Posted by: Kory Raftery

If Jimmy Buffett were writing a theme song for PG&E's renewable energy department, his lyrics might read, "Mother, Mother Ocean: I have heard you call. I wanted to pull the power from your waters since I was three feet tall."

Looking to add to its diverse power mix, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has just signed an agreement with the U.S. Air Force that will let the utility investigate the feasibility of a wave energy project off the coast of northern Santa Barbara County near Vandenberg Air Force Base. The project is part of the PG&E WaveConnect™ program, which includes a pilot study underway in Humboldt County.

PG&E has filed a preliminary permit application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to study the southern site for three years. If findings are favorable, the utility could seek a license to install wave energy conversion devices capable of producing as much as 100 megawatts of electricity. The clean power would feed into the existing electrical grid at Vandenberg Air Force Base, which in turn is connected to the PG&E grid.

Experts believe that wave energy off the 745 mile California coastline could produce more than a fifth of the state's energy needs. The Santa Barbara County Community Environmental Council's renewable energy blueprint calls for more than eight percent of the county's future energy mix to come from the ocean. But there are many hurdles to jump before arriving at those targets, including environmental and land use concerns,  grid connections and design evolution.

"You can't develop a technology unless you can test it," said Roger Bedard, ocean energy leader with Electric Power Research Institute. "In this country, we are challenged with inferior infrastructure in testing ocean energy devices. PG&E's WaveConnect™ projects will provide the infrastructure needed to test and refine emerging technologies."

Throughout the process, PG&E will continue to work closely with local communities and elected officials to understand and address their interests and concerns. The project is expected to have no significant impact on existing coastal activities such as surfing, hiking or whale watching. Development will only move forward if technical studies support its feasibility and if environmental studies show that the project will not have significant negative environmental and economical effects.

Currently, the Earth's oceans produce roughly 300 megawatts of electricity from various devices that convert energy from water movement or the natural temperature and salinity changes into usable power. Next year that number is expected to skyrocket when a 250 megawatt seawall dam comes online in South Korea. But wave power will continue to lag other renewable technologies without development assistance.

Ultimately, PG&E's WaveConnect™ projects will help emerging technology companies develop reliable and cost-effective wave energy devices, find funding and help PG&E and other utilities bring this innovative new source of clean energy to customers.

"If a utility is going to make it happen in this country, it's going to be PG&E," Bedard said.

Posted by: Leonard Anderson

Several items relating to the business and technology of clean energy caught our attention this week:

• The British government plans to hook up 50 million gas and electric smart meters in England, Scotland and Wales by the end of 2020, which would make it the world's largest smart meter rollout. The $12.3 billion program aims to connect most of the homes and small businesses in Great Britain. Utilities British Gas, Npower and EDF Energy are running trials with meters from BGlobal, PRI and other companies. Here in the U.S., smart meters now account for about 5 percent of all meters, according to a report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Florida shows the biggest market growth at 10.4 percent in 2008 versus less than 1 percent in 2006.
• Automaker BMW is launching an electric-car test with a lease program for its Mini E vehicle. BMW will lease battery-powered Mini coupes in the next few weeks to 450 drivers in California, New York and New Jersey for $850 a month plus taxes and insurance. They will use the cars for daily commutes and charge the batteries at home. BMW will use data from the test to produce a new  electric vehicle to sell in the U.S. in 2012. General Motors plans to roll out its plug-in electric Volt in 2010, Ford says it will introduce an electric Focus compact in 2011, Mitsubishi Motors is to sell an electric car in Japan in 2010, and Nissan Motor Co. has an EV expected in 2012.
• Montreal has launched the first large-scale bicycle-sharing system in North America, beginning with 3,000 bicycles and 300 bike stations in the city's downtown core. The city will run the system itself and fund it with fees from riders. Montreal spent about $13 million U.S. to develop and launch the system, which is supposed to become financially self-sufficient.
• General Electric Co. is seeking federal stimulus money to help build a factory in upstate New York to manufacture batteries for a hybrid railroad locomotive and other industrial equipment. The batteries will use a sodium-metal halide technology to store large amounts of energy, and they could also be used in a smaller scale for hybrid and plug-in electric cars.

