Author Archives Laura Arnold

Sierra Club’s Coal Free Indiana University (IU) finances 8 solar panels at Indiana Memorial Union (IMU) installed by Mann Plumbing/MPI Solar

Posted by Laura Arnold  /   May 03, 2011  /   Posted in Uncategorized  /   2 Comments
 Original story: http://www.idsnews.com/news/story.aspx?id=81348
By Claire Aronson | IDS | April 26, 2011

Eight solar panels producing two kilowatts of clean energy were installed on the roof of the Indiana Memorial Union on Thursday.

The panels are each 250 watts and are located on the left side of the Whittenberger Auditorium entrance, said Jill Minor, Mann Plumbing Inc. solar website designer and School of Public and Environmental Affairs dual masters candidate.

“On the back of the panels, we use micro-inverters, and the panels create direct current electricity like a battery, and the micro-inverters change the direct current into alternating current,” Minor said.

The IU Student Foundation awarded the Sierra Club’s Coal Free IU project with a $12,000 grant to fund the installation of the solar panels.

University Engineer Jeff Kaden said while the grant wasn’t a lot of money to purchase these panels, the product the University purchased was good.

“Hopefully, this is the first of many projects that we can do like this, and hopefully, the next ones will be bigger,” he said. 

Mann Plumbing Inc./MPI Solar installed the array, which took about nine hours, Minor said.

“The biggest challenge was definitely getting the panels up on the roof,” she said. “There was no direct access.”

However, because of a slight change in the way the micro inverters are connected, the solar panels aren’t fully operational yet, Kaden said.

“There are a couple electrical items that need to be completed, and quite frankly, it has not been sunny since they have been up so they couldn’t have been producing much energy anyway,” he said.

The amount of energy the IMU uses every day will affect how much of the difference is noticeable, Kaden said.

“The building uses thousands of kilowatts a day so there is going to be very little noticeable effect, quite frankly,” he said. “This is a very interesting demonstration project, and there will be a web-based opportunity for people to see the production, but as far as actually affecting usage of electricity in the Union building, it will not be that noticeable.”

Coal Free IU President Lauren Kastner said the club hopes for the solar panels to be functional by the end of next week and to have a ribbon-cutting ceremony to flip the switch on and connect the panels to the building.

“It is seriously such a huge move for students. It is both student run and funded, and it sends a huge message to the University that students are ready for clean energy,”she said.

There will be a live monitor in the IMU for people to see how much energy is being used and how much sunlight is hitting the panels, Kastner said.

“We want to use them as an educational tool,” she said. “They are for the good of the campus. We want to make sure people have the access and use it as a learning tool. It is an onsite demonstration of clean energy not only for a better campus but education, research and awareness.”

Kastner said IU needs to take the clean energy seriously as 16 other universities have already made a public timeline to go off coal.

“It is so important that IU is on the path of clean energy now,” she said. “They need to start taking the competition seriously if they want to maintain progress and  sustainability.”

The solar production data of how much electricity is being made every day can be accessed at www.mannplumbinginc.com.

Mann Plumbing Inc./MPI Solar is a member of Indiana Distributed Energy Advocates (IDEA) and the Indiana Renewable Energy Association.

IURC rejects Rockport hearing delay; Watchdog sought time to review emails to former IURC Chairman Hardy

Posted by Laura Arnold  /   May 03, 2011  /   Posted in Uncategorized  /   No Comments

Editor's note: I find it fascinating that there are now two docket entries in this case in Cause No. 43976 on 4/18/2011 and 4/26/2011 entitled, "Tender of communications". These docket entries contain emails addressed to IURC Chairman Jim Atterholt from members of the general public expressing their feelings about the Indiana Gasification project. Doesn't that just "take the cake" in view of the article below? Laura Ann Arnold

Original article: http://www.mydesert.com/article/BG/20110503/BUSINESS/105030334/IURC-rejects-Rockport-hearing-delay?odyssey=nav%7Chead

12:00 AM, May. 3, 2011  |  

Written by Ted Evanoff
ted.evanoff@indystar.com

The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission rejected a request Monday by a consumer group to delay a hearing on the $2.6 billion Rockport coal gasification plant after the group presented emails that it says raise questions about the IURC's impartiality.

