Articles Posted in Renewables

UPDATE – GOVERNOR BROWN SIGNED ALL 4 BILLS. Click here to read the chartered bills: Assembly Bill 327, Assembly Bill 43, Assembly Bill 217, and Assembly Bill 792

Four California solar-related bills were enrolled on September 11 and 12, and await Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.’s signature. This legislation would, as a whole, provide residents, schools and businesses across California more opportunities to participate in, invest in and benefit from California’s growing solar economy.

Assembly Bill 327 (Perea) — Electricity: natural gas: rates: net energy metering: California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program
Senate Bill 43 (Wolk) — Electricity: Green Tariff Shared Renewables Program
Assembly Bill 217 (Bradford) — Electricity: solar electricity: low-income households
Assembly Bill 792 (Mullin) — Utility user tax: exemption: distributed generation systems
Additional Sources: Renewable Energy World.com

The United Kingdom’s Solar Trade Association (STA) recently published guidance on the 10 best practices for solar development, guidance its members have committed to follow in building and managing solar farms. The guidance sets forth STA’s views on the best practices for siting, land use and community engagement:

1. Focus on non-agricultural land or land which is of lower agricultural value
2. Be sensitive to nationally and locally protected landscapes and nature conservation areas, and welcome opportunities to enhance the ecological value of the land
3. Minimize visual impact where possible and maintain appropriate screening throughout the lifetime of the project managed through a Land Management and/or Ecology plan (e.g., hedging to hide the view of equipment and non-farm fencing, maintaining hedging to an appropriate height and in a healthy order to encourage bird and animal life, replacing any dead or diseased screening, avoiding extensive views into the site from roads, public rights of ways and hillsides, developing a comprehensive land management plan to enhance ecology and manage the site for the duration, consider partnerships with conservation groups to protect and support vulnerable plant or animal species)

4. Engage with the community in advance of submitting a planning application (e.g., newspaper articles, flyers, local advertising, parish council meetings, knocking on neighboring doors)

5. Encourage land diversification by proposing continued agricultural use or incorporating biodiversity measures with projects (e.g., sheep grazing, bird nesting, bee keeping, pheasants, bat boxes, rids of prey and other small animals, flower meadows)

6. Do as much buying and employing locally as possible
7. Act considerately during construction, and demonstrate “solar stewardship” of the land or the lifetime of the project (e.g., avoiding soil compaction and damage to land drains, choosing panel mounting systems to suit site conditions archeology, etc., storing and replacing topsoil and subsoil separately and in the right order while trenching)

8. Seek the support of the local community and listen to their views and suggestions
9. Commit to using the solar farm as an educational opportunity where appropriate
10. At the end of the project life, return the land to the former use

The guidance also identifies possible exceptions to its best practice guidelines(e.g., large farms with a high volume of electricity self-consumption, for enhanced environmental benefits, for reasons of national interest, etc.).

Additional Sources: Renewable Energy World.com (Sept. 8, 2013)

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) program recently embarked on an effort to produce and release to the public work-place safety videos. Its second is a four-minute video that tells the tragic story of a solar panel installer’s 45-foot fall from the roof of a three-story apartment building.

The pre-project plan called for fall protection on the project due to the distance of the sloped roof to the ground and the slope of the roof, including 100% tie off on the sloped roof with single-D anchors, yo-yo type fall restraint life and full-body harness. It was not known how often management surveyed compliance with the fall protection plan on the job sites. On the first day of the particular project, a safety meeting was held by the project manager who told the work crews that fall protection safety equipment would be required when working on the roofs. The employer had an Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) that included, among other things, safety meetings, training and incentive and disciplinary measures. The IIPP incorporated guidance on the use of pre-project plans and job hazard analyses to evaluate work-place safety hazards. Its training program included new employee orientation, specific on-the-job training, job site orientation and weekly safety meetings.

On the day of the incident, however, none of the employees were tethered to the roof and no other fall-protection safety equipment was in place. One junior solar panel installer, while checking the alignment of the brackets that would hold the panels and walking backwards to get a better view, stepped off of the edge of the roof, falling three stories.The installer had underwent new employee orientation and had been receiving on-the-job training.

