A Comprehensive Resource to Help  Streamline Solar Power Purchase Agreements and Reduce Solar Costs

from irecusa.org
In an effort to reduce solar soft costs and assist local governments and other public entities seeking to install and finance rooftop solar systems, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) has developed a comprehensive toolkit on retail solar power purchase agreements (PPAs).
Under the PPA model, a third party owns a solar energy system located on the property of a host customer, such as a local government, and sells the electricity produced by the facility to the customer under a contract designed to provide long-term electricity cost savings.
For public entities, the PPA model delivers long-term energy cost savings without requiring large up-front capital expenditures. It also allows them to indirectly benefit from tax incentives that cannot be accessed by tax-exempt entities.
IREC’s new PPA toolkit is designed to help overcome the common challenges and costs associated with PPAs by providing a full suite of resources in a highly user-friendly format. With the addition of a free webinar and forthcoming toolkit workshops, IREC will supplement the toolkit with hands-on training to empower municipal entities that seek to utilize solar PPAs. The end goal, in line with the DOE SunShot Initiative goals, is to simplify, streamline and reduce costs for solar.

“The PPA trend has definitely been a little rocky in some instances,” says Justin Barnes, co-author of the toolkit. “Procuring solar under a PPA can be a complicated and time-consuming process. There are a lot things to consider and decisions to make, from how to design an RFP to select the most suitable provider, to establishing the terms of the contractual documents in a manner that allocates rights and risks in a mutually acceptable way. The details are often heavily negotiated, so a PPA deal in one jurisdiction can differ significantly from one in a neighboring locality.”

Prolonged PPA negotiations with significant transaction costs can ultimately deplete the value of the project for all participants, explains Barnes. This can be particularly troublesome for projects that are relatively small or that are financially compelling only if transaction costs can be minimized.  Many early adopters encountered PPA challenges that resulted in delayed or even canceled projects.

“These past experiences provide valuable insights that can help other public entities avoid common pitfalls,” adds co-author Kathleen Kapla, “and can help them navigate the many contractual issues present in these legal arrangements.”

“The toolkit is intended to provide local governments with the information they need to accomplish their solar procurement goals in a manner that suits their unique needs, and reduces the prospects for unpleasant surprises,” says IREC Regulatory Director Sara Baldwin Auck. Towards this end, the Toolkit includes:

• Background information on the PPA model and the associated contractual elements;
• Annotated model PPA and site right agreement documents, supplemented with numerous examples of how different provisions were addressed by individual local jurisdictions, and possible alternative language;
• “Clean” templates that may be customized for local use (for informational purposes, with each user expected to seek independent legal and tax counsel);
• General guidance on procurement design and implementation, also supplemented with numerous local examples;
• Short case studies of individual projects surveyed and links to project documents;
• Summaries of existing resources, such as previously published reports and fact sheets, other model PPAs, and prior webinars.

Free Solar PPA Toolkit Webinar

April 23, 2015, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm EDT

Register

Kapla is Of Counsel with Keyes, Fox & Wiedman, which represents IREC in regulatory matters. She specializes in real property and related business matters for renewable energy projects. Barnes is a policy research manager for EQ Research, and has worked closely with KF&W on this and other projects. His work focuses on solar and energy storage policy issues, including net metering, third-party ownership and rate design.
The Solar Power Purchase Agreement Toolkit is a project of IREC, as part of the Solar Outreach Partnership, in coordination with ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA and with support from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) SunShot Initiative. The Solar Outreach Partnership (SolarOPs) is designed to help accelerate solar energy adoption on the local level by providing timely and actionable information to local governments. SolarOPs achieves its goals through a mix of educational workshops, peer-to-peer sharing opportunities, research-based reports, and online resources.
Download the Toolkit

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

2:00 – 3:00 pm EDT

Register Here
Key to the solar industry’s continued growth is the next generation of skilled professionals to support its technologies. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently launched a pilot solar installation training program to provide military veterans transitioning out of active duty with the skills needed to become the leaders of the nation’s clean energy economy. The Solar Instructor Training Network (SITN) is playing an active advisory role in the development of the pilot project. According to the White House, the SITN aims to train 50,000 new solar installers in total by 2020, some of who will be veterans. Since 1944, millions of veterans have used GI Bill education benefits to attend colleges, universities and other kinds of training programs.
In this webinar, the Department of Veterans Affairs will present how institutions and programs can secure VA approval so that veterans can use the GI Bill education benefits for solar workforce skills training.
The webinar is free, but you must register to attend. This webinar will be recorded and archived on the IREC website.

