FEED-IN TARIFFING SPREADS TO CALIFORNIA - 100mw Worth To Be Available In Sacramento Area

The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) has established a feed-in tariff (FIT) that will become effective in January 2010.

According to SMUD, the FIT will be aimed at systems up to 5 MW connected to SMUD's local distribution system, and is capped at 100 MW system-wide. The SMUD FIT will apply to both renewable and fossil-fuel generation technologies, and the utility states that it will set higher prices for power produced from renewable sources like solar and biogas.

SMUD adds that it sees the FIT as a way to provide a new opportunity for customers to own or host efficient small-scale generation plants, and that it will help the utility meet its
renewable portfolio standard and greenhouse gas reduction goals.
ARTICLE POSTED AT ALTERNATIVE ENERGY RETAILER

NO ONE WANTS SMOG - LOS ANGELES to Be Completely Off Coal By 2020- Helps UTAH Abandon Another Coal Plant

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

"Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said his city would completely wean its 1.45 million electricity customers from coal-fired power by 2020"

The Intermountain Power Agency said Wednesday it will let the air-quality permit for a coal-fired Unit 3 expire. Instead, the company will focus on other options for the central Utah site, said IPA spokesman John Ward.

"The understanding within IPA is that if there were ever an attempt to start another third coal-fired power unit at that location, they would have to start over," he said. "This particular permit application would be moot."

Environmental groups, who have been fighting Unit 3 since it was first proposed, applauded the move.

The plant "would have burdened Utah with more coal-burning pollution," said Wayne Hoskinson, chairman of the Utah Chapter of the Sierra Club. "This opens the door for additional renewable projects, like the Milford wind development, allowing the state to still be an exporter of energy without the cost of worsened air quality and more mercury pollution."

The Sierra Club's appeal of the Unit 3 air permit has been on hold for more than a year, while IPA, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems were in court over a breach-of-contract suit over the new 900-megawatt generating station. That suit was settled quietly last month.

ARTICLE CONTINUES AT THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

PV DISCREET - Santa Monica wants property owners to hide solar panels

Santa Monica has held itself up as a model of innovative energy policies, but now the city may be moving to hide away some of its solar technology.

Solar equipment must be installed "in the location that is least visible from the street" on certain properties, according to a 4-1 decision by the city council on Tuesday. The measure provides exceptions for when energy production would be decreased by more than 10% or the cost would go up significantly. It passed as part of an ordinance specifying standards for solar permits.

"From my perspective, the ordinance will simplify permitting for the installation of solar panels, and it still respects reasonable aesthetic concerns," said Mayor Ken Genser in a phone interview Thursday.

But Mary Luevano, policy director for Global Green, a Santa Monica-based advocacy group, said: "It creates what we think is unnecessary bureaucratic red tape. There are cities outside the state that are looking at Santa Monica, because they have been a leader for years."

Luevano said the decision is puzzling given that Santa Monica is "a progressive, environmentally conscious city."

ARTICLE CONTINUES AT LA TIMES

SALAZAR PAVES WAY FOR LARGE SCALE SOLAR PROJECTS IN THE WEST

Sun, wind and geothermal energy development are on a fast track for development on public lands in the West, including Nevada, federal officials announced today.

Federal agencies will work with western leaders to designate tracts of public lands in the western states to develop utility-scale solar energy generators, wind farms and geothermal sources, said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Speeding reviews and identifying prime zones for such renewable energy development are part of the plans, Salazar and Reid said.

For example, Nevada has 40 applications for solar energy development, enough to generate 19,000 megawatts of electricity, second only to California with 72 applications and a potential 48,000 megawatts.

Under one initiative, 24 tracts of Bureau of Land Management sites in six western states will be known as Solar Energy Study Areas, fully evaluated for their environmental and resource suitability for large scale solar energy production.

Companies that propose projects on a grander scale in areas already approved for such solar development would be eligible for priority processing, the secretary and senator said.

In addition, Nevada will host a new Interior Department renewable energy coordination office, the first of four. The others will be in Arizona, California and Wyoming.

