U.S. Department of Energy Update...........Solar and Wind Progress

Solar is Hot-----While Wind Cools Down

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
August 19, 2009
News and Events

* Treasury, DOE Offer $2.3 Billion in Tax Credits for Energy Manufacturers
* DOE Funds Clean Energy Projects on Tribal Lands and in Alaskan Villages
* DOE Awards $119 Million to Five States, D.C., and American Samoa
* DOE Delivers $66 Million in Recovery Act Funds for Weatherization
* First Commercial U.S. Solar Power Tower Launched by eSolar
* U.S. Wind Power Industry Fights Headwinds in Second Quarter

Energy Connections

* Hurricane Season Off to Late Start, Expected to be Below Normal

News and Events

Editor's Note: We continue to update our older stories to include details on the Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs), which often are not available at the time of publication. We recently updated a story on Recovery Act investments in biofuels to include the FOAs on ethanol infrastructure upgrades and biofuel consortiums, and we updated a story on lighting standards and Recovery Act investments in building technologies to include the official published version of the standard and to include the relevant FOAs for the building technologies. We also updated a story on "Cash for Clunkers" to include the publication of the rule in the Federal Register and updated a story on DOE loan guarantees to include the solicitation. See the updated stories on biofuels, building technologies, "Cash for Clunkers," and DOE loan guarantees.
Treasury, DOE Offer $2.3 Billion in Tax Credits for Energy Manufacturers
A photo inside a high-bay manufacturing building, where workers prepare the surfaces of wind turbine blades. The blades are mounted horizontally in metal rings and extend from behind the camera to the far end of the building.

The new federal tax credit is meant to encourage investment in new manufacturing facilities for clean energy technologies, such as this wind blade production plant in Pennsylvania. Enlarge this image
Credit: Gamesa

DOE and the U.S. Department of the Treasury have launched a new program to award $2.3 billion in tax credits to manufacturers of equipment for clean energy systems. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act authorized the Treasury Department to provide developers with an investment tax credit of 30% percent for facilities that manufacture particular types of energy equipment.

Qualifying manufacturers will produce solar, wind, and geothermal energy equipment; fuel cells, microturbines, and batteries; electric cars; electric grids to support the transmission of renewable energy; energy conservation technologies; and equipment that captures and sequesters carbon dioxide or reduces greenhouse gas emissions. The manufacturing tax credit is capped at $2.3 billion, and credits are available for two years or until the cap is reached. Companies can expect to receive payments within 180 days of filing for the credit. See the DOE press release and for more details, see DOE's Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit (48C) Web page.

The new tax credit "will put America on track to once again be the global leader in solar manufacturing," according to Rhone Resch, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association. "This program will attract billions of dollars of investment in manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and will create new jobs in states where they are needed most. We expect solar-related provisions in the stimulus bill like this one to create 110,000 jobs in the solar industry in 2009 and 2010 combined." See the SEIA press release.
DOE Funds Clean Energy Projects on Tribal Lands and in Alaskan Villages

DOE announced on August 13 its award of up to $13.6 million in multi-year funding for new clean energy projects on tribal lands. Thirty-six Native American tribes and Alaskan villages have been selected to receive awards that will advance renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency and conservation projects on tribal lands and rural Alaska villages. The DOE funding, awarded through a competitive process, is expected to be matched by up to $27 million in public and private investment, for a total value of nearly $41 million.

In addition to the Alaskan villages, the funding will go to tribes in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Washington, and Wisconsin. Of the 36 Native American tribes and villages whose projects have been selected for negotiation, 8 projects will provide weatherization training and resources to tribal members, 17 projects will focus on assessing the feasibility of renewable energy development and energy efficiency deployment on tribal lands, and 11 projects will fund the development of renewable energy projects and the deployment of energy efficiency measures on tribal lands and villages. The renewable energy projects will employ hydropower and wind power, while the feasibility studies will be examining a wide range of renewable energy technologies. See the DOE press release and the Tribal Energy Program Web site.
DOE Awards $119 Million to Five States, D.C., and American Samoa

DOE delivered more than $119 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds on August 14 to American Samoa, the District of Columbia, and the states of Alabama, Illinois, Maryland, North Dakota, and Wyoming for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Under DOE's State Energy Program (SEP), states and territories have proposed statewide plans that prioritize energy savings, create or retain jobs, increase the use of renewable energy, and reduce carbon pollution. The funds will support renewable energy projects; loan, grant, and rebate programs; energy education, training, technical assistance, marketing, and outreach; and energy efficiency upgrades for low-income households, public buildings, schools, industrial facilities, tribes, and nonprofit organizations.