Citizens Action Coalition attorney Jerry Polk said emails were sent in 2009 and 2010 by Indiana Finance Authority head Jennifer Alvey to IURC Chairman David Lott Hardy. David Pippen, chief counsel for Gov. Mitch Daniels, was copied on some of the messages, Polk said.

Polk asked for a 30-day delay to explore more than a dozen messages, including one in which Alvey declared she wanted to "pick (Hardy's) brain confidentially."

State law generally prohibits substantive, private discussions on pending regulatory matters. However, some general discussion is allowed.

IURC Administrative Law Judge Angela Weber ruled the correspondence was permissible and noted that Hardy no longer is in a position to influence the commission. IURC commissioners backed Weber on a 3-0 vote.

Daniels fired Hardy in October after reports surfaced of ethical lapses. Hardy is accused of standing by while IURC official Scott Storms sought a job at Duke Energy and presided over major cases involving the utility while it sought approval for cost overruns at its $3 billion Edwardsport power plant.

In the Rockport matter, Alvey in 2009 and 2010 negotiated a purchase contract with investor Leucadia National. The IURC now must decide whether to approve the contract. It calls for the state to buy synthetic gas that Leucadia would make from coal at Rockport.

The state in turn would sell the gas on the national market and pass any profits or losses on to the 1.5 million homes, farms and businesses in Indiana that burn natural gas.

When the hearing on the contract opened Monday in Indianapolis, Polk requested a delay. He said he requested the emails under the Indiana open-records law, and they were handed over Saturday. He told the IURC the messages raise concerns about potential bias within the commission.

Weber responded that conferences like Alvey's and Hardy's have been routine and are meant to help educate officials. The three commissioners present Monday backed that conclusion on a unanimous vote. The three are James Atterholt, Larry Landis and David Ziegner.

Two of the five commissioners, Kari Evans Bennett and Carolene Mays, have recused themselves from the Rockport matter. Bennett came to the IURC in January from Barnes and Thornburg, a law firm representing Vectren in the Rockport case. Vectren, a utility based in Evansville, is on record opposing the Rockport project. Mays is related to a Vectren director.

The IURC is expected to rule on plans for the Rockport coal gasification plant this summer.

Call Star reporter Ted Evanoff at (317) 444-6019

Watchdog Group Citizens Action Coalition Says State agency heads colluded on gas deal

Posted by Laura Arnold  /   May 03, 2011  /   Posted in Uncategorized  /   No Comments
 
by Chris O'Malley, Indianapolis Business Journal (IBJ)

May 2, 2011
 
Former Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission chief David Hardy and the state's then-finance director, Jennifer Alvey, improperly discussed the merits of a $6.9 billion contract the Indiana Finance Authority ultimately struck with operators of the Indiana Gasification plant proposed for Rockport, plant opponents alleged Monday.

Former Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission chief David Hardy and the state's then-finance director, Jennifer Alvey, in 2009 and 2010 secretly and improperly discussed the merits of a $6.9 billion contract the Indiana Finance Authority ultimately struck with operators of a proposed gasification plant, plant opponents allege.

Citizens Action Coalition, the Sierra Club and other environmental groups on Monday presented copies of the e-mail to the commission, which is reviewing whether to approve the project agreement. The environmental groups are on record as opposing the plant.

Such direct, behind-the-scenes communication in such regulatory matters is generally prohibited under state law.

The e-mails show the agency heads discussing the plant as far back as 2009.

“The materials raise due-process concerns and provide evidence of communications that would, to a reasonable person, raise serious questions regarding whether the commission’s impartiality has been compromised in this matter by the advisory role to (the Indiana Finance Authority) in the negotiations,” according to the filing CAC attorney Jerome Polk made Monday with the IURC.

However, IURC administrative law judge Angela Webber denied a request to delay the hearing for 30 days, despite the e-mails.  She ruled that the e-mails were sent more than 30 days prior to the December 2010 filing of the gasification plant case, and they were “procedural and general in nature” rather than substantive.

