Kari Larsen provides perspective on Australia’s first attempt at cap and trade. Our two countries shared a lot in common in the 90’s. We were the most conspicuous holdouts against signing Kyoto with conservative governments in both countries. 2009 elections brought about changes in both countries to liberal governments. Larsen looks at the path to Copenhagen in December on page one.
Dr. Lucas Argueso, PhD, of Duke University, studied and mapped a yeast strain, PE-2, that has a natural talent for carbohydrate biofuels. Switchgrass, elephant grass, and miscanthus grass are attractive areas for farming in the US as the technology is engineered to effectively break down cellulose on page one.
Lyn Corum reports on page 13 California’s new energy legislation signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on October 11, the deadline date for signing or vetoing laws. He vetoed legislation that would have increased R.P.S. He signed into law legislation to increase the size of projects eligible for the state’s feed-in tariff to a maximum of 3 mw, up from 1.5 mw.
Brad Kitchens, Class of 2006, comments on the 5% drop in power usage from January to July 2009 from a year ago and the dramatic shift in fuel prices. Industrial gas consumption has fallen by 13% in the first seven months of ’09 vs. ’08 caused by the recession and mild weather. Looking ahead on page 14, he sees markets tending to equilibrate over time, and the natural gas market is no exception. The real question is whether domestic natural gas supply and demand balance has changed for good. While we cannot say with certainty that it has not, betting on generation fuel prices has historically been a fool’s game. But there are ways for generators to hedge those bets. Pursuing a balanced fuel strategy continues to make sense. Lead times for new power supply can be long, and fuel markets will continue to move up and down while these decisions are being made. Certainly the natural gas “game” has changed for now. But generators would be wise to be prepared for the possibility that the “game” may change dramatically, and rapidly again.
Congress appropriated $6 billion to pay for the credit subsidy costs associated with loan guarantees. In October, ’09, the DOE unveiled its Financial Institution Partnership Programs (FIPP). Designed to address current deficiencies in credit and capital markets, FIPP co-finances projects with commercial lenders. Karen Wong sees potential barriers to financing the non-guaranteed portion of the projects and the costs of the application fees. On page 15, she says the program has transformative potential by introducing new technologies to market, reinvigorating project finance and building the nation’s green economy.
Rod Lowman writes as President of America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA), representing 28 of North America’s leading independent natural gas companies. Natural gas generation represents 400 gws of capacity, but this capacity is used less than 25 percent of the time, mostly for peaking. Improving its utilization can achieve immediate carbon reduction, he says on page 16. North America has more than 100 years of natural gas supply in 32 states and is 50 percent cleaner than coal.
Joe Dysart returns to report on the promise and pitfalls of cloud computing, a new approach to IT in which all company applications (APPS) and data are moved onto the web. The key arguments for moving to cloud computing is to free up overtaxed, in-house IT departments, enable employees to access company apps and data anywhere in the world and reduce costs under a pay-asyou- go payment arrangement. Dysart answers five objections to entering the cloud on page 17.
Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis spoke on October 27 at the Solar Power International Convention in Anaheim, CA. We are pleased to offer excerpts on page 18. She points out that the Recovery Act invests more than $80 billion for clean energy to develop new technologies, modernizing the grid and doubling our capacity to generate renewable electricity. She estimates the solar industry could create over one million new jobs by 2030. The Department of Labor announced in June a $500 million green job training grant and is teaming with ten other departments, agencies and six White House offices to develop ideas to leverage private capital.
Rowan Oloman warns against relying solely on CCS as the answer to our CO² problem on page 19. She quotes a McKinsey figure that CCS could lift the price of the next generation of European power plants by up to $1.3 billion per plant. Carbon recycling is an alternative that treats CO² as a commodity instead of a waste. Recycling options are being developed globally to convert CO² to formate salts, into algae biofuels, conversion to methanol, or solar photo catalytic conversion of CO² to fuels.
| John Bourne writes on page 20 that in 2008, the global solar market increased 50 percent, and the US advanced to third place globally behind Spain and Germany. The market demand for solar has grown an average of 30 percent for the past five years, helped by incentives on the state level, and a 30 percent federal tax credit for commercial customers. 2010 Schedule World-Gen is pleased to announce our 2010 Media Kit, also on world-gen.com. • Jan/Feb – Class of 2010 • March/April – EEI, PGE, AWEA • May/June – CG ’10, GTC –’10, WEC • Sept/Oct – SPI, GridWeek, ANS • Nov/Dec - PGI, Bueche Directory The 15th Bueche Directory of Developers is on world-gen.com. Plan on stopping by our PGI exhibit C5-677 in Las Vegas, December 8-10, 2009. |
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