Brian Nese
Brian J. Nese is an associate in the Renewable Energy practice group.
KenGen Issues Invitation to Geothermal Developers
The Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has issued an invitation for pre-qualification for selection of developers for a 560 megawatt geothermal project pipeline. The government of Kenya has granted KenGen a license to develop geothermal power plants in the Olkaria geothermal field located in the Rift Valley in Kenya. KenGen is embarking on a program to develop up to 560 MW of new generation in 140MW phases.
To meet this objective, KenGen is seeking to partner with developers through either (1) a joint venture, whereby KenGen and the developer will jointly develop and own the power plant, or (2) a tolling arrangement whereby the developer will build, own and operate the plant and KenGen will provide the steam.
Interested parties may submit an application for pre-qualififcation on or before November 2, 2012. Applicants must specify which option (JV or tolling agreement) they wish to pursue and meet other qualifications (experience, balance sheet, etc.) that are set forth in the KenGen tender available here.
Georgia Power Files for Advanced Solar Initiative
On September 26, 2012, Georgia Power filed with the Georgia Public Service Commission a proposal for the creation of the Georgia Power Advanced Solar Initiative, a program that would result in the procurement of up to 210 megawatts of solar generation through power purchase agreements. Of the 210 MWs, 180 will come from utility scale projects while 30 MW will come from distributed projects.
Utility Scale Projects. The proposal calls for Georgia Power to issue RFPs in 2013, 2014, and 2015 for utility scale solar projects up to 20 MWs in size and to be located in Georgia. The PPAs would have twenty year terms and with pricing not to exceed 12 cents per kWh.
Distributed Projects. Georgia Power will also enter PPAs with Small-Scale projects (up to 100 kW) and Medium-Scale projects (greater than 100kW and smaller than 1 MW). In each of 2013, 2014 and 215, Georgia Power will enter 10 MW worth of PPAs with Small/Medium-Scale projects until anoverall cap of 30 MW is reached.
More information and a copy of Georgia Power's filing is available here.
SDG&E to Host RAM Forum
On June 22, 2012, SDG&E will host a forum on the Renewable Auction Mechanism. The forum will be held at the SDG&E Energy Innovation Center located at 4760 Clairemont Mesa Blvd, San Diego, CA 92117. The forum begins at 10 AM and concludes at 12 PM. The forum will also be available via webinar. In person or webinar reservations can be made by sending an email by June 19, 2012 to ramsolicitation@semprautilities.com.
The forum will cover the following topics:
- Overview of the results of the November 2011 RAM (including feedback from the Independent Evaluator)
- Overview of the important changes between the November 2011 RAM and the May 2012 RAM
- Request for feedback from RAM participants and stakeholders on various topics, including: eligibility requirement, bid evaluation methodology (including Resource Adequacy value, and SDG&E process (website, email communication, Q&A, etc.)
Stoel attorney Brian Nese will be attending the forum.
California Energy Commission Releases Comprehensive Energy Storage Analysis
This week the California Energy Commission's PIER program released a comprehensive report titled "2020 Strategic Analysis of Energy Storage in California." The report discusses the state of technology, policy, barriers to deployment and suggested reforms. A staff workshop related to the report will be held on November 15, 2011 at 10 am at the CEC located at 1516 Ninth Street, Sacramento, California 95814 (webex also available).
STOEL RIVES PUBLISHES UPDATED EDITION OF SOLAR ENERGY LAW GUIDE
The Stoel Rives Energy Development group is proud to announce the publication of the third edition of Lex Helius: The Law of Solar Energy.
In the wake of recent state and federal policies and incentives, investment in solar energy has become increasingly competitive. Accordingly, our energy team desires to provide our readers with the most up-to-date solar market insights. The authors, contributors and editors of Lex Helius have done just that.
Lex Helius analyzes critical issues that solar power project developers confront during the development process, including real property acquisition, regulatory and permitting requirements, interconnection issues, power purchase agreements, financing, and construction contracting. The guide also discusses federal and state incentives available to solar projects, financing structures, market conditions, and sale and transfer of renewable energy credits.
The new edition of Lex Helius will be available at the Stoel Rives booth (#3043) at the Solar Power International 2011 conference in Dallas, October 17-20, 2011.
The guide can also be downloaded, along with the entire Stoel Rives “Law of” library at www.stoel.com/lawofseries.
