How Do We Figure This Smart Grid Out? Introducing CADER: Communities for Advanced Distributed Energy Resources

My, but we learn so slow,

And heroes, they come and they go

And leave us behind,

As though we’re supposed to know

        ~ Joe Walsh, The Eagles, Pretty Maids All in a Row

The recent coal mine collapse and the gulf oil spill has caused the blogoshere to once again heat up with debates about clean energy versus the fossil fuel stuff.  Scientists are saying that the Deepwater Oil Disaster could be more than 10 times worse than initial estimates — and the well could keep spewing oil into the Gulf for months before the oil companies figure out how to stop it. Meanwhile, some elected officials who insisted all along that offshore drilling was safe are trying to tell us that we just need better “backup blowout preventers” on offshore oil rigs. Glenn Beck continues to compare Global Warming to Nazi propoganda, but as Lewis Black points out so humorously, Glenn Beck has “Nazi Tourette’s” (you’ve got to see the video ~ I had tears in my eyes laughing so hard). On the other side, I just read a great blog today written by Green Builder Media’s Ron Jones. It’s titled Hostage Situation and makes many great points. This point stood out for me:

“Why is it so difficult to get people to admit that we not only have the ability to make intelligent decisions and effect positive change in the way we conduct our lives, but that it is our moral obligation to do so? We know how to reduce the environmental impacts of our industries, our transportation, and our built environment. We are not forced to continue to pass the poison for the sake of profit.”

Getting off the poison and embracing the light, as I’ve written in earlier blogs and articles, is not a simple matter. In fact, it will take the coordination and cooperation of many disciplines to achieve the morally imperative change. At the end of last month we were very fortunate to attend the CADER Conference 2010 at the University of California at San Diego. The venue was spectacular, on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. The gathering was even better. Attending were representatives of the California utilities, the Department of Energy, major universities, non-profit advocacy organizations, large and small manufacturers, green builders and green designers, among others.

Over the three-day conference there were several threads or themes that emerged. I will blog about them in the weeks and months to come. Most importantly, it is clear that to get from where we are to where we need to be it will take a cooperative effort by the broad range of disciplines representated at CADER 2010. In fact, I got a chuckle recently when someone made me aware of an article in Smart Grid News about the Smart Grid’s Most Powerful Men. More likely, an earlier Smart Grid News article on The Networked Grid 100: Movers and Shakers of the Smart Grid probably better captures the essence of our challenge. Many attending the CADER 2010 event were not on this list and clearly should be.

And what does all of this mean to the Solar Tribe? Jigar Shah, CEO of The Carbon War Room, founder of SunEdison, and brilliant futurist, put it very well in a recent email:  

I think there needs to be a pivot by the solar industry away from solar advocacy towards Distributed Generation (DG) advocacy. This includes DG (solar, CHP, wind, small hydro, geothermal, etc) and, more importantly, aggressive electrical engineering (EE,) targeted storage, and smart grid.

Bringing together stakeholders in these various disiplines is the only way to sort out obstacles and opportunities. As we look around, we can find an unbelievable number of conferences and seminars on Smart Grid. Many organizations are creating forums for wide discussion and debate about where to go with with DG, EE and targeted storage. A quick search of the Internet identified the following gatherings in the very near future:

Two Day Smart Grid Conference in Palm Springs, California May 18-19, 2010

Community Energy Roadmap Summit and Workshop Bellevue, Washington June 2-3, 2010

Smart Grid Technology Conference & Expo 2010, San Diego CA, June 2-3, 2010

Smart Grids – China 2010, Shanghai China , June 8-11, 2010

Smart Grid Interoperability Summit, Toronto Ontario, June 15-16, 2010

…and that’s just the next thirty days. In addition, these organizations exist for the purpose of advocating for distributed energy development:

World Alliance for Decentralized Energy (WADE)

California Energy Commission’s Distributed Energy Resources Guide

Distributed Energy – A Journal of Energy Efficiency & Reliability

Galvin Electricity Initiative

There are many more I have not listed. Several blog installments can written on each of these organizations and others. They are necessary for the smart grid dialogues to take place.

So why does CADER have the opportunity to be different from these other conferences and organizations? It’s really quite simple and something of which I had not  been previously aware. Communities, or microgrids, are natural innovation zones. They provide opportunities to perfect Smart Grid technologoes because communities have experimentation scalability. These microgrids also provide flexibility. At the community level, utilities can create partnerships with universities, as well as small and large businesses. At the community level, potentially contentious stakeholders are more likely to come together in cooperative efforts to jointly find solutions to the many technical challenges involved in creating a distributed energy smart grid. Perhaps most importantly, at the community level stakeholders can afford the trial-and-error required to acheive optimum cost reduction, without wide-scale public opinion slowing down or halting progress.

