Ohio House and Senate agree on new tax policy for power projects.

COLUMBUS — Negotiators for the Ohio House and Senate on Thursday, June 3, appeared to reach agreement on tax breaks aimed at bringing “green energy” projects to Ohio as the legislature worked to finish up and recess for the summer.

Also, the House approved a bill to overhaul how telephone companies are regulated and the Senate was expected to concur with the House version.

The Ohio Telecommunications Association and Communications Workers of America supported the bill but consumer groups said it would wipe out consumer protections and bring higher monthly bills.

Landline customers with bundled services will no longer have protections, such as an automatic month of credit if their phone is out for more than 72 hours or the guarantee that their service will be reconnected within 24 hours of paying a bill, said Marty Berkowitz, spokesman for the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel.

The bill also allows phone companies to hike basic service fees by up to $15 a year, he said.

Behind the scenes, Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, worked to find votes for a constitutional amendment to replace Ohio’s system for drawing new state legislative districts with a plan geared to creating fairer and more politically competitive districts.

In other action, the Democratic-controlled House approved legislation aimed at highlighting the wealth of GOP gubernatorial candidate John Kasich, legislation that is expected to die in the GOP-controlled Senate.

The “green energy” tax breaks represented a rare bipartisan cooperation as partisan bickering heated up with the approach of the November elections.

Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland was poised to sign the legislation, said Amanda Wurst, Strickland’s spokeswoman.

The House Ways and Means Committee voted 12-5 on a modified version of Senate Bill 232, sponsored by Sen. Chris Widener, R-Springfield, and already approved by the Senate. The House and Senate were expected to approve the new bill later Thursday.

Widener said it could create up to 1,000 jobs.

One proposed wind farm is in Champaign County.

Under the legislation, projects that qualify would pay annual fees based on how much energy they generate instead of property taxes, both real and tangible.

Revenue from the taxes goes to school districts and local governments and a coalition representing these groups objected to the bill.

A statement from the coalition, which includes the Ohio School Boards Association and the Ohio Township Association, said it “falls woefully short in replacing losses in local tax revenues for schools and local governments.”

Widener has said the new system is necessary for Ohio to catch up with other states in attracting renewable energy projects that generate electricity from sources such as wind and solar power.

Ohio’s current effective tax rate is up to eight times higher than neighboring states, the Ohio Wind Energy Association has said. Also, the legislation will help the state comply with the energy bill passed in 2008 that requires 12.5 percent of Ohio’s electric energy to be generated by renewable sources 2025, Widener has said.

County approval would be required for companies to receive the tax breaks and counties could increase the per megawatt fee to $9,000. Otherwise, the top fee would be $8,000, depending on the project.

By William Hershey and Laura A. Bischoff

Dayton Daily News

Technorati Tags: geothermal, green energy, Ohio Wind Energy Association, photovoltaic, solar energy, wind energy

The visit is part of a broader push by the White House to promote alternative forms of energy. But in the wake of the massive Gulf oil spill, some observers say Obama is missing an opportunity for even stronger action.

The Solyndra company in Fremont, Calif., was one of the early beneficiaries of Obama’s support for green energy. Last year, the federal government guaranteed a $500 million loan for the company that, White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein said, is allowing Solyndra to build a new solar cell factory employing 3,000 construction workers and creating 1,000 permanent jobs.

“But what’s happening at Solyndra isn’t just about new jobs today. It’s about new industries tomorrow,” Bernstein said. “What’s more, these new industries are in the business of clean, renewable energy, thus invoking environmental benefits while reducing our dependence on foreign imports of fossil fuels.”

Alternatives In Focus

The administration wants to do more to encourage alternative forms of energy, including solar, wind and nuclear power. It has asked Congress to expedite funding for additional loan guarantees.

Obama also called last week for higher fuel economy standards for cars and trucks of the future. He said it’s important to stretch every gallon of oil as far as it can go.

“The disaster in the Gulf only underscores that even as we pursue domestic production to reduce our reliance on imported oil, our long-term security depends on the development of alternative sources of fuel and new transportation technologies,” Obama said.

But the president acknowledged it would take more than higher fuel economy standards to make the U.S. a leader in green energy. He repeated his pledge to work with Congress to pass a broad energy and climate bill.

Political adviser David Axelrod said on MSNBC this week that effort could get a lift from the oil spill.

“I would like to think that this will increase the sense of urgency in Congress because it underscores the value in developing alternative sources of energy,” Axelrod said. “So I hope that it will give added impetus. We’re going to press very hard.”

Approach Criticized

But some have questioned whether the administration is pressing hard enough.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman accused the president of a “Bush-level failure of imagination.” He wrote that just as President Bush squandered an opportunity to remake energy policy with a gasoline tax after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Obama is failing to capitalize on the April 20 oil spill that continues to pour oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Energy expert Michael Levi of the Council on Foreign Relations says that may be going too far.

“[Sept. 11] made terrorism and the Middle East No. 1 on every American’s agenda,” he said. “The oil spill has not made oil and energy No. 1 on every American’s agenda this time. And that gives the president a much more difficult situation to work with.”

