Energy Exchange

EDF Energy Innovation Series Feature #12: Community-Owned Utility – CPS Energy

By Jim Marston / Published: September 25, 2012

Throughout 2012, EDF’s Energy Innovation Series will highlight around 20 innovations across a broad range of energy categories, including smart grid and renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency financing, and progressive utilities, to name a few. This series will demonstrate that cost-effective, clean energy solutions are available now and imperative to lowering our dependence on fossil fuels.

Find more information on this featured innovation here.

Want to build CPS Energy’s new massive solar project in San Antonio? Pack your bags. You may have to move to the Alamo city and hire a few hundred local employees.

With more than $2.3 billion in annual revenue and $10 billion in total assets, CPS Energy (CPS) is the largest municipally-owned electric and gas utility in the country, providing service to almost 750,000 customers in and around San Antonio, Texas.

CPS’s strategic goals and decisions are among the most progressive in the country. It is shooting for 20 percent renewable energy generation capacity by 2020 and has plans to mothball one of its 1970s-era coal plants in 2018, 15 years earlier than expected. But beyond carbon reduction targets and renewable energy commitments, CPS is using a very old-fashioned tool to spur energy innovation deep in the heart of Texas.

The tool? LEVERAGE. With a $2 billion annual operating budget and the highest credit rating in the industry, CPS has dollars to spend on innovative technologies, and the company is leveraging its renewable energy and clean technology dollars to bolster local job growth, protect the environment and help its customers use energy more wisely. CPS calls it the “New Energy Economy.”

“We have the opportunity to leverage our buying power to benefit our community, by requiring our partners to add more value to San Antonio,” said Doyle Beneby, President & CEO of CPS Energy. “That value comes in the form of jobs for our community by establishing headquarters and adding manufacturing. It also comes in the form of investment in San Antonio’s educational institutions.” Read More »

Posted in Energy Innovation, Texas, Utility Business Models / Read 1 Response

EDF Energy Innovation Series Feature #11: Battery Switch Model For Electric Vehicles From Better Place

By Jim Marston / Published: September 13, 2012

For more information on this featured innovation, please view this video on Better Place’s battery switch model for electric vehicles.

When it comes to refueling gas-powered cars, drivers around the world have about 100 years of practice: when you run low on fuel, you look for a gas station. With electric vehicles (EVs) beginning to enter the market, auto manufacturers, grid operators and customers are searching for ways to ease the transition from gas to electricity.

Better Place, a venture-backed company founded in Silicon Valley, is building charging stations in several countries to serve EV customers, and has designed an innovative approach that may well become the “gas station” of the future. Rather than refill your battery, Better Place’s automated service stations swap it out.

Better Place’s battery switch stations – which could be described as a mixture of a drive-through car wash and a Jiffy Lube service station – can extract and replace an electric car’s battery in a matter of minutes, without requiring the driver to get out of the car. To complement the switch stations, Better Place also builds a network of standard charging stations to regularly “top off” the battery when the car is parked.

Source: Better Place

“The switching concept makes sense for several reasons,” said John Proctor, Director of Global communications at Better Place. “Battery switch enables us to address the relatively high cost and limited driving range of EVs. Better Place buys the battery, removing that burden and worry for drivers, and enables them to quickly switch a battery for a fully charged one to overcome concerns about EVs having enough charge for longer trips.”

Some plug-in models, like the Chevy Volt, have gas powered range extenders that give the car the per-charge range of most gas-powered cars. But many models are powered purely by electricity. Enabling those cars to compete with comparable gas-powered models on cost and convenience is the aim of Better Place around the globe. Read More »

Posted in California, Electric Vehicles, Energy Innovation, Grid Modernization / Tagged EV | Read 2 Responses

Why We Must Extend The Production Tax Credit For Wind Energy

By Jim Marston / Published: August 31, 2012

This commentary was originally posted on the Texas Clean Air Matters blog.