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Energy Storage Industry Expresses Optimism at Energy Storage Association Annual Meeting
This week I attended the 21st Annual Meeting of the Energy Storage Association in San Jose, California. The meeting broke its attendance record by attracting over 420 attendees, including representatives from electric energy storage (“EES”) technology companies, utilities, venture capital funds, consultancies and government agencies. Key note speakers included Dr. Imre Gyuk of the U.S. Department of Energy, Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner of the California Assembly, Fan Wong of Pacific Gas & Electric, and Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures. Over 50 other distinguished speakers presented lectures and materials on various topics including flow battery applications, advanced storage technologies, smart grid interface, lithium ion battery applications, economics and policy, and venture capital markets.
The record attendance at the meeting and reports of successful pilot projects were strong indicators that the EES industry has matured over the past years. The general sense at the meeting was that the EES industry is poised to emerge from the product development stage and move into the commercialization and deployment stage. In order to successfully make that leap, the EES industry must first overcome several hurdles.
Prospective EES customers, including utility representatives, contended that, except for pumped hydro, EES applications are not yet cost competitive and that EES systems must achieve significant price reductions before they can be competitive. Various utility representatives encouraged the EES industry to continue to bring down costs with the goal of becoming cost competitive with gas peaker plants.
Project developers and technology companies acknowledged this reality, but stressed that when comparing EES applications to gas peakers, it is imperative that the market recognize the broad range of combined value streams and utility benefits that EES applications offer. These benefits include:
- Ancillary services and frequency regulation
- Reactive power, voltage, and power quality
- Renewable integration and smoothing
- Multiple hour peak shifting
- Demand response
- Islanding
- Deferred T/D upgrades
- Minimizing spinning reserves
In addition to these benefits, various speakers emphasized the siting and permitting advantages EES enjoys over gas plants. From a land use perspective, EES applications are relatively low impact. Many EES projects can obtain required permits based on a negative declaration and thereby avoid the lengthy siting proceedings that can drag on for years for some thermal generation projects. These siting and permitting advantages that EES applications enjoy translate into reduced costs and quicker development timelines and give EES a distinct advantage over gas peakers.
The future of EES will in part hinge on the development of supportive federal and state regulations. Accordingly, ongoing proceedings at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission are critical to the future of EES.
Further, EES system providers will face challenges in structuring transactions to finance and build EES projects. Consultants and legal advisors, including Stoel Rives attorneys, are currently wrestling with various options to solve these challenges.
The EES industry will meet again in San Diego for Infocast’s Storage Week on July 11-14, and several Stoel Rives attorneys will be presenting and attending.
CPUC Issues Scoping Memo in Energy Storage Proceeding; Workshop Set for June 28
On May 31, 2011, the California Public Utilities Commission (“CPUC”) issued a scoping memo (“Scoping Memo”) identifying issues to be considered and setting a procedural schedule for its energy storage proceeding. In December, 2010, the CPUC opened Rulemaking 10-12-007 to implement the provisions of Assembly Bill 2514, which directs the CPUC to determine appropriate energy storage procurement targets for load serving entities. To date, the CPUC has issued an Order Issuing Rulemaking, held an initial workshop and a prehearing conference, and received public comments from interested parties. After considering such background and input, the CPUC issued the Scoping Memo.
The Scoping Memo splits the proceeding into two phases: Phase 1 – Policies and Guidelines and Phase 2 – Cost Benefit Analysis and Allocation. The Scoping Memo provides that Phase 1 will consider the following topics:
- How are energy storage technologies currently being used? To what extent are these current uses indicative of how energy storage should be utilized on a going forward basis? As the Commission is developing a generalized view towards energy storage, what lessons learned should the Commission consider, both in terms of successes and failures?
- What policies are needed to encourage effective energy storage that will: reduce greenhouse gas emissions; reduce peak demand; defer and/or substitute for an investment in generation, transmission or distributions; and improve reliable grid operations?
- How can energy storage technologies be best integrated into the utilities’ existing portfolios?
- How could energy storage technologies be integrated with the Commission’s loading order, such as energy efficiency, demand response, renewable procurement, distributed generation and other items in the Commission’s loading order? What about other overarching policies like smart grid?
- Are there current state or federal policies that impede the ability of energy storage technologies from being utilized more widely or serve as barriers to the development of energy storage systems? What, if anything, can be done to remove these impediments and barriers?
- Is it possible to develop a single unifying policy for energy storage when storage has a wide variety of uses?
- Regardless of the technology used, are there certain energy storage applications/attributes that should be encouraged? To what extent do the costs and benefits associated with these different applications/attributes differ?
- How should ownership model of energy storage be considered? Do the current value streams favor one type of ownership model over another?
The Scoping Memo contemplates that Phase 1 will involve a series of workshops, the first of which is set for June 28, 2011 at the CPUC Golden Gate Room, 505 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco, CA.
