The utility planned (previous story) to build 300 MW of compressed-air energy storage that will enable Californians to get more clean power out of the wind energy that is currently on their grid, but goes to waste in the wee hours while they sleep. To make that change happen, night wind storage is key.

PG&E’s Jonathan Marshall told me “There have been times that wind turbines at Tehachapi have actually had to be turned off at night, because power going into the grid causes damage if it’s not used.”

If the tests of this technology pan out, then air in porous rock in Kern County will be able to store and release 300 megawatts of wind every night that would otherwise go to waste, for a total cost of $365 million.

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A contract has just been signed to deliver 600 gigawatthours a year of solar power between the US division of Spain’s giant Abengoa, and PG&E in California. Abengoa Solar hopes to succeed where BrightSource recently failed to overcome local NIMBY issues and Senator Feinstein, in its plan to site a 250 MW solar thermal plant in the made-for-solar Mojave Desert.

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The House Waxman-Markey bill has drawn criticism for being too friendly to utility companies, who would be handed a large percentage of the carbon credit allowances created. That criticism has come not only from environmental advocates who are concerned that free allowances will undermine the value of a cap, but also from other business interests who see the credits creating a potential windfall for utilities - especially those who already generate much of their power from cleaner fuels.

The Chamber’s opposition to Waxman-Markey is understandable when you consider that they represent a broad cross-section of business sectors, including many that did not fare as well in the negotiations as Waxman-Markey took shape. For their part, the Chamber has responded to the recent defections by noting that it only opposes the House bill itself, and is not opposed to the idea of climate-change legislation. According to their COO David Chavern, “Congress should do everything it can to promote and incentivize technology development and other policies that allow us to control carbon in ways that don’t trash the economy.” The fact that the Chamber’s site was unavailable on the morning of Exelon’s announcement indicates that the public may not be ready for so nuanced a position.

Might the departures be a harbinger of movement away from the Chamber across the entire utility sector? Or, should they be viewed as evidence of a fracture within the industry? Utilities that rely more heavily on coal and other dirty fuels share the Chamber’s concerns about cap-and-trade’s impact on the cost of their power. By contrast, PG&E, PNM, Exelon and others that are already invested heavily in cleaner fuels can afford to appear green. It may even be profitable.

The Chamber is in the news right now, but the place to watch as the Senate picks up debate of its own bill will be the utility trade group, Edison Electric Institute, which represents the investor-owned companies on both signs of the fuel type divide. EEI has already been engaging Senate leaders in a way that tries to split the difference for its membership: they are not running from Waxman-Markey, but they have some suggestions for improvement on the Senate side.

This dust-up may be all the more costly for utilities, their trade group and the Chamber if long-term discord is fomented for naught. The Senate will need 60 votes to get a bill. It will be tough to get there as Democrats hailing from industrial and agricultural states have the 1993 BTU Tax debacle in their memories and a 2010 election year in their sights. And, with political fallout that could be even more dramatic than the squabbles that are now unfolding in the business community, there may not be a Senate climate bill in 2009. Either way, the utility industry will be left to mend fences. The questions now are whose fences, and how many?

The CPUC has been supportive of the need to add storage, Marshall told me; so as to get more of the renewable energy that PG&E has contracted for onto the grid. Over 4 GW (4,000) of signed PG&E contracts for new renewable energy now awaits citizen review at the final local environmental permit stage.

To meet the California 2020 goal of 33% renewable energy, California will also need to build as much as 4 GW of storage - for both the renewable energy currently on the grid, and these new projects.

The Obama administration is strongly backing R&D and infrastructure grants for smart grids because energy storage is essential to renewable power (previous story: Why Wind Storage is Worth Trillions) Underground CAES is the simplest and (so far) the cheapest way to store renewable energy. Below are some of the other new renewable energy storage technologies being funded.

Image: ladylucente

Related renewable energy storage funding:
Storing Renewable Energy in Boxes of Air
Top ARPA-E Funding Goes to Renewable Storage in “Liquid Battery”
Metal-Air Battery With 11 Times the Energy at Half the Cost?

But BrightSource has been creative in finding sites for its utility-scale solar thermal plants. Here’s a new example.

They have just made a deal with Nevada housing developer Coyote Springs Land Company to site a 960 MW solar thermal plant on 12 square miles of a 43,000 acre housing development planned before the economic real estate apocalypse. Some solar was part of Coyote’s original plan for its golfing community 50 miles north of Las Vegas, but not 12 square miles of it!

Now with housing in free-fall, the expertize of housing developers comes in handy to help us meet the need for more renewable energy. Solar power developers could piggyback on the experience of housing developers with the know-how to get through red tape.

This could be how renewable power overcomes siting hurdles - and how the construction industry digs its way out of a deep recession. A marriage made in heaven.

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Last month the Chamber of Commerce called for a “trial” on climate science as a means to thwart efforts in Congress to pass climate legislation, stymie the EPA’s endangerment finding regarding CO2 emissions, and needlessly continue to sow discord and confusion over the issue. It is an extremist position with which PG&E apparently wants no association. On a company blog post yesterday entitled Irreconcilable Differences, their position was made clear.

