One of GVF's founding partners, Upper Merion Township, is exploring both the environmental and economical benefits, of solar power in parts of the Township. Below is a recent article, from the Main Line Media News, with the details.
The supervisors heard a presentation Thursday from Andrew Meserve, vice president of solar sales and development for Tangent Energy Solutions, about the feasibility of locating solar panel arrays in Heuser Park and at the municipal building and township garage.
Meserve said his company, which is based in Kennett Square, would own the panels and sell the power to the township. He told the supervisors that the firm was building about $25 million worth of solar projects in Pennsylvania. Meserve said the Colonial and Bethlehem school districts were among Tangent’s clients.
According to Meserve, the three projects in Upper Merion would produce 947,814 kilowatt-hours of energy annually. In 2009, he said, the township consumed 7.3 million kilowatt-hours, at a total cost of $789,187.
The panels proposed for the roof of the municipal building could generate cumulative savings of $840,000 over 20 years, Meserve added. However, he noted that the building’s roof is scheduled to be replaced. If that work were incorporated into the installation of the solar panels, it would offset the energy cost savings projected over 20 years.
“There’s an environmental aspect to this,” Meserve added. For instance, he said the proposed projects would offset the generation of about 1.5 million pounds of carbon dioxide.
Supervisor William Jenaway asked if other municipalities were moving forward with installing solar panels. Meserve responded that the municipalities that had embraced the idea were primarily in California.
Supervisor Gregory Waks asked how soon the project could be completed. If the supervisors decide in October to move forward, Meserve said, construction could begin in January, with the work to be completed by next March.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
SEPTA Pilot Program to Capture, Reuse Subway Energy
SEPTA recently announced a pilot project that would capture electricity generated by braking subway trains, much like a hybrid automobile produces power when it slows down. The electricity will be stored in a large, railside battery array and reused when the train accelerates. The system is expected to reduce electrical power purchases 10 percent to 20 percent at each location of the batteries, said Andrew Gillespie, SEPTA's chief engineering officer for power.
But the system is designed to do more than capture power from the subway's dynamic braking system, said Audrey Zibelman, the chief executive officer of Viridity Energy Inc., the Conshohocken smart-grid innovator that devised the project for SEPTA.
The power-storage system is potentially so large-each battery array would store one megawatt of power that SEPTA could further reduce its electric bill by buying cheap power at night to use or resell during expensive peak hours.
Below is a question and answer interview with SEPTA discussing the details of this pilot program:
1) When did the pilot project officially start?
SEPTA and Viridity signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to submit a grant application to the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority (PEDA) in June 2010, and received notice of the award in August. The project kickoff meeting will take place in September, with installation tentatively scheduled for late 2011 or early 2012 following the procurement of the storage device and all requisite engineering and design work.
2) Why is SEPTA investing $900,000 at this time to explore a battery/smart grid project?
SEPTA has been analyzing the evolution of energy storage technologies for several years and is comfortable with the readiness of such devices to meet the needs of a large, aging, urbanized transit system. The availability of resources, through PEDA as well as through the Federal Transit Administration's "Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction" (TIGGER) program, served as the immediate impetus to move forward with project plans. Additionally, the presence of a locally based smart-grid start-up like Viridity Energy provided a unique opportunity to leverage the project to generate additional financial benefits and support the Greater Philadelphia's emerging position as a hub for advanced energy technology.
3) Has this kind of braking power/battery technology already been implemented at another subway or electrically driven transportation system in the U.S. or abroad – or would this be a first?
Regenerated braking power is widely utilized by electrified transit systems around the world, but only recently have agencies begun to pilot the use of wayside energy storage devices, and none, to our knowledge, have done so in partnership with a smart grid firm with Viridity's capabilities to optimize its use. While somewhat more common abroad (especially Europe), the only other North American transit systems that have piloted installation of wayside energy storage devices include agencies in New York City, Portland (OR), and Sacramento.
4) Would there be a significant upfront cost to expand the battery throughout your subway system?
Yes, although in the interim, SEPTA plans on aggressively pursuing additional external resources, such as a recent $2.7 million grant application to the FTA under its FY2010 TIGGER grant program.
