The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has added important new features to its free solar+storage (and now +wind) online optimization tool, REopt Lite, that will help building owners, energy managers, and emergency planners assess a building’s technology needs to power essential services with onsite resources during grid disruptions.

The tool was developed to assist users in quickly and simply evaluating the costs and benefits of implementing renewables and battery storage for electric bill savings and improved energy resilience in facilities across the U.S.

This webinar will focus on REopt Lite’s new Critical Load Builder functionality. The load builder allows users to create a daily emergency load profile by building up a list of equipment that must remain powered during a grid outage. Users can select equipment from a list of standard devices or add custom critical loads by specifying wattage and operational characteristics.

The tool’s new custom rate feature will also be introduced. The custom rate feature allows users to model proposed or hypothetical electric rate tariffs or enter rates not yet included in the Utility Rate Database maintained by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration.

• Kate Anderson, who leads the Modeling and Analysis Group at NREL, will provide an overview of REopt Lite for anyone new to the tool.
• Andrew Jeffery, REopt Lite user interface developer, will introduce the new features.
• This will be followed by a demonstration of the Critical Load Builder by Clean Energy Group vice president and project director, Seth Mullendore.

This webinar is a presentation of Clean Energy Group’s Resilient Power Project. Learn more at www.resilient-power.org.

REGISTER HERE.

Join NCEF, Nebraskans for Solar, and Solar Heat and Electric for a hands-on demonstration about solar technology. Learn about PVs, Batteries, metering and the process of installing solar on your home/business.

View Event on Facebook.

Join the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and Clean Energy Business Network for this webinar briefing and Q&A on the 2019 Sustainable Energy in America Factbook. Produced by Bloomberg New Energy Finance and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, the Factbook provides new industry information and trends on the U.S. energy economy, with an in-depth look at the energy efficiency, natural gas, and renewable energy sectors as well as emerging
areas such as battery storage and sustainable transportation.

The Clean Energy Business Network, a small and midsize business division of the BCSE, will also showcase Faces Behind the Facts, a companion project profiling successful clean energy business leaders working across the industries featured in the Factbook. 

Please note: This webinar is primarily intended for members of the Clean Energy Business Network and/or Business Council for Sustainable Energy; however, any member of the public may attend. When you register, you will be added to the CEBN at the free Basic Member level, which provides a weekly email newsletter and periodic policy alerts and event invitations. You may opt out at any time.

Sign up for the webinar here.

  Urban Abbey
1026 Jackson Street in the Old Market
$2 parking in the lot across the street

Climate Change in Nebraska: Projections, Impacts and Solutions, With Dr. Martha Shulski, State Climatologist and UNL professor of Natural Resources. She will discuss the local impacts and causes of global climate change and what Nebraska can do to combat it. Click HERE to link to the Facebook event page.

10% of coffee bar sales go to OTOC in February!

In this webinar, Dan Finn-Foley from GTMResearch will share insights related to recent developments in the U.S. energy storage market, including deployment trends, policy updates, and market outlook.

Presenters:

• Dan Finn-Foley, Senior Analyst, Energy Storage, Greentech Media Research
• Dr. Imre Gyuk, Director of Energy Storage Research, U.S. Department of Energy – Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability
• Dan Borneo, Engineering Project Manager, Sandia National Laboratories
• Todd Olinsky-Paul, Project Director, Clean Energy States Alliance (Moderator)

This webinar is a presentation of the Energy Storage Technology Advancement Partnership (ESTAP). ESTAP is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity and Sandia National Laboratories, and is managed by the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA).
Learn more here. 

CESA: Please be advised that any information that you submit into the registration form will be shared with GTM Research. They will not share or sell your personal information, but they may contact you in the future with information that may be of interest to you. If you do not want to share your information with GTM Research, you may watch the webinar recording after the fact. All CESA webinars are archived in their entirety at www.cesa.org/webinars. 

REGISTER HERE.

Wondering what it takes to get solar panels on your home? Join us on February 28th at 6pm for a discussion on clean energy in a solar-powered building! Local Lincoln resident, Roger Day, will share his experience on how he was able to transform his house to a solar-powered home. Location to be announced.

View this event on Facebook.

What does it take to develop wind and solar projects in Nebraska?  And how does Nebraska compare with other states, in terms of making it easier to develop alternative energy projects?

We’ll hear from Adam Herink, vice president and co-founder of Bluestem Energy Solutions, about some of the obstacles and opportunities for alternative energy development. Adam will describe some of Bluestem’s projects here in Omaha, such as at the UNMC and Creighton campuses, as well as projects in other parts of the state, and throughout the Midwest. And he’ll discuss the concept of “pollinator-friendly” solar projects.

Join us for this free, interesting and timely presentation. Refreshments provided – bring a friend!

More information at www.sierraclub.org/nebraska

Co-Sponsored by Green Bellevue
Nebraska Sierra Club
OTOC’s Environmental Sustainability Action Team
The Nebraska Conservation Education Fund 

Our speakers will be Tricia McKnight, OPPD Product Specialist, and Heather Siebken, Director of Product Development & Marketing. They will present an overview of OPPD’s community solar program and how customer-owners will be able to participate. A Q&A will follow their presentation.

Some Background Information:

At the OPPD Board of Director’s June 7, 2018 meeting, the board received an update on the project, including size and location. OPPD awarded a 20-year power purchase agreement to a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, to build a 5-megawatt solar facility in Fort Calhoun. The OPPD facility will be built east of Fort Calhoun in Washington County, covering approximately 35 acres. Per contract terms, the facility will go into operation by June 30, 2019.

Source: Here comes the sun, The Wire

Additional details will be posted closer to the event date. Please mark your calendars and plan to join us! The event is open to the public. Refreshments provided.

Nebraska State Climate Office and Nebraska Extension are bringing the Fourth National Climate Assessment to Nebraskans with a summit planned for March 21 at Nebraska Innovation Campus.

“Climate change is affecting us now, and ultimately, it is a local issue,” said Martha Shulski, director of the state climate office based at the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “Our role as climate professionals is to translate the regional- and national-scale reports to a relevant scale for determining meaningful actions.”

Shulski, Tyler Williams, Extension climatologist, and partners across the university and state will lead the one-day information session on climate and climate change.

Topics for the summit will include:

• Highlights of climate projections and impacts from the NCA4 (includes a panel discussion);
• The future of climate and expected affects for Nebraskans;
• Weather and climate monitoring;
• Climate scenario planning by Nebraska Extension;
• Climate and agriculture;
• Climate and health; and
• Climate and municipalities.

Across the state, Nebraskans already have noted an increase in high-rain events, as well as warmer temperatures. Agriculture producers have seen longer growing seasons and warmer summers, requiring increased water resources; and wetter springs, preventing efficient planting schedules. Both urban and rural dwellers have seen more extreme rain events, resulting in increased runoff and soil erosion.

These changes are expected to multiply — potentially affecting the health of people, crops, livestock, ecosystems and energy — as temperatures continue to increase into the future.

But they don’t have to.

“The NCA4 is a jumping off point,” Shulski said. Now, it’s up to climatologists with the NSCO, High Plains Regional Climate Center, National Drought Mitigation Center and Nebraska Extension “to start a dialogue — or continue one — with stakeholders as we dive deeper to address these issues.”

“This summit is the next step forward,” she said, so “Nebraskans can tackle climate changes issues facing the state together.”

Registration capped at 350. Free parking. Lunch provided. The event runs from 8:30 a.m. to
5 p.m., with a break from noon to 1 p.m. for lunch.

Register for the event here.