CADER is all about taking a community approach to advanced distributed energy. From the beginning to the end of the 2010 conference, attendees heard about progress being made at the microgrid level from a broad range of community spokesmen. We heard different perspectives to common challenges shared by stakeholders. We heard from community leaders in the city of Chula Vista about the real world challenges and accomplishments for turning a decent-sized community green. We heard from representatives of the University of California – Davis about their development of a net zero community. We heard about the development of microgrids in India, Borrego Springs CA, and Canada. All with different challenges and points of view. We heard from Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E), Sacramento Metropolitan District (SMUD)  about the utilities community plans and actions. We heard from the current and former commissioners of the California Energy Commission, as well as the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), the Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) Coalition and World Alliance for Distributed Energy (WADE). We heard panels talk about the critical role that water is playing and will continue to play in the energy-water nexus. We took a tour of UCSDs 30MW microgrid.

I’ll cover all of these and more in upcoming blogs and articles. In the meantime, you can find many of the CADER presenters’ powerpoint presentations here. This is important and relevant to all of us, especially the solar tribe. We need more of this. In the past, the CADER Conference has been held bi-annually. Hopefully, it will shift to an annual event and broaden both its attendee base, as well as its media coverage.

What the BP Gulf Oil Spill Means to BP Solar

[THIS BLOG WAS UPDATED ON JUNE 16, 2010 - Please click this link for access]

The recent Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico left eleven dead and wide ranging debate about the future of offshore drilling. Clearly the full extend of damages has yet to be assessed and BP has agreed to pay the costs of the leak catastrophe, but ironically, one of the interesting questions coming out of this mess is what will become of BP Solar?

While BP Solar has been one of the major players in the photovoltaic solar panel industry over the past several years, rumors have been flying around the past couple of years that BP would be exiting the solar space. All along BP has held steadfast to its commitment to BP Solar, even while cutting 600 jobs last year. So, how will negative publicity affect BP Solar strategic partner relationships? BP Solar’s relationship with Home Depot comes to mind, as an example. BP Solar panels are the only solar panels currently offered to Home Depot customers. How will consumers react to the negative BP publicity? How much will BP Solar sales take a hit? Will it matter anyway, in the midst of a slump in retail traffic?

On the other, if BP remains committed to solar, does BP Solar represent a public relations opportunity to put a more positive face on who they are and where they are going? They are, after all, the only Big Oil company in the PV market. They have been and continue to be a major sponsor for the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) and the Solar Power International trade shows.

Installers that I have been speaking with are concerned. Many are taking a wait-and-see attitude, buying panels from other manufacturers while they wait. What is the extent of brand damage and will it be overcomable? And if the rumors of the past about BP getting out of the solar business had no real basis in truth, will the oil spill push the old rumor into the reality category? It’s ironic that the only Big Oil company actively participating in the PV solar arena, is the one who caused unimaginable damage from the “Drill-Baby-Drill” side of its business. It’s ironic that the a catastrophe involving the energy of the past could have such a negative effect on the energy of the future, but such is life when your corporate name is really British Petroleum.

Here’s to hoping that, in the end, BP Solar, Home Depot, BP solar’s partners and installers all overcome this unfortunate setback.

The Solar Revolution

Recently, I read Senator Bernie Sanders’ blog entitled It’s Time for a Solar Revolution. He writes about how he and 10 of his colleagues (Senators Whitehouse, Cardin, Gillibrand, Merkley, Lautenberg, Leahy, Boxer, Menendez, Specter, and Harkin) are introducing the Ten Million Solar Roofs Act. The bill calls for 10 million new solar rooftop systems and 200,000 new solar water heating systems over the next 10 years. The idea is a knock-off of the “million roofs” program in California. Essentially the plan is to create 30,000 megawatts of solar power in ten years by offering consumer rebates for the purchase and installation of solar systems. So far the California program is on track to create 3,000 megawatts of solar power by 2016. What makes Senator Bernie’s bill different is that it is a Federal bill that supplements and complements state and local solar efforts. The idea is a good one, using a distributive approach, however the bill is but a small step in creating a full-scale solar revolution, but it is certainly an important one.

