From plants to people, every living thing on this planet needs water. But getting enough to survive, and survive comfortably, that can be a little tricky. Just look at the furor around California’s new water restrictions. If a state as wealthy as California is having to get creative in order to start saving water, you can bet that governments and municipalities with less money and clout are having to turn to even more inventive methods to get clean water without breaking the bank.

Luckily, some of the brightest minds in the world are on the case. USAID recently announced the winners of the Desal Prize, part of a competition to see who could create an affordable desalination solution for developing countries. The idea was to create a system that could remove salt from water and meet three criteria: it had to be cost-effective, environmentally sustainable, and energy efficient.

The winners of the $140,000* first prize were a group from MIT and Jain Irrigation Systems. The group came up with a method that uses solar panels to charge a bank of batteries. The batteries then power a system that removes salt from the water through electrodialysis. On the most basic level, that means that dissolved salt particles, which have a slight electric charge, are drawn out of the water when a small electrical current is applied. In addition to getting rid of salt (which makes water unusable for crops and for drinking), the team also applied UV light to disinfect some of the water as it passed through the system.

Using the sun instead of fossil fuels to power a desalination plant isn’t a totally new idea. Larger solar desalination plants are being seriously investigated in areas where water is becoming a scarce resource, including Chile and California. While proponents hope to eventually could provide water to large numbers of people, the technology is still expensive (though prices are dropping) and requires a lot of intricate technology.

In rural areas or developing countries, durability is key, and technology that requires constant upkeep won’t last long. The MIT/Jain team and their competitors tested their projects at the Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility in New Mexico, where they had to run the system for 24 hours at a time, removing salt from 2,100 gallons of water each day. The next step is to test it in an even harsher environment, exposing it to everyday use with rural farmers in an area where USAID is active. If all goes well, the system could provide enough water to irrigate a small farm.

 

Popular Science

Google Maps is already one of the most popular apps used on on smartphones thanks to its sophisticated navigation powers. But Google has figured out an even cooler use for the service and it that doesn’t even involve getting directions – meet Google’s brand new Project Sunroof.

Using the immense map data that’s behind Google Maps, the company’s new Google Maps feature will help you decide the best way to install solar panels on your roof. What Google can do for you is use the knowledge it collects about your home’s location to tell you how much sunlight you’re getting each day, how much electricity that can generate and how much it’ll cost you to install the solar panels.

Basically, Google’s service will be ready to answer some of your most pressing questions related to installing solar panels on your roof. So all you need to do is jot down the data and get ready to invest in solar panels for your roof. We should note, of course, that solar power might not be a good investment for everyone so make sure installing them will be financially worthwhile before making the switch.

Project Sunroof will debut in Boston, San Francisco and Fresno, but should expand to other markets in the future. A video explaining the cool Google Maps tech behind it follows below – more details about the project are available on Google’s special site for it at this link.

 

BGR

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced $63 million in loans and grants for 264 renewable energy and energy efficiency projects nationwide.

USDA is supporting these projects through its Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), which was created by the 2008 farm bill and was reauthorized by the2014 farm bill.

These newly funded projects are expected to generate and/or save 207.8 million kWh of energy – enough to power more than 13,600 homes for a year.

“This funding will have far-reaching economic and environmental impacts nationwide, particularly in rural communities,” says Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “Investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects supports homegrown energy sources, creates jobs, reduces greenhouse gas pollution and helps usher in a more secure energy future for the nation.”

Eligible agricultural producers and rural small businesses may use REAP funds to make energy efficiency improvements or install renewable energy systems, including solar, wind, renewable biomass (including anaerobic digesters), small hydroelectric, ocean energy, hydrogen and geothermal.

Since the start of the Obama administration, USDA has supported more than 9,600 renewable energy and energy efficiency projects nationwide through REAP.

The next application deadline for REAP grants is Nov. 2. In the coming weeks, USDA will issue a notice of available funding with more details on how to apply.

