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Reno Mayor Bob Cashell to deliver opening remarks

Industry and government leaders from both the state and national level will come together for the first GEA National Geothermal Summit in Reno, Nev., Aug. 16 to 17.

Sponsored by the Geothermal Energy Association, the event will focus on key opportunities in geothermal energy and challenges to its success and growth. Geothermal experts will join association members, companies and industry professionals to share real life approaches to getting geothermal projects in the ground and online. GEA believes that the summit will encourage productive dialogue that could help to accelerate geothermal projects across the western United States, and potentially create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

The Summit begins Tuesday, Aug. 16, at 3 p.m., with a GEA members’ meeting. The association staff will present 2011 accomplishments and plans for 2012 and beyond, and hold elections for GEA’s board of directors. A networking dinner featuring special guest speakers and presentation of the first annual GEA Honors Awards follows the members’ meeting. 

On Wednesday, the Honorable Bob Cashell, Mayor of Reno, will welcome attendees to a day packed with educational sessions and networking opportunities. The agenda includes:

• Outlooks for Washington D.C. and the Western States
• Building New Transmission Projects in the Western States
• New Renewable Energy Policy Developments in California
• Moving Geothermal Forward on Public Lands

And don’t miss the Expo Hall featuring government agencies, universities and leading geothermal developers from the growing geothermal industry. Booth space is still available.

Register for the event online, or contact Kathy Kent at 202-454-5263 for more information.

Western Area Power Administration joins Ormat; Stoel Rives, LLP; and the City of Reno in supporting the National Geothermal Summit.

According to the Solar Electric Power Association’s (SEPA) 2010 Top 10 Utility Solar Rankings report, the top ranked utilities integrated 561 MW of solar electricity in 2010, showing 100 percent growth over one year. 

Utilities were scored in two areas: Solar megawatts installed in 2010 and solar watts per customer. Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association was the only Western customer to appear in the first category, acquiring 30.2 MW of new solar power last year. In the second category, Western customer Silicon Valley Power in California ranked first nationally with nearly 40 watts-per-customer. The City of Banning, also in California, moved into the Top 10 by providing more than 27 watts of solar generation per customer. 

The report indicated that market growth is increasingly occurring in areas outside of the solar resource-rich regions of California and the Southwest. Another emerging trend the report identified is the move toward more utility-owned solar projects and third-party power purchase agreements, like Tri-State’s purchase from the Cimarron Solar Facility in New Mexico.

While 30 utilities reported owning 140 MW of solar—a 300 percent increase in utility ownership over 2009—utility solar portfolios differed widely in solar project technologies and procurement strategies. Factors such as state policies, utility preference, solar resources, electricity prices and available incentives influence the make-up of the top 10 power providers’ solar holdings. In California, for example, interconnected customer systems continue to supply a significant amount of solar power for municipal utilities like Silicon Valley and City of Banning.

SEPA is holding a webinar June 23 to discuss the report and talk about how utilities are integrating solar power into their energy portfolios, how the solar market has changed and new market trends. The one-hour event will take place 11 a.m. Pacific/2 p.m. Eastern. The cost is free to SEPA members and the media. Register online.

Utility members of the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) who would like to play a part in shaping the association’s short and long-term direction now have the opportunity to join SEPA’s board of directors. 

This year, the three seats up for election are all in the utility category of membership. One seat must be filled by a representative of a rural electric cooperative and the other two must be filled by representatives of regulated utilities (investor-owned, municipal, or rural cooperative).

The SEPA board meets three times per year; one meeting rotates through various locations throughout the country, one meeting occurs in conjunction with SEPA’s Utility Solar Conference and the third is held with Solar Power International. SEPA board members are volunteers who must cover travel costs to meetings, either individually or through their company. 

The nominating committee of the board is inviting members to submit their names as potential candidates for SEPA’s upcoming elections. To nominate yourself, or another individual, complete the nomination form by 11:59 pm, ET Friday, July 1, 2011.

Elections will be held electronically in July and August and the results will be publicly announced at the SEPA Annual Membership Meeting Tuesday, Oct. 18, in Dallas, Texas,  in conjunction with Solar Power International 2011.

If you missed the WINDPOWER 2011  in Anaheim, Calif., May 22 to 25, you can get a taste of the action on the conference website.

Visitors can watch video clips on the Kid Wind program, the Careers in Wind Summit and  excerpts from speakers including Ted Turner, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer. The posters from the ePoster Gallery and a daily video summary of events can also be viewed at no charge.

Premium Conference Proceedings, a new web-based product from the  American Wind Energy Association, allows visitors to purchase access to recorded audio from the sessions synched with PowerPoint presentations. Attendees with a main conference pass will be able to use their registration information to download basic conference proceedings until July 1, 2011.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) has taken up a new project that is a little different from the cutting edge of energy research and development it usually sponsors. Researchers at Stanford University’s H-STAR Institute are seeking a breakthrough on the behavioral side of energy use. The project will explore how people make decisions about energy, what compels their behavior and how people can use energy more efficiently without adversely affecting their lifestyles.

Stanford’s team brings together researchers from communications, engineering, economics, psychology, medicine and computer science. By combining behavioral approaches, product design, computation and technology, researchers aim to reduce average residential energy use by more than 20 percent by encouraging people to be more energy-efficient at home. See the Energy Blog post. Source: EERE Network News, 6/1/11