The FACE investigator that reviewed the incident determined that in order to prevent future incidents of a similar nature, contractors who install solar panels on roofs should ensure: (A) employees wear fall protection safety equipment when working on sloped roofs with identified fall hazards, and (B) worksite safety procedures and practices for fall protection are developed and implemented. In particular, fall protection safety equipment should be worn by employees working on sloped roofs greater than 30 degrees or whose work exposes them to a risk of a fall of greater that 7 1/2 feet. The two types of fall protection safety equipment typically used on roofs are: (1) a personal fall restraint (PFR) system and (2) a personal fall arrest (PFA) system. The former consists of anchorages, connectors, lanyards, and a body harness configured to prevent the employee from falling. The latter consists of anchorages, connectors, a deceleration device, and a body harness configured to stop the employee during a fall.

The FACE Investigator’s report, California Case Report 10CA003, suggests that a project pre-plan could include (1) a signature page which all employees on the job site were required to sign prior to starting work on the project, verifying that the worker was aware of his/her safety responsibilities and proving the worker with an opportunity to ask questions, clarify any misunderstandings, or request additional guidance, (2) initial and periodic inspections and audits of the job site by management personnel, identifying any safety hazards and correcting any unsafe practices on an ongoing basis. Corrective action could include progressive disciplinary measures, as well recognition or rewards for consistent compliance withe the safety plan.

With the growth in number of solar panel installations over the last number of years and expectation that this will continue due to the call for additional renewable energy sources, FACE recognized that there is an increasing number of solar installation workers exposed to fall hazards. The video explains the events that lead up to the fatal fall, and highlights fall-prevention safety recommendations. Photographs from the investigation supplement the project scenes recreated by the deceased installer’s co-workers. FACE encourages contractors to include its videos in their work-place safety training materials.

FACE has produced and released two other work-place safety videos, one on preventing falls through skylights and preventing wood chipper fatalities.

Additional Solar Work-Place Safety Training Materials: FACE Flash No. 1; FACE Facts No. 20; FACE Facts No. 21

Additional Sources: FACE Facts No. 24; California Licensed Contactor Newsletter (Summer 2012); ISHN Magazine

SolarPermit.org, a website developed by SunShot awardee Clean Power Finance and supported by a Department of Energy grant, “organizes and simplifies the solar permitting process by compiling permitting information in a single location.” The newly redesigned website hosts the National Solar Permitting Database, a free, online database of solar permitting requirements for cities and counties across the country. The website now contains “80% of jurisdictions with 200 or more residential installations per year.”

The website “is an interactive, crowd-sourced website – similar to Wikipedia – for solar permitting requirements.” Solar contractors and others can use the website to collect information from the database that may be helpful to them and to contribute information to the database based upon their experiences that may be helpful to others. Users of the website are able to provide feedback on the information provided by others. The “database contains jurisdictions for over 18,000 United States cities and counties. Each page includes over 100 data fields to give users an easy way to track a wide range of information about permitting requirements and processes.” Information made available on the website includes: (1) contact information, (2) turnaround times, (3) fees, (4) specifications for system designs, (5) inspection processes, and (6) common errors.

The website’s goal is to “minimize the time and resources required to… support the mass-market adoption of solar.”

Additional Resources: August 18, 2013 SunShot Newsletter; California Solar Permitting Guidebook (June 2012, 1st Ed.)

The U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management (BLM), as part of the Solar Energy Program, recently approved the establishment of a new Renewable Energy Evaluation Area (REEA) in California’s Imperial Valley. The West Chocolate Mountains REEA creates a new Solar Energy Zone (SEZ), which is part of President Obama’s “administration’s efforts to facilitate solar energy development by identifying areas in six southwestern states with high solar potential, few resource conflicts, and access to existing or planned transmission.” This REEA contemplates “[p]otential development of up to 3,456 megawatts of renewable energy within the REEA (3,306 megawatts of solar power and up to 150 megawatts of geothermal power).”

The Western Solar Plan, approved in October 2012, created 17 SEZs in six southwestern states with incentives for development within those zones and a process for considering additional zones. The Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for solar energy development is a blueprint for utility-scale solar energy permitting in (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah) by establishing SEZs with access to existing or planned transmission, incentives for development within those SEZs, and a process through which to consider additional SEZs and solar projects.

BLM defines a SEZ “as an area well suited for utility-scale production of solar energy, where the BLM will prioritize solar energy and associated transmission infrastructure development.” A discussion of the criteria used to identify SEZs is provided in Section 2.2.2.2 of the Draft Solar PEIS.

