EERE: Funds for Community Energy, Solar Technology, and Tesla Factories

A weekly newsletter from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). The EERE Network News is also available on the Web at: www.eere.energy.gov/news/enn.cfm January 27, 2010 News and Events DOE to Award $20.5 million to Five Community Renewable Energy Projects DOE to Invest $12 Million to Support Early-Stage Solar Technologies DOE Closes $465 Million Loan to Tesla Motors NREL Study Shows 20% Wind is Possible by 2024 The New American Home to Incorporate Energy-Saving Technologies California Adopts Nation's First Statewide Green Building Standard Energy Connections API: U.S. Crude Oil Imports Decreased by 9.2% in 2009

News and Events DOE to Award $20.5 million to Five Community Renewable Energy Projects DOE announced on January 21 its selection of five community-based renewable energy projects to receive more than $20.5 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. The selected projects involve biomass, solar, and wind energy installations in the states of California, Colorado, Vermont, and Wisconsin, combining the Recovery Act funds with $167 million in local government and private industry funding. From a district energy system fueled with sustainably-harvested wood chips in Vermont to California's first "solar highway" of roadside solar power systems, these projects will serve as models for other local governments, campuses, or small utilities. One recipient is California's Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), which will build 1,500 kilowatts (kW) of concentrating and flat-plate photovoltaic solar power systems along a 2-mile stretch of highway. SMUD will also install a digester to convert sewage and a variety of food wastes into biogas, producing up to 3 megawatts (MW) of power, along with a 600-kW molten carbonate fuel cell and two anaerobic digesters to convert dairy waste into 500 kW of combined heat and power (CHP). A second, nearby recipient is the University of California at Davis, which will use a digester to produce biogas from organic wastes. The biogas will power a 300-kW fuel cell, which will work in combination with an advanced battery system to provide power to the campus' West Village, a new mixed-use community that is aiming for net-zero energy use. Additional recipients include Phillips County in northeast Colorado, where local landowners and project participants will share the revenues from a community-owned 30-MW wind farm, which might eventually expand into a 650-MW wind farm spread over three counties. In Vermont, the City of Montpelier will install a wood chip-fueled, district energy system that will provide heat to 176 downtown buildings, including the state capitol, the city hall, and a number of schools. The CHP system will also deliver 1.8 million kilowatt-hours of power to the grid each year. And in Wisconsin, the Forest County Potawatomi Tribe will provide heating, cooling, and electricity for the tribe's governmental buildings, using the combination of a 1.25-megawatt, biomass-fueled CHP facility; an anaerobic digester to convert manure to biogas, paired with a 150-kW generator; three 100-kW wind turbines; and three 2.88-kW solar power systems. See the DOE press release. DOE to Invest $12 Million to Support Early-Stage Solar Technologies DOE announced on January 20 that its National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will invest up to $12 million in four companies to support the development of early-stage solar energy technologies and help them advance to full commercial scale. The funds include $10 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which is providing a total of more than $117 million to develop and deploy solar energy technologies. The goal is to further expand the clean energy economy and make solar energy more cost-competitive with conventional forms of electricity. Companies awarded under DOE's Photovoltaic Incubator Program will work with NREL to transition prototype and pre-commercial photovoltaic (PV) technologies into pilot-scale and full-scale manufacturing. The partnership projects announced today include: Alta Devices, Inc., which will develop an innovative high-efficiency and low-cost solar module, with market entry expected in 2011; Solar Junction Corp., which will develop a manufacturing process to produce a very high efficiency, multi-junction solar cell for concentrating PV (CPV) systems; Tetra Sun, which will explore back-surface passivation for high efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells; and Semprius, Inc., which will study a massively parallel, microcell-based CPV receiver. See the DOE press release. DOE Closes $465 Million Loan to Tesla Motors The all-electric Tesla Model S has a base price of $49,900 and a range of options that allow it to travel 160 to 300 miles on a single battery charge. Credit: Tesla Motors DOE announced on January 21 that it has closed its $465 million loan with Tesla Motors, Inc. for the construction of two manufacturing facilities, one in southern California for the Model S electric sedan and one in Palo Alto, California, for electric powertrains. The Palo Alto facility will assemble electric vehicle battery packs, electric motors, and related electric vehicle control equipment, both for Tesla's own electric