Volume I, March 2003

Front Page News | Q & A | Featured Project | Regional News | Director's Report

Changes for Renewable Energy Trust
Romney creates Green Energy Fund, $17m. cut

The combination of a new administration and the state's budget crunch mean changes for the Mass. Renewable Energy Trust (RET).

In one of his first acts as governor, Mitt Romney traveled to SEBANE member Konarka Technologies in Lowell on Jan. 22 to endorse the RET 's plan to devote part of the trust to a $15 million "Green Energy Fund." The trust will provide equity capital, loans and management assistance to Massachusetts-based renewable energy businesses.

Romney said the new strategy will emphasize renewable energy's job creation and revenue potential as well as its environmental and energy-independence benefits.

At the event, the Governor also announced $9 million in new financing to five renewable energy companies, including a $1.5 million loan for a pilot production line at Konarka (the Konarka loan is not part of the $15 million: the Green Energy Fund will replace RET's former policy of considering aid applications -- such as these 5 -- on an individual basis).

Months of rumors that the RET would be tapped to close the state's budget gap became reality March 5th. Governor Romney signed a $386 million budget-balancing bill to close the FY03 budget gap, including transferring $17m from the RET to the general fund (the Senate originally proposed taking $35 m. from the RET).

Romney said he would offset the cuts by filing legislation that would require the state (which buys more than $100 million in electricity annually) to buy $17 million in "green energy." The Romney Administration says that would be the largest commitment by any state to buy green energy.

Environmental and alternative energy advocates threatened to sue if the Legislature does not pass the green energy purchase bill.

Sen. Therese Murray (D-Plymouth), chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, told The Boston Globe that '''this is a one-time tap' .. that will not affect any currently authorized projects, and will not divert future collections for the fund."

SEBANE, IBEW Local 103 , other Green energy and environmental groups, as well as the Mass. High Tech Council, had mounted a last-ditch campaign to avoid the cuts, arguing that they would violate the terms under which the money was collected, and would damage the state's solar energy industry.

Despite the turmoil, Renewable Energy Trust Director Rob Pratt is optimistic about the future. He told SEBANE News that "We are working closely with the Romney Administration to advance job creation and environmental initiatives in renewable energy. The Trust is committed to invest these funds in Massachusetts renewable energy companies that create new economic opportunity and to strengthen the clean energy industry in this state."

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Q & A: Sam Nutter, Mass. Renewable Energy Trust

Sam Nutter is the RET's solar-to-market project manager. He oversees design and implementation of PV installation programs and assists with the Trust's solar energy business development activities. Nutter was previously program manager for commercial and industrial energy efficiency programs at Key Span Energy Delivery.

Q. How has creation of the Green Energy Fund and the decision to take $17 million from the RET affected the Solar-to-Market program?
A. The Green Energy Fund is part of the Trust, and just gives solar companies another potential source of funds. The Solar-to-Market program remains one of our 8 major program areas. The cuts will reduce the overall RET sum, but we have enough money to sustain the program for the long term.

Q. Have there been any obstacles so far in the Cluster Grant program? Have they been resolved?
A. The biggest obstacle has been the weather. None of the recipients have been able to install systems because of it. Otherwise, the biggest obstacle was a standard boilerplate requirement in the contract for "sudden and acccidental" insurance that would have been an undue burden on the subcontractors. The changes to resolve that issue have just been made.

Q. Have the recipients been able to do anything despite the weather?
A. They are doing site visits, and some have met with building inspectors and wiring inspectors, as well as running educational programs in schools. I believe that several have signed customers.

Q. What kind of information sharing is going on between the recipients as a whole?
A. Not as much as I'd like, and that's my responsibility. There has been some information sharing , and talk of sharing marketing and contractual documents.

Q. Did you make changes in the grant process for the "Open" PV grant process on the basis of lessons learned from the Cluster Grant selection process?
A. We did some minor tweaking , especially on the insurance issue.

