(Presented jointly by the NC Solar Center & the NC Sustainable Energy Association)

Friday May 31, 2013 | 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM

NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Nature Research Center
11 West Jones Street – Raleigh

Join the NC Sustainable Energy Association and the NC Solar Center for the kick-off event in a series of five public fora designed specifically to spark critical information sharing on the technical, social, and environmental aspects of solar projects.  Following this kick-off event, subsequent meetings are planned for Greensboro (late June), Lumberton (July), Asheville (August) and Charlotte (October) with dates to be determined.

North Carolina has experienced dynamic growth in solar photovoltaic system development; much of it in rural areas of North Carolina where jobs have been created and tax bases have grown.  Still, there is limited education for the general public, land owners, and local governments on facilitating this type of development in a way that harmonizes with local needs.  Though some towns and counties have already passed their own solar ordinances to provide a useful guide for the development of solar projects, many others have not. These areas can benefit greatly from an improved understanding of solar project basics.  Industry and extra-industry stakeholders can advance this goal and also serve to provide a template for the permitting of solar energy facilities.  We encourage your attendance at this dynamic and informative event.

Seating is Limited to 150:   Register today

Benefits of Attendance

• Gain an understanding of local development and permitting processes.
• Learn about stakeholder values regarding solar energy facilities and land use.
• Learn how solar affects local communities.
• Explore best practices for solar siting.
• Network with energy leaders, consumers, planners and many others.
• Participate in break-out session and panel discussion.
• Inform the process of developing a template ordinance for solar energy facilities in North Carolina for local governments.
• Hear from experienced individuals who own land and knowledgeable professionals from an array of backgrounds.

Attendee Profile

• Electric Utilities and Independent Power Producers
• Local, State and Federal Government Officials and Staff
• Clean Energy Business Owners and Employees
• Planning Agencies, Energy Advisors and Consultants
• Clean Energy Architects, Engineers and Construction Representatives
• Community College and University Researchers
• Commercial and Industrial Energy Customers
• Clean Energy Technology Adopters, Site Owners and Managers
• Manufacturers of Renewable Energy Systems
• Clean Energy System Integrators
• Start-up Entrepreneurs

Agenda

12:30 – 1:00 PM  Check-in/Registration on 4th floor

1:00 – 1:15 PM  Welcome/Introduction and Overview: 
Tommy Cleveland; Solar Energy Engineer &
Miriam Makhyoun, NC Sustainable Energy
Association Clean Energy Industry Specialist

Speakers:

1:15 – 1:30 PM  Legal: Katherine E. Ross/Associate, Parker Poe

1:30 – 1:45 PM  Environmental and Geotechnical:  Ryan Conchilla, Environmental Project Manager, ECS Carolinas

1:45 – 2:00 PM  Agriculture: Paul Sherman, Air & Energy Programs Director, NC Farm Bureau Federation

2:00 – 2:15 PM  Planning: Ken Krulik, Planning Director, Warren
County Planning, Zoning & Code Enforcement

2:15 – 2:30 PM  Forestry: TBD

2:30 – 2:45 PM  Break and Refreshments

2:45 – 3:30 PM  Panel Discussion:  Katherine Ross, Ryan Conchilla, Paul Sherman, Ken Krulik & Frances Bisby (Landowner of Leased Solar Project)

Discussion:

3:30 – 4:00 PM  Breakout Session:  Current North Carolina
Solar Ordinances

Seating is Limited to 150:   Register today

For Sponsorship Information, contact kathleen@energync.org

For General Information on Public Fora or the Drafting of the Template Solar Ordinance, contact:

Tommy Cleveland, PE
Solar Energy Engineer
North Carolina Solar Center
N.C. State University
919.515.9432 (office)
Tommy_Cleveland@ncsu.edu

or

Miriam Makhyoun
Clean Energy Industry Specialist,
NC Sustainable Energy Association,
Energync.org
Office:  (919)-832-7601 x114
Mobile:  (828)-507-9089
Miriam@energync.org

Energy Award Supports North Carolina Alternative Fuel Efforts

RALEIGH, N.C.– The North Carolina Department of Transportation is supporting efforts led by the N.C. Solar Center at N.C. State University to reduce transportation related emissions with a three-year $6,200,000 award for the Clean Fuel Advanced Technology (CFAT) project. The CFAT 2013-15 project is the third phase of an initiative that began in 2006 and was previously administered with $3,000,000 in state and federal funding.

