21st Century Regenerative Technology

1. NY Pulls Plug on $1.5B Clean Coal Plant
2. Environmentalism Is Next to Godliness
3. SunPower Profits & Sales Up, Stock Down
4. Intersolar: Credit Crunch Hitting Residential Solar
5. 2008 Hurricane Season, Alma to Fausto
6. Tropical Storm Fausto Nearing Hurricane Strength

NY Pulls Plug on $1.5B Clean Coal Plant

2008-07-17 16:59

Craig Rubens - Energy

Chalk up one more for our coal power deathwatch list and this one was even going to be “clean coal.” The New York Power Authority has informed NRG Energy that it doesn’t have the financing for a planned $1.5 billion coal power plant in western New York that would have used an integrated gasification combined cycle system to convert coal into much cleaner burning syngas.

The state will be letting its partnership with the energy provider expire at the end of the month. A New York Power Authority spokeswoman told Reuters: “The economic, technical and regulatory obstacles are too great to warrant further efforts at this time.” So the only things holding clean coal back are the minor details - money, technology and policy. No wonder clean coal has gone nowhere. View Larger Map

The Feds and banks have both scaled back loans for coal plants with carbon regulation likely to become a reality with the next administration. And clean coal projects are proving prohibitively expensive with their early stage technologies. David Crane, NRG President and CEO, admitted in a statement: “The Huntley IGCC project was, in many ways, ahead of its time.” Many scientists agree and don’t think it’ll be clean coal’s time for a decade.

With clean coal projects getting scuttled and few large-scale test projects scheduled, especially in the U.S. since the cancellation of the DOE’s FutureGen project, there doesn’t seem to be much progress in demonstrating the technology of carbon capture and sequestration. (Although, EPA earlier this week proposed a framework for regulating underground carbon sequestration projects.)

This isn’t the first time NRG has had the kibosh put on its plans for a clean coal plant. Last year, a court ordered Delaware utility Delmarva to buy power from Bluewater Wind’s offshore wind farm instead of from a 600MW clean coal plant NRG had proposed to build at its Indian River site.

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Environmentalism Is Next to Godliness

2008-07-17 15:01

In Sydney, Pope Compares Materialism to Worship of a False Idol

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SunPower Profits & Sales Up, Stock Down

2008-07-17 14:56

Katie Fehrenbacher - Energy

You’d think with a second quarter that saw a significant jump in revenue, a swing to profitability, and raised guidance, solar cell and module maker SunPower (SPWR) would catch a break from Wall Street. Not so much: SunPower’s shares traded down 7 percent to $74.54 (one of the morning’s biggest decliners according to MarketWatch).

Here are the numbers: The company announced that it had revenues of $382.8 million, up 120 percent from the second quarter a year ago. Net income came in at $28.6 million, compared to last year’s second quarter when it posted a loss of $5.3 million. And the company also raised its fiscal year guidance to revenues of $1.39 billion to $1.44 billion.

SunPower CEO Tom Werner did mention one dark spot for the U.S. solar market — the risk of the ITC not being extended. “In 2008, SunPower has achieved the geographic and market segment diversity that provides us with tremendous flexibility to respond to new opportunities and minimize risk, such as the uncertainty our industry currently faces in the U.S. and Spanish markets,” Werner said.

Werner has previously said SunPower will focus on markets outside the United States if the ITC isn’t passed (No U.S. Solar Incentives? No Solar For You.) Abengoa’s US advisor Fred Morse expressed similar sentiments in an interview with us earlier this week.

Update: The stock drop can likely thank reports that Spain could cut solar subsidies, which Eric Savitz of Barron’s sums up well:

The country has been debating changes for the last few weeks, and it appears that it may choose to cap its current subsidy program at 300 megawatts, a level which Collins Stewart analyst Daniel Ries this morning describes in a research note as "the worst case scenario.

Canadian Solar, JA Solar, Yingli Green Energy, Suntech, Solarfun and First Solar have all been trading down.

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Intersolar: Credit Crunch Hitting Residential Solar

2008-07-17 07:00

Craig Rubens - Startups

If you want to go solar you better have a good credit score. While power purchase agreements and lease programs are starting to gain traction in the residential market, that trend could be moving faster without the recent credit crunch, said David Arfin, SolarCity’s VP of customer finance on a panel at the solar conference Intersolar on Wednesday.

“Consumer credit markets are very important to the growth of this entire industry,” said Arfin, and explained that his startup and their financial partner Morgan Stanley have set a minimum FICO score of 720 for customers seeking financing. Akeena Solar’s EVP of Sales and Marketing Steve Daniel has seen a similar situation. Akeena had sold many of its systems to rich customers for cash but now Daniel says “the equity is gone . . . The game has changed radically in the last 12 months.”

SunPower’s Eric Schmidt brought up home equity loans as the "the forgotten step child of financing solar." But of course the home equity loan market isn’t so hot right now and many potential applicants have already over-extended their home equity. Additionally, Schmidt pointed out that lenders like Key Bank and GE have gotten out of this lending market altogether.