Handling lightning on a North Dakota wind farm

Although the map is for the Omaha region, its information is similar to that received by crews at the Langdon Wind Energy Center. In addition to watching storms as they pass through their region, crews at Langdon use hourly and 10-day forecasts to schedule routine maintenance. The weather services come from Telvent

North Dakota’s flat plains and strong, steady winds make it ideal for wind farms. But this part of the country is especially susceptible to extreme weather conditions. Summer brings the threat of lightning strikes to the 300-foot tall turbines and brutally cold temperatures are commonplace in winter.

The Langdon Wind Energy Center operates a 40-acre wind farm there. The 133 turbine facility, owned by NextEra Energy Resources, is capable of producing 199.5 MW. To ensure the turbines operate at peak-efficiency, a team of 12 technicians perform routine maintenance duties and are on-call 24/7 in case of an emergency.

“In addition to lightning risks, we don’t send out crews if it’s colder than -28°C,” says Bill Campbell, plant leader for Langdon Wind Energy Center. “In cases of extreme cold, we only send out crews when absolutely necessary.”

To help navigate its weather challenges, the Wind Energy Center subscribes to MxVision WeatherSentry Online Wind Energy Edition professional package. Its services come from IT company Telvent. By accessing an internet-based platform, the Center stays on top of changing weather conditions that endanger operations.

For a complete view of approaching severe weather, the Center monitors radar and tracks storms, wind, and lightning on one centralized online dashboard. It features a weather map with layers that let personnel look at the specific weather information most important to its operations. This includes National Weather Service (NWS) warnings, watches, and advisories. Another layer includes custom areas of maximum impact based on parameters set by the Center to reflect how weather is affecting the exact location of its turbines.

In addition to the online dashboard, the Center uses a mobile alerting system to view current and future conditions. To stay one step ahead of the weather, employees also have access to all of the online dashboard’s weather information on their mobile phones. Additionally, personalized alerts are sent instantly to employees’ phones when severe weather nears user-defined alerting parameters. This is especially important for field technicians performing maintenance tasks.

“We let the technicians know when lightning has been detected within 60 miles,” said Campbell. “When lightning is detected within 30 miles, we require crews to evacuate the turbines.”

The mobile alerts are fed from an alert manager that provides instant notification of significant weather changes within their coverage area. When weather conditions, such as wind-speed changes or when the NWS issues a watch, warning, or advisory, an audible alarm goes off through the online dashboard. “The system alerts us by sounding a siren letting us know we must either monitor weather conditions more closely or evacuate crews,” says Campbell.

The most critical weather component for the Center is the Lightning Manager. Receiving advanced warning of real-time lightning strikes from real-time lightning data is much safer than predictions that can lead to false alarms or delayed reporting after lightning has already struck.

Five Langdon crew members use the system. They can access weather data in the office, on the wind farm, and at their homes. “If my guys get called in over a weekend, I can log on from home to find out what’s going on with the weather and ensure their safety,” says Campbell

In addition to watching storms as they pass through the area, Campbell and his technicians use hourly and 10-day forecasts to schedule routine maintenance. This allows for more efficient planning. For example, a wind turbine should not be slated for cleaning with a rain storm impending.

Although this type of renewable energy relies on the wind to generate electricity, too much wind can also impact operations and safety. If winds are too strong, crews cannot work on the turbine’s hub. Although each turbine has a wind speed indicator, Langdon Wind Energy Center also relies on Telvent for wind speed and direction to ensure optimal safety.

As a result of implementing an advanced weather information service, Campbell and his technicians have been able to improve operational efficiencies while ensuring the highest level of safety. “Safety is a shared value at our company,” said Campbell. “We rely heavily on the real-time weather information to keep our technicians safe and operations running efficiently.”

A larger version of the map above shows a few selections for crews on the right.

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Generators 911

Here’s what happens, or should, when a generator must visit a service center.

Kevin Alewine/Renewable Energy Services. Shermco Industries, Irving, Texas./shermco.com

A technician tests a generator stator core. The condition of the steel effects efficiency and reliability.

Eventually, everything fails. Good predictive and preventative maintenance practices help prolong reliability and plan for the inevitable. But, sooner or later, something breaks that is beyond up-tower repair capabilities, and the generator will have to come down. How should a qualified repair facility be selected, and what happens to the generator during reconditioning or remanufacturing? A wind-turbine generator is a unique machine that requires a higher level of attention than a conventional industrial motor or generator. How can an owner be confident that the appropriate repair process is performed and documented accurately?