“That’s nonsense from my perspective,” CAC Program Director Kerwin Olson after the hearing. “The commission is a biased body at this moment in time.”

CAC has until May 13 to offer rebuttal in the case, Olson said.

The IFA plans to purchase synthetic natural gas from the plant over 30 years, which proponents—including would-be plant operator Leucadia National Corp. of New York—have said will save Indiana gas customers more than $100 million by locking in low rates.

But the e-mails obtained by CAC raise serious questions about improprieties, as well as whether the contact had the blessings of Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels’ staff. Daniels has been a supporter of the $2.7 billion gasification plant as part of his “homegrown energy” policy.

Under one of the e-mails obtained by CAC, Alvey appeared to confirm that Daniels adviser David Pippen provided then-IURC chair Hardy with “the run down” on negotiations the state was having with Leucadia.

“I’m preparing for maternity leave but wanted to give you a quick update. Pippen said he gave you the run down that we are holding unless we get some more movement on the guaranteed savings,” read a copy of an e-mail Alvey sent Hardy on Oct. 30, 2009, referring to the negotiations between IFA and Leucadia.

In an Aug. 14, 2009, message, Alvey tells Hardy she would “like to pick your brain confidentially” but adds: “I can’t provide you with much documentation without opening them up to public access.”

In another e-mail, Alvey tells Hardy about efforts to get favorable legislation for the deal involving IFA’s agreement with Leucadia.

Hardy responds: “If you need to meet with my troops, they can in my absence.”

CAC told the commission that “at a minimum, the e-mails provided to date give the appearance of impropriety.”

The group cited state law governing ex parte communications,  which says “administrative adjudications may not be made upon evidence secretly obtained by an administrative agency at a time and place other than that appointed for a hearing.”

Polk said such adjudications may not be made upon information received.

Olson told the commission Monday that he met with Alvey in late September 2010, and she indicated then that she had not talked to commission officials about the IFA’s proposed synthetic natural gas contracts with Leucadia’s Indiana Gasification.

But she said she “was anxious to go across the street and start the process,” Olson said.

“This was not a competitive and public process,” he said.

Alvey left her position early this year for a job in the private sector.

Gov. Mitch Daniels fired Hardy last year in a separate ethics matter after learning that the IURC’s chief attorney, Scott Storms, was presiding over Duke Energy cases even as he was talking to the utility about a job, which he later accepted. He and the head of Duke’s Indiana operations were later fired by Duke when the scandal came to light.

Incriminating e-mails showed that Hardy was aware of Storms' job-seeking and that he made light of a state ethics commission review of whether Storms had a conflict of interest.

Abound Solar Wants Italian Sun; Will Italian Government Extention of Current Feed-in Tariff Impact Indiana?

Posted by Laura Arnold  /   May 03, 2011  /   Posted in Feed-in Tariffs (FiT), Uncategorized  /   No Comments
Editor's Note: Abound Solar will be manufacturing soon in Tipton, Indiana. Mark Chen, Director of Marketing at Abound Solar, told me in a phone conversation last month that 92% of Abound's product is exported to Germany and Italy. Of the remaining 8% of their product destined for the US, 80-90 % of that goes to California, therefore, extension of the Italian feed-in tariff will have an impact on Indiana. Laura Ann Arnold
 
 
By Ucilia Wang, Contributor   |   May 2, 2011
 
At the Solarexpo in Verona, Italy, this week, a big question on everyone's mind will no doubt be the fate of the feed-in tariff. The Italian government has wrestled over how to shrink it in order to control the solar market growth and its impact on consumers who help to pay for it.

On Friday, the government is supposed to approve an extension of the current feed-in tariff policy – which was originally to end in June – until this August. So what does it mean for one of the hottest markets in the world? Despite anticipated cuts, the country remains sought-after by manufacturers and developers.

“Even the most pessimistic analyst will say this year Italy will still be 3-5 gigawatts,” said Mark Chen, director of marketing at Abound Solar. “Let’s say 3 gigawatts, and that’s still larger than the U.S. market.”