 

Solar Industry Mag

Two years after failing to find qualified bidders to deliver 37 megawatts of firm renewable energy capacity, the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) has returned to the market seek suitable investors.

However, this time around it is willing to take bids for electricity that is generated intermittently – such as when the sun is out or as the wind blows – rather than guaranteed power being made available to the grid.

Waste-to-energy projects, including the conversion of the Riverton dump into a fuel source for such a plant, was seen a means of providing firm capacity in the past.

But only one of the 28 bids that went after the requests for proposal to build 115MW of renewable capacity (of which 78MW would be energy only) was related to biomass.

Two of the proposals received then were wind projects and 25 were for solar energy.

In the end, Wigton and BMR Jamaica were chosen to build a combined 60MW of wind capacity and Content Solar Jamaica Limited was picked to develop a 20MW photovoltaic solar farm in Clarendon.

“None of the bids submitted in respect of firm capacity, made it through all the stages of the evaluation process to be accorded preferred bidder

status,” said a release from the regulator in 2013.

Bidders for the latest RFP will be evaluated on the same grounds as the last time – 20 per cent weighting will be given to experience, while ability to finance the project carriers a 35 per cent weighting across stage 1 evaluation scores.

Bidders have up until January 27, 2016 to submit their proposals, along with a US$8,000 ($940,000) non-refundable application fee. A pre-bid meeting is scheduled for August 28.

The regulator is aiming to evaluate bids; negotiate contracts between the power providers and Jamaican Public Service Company; and see the chosen bidder start construction of the new plant by July 2017 for a December 2018 commissioning date.

The OUR will give an additional year for firm capacity plants to be commissioned.

JPS currently supplies consumers from an installed system capacity of approximately 945.1MW, of which 300.6MW is provided by independent power providers.

In 2014, annual generation from renewable energy sources accounted for approximately six per cent of total system generation, with contributions of 2.5 per cent and 3.5 per cent from hydro and wind, respectively.

 

The Gleaner

Hundreds of businesses including eBay, Nestlé and General Mills have issued their support for Barack Obama’s clean power plan, billed as the strongest action ever on climate change by a US president.

The rules, announced on Monday, are designed to cut emissions from power plants and have been strengthened in terms of the long-term ambition as originally proposed by the president last year, but slightly weakened in the short-term in a concession to states reliant on highly-polluting coal.

White House adviser Brian Deese said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules represented the “biggest step that any single president has made to curb the carbon pollution that is fuelling climate change”. The US is the world’s second biggest carbon emitter after China.

The rules are expected to trigger a “tsunami” of legal opposition from states and utilities who oppose the plans, which will significantly boost wind and solar power generation and force a switch away from coal power. Republican presidential hopefuls moved quickly to voice their opposition, saying they would be economically damaging.

But 365 businesses and investors wrote to 29 state governors to strongly support the rules, which they said would benefit the economy and create jobs.

Mindy Lubber, who is attending the launch ceremony of the rules on Monday and is the president of Ceres, a network of investors that organised the letter, said: “The clean power plan is the right measure at the right time. It’s a flexible, practical and economically sound blueprint to transition America toward a low-carbon future.”

Other signatories included Unilever, L’Oréal, Levi Strauss, Staples, renewable energy company SunEdison and Trillium Asset Management, which manages $2.2bn in assets. It is the largest group of businesses to support the rules so far.

The final rules propose a 32% cut in carbon emissions from power plants by 2030 on 2005 levels, up from the initial proposal of 30%. However states will only have to comply by 2022 rather than 2020 as originally proposed, and will be able submit their plans on meeting the targets by 2018 instead of 2017.

CO2 emissions from power plants fell 15% between 2005 and 2013, meaning the country is halfway to the target.

Monday’s version of the rules also gives an explicit boost to wind and solar power, angering the natural gas industry which will still be a large beneficiary of the switch from coal to gas-fired power plants, which produce much lower emissions.

America’s Natural Gas Alliance, a trade body, said it was “disappointed and discouraged” by the rules. The World Coal Association claimed the plan “will significantly increase the cost of electricity to American consumers.” The Solar Energy Industries Association, on the other hand, said the rules were “historic” and “critically needed”.

