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Posted on 06/12/2007 6:18:59 AM PDT by thackney
The redevelopment of San Antonio's landmark Pearl Brewery will include Texas' largest solar energy project — an installation of panels powering office, retail and residential space, developers said.
Silver Ventures, which is redeveloping the former brewery, announced plans Monday for the $1.35 million effort to install 758 photovoltaic panels atop a former warehouse, which once stored finished beer.
The panels will be capable of generating 200 kilowatts, or about one-fourth of the power needed in the 67,000-square-foot building. The system is the equivalent of 50 solar-powered homes.
CPS Energy, a city-owned utility, is contributing $400,000 to the project. An official said it's an economically viable project that provides a chance to measure the benefits of solar power. The agreement also serves as a model for other commercial uses.
"We've had a goal of testing solar energy technology in a real-world setting," said Paula Miles, CPS Energy director of energy research and technology initiatives. "Public-private partnerships are going to become the way to get things done. And this, for us, is one of our first forays into that brave new world."
Noah Kaye, a spokesman for the Solar Energy Industries Association in Washington, D.C., said a 3- to 4-kilowatt system can power a 2,200-square-foot house that uses 10,000 kilowatt-hours a year.
He said the brewery's 200-kilowatt system "is a substantial installation for a midsized to large commercial facility."
The state's existing largest solar project is at Fort Sam Houston, which supplements its energy supply with solar panels. Developers plan to have the Pearl Brewery panels in place by the end of the year.
Bob Sohn, an adviser to Silver Ventures on the Pearl Brewery development, said the project will give visitors a chance to learn about how solar power works. The system will show the amount of energy the rooftop panels are generating, he said.
Bill Barker, executive director of the nonprofit group Solar San Antonio, said the brewery's solar project is likely to attract visitors.
"There will be visitors to the site who'll want to see the largest solar installation in the state," he said.
The power utility, anyway, operates somewhat commercially, so if their user fees will support it they can justify it.
Yes, when a utility can get the owner to supply more of the peak power, it makes economic sense for the utility to help finance it. For a facility like this, the utility does not have to supply so much peak time demand, helping offset new generation expenses while getting more demand during off peak hours, a time when they have excess capacity and make more money selling power.
What you’re seeing happening is irresponsible. The only thing the “green” agenda knows is that their power comes out of an outlet. That’s about as far reaching as their understanding of an electrical grid, power generation, or economics goes.
Solar like wind is costly, it requires storage of power somehow, and it has issues with delivering adequate power in volume (law of diminishing returns is working against it as well)....... In fact, some of these alternatives are themselves not so “low impact” on the environment (i.e. hydroelectric or the production of solar cells)……. It sounds real good and if it were a beauty pageant I‘d also through in something about world peace, ending hunger, and AIDS. I’m sure Sean Penn will support the idea as well. Unfortunately, what is being sold to the public is a bunch of BS that does not work in the long run. Figure out what a single aluminum manufacturer requires in power; now figure out how many of your little wind generators that would require. Also, realize that there are real economic impacts as energy costs rise. Want to drive the aluminum smelters out of business? Let the cost of energy rise.
But who cares? Right now, everything is going green. It’s the new fad, like acid rain, save the baby seals, dangerous radiation from microwave ovens and later cell phones, the coming ice age, the ozone hole and now “global warming”. The business of ecology, will people ever wake up and see the racket? A can of fresh air or a pet rock was a sales gimmick, but it never deceived anyone; the demagogues selling environmentalism however deceive and they are pushing public policies. People like Gore are making fortunes off of something that amounts to no less than racketeering. But who will go after him? In ten years when you sit there and try to figure out how to pay your electrical bill because you don’t want to sweat in 110F, go tell it to Gore or those policy makers today laying down the foundation of failure, I’m sure they’ll care.
TXU alone wanted to build 11 new coal plants. 8 of those have been slashed.
In Texas right now we are not expanding capacity in production to meet what is predicted as being the future demand. It really is not a complicated concept.
They also built refineries in the last years, but not enough to keep up with demand. Interesting little fact is that since the 1970s no firm has gotten a federal permit to build a new nuclear power plant until this year (30 years)! But you're right, I’m probably just imagining that energy policy is being dictated by trendy political whims. As stated earlier, California is proof of that.
Germany consumes more than 530 billion kWh, that’s BILLION with a “B”.
Germany subsidizes wind and solar power, they have spent billions of Euro’s and in the end they cover what percent of demand? A meager 3-4% and that’s not reliable nor is it cheap. Fantastic, that’s the model we need to copy!
Would please provide a link with the source of the information? Thank you.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/02/19/8400164/index.htm
You don’t even need to look hard.
“With its hot summers, fast-growing population, and expanding industrial base, Texas has an even more urgent need for power; peak demand could exceed supply as soon as the summer of 2008.”
Google is your friend, try it some time!
What was the basis for this claim? An extraordinary number of plants offline at the same time?
Try to find something with actual numbers to substantiate your claim.
So then, what need is there for the public part of "public-private partnerships"?
The local utility where this facility is being built is City Public Service. It is a city owned utility. Any power project in the area requires their involvement.
BTW, in the meantime Germany after years of pursuing this dogmatic ecological nonsense and pouring billions into it is building 26 new coal burning plants. Stick that into your little picture of wind turbines.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2035398,00.html
(But they’re super clean coal plants. lol!)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,472786,00.html (Even the ultra left can really deny it.)
But no worries, in the meantime all the politicians let themselves be photographed in front of a wind turbine!
Why do you mention a pig farm?
Do you now intend to power Texas with “sustainable” (That’s the new buzzword) methane?
Let me help you out a little bit with what real system planning information looks like.
Use a source like Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)
http://www.ercot.com/
Now look at the load forcast:
Long Term Demand Forecast
http://www.ercot.com/gridinfo/load/ltdf/2007/WeeklyPeak_200706-200905.xls
And compare it to the available generation:
Availability of Resources for Medium-Term Projected Assessment of System Adequacy
http://www.ercot.com/gridinfo/sysplan/resourcesmpasa/2007/ResourceAvailability_Rule25_505d1DStart04292007.xls
Now show me where the short fall you claim Texas is not planning to meet?
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