Prior to the August recess, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee passed a 55-item tax extender package known as the Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act of 2012. The bill is now up for consideration in the House Ways and Means Committee. Included in this package is a one-year extension of the Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind energy. The PTC is sound economic, energy and environmental policy, and our congressional leaders would do well to support the package and the PTC extension when it comes up for a final vote.

Texas’ current success in wind energy development has been assisted by the PTC. The PTC provides a 2.2 percent tax credit per kilowatt hour of energy generated to private wind investors if their wind farms are developed, constructed and are producing. This program has increased private investment and development of wind energy, and has lead to an expansion of jobs throughout our country, but particularly in rural Texas.

With Texas being the national leader in wind installations and a manufacturing hub for the wind industry, wind farms have appeared throughout our state, and related jobs are in high demand. The wind industry provides quality and high-paying jobs, gives our state an economic boost and provides environmental benefits. Texas is the first state to reach 10,000 megawatts of wind energy installations, which power the equivalent of 2.7 million homes. The wind industry also provides land lease payments to local landowners in Texas to the tune of $31 million annually.

Nationally, the wind energy industry supports 75,000 direct and indirect jobs, more than 400 manufacturing facilities, and is responsible for 35 percent of all new energy generation since 2007 – more than coal or nuclear energy combined.

The PTC and the tax extender package are not guaranteed to pass either the House or Senate. As uncertainty in this industry continues, developments and projects in Texas and around the country are at risk if Congress does not act quickly. EDF is asking Congress to support a tax credit that continues to help the wind energy industry grow into self-sufficiency.

Please contact your member of Congress today and ask for their support of the Production Tax Credit and the Family and Business Tax Cut Certainty Act.

Posted in Texas / Read 1 Response

EDF Energy Innovation Series Feature #10: Social Networking From Honest Buildings

By Jim Marston / Published: August 22, 2012

Throughout 2012, EDF’s Energy Innovation Series will highlight more than 20 innovations across a broad range of energy categories, including smart grid and renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency financing, and progressive utilities, to name a few. This series will demonstrate that cost-effective, clean energy solutions are available now and imperative to lowering our dependence on fossil fuels.

Find more information on this featured innovation here.

Is your office building on LinkedIn? Can you find user reviews of your high-rise on Yelp? Probably not, but the chances are good that you’ll be able to do both on HonestBuildings.com.

Since launching in beta on March 20, 2012, the fast growing real estate network has already aggregated detailed information on over 700,000 buildings across the U.S. From architects to brokers, thousands of real estate, construction and service companies have joined the platform, posting their portfolio of work and connecting with building owners and managers to find new business opportunities.

Honest Building’s co-founder and CEO Riggs Kubiak says that the real estate market is primed for the convergence of data and community, which will lead to more transparency for all stakeholders and accelerate the adoption of high performance buildings.

“Greater transparency about building performance increases the demand for energy efficiency as tenants can make better, informed decisions about where they lease,” said Kubiak. “This accelerates the adoption of all sorts of best practices by building owners and managers in order to command the best leasing rates. From energy efficiency to leasing to design to management, buildings will have to get better, faster. This also gives the best building service providers and vendors the opportunity to scale faster, as the services and technologies with the best track record can leverage a network effect to capture more and more business.”

And when it comes to important energy innovations, tackling the building sector is vitally important. Cars and trucks carry a lot of the blame for climate change. But in the U.S., the building sector is responsible for nearly half of CO2 emissions, compared to a third for the transportation sector. Three-quarters of the electricity produced in the U.S. is used just to operate buildings, and that percentage is even higher globally.

There’s a massive amount of factual, verifiable data about how homes and buildings operate. This data includes square footage, energy costs, walkability – all things that people care about now more than ever. But all this information is very hard for consumers to find and for building professionals to promote. And there is no venue for people — designers, buyers or sellers — to interact.

“The purpose of Honest Buildings is to merge the hard facts with human interaction,” Riggs said. “You can see the data on a building and weigh it against what the community is saying about it.”

In San Francisco, the Honest Buildings platform is using energy benchmarking compliance data to bring together building owners, service providers and local government to create new business opportunities and more efficient buildings. Working with the city’s department of the environment, they’ve created a custom map of all the buildings that have and have not complied with the city’s energy benchmarking ordinance, and helped building owners connect with energy efficiency companies and consultants that can help these building go above and beyond compliance.

