Authority's request for proposals for new energy sources for its New York customers on Long Island.
EYES ON THE BIG APPLE
While Cape Wind still expects its 420-MW project in Massachusetts to be the nation's first utility-scale offshore wind farm, Deepwater hopes its small Block Island wind farm will be stepping stone to bigger projects.
With New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo pressing to shut the 2,065-MW Indian Point nuclear power plant in 2013 and 2015 when its two reactors' operating licenses expire, Moore is proposing a 1,000-MW offshore wind project near New York City.
Entergy, the nuclear plant's owner, wants Indian Point to run for another 20 years and is seeking new licenses for the reactors from federal nuclear regulators.
"There is a lot of excitement in New York because the possibility Indian Point may be retired in coming years," Moore said.
"That has created a bit of an opening for offshore wind to participate in whatever process New York conducts to replace the energy from the nuclear plant."
Moore said Deepwater's Hudson Canyon Wind Farm will participate in the New York Power Authority's competition to select a developer, probably in 2013.
In addition, Deepwater and its partner New Jersey energy company Public Service Enterprise Group have already filed for a federal lease to build their proposed 1,000 MW Garden State Offshore Energy project off New Jersey.
Moore expects New Jersey regulators will conduct a competition and select a preferred developer in 2012. He also said BOEM could issue a lease for New Jersey later in 2012.
OBSTACLES
While the allure of clean wind energy is great, developers have faced several obstacles, including significantly higher costs than natural gas and even onshore wind power generators.
It can cost about six times more money to build an offshore wind farm ($6,000 per kilowatt) compared to an efficient natural gas-fired power plant ($1,000 per kilowatt).
Once the gas plant is built it can be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The wind farm is only available when the wind is blowing.
Moore said a 1,000 MW offshore wind project could cost about $4 billion to $5 billion.
While proposed offshore projects are generally closer to the nation's biggest population centers and have access to more consistent, stronger winds, it costs about twice as much to build an offshore wind farm than an onshore wind farm.
Developers also must lock up customers before breaking ground. UK-based energy company National Grid, which owns utilities in New England, has agreed to buy all the output from Block Island under a 20-year agreement and half of the power from Cape Wind. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)

Solar Power Researchers Seek a Leaf Breakthrough

Tue Oct 11, 2011 2:13am EDT

by Pete Danko
One of the keenest areas of solar power research these days is into how nature turns the sun's rays into energy for growth. While MIT researchers have devised what they call an "artificial solar leaf" - essentially a silicon solar cell with different catalytic materials bonded to each side that allow it to split a water molecule into oxygen and hydrogen - a group of scientists from around the world says that by mimicking natural photosynthesis and using tiny molecular circuits, harvesting and transporting solar power could be made far more efficient.
This theory comes from Graham Fleming at UC Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory; Gregory Scholes of the University of Toronto; Alexandra Olaya-Castro from London's University College; and Rienk van Grondelle of the University of Amsterdam. Together they authored "Lessons from nature about solar light harvesting" in the journal Nature Chemistry.
The researchers began with the observation that in plants, antenna complexes capture sunlight and direct the energy to "reaction centers" that then carry out the chemistry necessary to make the energy useful. Berkeley's Fleming emphasizes that while a number of hurdles need to be overcome to devise man-made systems based on this model, "a clear framework exists for the design and synthesis of an effective antenna unit for future artificial photosynthesis systems."
London's Olaya-Castro, meanwhile, notes that a key fact to consider is the extraordinary ability of leaves to separate out energy they can use from energy that might be counterproductive. "On a bright sunny day, more than 100 million billion red and blue 'coloured' photons strike a leaf each second," she said. ""Under these conditions plants need to be able to both use the energy that is required for growth but also to get rid of excess energy that can be harmful. Transferring energy quickly and in a regulated manner are the two key features of natural light-harvesting systems."
That's why, says Toronto's Scholes, the molecular circuitry they envision would have to be remarkably intricate - "10 times smaller than the thinnest electrical wire in computer processors." According to Scholes, "these energy circuits could control, regulate, direct and amplify raw solar energy which has been captured by human-made pigments, thus preventing the loss of precious energy before it is utilized."

