Carnegie Wave Energy project in WA is on the mark

www.proactiveinvestors.com.au
November 16, 2009

Wave Energy developer Carnegie Corporation Energy (ASX: CWE) has announced its MW Western Australian project is on track with the first commercial scale autonomous CETO unit scheduled for deployment early next year. In a statement, Carnegie Corporation said development of the small scale commercial demonstration project in the waters off Garden Island was running smoothly with the autonomous (stand-alone) unit deployment also going well. Recently, the company has carried out a detailed marine geophysical survey using a combination of seismic refraction, sidescan sonar and bathymetry systems.

The survey determined the composition and features of the seabed across the development site to support mooring design and inform environmental baseline assessments. Other activities also over the past few months include detailed SCUBA diver surveys to determine the environmental values of the development site and verify geophysical properties of the seabed, finalisation of detailed design and installation methodology of the mooring, charter of a specialist jack-up rig for installation of the mooring and a comprehensive consultation with key stakeholders.

The geophysical surveys were carried out with the use of a Defence Maritime Services vessel and in accordance with applicable environmental guidelines. The survey results verified expected seabed conditions and allowed finalisation of the detailed design and installation methodology for the mooring. The mooring design is based on a drilled and grouted pile and is currently being manufactured ahead of its deployment in the coming weeks, subject to final State Government approvals. Mooring deployment activities on site will be undertaken in accordance with the conditions of approval to install and operate the CETO unit and with regard for other marine users.

The first commercial scale, autonomous CETO unit is scheduled for deployment in early 2010. Carnegie Corporation chief executive and managing director Michael Ottaviano said the 5MW project, following successful testing of the autonomous unit, would be the first commercial scale wave energy project to operate in Australia and is supported by a $12.5 million grant from the Western Australian Government. "Successful autonomous unit testing in 2010 will be the most significant milestone achieved in the development of CETO as it will prove the technology's functional performance at full scale," Mr Ottaviano said. "Development beyond this point will then focus on refining performance, extending reliability and balance of plant improvements."

The location of the first large scale commercial project will occur at one of the CETO international sites currently being studied. "Carnegie Corporation has been investigating several locations globally where high power tariffs co-exist with excellent wave resources," Mr Ottaviano said. "Some of these sites also involve mandated Government support for renewable energy generally and wave energy specifically. "The combination of these factors will contribute to an attractive economic return for the first large scale project." A decision on the location of the first international project site is expected shortly.

Due to its exceptional wave resource and improving renewable energy policy framework, Australia remains an important focus for Carnegie Corporation. The company will continue to develop CETO projects in Australia and to continue its feasibility activities at its current pipeline of sites across Australia. The CETO system distinguishes itself from other wave energy devices by operating out of sight and being anchored to the ocean floor. An array of submerged buoys is tethered to seabed pump units. The buoys move in harmony with the motion of the passing waves, driving the pumps which in turn pressurise water that is delivered ashore via a pipeline. High-pressure water is used to drive hydroelectric turbines, generating zero-emission electricity.

Minchin has no excuse for his ignorance

Crikey.com.au
Monday 16/11/2009 Page: 1
Mungo MacCallum

The most depressing statistic of modern times is the one that tells us that well over 50% of adult Americans do not believe in evolution. Or at least it was until last week, when Senator Nick Minchin, the Liberal leader in the senate, told Four Corners that a majority of his party room did not accept the reality of man-made climate change. At least the Americans - - well, some of them, anyway - - have an excuse for their ignorance and perversity. In a great many places education standards are low and the general environment is bigoted and provincial. The evolution denialists can reasonably claim that they don't know any better.

But Liberal members of the Australian federal parliament are among the most privileged groups in the world, with access to the best education money can buy. That a majority can comprehensively reject a scientific consensus that has been confirmed over more than two decades is almost beyond belief - - until you remember that these people are first and foremost politicians for whom the truth has always been an optional extra.

What concerns them is political advantage, and rightly or wrongly they perceive their current advantage lies in opposing the government's emissions trading scheme. They could, of course argue about the detail and seek to amend it, which is what the more rational members of the party are doing. But it is far easier just to reject the lot, to say it's all a left wing conspiracy and a fraud cooked up by communist greenies intent on destroying the Australian way of life.

They take their cue from the right-wing commentariat headed by Andrew Bolt, Janet Albrechtsen and Miranda Devine, none of whom is inclined to let the facts get in the way of a good diatribe. Their loathing for the left in general and the Greens in particular is so obsessive that the mere suggestion that the Greens might support a position is sufficient for them to condemn it out of hand.

So in pursuing their vendetta against the reality of man-made climate change they are prepared to give aid and comfort, and most importantly media space, to every maverick dissenter who emerges from the woodwork. This utterly unmerited exposure is calculated to make it appear that the argument is still unsettled, there is still a sizeable and respectable body of scientists who doubt the validity of the climate change thesis. There isn't: the basic fact of man-made climate change is accepted by all but the fruitloops - - and it would appear that Australians are among them.

Britain's new High Commissioner to Australia, Baroness Valerie Amos, commented rather tactlessly last week that she was surprised to find there was still debate about it in her new posting. She refrained from suggesting that she felt herself surrounded by slow learners, even primitives, but the point was clear. Throughout the civilised world, man-made climate change is a scientific fact, up there with the law of gravity. Of course there is still debate about the details, but no serious student of the literature questions the role played by carbon emissions in accelerating global warming or the catastrophic consequences which will flow from it unless action mistaken.

Those who pretend otherwise can no longer plead ignorance, so their perversity must be put down either to cynical self-interest or to sheer bloodymindedness. In the case of the recalcitrants in the Liberal Party room it is probably a combination of the two. So Kevin Rudd is perfectly entitled to excoriate them in the strongest possible terms, as he finally did in his Lowy lecture.

The pity is that he has left it so long. For most of the last two years the government has virtually ignored the debate on climate change in favour of pursuing its agenda on the Global Financial Crisis. This is understandable in the circumstances, but it has left a political vacuum to be filled by the denialists and as a result public opinion, once red hot for action on climate change, is now at best lukewarm. There is confusion over just what the government's emissions trading scheme entails and doubts over its efficacy.

Rudd is now attempting to revive the sense of urgency which prevailed at the start of his term. But it may be too little too late. As, of course, may be whatever course of action is determined at Copenhagen next month. And if Copenhagen is a flop, Minchin and his troops will undoubtedly claim the failure as a justification for their do-nothing stance, and even as some sort of political victory. Those whom the gods seek to destroy, they first make mad.

