U.S. Army Embarks On $7 billion Renewable Energy Overhaul

http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/us-army-embarks-on-7-billion-renewable-energy-overhaul.php


TINA CASEY SEPTEMBER 25, 2011, 1:57 AM 3166 28

The U.S. Army has embarked on an ambitious $7 billion series of utility-scale renewable energy projects.

The new program involves building twenty utility-scale renewable energy installations that rely on a mix of solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass power. The installations will be constructed on land owned by the Department of Defense, at Army bases throughout the U.S.

The program calls for the Army to use its land as equity to leverage about $7 billion in private investment for the twenty projects.

The Army’s goal is to provide its bases with reliable energy sources that are insulated from price spikes, shortages and grid disruptions. Aside from these energy security issues, reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions are key goals.

Rather than paying up front for the installations, the Army plans to attract companies that would build the renewable energy installations in exchange for a commitment from the Army to purchase the energy.

This type of arrangement, called a Power Purchase Agreement, is common in the solar industry.

Since many base commanders do not have the resources to initiate or manage utility-scale energy construction projects (defined as about 10 megawatts or more), the Army has formed a new Energy Initiatives Task Force (EITF) composed of a small staff of experts who will assess projects, vet renewable energy companies, develop new technologies and streamline the approval process.

EITF was organized over the summer and officially announced that it was open for business on September 15.

At a recent roundtable discussion held for bloggers and reporters, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment Katherine Hammack described EITF’s mission as “unprecedented” in terms of size, and in terms of expanding the Army’s established acquisition procedures into new areas.

“We’ve got the land and we’ve got the demand,” said Hammack.

Hammack made it clear that the Army intends to use its normal acquisition procedures to push the program through.

“We are going to leverage all of the tools available,” said Hammack, which would include loans and technology grants as well as loan guarantees.

EITF’s mission dovetails with the Army’s recently announced Net Zero program, in which Army bases have the goal of consuming only as much energy and water as they can produce on site.

Fort Bliss, one of the Net Zero program’s pilot bases, recently announced a $1.5 billion investment program to install more than 140 MW of renewable energy facilities on the base, and reclaim more than 500 million gallons of water annually.

The first steps for EITF involve setting up new procedures and vetting 20 projects that are already in the pipeline. EITF’s goal is to have the first round of projects ready to go out for bid early next year.

EITF will also be working with federal research resources including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to identify promising new technologies.

Hammack noted that EITF is looking at all forms of renewable energy and has already received numerous contacts from the renewable energy industry regarding advanced technologies.

In recent years the Department of Defense has raised an increasingly urgent call for transitioning out of petroleum fuel products, as risks and expenses rise.

“We cannot serve and protect the citizens of the United States unless we have reliable access to energy,” said Hammack.

Offshore Wind Resource

Great Wind Resource Map of Vandenberg

Army initiative could be boon for U.S. companies

A rare bright spot appeared on the horizon for the beleaguered American solar industry yesterday when the U.S. Army launched an ambitious initiative to build large-scale renewable energy projects on its land.

The Army is looking to install 2.1 megawatt-hours of renewable energy across its millions of acres of land in the United States (E&ENews PM, Aug. 10). Given the concentration of bases the service has in the sun-drenched Southwest and its experience with the technology, solar will likely make up a significant portion of that, service officials said.

And U.S. companies won't be competing with their often-cheaper Chinese counterparts for the Army's business, thanks to a provision in the fiscal 2011 defense authorization (E&E Daily, April 14).

That's good news for an industry that saw three major companies file for bankruptcy in recent weeks as Asian competitors dominate the market (Greenwire, Sept. 6).

Assistant Secretary of the Army Katherine Hammack said the Army's demand could kick-start a new round of innovation in the American market.

"Certainly there is some turmoil in the solar industry," Hammack said. "We are confident that what we're doing is going to spur innovation and it's going to spur production in the United States."

Her office is not just looking at current technologies, and Hammack said she hopes the project will provide the sort of impetus for nascent renewable energy technologies that other military projects did for GPS and the Internet.

Ken Zweibel, director of the Solar Institute at George Washington University, said the new initiative could be a well-timed boost for U.S. industry.

"That's really great news for solar installers here and solar manufacturers here, which are under a lot of pressure," he said.

The United States does not have a large manufacturing base, though, said Swami Venkataraman, a utilities analyst at the rating company Standard & Poor's.

"That's not a negligible amount, of course, and companies will be happy to have this customer," he said, "but it's not so massive that it's going to completely change the complexion of the U.S. solar manufacturing industry in terms of reversing or even stemming the flow of manufacturing to Asian locations."

The Army's project is spurred both by a desire to become less reliant on the civilian grid and an expectation that traditional energy will become increasingly expensive.

"We know that there are growing challenges to the Army's energy supply and the nation's energy supply," Hammack said. "It's also fiscally prudent in the current fiscal situation that the nation is in."

Venkataraman said the initiative, which the Army is looking primarily to third-party financing to fund, could help the service rein in costs at a time when defense spending is facing intense scrutiny.