Did wind turbines blow away rural Liberal seats?

October 7, 2011

Rural Ontario had 'lost its voice’ says upstart who toppled Ag Minister Carol Mitchell

by SUSAN MANN
The Liberal position favouring wind turbines may have contributed to Thursday night’s election defeat of Agriculture Minister Carol Mitchell and Environment Minister John Wilkinson.
The two cabinet ministers were among several Liberal defeats as the party lost more than half of the seats it previously held in southwestern Ontario. But the Liberals still managed to squeak out their third election victory winning a minority government with 53 seats, while the Progressive Conservatives won 37 seats and the New Democrats have 17 seats.
PC Lisa Thompson, general manager of the Ontario Dairy Goat Co-operative, won in Huron Bruce with 19,126 votes to Mitchell’s 14,663 votes and NDP candidate Grant Robertson’s 9,374 votes. He is a former Ontario coordinator for the National Farmers Union (NFU).
Thompson, who raises goats for meat on her farm, says turbines were only one reason for her win over Mitchell.
“Over the last seven years rural Ontario seemingly has lost its voice,” she explains. In Huron-Bruce, the riding has been losing schools, jobs and its municipal autonomy. She says corporations drove wind energy developments in a top-down fashion “as opposed to an economic strategy that made sense for local communities and municipalities.”
The election results are a loud and clear message to Premier Dalton McGuinty “that rural Ontario matters and they want to be treated as equal partners at the table,” she says.
Is there an agriculture critic’s position in Thompson’s future? She says her number one priority is to represent the hard working families of Huron-Bruce and anything that comes after that she will take in stride.
Maria Van Bommel, Mitchell’s parliamentary assistant and the MPP for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, lost to PC Monte McNaughton. He won with 19,348 votes to Van Bommel’s 12,424 votes. Environment Minister John Wilkinson, 13,652 votes, was defeated in Perth-Wellington by PC Randy Pettapiece, who got 14,282 votes.
Neither Mitchell nor Van Bommel could be reached for comment.
In eastern Ontario, a former agriculture minister, Leona Dombrowsky, the current education minister, lost in her Prince Edward-Hastings riding to PC Todd Smith. He won with 18,732 votes compared to Dombrowsky’s 15,688 votes.
Mark Wales, Ontario Federation of Agriculture vice president, says the election was fought based on issues that were important to the people of each riding and who the candidates were. It really wasn’t about the parties or the leaders.
He agrees with observers who say wind turbines may have been the deciding factor that blew Mitchell and Wilkinson out of their ridings. He isn’t sure what happened in Van Bommel’s riding but “it could have been a bit of spill over on the wind.”
Wales believes a Liberal minority government is a positive development in the provincial political landscape as far as the Federation is concerned. “It offers lots of opportunities. All three parties had many of our policy positions in their platforms.”
All parties supported the business risk management programs, environmental goods and services payments and properly funded rural municipalities, he says, noting there was a difference in energy policies between the Liberals and Conservatives.
Wales says it was nice to see a farmer elected to the NDP caucus – dairy farmer John Vanthof who won in the Northern Ontario riding of Timiskaming Cochrane.
Joe Dama, NFU Ontario coordinator, agrees a minority government is positive. “They’ll all want to listen to us and I think that will help us out,” he says. All three parties are in favour of the risk management program and they will all be trying to help “us out to make sure the risk management program is fully funded through the feds as well.”
Dama says he was surprised by Mitchell and Van Bommel’s defeat. He says he thought they both worked hard for farmers.
As for who takes over Mitchell’s job as agriculture minister, a spokesperson at Ontario Liberal Party headquarters says her replacement hasn’t been named yet. On Friday morning, the Liberals issued a press release announcing Dwight Duncan will remain as finance minister and he has been asked to immediately start working on an economic update for Ontarians.
Henry Stevens, president of the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, couldn’t be reached for comment. BF