Jeff Wolfe groSolar CEO

Ten million roofs is certainly a great start for a solar revolution, but it reflects limited thinking. My friend Jeff Wolfe, the founder of groSolar, made a presentation over a year ago entitled Thinking as Big as Oil. Jeff pointed out that as strong as growth has been for the solar industry, the entire industry’s revenues equal less than two days of ExxonMobil’s revenues. We have a long way to go to be as “Big as Oil.” Jeff gave several examples of where the solar industry was, perhaps, limiting itself in its goals and vision. And then he made a statement that should resonate with every member of the solar tribe: “I, for one, am not in this game to play; I’m in it to win ‐‐ to accomplish our mission for our company, for our country, and for our planet.”

Rhone Resch SEIA CEO

Thinking as Big as Oil is certainly worthy of being called a Solar Revolution, but a revolution needs many, many passionate people with a shared conviction. Al Gore likes to talk about political will being the only thing missing, but more importantly that political will is a renewable resource. Unfortunately, the obstacles in this arena are as big as Oil. Obstacles mean opportunities. These obstacle/opportunities lie in the areas of technology, politics and basic human behavior and create exciting potential for history-changing achievements. The next step in building and advancing our movement, it seems to me is about increasing the general awareness. The ARRA program certainly is helping. Rhone Resch’s declaration of a Solar Bill of Rights is another step.

There a few trail-blazing non-profit organization for us to get behind and support. I love Vote Solar. Their mission is “to bring solar energy into the mainstream.” I couldn’t have said it better myself and their every single action is doing exactly that. Vote Solar works at the state, federal and local level to implement programs and policies that allow strong  solar markets to grow — working to remove serious regulatory roadblocks impeding solar adoption — and pave the way for a transition to a renewable energy economy. SolarTech is a PV industry consortium focused on creating a Solar Center of Excellence in the Silicon Valley. Their goal is to identify and resolve the inefficiencies inherent in the delivery of solar PV systems. This last January Solartech hosted a Solar Leadership Summit to Address Solutions that Cut Procedural Red Tape by 75% and Reduce Costs for Solar Customers and followed that up by announcing the launch of a new, free resource for solar professionals called SolarHub. In Solar Nation’s own words, Solar Nation “is the place where solar citizens live “  and “where citizens rally and convince their leaders to make America a true solar power.” There are probably many more similar organizations that part of the solar revolution. If you know of some, please let us know in an email: info@whole-solar.com. And if you are not familiar with Vote Solar, Solartech and Solar Nation, please check them out and get involved.

A solar revolution starts with you and me. As I heard Buckminster Fuller say, “each one reach one; each one teach one.” To quote Vote Solar’s website: “The clock is ticking. Join the Team” or, perhaps a paraphrase is in order — Join the Solar Revolution.

The Solar Bill of Rights

On October 27 through 29, 2009, I attended the Solar Power International show. Wow, what a great three days. So many good things to cover in the next few blogs. Today, I want to share the Solar Bill of Rights which was presented by Rhone Resch, President and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). In a message of industry unity that was later complemented by calls for exerting political by New Mexico Govenor Richardson, Rhone laid out eight amendments of the Solar Bill of Rights and then stated, “We declare these rights not on behalf of our companies, but on behalf of our customers and our country. We seek no more than the freedom to compete on equal terms and no more than the liberty for consumers to choose the energy source they think best. These rights, like those on which country was founded, are a simple matter of common-sense. In fact, you might even call them ’self-evident.’ But that doesn’t mean they’re self-evident in the halls of power, especially when our opponents are pumping as much haze into the energy debate as they are into the environment.”

So here it is, in Rhone’s own words:

Solar Bill of Rights.

First Amendment: Americans have the right to put solar on their homes or businesses. Today’s systems beautify and add value to communities and homes, and yet antiquated rules prevent many homes and businesses from going solar. From restrictive covenants to onerous connection, permitting and inspection fees these rules create fundamental barriers to solar. Utilities should not be allowed to restrict green power with red tape.

Second Amendment: Americans have the right to connect their solar system to the grid with uniform national standards. This is as simple as creating a standard jack for telephones. Can you imagine buying a phone in Nevada and bringing it home to California and finding out it doesn’t fit into the wall jack? Other industries don’t stand for this and neither should we.

Third Amendment:  Consumers have the right to Net Meter and be compensated at the very least with full retail electricity rates. Call this solar’s eminent domain—utilities use the power we make, and we expect to be compensated at its actual value. This is not just the cost, but the true value of solar including our security benefits, peak power benefits and environmental benefits – as well as the true price for carbon.

