Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/177525
W When a big automobile dealership in Edmonton, Alberta, a stone's throw from the industrial heart of oil sands development and in a province where most electricity is coalired, switches its show room and sales of ices to wind power, energy management approaches of a decidedly green hue start to look possible. But that is what happened. In October 2011, Bullfrog Power, an energy-trading irm that retails electricity and natural gas from renewable sources like wind and biomass, respectively, announced it had inked a deal with Waterloo Ford Lincoln to supply the dealership with electricity from wind power produced in Alberta. The deal with Bullfrog was part of Waterloo Ford's facility retro it program to improve energy ef iciency and reduce its carbon footprint. It included HVAC controls, thermostats and air-handling units. Waterloo Ford is now one of an estimated 1,300 Canadian businesses buying renewable power from Bullfrog. Purchases of green power like this show a commitment to lowering the carbon footprint as they do involve costs, but these can, of course, be offset over time if energy ef iciency retro its are part of the mix. But retro its are not feasible for everyone. And, as Bullfrog Power president Tom Heintzman points out, cus- by Godfrey Budd tomers pay a premium for green power from renewable sources. But, "the premium we charge is constant and if you're a large consumer and there is an increase in [conventional electricity] prices, then the Bullfrog premium represents a smaller percentage of the [cost] pie," he says. A key concept underpinning the Bullfrog business model is that as more individual consumers and businesses choose green power, this will help drive the development of more wind and other renewable power sources. Heintzman says that there are two main ways to drive green power consumption: government programs and/or regulation or the voluntary method, which he describes as, "People like our customers demanding it." Canadian proponents of green power would appear to have their work cut out for them. In this country, only Ontario has had a policy encouraging renewables with its feed-in-tariff (FIT) program. As for the country's voluntary component for renewables, Heintzman describes it as "minuscule." In the U.S., on the other hand, he says there are over 850 programs promoting the renewable option on a voluntary basis. Many are quite simple and work well in tandem with a regulatory program. "In California, the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) requires utilities to have a certain amount of renewables in the mix and pass the cost on to all utility payers. In addition to RPS, you have a voluntary offer of renewable [energy] over and above the regulatory requirements," says Heintzman. The offer of a higher percentage of renewable-sourced power can be included with the monthly bill to the consumer. "There's a segment of society that is in favour of paying more to have 100 per cent renewable," he says. In six of the last seven years in the U.S., he says, the voluntary component has accounted for more new renewablesourced power consumption than the regulated one. The Ontario Power Authority (OPA), which has a role in Okanagan College Centre of Excellence, Penticton, B.C. Rendering courtesy CEI Architecture. Green Power MODERN ENERGY MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES AND SOLUTIONS COME WITH A SMALL PRICE TAG AND BRING BIG COST REDUCTIONS OVER THE LONG TERM Energy Management p.26-31Audio_Energy.indd 29 running the province's feed-in-tariff or FIT program, also has what it calls a micro-FIT program for renewable power projects of under 10 KW. According to a table in the December 9, 2011 edition of the OPA's bi-weekly report for the two programs, total applications to date (10,047) are for 20,958 MW of generating capacity. A total of 30 MW of capacity is now in operation. A further 388 MW of generating capacity has received a inal stamp of approval in the form of a notice to proceed (NTP). The program, which was introduced in 2006 and revised in 2009, covers four main renewable energy groups: bioenergy, solar PV, hydroelectric and wind. One of the challenges encountered with solar PV and the use of traditional string or central inverters to convert DC power to AC was that optimizing power generation from all PV panels within a system was next to impossible in some applications. This was almost invariably the case on smaller projects – a single building, for instance – where the orientation of panels to sunlight varied. String or central inverters work well for larger projects where all panels have the same orientation to sunlight – but have their drawbacks where the orientation is not uniform. "The system was only as strong as its weakest link," says Tim Schulhauser, president of Sky ire Energy Inc. California-based Enphase Energy was the irst to develop a microinverter. Schulhauser says the device enables smaller PV systems to be smarter and operate more ef iciently. The microinverter, which uses semi-conductor technology and micro-electronics, enables each panel to operate independently. "With microinverters, each panel can face in a different direction and so each panel module gets to perform at its maximum ef iciency. Each microinverter calculates the optimal voltage-amps ratio," says Schulhauser. He says that his irm, which is focused on solar PV and thermal system design and installation, has installed about 25 PV systems using Enphase microinverter technology recently. He notes that the microinverter company, which last fall introduced a 25-year warranty, now has competition and that prices are likely to drop for the technology. Prices have also dropped for solar PV overall in recent years. "It's now close to grid parity. Within about ive years, it [PV] could reach grid parity for price," Schulhauser says. He notes that after a recent price increase electricity now costs about 11 to 12 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) in Alberta, while solar PV costs 15 to 20 cents per kWh. Sky ire is staffed by professional engineers and has designed and installed hundreds of PV systems, including the largest such system in western Canada, at the Okanagan College Centre of Excellence in Penticton, which opened in June 2011. Despite ongoing challenges, progress in energy management and ef iciency has certainly occurred over the last 30 years, with mostly slight incremental improvement each year, says George Steeves, president of Sterling Cooper & Associates. But the improvement is signi icant. Thirty years ago, lighting typically accounted for three watts per square foot, but today, lighting consumption is down to 0.8 watts per FEBRUARY 2012 /29 1/23/12 10:31:53 AM