Wind of change is a capital idea

Daily Telegraph
Tuesday 17/11/2009 Page: 42

THE windfarm to power Sydney's desalination plant starts work this week and owner Infigen Energy said similar projects would drive the company's growth. The 67-turbine Capital Wind Farm, near Bungendore, east of Canberra, will be the state's largest windfarm, more than five times the size of any other, Infigen Energy said. The windfarm, opening tomorrow, can generate 140.7 MWs, enough to power 60,000 homes, although average output is expected to be slightly more than one third of full capacity.

Most of the windfarm's output will power Sydney Water's desalination plant at Kurnell, in Sydney's south, under a deal done last year. Infigen Energy managing director Miles George said the desalination plant would use 40MW of electricity when it starts this summer, and any leftover power from the farm would go into the national electricity grid. The opening marks a major milestone for Infigen Energy, formerly known as Babcock and Brown Wind Partners until a management internalisation in April this year.

With four Australian wind farms working, another being built and 12 in its project pipeline, Infigen Energy said federal government renewable energy targets will be the main driver for its future growth. Plans to sell Infigen Energy's windfarm assets in the US, Germany and France were on track.

Illawarra steelers get set to tackle renewable energy

Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday 17/11/2009 Page:9

THE State Government is backing a bipartisan plan by industry, unions and University of Wollongong to gear the heavy-polluting manufacturers of the Illawarra towards renewable energy. The steel plant at Port Kembla can produce metal components for wind turbines, and be partially powered on site by recycling hot gases from its blast furnaces in a cogeneration energy plant, according to recommendations put to the Government. Wollongong would become a hub of wave power, using technology inspired by the Kiama Blowhole, under the Green jobs Illawarra Action Plan, which has attracted some early funding from the Government.

The result would be a net increase in jobs, without damaging the existing steel industry, according to the plan developed by university academics, the South Coast Labor Council, the Australian Industry Group, local governments and staff from the state environment and education departments. "This strategy provides an excellent blueprint for regions that are traditionally supported by industries like coal and steel to build long-term plans for the future," the Premier, Nathan Rees, said in a statement.

The Government will also support the purchase and development of a so-called "green street" of about eight display homes near Wollongong, which will feature examples of energy saving technology. The homes will be sold after an extended public viewing period. The South Coast Labor Council, which initiated the project, said one purpose of the exercise was to demonstrate that heavy industry and the work it sustains were compatible with reducing Australia's carbon emissions. "What we've done is broken the back of the old jobs versus environment conundrum," said Arthur Rorris, the Labor Council's secretary. "If you call do that in Wollongong' with our heavy industry steel and coal jobs, then you can do that anywhere. "Our community has come to realise we will be living in a carbon-constrained world, and our industry needs will play a role in that future."

BlueScope Steel estimated that it would have to spend up to $1 billion to fully devP[op a cogeneration plant at its Port Kembla steelworks, and shelved its plans during the economic downturn. But the proposed plant would stop the release of about 1 million tonnes of greenhouse gases per year - a significant cut to a facility responsible for about 7% of the state's total emissions. The report called for the "facilitation of urgent discussions between the Commonwealth and NSW governments, the steel industry and regional stakeholders" to get the project back on track.

Infigen sitting pretty

Age
Tuesday 17/11/2009 Page: 5

WIND farm operator Infigen Energy is looking for possible acquisitions among the many struggling renewable energy companies that have been hit by a plunge in the price of renewable energy credits. Infigen Energy managing director Miles George yesterday said more and more distressed companies were approaching Infigen Energy as a potential saviour. Small renewable energy developers have been hit hard by a plunge in the price of renewable energy certificates caused by the Federal Government solar rebate program flooding the market for the certificates.

Mr George said Infigen Energy, which is selling US wind farms worth about $US1.2 billion ($A1.3 billion) after debt, could be interested in opportunistic takeovers. Infigen Energy - known as Babcock and Brown Wind Partners until a name-change this year - had a cash balance of $405 million at the end of the financial year. Infigen Energy shares rose 1 to $1.42.

Turbines ready

Adelaide Advertiser
Tuesday 17/11/2009 Page: 39

Infigen Energy's 67-turbine windfarm, east of Canberra - which will power Sydney's desalination plant - will begin operation tomorrow. At 140.7MW, it will be the largest windfarm in NSW. Infigen Energy managing director Miles George said the desalination plant would use 40MW of electricity and any excess power generated by the windfarm would go into the national electricity grid.

Geothermal reservoir in Sri Lanka

www.dailynews.lk
16 November 2009

The potential of buried geothermal energy in Sri Lanka and the feasibility for developing geothermal energy as a source of power generation must be given a serious thought, said Institute of Fundamental Studies Director Prof. C.B. Dissanayake. Addressing the commemorative program organised by the National Research Council (NRC) of Sri Lanka at the Hilton Hotel on November 10 to mark its ten years of service to the nation and its scientific community, he said that a potential geothermal belt running from Hambantota to north of Trincomalee is discovered and there are about ten identified thermal (hot water) springs situated along this line.

"Even though, Sri Lanka is not located in an active volcanic ground unlike the vast majority of the countries that utilise geothermal energy, there are indications that a sufficient reservoir of geothermal energy exists at low enthalpy. This belt extends for over 300km and runs through some of the most underdeveloped regions of the country, and still can be utilised for national development," he noted. He pointed out that, Sri Lanka has a major challenge ahead in its search for alternate fuels with the ever growing demand for power and energy sources, and research into other forms of energy has long been overdue. "Environmental concerns have always impeded the utilisation of many fuels, and geothermal energy has minimum negative environmental impacts," he explained. He also stressed the need to work for a geothermal resource map as a research priority and added that Sri Lanka must first find and locate its natural resources.

China Pushing Solar Like Never Before

www.businessinsider.com
Nov. 15, 2009

At the 2010 China Industrial Development Forum on November 7th, Chinese officials reaffirmed their commitment to alternative energy, particularly solar, according to visit note by Goldman Sachs.

Goldman: solar energy is the other rapidly developing industry in China as China now accounts for about 1/3 of solar energy production capacity globally. The speaker refuted the view that PV cell production is an energy-ineffective process as he pointed out that the energy breakeven time is about 2 years for PV cells (energy used to produce PV cells equals the energy generated by the PV cells) but the normal lifetime is around 20 years. He also believes that solar energy could become commercially viable in the foreseeable future as the energy generating cost has been reduced from Rmb4 to Rmb1.1 per kWh over the past few years and is getting close to the Rmb0.3-0.4/kWh level of coal-fire power plants.