Abound Solar, a Colorado maker of cadmium-telluride solar panels, announced this week the signing of distribution agreements with Italian firms Thesan and DW Europe. Thesan and DW are both distributors and integrators, and Thesan in particular has designed its own mounting systems for solar panels, Chen said. Thesan is set to showcase a solar electric system design pairing Abound Solar’s panels with its own racking at the Solarexpo.

Thesan and DW Europe also have each bought solar panels in “single-digit megawatts” from Abound Solar since the start of this year, Chen said.

Italy also has been a key market for companies such as SunPower, who just announced a plan to sell a 60 percent stake to French oil and gas giant, Total, whose offer includes a $1 billion credit over five years to help fund SunPower’s power plant development business globally, among other things. SunPower bought an Italian project developer in 2010 and announced in January this year that it had built 85 megawatts of projects in that country.

Abound is among the thin-film startups who hope to expand their manufacturing operations quickly to compete in a market where crystalline silicon remains the overwhelmingly dominant technology. The need for huge capital to build factories has prompted companies large and small to turn to government or well-funded partners for help. 

Chen said the Italian market – and Europe overall – remains attractive because its feed-in tariff policy puts a premium on ultra thin solar panels that can be integrated into the roof to appear less obtrusive. Thin films tend to be slimmer than silicon panels, which are roughly 6 times thicker, making thin film a more attractive option for building-integrated applications, Chen said.

“It has to do with the aesthetics and maintaining the traditional image of Italian villas and towns,” Chen said. “You have traditional tile rooftops. If you don’t have integration, then the first things you see are blue and black silicon cells not orange tiles.”

Some silicon solar panel makers, such as Suntech Power, however, have rolled out products for the building-integrated market.

Abound Solar has snagged a $400 million federal loan to help build 775 megawatts of factories in Colorado and Indiana. The company shipped about 30 megawatts of solar panels in 2010 and expects to produce close to 60 megawatts in 2011, Chen said. The company is in the process of doubling its existing, 65 megawatts of annual production capacity. When the new production equipment is up and running, the company believes it can cut manufacturing cost down to 90 cents per watt.  

Clean-coal gas deal could charge up NIPSCO bills for NW Indiana customers, Hearings start today

Posted by Laura Arnold  /   May 02, 2011  /   Posted in 2011 Indiana General Assembly, Uncategorized  /   No Comments

Original article: http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/article_a53283bd-984a-5e4a-a820-6103c3ac8bd3.html

By Keith Benman keith.benman@nwi.com, (219) 933-3326 

nwitimes.com |Posted: Sunday, May 1, 2011 12:00 am | (31) Comments

The state's plan to have more than 1.7 million Hoosier utility customers subsidize a proposed clean-coal gasification plant is splitting the state's utilities and pushing some into alliances with consumer groups.

Downstate natural gas utility Vectren is vigorously opposing the plan "on behalf of its customers," claiming it could cost Hoosier utility customers more than $1 billion.

NIPSCO is not taking a position for or against the state's plan. However, Frank Shambo, a NIPSCO vice president, has submitted testimony supporting the state's claim the project could help protect utility customers from volatile natural gas prices.

The split among utilities is being driven by a proposed 30-year sales contract between the Indiana Finance Authority and Indiana Gasification LLC, the plant's developer. The two are asking state regulators to approve the contract.

That contract has the Indiana Finance Authority, a state agency, buying almost all synthetic natural gas produced by the $2.65 billion clean-coal plant to be built in downstate Rockport by Indiana Gasification LLC, a subsidiary of publicly traded New York investment group Leucadia National Corp.

The IFA has submitted testimony diametrically opposed to Vectren's and that of six other natural gas utilities, stating the sales deal will save the state's utility customers $500 million over the 30-year term of the contract.

Gov. Mitch Daniels continues to be an enthusiastic supporter of the plan, maintaining the arrangement between Indiana Gasification and the IFA will help "hedge" or buffer volatile natural gas prices for utility customers across the state.

"There is all kind of evidence to believe this will be a huge winner for ratepayers," Daniels said in an interview with The Times two weeks ago. "But we've always been cautious to say let's just view it as a good hedge. And that's a smart thing to do."