Posted by: Leonard Anderson

Several items relating to the business and technology of clean energy caught our attention this week:

• Stormy seas offshore San Francisco. The city is trying to block Seattle-based Grays Harbor Ocean Energy from building a 100-megawatt wave power project 20 to 25 miles off the city's Ocean Beach in marine sanctuaries near the Farallon Islands. The project has drawn fire from environmental groups, surfers and commercial fishermen. San Francisco  asked the Federal Energy RegulatoryCommission to give priority to the city's Oceanside Wave Energy Project that would be eight miles offshore and outside the sanctuaries.
• Now we head to the San Francisco waterfront where a small group is building a 60-foot catamaran made of used plastic bottles filled with dry ice. Huh? The boat, named Plastiki, is to sail across the Pacific to Australia. Project leader David de Rothschild, scion of the Rothschild banking family, says the adventure is to draw attention to plastic bottles, which consume a lot of energy to manufacture, are rarely recycled, and are "a symbol of waste." By constructing the all-plastic boat (the masts are metal) and sailing it across the Pacific, the Plastiki will show what recycled materials can do, he says. Bon Voyage!
• Prisons are going green. Several states are embracing energy efficiency, solar and wind power, biomass boilers, organic produce grown by inmates, and other green projects. Washington State's Department of Corrections has 34 LEED-certified facilities, while Federal Correctional Institute No. 3 in North Carolina is the first LEED-certified federal prison. Closer to home, a new $176 million juvenile detention center in Alameda County recently became the first jail in the country to receive LEED gold certification.
  

Posted by: Leonard Anderson

The announcement today by American Electric Power and Duke Energy to build a $1 billion, 240-mile transmission line in Indiana points out the challenges to link new supplies of renewable energy with utility customer load.

The 765-kilovolt line proposed by AEP and Duke would connect AEP's Rockport Station east of Evansville, Ind., with Duke's Greentown Station near Kokomo, Ind. The line could tap more than 3,000 megawatts of wind power planned in central Indiana.

The proposed joint venture project faces a number of state and federal regulatory hurdles and would be completed at the earliest in 2014. Approvals would have to come from the Midwestern Independent System Operator and the PJM Interconnection. The JV also must file in Indiana to operate as a transmission utility and seek rate approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Utility customers would pay for the project in rates.

Overcoming regulatory hurdles for siting and developing new transmission lines for solar and wind energy in remote areas in the Midwest, California, desert Southwest, Texas and other states is critical for the development renewable enrgy supplies. We'll keep an eye on this latest proposal in the Hoosier State.

Posted by: Leonard Anderson

It's a busy day on the transmission front in California for Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric.

Reuters reports that SCE launched construction of its big Tehachapi Renewal Transmission Project to deliver 4,500 megawatts of mostly wind power to customers in Kern and Los Angeles Counties. Phase 1 is to be finished in 2009. Tehachapi is part of SCE's proposed $5 billon expansion for its high-voltage grid.

To the south, the North County Times says SDG&E's delayed Sunrise Powerlink may get a boost from a decision by the federal Department of Energy affirming "designated energy corridors" on the East and West coasts. The decision means that SDG&E could ask the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve the contested transmission plan if it can't win a go-ahead from the California Public Utilities Commission.

The Sunrise line would carry power from the Imperial Valley to San Diego customers but it has drawn fire from environmentalists because the route would run through the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, the largest state park in California.

Posted by: Leonard Anderson

Take a look at a story in Energy Daily today (requires login) updating the transmission flap between Southern California Edison and Arizona utility regulators. It appears that SCE is talking with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to authorize the Arizona Corporation Commission to approve a new transmission line to carry power from Arizona to southern California. You will recall that last year the Arizona panel rejected Edison's proposal, calling the project an "extension cord" to siphon off needed Arizona generation to help out SCE. Energy Daily notes that the Edison case could affect controversial transmission plans in other states.