5) How big an investment, roughly?
Devices are running at roughly $1 million each, however SEPTA anticipates that the unit cost would be substantially reduced if the devices were ordered in bulk. Additional technological advancements in the coming years also likely will reduce unit costs.
6) What kind of reactions has the announcement of the SEPTA pilot project received so far from passengers, city officials, and maybe people abroad?
The most common responses have been excitement and intrigue. Because of the newness of wayside energy storage technologies, many transit and energy industry officials and experts have expressed an eagerness to learn more about the project and closely follow its outcomes. Elected officials have endorsed the project as an example of SEPTA's innovative approach to reducing operating costs and leveraging alternative sources of revenue, noteworthy given lagging ridership and ongoing economic stagnation. City and regional leaders are particularly interested in the project's potential to serve as an additional boost to the region's emerging position as a hub for advanced energy technology, for which SEPTA is receiving increasing recognition as a multifaceted but underutilized asset.
But the system is designed to do more than capture power from the subway's dynamic braking system, said Audrey Zibelman, the chief executive officer of Viridity Energy Inc., the Conshohocken smart-grid innovator that devised the project for SEPTA.
The power-storage system is potentially so large-each battery array would store one megawatt of power that SEPTA could further reduce its electric bill by buying cheap power at night to use or resell during expensive peak hours.
Below is a question and answer interview with SEPTA discussing the details of this pilot program:
1) When did the pilot project officially start?
SEPTA and Viridity signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to submit a grant application to the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority (PEDA) in June 2010, and received notice of the award in August. The project kickoff meeting will take place in September, with installation tentatively scheduled for late 2011 or early 2012 following the procurement of the storage device and all requisite engineering and design work.
2) Why is SEPTA investing $900,000 at this time to explore a battery/smart grid project?
SEPTA has been analyzing the evolution of energy storage technologies for several years and is comfortable with the readiness of such devices to meet the needs of a large, aging, urbanized transit system. The availability of resources, through PEDA as well as through the Federal Transit Administration's "Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction" (TIGGER) program, served as the immediate impetus to move forward with project plans. Additionally, the presence of a locally based smart-grid start-up like Viridity Energy provided a unique opportunity to leverage the project to generate additional financial benefits and support the Greater Philadelphia's emerging position as a hub for advanced energy technology.
3) Has this kind of braking power/battery technology already been implemented at another subway or electrically driven transportation system in the U.S. or abroad – or would this be a first?
Regenerated braking power is widely utilized by electrified transit systems around the world, but only recently have agencies begun to pilot the use of wayside energy storage devices, and none, to our knowledge, have done so in partnership with a smart grid firm with Viridity's capabilities to optimize its use. While somewhat more common abroad (especially Europe), the only other North American transit systems that have piloted installation of wayside energy storage devices include agencies in New York City, Portland (OR), and Sacramento.
4) Would there be a significant upfront cost to expand the battery throughout your subway system?
Yes, although in the interim, SEPTA plans on aggressively pursuing additional external resources, such as a recent $2.7 million grant application to the FTA under its FY2010 TIGGER grant program.
5) How big an investment, roughly?
Devices are running at roughly $1 million each, however SEPTA anticipates that the unit cost would be substantially reduced if the devices were ordered in bulk. Additional technological advancements in the coming years also likely will reduce unit costs.
6) What kind of reactions has the announcement of the SEPTA pilot project received so far from passengers, city officials, and maybe people abroad?
The most common responses have been excitement and intrigue. Because of the newness of wayside energy storage technologies, many transit and energy industry officials and experts have expressed an eagerness to learn more about the project and closely follow its outcomes. Elected officials have endorsed the project as an example of SEPTA's innovative approach to reducing operating costs and leveraging alternative sources of revenue, noteworthy given lagging ridership and ongoing economic stagnation. City and regional leaders are particularly interested in the project's potential to serve as an additional boost to the region's emerging position as a hub for advanced energy technology, for which SEPTA is receiving increasing recognition as a multifaceted but underutilized asset.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Recovery Act Keeps U.S. on Clean Energy Path
WASHINGTON, DC — The Recovery Act has kept the country on track to halve the cost of solar power and has helped lay the foundation to double renewable energy generation in the U.S., according to a White House report.
