SOLAR TODAY - June 2009

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First U.S. Solar City, Net-Zero-Buildings Event, Suntech 18% Efficiency 12 MIT Battery Breakthrough 14 Ukeiley on the EPA 15

Solar Farm Tests Thin-Film Against Crystalline Modules

In late March, Conergy completed installation of what its solar energy team believes is the world’s first single-axis tracking system using thin-film photovoltaic panels, for the South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID) in Manteca, Calif. The 419-kilowatt (k W) array is phase two of a 1.6-megawatt (MW) solar farm designed to handle nearly all the power needs of the DeGroot Water Treatment Plant, which processes 40 million gallons daily for 155,000 customers in Manteca, Tracy,

Escalon and Lathrop. Energy savings of nearly $400,000 a year will

stabilize customer costs during a statewide water crisis. Construction is supported by $6 million in cash incentives from the California Solar Initiative program, which pays up to 30 percent of system costs for businesses, public agencies and homeowners who go solar.

SOU Th SAN JOAqUIN IrrIGATION DISTrIC T

The project tests crystalline against thin-film technologies. Phase one uses 6,720 Conergy 175-watt crystalline modules mounted on a single-axis solar tracking system. According to Conergy’s Western U.S. Project Director David Vincent, First Solar thin-film modules were selected for phase two because they perform at a lower cost-per-watt than traditional crystalline. “Early indications show the output per DC k W of First Solar thin-film is about 10 percent higher than that of crystalline,” he added. Installation time was three months.

Using a Fat Spaniel monitor system, SSJID can also compare output with a 1-MW Conergy fixed-axis roof-mount system on a fruit-packing house in nearby Hanford, Calif. Thus far, the single-axis systems have run 15 to 18 percent ahead of the fixed array.

MAzRiA: it’s the Efficiency, Stupid
Architecture 2030’s founder urges feds to tie stimulus
to energy savings, jobs at Greenprints 2009.

Reducing mortgage rates will do little to stimulate the economy unless the Federal Reserve links lower interest rates to home efficiency targets — thereby creating good jobs in construction and manufacturing. That opportunity was the focus of Ed Mazria’s keynote address during the Greenprints 2009 Conference and Tradeshow, held March 25–26 in Atlanta. Several hundred sustainable planning and building professionals attended the event, hosted by the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority and Southface Energy Institute.

Noting that the Federal Reserve’s current program only encourages homeowners to refinance, putting the monthly mortgage difference toward debt or into savings, Mazria urged the Reserve instead to tie the lower interest rates to energy-reduction targets and private investment. According to the Architecture 2030 founder, doing it the right way would ensure that every federal dollar spent will create jobs. It would also reduce our reliance on coal-fired electricity for building operations. The proposal follows on “The Two-Year, Nine Million-Jobs Investment Plan” Mazria presented to Congress in February.

Ironically, the economic crisis and tightening budgets may already be helping to drive growth in sustainable efforts.

Atlanta’s Green Communities Program, for instance, is drawing strong interest from local governments eager to attract residents and businesses, according to the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Maia Davis. Just months after the program launch, Davis was hearing from agencies eager to work ahead on the program’s next certification levels.

Malaver Inc.’s Tommy Linstroth detailed top “greening” actions communities nationwide are taking. These include efforts to enforce building-efficiency upgrades, convert landfill gas to energy and conserve water through low-flow toilet giveaways.

Linstroth’s advice for persuading government agencies to pursue green initiatives: Promote the financial, health and quality-of-life benefits. For organizations big or small, government or for-profit, such values are recession-proof.