The CFAT project focuses on improving air quality in the 24 North Carolina counties that are in non-attainment or maintenance status for national air quality standards. The project centers around three primary activities: education and outreach, emission reduction sub-awards and recognition of exemplary efforts among fleets and organizations that implement clean transportation-related policies and practices. Phase three of the project will include the following new components:

• A public education campaign, using billboards and other related media such as radio, television and social media;
• The establishment of a technical advisory committee to develop clean transportation training activities;
• The creation of a state-wide green fleet program to enhance opportunities for continuing expansion of clean transportation policies and practices.

The grant awarded to the N.C. Solar Center is funded with federal dollars through the Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) program that is administered annually by NCDOT.  CMAQ funds support projects that improve air quality by reducing transportation-related emissions. The most recent federal transportation funding bill, MAP-21, places new emphasis on the use of CMAQ funds for electric and natural gas  infrastructure  along with diesel engine retrofits and other efforts that reduce fine particle pollution.

The majority of federal CMAQ funding supporting the CFAT project is budgeted for sub-award projects that will be allocated through an annual call for project process. Over $4,000,000 is budgeted for eligible CMAQ technologies, such as vehicle and refueling/recharging equipment for biodiesel and E85 (a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline), electric vehicles, natural gas and propane in public and private sector fleets. Diesel retrofits and idle reduction technologies are also eligible for funding support of up to 80% of project costs

The CFAT project intends to continue successful partnerships with Centralina and Triangle J Council of Governments (COGs) through the Centralina Clean Fuels and Triangle Clean Cities coalitions, as well as expand education and outreach efforts to the Piedmont Triad Regional Council and Upper Coastal Plain and Ker-Tarr COGs. “NCDOT’s funding will significantly expand education, outreach and deployment of alternative fuel and advanced vehicle technology to help reduce transportation-related emissions in effected counties ”, said Anne Tazewell, clean transportation manager at the N.C. Solar Center.

About the North Carolina Solar Center:

The North Carolina Solar Center, as part of the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University advances a sustainable energy economy by educating, demonstrating and providing support for clean energy technologies, practices, and policies. It serves as a resource for innovative, green energy technologies through technology demonstration, technical assistance, outreach and training. For more information visit: http://www.ncsc.ncsu.edu.  Twitter: @NCSolarCenter

Contact: Shannon Helm, N.C. Solar Center, 919-423-8340, shannon_helm@ncsu.edu

The Solar in Small Communities: River Falls, WI case study explores the City of River Falls’ efforts to stimulate a local solar market, with a focus on the River Falls Municipal Utility (RFMU) Solar Feed-in Tariff program.  Together, RFMU, the local government, and the citizens of River Falls have developed a suite of energy programs for the community over the past 12 years.  Their success and continued dedication serves as a strong example of how a small community can work with its municipal utility to accelerate the development of a solar industry.

This case study was created as part of the North Carolina Solar Center’s efforts under the SunShot Solar Outreach Partnership, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative. As a member of this partnership, the North Carolina Solar Center provides information and technical expertise to local governments interested in implementing solar programs and policies.

Click here to read the entire case study.

This case study was created as part of the North Carolina Solar Center’s efforts under the SunShot Solar Outreach Partnership, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative. As a member of this partnership, the North Carolina Solar Center provides information and technical expertise to local governments interested in implementing solar programs and policies.