BLM will identify new SEZs in accordance with the Identification Protocol for New or Expanded SEZs. When considering whether to identify new or expanded SEZs, BLM, in most situations, the SEZs should be relatively large areas that provide highly suitable locations for utility-scale solar energy development, and locations where solar energy development is economically and technically feasible, there is good potential for connecting new electricity-generating plants to the transmission distribution system and there is generally low resource conflict. The sequential process for identifying new SEZs includes assessing the demand for new or expanded SEZs, establishing technical and economic suitability , applying environmental, cultural, and other screening criteria, and analyzing proposed SEZs . The four-step process is to occur at least once every 5 years.

The West Chocolate Mountains REEA is the third SEZ in California and brings the national total to 19. The 19 REEAs include:

Arizona:
Agua Caliente SEZ
Brenda SEZ
Gillespie SEZ

California:
Imperial East SEZ
Riverside East SEZ
Western Chocolate Mountains SEZ

Colorado:
Antonito Southeast SEZ
De Tilla Gulch SEZ
Fourmile East SEZ
Los Mogotes East SEZ

Nevada:
Armargosa Valley SEZ
Dry Lake SEZ
Dry Lake Valley North SEZ
Gold Point SEZ
Millers SEZ

New Mexico:
Afton SEZ

Utah:
Escalante Valley SEZ
Milford Flats South SEZ
Wah Wah Valley SEZ

Other Sources: U.S. Department of Energy; U.S. Department of Interior; Solar Energy Development Programmatic EIS Information Center; Bureau of Land Management Solar Energy Program

Solar Decathlon China, the most recent addition to the international family of Solar Decathlon competitions, commenced on August 2, 2013 and ended today. It was hosted by the National Energy Administration and the U.S. Department of Energy, organized by Peking University, and supported by private companies. Final awards are posted: University of Wollongong (UOW) took first place overall, with South China University of Technology (SCUT) taking second place and Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden) taking third. Winners of the subjective contest awards and objective contest awards are also posted.

Participants in Solar Decathlon China’s included 22 teams from 35 universities with students from over 35 nationalities in 13 countries on 6 continents:
• Abbaspour University of Technology (Iran)
• Peking University and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (China-United States)
• Tel Aviv University, Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, Neri Bloomfield School of Design and Education, College of Management Academic Studies (Israel)
• Inner Mongolia University of Technology (China)
• Alfred State College and Guilin University of Technology and Alfred University (China-United States)
• London Metropolitan University and Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (England-China)
• Shandong Jianzhu University (China)
• Shanghai Jiaotong University (China)
• South China University of Technology and Huazhong University of Science and Technology (China)
• Southeast University (China)
• University of Wollongong (Australia)
• Beijing Jiaotong University and Bern University of Applied Sciences (China-Switzerland)
• New Jersey Institute of Technology and Harbin Institute of Technology (United States-China)
• Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden)
• Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (Malaysia)
• American University in Cairo (Egypt)
• Xiamen University (China)
• Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology (China)
• National University of Singapore (Singapore)
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Ghent University and Polytechnic Institute of New York University.
• Tsinghua University and Florida International University (China – United States)
• Middle East Technical University (Turkey)

Additional Sources: U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Website

Ygrene Energy Fund and Johnson Controls recently announced that they will help Seattle-based Metzler Real Estate cut energy use and utility bills at Sacramento’s Metro Center Corporate Park by $140,000 annually, a 27% decrease. The Metro Center facilities are located at 2700-2720 Gateway Oaks Drive and are comprised of 4 buildings, totaling approximately 250,000 square feet.

Photo © Ygrene Energy Fund, All Rights Reserved – Creative Commons.

The $3.16 million Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) project will be funded through Clean Energy Sacramento, a program administered by Ygrene that was launched earlier this year. The planned upgrades reportedly include replacement of rooftop units with high efficiency equipment and installation of a Metasys® building management system to control the mechanical equipment and interior and exterior lighting, and the retrofit will enable the Metro Center to register for LEED® certification.

PACE permits local governments to offer long-term, low-interest financing to property owners to implement energy efficiency upgrades. In contrast to traditional loans, the PACE projects are repaid through an annual assessment on a property tax bill that is linked to the property rather than to the owner. To date, 30 states have PACE enabling legislation, including: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Additional Sources: Sacramento Unveils Nation’s Largest Clean Energy PACE Retrofit, Justin Gerdes, Forbes Contributor