When qualifying a generator service company, many factors beyond the facility itself should be considered including experience, financial stability, quality programs, and technical support. While there are many electric motor shops, only a few specialize in wind-turbine generators and understand the requirements for that application. Long term reliable performance, while certainly important in industrial applications, becomes paramount when the machine is 300 feet in the air. A well remanufactured generator should, at a minimum, meet the performance and reliability specifications of the OEM machine. And when properly executed, the refab can often outperform and out last the original. Close attention to coil design and insulation properties, mechanical tolerances, and careful assembly can minimize the risk of another failure during the functional life of the turbine.

Preparing for removal
When disconnecting the generator in preparation for coming down-tower, any-thing unusual regarding the specific circumstances should be noted, including any alignment or vibration issues, obvious maintenance shortcomings, evidence of overload or electrical imbalance, or other damage caused by outside forces such as turbine over-speed. All attached components should be included in the shipment to the repair facility including auto greasers, cable glands, brush assemblies, and any shaft mounted electronic equipment. All these components will be useful in assuring the repaired machine is properly returned to service. They also may provide clues to what caused the premature failure. This key evidence can be identified, studied, and considered for corrective actions. Actually, any and all information regarding performance before and after failure, including maintenance records and field test reports, could prove useful in developing the root-cause failure analysis.

What happens (or should) at the repair facility
When the generator arrives at the service facility, it should be tagged for identification and all pertinent data (model, serial, customer, site, and so on) collected and entered into a management system, whether electronic or paper-based. This is when the quality management system should be triggered to assure that all actions are properly recorded for the final reports. When approved by the customer, the generator should be inspected with great attention to detail. Digital photography has proven effective recording the initial condition as well as all major steps throughout the process. This allows clearly answering most questions and eases documentation.

Centrifugal forces generated during an over-speed event destroyed the rotor and stator windings.

The generator should be disassembled carefully, noting all details, especially deviations from normal conditions. The goal is to repair what failed and provide as much insight as possible into the actual cause of failure. All major components should be cleaned and inspected and the stator and rotor, if applicable, should be steam cleaned and baked dry in preparation for electrical testing. The cooling unit, if included, should also be inspected for damage or other obvious signs of wear. When dry, the winding insulation resistance should be measured following the recommendations of IEEE 43. This should show whether there is actual damage to the windings that would complicate further testing or safety procedures. A more complete series of electrical tests, including surge testing and high potential testing of the windings, can then be performed to help confirm and identify a winding failure, if present.

A core-loss test of the rotor, or stator laminations, or both is called for when there is a winding failure, or mechanical damage to the laminations, even if the windings are in good shape. The average core losses and hotspot locations should be recorded. Loose wedges or blocking materials should also be noted. If there is a winding failure, the location and failure mode should be carefully photographed and recorded. Induction rotors are checked for bar integrity.
All mechanical fits should be measured and any obvious damage or other mechanical issues must be identified at this time. Also, a TIR (total indicated run-out) is strongly suggested. This series of measurements confirm the trueness of the shaft and rotor core. These mechanical checks help avoid unexpected complications to the repair process. The checks also help avoid unexpected and unpleasant cost increases.

At this point, the process should halt and the information reviewed by shop management, who will design a clear scope of work to complete the repairs. Materials, parts, and man hours should be estimated for customer and internal review. Normally, the generator will either be reconditioned or remanufactured. When the damage is so severe that scraping the unit is the only economical option, it should be permanently removed from service and its materials recycled in accordance with environmental regulations. Following established and proven processes controlled by clear ISO 9001 QMS documents and instructions helps assure that proper decisions are made during the inspection procedure.

The path to reconditioning.

Reconditioning requires cleaning of all components, repairing or replacing missing or damaged support materials and wedges, recoating the windings with protective resin, and reassembly and testing the generator. Repairs are first made to the rotor, or stator, or both where loose or missing wedges, damaged leads, or other damaged or weakened areas identified during inspection. Machining the shaft, or bearing housings, or both are completed to the manufacturer’s or customer’s specifications. The windings are coated with an appropriate resin to protect against moisture and environmental contaminants. Finally, collector rings and grounding rings, when applicable, are either replaced or refurbished to assure good performance and provide the expected brush life. The rotor is then dynamically balanced incrementally with all shaft mounted components. This balancing process minimizes the effect of subsequent up-tower maintenance procedures. The rotor is then disassembled and readied for the generator’s final assembly.

