Primitive, but Effective
At a rustic ranch on a windswept mesa at Ribera, NM—we're talkin' the middle of a beautiful nowhere here—SUN-Enews advertising rep Sherry Christiaens and her husband Steve maintain a home and their various business efforts on solar energy. That means a home office complete with computer, modem and fax, plus the household electricity, all powered by what they call their "antiquated" solar PV system.

Solar panels on the mesa

"We're proof that it can be done," says Sherry. These two stay busy. In addition to raising six horses and running their two-person household, they manage rock bands, do a radio show on Saturday mornings at Las Vegas, NM 30-plus miles away, and Sherry handles advertising for selected ConnectPress, Ltd. publications, including the SUN-Enews. They knew when they moved to the mesa (from Los Angeles) 11 years ago they would need electric power. They also knew it would take at least $13,000 to run one line from the grid to their remote, "nothing but raw land" property.

Then neighbors busily building an adobe house up the hill—who were using power tools powered by a PV panel—told them they planned to use solar electric for generation. To Sherry, a longtime renewable-energy enthusiast, it made sense. They brought in a mobile home, bought solar panels from Positive Energy, Inc. in Santa Fe, a Trace inverter and APT power center from the Real Goods catalog and some golf-cart batteries from Interstate Battery in Albuquerque. Steve built a tarp-covered box outside the home for the battery bank.

Sherry Christiaens

Steve Christiaens and the battery bank

The engineer for a Santa Fe radio station where Steve was working helped them hook it all up. "Two weeks in, the whole system died," Sherry said. The engineer had forgotten to hook the PV panels to the battery bank. Recharged, the system ran another week and was knocked out by a severe electrical storm. It was replace-the-inverter time.

A slow start, but 11 years later, they're still drawing their power from the same system. The Christiaens are on their third battery bank—a bank lasts about five years—and second inverter (they got the recommended 10-year life out of the replaced first one). "You have to make some lifestyle changes," Sherry acknowledges. They heat, cook and refrigerate with propane ("Did you know a propane refrigerator is a lot quieter?"). She doesn't try to use anything that draws a big power surge—the vacuum and her hair dryer are powered by an extension cord run from the backup generator in the well house—and the couple turns off the electricity when they go to bed. They keep flashlights by the bed in case they need to get up in the night.

But they figure they've spent about $10,000 total on their system over the past 11 years, compared to the $32,800—$13,000 for an electric line and $150 per month for electric power—they'd have spent on conventional electricity over the years. Like many folks in rural New Mexico, the Christiaens try to be as self-sustaining as possible. "We prefer to live mortgage-free," Sherry says. "And we love our solar power. We have all the electricity we want. We watch TV, we run the lights and record player—we just don't have to pay for it!"

Their next ambition is a solar-powered well pump, but their water is 300 feet deep, so that project is waiting for technology to catch up. "New Mexico has 320 days of sunshine a year," she adds. "Everybody here ought to be on solar!"

To contact Sherry Christiaens, email sherry.christiaens@connectpress.com.

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Hide not your talents; they for use were made. What's a sundial in the shade?
-- Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790

New Question
I am looking for information on purchasing a photovoltaic system with which I can experiment around my house. I have tried several websites and have been unsuccessful.
-- David Perez, Chicago, IL
Do you have an answer? Send it to SUN-Enews here.
Please include your name, company affiliation if any and location.

Send questions! Do you have a question about any aspect of solar energy or other renewables? Send it to SUN-Enews here.

Solar Retrofit Architecture Contest?
I propose a design competition whose purpose is to encourage the design and installation—in architecturally creative and attractive ways—of solar energy technologies (solar photovoltaics in particular) on existing large-scale buildings: a Solar Retrofit Architecture Design Competition that might be sponsored by the American Institute of Architecture, the American (or the International) Solar Energy Society, the Solar Energy Industries Association, the United States Department of Energy (perhaps as a project of the DOE's Solar Decathlon competition) and/or one or more schools of architecture.

It is fair to say there is little time to lose in promoting this, and quite a number of other ideas that collectively will create the new sustainable civilization we humans had better put together, soon, on this beleaguered planet!
-- Gregory Wright, communications director, SUN Utility Network, Los Angeles, CA

We have put Gregory Wright's longer discussion of his proposal on our website. Click here to read his article, and then tell us what you think.

Keep it coming!
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World Bank Funds Philippine PV Facility
The World Bank will fund the largest grid-connected solar PV facility in the developing world. Its International Finance Corp. has approved a forgivable loan of US $4 million to install a 950-kilowatt (kW) project in Mindanao in the Philippines, using photovoltaic (PV) panels from Sharp. Sumitomo of Japan will be the turnkey contractor and the site should be operational by next year.