The Scoping Memo notes that the outcome of Phase 1 will influence the scope of Phase 2. Accordingly, the Scoping Memo declines to set the scope of Phase 2, but states that Phase 2 shall consider at least the following topics:
- How should energy storage applications/attributes be valued?
- What are the costs for the various types of energy storage applications?
- What should be taken into consideration to determine whether energy storage technologies are cost effective? Should they be compared against the other types of resources currently being procured by the utilities? How should the benefits associated with energy storage technologies be taken into consideration when determining cost-effectiveness?
- How should the costs and benefits associated with energy storage technologies be allocated among retail end-use customers?
The CPUC will issue a future scoping memo to definitively set the scope of Phase 2.
Stoel Rives' Bill Holmes and David Benson to Speak at Storage Week 2011
Please plan to join me and my colleagues - Bill Holmes, David Benson, John Thompson, and Morten Lund - at Storage Week 2011. Stoel Rives is proud to be a Platinum Sponsor at this premier event.
Storage Week kicks off on July 11 with four in-depth market and technical tutorials to provide you with all the background details necessary to maximize your experience at the two-day main event. Network with every key group playing a role in rewriting the rules of power markets, from policy strategists, state regulators, and grid operators, to utility planners and IPPs, vendors and more. This event lines up block-buster case studies, key project developers, investors, engineering firms and consultants covering bulk storage development, as well as distributed storage business models.
Click here for a detailed agenda, registration information, and our exclusive 15% off discount code!
WOWE San Diego Chapter Event - Sept. 15
WoWE – Women of Wind Energy – has been promoting the education, professional development, and advancement of women in the renewable energy workforce since its inception in 2005. It has since grown into a network of over 1,000 members strong. It was founded to ensure that women are given the opportunity to play full, productive roles in the development of wind power.
Stoel Rives also believes in this mission, and is proud to be an active member in the Twin Cities, Portland, San Diego, and San Francisco Bay Area chapters. During the month of September we are sponsoring three unique WoWE events.
Our San Diego office will sponsor the local chapter’s September 15 social gathering at Orfila Vineyards and Winery, and the following day our Minneapolis office will host a WoWE Speed Networking Social. The SF Bay Area Chapter’s September 23 program is being hosted in our downtown Sacramento office and will feature speaker Debi Le Vine with California ISO, who will discuss “Renewable Status and Integration Impacts to the CAISO.”
For more information about WoWE please visit: http://www.womenofwindenergy.org.
Twin Cities Chapter: http://www.meetup.com/Women-of-Wind-Energy-Twin-Cities/
Portland Chapter: (linkedIn) http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2339246
SF Bay Area Chapter: (linkedIn) http://www.linkedin.com/in/wowesfbayareachapter
San Diego Chapter (lindedIn) http://www.linkedin.com/groupInvitation?groupID=2306706&sharedKey=35FB4D359402
Energy Storage Developers Call for National Storage Portfolio Standard
On July 13-14, 2009, I attended Infocast’s Storage Summit in La Jolla, California. The conference attracted over 200 attendees.
On day one, Jim Woolsey, Venture Partner and Senior Advisor for VantagePoint Venture Partners and Former Director of the CIA, delivered a keynote address that focused on the theme of the role of energy storage in achieving energy independence and security. Panel discussions included the following topics:
- Bringing Energy Storage to the Power Grid
- State Regulatory Policy
- Revising Regional Market Designs to Facilitate Storage: System Operators Views
- Utility Perspectives on Implementing Energy Storage
- Views of Storage Suppliers: What Policy and Market Change are Needed to Stimulate a Robust Storage Market?
On day two, Dr. Imre Gyuk, U.S. DOE Program Manager for Energy Storage Research, reported on ARRA stimulus funding initiatives and described research funding opportunities. With respect to the challenges facing DOE as it attempts to deploy massive amounts of funding, Gyuk stated, “It’s like trying to drink out of a fire hose.”
Many storage system developers reported that they are having problems “creating value” and monetizing their systems. These developers consistently called for a national storage portfolio standard similar to the RPS for renewable energy. This vibe created a lack of confidence in the attendees that were contemplating entering the market.
There was not much discussion of co-location of storage and renewable projects, but the wind and solar developers in attendance seemed open to the concept of co-location of storage if the price is right.
There was definitely a sense that the market is still in somewhat early stages. However, a few days later, on July 16, 2009, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a policy statement that identified energy storage as one of four grid functionalities that FERC views as key to the development of future standards that will apply to smart grid technologies. Hopefully, FERC's support of the energy storage industry will stimulate further development and deployment of energy storage systems.
