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Project Bo, Bringing Life And Power To Sierra Leone, Is Under Construction

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

In an industry with some tough stories to tell these days, sometimes it’s worth pausing and savoring a story that is undeniably and unalterably good – and such is the case with Project Bo.

The project, designed to purchase, install and maintain a 20kW solar and battery system to provide an uninterrupted 24/7 power supply to the oxygen concentrators and baby warmers at Bo Government Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, is finally under construction after raising 82% of the funds necessary to complete the project.

They are currently around $20,000 away from reaching 100% of their goal, thanks to the Liebreich Foundation, the U.K.-based charity heading up the fundraising drive.

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Jigar Shah, co-founder of Generate Capital and supporter of the project, celebrated the project’s groundbreaking on Twitter.

According to the Project Bo website:

An average of 17 babies die each month at Bo Government Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Sierra Leone. That’s approximately 25% of all babies admitted. Many of these deaths are caused by the lack of one basic provision – a reliable power supply.

It is these babies Project Bo has been established to support. Through the provision of solar and battery technology, a secure power supply will safeguard the most vulnerable of babies who are reliant on life-saving equipment.

The use of solar makes sense when you realize how electricity-poor Sierra Leone is. The website continues:

Bo is the third largest city in Sierra Leone and home to about half a million people, most of whom live below the poverty line. It also has one of the world’s worst infant mortality rates. Only 13% of the population receives power, and many areas have no grid access at all. Frequent power blackouts and sparse and sporadic coverage greatly hinders the healthcare system from providing basic care. Furthermore Ebola has severely impacted the health care system care for neonates is particularly challenging.

While it’s great to see the solar industry rally around such a great cause, it bears repeating that the job isn’t done yet. The project is still $20,000 short – let’s see if we can’t make that money happen for them as soon as possible.

More:

Project Bo Website With Donation Button

The Fight To Lower Solar Cost To Capital Continues: New Solar Finance Council Is Formed

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

The new Solar Finance Council will continue to work on lowering the cost of capital and expand the investor base so more solar can be deployed in more places.

Financing is often the most difficult part of getting a solar deal done, and lower the costs of capital is one of the keys to unlocking solar’s full potential. To that end, one man with experience in researching the problem has created a new working group to address just those issues.

Called the Solar Finance Council (SFC), the group is being headed by Mike Mendelsohn as executive director.Mendelsohn previously led the Solar Energy Industries Association’s (SEIA) work in project finance and capital markets. Prior to SEIA, he established the Solar Access to Public Capital (SAPC) working group at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Unlike his previous endeavors, however, the SFC will remain independent.

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Membership and advisory board participation is open to all industry stakeholders. If you are interested in participating, please contact us at mike@solarfinancecouncil.org.

“To date, investment for solar project development has come from a small number of banks and financial entities, largely those that play in the ‘tax-equity’ arena,” Mendelsohn said. “To meet the climate challenge before us, solar will need to scale rapidly while government support through the investment tax credit will decline to very low levels, starting in 2020.

“Accordingly, the industry needs to find new and larger sources of capital, and to do so, improve investor confidence that solar assets produce energy and long-term cash flows as originally projected,” Mendelsohn added.

To facilitate its mission, SFC will research, analyze and distribute high-quality data and other industry content targeting the investment community and will convene industry members to solve challenges to broader investment in underserved sectors of the economy such as commercial real estate, low and moderate-income households, and untapped geographic markets.

We’ve Got No Wires To Hold Us Down: SEIA Completes Grid Modernization Series

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Is the image of the sun setting on a utility pole too heavy handed? I worry it’s a little heavy handed.

In the future, there will be no wires to hold down the transmission of electricity – at least that’s what the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) believes is part of the future of grid modernization, according to a white paper it released last week.

The paper , DER and the Non-Wires Solutions Opportunity, examined how utilities are investing in distributed electricity production instead of the traditional centralized model that has dominated grid development since the 19th century.

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“Today, customers are increasingly seeking more control of their own energy, and with the rapidly falling cost of solar power, utilities are realizing the traditional business model needs to change,” said Sean Gallagher, SEIA’s vice president of state affairs. “By strategically modernizing the electric grid, distributed energy resources like solar can flourish and provide reliable, low-cost power and grid services to consumers and utilities alike.”

The white paper outlines case studies involving California and New York as being cutting-edge examples of what policymakers can do to encourage utilities to move toward distributed generation. It also discusses how to improve the grid planning process to include DG deployment.

“This report brings an important aspect of grid modernization to the forefront – how distributed energy resources can provide a technical solution for grid management issues and save ratepayers money,” said Stephen Kalland, executive director of the NC Clean Energy Technology Center. “Most importantly, the report discusses how rate design can support these solutions, how utility business models must be modernized to fairly evaluate non-wires solutions, and how planning processes should be evolved to consider these solutions.”

To read the entire, year-long series of white papers and see what conclusions SEIA reached, click here.

Ohio AEE Launches Advanced Energy Roadmap To Grow Economy, Jobs

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

Ohio Advanced Energy Economy (Ohio AEE), a business coalition that supports a clean energy future in the state, unveiled its five point plan to move the state closer to having a clean-energy-based economy.

Ohio AEE says its plans outline market-based policy considerations that would create thousands of jobs and bring billions of investment dollars into the state.

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“Advanced energy supports more than 105,000 jobs in Ohio, but policy uncertainty over the last six years has artificially slowed the growth of this booming industry,” said Ray Fakhoury, legislative affairs director for Ohio Advanced Energy Economy. “Our roadmap sets a new course that takes an all-of-the-above approach to spur advanced energy growth. We urge Ohio’s next governor to embrace policies that harness the economic potential of the advanced energy industry to grow the Ohio economy and create even more high-quality jobs across the state.”

Ohio AEE asked the two gubernatorial candidates, Republican Mike DeWine and Democrat Richard Cordray, to consider the following five policy options:

Stabilize and expand market-based mechanisms to accelerate deployment of innovative, cost-effective renewable energy resources and energy efficiency for all Ohioans. Uncertainty over Ohio’s direction on advanced energy has discouraged investment in the state and hampered the growth of the industry as a whole.

Eliminate barriers that prevent Ohio businesses from accessing low-cost wind energy. The current wind setback standards have acted as a de facto moratorium for the wind industry and Ohio continues to lose out on billions of dollars of investment to neighboring states. Removing this government barrier would allow the market to function, driving access to wind energy resources for corporate customers to invest in clean, affordable renewable power within the state.

Accelerate adoption of electric vehicles, including commercial fleets, and support charging infrastructure deployment in Ohio. Despite growing national demand, the lack of sufficient charging infrastructure and a supportive regulatory structure remain roadblocks to greater adoption of EVs in Ohio.

Remove barriers to investments in technologies and services that reduce energy costs and consumption while increasing customer choices and control. To provide the most value to consumers and the grid, market rules must ensure a competitive market for distributed energy resources (DERs) like wind and solar while aligning the utility business model with consumer interests.

Modernize Ohio’s electricity systems by building upon PUCO’s PowerForward initiative to deliver benefits for consumers and enhance grid reliability. As advanced energy deployment increases, Ohio must be prepared to integrate these new and innovative technologies into the existing system and to take advantage of the benefits they can provide.