“The introduction of real-time energy data for buildings will provide an incredible insight into how they perform,” Riggs said. “Our expectation is that developers and property managers will want to highlight their best performers and create an element of competition that will increase efficiency and sustainability. And the better the technology, the faster that will happen.”

But according to Riggs, data alone isn’t enough. “As with all great services, there has to be a human element,” he said. “People need to be able to weigh in with their voice, and the social network aspect of our service will be just as important as detailed, trustworthy data. Information may help us make better buildings, but people make the decisions.”

Posted in Energy Efficiency, Energy Innovation / Read 3 Responses

EDF Energy Innovation Series Feature #9: Green Button Initiative

By Jim Marston / Published: August 15, 2012

Find more information on this featured innovation here.

Since their introduction, smart meters and “connected” appliances have offered the potential for customers to better access and control their energy data. Tens of millions of smart meters later, there’s a massive amount of data being gathered, but few ways for customers to understand it.

A desire to make sense of this treasure trove of energy data (and a challenge by the White House to come together as an industry) was the driver behind Green Button, a voluntary effort by utility companies to bring some order and predictability to– and increase the consumer value of – the gigabytes of energy information now available.

“Armed with their own data, homeowners and building owners will have more opportunities and choices to use a growing array of online services that can help them manage energy use and save on their bills, while helping the Nation achieve the important goals of conserving energy and reducing pollution,” said Nick Sinai, a senior advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology.

The momentum sparked by the White House call to action has been remarkable.

Nearly two dozen energy providers and more than 30 energy and technology companies are already on-board.

The early and broad cooperation has resulted in more than 31 million homes and business that can already – or will soon be able to – view their consumption usage online. Developing standards for energy data is one of the most important first steps to making it a powerful tool for customers and entrepreneurs. Standards allow for the development of tools, apps and services that can apply to any customer, regardless of who provides their power.

While the White House challenge was focused on transparency and usability for customers, the effort has also sparked a lot of excitement with another group: entrepreneurs.

Imagine a smart phone app that, with a customer’s permission, monitors a home’s energy usage and patterns, analyzes the data against the home’s size, local weather patterns and other customers, and provides home improvement suggestions to reduce energy costs. Or even more simple, imagine an app that allows customers to securely control individual appliances in their home from anywhere on the planet.

Some companies are already using the initial data sets at “code-a-thons”where software application developers compete to produce prototype apps during caffeine-induced all nighters. In a similar spirit, last month EDF teamed up with the White House, Google and HonestBuildings to pull together a “data jam” at Google’s Manhattan headquarters. Todd Park, U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Assistant to the President, kicked of a brainstorm among tech entrepreneurs, energy experts, finance whizzes, web designers and government agencies, to answer this question: if government makes its energy data open and computer-friendly, what could entrepreneurs invent to “improve energy outcomes for families and businesses?” The jam session generated at least ten great ideas, ranging from consumer energy apps to ways to save money on your commute.

Just a few years ago, the new availability of Global Positioning System (GPS) data fueled the creation of countless GPS-based products aimed at filling that new niche market of navigation products. Today, GPS is an integral part of the explosion of mobile apps.

“Opening up access to GPS information led to an explosion of innovation and economic value, with GPS data fueling an estimated $90 billion of commercial products and services. I’m confident that energy data will similarly fuel a new wave of innovation and entrepreneurial opportunities,” said Sinai.

Posted in Energy Innovation, General / Read 3 Responses

EDF Energy Innovation Series Feature #8: Clean Energy Options From NRG

By Jim Marston / Published: July 26, 2012

Find more information on this featured innovation here.

Depending on whom you ask, utilities and independent power generators like NRG Energy (NRG) could be the savior or the victim of the country’s future energy system. The smart grid — an upgraded electrical system that connects generators, distribution systems, homes, offices and the millions of devices that use energy — could be real trouble for traditional utilities. If they don’t evolve, well, we know what happened to the dinosaurs.