The path to remanufacturing
A failed stator, or rotor, or both are cleaned of insulation and wire, typically by a controlled pyrolysis process in which organic materials are burned off in a carefully controlled oven at 600 to 700°F, and the remaining conductors carefully removed. Winding data should be collected during this step, including coil construction and materials as well as layout and connection details. Even if the service center has experience with the same type and manufacture of generator in the past, collecting this data assures that the design can be confirmed, especially if the unit has been rewound previously by another facility.

Core losses are checked again after the stator or rotor is cleaned to assure that nothing has changed during the process. The rotor or stator or both are then rewound with new insulated coils using an appropriate insulation design for the application. Because performance requirements for the rotor and stator differ regarding mechanical and electrical stresses, it is common to use different insulation. It is critical to properly inspect and test to assure the quality and accuracy of the winding process and the coil’s connection scheme. Rotor leads are replaced and properly supported, when applicable.

Rewound components are then vacuum-pressure impregnated with a resin appropriate for their respective insulations and cured according to the resin manufacturer’s suggested temperature for, at a minimum, the recommend time for the mass of the component. Photographing the entire process is crucial to understanding and managing it. Machining, balancing, and component assembly follows the same path as reconditioned machines.

Rotor coils during a winding process. Finished rotor will be vacuum and pressure impregnated.

Assembly
At this point, reconditioned and remanu-factured components generally are at the same point on the repair track. All mating surfaces should be cleaned and inspected and all threaded holes should be cleaned and re-tapped. All of the components should be reassembled and brushes properly seated, if applicable.

Final testing
All initial electrical tests should be performed again, including core losses, to assure the process has been successful. In addition, the unit should be connected as a motor and run under no-load conditions so pertinent electrical data, vibration readings, and any other relevant information can be collected. Final reports should be generated with all findings and test results included and compared to specifications, when available. Finally, the unit should be carefully cleaned, painted, and prepared for shipment back to the site or the customer’s warehouse.

A few lessons
Obviously, there are many steps and inspection points to prepare a generator for its return to service. Thorough documentation of the repair and proper reporting of the test results are critical to having confidence for the future. Reliability of the generator and additional costs of proper reconditioning or remanufacturing will more than be paid for in the extended life of the machine. It is important to use processes to assure the quality of work is superior to an individual technician’s experience. Although directing and recording these processes through a strong QMS is the responsibility of the repair company’s management, the system should be understood, supported and encouraged by the customer. ISO 9001, KPI, CTQ checks, flow charts, and failure management systems are all critical to assure that the work is done as designed and that the performance of the complete machine will meet or exceed expectations. Overall the goal is this: if a generator has to be brought down-tower, it should only happen once. Do the job right and do it right the first time. WPE

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Feed-In Tariffs Account for 75 Percent of Solar Installations

Forget tax credits. Forget rebates. Forget renewable energy standards. It is feed-in tariffs (FITs) that are really driving the global solar market. According to a study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, FITs are responsible for 75 percent of global solar panel installations.

“A Policymaker’s Guide to Feed-In Tariff Policy Design” found that FITs are the most popular and most effective incentive for solar power across the globe, reports Environmental Leader. The effect is most notable in Europe, where FITs facilitated the installation of 15,000 MW of photovoltaics (PV) and 55,000 MW of wind power from 2000 to 2009.

Comparatively, in the United States (with no broad FITs and no energy mandates), only 25,000 MW of wind and 1,250 MW of solar power were installed by the end of 2009.

The report goes into detail about policy options when it comes to implementing feed-in tariffs. It examines where programs have been successful and where they have failed. Areas of interest include policy stability over the long term, grid access, payment structures, and varying tariffs based on technology, system size, location and resource intensity.

While there are plenty of design options for FITs, designers must be careful (especially in a country so climatically diverse as the U.S.) to ensure the program parts integrate well together into a far-reaching and successful whole.

Experimenting with FITs is underway in the United States, with California and Oregon leading the way at the state level. A previous NREL study demonstrates that states can legally offer their own FITs but they should be attentive to federal requirements.

As important as it is for bureaucracy to have things quantified and printed on paper, the NREL study (at least in general) says little that isn’t obvious to the watchful solar-aimed eye. The easiest example being Germany, a relatively cloudy country with less-than-great solar resources that is far and away the world leader in the production of solar energy. The ONLY way this odd leadership came about was by way of the high premium the German government has been paying solar energy producers. Should countries like the United States, with a much higher overall solar intensity, choose to adopt the FIT model, the growth of the global solar industry would almost certainly be monumental — quickly dwarfing Germany in terms of solar production.

