Review process has seen energy projects get derailed

Decision on oil terminal possible by year’s endFirst proposed in 2013, the Vancouver Energy rail-to-marine oil terminal is deep into the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council process and could see a decision on its fate by the end of the year.

Review process has seen energy projects get derailed

Suzlon makes solar power entry with projects in Telangana

Last Modified: Thu, Jan 14 2016. 02 57 AM IST

The projects will be completed through six separate special purpose vehicles across the state—one of 100 MW, one of 50MW and four of 15MW each

Mumbai: Wind turbine maker Suzlon Energy Ltd on Wednesday announced its official entry into the solar energy segment, receiving letters of interest (LoI) for the 210 megawatts (MW) of solar power projects that it won in Telangana through a competitive bidding process in August 2015.

The projects will be completed through six separate special purpose vehicles (SPVs) across the state—one project of 100 megawatts, one of 50MW and four of 15MW each, Suzlon said. The firm had quoted tariff of between Rs.5.49 and Rs.5.69 per kilowatt hour (kWh) for the six projects.

Suzlon did not disclose the investments for these projects, but people in the industry with knowledge of the matter said the total cost for setting up a similar solar power capacity would be roughly Rs.1,300 crore.

State utility Southern Power Distribution Co. of Telangana Ltd had in April 2015 invited bids for 2,000MW in solar photovoltaic projects by way of competitive bidding. The auction attracted more than 100 bidders and several firms, including SkyPower Global, Suzlon, Shapoorji Pallonji and Co. Ltd, Mytrah Energy Ltd, Acme Solar Energy Pvt. Ltd, ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd, won parts of the 2,000MW capacity at tariffs upward of Rs.5 per kWh.

Suzlon hopes to sign six power purchase agreements (PPAs) with state utilities for a 25-year period this month. The projects will be commissioned within the current financial year.

For Suzlon, which in recent years had struggled with muted growth, falling market share and high debt, the foray into the country’s sunrise sector will be a new avenue of growth. The company, which supplies turbines for wind energy producers, had a total consolidated debt of Rs.10,801.28 crore as of September 2015.

“Several companies that had earlier been focusing on the wind power market in India have now actively started looking at the solar market. This includes Ostro Energy, Mytrah and CLP Power India, apart from Suzlon,” said Jasmeet Khurana, associate director (consulting) at Bridge to India, a boutique consultancy.

India has a target of installing 100 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity and 60GW of wind power capacity by 2022.

Overseas investors and global renewable energy firms along with domestic firms are making a beeline for India—a market that is gaining prominence in the renewable energy segment.

At the state-held auctions, which require companies to manage land acquisition on their own, tariffs quoted have been upward of Rs.5. But projects won under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (NSM), where state-run NTPC Ltd is looking to provide ready infrastructure to developers within its solar parks, tariffs bids have turned aggressive.

Solar tariffs for projects bid under NSM touched a record low of Rs.4.63 when US-based SunEdison Inc. won a 500 MW tender by NTPC in November.

The Indian renewable energy unit of Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. also won a project under NSM at Rs.4.63 in December.

“Solar and wind are complementary, hence we will leverage our project execution capabilities and end-to-end solutions to deliver solar projects,” said Tulsi Tanti, chairman of Suzlon Group, in a statement. “We are also working on integrated renewable energy solutions by combining wind and solar projects at a single location.”

Of the six SPVs, one is already a Suzlon subsidiary while the other five have been acquired, the firm said in the statement. “These acquired companies do not have any operations or assets currently and are acquired primarily to be used as SPVs for the proposed solar projects,” said Suzlon in the statement.

Mint’s Gireesh Chandra Prasad in New Delhi contributed to this story.

First Published: Thu, Jan 14 2016. 12 34 AM IST

Suzlon makes solar power entry with projects in Telangana

Report: Ranger projects won't aid Vt. energy goals

Five proposed 20-megawatt solar projects would boost the amount of renewable power generated in Vermont, but the credit for the solar power is worth far more in other states, a recent analysis found.

That means that the power generated by Ranger Solar in Vermont likely won’t count toward Vermont’s renewable energy goals because the renewable energy credits, or RECs, will be sold elsewhere.

Companies which sell RECs pass savings onto customers, but can’t claim to provide green energy to them.