"The Army is coming in at a time when prices are at historic lows. Solar power has become quite cheap, and in many states, solar companies are able to provide power at prices that are lower than the local utilities," he said. "It's possible the Army may be able to not only encourage solar, but they may be able to save money comparable to their existing utility bills."

http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/2011/09/16/4

SolarStrong Project: Obama Administration Backs SolarCity Military Energy Program

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is providing a loan guarantee for a massive solar energy project that could double the number of glimmering solar panels on residential rooftops in the U.S.

The Energy Department said Wednesday it provided a partial guarantee for a $344 million loan to San Mateo, Calif.-based SolarCity for the SolarStrong Project, which seeks to place solar panels on 160,000 homes across 124 military bases in 33 states.

"This is the largest domestic residential rooftop solar project in history," Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a news release. "This groundbreaking project is expected to create hundreds of jobs for Americans and provide clean, renewable power to our military families."

SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive said the company already had started its first military base project under the program at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii. When fully installed, about 2,000 military homes will be powered by solar at the base.

"It is super important to get the guarantee from DOE, and because of this we can now provide clean power at a lower cost than regular power in 33 states," Rive told The Associated Press.

SolarCity will own and operate the panels and work with private companies that run the military housing to install them.

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, 138,600 solar systems were installed on residential rooftops at the end of 2010, and they generated about 637 megawatts of power.

If the SolarStrong project is fully implemented on the military housing it is targeting, it would add 160,000 more solar-powered homes in the U.S. The Defense Department is the nation's single largest consumer of electricity.

"By tapping into our abundant domestic solar energy to power base housing, the military is showing the rest of country that homeowners throughout the U.S. can help improve our energy independence by going solar," said Rhone Resch, president of the solar industries group.


Tim Newell, the managing director of the U.S. Renewable Energy Group, the private equity firm providing the loan for the project, said the project was a low risk for the government. SolarCity is already the leading installer and operator of panels on U.S. residences.

"It's important to remember that all of the capital (including the loan) for this project is being provided by the private sector," Newell said in an email. "DOE is only providing a guarantee for a portion of the project's loan in order to reduce the financing cost and make it possible to include more states and more military bases in the project."

The loan program has come under fire in recent days, after a solar company declared bankruptcy last week despite receiving nearly $528 million in federal loans.

Solyndra LLC of Fremont, Calif., was the latest in a series of failures in the U.S. solar business, which has been beset by oversupply and competition from abroad.

The bankruptcy has provided critics with further ammunition to criticize an economic stimulus program that has provided billions of dollars in seed money for solar startups such as Solyndra. The program is set to expire at the end of the month.

SolarCity's Rive said the SolarStrong project differed from Solyndra in several ways. Solyndra was a business just getting off the ground and was using the money to build facilities. SolarCity is already an established company, and the DOE loan guarantee will not kick in until after panels have been installed at specific sites.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has subpoenaed documents relating to the Solyndra loan from the White House Office of Management and Budget. A major investor in Solyndra, oil billionaire George Kaiser of Oklahoma, was a fundraiser for President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/07/solarstrong-project-solarcity-military-energy-program_n_952765.html?ir=Green

ClearEdge Power vs. Bloom Box

ClearEdge Power has snagged $73.5 million from investors towards their small-scale fuel cells.

ClearEdge Power was established in 2003 and is an innovator in the clean energy market. They, like Bloom Energy, have used their knowledge of fuel cells to manufacture compact power and heating systems that can be used for several residential homes or to power a small commercial building.

The fuel cell generators ClearEdge create can range from 5kW to 60kW. Mike Upp, the ClearEdge VP of sales and marketing,said that a 34-square-foot installation of ClearEdge units could produce the same amount of heat and power as a 3,200-square-foot solar installation. The fuel cells are powered by natural gas.

Fuel cells are devices that convert fuel into electricity through a clean electro-chemical process rather than dirty combustion.

The technology is intended to reduce energy bills of customers, improve the energy efficiency of homes and businesses, and reduce carbon emissions.

The $73.5 million is through Series E financing and the sale of new shares to investors like Artis Capital Management, Gussing Renewable Energy, Southern California Gas Company and Sempra Energy.

The money is intended to create growth of the company and increase customers. The money is also to help ClearEdge eventually expand internationally and create more commercialized products.

ClearEdge Power’s President and CEO, Russell Ford, says, “This new investment provides the capital necessary for ClearEdge Power to build on our already strong foundation by entering new markets, advancing our technology and commercializing new products."

The company has created an additional 150 “high-tech” jobs in the last three years. And the company has continued to obtain new customers both residential and commercial.

ClearEdge Power has experienced revenue growth year-after-year with growth of more than 480 percent by the end of the second quarter of 2011.

ClearEdge stock is still not available at this time, but investors should be on the lookout as this company continues to grow.

http://www.energyandcapital.com/articles/clearedge-power-vs-bloom-box/1745