Balance Of Power: Clean Energy And Desert Wildlife

May 3, 2012 | Forbes.com LLC™

This guest post was written by Johanna Wald, a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco.

I've had the great luck to spend my nearly forty year career protecting western lands. But about five years ago, I realized two things that changed the course of my approach to lands protection: The first was that climate change was already having real impacts on the lands and resources that I have been working for so long to protect, and second that there were numerous pending applications for renewable energy projects proposed on lands with vital wildlife habitat.

I knew then that if I wanted to achieve my goal, I'd need to find ways to balance the need for cleaner sources of energy while protecting our public lands. So I switched the focus of my work to facilitate environmentally responsible renewable energy development in the west. (complete article)

MidAmerican Solar and First Solar Announce Start of Major Construction on Largest Solar Project in the World

May 3, 2012 | MarketWatch.com

DES MOINES, Iowa - May 3, 2012 - This week, MidAmerican Solar and First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR) marked the start of major construction at Topaz Solar Farms, located in San Luis Obispo County, Calif. The 550-megawatt photovoltaic project will employ approximately 400 workers during its three-year construction period; will generate nearly $417 million in local economic impact, the majority of which will be generated during construction; and will provide California with renewable electricity.

When complete, the Topaz project will be the largest solar electric power plant in the world, providing enough energy to power approximately 160,000 average California homes. (complete article)

NRG Energy, MidAmerican Solar and First Solar Celebrate 100 MW Milestone for 290 MW Agua Caliente Solar Project

April 26, 2012 | Global Energy World

Photovoltaic solar project creates 400 jobs and clean, renewable power for 225,000 homes

Representatives from NRG Energy, Inc., MidAmerican Solar and First Solar, Inc. gathered with federal and local officials today at the 290 MW (AC) Agua Caliente solar project in Yuma County, Ariz., to celebrate the project's first 100 MW being delivered to the grid, making it North America's largest PV power plant in operation.

Once completed in 2014, Agua Caliente will be one of the world's largest PV power plants, supplying enough clean, renewable solar energy to power more than 225,000 homes. The project's construction phase is creating an average of 400 jobs, with over 80% of the workforce coming from Arizona.

“Getting to this milestone of our first 100 MW at Agua Caliente illustrates the success of public-private partnerships to stimulate the construction of these large-scale solar projects, creating hundreds of construction jobs and providing clean, renewable power to thousands of homes,” said Tom Doyle, president of NRG Solar. “Large-scale projects like this also help drive down the price of solar, which will make it even more cost-competitive with conventional electricity generation in the near future.” (complete article)

EnergySource's New Geothermal Plant Is Online Near the Salton Sea

March 22, 2012 | Greentech Media | Herman K. Trabish

The region may be the best resource—and best-kept secret—in the geothermal sector.

The EnergySource 49.9-megawatt Hudson Ranch I geothermal plant went on-line in the Salton Sea geothermal field on March 9. It is the first in that field to come on-line in twenty years.

The Salton Sea known geothermal resource area (KGRA), EnergySource President and CEO Dave Watson said, has a total economically recoverable geothermal resource potential of between 1,400 and 2,000 megawatts. It has a developed capacity of just under 330 megawatts.

Among geothermal opportunities, Watson said, “the Salton Sea KGRA is unique. It is the most powerful resource in the U.S.,” with “a capacity factor approaching 95 percent. It has the best combination of high pressure, very high temperatures -- 600 degrees Fahrenheit and above -- and very good permeability, because you’re drilling into a sedimentary basin.” (complete article)

Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One: The Solar Power Plant That Could

March 5, 2012 | Greentech Media | Herman K. Trabish

The 230-megawatt (AC) solar power plant continues to rise from the desert floor.

Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One (AVSR1), an enormous 230-megawatt (AC) solar power plant, continues to rise from the desert floor, despite obstacles coming from many directions. First Solar continues to provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for Exelon and has said the project is 28 percent complete and on track for inauguration of its first phase in September.

200 of the 350 people who will eventually be employed to build the project have been placed in full-time jobs, and almost two-thirds of those jobs have gone to people from nearby communities in and around the Antelope Valley, where unemployment for the largely working-class population has approached fifteen percent during the recession.
(complete article)

Hello, sunshine: Palo Alto utility to pay locals for solar energy

March 7, 2012 | Los Angeles Times | Marla Dickerson

Green energy may be losing momentum inside the Beltway. But officials in the heart of Silicon Valley are betting on the sun.

This week, the Palo Alto City Council approved a plan to buy clean power from local utility customers who install solar panels on their roofs. That's right. The power company will pay them, not the other way around.
(complete article)

CEO Leads NRG From Nuclear to Solar, Natural Gas

March 6, 2012 | WSJ | Leslie Kwoh


Joe Schram/The Wall Street Journal
NRG CEO David Crane said that while global nuclear safety has changed, there is 'no way' the nuclear crisis in Japan could happen here.

Soon after the earth shook under Japan last March, NRG Energy Inc. felt aftershocks halfway around the world

When the earthquake triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, the independent power producer was building two nuclear reactors in Texas. Amid regulatory uncertainty in the U.S., the ambitious multibillion-dollar project was halted.

Now, Chief Executive David Crane faces the task of moving Princeton, N.J.-based NRG forward without nuclear energy, one of the primary drivers of its growth. The company has shifted focus to its solar and natural-gas businesses, he says. And solar, in particular, is a bright spot: In December, Warren Buffett's MidAmerican Energy Holdings purchased a 49% stake in one of NRG's Arizona solar plants.
(complete article)

First Solar-Exelon Deal Clears Hurdle

February 17, 2012 | WSJ | Cassandra Sweet

Los Angeles County agencies have approved changes to a construction permit that First Solar Inc. needs to build a large solar farm and complete a $1.36 billion deal with Exelon Corp.

First Solar and Exelon said last week that the pending approvals had held up federal loans backed by a $646 million loan guarantee that the U.S. Department of Energy had approved for the project.
(complete article)