Given the tendency for silicon-based technology to advance at a much faster rate than most other technologies (as seen with chip speeds, and now with solar's falling cost), then should current trends continue, solar could feasibly become cheaper than coal in the not too distant future. Regardless, energy policy trends seem very much in solar's favour given China's ambitious alternative energy goals, in addition to those of developed nations.

Solar panel supply glut past peak: research

www.reuters.com
Nov 15, 2009

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The global glut of solar panels that has overwhelmed the industry for much of 2009 is past its peak as strong demand from Germany, the world's largest solar market, eats up extra supply, according to a report issued on Friday by industry research firm iSuppli. solar panels have piled up and prices have tumbled this year since the financial crisis and pullbacks in government incentives in Spain triggered a drop in demand.

The research group previously forecast the oversupply of panels to last through 2010, but said it estimates the glut could be resolved next year. "solar panel installations in Germany began surging to record levels in July as prices for photovoltaic systems plunged," said Henning Wicht, senior director of photovoltaics research for iSuppli, in a statement. "This phenomenon has boosted the global solar panel business and mitigated the severe oversupply situation that has stung the industry throughout this year." The global supply of solar panels is expected to exceed demand by nearly 66% in 2009, down from the previous forecast in August of about 92% overage, iSuppli said.

The report echoes some positive forecasts given by solar energy companies that have reported financial results recently. Chinese solar panel maker Yingli Green Energy Holding Co Ltd posted better-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday and said that demand in Europe is outstripping supply. European renewable energy companies - - such as Germany's Q-Cells AG, one of the world's largest solar cell makers - - sounded upbeat for 2010 as cost cuts and an expected pickup in demand helped lift profits after a difficult year.

Smart State's time to shine

Sunday Mail Brisbane
Sunday 15/11/2009 Page: 27

QUEENSLAND researchers have gained a $3.14 million grant from the US Department of Energy for their trailblazing solar energy technology. University of Queensland School of Mathematics and Physics Associate Professor Paul Meredith and his team of five have been developing new coatings to make solar panels on house roofs more efficient. "It is a coup for us to be operating in this market," he said. Prof Meredith's project, called XeroCoat, initially received funding from the State Government.

Climate Change Minister Kate Jones said the grant demonstrated Queensland's world leading role in green technology. "It shows that Queensland does not have to look overseas for technologies that address climate change," she said. "We have visionary people starting companies right here that are committed to developing innovative products that reduce energy and greenhouse gas emissions. The US project will enhance the viability of thin film solar panels, increasing their efficiency and helping make solar energy a viable alternative to burning fossil fuels." Ms Jones said testing by XeroCoat indicated that more efficient solar panels could mean an extra hour of energy creation.

Farmers cut from carbon plan - Concession removes major sticking point

Sunday Canberra Times
Sunday 15/11/2009 Page: 3

THE RUDD Government has upped the pressure on the Opposition over the emissions trading scheme by agreeing to exclude agriculture from the legislation to be debated this week. As negotiations wind down to the crucial vote, the Government will try to force the hand of the Opposition by agreeing to exclude farmers, growers and land owners from its carbon pollution reduction scheme - a key sticking point thus far of the Opposition's resistance to the Bill.

Federal politicians return to the national capital tomorrow for the final sitting weeks of the year with Government determined to push through its emission trading legislation before the Copenhagen conference next month. The Government had previously said the agricultural industry would be exempt from any scheme until at least 2015 but a senior Labor source said this would be extended indefinitely.

"Over the next fortnight, the Government is determined to work with the Liberal Party to achieve a negotiated agreement to establish a carbon pollution reduction scheme," the source said. "As a sign of good faith, the Government will agree to exclude agricultural emissions from coverage under the CPRS indefinitely. In light of our decision to exclude agricultural emissions indefinitely, the Government is considering ways in which the agricultural sector can contribute to the transition to a low-pollution economy. "This will include monitoring world best practice in reducing emissions in the agricultural sector."

The Opposition has been seeking amendments to the Bill that would see the permanent exclusion of agriculture on the emissions side but its inclusion for the purpose of claiming credits for good farming practices, tree planting and other green" projects. The source said the Government was considering how best to implement the amendments. "In negotiating with the Opposition, the Government will consider a range of ways in which the sector can reduce its emissions over the medium to long term, including by being able to generate offsetting credits."

Negotiations between Climate Change Minister Penny Wong - who has made her intentions of ramming the legislation through the Senate in the next two weeks consistently clear - and Opposition climate change spokesman Ian MacFarlane have been proceeding smoothly with Mr Macfarlane indicating he would have the party room numbers for the Opposition to support the Bill. He will take his amendments to a shadow cabinet meeting on November 23, before presenting the final proposal to the joint-party room.

A number of dissenters remain in the Coalition ranks, however, with backbenchers Julian McGauran, Dennis Jensen and Wilson Tuckey, all publicly rejecting an emissions trading scheme. They are expected to cross the floor in the vote. But Mr Turnbull has said if the Government were to accept a significant package of amendments, he would recommend the party room pass the Bill.

Advertising aside, coal sector hasn't dug deep

Age
Saturday 14/11/2009 Page: 2

Industry should invest in the future, not in gloomy ad campaigns.

THE coal lobby trots out some fair dinkum looking blokes in its TV commercials. But then, that's advertising. The Australian Coal Association, which hopes to blunt the Federal Government's proposed emissions trading scheme with the ad campaign, is also not being fair dinkum with the public about what the carbon pollution reduction scheme (CPRS) will do to their business, or what the industry is doing to cut greenhouse gas emissions by investing in so called clean coal technologies.

It's impossible to reconcile the ACAs doom and gloom with record planned investment in new coal mines and export infrastructure, and expectations - in ballpark terms - that exports of thermal and metallurgical coal are set to double. The ACA's claims that 9000 jobs and 16 mines will go if the CPRS gets up are contentious to say the least. Take the issue of fugitive greenhouse gas emissions from coal mines. With annual carbon dioxide emissions of 25 million tonnes from "gassy mines", and a forecast carbon price of (say) $20 a tonne, we're talking about an impost of $500 million easily covered by the assistance already being offered, of $750 million.

Turning waste coalmine methane into energy is an opportunity anyway, with companies like the unlisted methane" target="_blank">CSM Energy, which partners with AGL, specialising in just that. Citi Investment Researchgroup/Dyn/FrontPage" target="_blank">Citi Investment Researchgroup's analysts this week attacked the coal industry line. While they recognised some limited impact of the CPRS on the profitability and valuation of the coal companies, they said the scale of the debate might have superseded the scale of the evaluation impact. "We do not see CPRS as a major negative investment for the coal sector at current share prices," they said.

