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By 2030, new commercial construction

in the United States will be zero-Energy.

This can be achieved by implementing

aggressive energy efficiency measures to

reduce demand by 70 - 80% and

meeting the remaining energy requirements through renewable resources.

The National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) will convene the Zero-Energy Commercial Buildings Consortium in order to support the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building Initiative.

NASEO is comprised of senior officials from the energy offices of both the states and territories, in addition to affiliates from the private and public sectors, and will provide leadership for the Consortium.

The Consortium will include representatives from more than 300 organizations from the following building areas:

• The design professions, including national associations of architects and professional engineers
• The development, construction, financial, and real estate industries
• Building owners and operators from the public and private sectors
• Academic and research organizations with extensive commercial building energy expertise
• Building code agencies and organizations, including a model energy code-setting organization
• Independent high-performance green building associations or councils
• Experts in indoor air quality and environmental factors
• Experts in intelligent buildings and integrated building information systems
• Utility energy efficiency programs
• Manufacturers and providers of equipment and techniques used in high-performance green buildings
• Public transportation industry experts
• Non-governmental energy efficiency organizations.

THE GOAL: Affordable and marketable net-zero energy commercial buildings in all climate zones by 2025

In turn, the Consortium will support DOE, DOE national laboratories, and the Commercial Building Energy Alliances and Commercial Building Partners in achieving affordable and marketable net-zero energy commercial buildings in all climate zones by 2025.

The Consortium will provide access to technical expertise, communicate the emergence of new technologies to the commercial building community, and promote the demonstration of high-performance building technologies. A steering committee made up of NASEO members and lighting, window, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning suppliers will outline and drive the Consortium's goals and objectives.

More information can be found at the Net-Zero Energy Commercial Building Initiative Web site. Details about the Consortium and its membership are available at the Zero Energy Commercial Buildings Consortium Web site.

RESOURCE:  http://zeroenergycbc.org/

Large Wind Turbine Drivetrain Testing

Clemson University will receive up to $45 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for a wind energy test facility that will enhance the performance, durability, and reliability of utility-scale wind turbines.

This investment will support jobs and strengthen American leadership in wind energy technology by supporting the testing of next-generation wind turbine designs.

Clean Energy Industrial Revolution

"Wind power holds tremendous potential to help create new jobs and reduce carbon pollution," said Secretary Chu. "We are at the beginning of a new Industrial Revolution when it comes to clean energy and projects like these will help us get there faster."

Clemson Based Large Wind Turbine Drivetrain Testing Facility

The Large Wind Turbine Drivetrain Testing facility will enable the United States, which leads the world in wind energy capacity, to expand development and testing of large-scale wind turbine drive-train systems domestically.

Wind turbine sizes have increased with each new generation of turbines, and have outgrown the capacity of existing U.S. drivetrain testing facilities.

The new testing capability will ultimately improve U.S. competitiveness in wind energy technology, will lower energy costs for consumers, and will maintain rapid growth in the deployment of wind energy systems.

The new facility will be located at the Charleston Naval Complex, a former Navy base in North Charleston, South Carolina, and will be a part of the Clemson University Restoration Institute campus.

The test facility will operate as a non-profit organization with a business model designed for sustainability while providing ongoing state-of-the-art testing to wind turbine manufacturers.

The Large Wind Turbine Drivetrain Testing facility will feature power analysis equipment capable of performing highly accelerated life testing of land-based and offshore wind turbine drive systems rated at 5-15 megawatts (MW). These dynamometer tests of drivetrains are required to demonstrate compliance with wind turbine design standards, reduce wind turbine costs, secure product financing, and reduce the technical and financial risk of deploying mass-produced wind turbine models.

Learn more about DOE's Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program.

Oct 29, 2009 -- U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu has announced up to $338 million in Recovery Act funding for the exploration and development of new geothermal fields and research into advanced geothermal technologies.

These geothermal R&D grants will support 123 projects in 39 states, with recipients including private industry, academic institutions, tribal entities, local governments, and DOE's National Laboratories. The grants will be matched more than one-for-one with an additional $353 million in private and non-Federal cost-share funds.

