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SEBANE News |
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Vol. 5 No. 2 |
April 2007 |
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Table of Contents
Evergreen Solar, Inc. has announced its intention to significantly expand its Massachusetts manufacturing operations with a new facility to be located on the campus of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative in Westborough, Massachusetts. The new plant will increase Evergreen's production capacity in the state by 70 MW. In an April press conference with Governor Deval Patrick at Evergreen's Marlboro headquarters, the company revealed its decision to build the new $150 million facility, thereby creating as many as 375 jobs and doubling its Massachusetts workforce. Massachusetts bested a number of other states that were competing for the facility. Richard M. Feldt, Evergreen Solar's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer said, "Our new plant in Massachusetts is a natural evolution as we focus on the significant opportunities in the United States. Governor Deval Patrick's vision for broad scale solar power adoption through an innovative solar incentive program as well as the creative financial incentive programs that the Governor, the Legislature and the Town of Westborough are expected to provide were key factors in our decision to expand in Massachusetts." Massachusetts' Office of Business Development put together a $44 million financing package of grants and loans to convince Evergreen that it should build the new plant in Massachusetts. The package includes up to $23 million in grants, up to $17.5 million in low-interest loans and a low-cost, 30-year lease of MTC land. Construction of Evergreen Solar's new facility is planned to begin in early fall 2007 with completion expected in late 2008.
In mid-April, at a press conference with Governor Deval Patrick and senior management from Evergreen Solar, NSTAR announced an alliance with Evergreen Solar designed to increase the role of solar power in Eastern Massachusetts. NSTAR's goals are to help accelerate market growth and lower the overall cost of solar electric generation by reducing the non-hardware portion of solar system costs and increase its customers' awareness of the technology. To accomplish this goal, NSTAR plans to use a delivery model similar to the approach used in its energy efficiency programs. It proposes to promote standardized systems installed by pre-approved solar contractors. NSTAR sees itself as a natural contact point for customers interested in installing solar equipment. According to the utility, it will bring significant value to efforts such as market research, marketing and promotion, lead development, and standardized system development. Customer follow-up, evaluation, and service will also be provided by NSTAR and its contractors. No specific details or timetable for this new initiative were made available.
New Hampshire, for a long time the only New England state without a renewable portfolio standard (RPS), has joined the club. An RPS was one of many pieces of historic legislation passed by the New Hampshire House of Representatives in early April, approved by an overwhelming margin of 253-37. And last week, it also was passed by the New Hampshire Senate by a vote of 24-0. The RPS would require New Hampshire to generate 16 percent of
new energy from renewable resources such as wind, solar, biomass and hydro
by 2025. Because the state already generates about 6 percent of its
electricity from renewable resources, the final number will be about 22-25
percent by 2025. < involved.? were who efforts everyone?s
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The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF) has announced the achievement of a number of milestones in the past couple of months for installations of both small and large photovoltaic systems. Residential Installations Commercial-Scale Systems The BJs' installations were made possible, in part, by a grant of $742,000 from CCEF through its On-Site Renewable Distributed Generation Program. The balance of the system cost is being financed by the system developer and owner, SEBANE member Conservation Services Group. The solar arrays in Derby and Willimantic, together covering nearly 16,000 square feet of roof space, are the largest solar PV installations at retail sites in Connecticut and will have a measurable, positive impact on the local environment. It is estimated that the environment will benefit from a combined reduction in CO2 emissions to the tune of about 86 tons per year, the equivalent of about 250 trees planted.
Connecticut US Senator Joseph Lieberman was present at the April unveiling of a new 72 kW rooftop solar PV system at the Pine Point School in Stonington, Connecticut. The system was installed by SolarWrights, which will own the system and lease the rooftop space from the school. The school will purchase the energy generated. Students will be able to watch the clean energy being generated by their school's new solar panel system in real time, thanks to the recent installation of Fat Spaniel Technologies' energy monitoring, visualization and reporting system. According to Pine Point Head of School Paul Geise, by incorporating Fat Spaniel's Web display into existing classroom activities, students will be able to see how the school's new 330-panel, rooftop solar energy installation powers their lights while reducing pollution. Geise says the students will use Fat Spaniel's web-based view to chart and monitor the school's energy use and pollution reduction, and will compile the data for use in competitions with other schools working to reduce their pollution. Fat Spaniel's reporting tools also provide the independent reporting needed to help monetize the renewable energy credits that the Pine Point School solar system will generate.
Merrimack, New Hampshire's Planning Board has approved GT Solar's plan to more than double its manufacturing plant, resulting in as many as 80 new jobs. The New Hampshire based company manufactures equipment other companies use to make solar panels. It says sales have gone up 30 percent a year for the last five years. Company Vice President Jim Bosco says construction could begin by summer 2007. GT Solar also has announced a $49 million contract to sell polysilicon reactors to the Russian company, Nitol Group. GT Solar's reactors and silicon tetrachloride converters will be installed at Nitol's production facility in Irkutsk, Siberia.
