Melissa Freelend wants Nebraskans to have more clean, renewable energy, and she’s working toward that goal as a member of the board of directors at Nebraska Public Power District. Elected in 2016, Freelend, 32, is the NPPD Board’s youngest member. She’s a Grand Island native and is employed in media and broadcasting. Her District 3 encompasses Buffalo and Hall counties. Continue reading here.
In their push to upend the economics of rooftop solar, Iowa’s major electric utilities are up against an opponent as politically potent as they are: the state’s pork producers. Hog farmers in the nation’s top pork-producing state have made clear that they don’t want legislators messing with their net metering arrangements. “Their voice is making a huge difference,” said Kerri Johannsen, who directs the Iowa Environmental Council’s energy program. “The things they are doing are definitely a big part of what’s held this bill up.” Continue reading here.
Photo: IowaPolitics.com / Wikimedia Commons Via Energy News Network
ALSO OF POTENTIAL INTEREST
What I believe eventually accelerated solar energy into the mainstream was a shift in how people financed their solar installations, via power purchase agreements (PPA). By modeling commercial electric vehicle (EV) charging after the success of solar PPAs, I believe the commercial busing and trucking industries can simplify the purchasing process and boost commercial EVs into the mainstream.FEATURED NPPD WEBSITE LINKS
Omaha Public Power District is committed to investing in the communities it serves. Furthering that effort, today, the OPPD Board of Directors approved a labor contract for streetlight
conversion work within its service territory to replace current technology with light emitting
diode (LED) technology.
This is part of the district’s five-year plan, officially beginning next month, to replace nearly 100,000 existing high-pressure sodium fixtures within its service territory. To date, OPPD has
converted approximately 400 burned out streetlights to LED. The district is utilizing a contractor alongside OPPD employees due to the volume and time frame of work taking place.
Continue reading here.
Additional Recommended Reading
NDEQ Co-hosting Nebraska Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Conference on March 25, NPPD News Release
NEWS FROM OTHER CITIES & STATES
The nuclear city goes 100% renewable, PV Magazine
Yesterday Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel unveiled the city’s
Resilient Chicago plan, which in action 38 is a commitment to
“transition to 100 percent clean, renewable energy in buildings community-wide by 2035”.
TRI-STATE NEWS
In November, the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) announced a partnership with Finland’s Lappeenranta University of Technology and Wärtsilä, a Finnish manufacturer, to explore using that company’s technology to generate electricity from methanol, which would be synthesized by combining hydrogen and carbon dioxide.
While a news release touts the study as intending to help “accelerate the move towards a future where energy will be produced from 100 percent renewable carbon free sources,” NPPD does not yet know whether any carbon reduction benefits will result. Read more here.
Photo Credit: Wärtsilä
NEBRASKA ALSO IN THE NEWS HERE
ASU engineers break solar cell record, ASU News
Arizona State University researchers continue to break solar cell efficiency records in an effort to harness the sun’s energy more economically as a renewable source for electricity. Last year, Assistant Professor Zachary Holman and Assistant
Research Professor Zhengshan “Jason” Yu in ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering set a world record of 23.6 percent
efficiency for a tandem solar cell stacked with perovskite and silicon.
The number was a few percentage points shy of the
theoretical efficiency limit for silicon solar cells alone. Now, the team improves upon the record by nearly two percentage points, to 25.4 percent, in a joint project with researchers at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, predicting they’ll be nearing 30 percent tandem efficiency within two years.
Photo: The perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell created by researchers at Arizona State University and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln has the potential to transform mainstream silicon technology and lower the cost of solar energy. Photo by Erika Gronek/ASU
ADDITIONAL UNIVERSITY NEWS
Stanford scientists locate nearly all U.S. solar panels by applying machine learning to a billion satellite images, Stanford University News. Stanford researchers have identified the GPS locations and sizes of almost all U.S. solar power installations from a billion images. Using the data, which are public, they identified factors that
promote the use of solar energy and those that
discourage it. Photo: Telesis Inc’s solar array in Lincoln
BOSTON, Mass. and WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Section 201 solar tariffs took a toll on utility-scale solar installations in the third quarter according to the U.S. Solar Market Insight Report for Q3 from Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables and the Wood Mackenzie Power & the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). The residential market, meanwhile, continued to stabilize after a down 2017. Overall, the analysts expect 2018 growth to be flat.
