Category Archives: Renewable Energy

Solar conference in Birmingham, U.K.

Birmingham lures solar conference from London.
Maybe soon we’ll read Valdosta lures solar conference from Atlanta.

Solar Power UK wrote 15 December 2010,

Sun Shines on Birmingham’s Solar Industry:



Birmingham is to host the annual Solar Power UK Conference and
Exhibitionin October 2011. Over 3000 solar industry participants, 30% of
which will be overseas visitors, are due to descend on the city during
the conference following sell out events in Munich and London in 2010,
generating a predicted £4.15m for the city.

That’s about $6.7 million U.S. dollars.

It is the only time the event has been hosted outside of London in the
UK and the first time the conference will be lighting up the city. The
decision comes as Birmingham is increasingly recognised as a hub for the
developing UK solar industry…

So becoming a leader in solar netted Birmingham a major conference,
which brings income in addition to the jobs and energy generated
directly by the solar projects.

Continuing:

Continue reading →

Last day for advance rate at Solar Summit



The Georgia Solar Energy Association (GSEA) is holding

a conference
Friday a week from today in Atlanta,
and you can still sign up at the advance rate today.
Sounds like a good place for networking potential projects.

Announcing Solar Summit 2011! Join utilities and policy experts from around the country as we present a full day of panel discussions and presentations on solar renewables. With the theme, “Solar Works in Georgia” GSEA will layout the roadmap for success in Georgia.

Where: GTRI Conference Center- 250 14th Street, Atlanta, GA 30318
When: Friday, June 24th 8a-4p
How: Tickets on sale now
What: $79 before June 15th — EXTENDED TO FRIDAY, 6/17 $99 at the door

Coffee starts at 7:45 AM, with the Welcome session at 8:15 and keynote speaker Col. Dan Nolan (USArmy Ret.)
speaking at 8:30 on “The Military’s integration of Green Energy”.

Another panel asks the question, “Will military and institutional adoption lead the way?”
Hm, maybe

municipalities should help pioneer solar with financing from banks and power companies.

Another panel notes, “A recent ASU study ranked Georgia 3rd in the nation for solar development potential.”
That would be
this study.

A wide range of speakers come from industry, military, finance, and government.
Sounds like a networking opportunity.
Maybe even a good place to pitch a municipal solar project.


-jsq

Birmingham U.K. municipal solar didn’t wait for larger governments

Banks and power companies can fund municipal solar projects;
cities and counties don’t have to wait for state or federal governments
to provide them grants.
Or at least Birmingham, U.K. has done it for public housing.
And

Quitman, Georgia did it last year, too.

According to Larry Elliott in the Guardian, 3 October 2010,

10,000 Birmingham council homes to get solar panels:
City agrees £100m scheme, partly funded by banks and energy suppliers, to meet target for cutting carbon emissions



Plans to fit power generating solar panels to council-owned properties
in Birmingham will be pushed forward this week after the council agreed a
“green new deal” scheme covering 10,000 homes.

In the biggest proposal for retrofitting houses through an energy
efficiency upgrade yet seen in the UK, the council agreed a £100m
proposal last week designed to create jobs and meet the city’s ambitious
targets for reducing carbon emissions.

The plan – Birmingham Energy Savers – will be jointly funded by
Birmingham council and investment from energy suppliers and commercial
banks, and follows two successful pilot schemes conducted in Europe’s
biggest local authority.

Energy efficiency and solar power to create jobs!

We have local proof of concept right next door

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Valdosta budget hearing: no citizens spoke

Valdosta city officials advertised a budget hearing and no citizens spoke.

David Rodock wrote today in the VDT,

Valdosta’s 2012 budget reviewed by citizens and public officials



City officials and staff gathered Wednesday night to discuss and review
the fiscal year 2012 budget. Public participation was advertised, but
no citizens presented any concern at the meeting. This is the first
budget hearing, with the final adoption of the budget taking place at
the upcoming regular City Council meeting on June 23 at 5:30 p.m.

No citizens.
I don’t live in Valdosta, so I didn’t go.
Apparently no

Valdosta residents who have any economic concerns went, either.

That’s too bad, because among the items discussed was this:

  • Energy and fuel prices are a threat, since the private sector controls
    the costs. Public Works, the Valdosta Fire Department and the Valdosta
    Police Department use significant amounts of fuel.

And I bet the city spends significant funds air conditioning its buildings.
Costs that could be offset by investment in solar panels for those same
buildings.
Solar panels that would limit ongoing electrical expenditures,
and would also be a visible sign to residents and potential
investors that Valdosta means renewable and sustainable energy business.

According to Hanson, for every dollar spent by residents, $1.17 is spent
by non-residents.

And many of those non-residents would see those solar panels,
which would spread the green reputation of Valdosta back to whereever
they came from.