Fourth Amendment: The Solar Power Industry has the right to a fair competitive environment. It’s the most basic right there is—equality under the law. Today, solar has anything but. And that’s not just an opinion, that’s a fact. From 2002 to 2008, federal subsidies for fossil fuels were $72 billion while solar received less than $1 billion. This is completely disconnected with the desires of the American people. Recent independent polling shows that 92% of the public supports greater use of solar. And yet taxpayers are forced to subsidize companies like ExxonMobil, companies that are the richest in the history of the world. It’s that simple—and that wrong. Subsidies aren’t the only issue of fairness, which leads me to number 5.

Fifth Amendment: We also have the right to equal access to public lands. Oil and natural gas companies are operating on 45 million acres of public lands. Today, solar companies have access to ZERO. America has the best solar resources in the world and we can’t harness the full potential of the sun without accessing our sun-baked lands of the West. Of course, there’s little point in collecting energy unless there’s a means of distributing it.

Sixth Amendment: We have the right to interconnect and build new transmission lines. Here, too, we seek no more than what other industries already have. The next great build out of our transmission lines must connect the vast solar resources in the southwest to the population centers across the United States.

Seventh Amendment: Americans must have the right to buy solar electricity from our utilities. Consumers have no choice but to buy power from utilities. Although recently some utilities have started to listen to the 92 percent of Americans who want them to prioritize a kilowatt of power drawn from the sun over any other energy source. We have a long way to go. Therefore, for any renewable portfolio standard to be effective, at either the federal or state level, it must contain a large carve out for all solar energy technologies.

Eighth Amendment: Consumers have the right, and should expect, the highest ethical treatment from the solar industry. From minimizing our impact on the environment to providing systems that work better than advertized to ensuring that we accurately communicate how incentives work for consumers, our industry must operate at a higher ethical standard than any other. We will not stand for those who cheat, lie and take advantage of the good name of solar energy.

We declare these rights not on behalf of our companies, but on behalf of our customers and our country. We seek no more than the freedom to compete on equal terms and no more than the liberty for consumers to choose the energy source they think best. These rights, like those on which country was founded, are a simple matter of common-sense. In fact, you might even call them “self-evident.”

But that doesn’t mean they’re self-evident in the halls of power, especially when our opponents are pumping as much haze into the energy debate as they are into the environment.

Neil Armstrong & the Moon-We’re Missing the Point

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of one of the most inspiring collective human achievements in history. It’s etched in our memories or, if we weren’t born yet, we all know the famous words behind this achievement: “Tranquility Base. The Eagle has landed,” and “That’s one small step for man…one giant leap for mankind.” More importantly, less than 10 years earlier, a President incredibly challenged our nation “to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.” At the time he uttered those words, there were so many reasons that it couldn’t be done. It was impossible, but yet he made the declaration, not because it would be easy, but because it was a challenge.

Duke Energy Model: It Makes Too Much Sense

We just got back from an RFP Conference with Southern California Edison, followed by the InterSolar trade show. Aside from keeping us busy, the two events were thought-provoking.

At the SCE RFP Conference, I learned a lot about the limitations that current transmission capacity has on expanding solar and wind power. SCE intends to purchase 250MW of renewable energy from private sources under PPA arrangements. one of the major criteria in awarding contracts will be interconnectivity. Much of their power grid is pretty close to being maximized. At the Intersolar show, we saw many, many German, Spain and China companies who are highly motivated to break into the U.S. solar market. One exhibitor had taped a handwritten sign that said “Solar Panels $1.50/Wp.” Although the name of the exhibitor did not sound like that of a solar company, it was an example of how competitive things are getting for the “have nots” in the industry.

All of this got me to thinking about the pilot rooftop program that Duke Energy announced several weeks ago, where they plan to rent rooftops of their customers and install PV solar modules, thereby creating a distributive solar energy capability. There are other utilities around the country who have announced similar programs. It makes a lot of sense. And while they’re at it, why not take advantage of potential new entrants into the U.S. market, thereby keeping the cost down?

There are very good companies, such as CEEG and Best Solar, offering top quality solar panels, offering insured warranties, who would make compelling bids to get their panels on the Duke Energy or other utility rooftops. And there are companies like WholeSolar, who could facilitate these types of deals and help to select qualified installers at the best prices to do the installations.