For the first time since 2015, quarterly additions of utility-scale solar photovoltaics (PV) fell below 1 gigawatt (GW), highlighting the impact of the tariffs and the uncertainty surrounding them in late 2017 and early 2018. As a result, the U.S. solar market was down 15 percent year-over-year in the third quarter of the year, but the report notes that a strong project pipeline lies ahead. Continue reading here.
MORE U.S. RENEWABLE ENERGY NEWS & AN OP-ED
GLOBAL NEWS
Expect 680 GW Of New Wind Energy In Next Decade, North American Wind Power
A new report from research and consultancy firm Wood Mackenzie predicts more than 680 GW of new wind power capacity to come online globally over the next decade.
ENERGY STORAGE
U.S. energy storage project pipeline hits 32.9 GW this year, Solar Power World. The pipeline for energy storage projects in the United States doubled this year, ballooning to 32.9 GW, according to the latest U.S. Energy Storage Monitor from Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables and the Energy Storage Association (ESA). While not all of the projects will come to fruition, this is a clear signpost that developers are bullish on energy storage. The report’s free executive summary is available here.
100% RENEWABLE ENERGY NEWS & A PODCAST
PROJECT AGGREGATION
NREL highlights DER aggregation project challenges, American Public Power Association. A new study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory identifies challenges and makes recommendations for utilities implementing distributed energy resource (DER) aggregation programs. For the study, Expanding PV Value: Lessons Learned from Utility-led Distributed Energy Resource Aggregation in the United States, NREL analyzed DER aggregation programs at five utilities.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
In Minneapolis-St. Paul, the days of diesel buses may be numbered, Midwest Energy News. Metro Transit officials have have committed to add as many as 125 electric buses over the next four years, after which they may stop buying diesel buses altogether. The multi-year strategy comes two months after clean energy advocates successfully pressured the agency to suspend the purchases of new diesel and hybrid buses so that it could study the potential for electrification.
MICROGRIDS
Homeland Security Calls for Microgrid-Driven Community Enclaves
A new Homeland Security report calls for creation of microgrid-driven community enclaves as part of a larger safety strategy should the United States experience a catastrophic power failure. Surviving a Catastrophic Power Outage finds the nation outmatched by an outage lasting weeks or months.
LOCAL NEWS
NPPD eyes hydrogen as conversion fuel at coal-fired unit, American Public Power Association. NPPD plans to change Sheldon Unit 2 near Hallam, Nebraska, from coal to hydrogen between 2021 and 2023, according to John Swanson, NPPD’s generation strategies manager. The hydrogen will flow through a pipeline from a facility Monolith Materials is building across the road from the generating unit. to manufacture carbon black, which is used in tires, cell phones, computers, wiring, etc. The process to make carbon black produces hydrogen as a by-product.
The Lincoln Electric System, along with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has begun collecting data for a study on the habits of drivers of electric vehicles in the Lincoln, Nebraska, area . . . Other Nebraska public power utilities are also taking action related to EVs. In June, the Omaha Public Power District began a pilot program to educate its customers about the benefits of electric vehicles. In January, Nebraska Public Power District unveiled details of a pilot program under which owners of electric vehicles will receive a $200 incentive if they install a charging station at their home. Read more here.
ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED READING
LES News Release: LES announces partnerships, grant funding for electric vehicle study
“Our service territory has about 300 plug-in vehicles, and nearly a third of those drivers are represented in this study,” said LES CEO Kevin Wailes. “We’re excited to have that level of interest from our customers, and it’s a true testament to their engagement with LES and our shared commitment to prepare for a plugged-in future.” For more information about the study, contact LES at 402-475-4211. Follow LES on Facebook and Twitter for study updates.