Click here to read the entire case study.

USDA-funded renewable energy assessments for NC, SC & VA provide assistance

RALEIGH, N.C. – As renewable energy becomes increasingly common throughout the state of North Carolina, opportunities for rural communities to take advantage of renewable energy are growing rapidly.  Solar electric, also known as photovoltaic or PV, solar thermal, and bio-energy can bring revenue and savings to rural and agricultural enterprises while providing the environmental benefits that accompanies renewable energy. Several factors are joining forces to drive this recent explosion of solar and bio-energy development. In the PV industry, recent strong growth in worldwide demand for PV has driven down system prices through radical drops in panel prices due to manufacturing cost reductions, economies of scale and increased competition.  Additionally, large-scale investors are becoming more comfortable with solar PV and solar thermal as investments, which is increasing the size of systems and allowing new financing options.

Large Solar PV installations, some 100 acres or more, are now often being sited in rural areas, where flat land near transmission or distribution power lines is common and minimizes the cost the solar farm. Land owners can benefit by leasing land for 15 or more years to the project developers that are building these solar farms throughout the state.  Lease rates are often higher than other uses for the land, making this an attractive option for many landowners. Large solar thermal installations can be installed at any type of facility where a large amount of hot water is used. These systems can dramatically reduce the use of heating fuels, reducing the facilities’ operating costs.  A seven-acre solar thermal farm at Prestage Foods in St. Pauls, N.C. was installed at no cost to Prestage Foods, and will cut their utility cost for heating hot water by more than 35 percent.

North Carolina’s Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Portfolio Standards (REPS) provide an ongoing opportunity for North Carolina agriculture to produce renewable energy by providing specific incentives for renewable energy produced from swine and poultry waste. Power produced from swine waste and poultry litter can claim renewable energy credits, which have a market value and can be sold to provide additional revenue to these projects.  Only a few installations have taken advantage of the swine and poultry allocations of the renewable portfolio standards, leaving a large opportunity for swine and poultry waste-to-energy projects in North Carolina.

Assessment Contact: Tommy Cleveland, NC Solar Center, 919-515-9432, tommy_cleveland@ncsu.edu

Media Contact: Shannon Helm, N.C. Solar Center, 919-423-8340, shannon_helm@ncsu.edu

The vote in Raleigh was closely watched by national conservative organizations that had targeted North Carolina as the first domino in a national strategy of toppling green-energy policies in more than two dozen states.

Sixteen conservative organizations – including the American Conservative Union, Americans for Tax Reform and The Heartland Institute – made a final push for North Carolina’s bill this week with a letter urging lawmakers that it was their “moral obligation” to oppose government programs that interfere with free markets.

Despite the presence of a pair of Americans for Prosperity representatives on hand to remind lawmakers that “other states are watching,” the bill was defeated with the help of a half-dozen Republicans, including three of the most powerful legislators in the state House.

The Committee on Public Utilities and Energy voted 18-13 on Wednesday to kill the proposal that would have ended the state’s 6-year-old policy of subsidizing solar farms and other forms of renewable energy.

After the vote, Dallas Woodhouse, North Carolina director for the Arlington, Va.-based Americans for Prosperity, could barely contain his anger.

“This was a horrible vote by Republicans, and they need to be held accountable,” Woodhouse said. “And that’s all I’m going to say.”

Those who voted against ending the state’s renewables program included longtime supporters of solar power and other clean technologies. Also voting against were those who are wary of dismantling a complex state policy, which had taken months to negotiate, after a brief 30-minute debate.

But the nays also included Republicans whose districts have recruited businesses and added jobs during a severe economic downturn as a result of the program. Since its adoption in 2007, the state’s renewables policy has turned North Carolina into the nation’s fifth-largest developer of solar energy.