Adam Cohen, president of Ranger Solar, said he wants to sell the renewable energy credits in Vermont despite the lower price here. He said the closing of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant — with a 604-megawatt renewable energy capacity — and other facilities creates an energy demand which Ranger is poised to fill.

Demand for electricity is separate from renewable energy credit demand. Electricity goes into the grid and is difficult to track, but RECs are traceable and are measuring sticks linked to a state’s renewable goals.

By selling renewable credits, the right to claim the renewable energy is sold as well. The more renewable credits a utility purchases, the more renewable energy they can claim to meet the state’s renewable quota.

“The REC itself we’ll have and we want to sell to Vermont utilities. … We know they need a lot more RECs, so we hope utilities buy them,” Cohen said.

Kevin Jones, professor of energy technology and policy at Vermont Law School, said he doubts Ranger’s RECs will be sold in Vermont.

It’s a matter of profit, he said.

“Very clearly, the market for renewable energy credits is out of state,” Jones said. “Almost all the large-scale solar … are selling RECs.”

Ranger’s 20-megawatt proposals in Ludlow, Brandon, Barton, Highgate and Sheldon would be the five largest in the state, by far. Currently, Vermont’s largest solar field is about 5 megawatts.

Each Ranger site would require about 100 acres of land and create a tax revenue source and new jobs for construction and operation.

A study published by Synapse Energy Economics in November said Ranger Solar will “almost certainly” sell its RECs for “out-of-state” energy goals in places like Massachusetts and Connecticut because of higher selling prices there.

The study — commissioned by Ranger Solar — delved into one of the 20-megawatt proposals in Ludlow, called the Coolidge Solar Project, and concluded with overall support.

The study said the demand for renewable energy in Vermont and New England is on the rise, and the Ranger projects would introduce powerful infrastructure in Vermont to improve electricity production and capacity for decades to come.

“Vermont and every other New England state have set challenging targets for procuring … renewable energy and efficiency,” the study said. “The resulting policies ensure strong and annually increasing demand for renewable energy certificates for the foreseeable future.”

According to the Synapse study, the value of a REC in Connecticut is $55 and $67 in Massachusetts. In Vermont, the same REC is worth $10, the study said.

With Vermont’s lower selling price, outsourcing of renewable credits leaves Vermonters to rely more on fossil-fuel power sources that don’t have RECs attached to them, according to Department of Public Service documents.

The DPS also said renewable energy such as hydropower accounted for 61 percent of the state’s electricity supply in 2014. Solar power accounted for 1 percent.

But when the out-of-state REC sales are accounted for, the percentage of renewable energy in the Vermont electric energy supply drops to 45 percent — 44 percent from hydropower, 1 percent from wood and zero from solar.

Some state officials, including Gov. Peter Shumlin, have voiced serious skepticism about Ranger, saying its projects are too big for Vermont.

Chris Recchia, commissioner of the Department of Public Service, said it seems likely Ranger will sell RECs outside Vermont “in my understanding.”

The project won’t contribute to Vermont’s energy goals, he said.

“We haven’t received applications yet, and when we do we will review those based on public benefit,” Recchia said.

“The public benefit to Vermont usually depends on, first and foremost, if we’re using the electricity from those projects or whether it’s being sold to others,” he added. “Similarly, right on the heels of that, is whether the renewable energy attributes of those projects are being kept in Vermont or sold elsewhere.”

Kristin Carlson, spokeswoman for Green Mountain Power, said the state’s largest utility company would pay a premium price for power generated at Ranger sites and wants to restructure Ranger’s operation.

“What Ranger has filed for … is something called PURPA pricing,” Carlson said, referring to the Public Utility Regulatory Polices Act. “It forces all utilities to buy the power at an expensive price that is above market.”

GMP tried to block Ranger’s permits at the Public Service Board because of the PURPA arrangement and Carlson said GMP wants what is called a power-purchase agreement.

A PPA is a contract with pre-determined rates between an electricity buyer like GMP and an electricity seller like Ranger Solar. Negotiating a PPA would also give GMP rights to the renewable credits, Carlson said, which is something the company wants to expand in the future.

“You will see more renewable power (from GMP),” Carlson said. “Right now we’re trying to figure out what the fit is.”