Solar and oil: New energy helps extract old in California

Think about the uses solar energy can be put to, and what comes to mind? Solar panels for making electricity, certainly. Solar thermal for heating water. Solar chargers for powering up cellphone and laptop batteries, maybe. But what about using solar energy to help pull more crude out of aging oil wells?
That’s what BrightSource Energy, a solar thermal technology company, is doing.  And not just for any oil drilling project, but for the largest enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project in the world.
The project got under way this week in Coalinga, California.  Built for Chevron Technology Ventures, the 29-megawatt-thermal “solar-to-steam” facility will use BrightSource’s proprietary technology to convert sun energy into high-temperature and high-pressure steam for EOR.
The BrightSource technology features 3,822 heliostats, each made of two 10×7-foot mirrors mounted to a six-foot steel pole. The mirrors are focused on a boiler on top of a 327-foot-tall solar tower. The boiler produces steam that is then pumped deep into the sub-surface oil reservoir to heat the area. That increases the pressure of the reservoir and reduces the viscosity of the oil, making it easier to bring to the surface. To conserve water use, the steam is then cooled and recirculated in a closed-loop system.
One of the oldest oil fields in the US, Chevron’s Coalinga site began operations in the 1890s. Because the field’s heavy crude does not flow readily, steam is injected into reservoirs to heat the crude, making it easier to bring to the surface. Steam at the field has traditionally been generated by burning natural gas.
“The energy intensity associated with extracting heavy-oil is extremely high,” said Paul Markwell, senior director of upstream research with IHS CERA. “Many of the known heavy-oil reserves around the world have limited access to cost-effective fuel sources and are located in areas with high solar resources. This provides an ideal environment for the use of solar thermal technologies for enhanced oil recovery.”

Solar project looks to energize economy

State Sen. Bill Montford, right, congratulates Gadsden County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director David Gardner on the National Solar Power's massive solar farm project. / Dave Hodges/Democrat

With the excitement of a massive solar-energy farm coming to the community still fresh on their minds, Gadsden County businesses are looking ahead to the potential such a project could have on the local economy.
Monday's announcement by National Solar Power was a discussion topic Wednesday at the "Go Gadsden" breakfast of the Gadsden County Chamber of Commerce. The invited speaker, state Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, told the gathering the project's impact will extend well beyond the county.
"This is good for Gadsden County, but it's good for all of North Florida," Montford said during the breakfast at the Florida Public Safety Institute in Midway. "We believe it's just the beginning."
Montford talked about the Florida Legislature's continued challenges in coping with state budget limitations as demand for government services increases. In the case of Gadsden County and its school system, the solar farm is anticipated to generate $120 million in property tax receipts throughout the life of the project.
Melbourne-based National Solar Power announced Monday that Gadsden County was its choice for the first farm construction — the Southeast's largest such solar project to date. It will sell power directly to electric utilities and will be big enough to power about 32,000 homes. It is expected to require up to 400 construction personnel to build, then will have a permanent staff of 120 thereafter.
"We have lost a lot of jobs over the last few years with the nurseries and a printing house," said chamber president Charlie Brown, referring to businesses that have closed. The solar project comes along at a good time, he added. "Hopefully, it will be a catapult for other jobs and other companies in Gadsden County."
Paul Gleasman, chief financial officer for Ram Construction & Development, said his company is looking at the business potential for the work necessary to create the solar facilities. There will be 90,000 solar panels per farm, with build-out consisting of twenty 200-acre parcels.
"I am very excited about it," Gleasman said. "In fact, it is interesting that North Florida is taking the lead on renewable energy."
"If you can add that accolade to your resume, that's very impressive," he added.
David Dickson, senior project scientist for environmental consulting firm Cardno Entrix, agreed. "Good things are happening for Gadsden County," he said. "It's something this region has sorely needed."
Montford thanked chamber executive director David Gardner for his efforts to pursue the solar project and build local support for it. Gardner responded that he suspects more companies may bring projects to the area once they hear of National Solar Power's decision to make a $1.5-billion investment in Gadsden County.
"This is going to be great. I am still trying to grasp it," Gardner said of the economic impact.