“It was based off local issues back home,” Rep. Tim Moore of Cleveland County, who also chairs the powerful House Rules Committee, said after the vote. “I would have had a difficult time talking to a CEO who just brought 300 jobs to Cleveland County [and telling him] that I’m going to vote to eliminate this program that justified their investment.”

Other Republican leaders voting against the bill were Conference Leader Ruth Samuelson of Mecklenburg County and Wake County’s Nelson Dollar, senior chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

Samuelson said she had expected the vote to go either way by a single vote.

“It’s a very complicated issue,” she said, “and we were only getting one side of it.”

Hager’s fight for the bill

The chairman of the Public Utilities Committee, Rep. Mike Hager of Rutherford County, has met resistance on the bill ever since he introduced it two months ago. He delayed scheduling votes and several times watered down the proposal to make it more palatable.

With Wednesday’s vote taking place in a committee Hager runs as chairman, where he can schedule or withhold colleague’s bills, his legislation was thought to have the equivalent of a home-field advantage.

Hager, a former engineer for Duke Energy, said the bill would end a state policy of subsidies for industries that will never be able to compete with natural gas and nuclear power. He said the state is achieving little but increasing utility bills to subsidize developers of alternative energy.

“Do you want your kids, your grandkids, your great-grandkids paying a subsidy that lasts forever?” Hager asked members of his committee. “If you feed the bears, they don’t know how to look for food anywhere else.”

State law requires that at least 12.5 percent of retail power sales of electric utilities come from renewables and energy efficiency programs by 2021. Hager suggested shrinking the mandate to 3 percent, then said he could live with a 6 percent cap.

In Wednesday’s version, Hager agreed to keep the standard at 12.5 percent, to be dropped to zero in 2021. Under that version, Duke Energy and others could let their existing energy contracts run out and wouldn’t have to renew deals to buy or generate more electricity from solar, wind, biomass or offset by conservation programs.

Hager left the meeting room immediately after the vote and wasn’t available for comment.

Constituent concerns

Moore said he almost always votes with Hager, but told his colleague before the committee meeting that he could not support the elimination of the state’s renewable energy policy. His district includes a $27 million manufacturing facility in Shelby being developed by Schletter, an Arizona company that makes mounts and brackets for solar farms.

Moore said the expansion of solar farms is popular with farmers in his district and with his local chamber of commerce.

Before the vote, John Morrison, chief operating officer for Chapel Hill-based Strata Solar, told the committee his company is the fourth-largest solar developer in the nation, thanks to the state’s policy.

He also said that the cost of solar power has dropped significantly in recent years, and noted that the subsidy in electricity rates for solar is almost down to zero for solar farms now under development.

Power company costs

The 2007 state law that requires renewables allows electric utilities to collect the costs from customers, just as the utilities recover their costs for building transmission lines and power plants.

Currently Duke Energy residential customers pay 22 cents a month, while Progress Energy residential customers pay 42 cents a month, to subsidize renewables.

Duke’s commercial customers pay $3.29 a month, and Progress’s commercial customers pay $7.28 a month.

Duke’s industrial customers pay $20.29, and Progress’s pay $34.32 a month.

These subsidies represent a premium paid to make the projects profitable.

The program has catapulted solar farms to the forefront of the state’s energy landscape, but electricity produced from wind, poultry waste and swine waste is still in the early stages.

Democratic Rep. Paul Luebke of Durham, who voted against Hager’s bill, said he was pleased by the wide margin of defeat.

“It is the first victory in three years that I’ve had,” Luebke said. “It was refreshing to see a bipartisan majority.”

Written by: Raleigh News & Observer

RALEIGH - A Nobel Peace Prize winner, the leader of one of North Carolina’s most dynamic energy product innovators, the sustainability chief of one of the nation’s top craft brewers and the Electric Vehicle Manager with Nissan LEAF in Tennessee, will highlight presentations at the N.C. Dept. of Commerce Energy Office’s 10th annual Sustainable Energy Conference in Raleigh April 15-17.