In contrast to Ranger’s mega-developments, some smaller community solar companies have been accused of marketing deceptions.

Last month, the Vermont attorney heneral’s office issued a warning and marketing guidelines to community companies like SunCommon and GMP. Those companies, according to Attorney General William Sorrell, inappropriately told customers their solar projects were generating renewable energy for their personal use when the RECs were actually being sold out of state.

“Public statements, including those on websites or in print material, that solar energy is ‘clean’ or ‘renewable’ can be deceptive if the RECs are sold and there is no adequate disclosure about it,” the guidelines state.

The warning says “deceptive statements about the renewable attributes of a solar project where the RECs are sold would violate the Vermont Consumer Protection Act … Violations of the Act are subject to injunctive relief and civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation.”

Jones said, “It’s like trying to sell someone organic vegetables that have been sprayed with pesticides.”

He said Rutland’s mission to become the nation’s “solar capital” might have unintended consequences.

Instead of Vermonters gaining access to clean energy, Jones said, Vermonters are being tapped to generate clean energy for sale elsewhere.

“Rutland might be the capital — as far as housing solar,” he said.

dan.colton @rutlandherald.com

Report: Ranger projects won"t aid Vt. energy goals

UC Merced Professors Gasification Projects in North Fork and Biochar Products Could Benefit the ...

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Last Updated: Tuesday, 17 November 2015 05:53

November 16, 2015 – By Lorena Anderson, University Communications – Two overlapping research projects involving UC Merced professors could have big implications for the region’s economy and effects on renewable energy, water and wildfires. Professor Gerardo Diaz, with the School of Engineering, received nearly $900,000 through two grants: one from the California Energy Commission for the analysis and optimization of a 1-megawatt biomass gasification plant in North Fork, and the other from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study a gasification byproduct for use in agriculture and air and water filtration.

(From left to right) Professor YangQuan Chen, Professor Gerardo Diaz, Phoenix Energy CEO and UC Merced Trustee Gregory Stangl and Phoenix Energy plant Manager Todd Machado are working on biochar projects together.

Diaz and a group of industry experts are working on a new gasification plant in North Fork, a little town in the foothills between Merced and Fresno. It’s a $5 million project that aims to take biomass from nearby Sierra forests and, using a gasifier, turn the dead material into energy.

Diaz, who has years of experience with gasification, is helping make sure the plant runs as efficiently as possible and, using an array of diagnostic equipment and tools, will evaluate the plant’s performance and the gas that’s produced.

Gasification is a thermo-chemical conversion process that essentially “cooks” biomass in an oxygen-starved environment. Without sufficient oxygen, the material does not burn, but gives off a hydrogen-rich gas, while the biomass converted into solid carbon. The “syngas” given off in the process is cooled and cleaned, and can be used as a substitute natural gas to create electricity or liquid fuels.

“There’s a lot of biomass out there now, especially because of the drought and climate change,” Diaz said. “This gasification plant will cut down on the financial and environmental costs of transporting material that is removed, help with forest management and restoration plans, reduce the amount of fuel for wildfires, and create jobs and ancillary services in the region.

“Part of what is so exciting about the project is the collaborative effort,” he said. “No single entity could do this alone, but we have a group with people from the industry, from academia, biomass managers — all experts in different areas.”

Gasifying biomass achieves several goals:

• It is a cleaner way of producing renewable energy — gasification plants are considered carbon-negative because they produce solid carbon instead of CO2.


• It rids forests and fields of materials that would otherwise rot and produce methane or help fuel wildfires. Wildfires regularly threaten lives and property, cost untold millions to control and clean up, and greatly contribute to poor air quality and climate change.


• It produces biochar, a soil amendment that helps increase crop yield, refreshes worn out soils, retains soil moisture, reduces the need for fertilizers and sequesters carbon that would otherwise be emitted as greenhouse gases.

The biochar is where the two UC Merced projects overlap. Diaz and his co-principal investigator, Professor YangQuan Chen, are working with partner Phoenix Energy on yet another use for the byproduct — as activated carbon for water and air filtration systems.

“Our biochar co-product is almost as valuable as the energy we produce,” said Greg Stangl, CEO of Phoenix, a Merced-based renewable-energy company and longtime UC Merced partner.