For example, Illinois, which has received $40.5 million, will spend the funds on energy efficiency retrofits and support for the state's biofuels industry. The state will provide grants to support new biofuels production facilities or retrofits to existing biofuel facilities that will help reduce their operating expenses and environmental impact. In addition, Illinois will join Alabama, North Dakota, and Washington, D.C., in spending a portion of the SEP money on energy efficiency upgrades for government buildings. Meanwhile, North Dakota will create a special rebate program to help victims of the 2009 spring floods to purchase high-efficiency furnaces when replacing their heating systems.

The funds are part of the Obama Administration's national strategy to support job growth while making a historic down payment on clean energy. The Recovery Act appropriated $3.1 billion to the State Energy Program, giving priority to achieving national goals of energy independence while helping to stimulate local economies. For the states and territories, the new funds represent 40% of the State Energy Program funds available to them under the Recovery Act, following an initial 10% of the funds that were awarded to support planning activities. The second half of the funds will be released when the states meet the reporting, oversight, and accountability milestones required by the Recovery Act. See the state-by-state list of funding and energy plans in the DOE press release, and see also the State Energy Program Web site.
DOE Delivers $66 Million in Recovery Act Funds for Weatherization

DOE delivered more than $66 million in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to four states on August 13, allowing those states to robustly expand their weatherization assistance programs. The programs improve the energy efficiency of the homes of low-income families, helping the residents lower their energy bills. DOE awarded the money to Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, and Hawaii, and the states may spend up to 20% of their funds to hire and train new workers. The new allocations will help the states achieve their collective goal of weatherizing 26,300 homes, creating new green jobs while helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The new funds represent 40% of the total weatherization funds available to those states under the Recovery Act and follow the award of 10% of the funds in March to support planning and ramp-up activities. The second half of the weatherization funds will be released when the states meet the reporting, oversight, and accountability milestones required by the Recovery Act. Details on the funds awarded to each state, as well as the weatherization goals set by each state, can be found in the DOE press release. See also the Web site for DOE's Weatherization Assistance Program, which currently features a new Web video highlighting the program and the recent National Weatherization Conference.
First Commercial U.S. Solar Power Tower Launched by eSolar
Photo of two tall metal towers, each topped with a spherical device and surrounded by large rectangular expanses of mirrors. Some equipment is located at the base of each tower.

The new eSolar facility consists of two solar modules, and each module employs a field of mirrors to concentrate sunlight on a receiver mounted at the top of a central tower.
Credit: eSolar

The first commercial solar power tower in the United States was unveiled near Lancaster, California, on August 5 by eSolar. Located about 50 miles north of Los Angeles in California's Antelope Valley, the Sierra SunTower solar power plant uses advanced computer software to precisely align thousands of flat mirrors, or "heliostats," to concentrate the sun's heat on a receiver mounted at the top of a tower. Water pumped through the tower is boiled to steam, and the steam drives a turbine to produce up to 5 megawatts (MW) of electricity. The eSolar design employs modules that cover 10 acres of land with 12,000 mirrors surrounding a single power tower to generate up to 2.5 MW of power. The Sierra SunTower achieves its 5-MW output by combining two of eSolar's modules. Power generated at the new facility is being sold to Southern California Edison (SCE).

The eSolar approach involves several innovations, including the use of small, mass-produced mirrors for the heliostats. The company also chose to build the facility on private land designated for heavy industrial use, an approach that simplified the permitting of the facility. The company plans to duplicate this model at other new solar plants throughout the United States and the world, and it already has an agreement with NRG Energy, Inc. to develop three plants in California and New Mexico that will generate up to 465 MW of power. The two companies announced the overall agreement in February, then followed up in June with specific plans for a 92-MW plant in southern New Mexico and for another 92-MW plant in Lancaster, California, near the current eSolar power plant. The India-based ACME Group has also licensed eSolar's technology. See the eSolar press release and fact sheet (PDF 1.1 MB) on the Sierra SunTower plant, plus its press releases on the NRG Energy agreement and its planned facilities in California and New Mexico. Download Adobe Reader.