“The state’s clean energy sector has been identified as one of the top national growth trends, vaulting North Carolina into a top-tier state for clean energy jobs and lifting the entire Southeast with it, said N.C. Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker. “Energy activity and issues will continue to dominate the state’s economic development landscape and will be front-and-center at our annual Sustainable Energy Conference.”

In addition to the conference’s traditional agenda, a bonus Smart Grid Forum, highlighting growth and developments in the state’s substantial Smart Grid sector of the energy economy, has been added to the conference lineup with a keynote from Eric Lightner, director of the federal Smart Grid Taskforce.

All conference sessions will take place at N.C. State University’s McKimmon Center, at the corner of Western Blvd. and Gorman St. in Raleigh. The full agenda for the conference is available online at: http://www.sustainable-energy-conference.org/agenda.html

Keynote speakers include:

• Marilyn Brown, a professor of energy policy in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech, will deliver the opening keynote at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, April 16.  Brown is a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, as part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The prize was awarded jointly to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

• James Ellis, electric vehicle manager for Nissan North America.  Ellis manages projects that promote the acceptance of electric vehicles, and he helps develop strategies for charging infrastructure development. Before his career at Nissan, Ellis was senior manager for transportation and infrastructure for the Tennessee Valley Authority.  He will speak at noon on Tuesday, April 16.

• Ty Mitchell, Executive Vice President for Cree Inc.; Cree is leading the LED lighting revolution and making energy-wasting traditional lighting technologies obsolete through the use of energy-efficient, mercury-free LED lighting.  Mitchell oversees the rapidly growing business focusing on commercial and residential LED lighting.  He will speak at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, April 17.

• Cheri Chastain has, for more than six years, been sustainability coordinator for Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., the Chico, Calif.-based craft beer brewer that is expanding with a major east-coast presence in Asheville.  She is responsible for maintaining current policies and projects, and working on new project development along with monitoring energy use, conservation, and generation; managing waste avoidance, recycling, and composting efforts as well as researching and implementing alternative fuel options and works toward water conservation and reuse.  She will speak at noon on Wednesday, April 17.

• Eric Lightner, director of the Federal Smart Grid Task Force, has worked as a manager for advanced technology in the U.S. Department of Energy for the last 18 years.  As head of the Smart Grid Taskforce, it is his mission to ensure awareness, coordination and integration of smart grid-related activities throughout the federal government.  He will open the Smart Grid Forum at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, April 15.  The forum will also include specially-focused panels and sessions.

As elected officials debate potential development for fossil fuels, Environment Entrepreneurs, a national organization of energy innovators, recognizes North Carolina’s clean energy sector as one of the top growing in the nation.  The growth in deployment of solar energy has been one of the state’s economic development bright spots during the depths of the great recession.  Solar Energy sector jobs in North Carolina added 21,160 jobs while the general economy shed more than 100,000.

Panel discussions will feature several topics including: wind and solar power; onshore and offshore fossil fuel exploration, sustainable agriculture; renewable energy project finance and others.  In addition, there will be a special exhibit of alternative and plug-in electronic vehicles.

The N.C. Solar Center is proud to be a sponsor of the conference.  Click here to register and see the conference agenda.

N.C. Solar Center presenters include:

Lyra Rakusin – Session R, NC Renewable Energy Supply Chain & Workforce Training – 4/17, 10:30am – Noon

Jen Banks – Session W, NC Wind Market Update – 4/17, 1:30pm -2:45pm

In March, staff from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Southeast Clean Energy Application Center (SE-CEAC), based at the N.C. Solar Center, participated in the second convening meeting for the National Governors Association’s Policy Academy on Enhancing Industry through Energy Efficiency and Combined Heat and Power (CHP) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  The Policy Academy provides a forum for select states to focus on identifying cost-effective strategies; designing new policies, programs and measures; structuring effective funding and financing options; and exploring innovative outreach, education and training approaches.   At the convening meeting the five participating state teams from Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa and Tennessee shared developments since the project began in the fall of 2012.

