“We are trying to demystify the use of renewable energy equipment and green building techniques,” Global Green Executive Director Beth Galante said.

The installations were a minor milestone for Global Green, which began construction earlier this year on the second and third of five planned sustainable homes in Holy Cross, ending a year-long delay following the completion of the first house. Beyond that, the installations provided a platform to celebrate the expanding solar industry. Assisting South Coast Solar in the project was Julio Cardoza, a trainee with Delgado Community College’s solar installation course.

Cardoza is interning with South Coast Solar to complete the hands-on portion of the Delgado course, which requires trainees to help complete two on-site jobs, said Steve Shelton, executive director of the Louisiana CleanTech Network, a nonprofit that helped implement the solar installation course at Delgado.

“This is the sixth course we’ve done” in about a year, with similar courses implemented in Lafayette and Monroe, Shelton said. The courses have produced 140 trained solar panel installers in Louisiana and across the country, as about one-third of the trainees come from out of state, he said.

“We’ve been the only solar training course in the South except for one in Florida,” Shelton said, adding that the CleanTech Network is helping set up six courses at community colleges in Texas.

The past year has significantly expanded residents’ options for finding an installer, Shelton said.

“What we’ve found is that we weren’t just training installers; we were training companies,” he said. “When we first started (at Delgado), there were two (solar installation) companies in the state. Now there’s 40.”

Whether the consumer market is ready to employ all these new installers, however, is unclear. Louisiana offers some of the best incentives for solar panels in the country, with a 50 percent state tax credit that falls on top of a 30 percent federal tax credit. That still leaves the average consumer with an upfront cost, for a typical single-family home system, of about $25,000.

For South Coast Solar, upfront costs haven’t slowed business. According to CEO Tucker Crawford, the company has a three-month waiting list.

Of the Delgado training course, Crawford said: “It’s growing the industry.”

Source:  NOLA.com

The five commission members went into executive session for 90 minutes to discuss Entergy Louisiana LLC’s application to repower a former natural gas plant, Little Gypsy in St. Charles Parish, as a coal and petroleum coke plant. The docket item also gave them the authority to discuss construction and financing of the project.

Commissioners said they were meeting privately, because they needed to discuss litigation strategy concerning a lawsuit filed by the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic on behalf of local environmental organizations challenging the project. When they emerged, they said they were unable to comment.
Advertisement

Commission Chairman Lambert Boissiere III went so far as to say he could not even comment about the rising costs of the project based on material publicly available from the commission, which regulates utilities.

“I can’t comment on any material facts on Little Gypsy at this time,” Boissiere said. “The one thing Louisiana ratepayers need is a diversification of its fuel sources.”

Commissioner James Field, who put the item on the agenda for discussion, also said he could not talk because of the litigation. Field said he did not know anything about the cost of the project, which has increased from $1 billion to $1.76 billion, but it seemed to him that costs should be going down with the decline in construction and demand for materials because of the recession.

“That really wasn’t discussed,” Field said.

The agenda item was puzzling because the commission approved the project in November 2007, and comments on a second docket, dealing with a request by Entergy to have customers start paying for the project while it is under construction, are not due until Feb. 19.

Some wondered whether the executive session and the reluctance to discuss anything about the project might be signs that Little Gypsy may go the way of other coal projects across the country that have stalled.

On Monday, for example, Nevada’s major utility, NV Energy Inc., announced it would postpone a proposed $5 billion coal plant because of increasing environmental and economic uncertainties.

Congress is expected to take steps to tax carbon emissions because of concerns about global warming. While the form of those taxes is unknown, they would make operation of coal plants more expensive. According to NV Energy, its project is on hold until technologies are developed to burn coal with fewer emissions or to store carbon byproducts.

Earlier in the day, the Sierra Club and the Alliance for Affordable Energy, two groups involved in the Little Gypsy lawsuit, released a report they commissioned from an economics research firm in Arkansas. The report stated that the project will be more expensive than Entergy projected.

The groups contend that Entergy in its plans to repower Little Gypsy failed to adequately account for the potential cost of carbon-emission control legislation, increases in the cost of power-plant construction and increases in the cost of coal because of worldwide demand and that the costs could easily exceed $2 billion.
Advertisement

“We will be paying for this plant for 20 years before we get any benefit,” said John Atkeison, director of climate and clean energy programs at the Alliance, a New Orleans watchdog group. “Let’s find a better way to do it.”

Estimates submitted by Entergy to the PSC have stated that the plant would provide economic benefits for customers in 13 years.

Entergy plans to rebuild the Little Gypsy plant as one that burns coal and petroleum coke, a refinery byproduct abundant in Louisiana, to diversify its fuel sources as a hedge against the cost of natural gas. Natural-gas prices have shot up in recent years and peaked in July, but they have been falling with the economy ever since.

