GLREA News
MAREC and GLREA are presenting “A Roadmap to Community Solar,” a four-week series that will help participants learn how to launch a community solar project that will develop renewable energy by pooling resources, reducing individual risk, and maximizing the benefits of solar energy for local communities.
The “Roadmap” will run Tuesday evenings at MAREC from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm, from July 9 through July 30. This solar series will feature expert presenters and practitioners from Michigan and beyond. Cost is $60.00 for all four sessions. www.gvsu.edu/marec/
2014 Michigan Energy Fair will be held at the Ingham County Fairgrounds in Mason on June 27-28. Save the date!
GLREA Member Highlight
Contractors Building Supply has announced that Underwriters Laboratory has approved the Sonali Photovoltaic Systems that will be assembled in Copemish. The facilities will be able to produce up to 6.5 MW a year. Contractors Building Supply is partnering with Renovo Electronics and Solar Tilt LLC to provide a Michigan-made system. www.windowswindandsolar.com
Michigan News
Gov. Rick Snyder has appointed Sally Talberg to serve on the three-member Michigan Public Service Commission. Talberg replaces Orjiakor Isiogu, whose term expires July 2. Talberg will represent political independents on the commission. She is a senior consultant at Public Sector Consultants in Lansing. There she serves as an energy expert and manager of program design and implementation at Michigan Saves, a financing program for energy efficiency and renewable energy. Previously, Talberg was a department analyst at the MPSC and has also worked for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
Midland, Saginaw, Thomas Township and Williams Township are on the way to becoming the first solar-ready communities in Michigan. The four municipalities are working together on a project led by Clean Energy Coalition to streamline local permitting, planning and zoning processes related to solar installations. Bay Future Inc., Saginaw Future Inc. and Midland Tomorrow have helped launch the Renewable Energy Tools Program, a statewide project funded by a Michigan Energy Office grant. http://www.mlive.com/business/mid-michigan/index.ssf/2013/06/bay_future_great_lakes_bay_reg.html#incart_river
Kalamazoo Valley Community College’s Wind Turbine Technician Academy has graduated its seventh class, 11 students including three from out of state. More than half the students have already accepted job offers and job placement is 90% for past graduates. With this class, KVCC has now graduated more than 100 technicians since the academy’s inception in 2009. The next wind turbine academy starts July 8 with 16 students enrolled.
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2013/06/kvccs_wind_turbine_technician.html
REC Aggregation page on 5 Lakes Energy’s web site has two new resources – a pre-recorded webinar that introduces the program as well as details some of its key features and the FAQ page that has recently been updated.
Lean & Green Michigan has reported that the City of Rochester Hills has become the third community working with them to create a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) district, joining the City of Southfield and Ingham County. http://www.leanandgreenmi.com/
Great Lakes Wind Collaborative co-chair Mark Clevey and Victoria Pebbles, Program Director of GLWC, are interviewed on Michigan Radio about wind energy.
http://www.michiganradio.org/post/wind-energy-viable-option-michigan
Beyond Michigan
Ontario has ended the province’s feed-in tariff (FIT) program for large-scale renewable energy projects in favor of a competitive-procurement mechanism. On May 30, Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli announced the province and the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) will develop a competitive-procurement process for renewable projects exceeding 500 kW while also making 900 MW of new capacity available for the Small FIT and microFIT programs. The change is immediate and effective for all projects going forward. http://www.nawindpower.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.11657#utm_medium=email&utm_source=LNH+06-19-2013&utm_campaign=NAW+News+Headlines
First Floating Wind Turbine in U.S. has gone into the water in Brewer, Maine on its way to being put in place and connected to the grid off the coast near the town of Castine. The 65-ft VolturnUS 1:8 prototype is a small-scale model of the giant 6 MW turbines the University of Maine and its partners in the DeepC Wind Consortium plan to have in the water someday. Ultimately, the Maine group aims to have some 80 turbines floating in 4-mile by 8-mile zone 20 miles from the coast. The team figures those turbines will be able to produce electricity at 10 cents per kWh without subsidies. The VolturnUS project has been backed with $12 million over the past five years by DOE. http://www.earthtechling.com/2013/05/maine-floating-turbine-in-the-water/
Four College Teams topped 1,000 miles per gallon in specially designed vehicles they built during the SAE “Supermileage” event June 6-7 at Eaton’s Proving Grounds in Marshall. This is the 34th year for the competition, which challenges teams to build a one-person, fuel efficient vehicle based around a one-cylinder, four-cycle engine. A team from Pennsylvania State University’s Behrend College was this year’s overall winner. It received a total score of 1,656 (1,290 mpg plus its Design Report score of 366) and won $1,400. Michigan teams in the competition were Michigan Technological University, sixth place, 758 mpg and a Design Score of 350 for a total of 1,107, and Calvin College, 15th place, 348 mpg plus a Design Score of 73 for a total of 421.
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/06/11/penn-state-triumphs-at-saes-supermileage-competition-in-marshall/
U.S. Senate in a 66 to 27 vote has passed a comprehensive farm bill that includes funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). REAP provides grants and loans to help rural businesses and agricultural producers invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy. The Senate-passed bill includes $68.2 million in mandatory REAP funding and $20 million in appropriated REAP funding annually for fiscal years 2014 through 2018. A U.S. House of Representatives’ committee passed its own version of a farm bill without REAP funding. http://www.nawindpower.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.11620#utm_medium=email&utm_source=LNH+06-12-2013&utm_campaign=NAW+News+Headlines
Global Electricity from renewable energy sources will rise 40% in the next five years, as developing countries expand capacity, according to a report from the International Energy Agency. Renewables will account for nearly 25% of global electricity by 2018, up from about 20% in 2011. Renewables will overtake natural gas and be double that of nuclear by 2016. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/26/iea-renewable-idUSL2N0F20VW20130626
Events
Roadmap to Community Solar will be held at MAREC in Muskegon on July 9, 16, 23 & 30, 6-9 pm. www.gvsu.edu/marec/
Sustainable Spirits Happy Hour sponsored by the Southeast Michigan Sustainable Business Forum will be held on July 11, 6:00-8:00 pm at the Maiz Mexican Cantina in Ann Arbor. Dave Konkle will talk about Community Solar and how GLREA is leading an effort to bring Community Solar to Michigan. The event is free, but space is limited. You can register at http://smsbf.org/event/sustainable-spirits-july-11th-2/.
GreenTown Michiana will be held on October 11 in South Bend, IN. Tracks include energy/built environment, wellness, food and waste, water, transportation, and sustainable business. www.greentownconference.com
Michigan Energy Conference will be held Thursday, October 24 at the Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids. Sponsored by Ferris State University, the Right Place and the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center (MMTC), the conference theme is “Powering the Future.” If you are interested in presenting at the conference, more information on submitting a proposal is available here.
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Source/Prepared by: John Sarver for Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association (GLREA)