The ACA position on the CPRS is pure posturing, and industry executives know it even if they wont say so publicly. One industry source says Marius Kloppers, chief executive of Australia's biggest coal exporter, BHP Billiton, recently confided that he too thought the lobby group was stretching the facts. Another said simply it was pointless hoping for any endorsement for the CPRS out of the coal industry: "This is the pig shooting community we're talking about."

The real risk to the coal industry, though it may not believe it, is that the world will radically reduce coal use. Assuming some form of carbon price is brought in, shadow resources minister Ian MacFarlane told G-BIZ: "There won't be a domestic market for steaming coal in 20 years' tine." Macfarlane used to say God played a joke on Australia, putting the people on the east coast and the gas on the west coast. But with the development of Queensland's vast coal seam gas reserves, the joke is over.

Macfarlane - resources minister from 2001 to 2007 and a supporter of clean coal technology-says Australia is now "awash with gas". Coal-fired power using carbon capture and storage (CCS) will not play a significant part in Australia's future energy because, by the time it's ready, we'll have far more cost effective options. Using gas in the transition, Macfarlane thinks we'll be on to nuclear energy by then. Others think renewables could provide ample baseload power by 2030. Only the Federal Government thinks that by 2050 we'll be getting a third of our needed emissions reductions from coal-fired power with CCS. We might, if the coal industry had invested enough to make it work. But it hasn't.

Accounts filed this week showed so far, out of the ACA's so-called $1 billion Coal21 fund - the main vehicle for funding clean coal technologies - only $36.4 million has been spent since it was launched in 2006. Which is the other change Macfarlane has observed: if anything, over the past three or four years, he says CCS has "gone backWards". Queensland's Zerogen project - the biggest in Australia, with a funding commitment of up to $300 million from Coal21 (but only $6 million spent so far) - has "gone nowhere".

Oddly, Macfarlane is a supporter of the Government's $2.5 billion CCS flagships process, which hopes to part fund between two and four commercial-scale coal-fired power stations, because it will show overseas customers the technology is viable. For that reason he believes it is "very much" the role of the coalminers to invest in CCS. "[Even] $1 billion is not enough for the industry to invest, especially if the taxpayer is investing $2.5 billion," he said. The electricity sector isn't investing in CCS either.

In a sustainability briefing on Thursday, AGL conceded that just "several million dollars" had been spent on clean coal technology at its minority-owned brown-coal-fired Loy Yang power station. Fundamentally, apart from running negative advertising and lobbying campaigns, the coal industry has failed to invest in climate change abatement and is now struggling. "The industry hasn't committed enough resources at a high enough level to deal with one of the great challenges of the age," an industry source said. It's showing.

paddy.manning@fairfaxmedia.com.au

Tidal Power Milestone: A 1MW Turbine Goes Live!

www.greentechmedia.com
November 12, 2009

Ireland's OpenHydro and Nova Scotia Power have officially launched a tidal power turbine in the Bay of Fundy in Canada capable of generating 1 MW of power. The 400-ton device is located approximately three kilometers off shore and is producing power already.

Wave and tidal power companies have for years touted ocean energy as a potential growth market, but it's been mostly characterised by missteps. Finavera Renewables dropped its experimental wave buoy into the drink off of the coast of Oregon in one experiment. Pelamis Wave Power sold 750 kWs worth of wave power equipment to a company that installed it off of the coast of Portugal. It worked for a bit, but then pulled in. It hasn't been on the seas since. Meanwhile, Pelamis Wave Power tossed its CEO overboard a few weeks ago.

Small turbines off of the coast of Manhattan from Verdant were pulled in for repairs after installation. OpenHydro's is the biggest commercial turbine, wave or tidal power, to be deployed. It's an interesting device. Instead of three rotating blades, like a wind turbine, it is more like a kitchen fan. All the extra blades and steel give it survivability.

Threat of climate change should be treated like war say engineers

www.telegraph.co.uk
13 Nov 2009

Britain must adopt a 'war time footing' to tackle catastrophic climate change, a major report has warned.

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) said it would be almost impossible for the UK to meet ambitious climate change targets to cut greenhouse gases by 80 per cent by 2050 without drastic action. The only way to reach the target would be to "go to war" against carbon emissions, its report said. This would mean setting up a Department of Climate Security to act like the War Cabinet and co-ordinate action across every other Government department.

Unemployed people would be trained in making homes more energy efficient, factories would make solar panels and schools would encourage pupils to adopt more sustainable lifestyles. Money would be pumped into wind turbines, nuclear energy stations and solar panels as a matter of urgency. Individuals would also be expected to "do their bit" by reducing the amount of energy used in the home, flying less and switching to public transport rather than driving cars, the report said. Personal carbon allowances that limit the amount of energy used on transport, heating and flying could also have to be introduced.

Even then, the report said that the UK would have to adapt to a certain amount of global warming by building flood defences, making buildings cooler and changing the way cities are designed. 'Geo-engineering', such as artificial trees, that suck up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, would also have to be used in order to meet targets. Tim Fox, lead author of the report, said the population must adopt a "war mentality".

"What we are illustrating is the scale of the task before us and putting that into perspective. If you were fighting a war it would certainly need a certain level of rationing beyond what we see today to enable us to deliver the [cuts in carbon] that will still be lower than those the scientists tell us to deliver."

If the UK is to meet its legal requirements to cut emissions by 80 per cent on 1990 levels by 2050 – even if energy demand is reduced by half – it would still need to build 16 nuclear energy stations and 27,000 wind turbines by 2030, and use biomass, solar, waste, tidal power and wave energy and smart grids. Dr Fox said it was unlikely engineers will be able to build the infrastructure needed on time. "From all the evidence to date it is clear we're losing the battle with climate change. We're facing a requirement to decarbonise the economy at an unprecedented rate, which hasn't been seen in industrialised nations before."

The best rate of cutting emissions the UK has ever achieved occurred during the "dash to gas" in the 1990s. But even if the same rate was achieved now, the UK would still be 330 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over the 2050 target. Dr Fox suggested the UK make up the difference by installing around 100,000 artificial trees. "The Institution believes it's time to go to war on climate change. It's about to attack and it's time to defend ourselves and fight back," he said. Professor Kevin Anderson, director of leading climate institute the Tyndall Centre, supported the idea of a war footing to tackle climate change, including rationing.

He said people in countries like Britain may have to accept a level of "discomfort" by reducing energy and even a "loss of liberty" by travelling less but these changes in lifestyle will prevent worse suffering in the developing world due to climate change as well as the costs to our own society in the future. "Whatever the cost is of avoiding climate change – and we might think it's high – it's much lower than the costs of not avoiding dangerous climate change," he said.