A FIRST:CHARGE YOUR EV WHILE YOU DRINK AT SIERRA NEVADA BREWING

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Becomes First Corporation to Install Networked Charging Stations for Electric Vehicles

CHICO, Calif.--Coulomb Technologies, the leader in electric vehicle infrastructure, today announced Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. has installed its ChargePoint™ Networked Charging Stations at its brewery in Chico, CA. The two charging stations are available for patrons and employees of the brewery with electric vehicles. Coulomb's charging stations are an important part of Sierra Nevada's sustainability initiatives that include solar, fuel cells, recycling, energy efficiency, water conservation and transportation improvements. Sierra Nevada is the first corporation to install the ChargePoint networked charging stations.

The Coulomb charging stations will be featured at Chico Fest on Sunday, April 26, 2009 from 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm. Chico Fest is a free event featuring a sustainability focused expo, food, live music and the dedication of Sierra Nevada's new 1.5 MW AC solar system. For more information on Chico Fest visit www.chicofest.com.

"Along with our award-winning brew, we take our commitment to the environment very seriously," said Ken Grossman, owner and founder of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. "To be the first company to install these charging stations is another milestone in our history and we are proud to lead by example. We hope and expect other organizations will follow in our footsteps in reducing their carbon footprint and our country's dependence on foreign oil."

FULL PRESS RELEASE IS AVAILABLE AT AUTOBLOGGREEN

Budweiser is going Solar

FAIRFIELD, Calif. -- More than 6 acres of ground-mounted photovoltaic solar arrays are now up and running at the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Fairfield, California.

The deployment marks the arrangement made last year between the beverage company and SunEdison, which financed, installed and operates the solar power system Anheuser-Busch agreed to host.

The system, which has a capacity of almost 1.2 MW, generates the equivalent of about 3 percent of the brewery's electricity needs. The company is considering whether to expand the solar installation and diversify the facility's on-site generation of renewable energy by putting in a wind turbine.

The solar deal was one of two major efficiency moves made by the brewery last year and part of a broader eco-friendly strategy adopted companywide by Anheuser-Busch.

The facility also installed a Bio-Energy Recovery System to generate more than 15 percent of the brewery's fuel needs by capturing the nutrients in brewing wastewater for conversion into biogas. Use of the renewable fuel enables the brewery to decrease its use of natural gas.

ARTICLE CONTINUES HERE AT GREENBUILDING.COM

SOLAR ARRAYS BECOME 4X MORE EFFICIENT - Northern California prepares for Solar power from space

Pacific Gas & Electric is going to great lengths--all the way to space--in its quest for renewable energy.

The California utility on Monday said that it will seek approval from regulators to purchase 200 megawatts worth of solar energy delivered from stealth space solar power company Solaren over 15 years.

(Credit: Space Energy)

The idea of space-based solar power (SBSP) is to place a device in space that can convert solar energy into a usable form and have it transmitted wirelessly to Earth. Scientists have thought to capture solar energy from space for decades but has it has never been done commercially.

Solaren proposes placing solar panels on a satellite to generate electricity that is converted to radio frequency energy on-board and sent to a ground station in California. The receiver then converts the radio frequency energy to electricity and it is fed into the power grid.

The goal of the project is to provide electricity to PG&E by 2016, said Solaren CEO Gary Spirnak in a Q and A posted on PG&E's company blog.

ARTICLE CONTINUES AT CNET

Turning Big Box Stores into Solar Power Plants in California

by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 03.27.08

It was only last Autumn that we reported that the biggest solar farm in the US would be a 80-megawatt installation by Cleantech America. Now, Southern California Edison (SCE) wants to build something quite a bit larger, a 250-megawatt farm with a twist: It will be distributed among many commercial rooftops, starting with southern California's Inland Empire, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

They are planning to install 1 megawatt per week starting in August. Once the project is finished, it will take up 65,000,000 square feet of roofs that would otherwise be unused and produce enough clean energy to supply about 162,000 homes. The total cost of the project will be about $875 million and is projected to take about five years to complete.

article continues here at Treehugger

Going green for Hanukkah

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Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

Rabbi Baruch Hecht and Storey Wertheimer, 6, place a candle on a menorah made of giant Legos at the Chabad of Brentwood. In Riverside, a menorah made of recycled wood, plants and flowers was used.

