-Caveat Lector- November 24, 2002
For Solar Power, Foggy City Maps Its Bright Spots By DEAN E. MURPHY SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 23 — High above the streets on rooftops flat and wide, nearly a dozen sun-gazing contraptions are shedding new light on this city's foggy reputation. Resembling lunar probes on spindly legs, the machines are equipped with sensors that measure solar energy. Readings are transmitted by radio to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, where engineers plot them on a computerized "fog map" of the city. The Solar Energy Monitoring Network, as the rooftop system is known, is the backbone of an unusual effort to transform San Francisco into the country's largest municipal generator of solar power and other renewable energy. Using the information the monitors gather on where the sun shines and how long, the utility plans to position solar panels around the city that it says will add 10 megawatts of solar power to the electricity grid over the next five years. That is about as much solar power as is now generated in Sacramento, the municipal leader nationwide. On average, 1 megawatt is enough electricity for 1,000 homes. The long-term hope in San Francisco is to increase solar generation an additional 40 megawatts — enough to meet about 5 percent of the city's peak electricity needs — by installing photovoltaic panels on dozens of publicly owned structures, including schools, parking garages, covered reservoirs and even the municipal sewage plant. "It is certainly remarkable," said Terry M. Peterson of the Electric Power Research Institute, a research consortium in Palo Alto, Calif., supported by utility companies. "But any time you do something for the first time, you incur risk. If things don't go well, and costs come in higher than expected, or the systems don't perform as expected, it will have a bad effect." By mapping the sunniest and foggiest neighborhoods, officials in San Francisco are looking to increase the odds for success. So far, municipal buildings around Golden Gate Park have been ruled out, while the piers along San Francisco Bay are considered promising. The fog map and solar data are being made available on the Internet (www.solarcat .com/sfsolar/main.htm) for businesses and homeowners interested in installing their own solar energy systems. "It is not as dire a picture as you might have thought," said Fred Schwartz, manager of energy for the Public Utilities Commission, who analyzes data from the 11 monitoring stations. "Seven of the sites look excellent for solar energy." Turning San Francisco into a solar beacon might seem an improbable task, but residents have demanded it. Last year's brownouts, rolling blackouts and steep increases in energy bills led to the passage of a ballot measure that allows the city to issue $100 million in revenue bonds for renewable energy systems, including solar and wind power. Savings from the new systems will be used to pay off the bonds. The city's liberal Democratic politics and its environmental sensibilities have also played a role. City officials want to phase out plants that burn fossil fuel in favor of cleaner technologies, and some of them also want to be seen as standing up to a Republican-dominated federal government that is viewed here as increasingly anti-environment and pro-oil industry. "It is clear to us that the leadership for promoting renewable energy is not going to come from the White House or Congress," said David Hochschild, a former aide to Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr. and a leader in passage of the renewable energy ballot measure. "The action really is at the local level." To that end, Mayor Brown on Thursday invited the singer Bonnie Raitt, a longtime proponent of renewable energy, to a City Hall reception to help draw attention to the city's solar ambitions. Outside, a large truck with solar panels on its roof offered free cups of solar-brewed coffee. "Promoting renewable energy is the most patriotic act we can commit," Ms. Raitt told a cheering crowd of about 200. "It makes our country less dependent on foreign oil and less likely to go to war." Construction on the city's first solar project is set to begin in March at the Moscone Convention Center, which is in SoMa (South of Market), among the neighborhoods that get high solar ratings on Mr. Schwartz's fog map. By June the sprawling convention rooftop will be carpeted in solar panels that are designed to generate 675 kilowatts of energy. Combined with energy- efficient lighting and ventilation systems and rebates from a state-financed renewable energy program, the panels should save the center about $200,000 a year in electricity bills. The city estimates that current charges for the convention center are 12 cents per kilowatt hour; the new solar power will cost 28 cents without state rebates and 14 cents with them. David King, a researcher at Sandia National Laboratories, said the Moscone system would undoubtedly suffer when "the fog rolls in under the Golden Gate." But he said that even with the city's fog problem it is possible to generate enough solar power. "San Francisco is not the greatest site, for sure, but any site will work," Mr. King said. "If you put a solar PV system in San Francisco, you get roughly 85 percent of the energy as you would from the same system if you put it on a roof in Phoenix." Solar energy accounts for a tiny fraction of power in California, but the state's energy crisis seems to have given renewable energy a kick-start. In April, Alameda County completed a huge project at the Santa Rita County Jail in Dublin. About 9,000 solar photovoltaic panels, which convert sunlight directly to electricity, were installed on the jail's three-acre roof. The system generates 1.2 megawatts of power, or about one-third of the jail's electricity needs. For five years the state has offered rebates to homeowners who make solar conversions. The program was so popular that last month it ran out of money, but state officials said an additional $100 million would be available in January. "We think we have sufficient funds to match the demand over the next five years, but who knows, it might go faster than that," said Timothy N. Tutt of the renewable energy program at the California Energy Commission. Proponents of solar power acknowledge, however, that without the rebates and the high cost of other electricity, solar energy would be considered too expensive for most projects. In an interview, Ed Smeloff, the assistant general manager at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, would not commit the power agency beyond the immediate plan of generating 10 megawatts of solar energy. "We need to see how much solar comes down in price," he said. In the meantime, even the Moscone project must work within the confines of San Francisco's foggy realities. In awarding the contract to the PowerLight Corporation, the Public Utilities Commission said the system would take 20 weeks to install, "weather permitting." Copyright The New York Times Company -------------------------------------- Steve Wingate, Webmaster ANOMALOUS IMAGES AND UFO FILES http://www.anomalous-images.com Latest Update: Cydonia in 3-D http://www.anomalous-images.com/Odyssey/Cydonia_3-d.html <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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