Most of his company’s demands for biochar as an agricultural product come from outside the state, but Stangl, Diaz and Chen aim to change that. Diaz and Chen said the demand will grow when incentives for water-efficient agriculture are implemented in California.

Right now, though, they want to take the gasification leftovers and make activated carbon. Nationally, public utilities and industry spend about $2 billion a year on activated carbon, mostly from Asian coconut shells or coal-based carbon.

Diaz, Chen and Phoenix received more than $300,000 from the USDA to find the right way to activate the carbon.

“Carbon activation is almost as much an art as a science,” Stangl said. “You have to engineer the microscopic pores in the carbon so they trap the particular molecules you want them to filter out.”

In homes, activated carbon is used in water filters such as pitchers or sink-enhancements, and also in fish tank filters, air purifiers, home air filters and many other applications. Industrially, it’s used by local water treatment districts for water cleanup and for removing foul odors from the air.

Phoenix has the gasification plants, and Diaz has the expertise. Chen is an expert in precision controls, and will help optimize the reactor that performs the biochar activation process using steam and heat.

“We have a research enterprise based around biochar, but it’s not just the research,” Chen said. “This has a potentially huge benefit for California. This could be critical to the sustainability of the Central Valley.”

Stangl said this project has many layers, including reducing dependence on imported activated carbon, creating jobs to boost the area’s economy and helping the environment, including the creation of renewable energy.

“That’s why this partnership with UC Merced makes so much sense,” he said.
Source: UC Merced

UC Merced Professors Gasification Projects in North Fork and Biochar Products Could Benefit the ...

Green energy projects addressed in Herkimer County.

Several green energy projects are moving along in Herkimer County.

At Wednesday’s meeting of the county Industrial Development Agency, the statuses of a few projects currently underway were discussed.

* A hydropower project with ECOsponsible, a nonprofit organization based in Buffalo, was given the OK to move forward by the IDA last month. Following a public hearing in the town of Herkimer Wednesday, the project now is able to continue.

The project entails replacing four old underwater turbines in the West Canada Creek with three new ones. Because part of the project lies within the town of Herkimer, and benefits from the project are estimated around $100,000, a public hearing needed to take place.

* A second project involving solar power also is moving along.

The project with SolarCity, which entails installing two solar arrays on 10 acres of county owned land on Herkimer County Community College’s campus, is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The company soon will meet with the IDA to discuss the structure of the agreement, such as its exemption from county real property taxes for a 20-year period.

In other news:

* The IDA is considering whether to be a sponsor of the B2B program for 2016 for the third year in a row. The cost is $2,500 and a decision was deferred to the next meeting so the IDA can examine the budget beforehand.

* The IDA also is considering whether to buy an ad for the 2016 Boilermaker at a cost of about $950. A decision was deferred to the next meeting to examine the budget.

The next meeting of the IDA will be at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 25.

Follow @OD_Landcastle on Twitter or call her at 792-5015.

Green energy projects addressed in Herkimer County.

Energy Projects in Nigeria, Cameroon Get $5m Funding

By Obinna Chima with agency report

Quaint Solar Energy from Nigeria and Flatbush Solar from Cameroon will soon see their renewable energy projects fired up by a total of $5-million (R62 million) in new funding as well as expert technical support.
Access Infra Africa announced yesterday that the two firms shared first prize in the inaugural Access Co-Development Fund (ACF) competition.

According to African News Agency (ANA), Access, a developer, owner and operator of power assets in Africa, launched the competition in April in a bid to bridge the gap between early-stage African renewable energy projects and the expertise and funding they require to become operational.
Quaint Solar Energy’s winning Abiba solar project is a 50mw solar development that will utilise photovoltaic technology to help bridge the country’s power deficit. The Maroua solar project won by Flatbush Solar in Cameroon is a 20mw solar plant designed to serve the energy needs of the city of Maroua and neighbouring towns and villages.

The ACF had received 55 submissions from 18 African countries – including Kenya, South Africa, Morocco, Ghana, Rwanda and Tanzania – covering a range of technologies including solar, wind, hydro, hybrid and bio-mass.
The winning projects were selected by an expert panel after a live session at the Africa Energy Forum 2015 in Dubai at the end of last week. They were chosen based on commercial, technical and environmental merits, the local regulatory environment and the project team.