National Net Metering: Another Goal for the Tribe

A national net metering policy would make a lot of sense. It sets up the classic debate about Federal government versus state’s rights, but the quality of the environment is clearly a national, if not global issue that begs for a national net metering policy. In addition, any energy policy that moves us away from fossil fuel energy is really a national security issue. There are many issues, where I argue passionately for state’s and local community rights and against big government, but this is not one of them.

The net metering issue is really quite simple: just think of being able to turn your electricity meter backwards when your solar panels generate power. Why should anyone be afraid of this? Clean energy channeled into the grid, thereby reducing the demand for energy that comes from other sources. We’re worried that we’ll convert to solar too fast? Now wouldn’t that be a nice problem to have?

A national net metering policy would perhaps have the effect of further accelerating the development of a national (intra-national) and international smart grid. Admittedly, this will take time, but in theory a global smart grid will solve one of the largest problems facing the industry: wasted energy…energy generated but not used. Until we develop advanced energy storage technologies or a global smart grid, this will remain a large cost item to the utility industry.

Clearly there are many issues facing us as we all work to make solar power mainstream. National net metering is one of the vital issues. It is important that we keep talking and blogging about it. Let’s join together and keep the drums pounding.

Repower America – Independence Day

It seems like things have been so busy lately, running the business, networking and rallying the solar tribe to go into action, that I have not had time to write the next blog. I want to pass along the letter I received today from Al Gore:

Vote Solar: Leading the Solar Tribe

It’s time to change our culture, time to change our strategies, time to change our thinking about solar power. There are so many ways that we, as a culture, can change the way we think about solar power. In the weeks and months ahead, I hope to dive into as many new ideas as I can. Your feedback is very important. We are all in this together. The best thing that has happened in blogging about the solar tribe, is meeting new friends and colleagues who are each thinking along the same lines. Please feel free to shoot me your questions and ideas. My email is roy@whole-solar.com

In the last blog, I described the how Berkeley is leading the way in the municipal space, but there are other communities who are attempting to break new ground in this area. We can’t have a conversation about the emerging Solar Tribe efforts in the municipal space without talking about a non-profit organization known as the Vote Solar Initiative . Vote Solar’s website is a virtual hub of information about the status of these various municipal programs. Vote Solar’s mission is to stop global warming, foster economic development and increase energy independence by bringing solar energy into the mainstream. I couldn’t have said it better myself. Put in my own words, Vote Solar is part of our Solar Tribe, having earned one of the lead positions.

Working closely with other organizations, such as Solarnation, Vote Solar “is working at the state level to implement the necessary policies to build robust solar markets — and pave the way for a transition to a renewable energy economy.” In order to do this, they stay close to solar projects being developed and assist in identifying and removing roadblocks that stand in the way of the wide-scale adoption of solar energy.

Vote Solar has a great website, where you can become a member and financially support their vital work. One of the features of their site is that you can track the progress of various state and municipal solar projects. I’d like to briefly tell you about some of them.

There is no shortage of project in the San Francisco Bay area, In addition to Berkeley, Marin, San Francisco, Oakland and Richmond have all been getting in on the act and staking out success in their respective programs. Back 2001, San Francisco approved a $100 million bond initiative calling for the city to borrow money for solar panels and energy efficiency measures for public buildings. The money that would have gone to buy electricity from power plants instead goes to pay down the debt. Just last week, the City authorized a 10-year solar incentive program for city residents and businesses. Under the program, which is called GoSolarSF, the city offers incentives ranging from $3,000-6,000 for residential installations and up to $10,000 for commercial installations. Program funding is generated by revenues from public power generation sales. In Oakland, Vote Solar worked with the city council too prepare a request for proposal to purchase a megawatt of solar energy (Vote Solar has made available a lot of valuable resource material that other cities can use and not have to “reinvent the wheel”).

This last March, Richmond City Council voted unanimously to support a goal of developing 5 megawatts of solar photovoltaics on municipal, commercial and residential buildings by 2010. In Marin, city officials put solar panel systems on their own buildings and have identified local business owners with solar-friendly roof-space, and are educating them about the benefits of solar. And that’s just the Bay area!

San Diego, New Mexico, Hawaii and the California State university system each have initiatives calling for the installation of solar power. The point to all of this is that it is up to each one of us to become aware of the efforts and initiatives going on in our communities, use the resources available to the tribe and take the actions to push the progress forward. Solar makes sense in so many different ways and there is an army of us available to help in the push.