By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

It was the first city in the United States to become powered by 100% renewables. Now Burlington, Vermont, and its radical electrical utility are at it again - they have issued a request for proposals to become the first net-zero (NZE) city in the country. If it succeeds, Burlington could blaze a new trail for cities across the country the way it did with it commitment to renewable energy. After all, until Burlington did it, you never heard anyone else talk about such aggressive and lofty goals, did you? You did not. Now 72 other cities have joined the commitment, according to the Sierra Club's "Ready for 100" list. So how exciting would it be to see the same commitment to net zero after Burlington proves you can do it? First, though, the electric utility - the largest municipal utility in the United States with 21,000 customers - has to complete its RFP, which states:

Our concept of an NZE City encompasses sourcing as much renewable energy as we consume across the electric, thermal and ground transportation sectors (air travel is not included at this time), thereby displacing fossil fuel consumption.

The Burlington Electrical Department says it is already moving in the direction of becoming a net-zero city through its focus on energy efficiency and strategic electrification, while helping its citizens understand the goals and helping them get there. The RFP's authors write:

The success of the NZE effort depends in part on BED continuing to serve as a trusted advisor and partner to customers interested in energy efficiency and technologies such as solar, storage, heat pump technology, electric vehicles, solar + battery storage, weatherization, deep energy retrofits, commercial envelope, and HVAC, and lighting and other offerings.

BED will review proposals using the following RFP Evaluation Criteria:

• Has the necessary analytical and modeling capabilities to conduct energy/environmental/economic analyses to provide BED with multiple alternative pathway scenarios describing how to achieve NZE;
• Has conducted relevant work in the past for municipal or state governments or utilities;
• Demonstrates the ability to take complex data and information and provide it in a way that is useful, and transparent, for a variety of audiences including policymakers, regulators, BED staff, and the general public;
• Outline of a project plan that meets BED’s targeted timeline for an interim report (ideally early 2019) and final report (by July 2019);
• Demonstrates relevant experience presenting similar materials to policymakers, regulators, and the general public;
• Has expertise in utility-led energy transformation work and new business models for utilities, or “utility 2.0”.
• Understanding of electric utility business and financial structures, as well as general utility rate economics
Proposals must be made by Burlington Electrical Department approved vendors by August 31. The full RFP is attached below. NZE Roadmap FINAL RFP 7.27.18

A lightning round recap today on the top news in your solar inbox. Speaking of quick and easy, make sure you check out the junction box with integrated flashing for your residential installs. Available at most distributors across the Country.
Gone With The Wind. An Iowa nuclear power plant is closing in favor of more wind. This comes from one of the largest nuclear power operators, NextEra. Aside is the internal power struggle since CEO Jim Robo is a avid supporter of nuclear power and nuclear engineering. In the Spain wind rush a decade ago, Robo was notorious for his disdain for the money lost by his company in those projects.
Look At This Picture. You saw this article yesterday but when I looked at it again yesterday afternoon the picture caught my eye. It is a stock image of an installation in the Miami area. This is what many homeowners are getting now and it’s a shame. It also shows how much more we have to do to educate the AHJs and getting SEIA and the NRCA to warn consumers about the roofing aspect of solar.
Electrify It All. I can’t wait until the high mileage, route vehicles are electrified. The delivery trucks, transit and school buses, and postal vehicles are on/off or idling all day long. The routes and distances are very precise so the battery sizing is easy to calculate. The other side of mass electrification is how the concentrated charging will cause hotspots and peak power needs that will likely get served by batteries.
More PV Manufacturing. It looks like the Tesla plant in Buffalo is ramping up, good to see this happening. I haven’t seen them in the wild but hope to soon. Maybe some of the Tesla employees can invite me over now that I’m a local to the Bay area.
More FPL, In Florida. Florida solar is growing quickly, this time with more IOU rate based solar to the tune of 300MW from FPL. I think this type of capacity is causing FPL to think bigger than a threat from DG by focusing on EV growth and the upside of rate base for their shareholders.