The PV plant will work with the existing Bubanawan hydroelectric facility in the first full-scale demonstration of the environmental and economic benefits of combining hydro- and PV-based power. The project is the first time that financing from the Global Environment Facility has been used to support a large-scale PV application; the IFC/GEF loan converts to a grant after five years if certain conditions are met.

Solar Panels Power Oil Production
ChevronTexaco, one of the world's larger oil companies, has installed a 500-kilowatt (kW) solar PV facility to power its field operations in California. The six-acre Solarmine facility is the largest array of amorphous-silicon solar technology in the world, and was installed by Chevron Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of ChevronTexaco, and United SolarSystems, a subsidiary of Energy Conversion Devices of Michigan. ChevronTexaco owns 20 percent of ECD. The solar panels are manufactured by Uni-Solar and marketed under the UNI-SOLAR brand.

The 4,800 flexible solar panels are mounted on metal frames and provide electricity to oil well pumping units and processing plants in ChevronTexaco's Midway-Sunset oil field near Bakersfield. Unlike glass-based PV modules, a-Si panels can withstand direct impact and puncture without compromising their ability to generate power, and can be used for commercial roofing and other large applications that require flexibility and resilience, company officials said.

ReCharge Expo Set Sept. 12-13
The ReCharge Energy Expo and Conference is a two-day event Sept. 12-13 to promote energy efficiency and renewable-energy products and innovations and educate consumers. The event will include two full days of displays, demonstrations and discussions designed to promote the use and advancement of clean energy in the tri-state (New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, USA) region. At this one-stop venue, consumers can learn about clean energy technologies, the availability of grants, loans and other financial incentives, and shop from among the clean energy solutions showcased by participating exhibitors and sponsors.

To download a .pdf of the ReCharge Expo brochure, click here.

For more renewable energy news, go to Other Renewables here.

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Global Conference: Private Sector Must Promote Renewables
The private sector must drive the development of renewable energies, according to an agreement of 80 countries at the first conference of the Johannesburg Renewable Energy Coalition. The coalition was founded during last year's World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. It includes more than 80 countries that want to set concrete targets and deadlines for increasing the share of renewables in the overall energy mix.

The coalition has developed a plan for next year's World Conference on Renewables in Germany. More than 150 delegates participated in the recent conference in Brussels, including ministers and regulators from Germany, Norway, Britain, Botswana, Brazil, Comores, Iceland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, St. Lucia and Uganda. They discussed the status of renewables and strategies to promote RE use, with special emphasis on increasing investments in renewable energy sources and the development of the market for renewable energies.

At least four regional and two international conferences will be held before the June 2004 conference in Bonn, which is expected to produce agreement on the targets for renewable energy use and the timetables to meet them. The Johannesburg Summit last year concluded that the need exists to increase the global share of renewables substantially, but it did not set fixed targets or timetables. The European Union launched the coalition; the Brussels conference was the first gathering at ministerial level since it was created.

The conference concluded that it is critically important to stimulate regulatory frameworks that are conducive to the development of renewable energies, and to internalize the external benefits related to the use of renewables in the mitigation of climate change, the protection of human health, the efficient use of energy resources and to establish a market value for environmental benefits.

Industrialized countries have a responsibility to further develop markets for renewables. That will reduce costs and ease investments both in developing and industrialized countries, the coalition stated, adding that it is important to focus on renewable energy investments that are "financially viable and manage risk appropriately."

Meanwhile, the leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) nations have pledged to "support efforts aimed at substantially increasing the share of renewable energy sources in global energy use."

In a statement issued after their recent summit in France, the G8 leaders promised to "stimulate fundamental research in renewable energies, such as solar photovoltaics, off-shore wind energy, next-generation wind turbines, wave/tidal and geothermal, biomass" and to "work toward making renewable energy technologies more price-competitive." The G8 nations said they will collaborate on sharing research and deployment of emerging renewables and will participate in the International Conference on Renewable Energies next spring in Germany.

The statement was signed by Jacques Chirac of France, Vladimir Putin of Russia, George Bush of the United States, Jean Chrþtien of Canada, Tony Blair of Britain, Gerhard Schr�der of Germany, Junichiro Koizumi of Japan, Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, Konstantinos Simitis of Greece and Romano Prodi of the European Commission.

To submit solar political news or opinion pieces, click here.

Costa Rica Workshop
Solar Energy International is offering a opportunity to study solar energy technology in the natural setting of Costa Rica. The workshop will be at Rancho Mastatal, Costa Rica, Feb. 16-21, 2004. The tuition is US$600. This workshop will be open to only 20 students, so early registration is recommended.

The six-day workshop will include classroom sessions and labs, and will have a strong hands-on component. The workshop will focus on three main areas: solar electricity, solar hot water and solar cooking.

There also will be survey coverage of wind and hydroelectric systems, and the social and financial issues surrounding renewable energy in the developing world. The focus will be on simple systems that work in the real world conditions in less-developed countries. For more information or to register, go to www.solarenergy.org.

