Tag Archives: WINDExchange

New bill could make solar roof installations more affordable for homes, businesses

By Zach Hester, WHNT

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new bill introduced last week is aiming to make it cheaper for homeowners and businesses to install solar power roofs. The Raise the Roof Act, introduced by Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), would expand solar tax credits to cover a “cutting-edge integrated solar roofing system” as well as roof replacements and repairs. Read more here, including the full text of the Raise the Roof Act.

Related Reading – With Resources

Replacing Your Roof? It’s a Great Time to Add Solar, by Becca Jones-Albertus, Director of the Solar Energy Technologies Office within the Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office.

A report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that solar panels are viewed as upgrades and home buyers across the country have been willing to pay a premium of about $15,000 for a home with an average-sized solar array. Additionally, there is evidence homes with solar panels sell faster than those without.

Previously Posted

RECOMMENDED WEBINAR

Recording of the Clean Energy Group / Clean Energy States Alliance Webinar: Expanding Grid Capacity with Energy Storage in Decorah, Iowa

At present, one circuit on Decorah’s grid does not have sufficient capacity to allow for the addition of many new solar projects in development. Upgrading the grid through traditional poles-and-wires and substation expansions would be twice as expensive as this battery project, according to Alliant Energy. Thus, the battery project is expected not only to allow for increased solar integration, but also to produce distribution system investment savings. Additional potential benefits, such as peak demand shaving and other storage applications, will be tested as additional means to reduce customer cost.

ALSO OF POTENTIAL INTEREST

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

WIND ENERGY GUIDE

Land-Based Wind Energy Economic Development Guide, Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, WINDExchange

A comprehensive resource for community decision makers to better understand the economic development potential during the development, construction, and operation of wind energy projects.

As wind industry goes big, this New England startup looks to shrink turbines

By David Thill, Energy News Network

Skyscraper-high blades are increasingly standard on wind farms, but Pecos Wind Power thinks its small, distributed turbines will be a better fit in Vermont. The fact that the turbines are serving the communities they’re sited in could help secure community support, said Julia Leopold, head of communications at VPPSA [Vermont Public Power Supply Authority].

“If you can directly correlate the benefit of the project to the community, then the community will be a bit more receptive to it,” she said, noting large renewable projects are sometimes sited in communities while their power is sold elsewhere. Read more here.

LINKS TO MORE INFORMATION & RESOURCES

IN NEBRASKA 

Bill would regulate wind energy in Nebraska, KMTV

How heat pumps can cut carbon pollution from buildings

Contributed by Sarah Kennedy, ChavoBart Digital Media.
Posted on Yale Climate Connections

“These new cold climate air source heat pumps are functional down to -10, -15 degrees,” [Chris Carrick with the Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board] says. And they run on electricity, so they generate heat without burning oil, natural gas or other fuels on site. According to a report by the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute, switching to heat pumps could dramatically reduce the carbon pollution caused by home heating. They have the most impact in places with renewable electricity. Read more here.

More Yale Climate Connections Posts / Audio 

Nebraska Information Sources on the Above Topics 

Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE)

DOE Selects NRECA for Wind Energy Research Initiative

NRECA News Release

The Department of Energy has selected the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) to research small-scale, community-based wind energy solutions that can be deployed by electric cooperatives. NRECA is partnering with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Hoss Consulting and Mana Group LLC on research to develop business models and technologies for wind projects that can benefit cooperative consumer-members, communities and their electric distribution cooperatives, and rural generation and transmission cooperatives. NRECA will team with co-ops around the country to evaluate and deploy diverse types of distributed wind projects. The project aims to increase understanding of the potential benefits of distributed wind and reduce market barriers for the adoption of these technologies in rural areas. Continue reading here.

DOE Resource
Small Wind Guidebook, WINDExchange, Department of Energy

Cornhusker Harvest wind project advances

Seward County Independent

The Cornhusker Harvest wind farm project, owned by Apex Clean Energy out of Charlottesville, Virginia, is making advances to complete land lease agreements with residents of Saline County by year’s end. “Over 80% of agreements have been signed and that’s a very good milestone to be hitting,” Max Jabrixio, public engagement manager for Apex said. The project is to be located near the Tobias/Milligan area. According to project developer Dylan Ikkala, 25,000 of an estimated 32,000 acres of land have been aquired. Apex has been working on the land leasing portion of the project since 2016. Continue reading here.

Featured Resource
WINDExchange: Wind Energy in Nebraska

Another Midwest Wind Farm Celebrated
Construction of Tenaska Clear Creek Energy Center Celebrated, PR Newswire
Wind Farm Brings Jobs, Tax Revenue, Landowner Lease Payments to Nodaway County in Missouri.

More Utilities Make Big Commitments to Climate Action

By Sophia Ptacek and Sheryl Carter, Natural Resources Defense Council

Utility clean energy commitments have strengthened and multiplied since we inventoried some of the most newsworthy announcements last year. Xcel Energy recently became the first major utility to commit to eliminating 100 percent of its carbon emissions by 2050. Platte River Power Authority, a publicly owned utility in Colorado, announced its pledge to provide 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2030. And MidAmerican Energy, a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary, will be the first U.S. utility to provide customers with electricity generated from 100 percent renewable energy by 2020, less than a year away . . . Climate commitments keep coming. Read more here.

MORE ENERGY TRANSITION STORIES & BLOOMBERG’S NEW MOVEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT

NEW SLIDESHOW

WINDExchange Publishes New Offshore Wind Slideshow 
As part of its series of wind information slideshows, WINDExchange published Block Island and Beyond: Offshore Wind Energy in the United States. This slideshow provides a brief introduction to offshore wind in the United States, including the country’s first installation off the coast of Block Island, Rhode Island. The slideshow is also available as a PowerPoint file.

Pixabay Photo

Demand for Clean Energy Coming from Businesses, not Politics

By Rod Walton, Power Engineering

U.S. companies are dominating corporate procurement of clean energy this year even as global demand rises, and the record pace accelerated with two new and very different types of American firms announcing renewable power purchase agreements (PPA) totaling 160 MW this week.

Jelly maker J.M. Smucker Co. signed a long-term PPA with Lincoln Clean Energy for 60 MW of wind power from the 230-MW Plum Creek project in Wayne County, Nebraska. The Plum Creek PPA will help Ohio-based Smucker gain half of its electricity use from clean energy by 2020.
Continue reading here.

iStock photo

ALSO OF POTENTIAL INTEREST

From WINDExchange Newsletter
Associations Allow Landowners to Collaborate on Wind Energy Developments
In conjunction with the National Association of Farm Broadcasters, WINDExchange produced an audio interview with Paul Stout, board member of the Coalition of Renewable Energy Landowners, an organization launched in 2009. Landowner groups may allow rural landowners to collaborate to negotiate wind energy development agreements as a group. According to Stout, when wind energy developers need to assemble large parcels of land for a wind farm, it is easier for them when they have one negotiated agreement that everyone can sign. Learn more about wind project development at the WINDExchange website.