PRESENTER

Mark A Brenton

Management & Program Analyst, Department of Veterans Affairs, Education Service
Mark has been with the Department of Veterans Affairs for eight years. He is currently a Management & Program Analyst on Central Office’s Contract Management Team. Previously, Mark was the Education Liaison Representative (ELR) for Virginia before becoming the Supervisory ELR for the Buffalo Regional Processing Office. Mark recently retired from the USAF Reserve after 21 years of service both Active Duty and the Reserve Component. Mark is a graduate of the University of Dayton. He currently resides in Virginia with his family.

Five Reasons Why Zero Energy Buildings are the Real Deal

March 31, 2015 By Heather Flint Chatto for newbuildings.org

When New Buildings Institute published the first-ever list of verified zero energy buildings in 2012, an abstract concept turned real. These were documented examples of high-efficiency buildings coupled with onsite renewables that could produce enough energy to power themselves over the course of a year.
By NBI’s most recent count, the list of verified buildings has nearly doubled in just three years (http://newbuildings.org/sites/default/files/2015ZNEbuildingsList.pdf). Even more promising is the increase in emerging projects with zero energy intentions — from 39 in 2012 to 152 in 2015. While more than one-third of the verified projects hail from California, which arguably has the most aggressive zero energy policies in the country, verified or emerging buildings are currently located in 39 states across all eight climate zones.
…But despite the challenges, zero energy is the real deal. Here are five reasons why.
1) Designers and builders are proving feasibility with larger buildings and expanded types — including existing buildings. With a growing set of successful projects to serve as models, design and construction teams are quickly figuring out how to achieve zero energy performance while keeping costs in line with other green building projects. All agree that integrated design is fundamental to achieving the necessary energy performance and managing project costs. This process allows all stakeholders—owner, architect, engineer, building manager, etc. — to work together from the start ensuring that building form and function meet the needs of occupants as well as energy performance goals.
Analysis on verified buildings shows 16 different types including schools and college buildings, offices, retail, libraries, labs and healthcare facilities (http://newbuildings.org/sites/default/files/2014_Getting_to_Zero_Update.pdf). In addition, there is growth in the number of larger projects—more than 25% over 50,000 square feet and half of those over 100,000 square feet.
Most significant is the growth in existing building projects with about one-quarter of the verified buildings representing deep energy renovations. With this shift, zero energy performance has moved from a new-construction-only option to something that can be applied to the billions of square feet of existing building stock across the United States.

 
2) The cost of solar power is dropping. The lion’s share of zero energy verified properties are using photovoltaic (PV) systems, also known as solar power, to generate onsite energy. However, expensive PVs have deterred some exemplary energy projects from taking the final step of adding renewables to achieve zero energy status. That cost equation is changing now as prices for rooftop PV systems have fallen in recent years–29 percent from 2010 to 2013, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/solar-power-technologies-and-policies.html#.VRRUEPnF8b0).
Owners and communities are also starting to think creatively about how to supply buildings with the requisite renewable energy. Communities and campuses are adopting commitments to make districts or groups of buildings zero energy with centralized generation within a campus or neighborhood. The U.S. Army and several leading universities have major commitments to get their portfolios to zero energy. These increases in scale will only help reduce the cost of renewables further.
Read the rest of the reasons why and the complete article here.

As Announced by the Air Resources Board
The Heavy Duty Technology and Fuels Assessment Overview has been released for public comment.
Sector specific reports on the individual technology and fuels sectors will be released for public comment in 2015 as they are completed.
If you have any questions, contact: Renee Littaua at 916 324-6429 or via email. Anyone wishing to submit information or public comments for consideration on either the overview or the individual sector reports may do so electronically.
To download a copy of the Assessment go here.