The true importance of the report, however, is likely in the details. Other countries, most notably Spain, have seen incredible growth through FIT programs only to experience a decisive crash within a few years because the program was designed in an unsustainable way. A report such as this from the NREL will no doubt do its part to learn from and help correct such errors, paving the way for a long-term FIT program that would catalyze a domestic green energy industry into its own self-sustainability.

But alas, the U.S. at present is a country that can’t even get a national renewable energy standard passed…yet.

Source: Environmental Leader
Photo Credit: NewEnergyFocus

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New Jersey Homeowners Turn to The Home Depot to Learn About Home Solar

August 11, 2010

New Jersey homeowners are excited about residential home solar.

Over 75 homeowners flocked to a recent after-work home solar workshop at a The Home Depot store in South Plainfield, New Jersey Tuesday, August 10th. They bonded over their current electricity bills and discussed residential solar power as an affordable and renewable solution for their rising energy costs.  The interactive hour-long work-shop included a hefty question and answer session tackling some big solar questions, including:

Q: What is the best roof for solar?
A: The best roofs get several hours of sun a day, face south or southwest, and don’t have a lot of shade.

Q: How long will a home solar system last?
A: Most solar systems will last anywhere between 25 and 35 years.

Q: How long is my customer agreement and what happens at the end of it?
A: Your SunRun customer agreement lasts 20 years. At the end of your agreement, you can either purchase the solar equipment, renew your SunRun agreement, or we will remove the system at no cost to you.

Q: What if I move before the end of my SunRun agreement?
A: The solar system stays with the home. You can simply transfer the agreement to the new homeowner, who will then pay the same low rate for solar electricity, or purchase the system from SunRun and sell it with your home.

Q: How does SunRun impact my relationship with my utility company?
A: Your house will remain connected to the electricity grid and your utility for traditional electricity as needed. Your utility will credit you when your system produces more electricity than you use. You can use these credits to pull from the grid when you use more electricity than your system produces.

Learn more about going solar in New Jersey with SunRun and SunRun’s partnership with The Home Depot.

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Energy storage system deals with sudden draws on the grid
Researchers have found a way to manage short-lived draws on the electricity grid.

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1,000 MW of solar module capacity announced in Ontario so far, and here are the players

Following the manufacturing announcements from Siemens and Canadian Solar, I figured I would investigate who else plans to build (or has built) manufacturing facilities in Ontario to take advantage of the feed-in-tariff program and to comply with associated local content rules. In the previous post I mentioned module maker Solar Semiconductor, inverter makers Fronius and Enphase, and an alliance between Bosch Solar and Sustainable Energy Technologies. Here is a partial list of other plans that are in the works, some more advanced than others, and surprisingly they total more than 1,000 megawatts of annual capacity that, you can bet, will never fully materialize:

1. ATS Automation did say it would bring some of its Photowatt module making capacity to Ontario, and it has delivered. It started making product in May and has built a 100 megawatt line that will be officially announced in a few ways.
2. A company called Heliene Canada, operating out of Sault St. Marie, is making solar modules as part of a partnership with Helios Energy of Spain. Capacity is reportedly 30 megawatts with possibility of expansion to 80 megawatts. I’m awaiting to hear from the company to see whether they’re actually producing modules yet.
3.  Solar Source Corp. plans a module making plant that will start with 30 megawatts of annual capacity and grow to 120 megawatts. and initially create 150 direct local jobs. It is part of a partnership with HHV of India.
4. Spanish module maker Siliken Group has said it will build a 50-megawatt a year capacity module line that will create 150 jobs. It expects it to be operational before end of 2010.
5. Woodbridge, Ontario-based SolGate, the only maker of solar panels in Ontario that pre-existed the Green Energy Act, has expanded its production line from 6 megwawatts to 25 megawatts a year.
6. OpSun Panels Inc. has said it will build a 50 megawatt PV panel production line in Ontario. It already makes mounting systems, but says it plans to begin panel manufacturing by spring 2011.
7. There’s also Everbrite Solar, which wants to make thin-film panels somewhere in Kingston, Ontario. These guys have kept a low profile since announcing plans back in March 2009 to invest $500 million in a 150-MW capacity plant that would create 1,200 direct and indirect green collar jobs. I’m told they’re still targeting a 2012 factory opening, but I’m unclear whether the size of the plant or number of projected jobs have changed. An announcement of some sort is expected “within a few weeks,” I’m told by a source close to the project.
8. Also, a company called Canasia Power Corp. announced just last month it plans to build a 50 MW capacity solar module plant in London, Ontario, that will employ 100 people, with an expectation to expand the plant to 200 MW and eventually employ 500 workers. It hasn’t announced a schedule for the build, but interestingly, plans to export most of its output to Asian markets, though I assume some will be made available for Ontario.
9. Also announced last month, Quantum Technologies (parent of Asola) and Evergreen Power Ltd. have formed a manufacturing joint venture that will see 30 MW of solar modules made in Ontario each year.

