Renewables

energy efficient, distributed energy storage is a breakthrough approach that is gaining the favor of regulators nationwide.

In 2007, the California Public Utilities Commission found that permanent load– shifting technologies deliver a number of benefits to both utilities and energy consumers, including reduced transmission and distribution losses, improved reliability and reduced emissions from utilizing more efficient baseload generation. According to the CPUC, PG&E’s TES programs are expected to shift a total of 2.66 MW in 2008 and 4.75 MW in 2009.

Economics aside, there are environmental benefits associated with permanent load shifting. Studies in the New England area indicate that ozone exceedance days are most likely to occur when temperatures rise above 90 F, when air conditioning demand calls peak power plants online. An E3 Ventures study found that cooling energy storage has the potential

to dramatically reduce air pollutant emissions by reducing overall electricity consumption and by reducing the use of relatively high–emitting generation sources that are called into service on the hottest summer days. Depending on the base generation mix, NOx emissions can be reduced by 56 percent and CO2 by 40 percent, according to the study.

Energy storage also has a role in helping utilities meet their mandated renewable energy portfolio goals, by improving the viability of intermittent solar and wind generation resources. Storage helps to sync intermittent generation with peak power demand, improving the economics and usefulness of renewable energy.

The combination of demand response, energy efficiency, and the permanent load shifting of building cooling energy is a trifecta that will deliver true ratepayer relief. It is good for the utility, good for the customer and good for the environment.

LOAN continued from 34 financial viability this time around.

of loan guarantees. It received 143 pre-applications for the $2 billion in available loan guarantee authority. However, Congress directed DOE not to proceed until it issued its final rule. When it issued the final rule, DOE also invited 16 of those pre-applicants to submit full applications. Those 16 include:

■ four cellulosic ethanol projects

■ two advanced diesel fuel projects

■ three integrated gasification combined cycle plants, two of which will be carbon-capture ready and one which will gasify coal to produce both power and methanol

■ two industrial efficiency projects (a paper manufacturer and a maker of energy efficient windows)

two solar projects (a photovoltaics maker and a developer of a concentrated solar power facility)

■ an electricity delivery project

■ a hydrogen fuel cell project

■ an alternative fuel vehicle project

DOE is moving forward to the formal application phase with this group of projects. Its actions with respect to that first group of 16 should teach us all more about how— and how expeditiously—DOE intends to implement the loan guarantee program.

The solicitation process
Despite the request of many in industry that
DOE make loan guarantees available on a roll-
ing basis, DOE intends to proceed by solicita-
tions. Particularly in light of the directions in
the 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Act about
how DOE should allocate the authorized
funding, it seems likely that DOE will issue
solicitations focused on particular project
types, such as renewables, advanced coal, and
nuclear projects. This will set up the kind of
competition DOE quite clearly wants in order
to enable it to select “the best in class” among
similar proposals. The difficulty for develop-
ers, however, will be that not all projects are
likely to be at an equal stage of readiness on ■
DOE’s appointed schedule. A project that
may be more promising in the long run could
find itself at a disadvantage if project planning
is not as advanced as other, potentially less
meritorious but more fully developed projects
at the time DOE solicits proposals for that
project type.

Initial loan guarantee applicants selected Before it issued its NOPR in 2006, DOE solicited pre-applications for its first round