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Since the Renewable Portfolio Standard began in 2002, the California Public Utilities Commission has now approved contracts for more than 8,600 megawatts of new renewable energy, nearly all of it solar, signed with the state’s largest utilities. Most of the state’s renewable energy already on the grid till now has been wind power.

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The utility needs a way to turn sometimes-too-much wind into anytime-always-there electricity.

The solution? Simple tech. Underground compressed air.

With compressed air energy storage; air is compressed and then pumped in natural underground reservoirs. The air is released later and converted into electricity. With enough storage, even fickle wind could actually supply base-load power.

So PG&E has applied for DOE smart grid stimulus funding under The Recovery Act; to build a compressed air energy storage project with output capacity of 300 megawatts. They are applying for $25 million.

By comparison, building a plant to burn fossil fuels would cost around $850 million for the same 300 megawatts of fossil energy.

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Editor’s Note: This is a guest contribution by Elaina Medina of Portland General Electric.

This week Portland General Electric welcomed news it was named a strategic participant and Oregon was named one of five test markets for the largest rollout of EVs and an associated charging station network in U.S. history.

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Editor’s Note: This is a guest contribution by Elaina Medina of Portland General Electric.

We are anticipating a large turnout at this year’s “EV Awareness Day” on Saturday, July 11, at Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland, Ore. Portland General Electric is proud to sponsor this annual event hosted by the Oregon Electric Vehicle Association.

The PGE team will be on hand to show off its new PGE plug-in hybrid electric vehicle and talk to attendees about our network of more than a dozen charging stations we are installing across the Portland-metro area and Salem.

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The prospect of green jobs has proven very attractive to Californian job seekers. According to a survey released this week by the Vote Solar Initiative, a solar advocacy group, more than 5,400 people are participating in solar job training programs this year in the state.

“It is clear that Californians of different economic and educational backgrounds are all looking to solar to provide much-needed career opportunities, and the state’s training institutions have stepped up to meet that rising demand,” said Claudia Eyzaguirre, the author of the report, in a press release.

But it’s not clear whether the state will have enough jobs to support these trainees. Part of that will depend on the kinds of jobs they are training for.

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Solaren hopes to begin launching before 2016. The satellites will deploy the solar panels so they dock automatically together in orbit, resulting in an orbital power plant weighing roughly 25 tons if back here on Earth.

The advantages of space solar power include:

• energy that can be harnessed at all times, even at night or when it’s cloudy.
• baseload power delivery that makes efficient electricity possible for meeting customer demand.
• an underlying technology that is mature since it is based on communications satellite technology.

Before all this happens however, PG&E needs approval from the California State Legislature, through the California Public Utilities Commission for this Solaren Space Based Energy Contract. Currently, Solaren is preparing to launch space rockets containing the solar panels and they have been working with United Launch Alliance (a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and The Boeing Company) on such launches.

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California utility PG&E has been a reluctant investor in renewable energy — until now. The utility announced yesterday a five-year plan to produce 500 MW of solar energy from a collection of midsize projects located in Northern and Central California. That’s enough power for 150,000 homes and 1.3 percent of PG&E’s electrical demands.. The solar panels will be mounted on rooftops and utility poles.

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Come join the rally at: PG&E’s downtown headquarters at 77 Beale St at noon.

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They’ll be erecting three twelve-foot “Yes on H” wind turbines and showing support for green jobs and an affordable green energy future. They’ll have signs ready for you to carry if you want to protest!

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Maya Lin, best-known for her modern, memory gripping design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., has shifted her subject matter to our planet, focusing in recent years “on a reconsideration of landscape in a time of ecological tension and change“. Currently, Maya Lin’s work is presented by PG&E at the de Young ~ via Heart of Green’s Cool Green Events:

“Systematic Landscapes is a major exhibition of new sculptures, drawings, and installations by renowned artist Maya Lin…this new body of work engages the issue of our fragile connection to the environment in timely and poetic ways.”

Simultaneously, Systematic Landscapes previews Maya Lin’s public art installation Where the Land Meets the Sea, a tubular wire sculpture commissioned by the San Francisco Arts Commission for Golden Gate Park’s California Academy of Sciences.

Walking around the gallery earlier today I was pleased to discover that in addition to the exhibition,

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Get more on San Francisco’s Proposition H here.

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Visit the SF Clean Energy Act site. Video source: sfvotier on YouTube

The initial 2002 RPS legislation (SB1078, authored by Senator Byron Sher) had required utilities to get 20% by 2017 of renewable power - not counting nuclear or traditional hydroelectric as renewable.

Then in 2006, Palo Alto Senator Joe Simitian sped up the timetable to just four years to meet the 20% RPS: 2010. But it allowed a three year window; till 2013, to actually get the power onto the grid with SB107.