SatCon Technology Corporation announced that it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a local presence in Spain, expanding into the growing European market. Over the course of the last three years, Boston-based SatCon has captured significant market share of the commercial photovoltaic market in North America. Commercial markets are rapidly expanding in southern Europe, and a local presence is imperative to serve SatCon's new European customers. Said Clemens van Zeyl, the President of SatCon's Stationary Power Systems Division, "Spain is a rapidly growing market for photovoltaic power plants and alternative energy in general and is a key country within the European Union for SatCon to have a presence."
Three state colleges in Massachusetts were recently awarded Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs) from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to be used to erect photovoltaic solar-electric systems at the schools totaling 240 kilowatts (kW). The projects range in size from 68 kW at Salem State College, and 82 kW at Springfield Technical Community College, to 100 kW at Mount Wachusett Community College. The CREBs, available through the U.S Energy Policy Act of 2005, are an alternative for public institutions unable to take advantage of tax credits for clean energy. Taking advantage of these bonds would mean the colleges could increase the size of their solar installations - by a factor of 10 - and pay back the bond on an annual basis from savings on energy bills using solar rather than conventional electricity. "The CREBs basically act as a no-interest loan," said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles. "Thanks to this financing vehicle, along with grants from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, solar power will be more than symbolic on these campuses." The CREBs awards came as a result of a Public Awareness grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's Renewable Energy Trust to Clean Air - Cool Planet (CA-CP), a Northeast nonprofit dedicated to implementing solutions to global warming for colleges, communities, businesses, and science centers. The grant allowed CA-CP to work with the colleges through the Massachusetts Clean Powered Campuses program, which focuses on increasing knowledge surrounding renewable energy at six state campuses.
SEBANE members SunEdison and Evergreen Solar announced a major extension of their sales agreement in early April. The extension increases the total value of the contract to over $510 million. The initial $200 million agreement was announced in July 2006. Under the contract extension, Evergreen Solar will ship an additional $316 million of PV modules to SunEdison through 2011.
If solar power is going to play a significant role in the energy equation of the future, there must be advances in technologies to store that power and more investment by manufacturers, concludes a new federally-funded study by University of Massachusetts Amherst scientist Erin Baker. The report by Baker and colleagues explores the viability of sun-fueled technologies through a combination of evaluations by experts and economic modeling, allowing the researchers to look at solar power's role in the electricity sector in 15-year chunks through 2095. Jeffrey Keisler of UMass Boston, and Haewon Chon, a Ph.D. student at the University of Maryland working with the Joint Global Change Research Institute collaborated with Baker. The U.S. Department of Energy awarded $347,000 to Baker's team last year to investigate the costs and benefits associated with investing in alternative energies. The scientists approached their analysis of sun-fueled technologies from the framework of a research and development portfolio. They analyzed the risks of certain investments, and solicited advice from experts to identify the key technological breakthroughs in solar technology that would lower its costs. They also asked what hurdles might make it hard to move the technology from the lab to production and the probability of success given a funding trajectory. The researchers then fed that information into a model that allowed them to play out various investment scenarios. Among the findings: Even if there are research breakthroughs that made the costs of photovoltaics comparable to or less than that of fossil fuels - roughly 3 cents per kilowatt hour by 2050 - there would still be a limited impact on emissions unless the advances are combined with improvements in low-cost storage. Current technologies do not have good, cheap storage options, and putting all the power into the grid may make it unstable. But when technological breakthroughs are combined with improvements in storage, using solar technology could lower emissions by 20 percent at no additional cost to the economy, taking a serious bite out of the carbon problem.
Annual Members Meeting on June 14 - SEBANE members should reserve the morning of Thursday, June 14, 2007 for the Annual Members Meeting, to be held at National Grid's offices in Northborough, MA. While our agenda is still in development, among the topics of discussion will be a set of Principles for SEBANE members, the status of Solar-related legislative initiatives in the New England states and the opportunities they create for members, and the potential effects of utility efforts such as the recent NSTAR PV announcement.
Advanced Energy Systems Development provides renewable energy design and installation services to commercial and residential customers. The firm is based in Wellesley, MA and Charles Nadel is company president. For over twenty-five years, Groom Energy Solutions. has been providing construction management for renewable and energy efficiency technologies to commercial and industrial companies nationwide. They are located in Salem, MA. Heat-Flo Heating Products, Inc. is a full service design and manufacturing firm providing high quality, cost effective solutions for hot water supply. Stephen Ross is general manager. The firm is located in Hopedale, MA. Sirios Electric is a full service electrical contractor performing installations and repairs of line and low voltage wiring. Chris Sirios is president and the company is based in Burlington, MA. William and Sun provides communication and marketing consulting. William Kanzer is the principal.
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Solar Energy Business Association
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