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Subject:
Think Local, Act Local, Be Local
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Good morning and happy Friday,
This week, the theme of “who gets to decide?” prevails. Although Idaho National Labs announced it may make up to 23,000 acres of land available for clean energy development, two Republican members of the state’s congressional delegation have introduced bills that “would require the Interior Department to deny wind and solar projects on federal land when a state legislature rejects the projects.”
In Michigan, some rural lawmakers are pushing back against the proposed Clean Energy and Jobs Act, a package of bills that would place siting decisions for wind, solar and energy storage projects larger than 100 MW under the control of the Public Service Commission (this week’s “Radar” article below is about a similar situation playing out in California).
And while “wind project activity continues to surge” in the Southwest Power Pool, Reuters reports that developers are focusing on the southern parts of SPP to avoid high interconnection costs.
Read on for more.
Think Local, Act Local, Be Local
Wise County, Virginia has produced coal since 1880, and in 2021 was identified as the nation’s fourth-most coal-dependent economy. Perhaps not the type of place one would expect to find an economic renaissance driven by grassroots support for solar – but guess again, because one’s underway. Here are a few inspiring rays of light:
- A key driver behind the county’s embrace of solar has been the Solar Workgroup of Southwest Virginia, which was launched in 2016 by “a coalition of businesses, nonprofits, colleges, local governments, and citizens.”
- The group’s participants seek to “develop a renewable energy industry cluster in the seven coalfield counties of Southwest Virginia,” an effort facilitated by subject matter experts in technology, policy, regional planning, and other areas.
- Wise County is ideally positioned to benefit from provisions in the IRA that offer tax credits for projects in low-income and coal communities. Local installer Secure Solar Futures combines those credits with incentives for domestically manufactured components to reduce the cost of solar installations by as much as 60%, “savings that it passes on to customers.”
⚡️ The Takeaway
Homegrown trust. Along with the Appalachian Solar Finance Fund, these organizations benefit from staff with personal ties to coal country – “an important component of building confidence in, and support for, the technology.” A new MIT course will train students to be mediators in conflicts over clean energy projects, but many rural communities are skeptical of outsiders. It may make more sense for “agricultural extension programs to act as facilitators in renewable energy siting conflicts.”
Going Overboard
Sometimes county boards of supervisors vote against renewable energy projects – this isn’t necessarily newsworthy. However, the Shasta County, California Board of Supervisors is taking things to another level and using taxpayer money to advance its members’ anti-wind views. Here’s what’s happening:
- At its Oct. 17 meeting (see item R10), the board voted to spend up to $100,000 in public funds on a “community media engagement campaign” to “inform the public about what the county considers the negative effects of the proposed Fountain Wind energy generation facility.”
- Fountain Wind, a 200 MW project being developed by ConnectGen, was previously rejected by both the Board of Supervisors as well as by the county planning commission, but new legislation passed in 2022 allows developers to apply directly to the California Energy Commission for siting approval, which ConnectGen has done.
- Seeking to forestall this potential outcome, the board moved 4-1 to authorize the funds and counteract what a majority of its members see as an “overreach” that takes local control away from county officials.
⚡️ The Takeaway
Enquiring minds want to know. It turns out Shasta County board meetings are more interesting than you might expect. Recently one was interrupted by a shouting match over use of racial slurs, and the Oct. 31 meeting featured a “WWE-style verbal smackdown” between board chair Patrick Jones and the Registrar of Votes related to the county’s decision to dump Dominion Voting Systems (three of the board’s five members are election deniers). As California goes, so goes the nation? In this case, let’s hope not!
- Build Back Never: Why America Doesn’t Build
- Drop in the Bucket: Energy Dept. Pours Billions Into Power Grids but Warns It’s Not Enough
- Platformed: Sen. Ron Johnson amplifies the voices of climate science deniers at a congressional hearing
- Red Energy: China is building huge amounts of solar and wind power, but continues to add coal-fired power plants
Window to the Future?
As the name suggests, solar glass is a transparent material that can be used for windows but can also generate electricity. First created by researchers at Michigan State University in 2014, it is now being developed and advanced by several companies.
While solar glass isn’t as efficient at producing electricity as its opaque counterpart (solar panels), its key advantage is its suitability for widespread application. Not only is glass ubiquitous in urban settings, the technology could also be used in vehicles and mobile devices, taking advantage of a massive, untapped resource and transforming passive items into an army of sustainable, clean energy generators.
In 2017, MSU researchers estimated that solar glass could supply up to 40% of U.S. energy needs, about the same potential as rooftop solar – meaning that a combination of the two technologies alone could theoretically meet more than three-quarters of domestic demand.
It’s clear to us that this is an emerging technology worth keeping an eye on!
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