The above are just related to solar module manufacturing (assembly), and together they total about 715 megawatts of annual manufacturing capacity, including plans for future expansion, but this assumes they all pan out. Add 200 megawatts announced by Canadian Solar and 150 megawatts envisioned by Solar Semiconductor and we’ve surpassed 1,000 megawatts a year of capacity, just in Ontario. “We’re still waiting to see shovels in the ground,” said one Ontario official who is monitoring the market. “The question is whether these things break ground. If they’re going to supply product by spring 2011, they will have to make that decision soon.” My own view is that 1,000 megawatts is overkill and that many of these factories will never be build. We’ll be lucky if we can get a few hundred megawatts built. Still, it’s encouraging to see such a healthy pipeline so far.

On the inverter side we’ve also had announcements from Magnetek (production by fall 2010), SMA Solar (promising 100 to 200 jobs), and Schneider Electric (which bought Xantrex some years ago). Mounting-system company Schletter has announced plans to manufacture in Windsor as well. I’m sure there are more, but that’s the list I’ve compiled so far.

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China Unveils Clean Vehicle Strategy, Builds on $738 Billion Cleantech Proposal
Guest post by Yan Zhu

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Portugal Now Gets 45% of its Electricity From Renewable Energy

Five years ago, when 17% of Portugal’s energy came from renewable energy – about like California now – the government made a bold decision to aim for 45% during the next five years – by 2010.

Sounds impossible, right? Yet, according to Elizabeth Rosenthal at the NYT, they will have achieved their goal by the end of this year.

“You cannot imagine the pressure we suffered that first year,” said Manuel Pinho, Portugal’s minister of economy and innovation from 2005 until last year, who largely masterminded the transition, adding, “Politicians must take tough decisions.”

(more…)

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Siemens, Canadian Solar to bring 800 green jobs to Ontario

Canadian Solar announced today that it plans to establish the country’s first solar module manufacturing facility in Guelph, Ontario, just an hour or so northwest of Toronto. The new facility will be capable of making 200 megawatts of solar modules a year and will create 500 new jobs for the region. The announcement wasn’t a surprise. Canadian Solar told me shortly after Ontario’s feed-in-tariff program was launched that it planned to establish manufacturing here to comply with the province’s local content rules. But the commitment, now official, brings good news to a government trying to justify the high prices ratepayers will end up paying for solar, wind and other clean energy sources under the feed-in-tariff program.

There was more positive job news the day before, when Germany’s Siemens AG announced plans to build a wind-turbine blade factory in southern Ontario — the first in the province — as part of a deal to supply 600 megawatts worth of wind turbines to Samsung C&T, which under a deal with the province of Ontario has agreed to develop 2,500 megawatts of wind and solar projects (2,000 MW of it wind) by 2016. “The implementation of this agreement will create up to 300 ‘green collar’ jobs and up to an additional 600 construction and indirect service jobs over its term,” according to a press release announcing the deal. Like the Canadian Solar announcement, we knew it was coming (even though we didn’t know Siemens would be involved) but it’s nice to finally see some specifics related to job numbers and the kind of manufacturing that will take place.

Here’s the government’s press release, which — no surprise — touts both the Canadian Solar and Siemens announcements and claims that FIT contracts issued to date mean thousands of new jobs. “The 694 clean energy contracts already announced are expected to create approximately 20,000 direct and indirect green economy jobs over five years and about $9 billion in private sector investment,” it reads. Of course, once your start throwing in “indirect” jobs you can pretty much make up whatever numbers you want. Still, there’s a buzz in Ontario and despite some fumbles — such as the lowering of the price for small ground-mount solar systems, which has created a political shitstorm — we are seeing substantial investments (or commitments to invest) in the province. We’ll have a better sense of the true numbers after the first quarter of 2011, when many of these new facilities are expected to be operational and when stricter local content rules for solar go into effect — that is, when local content requirements for solar projects less than 10 kilowatts in size jumps from 40 to 60 per cent, and for larger solar projects from 50 to 60 per cent.

