The Department of Energy has selected eight projects to receive up to $11.3 million for the research and development of pioneering novel geothermal production technologies. The  projects (listed below) will conduct Phase 1 feasibility studies, which will include technical and economic modeling and component design. The Department of Energy will choose the projects that will proceed to …

On June 16, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) seeking comments on what it described as two separate but related issues, both of which apply to electric energy storage (EES). 

First, because FERC is interested in facilitating the development of robust competitive markets to provide ancillary services from…

Posted on behalf of Stoel Rives Partner, Aaron Barker.

Envision Solar International, Inc. recently announced that it has filed for a U.S. patent application for the company’s multi-axis Envision Trak™ solar tracking systems, which are designed to increase energy output by approximately 20 percent over a standard fixed PV array. Envision Solar emphasized that…

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…

At the prompting of the Petitioners, on June 6, 2011, the San Francisco Superior Court delivered an order criticizing the California Air Resources Board for continuing to work on AB 32, Greenhouse Gas regulations, despite the injunction issued in the CEQA case and ordered them to appear to discuss the issue.  However, late last week the Appeals…

The Montana Supreme Court has reversed a December 2010 district court decision that found that the developers of the Montana-Alberta Tie Line merchant transmission project do not possess eminent domain authority under Montana law and therefore could not take private land from a nonconsenting landowner.  In its reversal, the state Supreme Court cited House Bill…

On June 3, the California Energy Commission (“CEC”) issued a Notice of Intent to Implement 33 Percent Renewables Portfolio Standard (“RPS”). The new 33% RPS was signed into law by Governor Brown on April 12, 2011. The legislation for the first time expanded the RPS to publicly-owned utilities (“POU”), and tasked the CEC with, among other things, …

For those interested in qualifying energy projects as “eligible renewable resources” under the Washington Energy Independence Act (EIA), the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) issued on June 7, 2011 an important new policy statement that provides processes by which utilities and developers may obtain either a non-binding or binding opinion regarding the eligibility of those…