Other shortlisted projects included a 20MW photovoltaic plant by Ada Solar Energy in Ghana and a 10MW solar plant by Wagonanze Investments in Tanzania.
Director at Quaint Solar Energy, Seun Solesi said: “We are delighted to partner with Access Infra Africa to develop the Abiba solar project in Nigeria. Their funding, technical support and guidance will undoubtedly play a key role in bringing the project to fruition and creating significant benefit for all our stakeholders.”

Also, Managing Director of Flatbush Solar, Samuel Tesfaye said: “We are pleased that Access Infra Africa recognises the importance of providing funding and technical expertise to early-stage projects within the renewable energy sector in Africa.”
Similarly, the chairman of Access Power MEA, Reda El Chaar said: “It is a fantastic opportunity to be able to partner with two projects that will undoubtedly have a positive social and economic impact in their respective regions, and we look forward to working closely with them as they progress towards becoming operational.”

Access will take an equity stake in Flatbush Solar and Quaint Solar Energy and fund third-party development costs such as feasibility studies, grid studies, environmental and social impact assessments and other due diligence fees. 

Energy Projects in Nigeria, Cameroon Get $5m Funding

Wind projects help environment, economy

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ARTICLE OPTIONS

Lewis County is the leader in wind energy in New York. Beginning with the 195-tower Maple Ridge Wind Farm commissioned in 2005, our community has been open for wind development. There are two new projects in process in Lewis County that would add 150 megawatts of renewable energy to New York state, enough to power an average of 50,000 homes. Our county, towns and school districts are active in the permitting process to make sure that tax agreements are in place to benefit the entire community.

The Maple Ridge Wind Farm has brought very significant economic benefits to Lewis County. The tax agreements have brought millions of dollars of revenue to four towns, three school districts and the county. The farm employs about 35 full-time staff and regularly brings contractors into the community. The initial construction period injected millions of dollars into local businesses for building supplies. And with hundreds of construction workers, thousands of additional dollars were spent at our local small businesses. The towns and school districts that are home to this project are economically healthy at a time when many small rural communities are not in that position. Wind power has helped our schools, our towns and our taxpayers.

Wind development didn’t come to Lewis County without state action. A statewide policy known as the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard, created in 2006, attracted wind companies by providing market demand for clean energy and enough certainty to get projects financed and built. This 10-year policy expires at the end of this year.

With new wind projects proposed for Lewis County, an effective RPS policy would continue to attract investment and create jobs in our county and state. Our county strongly supports these projects to create additional green energy. We welcome the opportunity to partner with well-sited wind projects in Lewis County. The beautiful Tug Hill Plateau is an area where agriculture is challenging and recreation and energy development have become the primary economic accelerators.

As the RPS comes to an end, so may these innovative, clean and profitable energy projects unless it is reauthorized. It is important to reinvest energy dollars into new, green energy projects. We believe Gov. Andrew Cuomo should strengthen and extend the RPS for New York because we know clean energy can be a solution that transforms our energy production and helps places like Lewis County.

Michael Tabolt

Lowville

The writer is chairman of the Lewis County Board of Legislators.

Wind projects help environment, economy

Sunny days: The world's biggest solar energy projects

Clean energy is hot.

A groundswell of support for rewnewable power has sprung up around the world over the past several years, with governments, utilities and corporations racing to deploy or purchase green electricity.

Solar power is among the technologies leading the energy market in new deployments. In the U.S. last year, 36% of all new electric capacity came from solar, and the cost to deploy it has dropped more than 63% since 2010. In many U.S. states and in nations around the world, it’s as cheap to use solar power as it is to buy electricity generated through coal-fired power plants.

Corporations are taking note. For example, Apple last month announced it would invest close to $1 billion in a solar power plant being built by First Solar in California; the move rocketed Apple past Walmart as the largest corporate user of solar power. Venture capitalists, too, are investing in renewables to the tune of $310 billion last year. Put simply, solar power is no longer just the bastion of crunchy granola types and companies hoping to improve their public image. 

The global installed capacity of solar electricity has increased six-fold between 2010 and 2013, from 23 gigawatts (1GW is a billion watts) to 180GW.