Levi says passing a big energy bill isn’t like financial regulation, where the administration successfully channeled public anger with Wall Street into new legislation. Although the public is angry at BP, he says, that won’t necessarily translate into support for, say, a new carbon tax.

“It simply is not intuitively clear to anyone in this country why you need to do something that addresses coal power plants and that changes electricity rates because of an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico,” Levi said.

Obama said last week he’s encouraged by the efforts of Democratic Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to craft an energy and climate bill. But the lone Republican who had been working on that effort, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), withdrew his support.

The president had hoped to win some GOP backing for an energy bill by including an expansion of offshore oil drilling. But with claims about the safety of deep-water drilling now discredited, that bargaining chip is very much in doubt.

by Scott Horsley

NPR.org

Technorati Tags: green energy, Obama, photovoltaic, renewable energy, solar energy, Solyndra company

Many U.S. investors were reluctant to plough money into big solar, wind, and other clean-energy sectors until they knew what technologies the U.S. government policy was going to favor, he said.

“There’s too much capital sitting on the sidelines for lack of an energy policy,” Locke said during a stop at a U.S. and Chinese joint venture project to build batteries for electric vehicles.

“The longer we wait, the more that others, whether it’s China, Germany, and other countries, will be moving ahead.”

While legislation to fight global warming and provide stronger economic incentives for renewables energy still faces an uncertain fate in Congress, China is pushing clean-energy projects on a number of fronts.

“The opportunities are stunning in China because China has enormous economic growth and that economic growth has led to enormous demands for energy,” said Locke, who headed a group of 24 U.S. clean-energy companies on a trade mission to Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing this week.

The joint venture between California-based company Coda and its Chinese partner, Tianjin Lishen Battery, was a model of how cooperation in the clean-energy sector could create jobs in both countries, Locke said.

Lishen builds the batteries for an electric vehicle that Coda plans to sell in the United States. The Chinese state-owned oil company, CNOOC, is also an investor in the project.

Locke also visited the Tianjin facility of a joint venture between United Solar Ovonic, a subsidiary of Energy Conversion Devices, and Tianjin Jinneng Investment Company to convert U.S.-made solar cells into solar modules for the Chinese market.

“We do about 75 percent of the manufacturing in Michigan and then we roll it up and we ship it to Tianjin, where they finish it, cut it up into the sizes that they need,” said Uni-Solar Vice President Martha Duggan.

Uni-Solar signed an agreement during Locke’s trip to sell 500 kilowatts of its thin-film solar laminates to NYKE Solar Integrators, a Chinese company, for a demonstration project.

“Our theory is that by doing this particular business model, we’re creating and sustaining jobs in Michigan and in China,” Duggan said.

by Reuters

Story Copyright (c) 2010 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

Technorati Tags: clean energy, renwable energy, solar energy, wind energy

The measure by House Speaker Chris Benge of Tulsa creates the Oklahoma Energy Security Act. It seeks to reduce dependence on foreign oil and increase domestic energy and renewable energy production in Oklahoma and elsewhere.

It also creates a renewable energy standard for Oklahoma, a goal for efficient use of the state’s natural resources.

It calls for 15 percent of all electricity generated in Oklahoma by 2015 be produced from renewable energy like wind, solar and geothermal sources as well as conservation efforts.

The bill passed 91-2 Monday and now goes to the Senate for consideration.

About 35 states have some form of renewable portfolio standard.

The Associated Press

Technorati Tags: geothermal, green energy, photovoltaic, solar energy, wind energy

China has implemented plans to foster and develop a renewable energy industry while the United States has been slower to react. It has been estimated that China’s investment will improve environmental conditions and provide an economic windfall of $500 billion to $1 trillion by the year 2013. Alternately, the United States leads China in “smart-grid” technology, and with the right investments can obtain overall dominance in this area.

A smart grid delivers electricity from suppliers to consumers using two-way digital technology to control appliances at consumers’ homes to save energy, reduce cost and increase transparency. This smart-grid technology is one way to address energy independence and reliability issues. China needs the United States’ talent and smart-grid technologies. With cooperation and greater support, a green future can be in store for both the United States and China in the development of a domestic PV industry. This type of strategic investment, both environmentally and economically, can have national, state, and even local impacts.

Along with the U.S. Department of Energy and Treasury’s announcement that they will give $2.3 billion in tax credits to clean and renewable energy manufacturers, Gov. David Paterson recently announced the largest PV project in New York, which will help the state meet its energy needs, foster the development of solar technologies and stimulate the economy with new clean energy jobs.

On behalf of the state, the New York Power Authority (NYPA) will issue a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) for the purpose of exploring the development of public-private partnerships for the installation of up to 100 megawatts (MW) of PV systems. These include roof-mounted and ground-mounted PV arrays at municipal facilities, public and private schools, businesses and state agencies throughout New York. Conservative estimates project that this program will create 50,000 new jobs throughout the state.

