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Archive for the ‘Renewables’ Category

Department of Energy launches initiative to bring down solar energy costs

Posted in Renewables, solar, tagged , , , on March 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced $27 million in projects to advance solar development and manufacturing through its SunShot Initiative whose goal is to achieve cost competitive solar energy by 2020. The hope is that the SunShot initiative can reduce the total costs of photovoltaic solar energy systems by about 75 percent so that they are [...]

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Energy self sufficiency vs. HOA control

Posted in Efficiency, Energy, Renewables, solar, tagged , , on March 4, 2011 | 1 Comment »

Several bills filed this session, which included some heard at Wednesday’s hearing of the Senate Intergovernmental Relations Committee would preclude homeowners’ associations from restricting installation of solar energy devices.  These are: Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas) – SB 238 Sen. Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio) – SB 302 Sen. Mike Jackson (R-La Porte) – SB 447 (identical [...]

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France reports incidents at 8 nuclear plants

Posted in Energy, Nuclear, Renewables, tagged , , , , on February 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

According to the Associated Press, France, the most nuclear-dependent country in the world, with over 75 percent of its electricity coming from nuclear reactors, recently reported incidents at 8 of their 59 reactor units. French authorities say they are having to replace faulty metal bearings in the emergency power systems of eight nuclear plants due [...]

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Southern California utility buys 20 years of solar power for less than natural gas

Posted in Renewables, solar, tagged , , , on February 16, 2011 | 1 Comment »

A California utility, Southern California Edison, has selected 250 MW worth of solar bids from companies able to produce solar electricity for 20 years for less money annually than the 20 year levelized cost of combined-cycle natural gas turbine power plant energy. The utilities bidding process for smaller renewable projects is a smart move. These small [...]

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Opinion: Combs’ wind energy report lacking facts

Posted in Global Warming, Renewables, tagged , , , , on February 14, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Paul Sadler is the executive director of the Wind Coalition, and a former Texas state legislator.  He responds to the recent comptroller report which he believes did not accurately represent the job creation potential of wind energy.  If we are to believe a recent report from the comptroller’s office (“An Analysis of Texas Economic Development [...]

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Who didn’t contribute to yesterday’s rolling blackouts?

Posted in Renewables, tagged , , , , , , on February 3, 2011 | 2 Comments »

Yesterday, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said cold weather had knocked out about 50 of the 550 power plants in Texas, totaling 8,000 megawatts.  We can’t tell you which plants were down because that information is considered “confidential under market rules.”  According to ERCOT’s website, its market rules “are developed by participants from all aspects of [...]

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Wind still making in roads into the Texas energy portfolio

Posted in Renewables, tagged , , , on January 26, 2011 | 3 Comments »

When Texans turn on their lights, run their air conditioning, charge thier cell phones or even plug in their plug-in hybrid cars, they are getting an increasing amount of power from the wind.  Figures released by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the pseudo state agency that regulates the Texas electric grid, earlier this month [...]

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TPPF Energy Report Shows Lack of Vision

Posted in Coal, Energy, Global Warming, Nuclear, Renewables, solar, Texas Legislature, tagged , , , , on January 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

Keynote’s promotion of coal leans heavily on unrealistic view of the Texas energy market In a forum held last Thursday the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) unveiled a report that attempts to sway the debate about Texas energy policy off its current trajectory – namely ideas put forward by high-profile Republicans officials like Lt. [...]

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Texas Hill Country CREZ (Transmission line) Project Approved

Posted in Energy, Global Warming, Renewables, tagged , , , , , on January 23, 2011 | 1 Comment »

The Public Utility Commission passed a scaled-back version of a controversial power line project through the Hill Country to bring West Texas wind energy to the urban centers on Thursday, January 20th.  The commission was under a Monday deadline to act on the project. The three-member panel spent much of that morning tweaking the routes of [...]

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San Antonio Tying Renewable Energy to the Growth of Their Economy

Posted in Energy, green jobs, Renewables, solar, tagged , , , , , , on January 19, 2011 | 1 Comment »

CPS Energy CEO Doyle Beneby announced that the utility will acquire an additional 50 megawatts of solar power and that the company chosen to build the new plants for it will be required to locate a portion of its business in San Antonio.  Currently the negotiations include a leading solar manufacturer to locate a small office [...]

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New solar farm ground breaking in Pflugerville.

Posted in Energy, green jobs, Renewables, solar, tagged , , , , , , on December 16, 2010 | 1 Comment »

RRE Solar Austin held its groundbreaking ceremony in Pflugerville yesterday. This is the first utility scale solar farm, and one of the largest photovoltaic projects in the country, to be built by the company and the first to break ground in the Austin area. Planned to produce 60Mw of solar energy when completed it will [...]

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Don’t forget to pre-register for the 3rd Annual Austin Green Holiday Party

Posted in Consumers, Energy, Global Warming, green jobs, recycling, Renewables, solar, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

If you haven’t already pre-registered to celebrate the holidays at the 3rd Annual Austin Green Holiday Party, do so soon.  It is coming up soon and this year it is hosted by 10 great organizations. Fiesta Gardens  (2100 Jesse E. Segovia St., Austin, TX 78702) Thursday, December 16th, 2010 from 5:30pm-9:30pm Registration:  Pre-Registration ONLY for this Event (No Cash [...]

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ERCOT Launched the first phase of NODAL

Posted in Energy, Renewables, tagged , , on December 2, 2010 | 2 Comments »

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas ran its “one day-ahead market” under the new nodal configuration yesterday and say that, as of last night, the old zonal market has been laid to rest forever. Nodal is a market redesign and technology upgrade designed to enable location-specific pricing at more than 4,000 nodes instead of the [...]

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BP Forecasts Solar Power Cost to Equal Fossil Fuel Expense Within Decade

Posted in Energy, Renewables, solar, tagged , , on November 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

According to the British energy giant BP, the cost of generating power by capturing the sun’s energy will fall about 10 percent a year in the next decade until it equals the expense of producing electricity by burning fossil fuels. As conventional fuel prices rise and solar power falls, generation costs may reach parity in [...]

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Solar incentive funds in the Oncore area or Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

Posted in Renewables, solar, tagged , , , , , , , on November 19, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

For the last few months people who wanted to install solar systems in the Oncore service area have been disappointed as they have been told that the incentive funds are all reserved. It turns out there is another pool of funds available that has been harder to find. The Oncore website lists all the solar [...]

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