The new rules will give a “give a head start to wind and solar deployment”, according to a White House fact sheet. “Drive more aggressive investment in clean energy technologies than the proposed rule, resulting in 30% more renewable energy generation in 2030 and continuing to lower the costs of renewable energy,” it said.

Barack Obama, in a video address, emphasised the health benefits of reduced air pollution from coal plants, and a duty to future generations as reasons for the clean power rules.

“Power plants are the single biggest source of the harmful carbon pollution that contributes to climate change. But until now there have been no federal limits on the amount of that pollution those plants can dump into the air. Think about that,” he said.

Obama’s plan to bring in the rules to cut emissions from power plants – which account for a third of the US’s greenhouse gas emissions – date back to 2009 when the EPA declared carbon emissions a public danger, the first step towards regulating them.

The final rules are likely to be welcomed by the United Nations, which is hosting a climate summit in Paris at the end of the year to agree on a deal on post-2020 curbs on emissions, as well as financing to help poorer countries manage global warming. Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, issued a statement welcoming the regulations.

Andrew Steer, president and CEO of the Washington DC-based thinktank the World Resources Institute, said: “The clean power plan should reassure international partners that the US administration is determined to deliver the 26-28% emissions reductions promised for 2025.

“Our analysis suggests that this rule can be implemented without technical or financial impediment, and in a manner that is likely to promote more, not less, economic prosperity.”

Describing the rules as very important, Lord Stern, the author of an influential review of the economics of climate change, said: “It shows the determination of the world’s richest country to maintain better economic growth while also cutting greenhouse gas pollution. President Obama has recognised in particular the enormous damage caused by pollution from the burning of coal in power stations.”

Gina McCarthy, the EPA’s administrator, said she believed the agency was on strong legal grounds for defending the rules from the legal challenges they are almost certain to face.

“Over the next few days we will hear the same tired old plays from the old special interests playbook,” said McCarthy.

The Guardian

FORMER United States President Bill Clinton’s Foundation is working with a Jamaican entity, Wigton Windfarm, to promote greater use of wind and solar energy here, as part of a wider effort to force down exorbitant energy costs in island nations.

The Climate Change Initiative (CCI) and its companion Rocky Mountain Institute-Carbon War Room (RMICWR) — both of which operate under the Foundation — believe that Jamaica could become more independent of the more costly traditional energy sources by reducing energy costs through renewable energy.

“This high cost puts stress on the Government by increasing the trade imbalance and discouraging foreign investment, as well as on individual households who have to pay high prices for the power they receive,” the CCI said in an article written exclusively for the Jamaica Observer and published on page 14 of today’s edition.

(See Bill Clinton Foundation pushing renewable energy for Jamaica) The CCI pointed to new initiatives in Jamaica which are addressing renewable energy transitions from a variety of angles, including the Wigton Windfarm which uses wind to generate electricity and which has recently expanded its energy capacity to 38.7 megawatts.

CCI also said it was working on innovative solar PV programmes in Jamaica. “Jamaica can significantly reduce energy costs by becoming more independent, which will benefit the country as a whole… These projects are a great first step in transitioning to sustainable energy systems, but more work can be done,” it said.

The Clinton Foundation suggested that there was a link between climate change and energy, and that the threats of rising sea levels, freak weather patterns, and dying ecosystems had become part of the daily conversation, yet the international response was yet to catch up.

But it praised island nations like Jamaica for having taken “admirable steps towards transitioning to renewable energy”. “Island nations like Jamaica will benefit economically if there is a systematic transition away from traditional sources of energy.

Because of their dependence on importing diesel and petroleum, these nations are susceptible to global market fluctuations and have to pay high premiums on transport of fuel. For instance, the price of energy for some island nations has reached almost 500 per cent the typical US average.