And New Jersey-based NRG is making some impressive moves in an industry not known for rapid change.

Utilities have a lot to lose if they stand still and watch this wave of innovation pass them by. But they also have a tremendous amount to contribute, and leveraging their expertise and capital could accelerate the innovation cycle and establish the generators and transmission and distribution companies as a critical piece of the electric grid of the future.

Source: Green Mountain Energy Company

In 2010, NRG acquired Green Mountain Energy Company (GME), a Texas-based business that has been providing clean energy to consumers and businesses since 1997, making it the longest serving retailer of its kind. It is still the only retail energy provider (REP) in Texas solely focused on cleaner energy. In many ways, GME can be considered a “founding father” for the renewable energy sector, owning many “firsts” in the REP market:

GME was Texas’ first REP to offer pollution-free products when electricity competition began in 2002.
GME developed Texas’ first pollution-free electricity product specifically for electric vehicle owners.
GME customer demand helped develop over 50 wind and solar renewable facilities in U.S., including the first utility-scale wind farm east of the Mississippi – a wind farm built in Pennsylvania in 1999.
GME created a program, the Green Mountain Energy Sun Club, that to date has built solar arrays to power 35 non-profit organizations including schools, museums, zoos and Habitat for Humanity homes. Each installation includes an educational component explaining the benefits of solar energy to the non-profits’ stakeholders.

GME also provides clean energy to some iconic American brands, further proving the viability of the renewable market while also leveraging visibility to encourage others to go green. Examples include the Super Bowl XLVI, Empire State Building (powered by 100 % wind energy) and Atlantic Cup (first carbon-neutral sailing race in the U.S.).

“With significant growth, customer commitment and a passion for clean energy, Green Mountain continues to accelerate a clean energy future,” said Helen Brauner, senior vice president of Marketing & Strategic Planning, Green Mountain. “Thanks to our customers who share in our mission to change the way power is made through customer choice, we’re celebrating 15 years of dedication to renewable energy this year.”

NRG is also the largest solar power developer in the country and is a leading owner and operator of photovoltaic (PV) systems at residential and commercial locations. Through the NRG Solar subsidiary, the Company is developing two complementary technologies — photovoltaics and solar thermal — at two of the world’s largest solar projects of each type: the 290 megawatt PV Agua Caliente Project in Arizona and the 392 megawatt Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California. Upon completion in 2014, Agua Caliente will be the largest solar PV project in the world and will generate enough electricity to power more than 225,000 homes.

Additionally, the Company is building the nation’s first privately-funded, comprehensive electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. The eVgo^SM system integrates home EV charging docks with a network of fast-charging stations that can charge a vehicle with a 100 mile range in a half hour or less. eVgo gives EV owners range confidence as they leave home every day with a full charge and know they can charge their vehicles quickly and conveniently if they need additional range. Additionally, the eVgo set-rate charging plans reduce the upfront cost of EV ownership while giving price certainty to EV drivers for the cost of fueling their vehicles.

“Electric vehicles are beginning to make a meaningful entry into the transportation market,” said Arun Banskota, President of NRG EV Services, the operator of the eVgo network. “As the EV market grows, we need to ensure that customers have the needed charging infrastructure. Residential and workplace charging, backed up by public charging stations, are critical to encouraging greater EV adoption, and we want to provide this key piece of the new energy infrastructure to ensure car buyers can buy an EV with confidence.”

NRG’s clean energy investments cover a wide range of initiatives; it owns 450 megawatts of Texas wind power, supplying clean windpower to thousands of homes. Through its retail subsidiaries and NRG SunLease, the Company leases rooftop solar panels to commercial and residential customers to reduce their electricity costs. NRG has a partnership with the University of Delaware to develop eV2g, or electric vehicle to grid technology, that might someday pay EV drivers for plugging in their cars. NRG is also developing carbon capture technology at its Petra Nova subsidiary that could reduce carbon emissions from older coal plants in the future.

Posted in Energy Innovation, Utility Business Models / Read 2 Responses