SDG&E Integrates Electric Vehicles and Energy Storage Systems Into California’s Energy and Ancillary Service Markets

From Sempra Energy website, February 23, 2015
San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) today announced that it is actively bidding a group of energy storage systems and electric vehicle fleets as one resource directly into the California Independent System Operator’s (CAISO) energy markets. These markets include those that address short-term imbalances in electricity supply caused by such things as intermittent renewable energy. The achievement ranks SDG&E as one of the first utilities to integrate electric vehicles (EVs) into California’s wholesale energy market.

“This pilot project emphasizes SDG&E’s focus on innovation in the electric vehicle and energy storage sectors,” said James P. Avery, SDG&E’s senior vice president of power supply. “There is tremendous potential for dispatchable distributed energy resources to enhance reliability and achieve greater efficiencies. The key to unlocking that potential is to better understand how these resources provide value both at the customer site level and at the larger electric grid level. This project does just that.”

The project currently aggregates stationary storage systems together with the charging demand of EV fleets at five separate locations throughout San Diego County. The assets are remotely controlled using software that both balances the participant’s charging needs, and identifies opportunities to provide demand response services at the grid level. Demand response is when customers don’t charge EVs or consume energy at peak hours, which alleviates stress on the grid and helps make sure adequate resources are available for the entire region. The project achieves this by correlating charging activity with wholesale energy prices. By agreeing to not charge in certain high price hours, the aggregated resource is paid the marginal energy price in those hours, similar to a conventional generator. The pilot project will end in late 2015.
Read complete release here.

By John Anderson, March 29, 2015 for gizmag.com

The California utility, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), has begun bidding energy resources from fleets of electric vehicles and storage systems into the state’s wholesale power market. The pilot program, one of the first of its kind, is meant to provide insights into how electric vehicles and other kinds of distributed energy resources can make the grid more reliable and efficient.
The project is expected to end in late 2015, with the planners hoping to glean valuable information on electric vehicle-grid integration and grid energy distribution. This grid-to-vehicle relationship is seen as a key factor in planning a more distributed energy grid, allowing EVs to charge at night when demand is low and acting as a grid resource when demand is high.
The issue with renewable energy, such as wind and solar, is its reliance on intermittent sources, combined with a lack of robust, efficient storage systems. California’s solar panels produce most of their energy during the middle of the day, but taper off in the evening when consumer energy needs are traditionally highest. Meanwhile, electric car batteries and other energy storage systems typically need recharging on a daily basis, if not more often.
The challenge for utilities such as SDG&E is integrating electric vehicles into the grid and efficiently allocating energy resources to the right place at the cheapest time, while benefiting both the customer and the supplier. The idea is to find workable solutions now, while the market is still relatively small. SDG&E says more than 13,000 electric vehicles are in use in its territory, while the state’s Zero-Emission Vehicles (ZEV) Action Plan wants to put 1.5 million zero-emissions vehicles on the road by 2025. The San Diego utility plans to add at least 5,500 EV charging stations during that time.
Read complete article here.

NGT News on Friday March 13, 2015 ngtnews.com
Ryder System Inc. has announced the grand opening of a new maintenance facility in Santa Fe Springs, Calif. With the growing presence of natural gas vehicles (NGVs) in the region, Ryder says it has engineered the facility to meet the compliance standards to provide NGV maintenance.
The company says its facility is positioned inside one of the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County and provides commercial natural gas and diesel vehicle maintenance for Ryder full-service lease and rental customers, mobile maintenance, and a 20-minute rental service guarantee. Located on 13630 Firestone Blvd., the facility will feature a rental counter for businesses that are in need of a commercial vehicle, and on-site diesel fueling will also be available for Ryder customers.

“Ryder is continuing to see growth and expansion across North America, as more businesses understand the value of outsourcing their fleet management to Ryder,” says Dennis Cooke, Ryder’s president of global fleet management solutions. “

“We are happy to provide our customers in the Los Angeles County area with state-of-the-art diesel and natural gas vehicle maintenance services, expert technicians, and a wide selection of the latest commercial rental vehicles.”
Read original article here.