At the conclusion of the Policy Academy in April 2013, each team will have developed an action plan for their state.   To support this goal, senior-level policy advisors and business leaders from other states presented in Philadelphia on their experiences with clean energy portfolio standards, interconnection policies, statewide public benefits programs and utility energy efficiency programs.  The SE-CEAC served  as expert faculty for the Policy Academy teams from Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee, providing information on the application of the above policies and other programs, and will continue to support the states during the implementation of their action plans.  As part of their action plans, these three states propose to hold a Governor’s Summit on Industrial Energy Efficiency and CHP.

The SE-CEAC, in collaboration with seven other regional CEACs, works to promote and assists in transforming the market for combined heat and power, waste heat recovery, and district energy technologies and concepts.

This case study was created as part of the North Carolina Solar Center’s efforts under the SunShot Solar Outreach Partnership, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative. As a member of this partnership, the North Carolina Solar Center provides information and technical expertise to local governments interested in implementing solar programs and policies.

Raleigh, N.C. – The N.C. Solar Center recently awarded a sub award grant to the City of Rocky Mount, NC, through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Blue Skies Green Jobs Initiative, a $12,000,000 bi-state project led by Triangle J Council of Governments. The funding covered over 90 percent of the costs for a new Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Refueling Station, and the cost differential between CNG powered refuse trucks and diesel powered trucks.  A ribbon cutting ceremony for the new station and vehicles was held on Monday, March 11, 2013. Several dignitaries, including Senator Angela Bryant and Representative Jeff Collins lauded the City on this new initiative.

“I am just so excited about how much of a leader the City of Rocky Mount continues to be in many arenas, and particularly in the area of clean energy and green jobs,” said Senator Bryant. “This is an amazing accomplishment, and I am very excited to think about the partnership with the N.C. Solar Center, the partnership with the federal government, including the use of stimulus funds that helped to make this available, as well a partnership with South Carolina, a multi-state partnership that helps this initiative go forward.”

Along with the new CNG station, the project included the acquisition of two CNG powered rear loaders used to pick up yard waste and small bulk waste. The City also purchased of a 45 passenger CNG powered bus used by the City’s Parks and Recreation Department to assist in transporting youth during summer camps. Since deployment of the CNG vehicles, the City has realized an average displacement of approximately 2,100 gallons of diesel fuel per quarter, along with associated emission reductions and cost savings of $2.50 to $3.00 per gallon equivalent.  These are only a few examples of CNG powered vehicles that could be used by the City. “There is the capacity to do more,” said Mayor David Combs. “There is a possible expansion of CNG vehicles in other departments, such as Public Utilities, Water Resources and more.”

Some advantages of using natural gas for transportation were highlighted by Rick Sapienza, clean transportation specialist at the N.C. Solar Center.  ”It is a cleaner burning fuel compared to gasoline and diesel and can be superior in performance when compared to gasoline engines. CNG is much less expensive and the time between oil changes for natural gas cars and trucks is also extended, starting at almost 10,000 miles dependent upon the use of the vehicle. Also, natural gas is non-toxic and does not contaminate water or soil since it lighter than air and dissipates in open spaces. In other words, CNG is safe.”

For more information on natural gas, visit the North Carolina Solar Center website at www.ncsc.ncsu.edu.

About the North Carolina Solar Center

The North Carolina Solar Center, as part of the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University advances a sustainable energy economy by educating, demonstrating and providing support for clean energy technologies, practices, and policies. It serves as a resource for innovative, green energy technologies through technology demonstration, technical assistance, outreach and training. For more information about the N.C. Solar Center visit: http://www.ncsc.ncsu.edu.  Twitter: @NCSolarCenter

 
Media Contact: Shannon Helm, N.C. Solar Center, 919-423-8340, shannon_helm@ncsu.edu