Although it was approved more than a year ago by the PSC, the project was delayed because of an unrelated court case involving mercury emissions in Washington, D.C. According to Entergy, the costs went up while the project languished because of increases in construction and labor costs and the cost of having money sit idle. The company also stated it increased provisions for the cost of unknowns in the project, which is expected to open in 2013.

Michael Twomey, vice president of Louisiana regulatory affairs for Entergy Services Inc., declined to comment about the report, because the environmental groups have sued over the conversion of the plant.

“This case is in litigation, and we’re not going to comment,” Twomey said.

It is unclear whether or under what conditions the PSC has the ability to change its mind about a project that has already won its approval, since companies make large investment decisions based on regulatory approvals.

Melissa Watson, a staff attorney at the PSC, said the PSC set up a docket to monitor Little Gypsy, as it did with Cleco Power LLC ’s Rodemacher Unit 3 plant north of Alexandria. Like Little Gypsy, that facility would burn a variety of solid fuels, including coal and petroleum coke. It is expected to open this fall.

“I don’t want to say that the commission can never look back,” Watson said. “Entergy has a continuing obligation to prudently manage the project.”

A deadline for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to approve or reject the project passed without comment Friday, leaving the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality free to issue a key permit for the plant if it desires.

According to Entergy, it expects to soon receive the remaining permits necessary to rebuild the plant.

Source:  Nola.com

Retailer Spotlight: South Coast Solar

[Scott Oman, Troy von Otnott & Tucker Crawford]

With state and federal tax incentives, solar panels are more affordable than ever, and since 2008, South Coast Solar has been combining energy-efficient measures with renewable energy for residential and commercial establishments. The business is owned by President Troy Von Otnott, Chief Executive Officer Tucker Crawford and Chief Technology Officer Scott Oman, and with their staff of 15, they run the largest renewable energy company in Louisiana.

What items do you sell?
We sell solar panels, solar hot water
systems and solar pool heating systems.

Where do you get your items?
Our solar electric panels are provided by SunPower in San Jose, Calif. Our solar thermal collectors are from Heliodyne and Enerworks.

What’s the first thing you discuss with a client?
Whether they have adequate south-facing roof space. If they don’t, we look for east- and west-looking space, never the north side of the roof. Then we determine what their energy needs are –– whether they need hot water or more electricity, and then we’ll recommend a number of energy-efficiency measures that they can take to reduce the energy load for the home.

How is your store different and better than a competitor?
We represent the top solar product manufacturers. We have the most experienced installation crews and the longest service warranties and lowest price guarantees.

How has your business evolved or changed since its inception?
We started off with two people, and within 12 months we now employ 15, and we are the largest renewable energy company in Louisiana.

Do you have any specials or sales for March?
We’re offering free wireless monitoring equipment for all solar electric systems.

Source:  myNewOrleans.com

The City of New Orleans will complete a comprehensive city plan for the expansion of solar technology; explore and evaluate ways in which the City can support or encourage adoption of solar technology; reduce or eliminate obstacles to solar adoption; stimulate the supply side of the solar marketplace; continue the process of recruiting private sector businesses to operate here to be involved in the supply of solar technology; and begin to train developers, builders and craftspeople about the technology, and educate the public on the benefits and affordablity of solar power technology for there homes and businesses.

The New Orleans Solar America City Project is a collaborative effort lead by the City of New Orleans in partnership with US Department of Energy, Alliance for Affordable Energy, FutureProof,Global Green , and Louisiana CleanTech Network.

U.S. Department of Energy – Solar America Cities

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar America Initiative seeks to form strategic partnerships with U.S. cities. Through these partnerships, the Solar America Cities program intends to help accelerate the adoption of solar technology at the local level. This includes engaging city governments as important end users of energy, key intermediaries to other end users within their jurisdiction, and regulatory entities.

U.S. Department of Energy is partnering with cities that are committed to achieving a sustainable solar infrastructure through a comprehensive, city-wide approach to solar technology that facilitates mainstream adoption and provides a model for other cities to follow. The program will provide assistance to cities in their plans implement a variety of strategies with the desired outcomes being:

* Development of a comprehensive city government approach to solar implementation, involving key stakeholders, utilities, and private partners

* A widespread increase in solar adoption

* Large-scale solar installations

* A reduction in market barriers through activities such as streamlining solar-friendly permitting and zoning

* Creation of city-level solar incentives (e.g., solar rebates, financial assistance, tax credits, property tax abatements, and/or tax incentives to solar manufacturers who locate in the city)

* An increase in public awareness through promotions and citywide education

* Inclusion of renewable energy curriculum material in the public schools

* Integration of solar energy into city planning and emergency preparedness plans (e.g., schools as shelters or natural disaster relief)

* Solar America Cities serve as models for other cities.