Utility-scale solar power plants are still larger than private installations, which typically offer far less cpacity. As adoption increases, governments and utilities are in a race to see who can build the largest plants the fastest. India is planning a series of solar parks that will produce 10,000MW of solar power, and both India and China plan on deploying 100GW of new solar power between now and 2022. 

Here are the world’s largest solar power plants, as well as a look at a few other projects that will top the list in coming years.

Sunny days: The world"s biggest solar energy projects

PG&E Commits $250000 for Solar Energy Projects by Local High Schools

SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) announced at today’s We Day California event a $250,000 sponsorship that will provide sustainable energy project opportunities for several local high schools. Students will build portable solar units, share their commitment to sustainability by participating in local projects and have a chance to make a global impact.

The solar suitcase is a small, portable photovoltaic lighting system, powerful enough to illuminate a small room. PG&E will provide 100 solar suitcase units to high schools throughout Northern and Central California, supplied by the nonprofit Green Tech. The schools who receive the solar suitcases will be trained by Green Tech on assembly of the portable kits and will learn firsthand the basic principles of clean energy technical education.

“PG&E is a champion of education, providing nearly $70 million to local schools throughout Northern and Central California over the last decade. By pairing that commitment with our focus on clean energy sources like solar, we can help educate students and inspire them to create lasting and sustainable action,” said Chris Johns, president of PG&E.

Encouraging students to “act locally and think globally,” PG&E’s program includes a local community service sustainable activity component as well as an international opportunity. Part of the program involves students’ participation in local sustainability projects of their own choosing, such as park cleanups, water and energy conservation teams, or community gardens.

“PG&E believes in a cleaner energy future that includes solar. Students like those invited to We Day California—who are already deeply invested in improving their local communities—are exactly the type of young leaders who will drive a clean, sustainable energy future. These passionate young Californians are on a profound path to forever change the lives of others in their local communities and around the world. We’re excited to share the potential of solar with them,” said Helen Burt, senior vice president of corporate affairs for PG&E.

Participating students can submit videos of their own local sustainability project success stories to earn a chance to be one of four participants selected for a humanitarian solar suitcase delivery mission to orphanages, schools and medical clinics in Kenya with international charity Free the Children. This unique global opportunity for local high school students adds a new dimension to PG&E’s commitment to education and renewable energy.

To learn more about solar suitcases, visit PG&E Currents at http://www.pge.com/solarsuitcase.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), and the PG&E Corporation Foundation strive to power strong communities throughout Northern and Central California. In 2013, PG&E contributed more than $23 million to more than 1,300 charitable organizations, including matching the generosity of employees who donated more than $7.3 million and volunteered more than 75,000 hours to company-supported events. Community investments are funded entirely by the company’s shareholders. For more information, visit www.pge.com/community

PG&E Commits $250000 for Solar Energy Projects by Local High Schools

New and renewable energy ministry takes cue from PM Narendra Modi, starts work on solar projects

NEW DELHI: Installing solar panels on the Pakistan border, using super-chilled LNG to build cold storage and warehousing facilities, and putting barcodes to stop illegal use of subsidised cooking gas — the Modi mantra is making its presence felt in the energy domain and forcing officials to sit up and think out of the box.

Officials say that during discussions about seemingly routine and uninspiring energy issues, Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes up with unusual ideas, which soon become tightly monitored instructions. The Cabinet Secretariat maintains a log of efforts made by departments responsible for implementing these ideas, sources said.

The PM’s vision is to harness cold temperatures at LNG terminals where gas in liquid form – at 160 degrees Celsius below freezing point – lands from cryogenic ships. At an LNG terminal, the super-cool liquid is gradually warmed up and gasified again in a process that can cool surrounding areas.

“There is reasonable potential of using this low temperature to generate liquid industrial gas such as nitrogen, oxygen and argon. Integrated cold-storages do exist adjacent to such terminals in China and Japan,” a source said.

The Prime Minister’s Office has shown keen interest in renewable energy, officials said. Modi recently advised the ministry of new and renewable energy to explore using barren land close to the country’s borders to generate solar energy. Solar projects need a lot of land, which is scarce and costly outside arid regions such as the Rajasthan desert and the uninhabited border regions, where electricity supply is a problem.

