News for August 05, 2003

Giant Solar Poppies in Palo Alto [photo by T. Allen/Rahus]

Giant (Solar) Poppies Capture California's Larger-than-Life Image [Palo Alto]

Roseville Collaboration Turns Fire Station into Power Source

Solar-covered parking generates energy, rewards public transit riders [Riverside - Metrolink]

Solar power market looking sunny [Marin County]

Berkeley solar firm wins $7.4M bid for Moscone [San Francisco]

LADWP to Install New Solar Power Systems at Five City Libraries

U.S. Army Taps Konarka to Develop flexible, lightweight solar modules

Scientists focus sunlight for surgery [Israel]

Families transform silos into castles

Renewable energy gets state push

Solar cars follow Route 66 through town to finish line of 10-day race.[Claremont]

IN BRIEF

State Budget Passes - Renewable Program remains intact!- In the past few weeks, there have been suggestions that the state solve it's budget problems by borrowing from the CEC Emerging Renewable (solar) rebate program, which would effectively kill the program. The State legislation passed a budget last week, and the governor has signed it into law on Friday (2003.8.1). Did the RE Rebate program survive? I think so. Sources at the CEC indicate that the ratepayer-based public benefit programs (research, renewable energy) survived intact. Yet another bullet dodged. Further evaluation of the bill is ongoing. Browse the legislative bills (AB 1765 and SB 1044) here.

CEC posts quarterly report on Renewable Energy Program - Highlights from the 2nd quarter report include: To date, payments for over 5,300 installed systems total $82 million, representing about 20 MW of distributed capacity. Payments totaling over $8.8 million were paid this quarter for 554 installed systems in IOU service areas, for about 2.0 MW of capacity. Funds encumbered to install over 2,000 systems in IOU service areas currently total over $36 million, representing over 9 MW of capacity. Approximately $95 million of allocated funds will be available for rebates through 2006. Over 3,300 reservation requests were received this quarter for systems in IOU service areas, compared to 1,000 received the previous quarter. Work began on developing program improvements such as an on-line reservation request form and Ccapabilities for sellers or purchasers to check on the status of their submittals electronically. Program staff drafted work tasks associated with carrying out site visits to verify installed system compliance with system-reported information.

Current quarter: The Energy Commission will continue to process reservations and pay rebates for qualified system installations. If reservation requests continue at current rates, funding would be depleted in 2004 at current funding levels.

Market Analysis of Buydown Program Data Available - Dr. Thomas Hoff of Clean Power Research has evaluated data from the California Energy Commission's Emerging Renewables Program and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power PV subsidy programs. Results include price, installation rates (MW per year), sales rates ($M per year), price and size distributions, and installation locations from the perspective of programs, utilities, and manufacturers. Basic and Premium formats of the report are available for purchase.

Riverside expands solar energy rebates to single-family homes - 2003.7.23 - Riverside CA – While state incentives to homeowners to install solar generation systems are drying up, Riverside Public Utilities decided now is a good time to offer rebates that will let the sunshine in to power Riverside homes. “Since the repeal of the California Energy Commission (CEC) incentives [for municipal electric utility customers], we’ve seen an increase in interest from Riverside homeowners asking about single-family residential photovoltaic (PV) systems,” said Public Utilities Director Thomas Evans. The Utility’s residential PV program will offer rebates of $2 per watt or 50 percent of the project cost, whichever is less. Based on a 2 kilowatt PV system for an average home, a $4,000 rebate would be paid to the homeowner. Initially, RPU’s residential solar program has focused on low-income, multi-family, and senior housing projects. Funds for the Utility’s residential PV program will come from Riverside’s Public Benefit Funds specifically targeted for such programs. For information about the Utility’s residential PV program, Riverside homeowners may call 826-5485.

11 MW of PV added in 2003 - Nearly 5 MW of solar PV has been installed in California during the last three to four months alone. This brings the statewide total to 44 MW as of June/July 2003. An updated count can be found under "Additional Information" at the following site: [source: Todd Lieberg CEC email 2003.8.4]

San Diego Sunrise [Vote Solar News] - Last summer, Vote Solar traveled to San Diego to meet with Mayor Dick Murphy and his environmental task force to promote a solar bond initiative for San Diego. In the year since then, San Diego councilmembers Donna Frye and Michael Zucchet have stepped up to the plate and worked tirelessly to advocate for further solar energy investment. Working with Mayor Murphy, they have persevered. In two weeks, on August 7, 2003, Mayor Murphy and Councilmembers Frye and Zucchet will hold a press conference to announce San Diego’s new goal of 50 megawatts of new solar and other renewable energy over the next ten years. Greenpeace, which dispatched a full-time organizer to San Diego to push for solar energy, has been relentless in this important victory. Special thanks to JP Ross and the rest of the Greenpeace team for their dedication and effort. Thanks also to Mayor Murphy for collaborating with Vote Solar on net metering, exit fees and other critical state solar legislation over the last year. [source: email David Hochschild July 2003]

State Legislators See Solar [San Francisco - Vote Solar News]- This week, the National Conference of State Legislatures held its annual conference in San Francisco. 6000 legislators from every state in the nation attended the conference which was held in the Moscone Convention Center, now home to one of the largest solar electric rooftops in the nation. Vote Solar was there, participating in the energy panel and presenting an alternative view to the lobbyists for the “clean coal” and nuclear industries, who were trying mightily to convince legislators that their energy technologies were environmentally sound. This would be humorous if they weren't so serious. Fortunately, most legislators seemed to understand the true consequences of conventional energy generation and the turnout at a Vote Solar reception in a hotel overlooking the Moscone solar array was tremendous. Thanks to Assemblyman Mark Leno, Supervisor Sophie Maxwell, and Energy Advisor Ed Smeloff for giving presentations to the to the legislators.[source: email David Hochschild July 2003]

Events

8/17 Solar Sepastopol Fair- A unique solar energy program for the City of Sebastopol is being officially launched by San Rafael-based Cooperative Community Energy on Sunday, August 17, 2003 with a day-long event featuring inspirational speakers, live music, educational booths, panel discussions and fun activities for kids and teens. The Solar Sebastopol Fair & Celebration is free to the public and will be held at the Sebastopol Community Center, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event is designed to educate attendees about Sebastopol's two-year campaign to install 1 megawatt (MW) of solar photovoltaics to the rooftops of local government buildings, businesses and residences.

8/23-24 SolFest [Hopland, CA] - Real Good Solar Living Center. With over 55 workshops on sustainable living and renewable energy, tons of delicious organic food, beer and wine, and up to 10,000 of your closest friends, this is an event not to miss! Workshops during the SolFest weekend inspire and inform SolFest participants. Yearly surveys indicate that most attendees come to our event expressly for the workshops. Here is a sampling of workshops titles scheduled for 2003: Fuel Cells and Marketplace Challenges, Off-Grid Financing, Cob and Strawbale Construction, Solar Hot Water, Wabi Sabi for Westerners, Practical Hydrogen, Building with a Conscience, Bringing Nature Home and Save Money from Solar Tax Rebates. to Learn more and registration details

9/18-19 The Solar Cities Summit [San Francisco]- On September 18-19, the City of San Francisco, the Vote Solar Initiative and the Million Solar Roofs Program are sponsoring the Solar Cities Summit for Mayors. The summit is convening the nation’s top experts in solar energy and financing to showcase cost-effective ways to implement solar energy programs. Dr. Amory Lovins will give the keynote address. Over 100 mayors have been invited. Although many local governments face major budget deficits, there is much that can be done to advance the cause of renewable energy. In these times, it may be the most patriotic cities can perform.

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