$3.1m US funds for solar coat

Daily Telegraph
Monday 16/11/2009 Page: 18

AN AUSTRALIAN solar technology company has won a multi-million dollar grant from the US Government. XeroCoat, which makes an anti-reflective coating to increase the efficiency of solar panels, has been awarded a $3.1 million US Department of Energy grant. The company, started by two University of Queensland researchers, was now a world leader in its field, Queensland Environment Minister Kate Jones said. "It shows that Queensland does not have to look overseas for technologies that address climate change," she said. "We have visionary people starting companies right here that are committed to developing innovative products that reduce energy and greenhouse gas emissions." The US project will focus on increasing the efficiency of thin film solar panels to give them an extra hour of energy creation, helping to make solar energy a viable alternative to fossil fuels.

No such thing as clean coal

Summaries - Australian Financial Review
Saturday 14/11/2009 Page: 26

After years of shameless pretence from both sides of politics, opposition emissions trading spokesman Ian MacFarlane has finally ended the great bipartisan dream that Australia's largest export earner, coal, could someday be made 'clean.' Mr Macfarlane told the ABC that carbon capture storage 'will not materialise for 20 years, and probably never.' The Global Carbon Capture Storage Institute says that until the price for an emissions permit reaches $90 a tonne, it will be cheaper for a coal-fired power station to pay the penalty and keep pumping out greenhouse gases rather than capture and store them.

A $90-a-tonne permit price would make CCS far more expensive in Australia than wind, geothermal and other emerging renewable technologies. James Cameron of Climate Change Capital in London says CCS requires huge underground chambers to store CO2 and a big investment in infrastructure, including pipes to transport liquefied gas.

The Australian Coal Association now accepts the science of global warming but has rejected the proposed emissions trading scheme. A Rio Tinto/BP joint venture to store carbon off the West Australian coast has been abandoned because a suitable site could not be found, while Santos has postponed its $1 billion sequestration trial at Moomba in the Cooper Basin, citing the need for high oil prices and a significant carbon price to make the project economic. The Co-operative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies, one of the leading advocates for CCS, has warned that people will 'just move on' if there is not 'significant progress within five years.'

Macfarlane and Liberal Party colleague Greg Hunt, the opposition's environment spokesman, are looking into another version of CCS. MBD Energy, which is building a $2.5 million display plant at Loy Yang power station in Victoria, is testing technology developed by James Cook University in Queensland which injects captured CO2 into waste water and transforms it into oil-laden algae which can be used to make biodiesel, plastic and jet fuel.

Spain Projects Solidify Its Top Solar-Thermal Ranking

www.bloomberg.com
November 13, 2009

Spain approved wind and sun-powered projects today that solidify its ranking as the world's biggest developer of solar thermal energy. The industry ministry approvals will increase the nation's renewable-energy potential by about 37% over three years, allowing builders of 6,000 MWs of wind energy and 2,440 MWs of solar thermal to receive higher prices and priority access to customers than fossil fuel plants.

The solar projects were picked from proposals with a combined potential to supply energy to 6.5 million residences. The nation, which has already attracted developments from France's Alstom SA, is home to the world's largest wind-energy investors, Iberdrola SA and Acciona SA. "This removes any uncertainty and brings regulatory stability to the industry," Jose Javier Ruiz, utilities analyst at Exane BNP Paribas, said today by telephone. "By formalising these projects, the companies can now secure investment."

Spain already has the world's largest development pipeline for solar thermal, which uses the sun's rays to heat liquids to a high enough temperature to produce electricity after sunset. About 2,000 MWs of solar thermal are under construction in the world, with 89% in Spain, according to an October report by industry publication CSP Today and consultant Altran Technologies. Spain has about 23,000 MWs of renewable-energy capacity, including biomass and mini-hydroelectric plants, that produce about as much power as 20 nuclear reactors.

Iberdrola, Alstom
Both forms of clean energy receive subsidised rates paid for by consumers that have fueled development by international investors such as Siemens AG of Germany and FPL Group Inc, of the U.S. The new projects, whose names of individual developers weren't disclosed, enter the ministry's registry and will be allowed to start selling energy over the next three years with their connection to the grid set out in a staggered fashion.

The full list of approved generators will be published next week, a ministry official, who declined to be named, said today. Solar Millennium AG, based in Erlangen, Germany, announced earlier this week that its Andasol 3 and Ibersol projects in Spain were approved. A bottleneck for approvals had developed since June because the government was overwhelmed with applications for green-energy plants and wanted to slow the pace of development.

Solar power startup Ausra looks to sell itself

www.reuters.com
Nov 13, 2009

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Kleiner Perkins and Khosla Ventures-backed solar thermal start-up Ausra Inc is in talks to sell itself with three potential buyers, two sources familiar with the company told Reuters on Friday. The buyers could take a majority stake or snag the whole company and the discussions are at a "very aggressive level", said one source familiar with the company, who was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.

Both sources said the interested companies were global conglomerates in the power generation business but declined to name them. The companies already have various power products, such as steam and gas turbines, and are committed to renewable energy. One interested party has engaged with Ausra previously, one source said. Ausra declined to comment.

A sale of the high profile Silicon Valley start-up that has raised $130 million in venture capital would add to a string of recent deals and growing consolidation in the solar energy industry. Chinese solar wafer manufacturer ReneSola Ltd plans to buy Dynamic Green Energy Ltd while silicon maker MEMC Electronic Materials Inc plans to acquire privately held SunEdison, which installs, maintains and finances commercial solar systems.

Privately held Ausra, which is based in Mountain View, California, launched as a solar thermal developer in 2006, when solar energy and other clean technology were luring venture capitalists. Two years ago the company landed a power purchasing agreement with California utility PG&E, a unit of PG&E Corp for a 117 MW solar thermal plant. solar thermal plants use the sun's rays to heat liquid to create steam, which drives turbines and generates electricity. Earlier this year, the company switched tracks, saying it would move away from developing projects and focus on supplying large-scale solar steam generators.

This month Ausra said that it canceled its agreement with PG&E and sold the project's land to the largest U.S. solar energy company, thin film photovoltaic FirstSolar Inc. Ausra also has deals in Jordan and Australia and other investors include Starfish Ventures and KERN Partners. One source familiar with the company said that "extensive work" has been done at various stages of completion with the interested buyers. "We're talking about meetings with dozens of people involved," said the person, who also was not authorised to speak publicly about the discussions.