As per the PM’s direction, we’re soon going to put up two pilot projects of 5 MW each in Gujarat and Rajasthan on separate areas of 25 acres. Indo-Pak border is what we’ll begin with as a lot of land is barren and available in the Rann of Kutch,” a source at MNRE said.

The PM is keen on reducing the oil subsidy burden on both the exchequer and state oil firms. While the finance minister recently hinted at denying subsidised cooking gas to the rich and affluent, under the direction of the PM, oil companies are trying to recover every drop of LPG left in more than 15 crore cylinders after they are used.

Modi’s focus is also on reducing India’s petroleum import bill, which was over $155 billion last year, by raising domestic output with the use of new technology. As a result, state explorers Oil & Natural Gas Corporation and Oil India plan to revisit areas where success could not be achieved during earlier exploration campaigns. These areas include Upper Assam Belt, Naga Fold Thrust and the Himalayan region. Reviews using the latest Canadian technology have resulted in an oil and gas prospect in Jwalamukhi area of the Himalayan thrust fold belt, an industry source said.

Similar prospects were reported from Geleki, Cachar and Mizoram, the source said. Officials said the proposal to use the low temperature of LNG for refrigeration has enormous potential. India already has four operational terminals at Dahej, Hazira, Dhabol and Kochi, totaling over 22 million tonnes per annum capacity. Terminals are coming up in Gangavaram and Kakinada.

New and renewable energy ministry takes cue from PM Narendra Modi, starts work on solar projects

DIY Projects for the Self-Sufficient Homeowner: 25 Ways to Build a Self-Reliant Lifestyle

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DIY Projects for the Self-Sufficient Homeowner: 25 Ways to Build a Self-Reliant Lifestyle

Wind-energy projects must nagivate rules to protect birds

An environmental group says it intends to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over new rules that allow longer periods of protection for wind-energy developers against the costs of bird deaths caused by turbines. South Dakota wind producers say the location of turbines here poses little danger to birds such as eagles. (Photo: Argus Leader file photo )

A national bird conservation group has signaled its intent to sue the federal government over new rules that give legal immunity to wind farms that unintentionally kill protected bald and golden eagles.

The American Bird Conservancy notified the U.S. Department of Interior last month that it will take legal action in response to the new rules that went into effect in January. They allow wind farms to obtain voluntary 30-year “take” permits, which protect them against prosecution for accidental eagle deaths. Previously, wind companies had been allowed to seek five-year permits.

The wind industry has praised the change for offering much needed, long-term certainty on what had been a legal gray area, while some conservation groups have called the permits a license to kill. Ultimately, the legal fight might not have great consequences for South Dakota, where there’s little evidence indicating the state’s wind farms are causing eagle fatalities.

South Dakota Public Utilities Commission Chairman Gary Hanson said while high numbers of reported golden eagle deaths are reported in wind-farm accidents in California and Montana, “there really haven’t been many reported at all in South Dakota. I don’t know if there will be much effect here.”

Joe Sullivan, regional policy manager for Wind on the Wires, a wind industry advocacy group, said overall that about 2 percent of golden eagle mortality is attributed to wind farms. Echoing Hanson, he also said South Dakota’s wind farms are not in areas commonly used by golden and bald eagles.

Paul Bachman, executive director of the South Dakota Wind Energy Association, said the longer permits reflect the reality of financing wind projects.

“It’s almost necessary,” he said. “No bank is going to put up financing unless you have the ability to control your costs. You need to know what your costs are going to be throughout the lifetime of a project.”

Other protections

In an announcement of the regulatory change in the Federal Register in April 2013, U.S. Fish and Widlife proposed to safeguard eagles despite issuing 30-year permits by forcing energy companies to commit up front to taking steps necessary to protect the birds.

“We intend to incorporate into the terms and conditions of the permit a commitment from the applicant to implement additional specified mitigation measures that would be triggered if new scientific information demonstrates that the additional mitigation measures are necessary for the preservation of eagles,” the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service wrote. “These additional specified mitigation measures could be described in detail in the permit so as to reduce uncertainty with respect to costs.”

Good luck with that, said Michael Hutchins. He’s the national coordinator of ABC’s Bird Smart Wind Energy Campaign.

“The methods to mitigate the impact of wind turbines on birds and bats are highly untested,” he said. Of the permit change, he said: “Basically, this is a big experiment with our public resources in the balance.”