vehicles and for sale to other automobile manufacturers. Tesla's planned all-electric Model S has a base price of $49,900 and is being designed to offer a variety of range options depending on the battery pack used, from 160 to 300 miles on a single charge. Volume production of the Model S will begin in 2012 with a target production capacity of 20,000 vehicles per year by the end of 2013. According to Tesla, the Model S project and powertrain manufacturing facility are expected to create more than 1,600 jobs. The Tesla announcement marks the second loan agreement signed by DOE with an advanced technology vehicle manufacturer, following a $5.9 billion agreement with Ford Motor Company in September 2009. DOE has also signed conditional commitments with Nissan North America, Inc. and Fisker Automotive. Tenneco Inc. became the first advanced technology component manufacturer to obtain a conditional commitment from DOE in October of last year. Nissan plans to build electric cars and battery packs at the company's Smyrna, Tennessee, manufacturing complex, while Fisker recently announced plans to build plug-in hybrid electric vehicles by reopening a shuttered GM plant in Wilmington, Delaware. Congress appropriated $7.5 billion to DOE to support up to $25 billion in loans to companies using U.S. factories to make cars and components that increase fuel economy at least 25% above 2005 fuel economy levels. DOE plans to make additional loans over the next several months to large and small auto manufacturers and parts suppliers up and down the production chain. The intense technical and financial review process is focused not on choosing a single technology over others, but is aimed at promoting multiple approaches for achieving a fuel efficient economy. See the DOE release and the Model S page on the Tesla Motors Web site. NREL Study Shows 20% Wind is Possible by 2024 As much as 20% of the power connected to the grid could come from wind by 2024, according to a new study by DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The report, "Eastern Wind Integration and Transmission Study," released on January 20, is a technical review analyzing the economic, operational, and technical implications of shifting 20% or more of the Eastern Interconnection's electrical load to wind energy by the year 2024. The Eastern Interconnection is the largest of three power grids in the United States, running from the East Coast to as far west as eastern Montana (see a map from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, and an NREL map of the study area). It provides power to more than 70% of the U.S. population. The study concludes that 20% wind power is technically feasible, although transmission upgrades and operational changes to the system will be required, regardless of the source of the wind power. Also, while significant costs, challenges, and impacts are associated with a 20% wind scenario, substantial benefits could overcome those costs. The study also finds that reaching 20% wind power would require a major national commitment to clean, domestic energy sources. The unprecedented report, initiated in 2008, finds that drawing wind energy from a larger geographic area makes it both less expensive and more reliable, because the aggregated wind power output is more predictable and less variable. It also finds that the relative cost of aggressively expanding the transmission grid represents only a small portion of the total annualized costs of the wind energy expansion and is more than paid for by reduced expenditures for fossil fuels. The expanded transmission grid also helps to optimize the electrical system, allowing wind power to provide a highly cost-effective means of reducing carbon emissions. While it did pose a number of avenues for future study, the report noted that the widespread adoption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles for nighttime recharging (when wind generation is higher) could ease some of the issues associated with the integration of wind power into the grid. See the NREL press release and Web page for the Eastern Wind Integration and Transmission Study. The New American Home to Incorporate Energy-Saving Technologies The 2010 edition of The New American Home, shown in a computer rendering, aims to use 72% less energy than a similar house built to code. Credit: RM Design The National Council of the Housing Industry and Builder Magazine have unveiled the design of the 2010 edition of The New American Home, which aims to use 72% less energy than a similar house built to the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code. The New American Home provides an annual real-world demonstration of current innovations in architecture, construction techniques, and new products, including the latest energy-saving technologies. The design for this year's structure features an energy efficient thermal shell, including insulated concrete forms for the walls, energy efficient windows and sliding glass doors, and an unvented attic with spray foam insulation applied to the underside of the roof and the inside of the gables. The building is also meant to be airtight, and it employs a heat recovery ventilator to provide fresh outdoor air with a minimal loss of energy. With a solar thermal hot water system, Energy Star-rated appliances, and 