In Jamaica, 11.46 per cent of the country’s GDP is spent on energy. “Compared with non-island nations, whose energy expenditure only represents a small percentage of GDP, this high price causes a significant economic burden for the people of Jamaica and their families,” CCI said.

 

Jamaica Observer

Access Financial Services was approved for a US$284,000 ($33 million) grant from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to finance its green microfinance -for-clean-and-efficient-energy project.

Access will also put up US$130,000 for the undertaking. The micro-lender aims to use the facility to offer financial products to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and low-income households that wish to acquire renewables or energy-saving technology.

The goal is to enable the targeted groups to achieve “better energy cost management for those MSMEs and increase disposable income of low income households”, according to project details published by the IDB on its website.

The multilateral lending agency approved the non-reimbursable technical co-operation grant last Thursday. Access CEO Marcus James was not reached for comment.

NationGrowth MicroFinance Limited beat Access to the punch. It already has a green energy loan facility available to small businesses for financing of up to $2 million and a five-year repayment period.

However, companies wishing to access this facility have to present at least two years audited financial statements, among other things. For individuals, a job letter and pay slips are taken to demonstrate ability to repay, but both business owners and householders have to put up collateral to access this loan, which NationGrowth advertises at an interest rate as low as eight per cent a year.

Still, the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) appears to currently dominate the domestic market for energy financing for SMEs in terms of the range of offerings listed on the Jamaica MSME finance online directory at findmsmefinancing.com.jm.

SME OFFERINGS

The government agency offers products ranging from grant funding of up to $200,000 available to SMEs for energy audits to debt financing of up to US$3 million through a PetroCaribe funding facility.

However, SMEs are more likely to access DBJ’s regular energy loan, which provides a maximum of $30 million in financing at single-digit rates and up to seven years to repay it. The government agency is willing to fund up to 90 per cent of projects for smaller businesses, while large firms have to put up closer to a third of the project cost.

The DBJ defines SMEs as companies with less than 50 employees and annual sales of $150 million or less.

For households, the DBJ lends up to $2 million, also at single-digit rates. It lists solar water heaters, photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, biodigesters, and energy-saving lighting systems among the items for purchase that it is willing to finance.

 

 

Jamaica Gleaner

A $21.5 million social intervention project, the ‘Empowering Parade Gardens, Kingston, Through Renewable Energy Skills Training’, has benefited from an input of approximately $7 million from the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ).

The DBJ and Jamaica’s Environmental Health Foundation (EHF) — the implementing agency — have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), under which the bank will make the contribution to the project aimed at empowering the downtown Kingston community, which includes volatile areas such as Southside and Tel-a-Viv in Kingston Central.

“The deal will ensure that the skill sets of 90 residents of Parade Gardens are developed by means of behavioural change workshops and certified skills training in renewable technologies, food preparation, as well as driving lessons to secure driver’s licences and employment opportunities,” EHF CEO Novlet Deans told the MoU signing ceremony on June 4.

She said that the project will also include outfitting the Parade Gardens Community Centre with a 10KW solar power system and LED lighting, along with 35 households in the community being outfitted with LED lighting.

The EHF was invited to implement the project by the Planning Institute of Jamica (PIOJ), which is the implementing agency for the government’s Community Renewal Programme.

Managing Director of the DBJ Milverton Reynolds said that the aim is to empower residents to improve their circumstances and contribute to the country’s development.

“We believe there is bound to be a positive developmental impact from this intervention. At the end of this one-year programme, the young people will have skills which will be certified by HEART Trust/NTA,” he said.

Reynolds also noted that with the new skills and certifications, residents of the community “will become socially responsible citizens, participating fully in the life of the country and contributing their fair share of the taxes that help to improve the roads, education and health care”.

Vice-president, Parade Gardens Community Centre, Shaka Payne, also welcomed the intervention and said that equipping the community centre with energy-efficient technologies will lower the energy bill by at least 70 per cent.

“This will also aid in keeping us off an overwhelming statistic of community centres across Jamaica that have closed down because of inability to pay utility bills and maintenance,” he said.