Last week, Austrian electronics company Fronius International announced it was establishing a solar inverter manufacturing site in Mississauga (just west of Toronto) that would produce 50 megawatts of inverters annually and, once operational by the end of the first quarter 2011, will employ about 100 people. “Ontario is one of the most important markets of the future for Fronius,” said Romuald Goure, managing director of Fronius Canada.

Earlier in the year — in March – microinverter maker Enphase announced that contract manufacturer Flextronics would establish a production line in Ontario that would have a capacity of 100 megawatts a year, with a plan to double that by the end of 2011. India’s Solar Semiconductor is setting up a module manufacturing facility in Oakville, Ontario, with plans over the next two years to create more than 200 full- and part-time jobs. Others that have announced plans to come include Sunlink, a maker of solar roof-mount systems, and Grape Solar, which is trying to set up a local manufacturing consortium composed of U.S. and Chinese suppliers.

Meanwhile, Bosch Solar Energy and Sustainable Energy have committed to developing a roadmap to build modules and inverters in Ontario that would meet 2010 and 2011 domestic content thresholds. They were targeting installations of between 10 and 15 MW for 2010 and between 50 and 75 MW for 2011, though I’m not sure how this “roadmap” has materialized. Of course, we’re still waiting to hear if Vestas will make a move in Ontario by setting up offshore wind turbine manufacturing.

If anyone in the industry knows of other manufacturing plans that I haven’t mentioned here, please let me know.

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Vickerman hopes PSC approves siting rules

From a story by Bob Schraper on WKOW-TV, Madison:

MADISON (WKOW) – Hoping to build on Wisconsin’s existing wind farms, a volunteer council appointed by the Public Service Commission proposed uniform regulations for new wind farms across the state.

“Businesses were looking upon Wisconsin as a difficult place to try to establish wind farms,” Peter Taglia, staff scientist at Clean Wisconsin, said. “We had a patchwork of local regulations that had stopped many wind farms and also created a lot of division within communities.”

The proposed rules would ban developers from putting a wind turbine within 1.1 times its height of the nearest property line. It also can’t be louder than 45 decibels at night and 50 decibels during the day, as measured from the nearest property line. And for large wind farms, the total hours of “shadow flicker” cannot exceed 40 per year.

“We laid out a proposal for regulating the permitting of wind projects – large, medium, and small – and hopefully the commission will respect the incredible amount of work that the council put into this process,” says Michael Vickerman, executive director of Renew Wisconsin, a member of the council.

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Top Investor Searches August 11th – Natural Gas Stocks, Renewable Energy Stocks. Agriculture Stocks, Water Stocks and OTC Stocks
August 11, 2010 – (Investorideas.com Newswire) www.InvestorIdeas.com, a global investor research portal announces this week’s top ten search phrases from investors. Top investor searches include Natural Gas Stocks, Renewable Energy Stocks. Agriculture Stocks, Water Stocks and OTC Stocks.

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Solar Stocks Commentary; Developments at XsunX (OTCBB: XSNX), Sunpower (NASDAQ: SPWRA, SPWRB), Chevron Energy (NYSE: CVX)
August 11, 2010 (Investorideas.com renewable energy/green newswire) Investorideas.com and its green investor portals release commentary on solar trends from Lisa Springer, CFA, Equity research analyst and financial writer.

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Water Stocks News; Wescorp (OTCBB:WSCE) Defines Strategy for Gulf of Mexico Spill Remediation and Long-Term Regulatory Implications for Off-Shore Oil and Gas Operations
CALGARY, ALBERTA – August 11, 2010 (Investorideas.com Water Stocks Newswire) – Wescorp Energy Inc. (OTC.BB:WSCE), a clean water technology company focused on implementing its low-cost solutions into several markets including the oil & gas and marine industries

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Carbon neutrality with PVs

Yesterday, I explored the carbon captured by a straw bale building as a factor in getting to a carbon neutral/negative household. Today, I want to look at how far building-integrated photovoltaics can get us.  Let’s start with a breakdown of typical residential energy demand.

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