Domestic Geothermal Renewable Energy Source

"The United States is blessed with vast geothermal energy resources, which hold enormous potential to heat our homes and power our economy," said Secretary Chu. "These investments in America's technological innovation will allow us to capture more of this clean, carbon free energy at a lower cost than ever before. We will create thousands of jobs, boost our economy and help to jumpstart the geothermal industry across the United States."

These grants are directed towards identifying and developing new geothermal fields and reducing the upfront risk associated with geothermal development through innovative exploration and drilling projects and data development and collection. In addition, the grants will support the deployment and creative financing approaches for ground source heat pump demonstration projects across the country.

Green Jobs in Commercial Scale Geothermal

Collectively, these projects will represent a dramatic expansion of the U.S. geothermal industry and will create or save thousands of jobs in drilling, exploration, construction, and operation of geothermal power facilities and manufacturing of ground source heat pump equipment.

The projects selected for negotiation of awards fall in six categories:

• Innovative Exploration and Drilling Projects (up to $98.1 million): Twenty-four projects have been selected focusing on the development of new geothermal fields using innovative sensing, exploration, and well-drilling technologies.

• Coproduced, Geopressured, and Low Temperature Projects (up to $20.7 million): Eleven projects have been selected for the development of new low-temperature geothermal fields, a vast but currently untapped set of geothermal resources. This includes geothermal heat found in the hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells around the U.S., where up to ten barrels of hot water are produced for every barrel of oil.

• Enhanced Geothermal Systems Demonstrations (up to $51.4 million): Three projects have been selected for the exploration, drilling and development of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) to validate power production from deep hot rock resources using innovative technologies and approaches.

• Enhanced Geothermal Systems Components Research and Development / Analysis (up to $81.5 million): Forty-five projects have been selected to focus on research and development of new technologies to find and drill into deep hot rock formations, stimulate enhanced geothermal reservoirs, and convert the heat to power.

• Geothermal Data Development, Collection and Maintenance (up to $24.6 million): Three projects have been selected for the population of a comprehensive nationwide geothermal resource database to help identify and assess new fields.

• Ground Source Heat Pump Demonstrations (up to $61.9 million): Thirty-seven projects have been selected to demonstrate the deployment of ground source heat pumps for heating and cooling of a variety of buildings for a variety of customer types, including academic institutions, local governments and commercial buildings.

  SOURCE: US Department of Energy

Oct 29, 2009 -- U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu has announced up to $338 million in Recovery Act funding for the exploration and development of new geothermal fields and research into advanced geothermal technologies.

These geothermal R&D grants will support 123 projects in 39 states, with recipients including private industry, academic institutions, tribal entities, local governments, and DOE's National Laboratories. The grants will be matched more than one-for-one with an additional $353 million in private and non-Federal cost-share funds.

Domestic Geothermal Renewable Energy Source

"The United States is blessed with vast geothermal energy resources, which hold enormous potential to heat our homes and power our economy," said Secretary Chu. "These investments in America's technological innovation will allow us to capture more of this clean, carbon free energy at a lower cost than ever before. We will create thousands of jobs, boost our economy and help to jumpstart the geothermal industry across the United States."

These grants are directed towards identifying and developing new geothermal fields and reducing the upfront risk associated with geothermal development through innovative exploration and drilling projects and data development and collection. In addition, the grants will support the deployment and creative financing approaches for ground source heat pump demonstration projects across the country.

Green Jobs in Commercial Scale Geothermal

Collectively, these projects will represent a dramatic expansion of the U.S. geothermal industry and will create or save thousands of jobs in drilling, exploration, construction, and operation of geothermal power facilities and manufacturing of ground source heat pump equipment.

The projects selected for negotiation of awards fall in six categories:

• Innovative Exploration and Drilling Projects (up to $98.1 million): Twenty-four projects have been selected focusing on the development of new geothermal fields using innovative sensing, exploration, and well-drilling technologies.