Metro for Transit and Motorcoach Business Web Posted on March 12, 2015 www.metro-magazine.com
The Capitol Corridor JPA (CCJPA) and Southwest Passenger Rail Association join the San Joaquin JPA, LA Metro, RCTC and various passenger rail organizations are partnering to host the 3rd annual California Passenger Rail Summit. The 2015 CPRS events take place in Sacramento with an evening welcome reception on Tuesday, April 28 in the Roundhouse at the California State Railroad Museum and a full-day program on Wednesday, April 29 at the Sacramento City Council Chambers.

These are interesting times for passenger rail development in California. With the formation of the new California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), California is on the verge of significant enhancements to the passenger rail system.

The modernization and integration of the passenger rail services that is being led by CalSTA and the Federal Railroad Administration, working with transportation agencies throughout the state, are creating an environment of investment in passenger rail infrastructure that has been unparalleled in recent years and will continue to grow. Join us as we meet with leaders in the industry for two days of discussion regarding the modernization and integration of passenger rail service in California. Speakers will discuss funding, development, and strategic approaches to the growth of passenger rail in the state. Joining us at this event will be state and federal representatives, passenger rail agencies, and other leaders working together to shape the future of passenger rail. Please see link http://californiapassengerrailsummit.com/ for more information or email info@californiapassengerrailsummit.com

Save the Date:

Tuesday, April 28th – Kickoff Reception at the California State Railroad Museum
Wednesday, April 29th – Panel Discussions and Presentations at Sacramento City Hall
Sponsorship opportunities are available.
Read original article here.

NGT News on Friday March 13, 2015 ngtnews.com

Cummins Power Generation, a subsidiary of Cummins Inc., has introduced a new compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered Onan 5.5 kW generator set designed to provide auxiliary electric and optional hydraulic power for commercial truck fleets that run on CNG.
The company says service fleets could use the CNG genset’s 120/240 V of auxiliary power to run power drills, fans, pumps and other equipment. As an option, the unit is also available with a hydraulic power takeoff to operate small cranes, splicing equipment and bucket hoists, while simultaneously providing electric power.
The new Cummins Onan generator has an enclosed muffler and exhaust catalysts that help it meet all applicable U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board air quality standards, the company adds.
The generator set is backed by a two-year limited warranty and a five-year drive warranty and is supported by the Cummins dealer network.
Read original article here.

by NAW Staff on Wednesday 11 March 2015 www.nawindpower.com

A highly anticipated government report says U.S. wind power could double over the next five years and ultimately become one the country’s largest sources electricity, with the savings to consumers reaching tens of billions dollars annually.
After two years research and peer review, the White House and the U.S. Department of Energy have released “Wind Vision: A New Era of Wind Power in the United States.” The new report updates and extends a 2008 Bush administration report, “20% Wind Energy by 2030,” which galvanized the rapid growth of wind to the point that it now generates 4.5% of U.S. electricity. Wind Vision describes a new scenario for wind to reach 10% by 2020, 20% by 2030, and 35% by 2050, as well as provides a roadmap for government and industry to get there.

“We can do this and save you money by doing it,” says Tom Kiernan, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). “This definitive report provides the wind industry with aggressive targets for the growth of wind energy in America, and we stand ready to meet them. It starts with getting common-sense policies in place so we can double U.S. wind energy in the next five years.”

“This report documents how wind energy already provides major economic and environmental benefits to America, including protecting consumers against energy price spikes and making deep cuts in pollution and water use,” comments John Kostyack, executive director of the Wind Energy Foundation. “As wind becomes one of the country’s top sources of electricity, Wind Vision promises even bigger benefits for decades to come.”
Over 50 industry executives and professionals will serve as ambassadors to educate Americans and elected officials about those benefits, under a year-long joint campaign announced by AWEA and the Wind Energy Foundation to disseminate the findings. In addition, AWEA says over 400,000 supporters of wind energy have signed up at powerofwind.com to ask state and federal lawmakers to support the needed policies.
Read complete article here.