Law

New CCBJ Issue! 
Transportation Markets in Climate Change (June 2010)

Moving people and goods generated 27% of the U.S. carbon footprint in 2008, nearly 1.9 billion metric tons of CO2-e emissions. Cutting transport GHGs over the next 10 to 40 years will be one of the most important challenges in mitigating climate change. It will also represent one of the largest emerging business segments of the climate change industry, but one whose structure is in flux, and whose leadership is up for grabs as companies and technologies battle for market share, for commitments from investors and for influence with policymakers. In its first edition on transportation, CCBJ covers vehicle and fuels technology, land-use planning, rapid transit, trucking, intelligent transportation systems and more. CCBJ estimates the 2009 value of the climate change transportation business at $69 billion, with flex-fuel vehicles, biofuels, public transit and hybrid electric vehicles being the largest segments.

Ordering information and tables of contents are available at
http://www.climatechangebusiness.com/ccbj_editions

Climate Change Industry Market Reports

After almost three years of research, EBI has released its premier edition of EBI Report 4000: The Climate Change Industry. Designed as a comprehensive source of market intelligence on the century’s top emerging industry sector, the 830-page report features market quantification, recent annual growth, forecasts, trends and profiles of numerous companies in each the segments listed below.
EBI Report 4000 features an introduction placing the Climate Change Industry into perspective and 13 sections.

Ordering information, tables of contents, list of exhibits are available at
http://ebionline.org/climate-change-industry-research-reports

Recent News

1.Senate ends effort to pass cap-and-trade bill this year
2.DOE issues funds for CO2 capture, conversion
3.AWEA data shows challenging year continues for wind power
4.Solarbuzz sees good times continuing for U.S. solar PV market
5.Vestas to supply 570 MW of turbines for California project
6.ABB wins $700 million contract to connect offshore wind to German grid
7.First Wind selects RMT for wind farm EPC services
8.ABI Research: Smart grid market to reach $45 billion by 2015
9.Google signs PPA with NextEra for power from Iowa wind farm
10.EnerNOC finalizes 560 MW DR contract with TVA
11.Ram Power to merge with Sierra Geothermal Power

1.Senate ends effort to pass cap-and-trade bill this year
For the fourth time in the last seven years, proposed cap-and-trade legislation has died in the U.S. Senate, a fate that came for the latest effort when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced on July 22 that the absence of Republican support and the lack of time before the August recess made passage of a climate bill infeasible, at least for now. Legislators in the Senate and the House of Representatives have now turned their attention to crafting spill-response legislation with limited energy policy reform provisions—and no provisions establishing a price on carbon, a renewable energy standard (RES), or limits on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Democrats in the two branches of Congress are racing against the clock to pass such legislation before the August recess, which begins at the end of the week of August 1.

The core elements of the House and Senate proposals are provisions forcing BP to pay for the cleanup of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, requiring drillers to strengthen their spill response plans, and raising or removing altogether the current $75 million cap on liability for oil spills—the last of which is already prompting opposition by Republicans. Energy reform measures include a “Home Star” energy efficiency retrofit program and incentives for the deployment of natural gas-fueled vehicles and associated infrastructure.

The lack of an RES in the Senate bill, the text of which Senator Reid released on July 27, dismayed clean energy advocates, who have lately staged a vigorous lobbying push for the standard and have vowed to press on. “We have 60 votes for an RES amendment and will continue to push for its consideration in this bill,” said American Wind Energy Association CEO Denise Bode. “Democrats, Republicans, environmental groups, labor unions, and companies across the country all strongly support the RES because it is essential for creating hundreds of thousands of American jobs, reducing carbon emissions, and increasing American independence from foreign oil.”

There is hope, however slim, that an RES provision could be included in a bill emerging from a House-Senate conference committee. As of the end of July, Senator Reid was refuting fellow Democrats’ and clean energy advocates’ claims that the necessary 60 votes for passage were there.

2. DOE issues funds for CO2 capture, conversion
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the award of funds to support the development of advanced carbon dioxide (CO2) capture technologies and of technologies that can convert captured CO2 into useful products. DOE will distribute approximately $67 million over a three-year period to support 10 projects involving post-combustion CO2 capture at power plants. Recipients of the funding consist of development teams led by the following companies and institutions: American Air Liquide, the Gas Technology Institute, 3H Company, Akermin, ION Engineering, the University of Illinois, URS Group, Membrane Technology and Research, Siemens Energy, and ADA-ES.