Locally, Clarkson University researchers are creating large-area PV devices that will improve efficiency and can enable very thin, well-ordered polymer nanocomposites to be printed onto flexible substrates. At Clarkson’s Advanced Materials Processing (CAMP), Professor Dan Goia and his group are developing materials for silicon-based solar cells that can be used for both commercial and military products. This project is supported by The Solar Energy Consortium (TSEC) and New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) which funds research collaborations between the Center for Advanced Materials Processing (CAMP),Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Corning Inc.

These are positive initiatives and developments which must continue to be supported. Therefore, we in the north country need to advocate for these types of higher education-industrial partnerships which focus on advancing sustainable energy solutions and environmental technology innovation. Such partnerships can effectively couple research discovery and engineering innovation while creating commercial enterprise solutions for economic development and positive environmental outcomes.

Clean energy technology, and specifically solar power, has the potential to transform nations like China and the United States. These nations are beginning to understand that they can no longer pollute their way to prosperity. If the United States and China cooperate on green technology, they can lead the next economic and environmental revolution. Success in this area will provide benefits that include a cleaner environment, bringing solar to market more quickly and diffusing the technology more broadly, increased economic growth — greater number of jobs, and better relations between the two powers.

It’s time to act to develop a green energy economy that protects our community and puts people back to work, reducing our stubbornly high unemployment. The north country can be a major part and force in positioning New York as a leader economically and environmentally; and become a hub for the development of cutting-edge technology that could rival job corridors in other states.

The writer is an Ogdensburg city councilor and adviser for local government affairs and policy for Matthew Doheny’s congressional campaign.

By NICHOLAS J. VAUGH

Technorati Tags: green energy, photovoltaic, solar energy

Sempra Generation announced today that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has approved Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) contract to purchase 48 megawatts (MW) of photovoltaic solar power from Sempra Generation’s Copper Mountain Solar facility.

The CPUC’s approval of the contract signals the January 2010 construction start for the facility, an expansion of Sempra Generation’s existing 10-MW El Dorado Solar power plant. Both projects are located near Boulder City, Nev., about 40 miles southeast of Las Vegas, and each will provide power to PG&E under two 20-year power contracts.

When completed by late 2010, the combined 58-MW installation will become the largest operational photovoltaic solar-power facility in North America. Together, the two facilities will utilize nearly 1 million photovoltaic panels.

“The approval of this power contract will allow us to bolster and expand a vital renewable energy hub for the western United States, one that will provide citizens in California with reliable and sustainable power for years to come,” said Michael W. Allman, president and chief executive officer for Sempra Generation. “The prime desert location for this solar project provides a reliable, efficient daytime source of energy for more than 330 days a year. We continue to be very pleased with the positive reception Sempra Generation’s wind and solar projects have received from existing and potential customers and look forward to continuing the development of large, utility-scale renewable power projects that meet North America’s ever increasing demand for clean energy.”

Unlike other solar-power facilities, Sempra Generation’s plants do not use heated water or other liquids in the power-generation process. Solar facilities generate electricity during the day when customer demand typically peaks.

Sempra Generation operates and maintains a fleet of natural gas fueled and solar power plants serving the U.S. market and is in the process of developing renewable power projects in the Pacific Southwest. Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), based in San Diego, is a Fortune 500 energy services holding company with 2008 revenues of nearly $11 billion. The Sempra Energy companies’ 13,600 employees serve more than 29 million consumers worldwide.

This press release contains statements that are not historical fact and constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Technorati Tags: electricity deregulation California, green energy, solar energy

In 1986 solar panels were literally ripped from the White House roof. But political will and financial incentives have reignited the search for efficient, affordable ways to harness the sun’s energy. Two new solar thermal technologies—which focus sunlight to create heat rather than convert it directly to electricity, as photovoltaics do—promise to make solar power practical at vastly different scales.

The SunCatcher solar thermal system, developed by Tessera Solar and built by Stirling Energy Systems at the Sandia National Laboratories’ National Solar Thermal Test Facility, captures solar energy at 31.25 percent efficiency, the highest ever achieved by this technology. Each of SunCatcher’s 38-foot-wide dishes collects enough heat energy to run a Stirling engine that can then generate 25 kilowatts of electric power. The system will fulfill two of the world’s largest solar contracts, providing a planned 1,600 megawatts to Southern California by 2014. It improved on its predecessor with a new design that makes each dish substantially lighter and cheaper to manufacture.

Meanwhile, a group of recent and current MIT engineering students is working to bring solar thermal to Africa with an off-grid system that operates on a much smaller scale. The team has developed a microgenerator capable of producing 3 kilowatts of electric power plus hundreds of gallons of hot water each day using relatively inexpensive, readily available components such as auto parts. Engineer and cofounder Amy Mueller says that the MIT group’s nonprofit, called STG International, has already set up microgenerators at two locations in Lesotho. A third Lesotho installation is under construction at a medical clinic, where it will provide power for lighting and communications equipment as well as hot water.

by Cyrus Moulton

Technorati Tags: solar energy