The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission has held three public hearings on the contract between the IFA and Indiana Gasification in the past two weeks. Evidentiary hearings before the IURC start Monday in Indianapolis.

A number of utilities, consumer advocates and environmental groups have been just as passionate as Daniels about the deal, only they are denouncing it.

"This is nothing other than a group of crony capitalists getting together and using the legislative process to make themselves rich," said Kerwin Olson, project director for the Citizens Action Coalition. "Ratepayers are receiving nothing in this deal other than a charge tacked onto their bills to benefit Leucadia investors."

Olson also points out the state's utility customers never actually get to use the synthetic natural gas, because it is sold to a third-party energy shipper.

The arrangement

No one denies the arrangement is complex. Basically, IFA will buy almost all of the synthetic natural gas produced at the Indiana Gasification plant based on a formula in which the price of coal is the largest variable. The IFA then will sell that gas to an energy shipper at the market price for natural gas – which changes daily in response to supply and demand.

If the price of natural gas is above the price the IFA paid for the synthetic gas, the IFA realizes a profit. If natural gas is cheaper than the synthetic natural gas, the IFA racks up a loss.

Half of any profit would be passed to the state's more than 1.7 million utility customers through credits on their bills. Indiana Gasification gets the other half. Customers also could share in profits from the sale of byproducts such as exotic gases produced by the plant.

Any loss IFA suffers would be passed to utility customers in the form of a bill surcharge, effectively reimbursing IFA for its loss. How much in surcharges versus how much in credits utility customers will rack up over 30 years is the chief point of contention.

Vectren has submitted testimony contending the IFA's deal with Indiana Gasification could increase individual residential utility customers' bills $34.56 per year on average. Commercial customers could see a bill increase of $144 per year on average and industrial customers could see an increase of up to $16,819 per year, according to Vectren's testimony.

The largest users of natural gas, such as large steel mills, are exempt from the plan under legislation passed by the General Assembly.

Chief IFA witness Jennifer Alvey, a former finance director at the agency, stated the average customer would save $8.48 per year on their gas bill over the life of the contract in testimony filed in the case.

The price of natural gas on wholesale markets is currently hovering around $4.20 per million British thermal units. Estimates of the price of the synthetic natural gas Indiana Gasification will produce vary between $6 and $7 per million Btus.

The Indiana Gasification plant will convert coal into substitute natural gas by applying heat and pressure to the coal while limiting its actual combustion. The gas produced can be used just like natural gas to power electric turbines or make synthetic fuels.

Points of contention

Much of the testimony in the case revolves around different forecasts of natural gas prices. An expert witness for Indiana Gasification describes official U.S. Energy Information Agency forecasts of stable natural gas prices for years to come as "essentially worthless."

"All of this is based on the fact we believe that the history of (natural) gas prices will continue to be one of the most volatile commodity prices that there is," said Mark Lubbers, Indiana Gasification project manager for Leucadia. 

But Vectren, six smaller utilities, and consumer and environmental groups argue new means of extracting natural gas from shale deposits have led to the most plentiful supplies and lowest prices in decades.

Those against the project also point out the IFA contract could leave utility customers on the hook for increases in taxes as well as the cost of future government regulations placed on the plant.

On its side of the deal, Indiana Gasification is required to build a reserve fund of $150 million to reduce the size of any surcharges utility customers may find on their bills.

The contract also contains what IFA terms a guarantee of savings. If utility customers do not realize $100 million in net savings over the 30 years, IFA can extend the Indiana Gasification contract and buy the gas at a discounted price. Any profit IFA makes it could pass on to utility customers until they realize $100 million in savings. Or IFA can take possession of the plant and sell it, passing on proceeds to customers.

The contract's opponents all say Alvey's claims of a guaranteed return to customers is smoke and mirrors. They say a "guarantee" that doesn't require any savings for a period of 30 years, and perhaps longer, guarantees nothing.

The states largest gas utilities

Here are the largest natural gas utilities that would be subject to the state's plan for providing subsidies for Indiana Gasification's clean coal plant:

NIPSCO: 721,000 customers

Vectren: 675,000 customers

Citizens: 261,000 customers

Source: Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission

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