OPPD’s Electric Vehicle (EV) Rebate Pilot Program
$500 Rebate on Chargepoint Home Charging Station
Dealership Discounts
$3,000 incentive towards a 2018 Nissan Leaf® purchased between June 4 & Jan. 2, 2019
$1,000 incentive towards a 2019 Audi e-tron
Available to all OPPD customers
(Up To) $7,500 Federal Tax Incentive
Federal tax incentives currently remain available. OPPD recommends you speak to your tax advisor for specific details.
NPPD’s EV Charging Station Incentive Pilot Program
A $200 EnergyWise incentive for the installation of a residential vehicle charging station is available for a limited time from Nebraska Public Power District and your local public power utility. This incentive is for customers living in the service area of NPPD or its wholesale customers who purchase an electric vehicle and choose to install a ChargePoint 32 amp WI-FI enabled station. Other charging stations may be incented but must pass pre-approval criteria. To qualify for the pilot incentive program, the installation location of the charging station must have internet wireless connectivity.
Every year utilities across the country celebrate Public Power Month in October. According to the American Public Power Association, public power communities can be found in 49 states and all U.S. territories. Nebraska’s publicly-owned utilities are listed here. Many of them have websites, including our three largest electric utilities.
This month is an excellent opportunity to explore the many information resources posted on their websites and, perhaps, to create a checklist of ways you can save energy and money at home and your workplace throughout October and beyond–and to learn more about the new and innovative programs they have initiated or plan to launch in the near future. Following are just some of the available resources:
Additional Resources
The city of Norfolk is fixing to one-up Kearney on the solar energy front, and we wish Norfolkans the best of luck. Earlier this week, the northeast Nebraska city entered an agreement with Nebraska Public Power District on a venture to build a sizable solar array and link it to an energy storage system. It doesn’t appear as if Norfolk’s array will rival Kearney’s in size, but the size of the system isn’t nearly as important as its ability to successfully plow new ground in the development of green energy. Continue reading here.
Photo: Kearney’s $11 million, 53-acre solar farm, currently the largest in the state.
By Congressman Jeff Fortenberry[Kelsey and Bob Larson] are the next generation of young farmers. Their dairy farm is small, but it is powered by big
tech . . . Beyond new milking and monitoring models, the farm is pushing the envelope in other compelling ways. Solar energy provides about 20% of the farm’s electricity.
Read more here.
ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDED READING & VIEWING
Winnebago to double its solar power systems: Ho-Chunk announces the installation of new solar arrays in nine locations, Siouxland Proud
Links to more stories are posted here and here.
Ho-Chunk Inc’s Website
Columbus, Neb. – Upgrading of electric meters in seven southeast Nebraska communities by Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) is scheduled to take place this month. The meter replacements are part of a program in 2018 to replace 43,000 existing electric meters in 33 communities served at retail by NPPD.
The new meters are equipped with two-way communication known as Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), a digital metering technology used around the world for more than a decade. The current meters in communities slated for replacement are electro-mechanical devices. The new meters display the reading, but in digital LED format. The meters will have an electronic circuit board module installed that will receive and securely transmit the data back to NPPD on the total amount of kilowatt hours used by a residence, business or industry.
Read more here.
See Also: Advanced Meter Infrastructure
NEWS FROM OTHER STATES
SEIA, HBCU Coalition Join in National Effort to Increase Diversity of Solar Industry’s Workforce, SEIA News Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. – With a goal of making the solar workforce and solar communities more diverse, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Community Development Action Coalition (HBCU-CDAC) have begun a new effort to increase recruitment of African-American students into the industry.
EV NEWS
In Colorado, two rural co-ops are leading the charge on electric vehicles
RECYCLING NEWS
Sunsetting solar panels: U.S. photovoltaic cell recycling incentives are beginning, GreenBiz
According to a publication by International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), more than 90 percent of the materials in typical photovoltaic solar panels — silicon, aluminum and glass — can be recycled and used again in the production of new solar panels.
LEADERSHIP AWARDS
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