About $106 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds, matched by $156 million in private cost-sharing funds, will go to six projects aimed at developing innovative ways to convert captured CO2 into fuels, building materials, plastics, cement, fertilizers, and other products. The recipients of these funds will be Alcoa, Novomer, Touchstone Research Laboratory, Phycal, Skyonic Corp., and Calera Corp.

DOE has also awarded a $417 investment tax credit to the Taylorville Energy Center (TEC), a $3.5 billion project involving the conversion of coal into natural gas for combustion at a commercial-scale power plant in Illinois. Tenaska, TEC’s managing partner, said that the project will create 2,500 construction jobs and hundreds of permanent jobs.

3. AWEA data shows challenging year continues for wind power
The number of completed U.S. wind installations in the second quarter of 2010 amounted to about 700 megawatts (MW) of new capacity and was 71% below the comparable quarter of 2009, according to recent data from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). The organization said that the poor economy was a factor in the struggles faced by the wind industry this year but pointed its finger more directly at unstable policy on renewable energy development. Even with over 5,500 MW of capacity currently under construction and a more active second half of the year in store, AWEA projects that 2010 installations will likely be 25 to 45% below 2009 installations, depending what happens on the policy front. AWEA said that it anticipates a dramatic drop in the project development pipeline after 2010, claiming “there is no demand beyond the present ‘coasting momentum.’”

4. Solarbuzz sees good times continuing for U.S. solar PV market
In the face of challenging economic conditions, the U.S. solar photovoltaic (PV) market grew by 36% in 2009 and could grow to 10 times its current size to 5.5 gigawatts (GW) of total capacity by 2014, according to the recently released United States PV Market 2010 report from solar market research and consulting firm Solarbuzz (San Francisco, CA). Solarbuzz attributes the solid U.S. PV market growth in large measure to the availability of dispersed funding sources for U.S. projects, in contrast with the risks faced in countries with a single national policy to drive solar PV development. Still, a volatile U.S. policy environment and changing market dynamics present challenges, the organization said. “2009 marked a year of transformation for the U.S. solar market,” said Craig Stevens, president of Solarbuzz. “Changes in the roles of utility companies, new market entrants, lower-cost PV modules from Asia, and new direct-to-market approaches became more prevalent. As a result, solar companies doing business in the states will need to adapt quickly to these challenges while also being responsive to frequent adjustments in the fragmented incentive and regulatory environment.”

5. Vestas to supply 570 MW of turbines for California project
Danish wind turbine supplier Vestas Wind Systems has received an order from Terra-Gen Power to supply 570 MW of turbines for installation at the Alta Wind Energy Center near Tehachapi, California. Vestas will deliver 190 units of its V90-3.0 turbines for the project, which is supported by a 1,550 MW power purchase agreement (PPA) with Southern California Edison. The contract encompasses delivery and commissioning of the turbines, along with a five-year service and maintenance agreement. Deliveries and commissioning of the first 50 turbines are scheduled for later this year. The order is Vestas’ eighth deal in North America this year, totaling 1,336 MW of capacity distributed among four turbine models.

6. ABB wins $700 million contract to connect offshore wind to German grid
Zurich-based ABB has received a contract valued at approximately $700 million from German transmission grid operator Transpower to provide an 800 MW power link connecting offshore wind farms in the North Sea’s DolWin 1 cluster to the mainland German grid. ABB said that, to fulfill the order—the largest power transmission order in its history—the company will use its HVDC Light (high-voltage direct current) transmission technology to transmit power from the 400 MW Borkum West II wind farm and other wind farms to be developed nearby to the mainland. All of the facilities in the DolWin 1 cluster are expected to be operational sometime in 2013. ABB previously provided its HVDC Light connection system for the BorWin 1 wind farm, which at a distance of 78 miles off the German coast is the most remote offshore wind farm in the world, according to the company. BorWin 1 was commissioned in September 2009.