• Coproduced, Geopressured, and Low Temperature Projects (up to $20.7 million): Eleven projects have been selected for the development of new low-temperature geothermal fields, a vast but currently untapped set of geothermal resources. This includes geothermal heat found in the hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells around the U.S., where up to ten barrels of hot water are produced for every barrel of oil.

• Enhanced Geothermal Systems Demonstrations (up to $51.4 million): Three projects have been selected for the exploration, drilling and development of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) to validate power production from deep hot rock resources using innovative technologies and approaches.

• Enhanced Geothermal Systems Components Research and Development / Analysis (up to $81.5 million): Forty-five projects have been selected to focus on research and development of new technologies to find and drill into deep hot rock formations, stimulate enhanced geothermal reservoirs, and convert the heat to power.

• Geothermal Data Development, Collection and Maintenance (up to $24.6 million): Three projects have been selected for the population of a comprehensive nationwide geothermal resource database to help identify and assess new fields.

• Ground Source Heat Pump Demonstrations (up to $61.9 million): Thirty-seven projects have been selected to demonstrate the deployment of ground source heat pumps for heating and cooling of a variety of buildings for a variety of customer types, including academic institutions, local governments and commercial buildings.

  SOURCE: US Department of Energy

The IREC declared that the most significant trend during the September 2008 - September 2009 period is a continued emphasis on solar energy in recent RPS adoptions and changes. Eleven states enacted or significantly modified standards; of those, seven states and DC included new provisions specific to solar energy.

In addition, five states made minor adjustments to their policies, of which two involved solar provisions.

• Missouri replaced (via ballot initiative) an existing renewables goal of 11% by 2020 with a standard of 15% by 2021, and included a provision mandating that at least 2% of the requirement come from solar energy (equivalent to 0.3% of retail sales in 2021).
• Illinois expanded its RPS to cover competitive sales and adopted a solar carve-out of 6% of the annual requirement from 2015 - 2025.
• And, in September 2009, California extended its RPS to 33% by 2020, via executive order.
• Both Oregon and Rhode Island adopted provisions relating to long-term contracts for solar energy resources, coupled with targets for solar that are outside the scope of each state's existing RPS.
  
• New Jersey approved long-awaited utility-administered solar renewable energy credit (SREC) contracting programs in connection with its existing solar carve-out.
  

SOURCE:  2009 IREC Annual Report

According to the IREC, "federal legislation coupled with state budget problems have spurred solar policy and programmatic changes for direct financial incentives at the state level, but these changes have been far from uniform."

Between September 2008 and September 2009, approximately 40 new solar programs have
been created in 19 states. Of these programs, 10 are state programs.

Approximately 16 programs in 14 states increased funding for solar programs over the past year. Thirteen of these programs are state programs; the others are utility or local government
programs. In total, eight programs in 12 states increased the incentive level for individual systems.

A handful of states did reduce program budgets or incentive levels. Typically, states or utilities adjusted the individual incentive level or cap instead of reducing the overall program budget. Incentive levels in 10 states were reduced, with six of the incentive reductions occurring at the state level. Colorado, Illinois and Vermont were the only three states that lowered overall
program budgets during the past year, with the reductions in program funding in Illinois and
Vermont resulting from a re-appropriation of public benefits funds to fill state budget gaps.

Performance Based Incentives (PBIs)

As the U.S. solar market matures, states and utilities have begun shifting away from simple
rebate programs for photovoltaics (PV) and towards production- or performance-based incentives (PBIs).  15 PBIs were created, and the caps or rates for seven PBIs changed.
There are 39 production-based incentives in 28 states, with 14 production incentives for solar (excluding feed-in tariffs), 11 feed-in tariffs (FITs), and 14 REC-purchase programs (through
which RECs are purchased separately from electricity). Most - but not all - PBIs involve the
transfer of RECs from the generator to the utility.

SOURCE:  2009 Annual Report of IREC

A feed-in tariff (FIT) is an energy-supply policy focused on supporting the development of new renewable power generation.

