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Solar Energy International 2009

	The 2009-2014 World Outlook for Water and Air Solar Energy Collectors List Price: $795.00 Sale Price: $795.00
	This econometric study covers the world outlook for water and air solar energy collectors across more than 200 countries. For each year reported, estimates are given for the latent demand, or potential industry earnings (P...

Washington Airport Gets Free Solar Power

In Port Townsend, Washington, the county-owned airport may soon get a $100,000 solar array for free courtesy of solar firm Power Trip Energy and a consortium of solar interests called the Jefferson Solar Group.

The 16-kilowatt array will occupy a 100-square-foot parcel near the navigational beacon at the Jefferson County International Airport, on the airport’s western perimeter, providing about 16,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity to run the beacon and landing lights.

The Jefferson Solar Group, contracting the installation through Port Townsend-based Power Trip Energy, a design/build solar firm, will capitalize on Washington State’s newly enacted SB 6170, effective July 1, 2009, which provides up to $1.08 per kilowatt-hour for renewable solar energy, for a maximum of $5,000 per year, with the customer-generator retaining ownership of the renewable energy credits, or RECs.

The state also offers renewable energy sales and use tax exemptions, and Puget Sound Energy also offers its Renewable Energy Advantage Program, paying up to $0.54 cents per kilowatt-hour for panels manufactured within the state. Combine this with the 30-percent federal incentive, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the Jefferson Solar Group – a consortium of like-minded solar energy enthusiasts and entrepreneurs – admits it will get “a fair return on investment” from the giveaway.

The public/private sector installation will produce enough to electricity to power a very large single residence, which is the same as removing 2.2 cars from the road or planting 295 seedlings and letting them grow for 10 years.

Would-be developers are waiting for approval by the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, but once that is granted, the publicly owned airport could expect construction to begin as early as March of 2010.

Funding will come from the individual participants of the 12-member Jefferson Solar Group, and the array – which will deliver electricity to the airport at less than the normal retail rate now charged by Puget Sound Energy – will operate on a lease agreement for 10 years, after which the county could purchase the system for about 30 percent of its original cost, or about $33,000. The system would then produce free electricity (less maintenance) for another 20 years or so.

Most importantly, this first-of-its-kind agreement in the state will reduce the port’s carbon emissions, which – as part of the Jefferson Climate Action Group, or JeffersonCAN – the port has committed itself to doing.

JeffersonCAN goals include reducing greenhouse gas emissions like carbon dioxide to 80 percent less than 1990 levels by 2050, a goal supported by President Obama and likely to be adopted as part of a climate bill in the 111th Congress.

According to the IPCC, greenhouse gas emissions (in million metric tons) were 5,257.3 in 1990, rising to 6,087.5 tons in 2007.

The advantage of the lease agreement is that public entities like the Port Townsend Authority are unable to take advantage of some tax credits.
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	The 2009-2014 World Outlook for Water and Air Solar Energy Collectors List Price: $795.00 Sale Price: $795.00
	This econometric study covers the world outlook for water and air solar energy collectors across more than 200 countries. For each year reported, estimates are given for the latent demand, or potential industry earnings (P...

33. Ms. Kristina Peterson Part 1 (International Energy Conference 2009)