Solar power at night? Yes, with a grain of salt

www.watoday.com.au
November 13, 2009

IN THE past few years, something remarkable has emerged on a dry plateau in the Spanish province of Granada. At the Andasol Power Plant, neat lines of 200,000 mirrors spread across 200 hectares harness the sun's rays. It is the world's largest solar plant - and energy experts are excited not so much by its scale but what it does when the sun goes down. This industrial Spanish power plant has overcome one of the biggest problems facing large-scale solar energy: how to produce electricity at night or when it is overcast. The Andasol plant stores heat from the day in molten salt, which then powers electricity turbines overnight.

The plant can continue for 7½ hours without sunlight, and more advanced plants coming online in the next few years are set to double that storage time. For Australia's solar thermal industry, such breakthroughs are critical because they disprove the old claims that solar energy is too unreliable to run an economy on. As Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull said in 2007: ''You cannot run a modern economy on wind farms and solar panels.''

The potential for solar thermal in Australia is huge. John Grimes, the Australian and New Zealand Solar Energy Society's chief executive, says enough sunlight falls on Australia in 40 minutes to power the country for a year. Keith Lovegrove, leader of the Australian National University's solar thermal team, says you could power the country on solar thermal dishes on land measuring 168 kilometres long and 168 kilometres wide. ''If you draw that on a map of Australia, it is a tiny little spot,'' he says.

Solar thermal technology can be used for many things, from heating swimming pools to domestic hot water. In large solar thermal power plants, mirrors are used to concentrate the sun's rays and create heat to warm water or oil. This heat then creates steam to drive electricity turbines - mimicking the steam-driven process inside coal-fired power stations.

Solar thermal's future role in powering Australia is being highlighted by the Run for a Safe Climate, a 6021-kilometre run by emergency services workers from Cooktown to Melbourne to highlight the need for action on climate change. The runners will visit a solar plant in NSW today, and ANU's solar dish next week. Globally, solar thermal is growing, particularly in Spain, where the Government offers generous tariffs, and in the US, where there are favourable tax incentives. The largest project is a 1000-MW plant being built on a US air force base that will generate as much power as a large coal-fired plant.

An international consortium led by the world's biggest re-insurance company, Munich Re, is pushing ahead with a $430 billion plan to supply Europe with solar energy from the Sahara Desert from as early as 2015. Ausra founder David Mills told The Age he was excited by the Andasol plant's breakthrough, as well as US research showing the country's solar and wind resources could cover Americans' hourly energy demands. ''It's very exciting work and, once this is done, people will understand that it is very easy to power modern society with renewable energy.''

Red tape holding up bid for cheap, clean power

Courier Mail
Friday 13/11/2009 Page:44

COMPANIES aiming to develop carbon pollution-free power plants in Queensland say they are being held back by unexplained delays in the state energy department. GeoDynamics is a Brisbane based global pioneer of geothermal technology that taps heat sources over 4km below ground at its Cooper Basin project in which Origin Energy has a 30% stake. It aims to have a 25-MW commercial-scale demonstration plant operating at the site in South Australia in 2013.

GeoDynamics managing director Gerry Grove-White said it expects to produce continuous or baseload-capable, zero emissions power from the site for less than $100 a MW hour. That undercuts the estimated $120-$140/MWh price of coal-fired power from plants equipped with still-unproven carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. GeoDynamics says studies show its Cooper Basin site alone has the potential to support generating capacity of over 1O,000MW, which is about a fifth of Australia's electricity capacity.

GeoDynamics is now keen to get to work in Queensland. Several months ago it agreed terms for two tenements in the state's southeast with the Queensland Mines and Energy Department. But it has not been formally issued with permits. "We would be delighted to start work on our (Queensland) tenements that have been awarded. They're stuck in bureaucracy. I wish I knew (when work could start),"~ Mr GroveWhite said. Other companies are also waiting to be issued with exploration permits for paid-for Queensland tenements. State Energy Minister Stephen Robertson's office yesterday did not respond to requests for an explanation.

Years of global research into new ways of harnessing deep underground heat for emissions-free electricity have culminated in several advanced projects, mainly in SA. Governments have been warned that global greenhouse gas emissions - largely from coal, oil and gas - need to peak by about 2015 to have a fighting chance of averting catastrophic temperature and sea-level rises. But the International Energy Agency said it· could be at least 2030 before CCS can contribute meaningfully to carbon cuts. Investment is rising in technologies that· harness the wind, sun, tidal power and subsurface heat energy. Of these, solar thermal and geothermal art' seen as most able to provide 24-hour, baseload power and thus replace coal and gas plants.

Calling TRUenergy's CPRS bluff

Crikey.com.au
Thursday 12/11/2009 Page: 1

Yesterday the Australian Conservation Foundation and Environment Victoria called the bluff of the multinational power company playing a high stakes game over the future of power generation in Victoria. For months electricity generators have been pushing for a massive increase in CPRS compensation. At the heart of their demand is a threat designed to make any politician go weak at the knees - - electricity supply may be disrupted. Generators met with the government as recently as last week.

TRUEnergy, owned by Chinese power giant CLP Group, owns several coal and gas-fired power stations in NSW and Victoria, including Yallourn in Victoria. It has aggressively criticised the government's emissions trading scheme proposals from the outset, warning in July last year that the scheme would "effectively bankrupt" generators, and they wouldn't be able to operate after December 31, 2008. That, needless to say, failed to occur.

In July this year, as part of a growing campaign by power generators to claim the impact of the GFC and the CPRS would cripple them, TRUEnergy declared it was cancelling $100 million worth of maintenance works at Yallourn. Since then, TRUEnergy have continued to claim that the reliability of supply was threatened by the CPRS, which if legislated will not start properly until mid-2012. Under the CPRS, TRUEnergy alone will receive more than $700 million worth of free permits over five years. TRUEnergy and other generators want compensation tripled to between $8 billion-$10 billion over five years for the sector.

There is industry speculation that TRUEnergy has deliberately been more aggressive than other generator owners because it is considering leaving Australia, and accordingly can afford to damage its relationship with the Victorian and federal governments. Earlier this week, TRUEnergy switched from stick to carrot, saying it would invest in new gas-fired generators - - doubling its Tallawarra facility in NSW and constructing a new plant in the Latrobe Valley - - if its balance sheet "was not wiped out by the emissions trading scheme".

The ACF and Environment Victoria yesterday wrote to the Australian Energy Regulator urging an investigation of TRUEnergy's claims that there is a systemic threat to power supplies. Today there was another round in the game of bluff, with the generators leaking "confidential legal advice" to the AFR about the possibility of supply disruptions and even an "Enron-style contagion".