Solar Glossary
A short list of common terms:
Passive solar—Harvesting the sun's radiant heat through greenhouse windows, Trombe walls, transpired solar walls, brick floors and other non-electric uses.

Solar hot water—Sometimes called solar thermal; usually involves storing solar energy in a heat storage device to heat water for household or commercial use. It also can be used to heat a home through baseboard radiators or embedded floor tubing, as well as to heat and cool swimming pools.

Solar electric—Using the sun's energy to run electrical systems, excluding electric heating elements.

Grid-tied and off the grid—Remaining on the electric grid after converting to a solar-electric system is called "grid-tied." A solar electric system that stands alone and is not connected to the electric utility is considered "off the grid."

Net metering—When you convert to solar energy and remain hooked to the larger electric utility, you have an automatic backup if your solar system does not generate as much electric power as you need to use on any given day. On the other hand, most of the time your solar system will generate more power than you are using, and will let that generation flow into the larger electric "grid." Most states now have "net metering" laws that allow you to connect your renewable energy system to the grid and bank your electrons there, literally making your meter spin backward and reducing your electric bill, often to a credit rather than a debit charge. To download a table of state net metering programs, click here.

To submit a news item or tip for people beginning to explore the world of solar energy, click here.

Nanosys Licenses Rights to New Research
Nanosys, Inc. has signed exclusive licensing agreements for worldwide rights to a broad set of intellectual properties covering materials and technologies of nanocomposite solar cells developed by prominent nanotechnology centers Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Columbia University. The licensed patents cover important aspects of nanocomposite solar cells based on inorganic semiconductor nanomaterials such as nanocrystals, nanorods and nanowires.

Nanosys cofounder and director of business development Stephen Empedocles said these broad-reaching patents cover some of the most fundamental aspects of nanocomposite solar technology based on inorganic semiconductor nanomaterials. "Combined with our latest US$38 million financing and our recent partnership with Matsushita Electric Works, these licenses will help us accelerate this technology into the market," Empedocles said.

By incorporating inorganic semiconductor nanomaterials into a flexible host-matrix and using roll-to-roll processing to fabricate the final solar cell (similar to that developed for manufacturing photographic film), nanocomposite solar technology marries the high efficiency of inorganic semiconductor crystals with the processability of plastics.

Nanosys believes that once commercialized, this technology will revolutionize the photovoltaics industry by offering high efficiency, low cost and conformal solar cell modules that can be integrated easily into any location where energy is needed. Nanosys already has established its first major corporate partnership in this area with Matsushita Electric Works to jointly develop and incorporate these nanocomposite solar cells into building materials for residential and commercial facilities in Asia. Multiple other corporate partnerships in other solar markets and other areas of the world are being established as well.

To submit a news item or tip for users or providers experienced in solar energy use, click here.

SUN-Enews has created four directories (with links) on our website, www.SUN-Enews.com. There is a nominal fee for listing, to cover costs of content management. These directories are always growing. To find out more about listing in one of our directories, click here.

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SUN-Enews has created two calendars that run in monthly segments on the website, www.SUN-Enews.com. The May calendars list (1) meetings of non-profit associations, and (2) trade shows.

To list your meeting, conference or trade show in the July 2003 calendars click here. Include the name of your association or trade show, date, meeting place (building), town and state/province/country. Also include an email contact, please. Submit July items by June 30. Thanks!

U.S. Wind Capacity Can Increase Six-Fold by 2015
Wind capacity in the United States will increase from 4.7GW now to 36GW by 2015, according to an upcoming report from Platts Research & Consulting of Boulder, CO. Platts is the energy information and research unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

The predicted increase of 650 percent in wind capacity will be due primarily to the federal production tax credit and state-level renewable portfolio standards, Platt says in Renewable Power Outlook 2003, a report to be released in July.

"Federal and state policies designed to encourage the use of renewable energy sources will result in the addition of nearly 31GW of wind resources to the U.S. grid," said co-author Brandon Owens.

Total renewable energy capacity will grow annually by 8 percent until 2015, but renewables still will provide less than 5 percent of U.S. generation, the report concludes. "Renewables still will account for only a small share of the total U.S. power market, but they will play an increasingly important role in diversifying the nation's electricity supply portfolio," said co-author Jack Ihle.

Geothermal and solar technologies also are predicted to increase their penetration of the national market, with geothermal growing at an average annual rate of 4.5 percent to increase from 2.8GW now to 5GW by 2015. The large-scale concentrating solar power market will end a decade of dormancy by doubling its capacity with a 50MW plant in Nevada and a 350MW plant expected to be finished before the end of this decade. Solar PV systems will grow at 15 percent per year, while landfill gas projects will increase at a modest rate throughout the forecast period, the report predicts.

The report presents renewable power capacity and generation projections on a state-by-state and technology-by-technology basis through 2015.

To submit renewable-energy news, click here.

FYI

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