80% of all hard-wired lamps comprised of fluorescent lamps and light-emitting diodes (LEDs), the structure relies on the most current energy innovations. Combining these energy efficiency features with high-efficiency heating and cooling systems yields a home that consumes 49% less energy than a similar house built to code. The 10.53-kilowatt solar electric system on the home's roof cuts its average energy use by nearly half again. The home's energy performance helped it achieve the gold level score under the National Green Building Program of the National Association of Home Builders. IBACOS, Inc., a member of DOE's Building America program, worked with the National Council of the Housing Industry to help ensure energy innovations in the home. The New American Home is the official showcase home of the annual International Builders' Show (IBS), which for this year was held on January 19-22 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Unfortunately, for the first time in its 27-year history, the home was not completed in time for the show. In a chain of events all too familiar to builders, tight credit and a soft market for high-end homes in Las Vegas made it difficult to find alternative financing after a private lender withdrew funding for the home. Because the home is now only 75% complete, the IBS instead created a special exhibition area that provided a virtual tour of the home. See The New American Home Web page and energy summary on the IBS Web site, as well as the Building America brochure about the home (PDF 1.1 MB). Download Adobe Reader. California Adopts Nation's First Statewide Green Building Standard The California Building Standards Commission unanimously adopted the first-in-the-nation mandatory Green Building Standards Code, called CALGreen, on January 12. The program, which takes effect on January 1, 2011, will require all new buildings in the state to be more energy efficient and environmentally responsible. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said the action lays the foundation for the move to greener buildings constructed with environmentally advanced building practices that reduce energy use, decrease waste, and conserve resources. CALGreen will require mandatory inspections of energy systems (such as furnaces, heat pumps, air conditioners, and other mechanical equipment) for nonresidential buildings with more than 10,000 square feet of floor space, to ensure that the energy systems are working at their maximum capacity and according to their design efficiencies. It also requires that every new building constructed in California reduce water consumption by 20%, divert 50% of construction waste from landfills, and install materials that emit low amounts of indoor pollutants. In addition, separate water meters are required for nonresidential buildings' indoor and outdoor water use, with a requirement for moisture-sensing irrigation systems for larger landscape projects. While water conservation is itself a priority in the state, water consumption is directly tied to energy consumption. A 2005 report from the California Energy Commission (CEC) found that water use consumes 19% of the state's electricity, 30% of its natural gas, and at least 88 billion gallons of diesel fuel per year, although those figures included water heating. See the CEC report (PDF 1.3 MB). Download Adobe Reader. The California Air Resources Board estimates that the mandatory provisions will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of 3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2020. Upon passing state building inspection, California's property owners will have the ability to label their facilities as CALGreen compliant without using additional third-party certification programs. See the governor's press release and the Web site for the California Building Standards Commission, which has not yet posted the CALGreen code.

Energy Connections API: U.S. Crude Oil Imports Decreased by 9.2% in 2009 The American Petroleum Institute (API) announced in mid-January that the imports of crude oil and related products decreased by 9.2% in 2009, falling to an average of 11.7 million barrels per day. The oil industry group attributed the drop to decreased demand due to the economic recession. API measures petroleum demand in terms of the total petroleum deliveries in the United States, which averaged 18.7 million barrels per day in 2009, a 3.6% drop below 2008 levels, which in turn were 6% below 2007 levels. U.S. crude oil production was also up 7% over 2008 production levels, averaging 5.3 million barrels per day. All of which says that the country inched closer to energy independence in 2009. However, API saw a slight increase in petroleum demand in December 2009, suggesting that economic recovery could erode some of these gains. See the API press releases for 2009 oil demand and 2008 oil demand.

This newsletter is funded by DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and is also available on the EERE Web site. If you have questions or comments about this newsletter, please contact the editor, Kevin Eber. This service is provided to you at no charge by DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE). Visit the Web site at http://www.eere.energy.gov.

 

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