If Valdosta wants to be forward-looking,

Continue reading →

Transparency and leadership for the local good —John S. Quarterman @ VLCIA 14 June 2011



Noting that I was there on behalf of the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
which takes these videos and puts them on the web,
I recommended to the Industrial Authority board that they
put their agendas on the web,
since they give those away at the door
and they don’t contain any of the details that they’re concerned
about revealing to competitors.

Recalling that I had previously had the audacity to

read their own charter to them,
or at least the parts about the general good and welfare of the community,
I reminded them that some areas that had successfully attracted industry,
such as Raleigh, NC, Austin, TX, and Portland, OR had said what kinds of
industry they wanted.
Expanding on the example of Austin, TX, I noted that they emphasized
clean industry, music, and arts, and that helped attract the kinds
of knowledge-based workers that our local Chamber of Commerce wants
for knowledge-based jobs.

Then I noted that I had

complimented Mayor Fretti

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SolarCity gets big investment from Google

Google invests megabucks in SolarCity,
the California company that handles all financing of solar panels
and provides them to the customer with no money down and a reasonable
monthly payment.

Steve Hargreaves wrote in CNNMoneyTech 14 June 2011,

Google invests $280 million in SolarCity



Google and rooftop solar power company SolarCity announced a $280
million investment deal Tuesday, the largest such deal for home-based
solar power systems in the United States.

The investment will give San Mateo, Calif-based SolarCity the funding
to build and lease solar power systems to a 7,000 to 9,000 homeowners
in the 10 states where it operates.

Founded five years ago, SolarCity has 15,000 solar projects around the
nation completed or under way. Customers who wish to have the company’s
solar system installed at their home can pay for it outright, but most
choose instead to let SolarCity retain ownership of the equipment and
rent back the use of it through monthly solar lease payments.

Another financing method is
Solar Mosaic,
where people pool their money to buy shares in a solar installation.

-jsq

PS: This post owed to M.J. Kuntz.

When will the Wiregrass Solar plant be expanded? —John S. Quarterman @ VCC 9 June 2011



Compliments to Mayor Fretti for saying we will competitively expand the Wiregrass Solar plant!

Responding to
George Rhynes’ point,
I said that while I had recommended moving Citizens to be Heard to the
end of the agenda, it never occured to me that it might get moved


after Council Comments, which did lead to an impression that Council
did not want to hear and did not plan to respond.
I noted that if Council videoed its own proceedings and put them on the web,
that would help make the problem moot.
I’m thinking videos distributed by the City Council itself would probably


get
more citizens viewing them than ones distributed by bloggers like me and
George and by LAKE.

My main point was that, even though Brad Lofton and Col. Ricketts apparently
never told Mayor Fretti, there was a larger solar array in

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Detroit cuts power due to heat: too bad they didn’t have solar

AP reported 10 June 2011,

Half the country wilts under unrelenting heat:



Detroit officials intentionally cut power to city hall and a convention
center Thursday to prevent the municipal power system from crashing from
high energy demand — even though temperatures had tapered to the 70s
after two days above 90. Equipment failures knocked out power to several
other government buildings and traffic lights in parts of the downtown.

“Because there was a short window of time, we had to make a decision
to take some of our customers off to prevent a blackout of the entire
city,” Detroit mayoral spokeswoman Karen Dumas said.

Too bad they didn’t have solar, which would have provided peak power
at peak load.

-jsq

Solar Cheaper Than Fossil Power in Five Years —Mark M. Little of GE

Brian Wingfield wrote for Bloomberg 26 May 2011,

GE Sees Solar Cheaper Than Fossil Power in Five Years



Solar power may be cheaper than electricity generated by fossil fuels and
nuclear reactors within three to five years because of innovations, said
Mark M. Little, the global research director for General Electric Co. (GE)

“If we can get solar at 15 cents a kilowatt-hour or lower, which I’m
hopeful that we will do, you’re going to have a lot of people that
are going to want to have solar at home,” Little said yesterday in an
interview in Bloomberg’s Washington office. The 2009 average U.S. retail
rate per kilowatt-hour for electricity ranges from 6.1 cents in Wyoming to
18.1 cents in Connecticut, according to Energy Information Administration
data released in April.

GE is working on thin film solar.
Meanwhile, costs are already coming down:

Continue reading →

Renewable Sustainable Energy Network —VLCoC

Had a chat today with Myrna Ballard, President of the
Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce, and
ReKasa Deen, Business Development Director,


about the Renewable Sustainable Energy Network.
Note that word Sustainable that they’ve added since

last I spoke with them.
They’re moving along the idea of a series of meetings or workshops
of Chamber members together with an online forum.
The next step is for the Chamber Board of Directors
to decide whether to approve the project or not.
They’re talking to various people and organizations around the community;
if you want to get involved, please contact

ReKasa Deen.


-jsq