Feed-in tariff (FIT) policies are implemented in more than 40 countries around the world and are cited as the primary reason for the success of the German and Spanish renewable energy markets.

As a result of that success, FIT policy proposals are starting to gain traction in several U.S. states and municipalities. A number of states have considered FIT legislation or regulation, including Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin; and a federal FIT proposal has also been developed

Three other municipal utilities have also proposed FIT policies, including Los Angeles, California (Los Angeles 2008); Palm Desert, California; and Santa Monica, California.

Experience from Europe is also beginning to demonstrate that properly designed FITs may be more cost-effective than renewable portfolio standards (RPS), which make use of competitive solicitations.

The FIT contract provides a guarantee of payments in dollars per kilowatt hour ($/kWh) for the full output of the system for a guaranteed period of time (typically 15-20 years). A separate meter is required to track the actual total system output

FIT in the United States

As of early 2009, only a few U.S. jurisdictions have enacted FIT policies. The most notable example is the solar photovoltaic (PV) FIT passed by the municipal utility in Gainesville, Florida in February 2009 (RE World 2009). It is the first and only U.S. FIT policy structured the same way as many successful European FIT policies: It is based on the cost to develop the renewable generation project, plus a stipulated 5%-6% return. California has also created a statewide FIT program, but the payments are based on the utility's avoided cost and not on the actual cost of the RE project (DSIRE 2009a, Rickerson et al. 2008a).

Several U.S. utilities have enacted fixed-price production-based incentive policies that can be considered FITs, including Green Mountain Power (Vermont) (GMP 2008), Eugene Water & Electric Board in Oregon (DSIRE 2009b), WE Energies in Wisconsin (WE Energies 2009), and Madison Gas and Electric in Wisconsin (MG&E 2009). Finally, Washington State passed voluntary FIT legislation, and all but one public utility district now has a FIT policy (Nelson 2008). These FIT programs are structured rather simply, were implemented in the past two or three years, and have enjoyed limited success.

INFO: NREL
www.nrel.gov/docs/fy09osti/45549.pdf

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct05) authorizes the U.S. Department of Energy to issue loan guarantees to eligible projects that "avoid, reduce, or sequester air pollutants or anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases" and "employ new or significantly improved technologies as compared to technologies in service in the United States at the time the guarantee is issued".

Early Commercial Use

Title XVII of EPAct05 provides the basis of DOE's program. This title provides broad authority for DOE to guarantee loans that support early commercial use of advanced technologies, if "there is reasonable prospect of repayment of the principal and interest on the obligation by the borrower." Loan guarantees will be another tool that DOE will use to promote commercial use of innovative technologies. This tool is targeted at early commercial use only, not energy research, development, and demonstration programs.

DOE believes that accelerated commercial use of new or improved technologies will help to sustain economic growth, yield environmental benefits, and produce a more stable and secure energy supply.

The US Department of Energy is expected to open the window in 2009 to apply for federal loan guarantees on loans to wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and other renewable energy projects that use commercially proven technologies.

In the first round, the Department evaluated loan guarantee pre-applications for projects that employed technologies in the following areas:

1. Biomass
2. Hydrogen
3. Solar
4. Wind and Hydropower
5. Advanced Fossil Energy Coal
6. Carbon Sequestration practices and technologies
7. Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability
8. Alternative Fuel Vehicles
9. Industry Energy Efficiency Projects
10. Pollution Control Equipment

Financial Institution Partnership Program (FIPP)

This new program--called the "Financial Institution Partnership Program" or "FIPP" because of the key role played by private lenders-- differs substantially from the prior program that guarantees repayment of loans to projects that use innovative technologies. It will use radically different processes than those used so far to apply, evaluate, rank and award guarantees for projects.

The department will release a set of rules for the loan guarantee program at the same time it opens the window--and anyone who wants to apply is expected to have negotiated his or her loan first with a bank or insurance company and then the lender will apply to DOE for a guarantee.

Department of Energy
1000 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC 20585
www.lgprogram.energy.gov