Only the generators know their exact financial position and how much they are bluffing. The financial crisis has undoubtedly seriously affected their financing options. A senior Coalition figure tells of US investors who have simply crossed the Australian power industry off their areas of interest.

But yet again, there is a peculiar distinction between what large polluters say in their quest for additional compensation, and what they tell key financial stakeholders such as customers and shareholders. In its presentation to investors in February, TRUEnergy simply said it estimated it would receive about 25 million free permits and would lobby to receive more. The CPRS was not even mentioned in CLP Group's brief description of Australian issues to investors in September. No mention of possible disruption to supply.

It's a similar story from British multinational International Power PLC, which owns Hazelwood and Loy Yang B. In an interim statement to investors in the UK yesterday, International Power simply said about the CPRS "we will continue to engage with government on scheme design and implementation?". That company has a $445 million tranche of debt due for rollover in February. "We are actively reviewing refinancing options, whilst closely monitoring developments on the proposed CPRS," the statement said.

In a conference presentation in the US last week, a company representative said that it was "very actively engaged" on the CPRS but that the Australian market looked good: "significant improvement in results across the portfolio - - improved availability, higher prices, price spikes from extreme weather events". The most serious warning about the CPRS was the bland statement "clarity of CPRS required before further investment decisions can be made". Again, nothing about supply disruptions.

Yesterday TRUEnergy appeared to back away from the threat to cut power supplies. The Age reported that, in response to the ACF/Environment Victoria letter, TRUEnergy had said "at no point in time has the company believed or publicly stated that it may default on supply contracts". That's only two days after TRUEnergy CEO Richard McIndoe said about the gasfired power stations ''it takes over three years to permit and develop any new power station. If these developments do not go ahead, we see a very real risk of electricity outages in Victoria in the future".'

Environment Victoria's Mark Wakeham explained to Crikey that, even in the event of TRUEnergy shutting down Yallourn, under National Electricity Market Management Company contracting arrangements, it would be required to source power to meet its contracts, including buying electricity on the spot market if necessary. According to Wakeham, the broader concern is that the federal government may provide further compensation to incumbent electricity generators, thereby discouraging new investment in cleaner gas-fired power stations. "Origin Energy is constructing a 552MW gas-fired generator at Mortlake in Victoria, with the potential to expand to 1600MW. Santos is considering gas-fired generators.

Additional compensation for existing coal-fired generators means they can go on polluting at low cost, or use taxpayer funding to build their own gas-fired generators. Their competitors have to factor that in to their investment decisions." There is no doubt electricity generators face a much more difficult financial environment in the wake of the GFC and, to an extent, because of the CPRS. But TRUEnergy appears to have significantly overplayed its hand by threatening to turn off the lights, especially given it has failed to tell investors or key customers that there is any such problem.

Landlords forced to come clean on energy ratings - Offices turning green

Herald Sun
Friday 13/11/2009 Page: 37

BUILDING owners will be forced to reveal the energy efficiency of their properties when they sell or lease office space. The national disclosure scheme, starting next year, will mean thousands of commercial property owners face fines if they fail to provide an up-to-date Building Energy Efficiency Certificate. Commercial properties larger than 2000sq in will be affected. Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett called the scheme a "tremendous driver" for greener buildings, since tenants, owners and potential buyers would easily be able to compare the costs of running office space.

He told an Energy Efficiency Council conference in Melbourne yesterday that the plan would "help drive demand for greener offices that are not only more comfortable to work in, but can also deliver more motivated and productive workers and support cleaner energy jobs". He cited a US study that indicated "green" buildings sold for 16% more than others and had a 6% increase in rental rates. He did not provide an estimated cost for building owners, however, or make himself available to reporters for questions after the speech. Mr Garrett used the podium to expand on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's blistering rebuke last week of the "reckless gamblers" within the Opposition.

Climate change sceptics threatened positive environmental change with their "destructive irresponsibility", just a month out of the Copenhagen summit, he said. The Coalition's time in office included 12 inactive years on energy efficiency, he said, warning that current negotiations on an emissions trading scheme and environmental policy proved to be no different. "(This is) climate change scepticism 2.0 - like the new Vegemite, it's a slightly different flavour, just as brown," he said to laughs from the crowd.

Mr Garrett said the evidence had never been clearer that climate change was real and posed major risks to Australian farmland and coastal residents. As he entered the conference at a Melbourne hotel, he was confronted by Friends of the Earth activists campaigning against nuclear energy. He walked through the crowd saying "good morning" as police and hotel security held back about a dozen protesters. "How do you sleep at night, Peter?" one shouted.

Work to start on £42m Wave Hub

www.thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk
November 12, 2009

THE world's largest commercial wave farm is moving closer to fruition as its developer announced onshore construction will begin next week, writes the WMN's Graeme Demianyk. Wave Hub, which will be sited 10 miles off the north coast of Cornwall, is in effect a giant electrical grid-connected "socket" on the seabed in which green energy firms can "plug" their wave energy devices. The South West Regional Development Agency yesterday said contractors would start work at Hayle beach in Cornwall on Monday ahead of laying a massive sub-sea cable next summer.

The government-backed project has been hailed as massive boon of the Westcountry economy, creating an estimated 1,000 jobs in the region and laying the foundations for a new, well-paid marine energy industry in Cornwall. Stephen Peacock, executive director of enterprise and innovation at SWRDA, said: "This milestone is the culmination of more than six years' work by the RDA and its partners and will catapult South West England and the UK to the forefront of wave energy development. "Our aim is to create an entirely new low carbon industry in the South West and hundreds of quality jobs."

While the project has secured planning consents and around £42 million of funding from SWRDA, the EU and the Department of Energy and Climate Change, it has signed up just one developer thus far. Ocean Power Technologies is to take one of four berths available at the scheme, while talks continue with engineers Fred Olsen and Bodmin-based Orecon. In April it emerged a consortium of energy company E.ON and Bristol-based partner Ocean Prospect dropped out to focus on testing wave technology at a rival site in Orkney.

The first wave energy devices will hopefully be deployed in 2011, SWRDA has said. During the first phase of construction between now and the end of the year, civil engineers Dean & Dyball will drill a 200-metre duct under and through sand dunes on the beach at Hayle in Cornwall. The narrow duct will be lined with a pipe as it is drilled and will eventually link Wave Hub's sub-sea cable with a new electricity sub-station on the site of a former power station. Work on the sub-station will start in January and is expected to take six months to complete. Wave Hub will be deployed and the sub-sea cable laid in the summer of next year.