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Featured Project: Solar at the White House

Steven Strong of Solar Design Associates supervises installation of 167 PV modules from Evergreen Solar on maintenance building at the White House

SEBANE members Evergreen Solar and Solar Design Associates installed a 9kW PV system at the White House for the National Park Service.

According to James Doherty, the architect and project manager at the National Park Service, "We believe in these technologies, and they've been working for us very successfully. The National Park Service as a whole has long been interested in both sustainable design and renewable energy sources. We also have a mission to lower our energy consumption at all our sites, and we saw an opportunity to do both at the White House grounds."

SDA designed and oversaw the installation, which was placed on the roof of the main building used for White House grounds maintenance. The PV system directly feeds solar-generated power into the White House grounds' distribution system, providing electricity wherever it is needed. SDA also installed two solar thermal systems, one to heat the pool and spa and one to provide domestic hot water.

The grid-tied PV system consists of 167 solar panels manufactured by Evergreen that cover the roof of the maintenance facility. The entire system installation was completed over a three-day period. It includes a data acquisition system to monitor the system's performance.

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Regional News

CT Names 11 finalists for $1M. PV Program grants
The CT Clean Energy Fund (CCEF) named 11 finalists for its $1 m. (PV) Program to stimulate the PV market and demonstrate PV systems' use as a viable, distributed power-generation resource. Winners will be named in April,. Winning projects must:

• Provide high-value or premium-power attributes;
• Relieve electrical load congestion in critical areas in Connecticut;
• Promote a highly visible application;
• Reduce barriers to installation;
• Demonstrate innovative approaches to design, application or financing;
• Promote environmental benefits

Maine Solar Energy Assoc. pushes for more solar and wind

The Maine Solar Energy Association has urged the PUC to increase the requirements for electricity from alternative sources, specifically wind and solar. In a letter to the PUC, the MSEA noted that while Maine already gets 30% of its energy from renewables, most is from burning biomass and hydro, "and there are major questions raised about the sustainability and environmental consequences of some of these energy sources." Contact:Richard Komp, MSEA president

Konarka Buys Austrian Firm
Konarka Technologies, Inc.acquired Quantum Solar Energy Linz , based in Linz, Austria, from Linz AG, the regional utility company, on Feb. 10, 2003. The Austrian company has been re-named Konarka Austria Forschungs- u. EntwicklungsgesmbH (Forschungs- u. Entwicklungs is translated as Research and Development). Konarka says that the purchase makes it "the worldwide leader in organic photovoltaics."

Navigant Starts Multiclient Renewable Energy Study
Navigant has started a renewable energy multiclient study. Current participants include: We Energies, ARC Financial, Hydro Quebec, Ontario Power Generation, Salt River Project, Los AngelesDepartment of Water and Power, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, San Francisco Public Utilities and Southern Company, among others. Contact:Lisa Frantzsis

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Director's Message

SEBANE Members:

Here is a quick update regarding some of SEBANE’s recent activities.

MRET and Massachusetts state budget: SEBANE and many of our member companies have been very active in communicating with legislators and the Romney administration regarding the proposals to take money from the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust (“MRET”) to balance the state budget. Our efforts will continue as the legislature, having plugged the hole in the FY03 budget, turns its attention to the budget for FY 04 (July 2003 – June 2004).

Interconnection standards: Through our regulatory project, SEBANE has been working towards uniform, statewide interconnection standards for PV and other forms of distributed generation (“DG”). SEBANE has been participating in a DG collaborative sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy (“DTE”). After months of negotiation, the collaborative recently filed a set of recommended interconnection standards with DTE. DTE must now review and (we hope) approve the recommended standards.

Election: As you know, we are holding an election to fill two seats on our board of directors. The results will be announced at our annual meeting on March 14th.

Database of PV installations in Massachusetts: SEBANE has developed a database of existing PV installations in Massachusetts. If you would like a copy, please contact John Snell at jsnell@peregrinegroup.com.

PR effort: SEBANE has launched a PR effort to spread the word about SEBANE, PV, and our member companies. This newsletter is one of the early results of that effort. Look for more in the weeks and months to come.

I’m looking forward to seeing you all at our meeting on March 14th.

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