ABC has other concerns. Because wind-energy companies self-report bird fatalities, the veracity of those numbers is difficult to verify, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife maintains the information as proprietary. Such lack of transparency makes it difficult to get a true fix on bird and bat deaths caused by wind-energy projects, Hutchins said.

“Birds and bats are a public trust resource,” he said. “he public has a right to know how many are being killed. We can’t find out. Nobody will tell us.”

Estimates range as high as 880,000, Hutchins said. The number of deaths related to wind farms might seem insignificant when compared with U.S. Fish and Wildlife estimates of other sources of bird mortality. Collisions with buildings might kill 97 million to 976 million birds annually, and collisions with vehicles 60 million, according to the federal agency. As many as 72 million birds might die of pesticide and other poisoning annually, and cats are fierce predators of songbirds, killing an estimated 39 million birds annually in Wisconsin alone, according to one study.

Hutchins counters that number of birds killed by wind farms “is not trivial,” especially in light of all the other dangers birds face. “The impacts are cumulative. Altogether, they are really hammering the native bird populations,” he said.

ABC strongly supports wind energy, Hutchins said. But it must be adequately regulated and fit within a larger philosophy of reducing the world’s dependence on petroleum, coal and natural gas.

“Wind and solar both can be quite destructive if they’re poorly sited and poorly managed,” he said. Such projects need to stay away from critical bird and bat habitat. In addition, renewable energy development must be accompanied by a corresponding reduction in fossil fuel plants. “It’s not happening,” Hutchins said.

A robust application of the federal Endangered Species Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act ideally should be part of a series of comprehensive federal and state guidelines for permitting wind-energy development, Hutchins said.

“Now, it’s a free-for-all out there,” he said. “There’s stuff going up everywhere.”

Hanson said the PUC in South Dakota takes wind-energy permitting decisions seriously, and it doesn’t need a heavy overlay of federal regulations. He does, however, argue that 30-year permits should be reviewed at five-year intervals.

“Thirty years is too long to extend a permit without having a review,” Hanson said.

He is not troubled by the lack of a requirement for independent reporting of bird and bat deaths.

“It’s not something someone could hide very long unless they are out there picking up dead birds. … I don’t think we need a government bureaucracy checking on that.”

Whooping cranes

But while eagles might not be in great jeopardy from wind power development in South Dakota, Hanson is concerned about endangered whooping cranes.

“There are fewer than 500 whooping cranes. The flyway for whooping cranes is right down the corridor of the best locations for wind turbines. I am very concerned with the whooping crane population,” he said.

While the cranes tend to be high flyers when they migrate, they could be at risk from wind turbines during takeoffs and landings into wind farms at dawn, dusk and at night. Hanson said if the federal government were to require wind turbines to shut down during whooping crane migrations it would make “great sense.”

Again, federal intervention might be unnecessary, claims a wind industry advocate. Wind on the Wires’ Sullivan said he knows of one planned South Dakota wind-power development abandoned because it would have conflicted with whooping cranes. This is typical of developers’ reluctance to court environmental problems when siting new wind farms, he said.

South Dakota has enough wind to potentially generate 900,000 megawatts of wind energy.

“When you’ve got that much developable wind, why waste time on a 200-megawatt chunk that has got all those problems associated with it?” Sullivan said. “There is so much low-hanging fruit out there.”

Ironically, might the ABC lawsuit make South Dakota more attractive to wind-energy developers?

Competition is fierce among states to site new wind farms, and South Dakota’s tax structure puts it at a disadvantage, Bachman said. But if the ABC lawsuit forces the federal government to more aggressively protect eagles from wind turbines, would developers look more favorably on South Dakota where eagle mortality from wind farms so far doesn’t seem to be a big problem?

“That’s an interesting question,” Bachman said. “I’m afraid I don’t know the answer. It seems logical, but there’s no way to predict that.”

Migratory bird mortality

Many human-caused threats affect bird populations

number of birds killed

each year by wind turbines

killed by oil and wastewater pits

killed by communication towers

60 million

killed by cars

72 million

killed by pesticides

97 million

killed by windows

174 million

killed by power lines

39 million

killed by domestic cats,

in Wisconsin alone

Sources: Associated Press,

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Wind-energy projects must nagivate rules to protect birds

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