The lag time is because while contracts are easy enough to sign; actual approval and permitting and transmission issues can slow the process. Many contracts are signed but awaiting approval with the CPUC. There is no shortage of renewable energy companies wanting to do business with the state. Despite the speeded up schedule; California utilities are generally on track to meet the 2013 goal.

By comparison, Texas now produces about 8,000 megawatts just of wind power, and is now second in wind power only to Germany with its 22,000 megawatts of wind power.

(Because countries in Europe are more comparable in size to our states here, it is more useful to compare European nations to our states, rather than to the USA as a whole, as is commonly done.) Germany has 82 million people in 138 thousand square miles. More sparsely populated Texas has 24 million people in twice that size - 269 thousand square miles.

California has 37 million people in 164 thousand square miles, and we use 265,000 gigawatthours of electricity annually - so 20% would be about 51,000 gigawatthours annually of renewable power.

California is on target to meet that. As my high school motto put it: Aim High.

Related stories:
SMUD Adds Unusual Feed-in Tariff, But Not as Good as Gainesville’s
Which States Use the Most Renewable Energy and How They Made it Happen

Images: BrightSource and the CPUC

The power plant in Boardman, Oregon, is the state’s only coal-fired facility — and also the the state’s largest single emitter of carbon dioxide. To deal with this problem, Portland General Electric and Columbia Energy Partners have started a pilot project to turn the otherwise nasty emissions into biodiesel, ethanol, and even livestock feed.

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It actually didn’t take long as a set of solar panels sat just outside the main entrance. After that, we hit the Eco Lands. The PG&E sponsored area offered up booths (organic farmer’s market), tents, exhibits (like solar education classes) that one doesn’t normally see in a rock ‘n’ roll venue. We grabbed an Eco Lands Passport, an inspiration from Jack Johnson’s All At Once Community, where green minded rockers could obtain “stamps” for doing certain activities such as recycling a cell phones, use the bike valet (we did), calculate your carbon footprint, or donate to a non-profit.

We found ourselves super impressed with the Panhandle Stage not only because we saw the politically and socially charged K’Naan here but the stage actually ran on solar. That’s right, all the amps, mikes, lights, everything off the grid. The stage utilized a 4-kilowatt solar system, and by using solar power rather than a diesel generator or grid power, they avoided emitting approximately 3,000 lbs per day (1.5 metric tons) of CO2 into the atmosphere.

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Pacific Gas and Electric Now Under Contract to Deliver 24 Percent of Energy from Renewables by 2013

In a landmark announcement today, Optisolar and the Sunpower Corporation said they plan to build 2 solar plants that will produce a total of 800 MW of power. During peak hours, the plants will produce as much energy as a small nuclear reactor or a large coal plant.

According to Sunpower chairman Thomas H. Werner, the Sunpower plant alone will have as much photovoltaic capacity as was installed worldwide during the past year.

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“At noon on a typical workday, technicians in a two-story control room monitor a dozen screens showing the heat generated by each array of mirrors. As temperatures creep past 700 degrees, icons blink to red from green, indicating the center is ready to feed electricity to the California grid.”

The resulting steam turns turbines that generate electricity — enough to power 112,55 L.A.-area homes. Concentrated solar thermal’s potential has not escaped the attention of forward-thinking investors with big money:

“Chevron, Goldman Sachs, FPL, PG&E and other companies have filed more than 50 applications with the Bureau of Land Management to lease government-owned desert property for solar power systems. Google’s philantropic division put $10 million into eSolar, a start-up in Pasadena, California.” –Greg Chang, Bloomberg.com

The initial 2002 RPS legislation (SB1078, authored by Senator Byron Sher) had required utilities to get 20% by 2017 of renewable power - not counting nuclear or traditional hydroelectric as renewable.

Then in 2006, Palo Alto Senator Joe Simitian sped up the timetable to just four years to meet the 20% RPS: 2010. But it allowed a three year window; till 2013, to actually get the power onto the grid with SB107.

The lag time is because while contracts are easy enough to sign; actual approval and permitting and transmission issues can slow the process. Many contracts are signed but awaiting approval with the CPUC. There is no shortage of renewable energy companies wanting to do business with the state. Despite the speeded up schedule; California utilities are generally on track to meet the 2013 goal.

By comparison, Texas now produces about 8,000 megawatts just of wind power, and is now second in wind power only to Germany with its 22,000 megawatts of wind power.

(Because countries in Europe are more comparable in size to our states here, it is more useful to compare European nations to our states, rather than to the USA as a whole, as is commonly done.) Germany has 82 million people in 138 thousand square miles. More sparsely populated Texas has 24 million people in twice that size - 269 thousand square miles.

California has 37 million people in 164 thousand square miles, and we use 265,000 gigawatthours of electricity annually - so 20% would be about 51,000 gigawatthours annually of renewable power.

California is on target to meet that. As my high school motto put it: Aim High.

Related stories:
SMUD Adds Unusual Feed-in Tariff, But Not as Good as Gainesville’s
Which States Use the Most Renewable Energy and How They Made it Happen

Images: BrightSource and the CPUC