Jewish communities in Southern California follow a nationwide trend among religious organizations of environmental awareness.

By Ari B. Bloomekatz
9:58 PM PST, December 21, 2008

Some Jewish communities throughout the Southland celebrated the first night of Hanukkah with a twist Sunday, as one group cooked a giant potato latke in a solar-paneled oven and another lit candles atop a recycled menorah -- all part of an effort to usher in an eco-friendly Festival of Lights.

"With the new president [of the United States] coming in, the whole thing is about the environment," said Rabbi Marc Rubenstein outside Temple Isaiah of Newport Beach, where parishioners in the frontyard crowded around the solar oven that was harnessing the sun's heat to cook a potato pancake, or latke, that measured about 3 feet across.

more here at LA Times

Honda Fuel Cell Car Video...on the road in LA

Earlier today, we showed you Top Gear's first test of the Tesla Roadster. In that clip, it was alluded to that there would be something later in the same episode that would render the Roadster completely irrelevant. Here it is: the Honda FCX Clarity, which is also electric but gets its charge from hydrogen. James May travels all the way from the UK to LA, California, to put the Clarity through its paces, and he happens to meet another familiar face while there.

James and Jay (Leno, that is) take some time to reflect on the Honda's impact on their favorite hobby, that of driving classic cars on the weekends, and conclude that the FCX Clarity and hydrogen cars in general will someday be the saviors of the automotive world - just as the internal combustion engine was the savior of the horse (huh?). Sure, there may be a few issues to address before that can happen, not the least of which are hydrogen capture, transportation and storage... but that's all going to be worked out in - you guessed it - the future, right? Watch the full video after the break.
Video:


from AUTO BLOG GREEN and Top Gear

Villaraigosa unveils solar plan for Los Angeles - It would be the world's largest solar project

From the LA TIMES

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Nancy Pastor / For The Times

More than 1,700 solar panels were installed on the roof of the Staples Center in downtown L.A. earlier this year.

The mayor's proposal aims to have solar power meet one-tenth of L.A.'s energy needs by 2020. But skeptics wonder if the plan will be cost-efficient and friendly to private enterprise.

By David Zahniser and Phil Willon
November 25, 2008

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled an ambitious long-range plan Monday for securing enough solar power to meet one-tenth of the city's energy needs by 2020, a move aimed at making L.A. a hub of the solar-energy industry.

Appearing at a South Los Angeles manufacturing plant where solar panels are made, Villaraigosa said the initiative will help the Department of Water and Power wean itself off of fossil fuels -- natural gas and coal -- as part of the effort to address global warming.

ARTICLE CONTINUES HERE

Driven: Shai Agassi's Audacious Plan to Put Electric Cars on the Road- UPDATE: BAY AREA IS ON BOARD!

SO ARE ISRAEL AND DENMARK, PLUS MANY OTHER COUNTRIES ARE PRESENTLY IN NEGOTIATIONS

As Congress considers bailing out a U.S. auto industry damaged by its dependence on fossil fuel-hogging SUVs, San Francisco Bay Area leaders on Thursday unveiled plans for a $1 billion regional network of charging stations for electric cars.

Silicon Valley startup Better Place will construct the network, deploying thousands of chargers for electric cars on the streets of San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland. The cities will be linked by battery swapping stations so drivers can travel longer distances. Better Place, founded by former SAP executive Shai Agassi, previously struck deals with governments in Israel, Denmark and Australia to build electric car networks. This is the well-funded startup's first move in the U.S. market. Construction on the Bay Area network will begin in 2010 with commercial rollout in 2012.

Agassi will sell his battery-powered cars cheap and make money off drivers' electricity purchases.
Photo: Joe Pugliese

The problem, he decided, was oil-consuming, CO₂-spewing cars. The solution was to get rid of them. Not just some, and not just by substituting hybrids or flex fuels. No half measures. The internal combustion engine had to be retired. The future was in electric cars.

A MUST READ "WIRED" ARTICLE IS HERE