The project aims to build the community’s capacity for climate change mitigation, as well as complement climate change adaptation strategies and improve the residents’ employability.

The project will also provide certified skills training to 30 residents of the community, with specific focus on youth. Of the 30, 10 will be trained in renewable energy technologies, focusing on solar PV system installation, operation and maintenance; 10 in food preparation, levels 1 and 2 (an already established livelihood in the community); and 10 are to receive driving lessons toward securing a general driver’s licence, which is a prerequisite for many employment opportunities.

The renewable energy training will be done in collaboration with the Caribbean Maritime Institute, while the food preparation training will be conducted by HEART Trust/NTA. Additionally, behaviour change workshops and training sessions (non-certified) will be held with the wider community on renewable energy, energy efficiency, career development and entrepreneurship.

The project will facilitate the formulation of strategic partnerships with public and private sector agencies to ensure the success of the programme.

The organisations forming the Project Steering Committee are the Parade Gardens Community Development Committee (programme coordinators on this project), Caribbean Maritime Institute, Planning Institute of Jamaica, HEART Trust/NTA, Citizens Security & Justice Programme (CSJP), Social Development Commission and EHF.

Last year residents of Parade Gardens benefited from a new $39-million community centre, construction of which was spearheaded by Jamaica Social Investment Fund , with support from the European Union under its Poverty Reduction Programme.

The centre boasts a computer laboratory, designated classroom area, meeting room, kitchen, and sanitary facilities. The CSJP provided furniture costing $800,000.

OUR still deciding whether to appeal or redesign programme

Avia Collinder, Business Reporter

Jamaica’s electricity tribunal has effectively sent utilities regulator, OUR, back to the drawing board to redesign the pricing structure plan for the wheeling of power through Jamaica Public Service Company’s network.

The Office of Utilities Regulation has said it may appeal the ruling.

JPS had contested the wheeling prices set by the OUR as inadequate and in breach of its licence, and Chairman of the Electricity Appeals Tribunal, Justice Paul Harrison, issued a ruling in November 2014 that sided with the power utility. Justice Harrison described the pricing structure as ‘irrational and flawed’.

OUR had intended to introduce electricity wheeling in 2013, but the programme was put on hold after JPS’ legal challenge.

The regulatory agency said this week that it was still reviewing the tribunal’s decision but expected to wrap up the assessment by the end of March.

Essentially, JPS had argued that wheeling prices should be set around the same time as the rate determination for electricity charges – the latter was decided last month – having noted that the 2013 wheeling rates were based on stale data.

JPS also argued that the approved wheeling charges were in breach of Condition 12 of its licence, neither were they guided by the cost of service study (COSS) conducted by the power utility.

“We are still assessing the effect and implications of the ruling,” Ansord Hewitt, the OUR’s director of regulation, policy, monitoring and enforcement, told the Financial Gleaner.

The review will determine the regulator’s next step.

“If, for example, it decides to appeal the decision then the status quo remains,” said Hewitt. “On the other hand, if it decides not to appeal the next step is to direct JPS to do a cost of service study stipulating the framework for it. We will have another round of consultations, then determine a system including charges and, thereafter, implement,” he said.

Though a number of local com-panies have expressed interest in wheeling electricity, no applications have been made so far to the OUR.

As defined in the text of the Tribunal’s decision: “Wheeling is a method by which a grid operator, for a price, allows another party to send electrical energy over the grid operator’s transmission and distribution system, from a location at which the party generates the energy, to a location where it will be consumed.”

The wheeling regime was introduced in Jamaica by the amendment of Condition 12 of JPS’s licence in 2011.

To qualify for a wheeling licence, lasting 10 years, the applicant must be a self-generator with consumption facilities of 25kVA.

The OUR in 2013 determined annual wheeling rates at an average of US$105,312 per MW for primary distribution and US$53,545 for secondary distribution on a non-locational basis.

The regulator also estimated rates for 14 actual JPS customers at different locations across Jamaica, which ranged between US$83,100 per MW and US$629,900 per MW.