7. First Wind selects RMT for wind farm EPC services
First Wind (Boston, MA) has awarded a contract to RMT, Inc. (Madison, WI) to provide engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services in connection with the construction of the 30 MW Kahuku Wind energy facility on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. RMT is managing the installation of 12 Clipper Liberty 2.5 MW turbines, as well as the civil infrastructure, including roads, crane walks and pads, and turbine foundations. RMT will also design and construct the electrical infrastructure, including a 23 kV underground collector system and a 23/46-kV step-up substation. “After RMT built our Milford, Utah, wind farm last year, we knew we’d be working with them again,” explains Michael Alvarez, First Wind’s president and CFO. “They have proven that they can handle the challenging engineering and construction issues to keep our projects on schedule and within budget.” Construction has begun and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

8. ABI Research: Smart grid market to reach $45 billion by 2015
Global investment in intelligent electric power networks, or “smart grids,” will approach $45 billion by 2015 as aging infrastructure is not simply replaced but rather enhanced through the deployment of advanced communications systems that allow for greater control of energy use, according to a recent report by ABI Research (New York, NY). A number of countries have laid the groundwork for smart grids over the past few years, but the pace of investment and implementation is accelerating, ABI Research concluded. “Most of the electric utility infrastructure deployed in the industrialized world was built between 60 and 80 years ago,” said Larry Fisher, research director of NextGen, the ABI Research unit that produced the report. “Much of this infrastructure is outdated, and with the continuing increase in demand for power year after year, the grid cannot safely and reliably manage the loads of today and tomorrow without significant upgrades.” He added that “transmission and distribution investments will account for the lion’s share of smart grid investments through 2015; on a cumulative basis, a total of almost $41 billion will be invested globally in the electrical transmission and distribution infrastructure through 2015, compared to $4.8 billion for the purchase and installation of smart meters.”

9.Google signs PPA with NextEra for power from Iowa wind farm
Google Energy, the clean energy arm of internet browser developer Google, Inc. (Mountain View, CA), has entered into a 20-year PPA with NextEra Energy Resources, LLC (Juno Beach, FL) under which Google Energy will take delivery of approximately 114 MW of electric power from NextEra’s 150 MW Story II Wind Energy Center in Iowa’s Story and Hardin counties. The Story II facility started up operations in December 2009 and is selling the remaining 36 MW of its capacity to the municipality of Ames, Iowa. “We are thrilled to welcome Google Energy to our growing list of customers and appreciate their support of emission-free, renewable energy,” said Mike O’Sullivan, senior vice president of development for NextEra Energy Resources. “With the support of customers like Google Energy, we have built our wind fleet from fewer than 500 MW a decade ago to more than 7,600 MW, the largest fleet in North America today.”

10. EnerNOC finalizes 560 MW DR contract with TVA
EnerNOC, Inc. (Boston, MA) announced that it has finalized a 10-year contract with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to provide up to 560 MW of demand response (DR) capacity throughout TVA’s seven-state service territory. All of the participating commercial, institutional, and industrial facilities within that territory will receive access to EnerNOC’s DemandSMART DR performance management application. EnerNOC will also provide these customers with real-time energy profiling data, which they can use to identify additional energy savings opportunities, according to the company. “Customers throughout the seven-state TVA region will benefit from this clean, cost-effective resource, which will help manage peak demand,” said Tim Healy, EnerNOC’s chairman and CEO. “We’re excited to have finalized our contract with TVA, and we look forward to building on our partnership with TVA and power distributors to serve end-use customers in this market.”

11. Ram Power to merge with Sierra Geothermal Power
Ram Power Corp. (Reno, NV) and Sierra Geothermal Power Corp. (Vancouver, B.C.), owner of 120,000 acres of property in British Columbia, California, and Nevada with geothermal potential, have entered into a definitive agreement under which Ram Power will acquire the outstanding stock of Sierra Geothermal. Under the terms of the transaction, each common share of Sierra will be exchanged for 0.0833333 common shares of Ram Power, and all options and warrants of Sierra will become exercisable for options and warrants of Ram Power. Upon closing of the transaction, Ram Power is expected to issue approximately 11.13 million common shares to current Sierra shareholders. “The arrangement agreement represents an important milestone in the growth of Ram Power as well as the consolidation of the geothermal power industry,” said Ram Power CEO Hezy Ram. “From the beginning, Ram Power set out to be the market leader in geothermal power, and the Sierra acquisition is expected to contribute to the synergistic advantages we are seeking in our portfolio of properties.”



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