At least one other company is also planning to develop solar power tower plants on private land, as BrightSource Energy, Inc. announced in March that it has signed a contract with a private land developer in Nevada. BrightSource Energy plans to develop a 600-MW solar power tower project on a six-square-mile area of private land located near transmission lines northeast of Las Vegas. Meanwhile, two companies plan to employ parabolic trough-shaped mirrors to concentrate the sun's heat and produce power for Arizona Public Service (APS) and SCE. Starwood Energy Group Global, LLC plans to build a 290-MW parabolic trough plant about 75 miles west of Phoenix, Arizona, for APS, while Solar Millennium plans to build two 242-MW facilities in California for SCE. The Solar Millenium facilities will be located in Blythe, about 200 miles east of Los Angeles, and Ridgecrest, about 120 miles north of Los Angeles, and are slated for completion in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Another solar company, Abengoa Solar, plans to build solar trough facilities for industrial applications in Arizona and New York. The Arizona facility will treat contaminated water at a DOE site in Tuba City, while the New York facility will deliver heating, cooling, and humidity control for a Steinway & Sons piano factory in Long Island City. The New York facility will be the first in the United States to combine parabolic troughs with a two-stage absorption chiller, which is a heat-driven air conditioning system. See the press releases from BrightSource Energy (PDF 186 KB), APS, SCE, and Abengoa Solar.
U.S. Wind Power Industry Fights Headwinds in Second Quarter

The U.S. wind industry blew hot and cold during the second quarter of 2009. Although 1,210 megawatts (MW) of new wind power were added in the United States—putting this year's total ahead of last year—the number of new orders as well as the manufacturing activity associated with the industry declined, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). More than 4,000 MW was installed during the first six months of 2009, topping the 2,900 MW added during the same period a year ago. Of the 10 states that boosted their wind generating capacity this period, Missouri grew at the fastest rate, nearly doubling its wind power capacity with 146 MW of new wind generation, while Texas added the most wind power capacity, at 454 MW. And in another milestone, Iowa passed the 3,000-MW cumulative total by reaching 3,043 MW statewide, solidifying its position as second to Texas in overall wind power capacity. See the AWEA press release and report (PDF 342 KB). Download Adobe Reader.

However, in what the report termed a "troubling" development, industry-related manufacturing dropped as the economy cooled. The report cited the fact that "many existing supply chain companies" for wind turbines have furloughed workers or started hiring freezes because of the slowdown in contracts for wind turbines. Still, not all news was bad on the manufacturing front. Three wind turbine and turbine component manufacturing sites were opened, and another four expanded, bringing to 20 the number of wind facilities that have opened, expanded, or been announced this year. The three manufacturers coming online during the second quarter were Nordic Windpower USA, manufacturing utility-scale wind turbines in Pocatello, Idaho; Mariah Power, building small vertical-axis wind turbines in Manistee, Michigan; and Danotek Motion Technologies, producing generators in Canton, Michigan. See the Mariah Power press release (PDF 126 KB).

Most significantly, eight new facilities, delivering goods from small turbines to towers and components, were announced during the second quarter. Engineering giant Siemens said it would begin construction this month on a $50 million plant in Hutchinson, Kansas, that will begin producing nacelles for its 2.3-MW wind turbines in late 2010. Nacelles are the bus-shaped enclosures that house the turbine gearbox and generator. The factory aims to produce 650 nacelles per year, creating at least 400 new jobs. Meanwhile, GE said in June it would open a research and development facility near Detroit, Michigan, that will investigate advanced manufacturing technologies, including technologies relating to wind turbine manufacturing. See the press releases from Siemens and GE and the related posting on GE reports, the company's blog.

Although the third quarter is only half-way through, there has already been some positive news for the wind power industry. In early July, DOE offered a conditional guarantee of a $16 million loan for Nordic Windpower to expand its newly opened assembly plant in Idaho, potentially creating more than 75 new skilled jobs there. In late July, Nordex USA announced that it is starting construction of its first U.S. manufacturing plant in Jonesboro, Arkansas, for the production of its 2.5-MW wind turbines. The $100 million undertaking includes a $40 million nacelle assembly factory, which should start production next year and reach full production of 300 nacelles per year by 2012. The $60 million second phase will be a wind blade manufacturing plant at the same location, with the goal of being at full-scale production by 2014. See the press releases from Nordic Windpower (PDF 72 KB) and Nordex.
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