JPS argued on appeal that the wheeling charges were not consistent with the existing tariffs and price controls, in that the charges would not be revenue neutral to the utility. It also objected to the OUR’s use of a Modern Equivalent Asset Valuation model for setting wheeling rates, instead of actual costs, and argued that the structure created by OUR would result in tariffs that discriminate by location.

The Electricity Appeals Tribunal, after hearing from expert witnesses on both sides, ruled “the OUR acted unlawfully in producing its own COSS [cost of service study], albeit with some 2009 data from JPS, in breach of Condition 12 and therefore, in that respect, its determination is flawed”.

Harrison ruled that the OUR’s decision not to consider JPS’ COSS data, which was available to it in June 2013, a month before its wheeling determination, was “irrational”.

He further noted that the OUR, being a statutory authority with powers and functions conferred by law and the power utility’s licence, could not “arrogate to itself powers that are not conferred on it”, and that it had no common law powers nor a legal basis or authority to conduct its own COSS.

Additionally, the wheeling charges proposed by the regulator were “not consistent with tariffs and the price controls as approved by the OUR,” said Justice Harrison.

“… It was irrational for the OUR to issue the Determination Notice for the reason that it did. The said notice is accordingly flawed and irrational,” he said.

avia.collinder@gleanerjm.com

Jamaica Gleaner

With reference to your headline article, ‘Solar power risk’ in The Gleaner Tuesday, June 3, I think that our policy decisions in relation to electricity should be based on long-term considerations, such as the amount of foreign exchange spent on fossil fuels, and the threat of global warming, rather than on return on investments.

My initial observation is that we have failed to capitalise on the opportunities provided by solar energy. Neither Jamaica Public Service (JPS) nor the Office of Utilities Regulation has educated the public on the win-win situation, which is possible with net-billing. More people might be interested in applying for net-billing if the application process were quicker, and the steps involved, detailed instructions for which are given on JPS website, were less onerous. Most people are unaware that you do not need batteries to run a solar system if you have a grid-tie with JPS. In fact, going that route is more environmentally friendly and less expensive, as shown by the calculation below.

BUYING BATTERIES

On the whole, companies selling solar systems encourage purchasers to buy batteries. Their pitch is that you can cut your electricity bills and even get off the grid entirely. They also tell you that JPS pays you only half of what you pay JPS per kWh, which is true, but they don’t tell you that batteries would cost more. Also, most people use more electricity in the summer than in the winter. To get off the grid entirely, one would have to install sufficient panels to supply one’s summer needs, and then one would have excess in the winter. It would be better to be able to send the excess to the grid in the winter and draw from JPS if necessary in the summer.

My calculation is based on a monthly average of 200 kWh being sent to JPS in the day, and drawn from JPS at night. (It does not include the excess amounts being sent or drawn). Nor does it take into account escalating costs. I make the optimistic assumption that a battery bank will last for 10 years.

WITHOUT SOLAR PANELS

200 kWh x J$40 = $8,000 monthly x 12 = $96,000 annually x10 years = $960,000.00

With solar panels and net billing (cost corresponding to half of $40.00)

200 kWh x $20 = $4,000 monthly x 12 = 48,000 annually x 10 years = $480,000.00

Savings: $480,000.00

With batteries, no net-billing, cost would be $0, but cost of 16 batteries at $40,000.00 each with life expectancy 10 years max = $640,000.

In contrast, as Mr John Kistle states, JPS would be faced with the challenge of providing everybody with electricity at peak hours after sunset, or on overcast days. Some of that generating capacity would have to be turned off at peak sunshine hours, thus reducing the return on whatever investment was made in a new power plant. However, solar power would cut down on the amount of fuel needed to run the plant.

Given the importance of the cost of electricity to all of us in Jamaica, perhaps there are some other things we can do. Could there be a consensus, for example, on turning off our fridges during peak hours? Or JPS charging different rates at peak hours?

I think that all stakeholders need to be involved in making these hard decisions.

Jamaica Gleaner;