Have a great day!

News

 

Have a great day!
Yann

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Another one bites the dust: Another nuclear plant is going offline - this one five years earlier than planned - at least in part thanks to the power of four nearby wind plants, which will partially replace the generating power of the nuclear facility. NextEra's Energy has decided to close the 615 MW Duane Arnold Energy Center (DAEC) five years prior to its expected decommissioning in part because the energy conglomerate can sell power from its four wind plants more inexpensively and cleanly. The company supplies energy for Alliant Energy, which supplies electricity to customers in Iowa and Wisconsin. The four wind farms will replace 340 MW of the generation capacity, and Alliant plans to build its own wind plants in Iowa to make up the rest. What makes the decision most remarkable is that it comes against the backdrop of plans being hatched in Washington D.C. to interfere in the nuclear market and prop up uneconomic nuclear and coal plants using national taxpayer money to do it. Estimates on what the bailout will cost vary, but some experts have put the number as high as $34 billion. It's worth asking the denizens at the Department of Energy why they feel it's important to keep these plants open when the companies on the ground - like NextEra and Alliant - are obviously perfectly OK with closing the plant. Heck, Alliant is even paying NextEra $110 million in September 2020 to ensure the plant closes five years before its power-purchase agreement (PPA) with the plant runs out. So what on Earth are the regulators and politicians in Washington thinking? Stories like this one out of Iowa need to be heard at the highest levels of our government in the hopes that the harebrained bailout scheme can still be headed off. Senators and Congressmen need to be held accountable for trying to pick winners and losers in the electricity generation game. Otherwise, they're just a bunch of hypocrites paying off their donors.

Mediocre Sausage Making. The MA legislature passed a solar bill yesterday and pardon my lack of excitement. While a bill moving key features forward and a path to remove the fixed charges are included, the NEM cap continues to be punted and the opportunity to give consumers more ability to add solar has been lost for now. Nonetheless, there are important legislative wins and some messages to other utilities that hope to structure anti solar rates, for that this is a solar victory. Hats off to the advocates in solar for getting forward movement but the twitter statement from Vote Solar’s Sean Garren summarizes the final bill. “In like a lion, out like a lamb”
Reviewing California’s Solar Mandate. I appreciate the continued partnership with Barry Cinnamon and his wonderful podcast, The Energy Show. In the latest edition, you will hear him discuss the CA solar mandate on new homes. This is an important topic for me in my day job at Quick Mount PV. New homes represent a great opportunity to lower the cost of solar in a new installation while presenting ways to install attractive solar in a way that still holds quality for 30 years. That quality is sometimes missed because the transaction isn’t with the longterm owner so we appreciate the opportunity to educate homebuilders and installers on making sure its a leak free, quality installation.
Educated Consumers Consume Less. Last week during the heat wave in California (I can confirm that it is warm, but not Florida hot) consumers were asked to lower their energy consumption to ensure blackouts wouldn’t happen. That’s the funny thing about consumers, they can be helpful when educated and can be one of the best demand response tools if planned for properly. That’s the other side of renewables integration that folks don’t plan for. Consumers can, especially with new technology, adapt their habits to get what they want which is 100% renewable energy.
Solar Tariffs To Nowhere. Another great data point about the tariffs, this time the steel and aluminum tariffs. The tariffs are causing disruption more than innovation and in some instances result in worse installs for consumers. If aluminum prices rise, installers don’t replace tiles properly, take a look at the header image on the article. The installer did some sort of hack instead of using a proper tile replacement flashing, happy to show them one if they’d like.
Does Your Neighbor Solar? When I put solar on my home, my neighbors had lots of questions about it. How do you arm your customers and how do you respond to neighbors that are interested in solar? Would love to highlight great ideas here.

Have a great day!

News

 

Have a great day!
Yann