WREF

Friday, March 9, 2012 11:50 AM

Financiers, Investors, Entrepreneurs — Are you Ready? More than 200 sessions will discuss everything scientific, renewable, efficient, environmental or financial at the World Renewable Energy Forum (WREF), May 13–17, 2012, in Denver, Colorado. Registration is open; early registration discount ends April 13. Sign up now for access to world's top renewable energy experts. If your focus is the business side of energy, here are just some of the presentations ready for you: Forecasting the Future of Energy Technologies using Economic Payback Curves Clean Energy Policy Building Blocks: Helping Policymakers Determine Best Policy Practices for Clean Energy Can You Find Real Gold in Investing in Green Energy in 2012? A Panel Discussion on the Effectiveness of Tax Credits, Incentives, and Grants for Renewable Energy Installations If the business side of energy isn't your thing, we've got hundreds of other sessions to choose from—WREF's complete program is now online. For more information on WREF, visit www.wref2012.org. About WREF The World Renewable Energy Network (WREN) and the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) have joined forces to present the World Renewable Energy Forum (WREF). This international event on renewable energy technologies will address the world's economic, environmental and security challenges at every scale, from off-grid villages to gigawatt power plants. The 2012 conference also is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Colorado Renewable Energy Society (CRES) and the International Solar Energy Society (ISES). Conference details are at www.wref2012.org.

White House Releases More E-Mails on Solyndra

The New York Times

Saturday, January 14, 2012

White House Releases More E-Mails on Solyndra

By MATTHEW L. WALD

WASHINGTON — The White House has given House Republican investigators an additional 66 pages of internal correspondence relating to Solyndra, the solar equipment manufacturer that filed for bankruptcy after accepting a $535 million loan guarantee, and the e-mails reflect significant anxiety about the poor financial prospects of the administration’s flagship choice to demonstrate how federal help could add to building a clean energy economy.

But the new documents do not appear to support the Republicans’ contention that the White House steered the loan guarantee to Solyndra, a company whose investors included an Obama campaign donor.

In one e-mail, dated Oct. 27, 2010, Heather R. Zichal, the deputy assistant to the president for energy and climate change, told Carol M. Browner, the White House’s chief staff member on climate change: “Solyndra is going to announce that they are laying off 200 of their 1,200 workers. No es bueno.”

That announcement was postponed until the day after the midterm elections of Nov. 2, 2010, apparently at the urging of the Department of Energy. The newly released material, which was given to The New York Times by a government official, does not comment on the timing or include evidence to support the contention of some Republicans that the delay was requested by the White House.

Two days after the Oct. 27 e-mail, Ms. Zichal responded to one from Joe Aldy, then the special assistant to the president for energy and environment, who said, “Not a good start for the first closed loan guarantee.”

The e-mails and other documents were supplied to the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, which has held several hearings on Solyndra. The Republicans leading the committee and subcommittee, Representatives Fred Upton of Michigan and Cliff Stearns of Florida, respectively, said in a statement that the White House had released only a “handful” of documents and reiterated the charge that the loan guarantee process was “tainted by stimulus politics from the outset.”

The committee also announced on Thursday that it was also seeking documents from SAIC, the parent company of a consulting firm that the Energy Department hired to evaluate Solyndra, and the Government Services Administration, which operates office buildings.

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KCP&L Plan Shifts to Efficiency

The following excerpt is from an article in today's Kansas City Star about a local electric utility, Kansas City Power and Light (KCP&L), that is making energy efficiency a part of its business model.  Previously, KCP&L's energy efficiency efforts were done primarily for public relations.  But a new Missouri law makes it profitable for KCP&L to pursue energy efficiency seriously.

The following excerpt gives an idea of what the article is about.  More details are available in the complete article.

KCP&L plan shifts to efficiency, seeks payback for saving energy

By STEVE EVERLY

The Kansas City Star

Friday, December 23, 2011

Kansas City Power & Light, in a historic shift for the utility, filed plans Thursday with Missouri regulators to sell less electricity.

The company, like other utilities in the region, has depended on selling electricity to recover its costs and earn a profit. Building more power plants was the gauge for its success. Its conservation efforts, such as rebates to customers for buying energy-efficient air-conditioners, were pilot programs and not part of KCP&L’s long-term plans.

But the company says it’s time for a change, for energy efficiency to take on a more serious role. So its latest plan takes advantage of new Missouri regulations that make it possible for utilities to curb consumption and not be penalized financially.

And customers, though they might pay higher rates initially to help cover the upfront costs of conservation efforts, are expected to eventually see lower rates after the efficiencies start paying off.

The combination, say the utility’s officials, convinced them that for the first time energy efficiency should have an official place in its business plans.

The plan, as conceived, would ensure a sustained program that includes rebates for commercial and residential customers who buy energy-efficient equipment and lighting. There would also be rebates for disposing of inefficient air-conditioners and refrigerators. Other programs include telling residential customers how their electric usage compares with others in similarly sized homes, and what can be specifically done to reduce consumption.

KCP&L would give the program $25 million a year, which would be expected to eventually save the utility much more than that. The rule of thumb is that it costs one-fifth as much, or less, to eliminate the need for a kilowatt of electricity as it does to produce that much electricity. So the savings could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars over a few years.

A problem in the past has been figuring out how to encourage utililty convervation efforts, because they reduce electricity sales and thus cut into revenue. In addition, utilities haven’t always been able to build the costs of conservation efforts into their electricity rates.

But in 2009, state legislators passed the Missouri Energy Efficiency Investment Act, which called for treating investments in curbing consumption in the same way as investments to deliver electricity. It took a couple of years to work out the regulations to put the law into effect, including how to measure energy savings.