The SWRDA has also announced the appointment of Guy Lavender as general manager for the Wave Hub project. Energy and Climate Change Minister, Lord Hunt, said: "Clean green renewable energy is a central component of our response to climate change and ensuring future energy supplies. The scope for wave and tidal power energy around the UK's shores is massive and the Wave Hub will help marine energy developers test their cutting edge projects and help them reach commercial viability."

US to boost solar manufacturing with tax credits

www.environmental-finance.com
13 November 2009

US Senators have introduced a bill that would extend the 30% solar investment tax credit (ITC) to equipment and facilities used to manufacture solar technology. Currently, the solar ITC can be drawn on for investment in or installation of solar energy technology in operation in the US before 1 January 2017. Under the Solar Manufacturing Jobs Creation Act, equipment and facilities used to manufacture solar energy technology would become eligible for the solar ITC. These technologies include solar cells, silicon, evacuated tubes and flat-plate solar collectors.

Senators Debbie Stabenow, Robert Menendez and Michael Bennet introduced the bill in the Senate this week. Congressman Dave Camp plans to introduce a version of the bill in the House of Representatives later this month. "This bill will provide additional tax credits for solar equipment manufacturers that will help us win the global race against China and other countries to produce solar technology in the clean energy economy," Stabenow said.

The bill would also make manufacturing equipment eligible for the grant programme created in the economic stimulus package, which allows renewable energy project developers to receive cash payments in lieu of tax credits, according to a summary of the bill by the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA). The proposal would extend this provision to manufacturing equipment for property in operation before 1 January 2011 or after that date if a written binding contract was entered into before then.

The US produced more than 40% of the word's solar photovoltaic (PV) cells a decade ago, but only 5% in 2008, SEIA said. "Not long ago, the US was the leading global manufacturer of photovoltaic solar cells, but we've fallen behind Europe and Asia because we didn't have the right policies in place," said SEIA president and CEO Rhone Resch. "By extending and expanding the solar manufacturing tax credit, we'll have the support necessary to compete with other countries and continue creating jobs in the solar industry."

The tax credits in this legislation will create 315,000 domestic jobs, SEIA estimated. With the eight-year extension of the solar ITC last autumn, the solar industry is projected to gain $325 billion in investment by 2016, according to a study by Navigant Consulting.

Search on for geothermal sites

www.abc.net.au
Nov 12, 2009

The State Government says it has started assessing sites along the Queensland coastline that are potential sources of geothermal energy. Natural Resources, Mines and Energy Minister, Stephen Robertson, says Queensland Government scientists are collecting temperature and heat flow data at population centres on the electricity grid. He told Parliament, the information gathered will be used to map potential geothermal sites before drill tenders are put out next year. "This is an Australia first," he said. "The first State Government program designed to directly target information gaps in data for geothermal potential along the eastern coastal region of Australia."

The Government says exploration drilling is expected to start at potential geothermal energy sites by mid next year. "Sources of geothermal energy identified near transmission lines have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through increased use of geothermal energy for powered generators," Mr Robertson said. "This will also assist in the growth of a diverse economy and create new job opportunities in the state."

Spain's power plan is a `risk'

Courier Mail
Thursday 12/11/2009 Page: 65

ADOPTING more ambitious policies to cut Australia's reliance on coal for electricity would pose a risk to jobs and growth, Federal Energy Minister Martin Ferguson says. Appearing yesterday at a conference in Brisbane of the Australian geothermal industry, Mr Ferguson was asked why Australia did not follow the example of countries such as Spain and Germany in rapidly deploying renewable energy. He said: "Spain's also got very high unemployment and poor economic growth. "So we actually want to do a bit of research (into) what these countries have done and their economic outcomes. "Each country has chosen a route which best suits themselves. "Our approach will prove more successful."

Geothermal companies are trying to commercialise power plants that tap deep underground heat sources and don't emit greenhouse gases or exhaust water resources. They have begun to receive sizeable federal funding to aid development. Australian Geothermal Energy Association executive director Susan Jeanes said recent grant announcements were positive but geothermal developers needed the same funding structure as "clean coal" companies, guaranteeing funding over nine years. "We also need to know that funding is coming over a timeframe," Ms Jeanes said. "We're not going to get investors without that."

The Federal Government's biggest single direct investment in technology to slow climate change - more than $2 billion - is in clean coal. Australia's total electricity generation capacity is about 47 GWs, with 82% coming from coal. Spain now derives 22GW of electricity capacity from wind, solar and small hydro plants. Germany has 34GW of renewable energy capacity.

Utah's biggest wind-energy project goes online - Milford facility's power output will go to S. California

www.deseretnews.com
Nov. 10, 2009

The "green" energy wave has hit southwestern Utah in a big way. On Tuesday, the state's biggest wind-energy electricity-generation facility began commercial operation near Milford. Located in Millard and Beaver counties, the first phase of the Milford Wind Corridor project features 97 wind turbines and is expected to generate 203.5 MWs of electricity, making it the largest renewable-energy facility in Utah, according to a news release from developer First Wind LLC, based in Newton, Mass.

Previously, the largest utility-scale wind project had been a 19-MW, nine-turbine facility in Spanish Fork Canyon that began operation in August 2008. Construction of the Milford project began just over a year ago. The first phase generated nearly $86 million in direct and indirect spending in Utah and the creation of 250 development and construction jobs, the release said. The first phase will generate enough power to provide electricity to about 45,000 homes per year.

Eventually, the $400 million project will include 159 turbines across 40 square miles of public and private land. "We're looking forward to expanding it in the months and years to come," Paul Gaynor, chief executive officer of First Wind, said in the release. "This project is a great example of the kind of development that helps create jobs and helps stimulate the economy." The project's power will go to the Southern California Public Power Authority, on behalf of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the cities of Burbank and Pasadena, Calif. In December 2007, First Wind signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with the authority.

"We're pleased to see this project go online and begin delivering clean power to our customers," said Bill Carnahan, the authority's executive director, said at Tuesday dedication ceremony. The Milford Wind Corridor is the first wind-energy facility permitted under the Bureau of Land Management's Wind Energy Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Western U.S, states, designed to promote the development of renewable-energy projects on federal land.

"The Milford Wind project is a perfect example of the priority the BLM puts on the generation of renewable energy to support the nation's energy needs," Selma Sierra, Utah state director for the BLM, said in the news release. "It exemplifies our ability to fulfill our energy needs in a timely and efficient manner through the combined efforts of partnering federal and state agencies, as well as private industry. "The Milford Wind project is an excellent example of positive, clean, renewable energy production."