"The Recovery Act: Transforming the American Economy through Innovation" looks at how the $100 billion in reinvestment funds from the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is affecting solar power costs, electric vehicle battery production and renewable energy, as well as high-speed rail, electronic health records and human genome projects.
The report especially credits the Recovery Act funds for positioning the U.S. to meet President Barack Obama's goal to double the amount of renewable energy the U.S. can generate along with how much renewable energy equipment it can produce by 2012.
Nearly a quarter of the reinvestment funds are going toward those goals, pumping $23 billion into renewable energy projects. Doubling renewable energy generation from wind, solar and geothermal projects would see the U.S. go from producing 28.8 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy to 57.6 GW. In doubling the production of wind turbines, solar panels and other equipment, the country would move from making enough equipment each year to produce 6 GW to enough to generate 12 GW.
The Recovery Act is also helping the U.S. cut the cost of solar power in half between 2009 and 2015. Through investments in new technologies and increasing the scale of solar manufacturing and deployment, the U.S. is looking to see the cost of solar power drop from $0.21 per kilowatt hour (kWh) in 2009 to $0.10 per kWh in 2015, which would bring the price down to household electricity rates. Utility-scale solar projects are expected to drop from $0.13 per kWh to $0.06 in the same timeframe.
More than $2 billion from the act is being invested in advanced battery and electric drive manufacturing with the intent of bringing down the cost of electric vehicle batteries by 70 percent by 2015. All-electric vehicle batteries would go from $33,000 to $10,000 while plug-in hybrid batteries would cost $4,000 instead of the current $13,000.
Along with bringing down costs, the Recovery Act funds are going toward making batteries lighter by about 33 percent and making them last 14 years as opposed to four years.
Last year the U.S. had two factories making advanced vehicle batteries, producing less than 2 percent of the world's vehicle batteries. By 2012, the report says, the country will have 30 factories capable of producing 20 percent of the world's vehicle batteries.
"The Recovery Act: Transforming the American Economy through Innovation" looks at how the $100 billion in reinvestment funds from the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is affecting solar power costs, electric vehicle battery production and renewable energy, as well as high-speed rail, electronic health records and human genome projects.
The report especially credits the Recovery Act funds for positioning the U.S. to meet President Barack Obama's goal to double the amount of renewable energy the U.S. can generate along with how much renewable energy equipment it can produce by 2012.
Nearly a quarter of the reinvestment funds are going toward those goals, pumping $23 billion into renewable energy projects. Doubling renewable energy generation from wind, solar and geothermal projects would see the U.S. go from producing 28.8 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy to 57.6 GW. In doubling the production of wind turbines, solar panels and other equipment, the country would move from making enough equipment each year to produce 6 GW to enough to generate 12 GW.
The Recovery Act is also helping the U.S. cut the cost of solar power in half between 2009 and 2015. Through investments in new technologies and increasing the scale of solar manufacturing and deployment, the U.S. is looking to see the cost of solar power drop from $0.21 per kilowatt hour (kWh) in 2009 to $0.10 per kWh in 2015, which would bring the price down to household electricity rates. Utility-scale solar projects are expected to drop from $0.13 per kWh to $0.06 in the same timeframe.
More than $2 billion from the act is being invested in advanced battery and electric drive manufacturing with the intent of bringing down the cost of electric vehicle batteries by 70 percent by 2015. All-electric vehicle batteries would go from $33,000 to $10,000 while plug-in hybrid batteries would cost $4,000 instead of the current $13,000.
Along with bringing down costs, the Recovery Act funds are going toward making batteries lighter by about 33 percent and making them last 14 years as opposed to four years.
Last year the U.S. had two factories making advanced vehicle batteries, producing less than 2 percent of the world's vehicle batteries. By 2012, the report says, the country will have 30 factories capable of producing 20 percent of the world's vehicle batteries.
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