SUNGREEN SYSTEMS INC PARTNERS WITH BYD AMERICA CORP TO DELIVER SOLAR POWER TO THE SOUTHWEST

Two fast growing companies in L.A.’s alternative energy industry are joining forces.

SunGreen Systems Inc.,（”SunGreen”） which develops and installs solar-energy systems, has signed a cooperation agreement with BYD America Corp.,（”BYD”） a provider of photo-voltaic solar panels and other technologies.

BYD will supply SunGreen with panels from its parent company in China, BYD Company Limited, which is 10% owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. SunGreen will integrate the panels into systems for commercial and residential customers in California, Nevada and Arizona. The two companies will also cross-promote each other in their marketing materials and campaigns.

“It’s an ideal match,” said SunGreen Chairman Y.Y. Lin. “We take great care to source only top quality panels. As testimony to their quality and expertise, BYD has already signed deals with the City of Lancaster, KB Home and the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power.”

“We’re impressed with SunGreen’s combined experience in real estate, green tech and architecture.” said BYD Business Development Manager Junguo Huang.

The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding on October 25, 2010 to commence their cooperation immediately and continue at least through December 2011.

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California Enacts Energy Storage Law to Help Prepare for More Solar, Wind

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a law believed to be the first in the country requiring utilities to begin planning for ways to store electricity that could be dispatched as needed.

The measure, opposed at various stages by many private and public electricity providers, is considered to be an important step in preparing for the future integration of large amounts of solar and wind energy into the state's electricity grid.

The new law, Assembly Bill 2514, requires the California Public Utilities Commission to begin proceedings by March 1, 2012, to consider targets for all but very small electricity providers to procure "viable and cost-effective energy storage systems."

Private electric companies would have to adopt a procurement target by Oct. 1, 2013, and reach a first-stage goal by Dec. 3, 2015. A second goal for storage achievement would be set for Dec. 31, 2020.

Publicly owned utilities would have to set a target by Oct. 1, 2014, and reach a first-stage goal by Dec. 31, 2016. They are to be given a second-stage goal to be achieved by Dec. 31, 2021.

As a legislative analysis of the new law mentioned, however, at present "there are no commercially available batteries that could cost-effectively store the large amounts of electricity that can be produced by large-scale wind farms or solar facilities. Another form of electricity storage that is already in use in California is pump storage, where water is pumped into a reservoir at night and then released through turbines during the day to produce electricity. Additional research is taking place to develop other storage devices using compressed air, flywheels, fuel cells, and other innovative technologies. In addition, the utilities are currently engaged in pilot projects to determine the viability of different energy storage projects and which technologies perform most effectively in different environments."

The China-based battery and electric-vehicle company BYD has been a leader in developing battery storage for solar and wind energy, and the company recently announced an agreement to work with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to develop a utility-scale storage facility with a capacity of 5 to 10 megawatts.

The storage center, believed to be the largest currently planned in the United States, would be built at the Pine Tree Wind Farm in the Tehachapi Mountains, a renowned wind resource region where extensive wind energy development is now getting under way.

BYD also has been working with the homebuilder KB Home to set up model homes in the city of Lancaster, Calif., that combine battery storage of electricity with solar arrays and electric vehicles. BYD, one of China's largest employers, this year announced that it would establish its North American headquarters in Los Angeles.

The news release from the attorney general's office said, "Energy storage is important for an expanding renewable energy future because solar and wind power are not available at all times. Increasing storage allows California to take greater advantage of its renewable resources while making our electric power grid more reliable.

"Expanded storage will also protect public health by reducing the need for the most polluting 'peaker plants' that only operate during peak demand, usually during the summer when air conditioners in the state are in most intense use."

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Recent Power Storage Deals:
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and BYD Partner for Grid Energy Storage Solution (LADWP)
Spain Endesa signs cooperation agreement with BYD (Endesa)
BYD signs power storage station contracts (with China Southern Power Grid)
BYD unveils initiatives to spotlight new energy drive (with Hunan Power Grid)

Futuristic bus design in China

China has overtaken the United States as the world's biggest producer of greenhouse gases and biggest energy consumer.

But the country is also thinking in big and bold ways when it comes to how it will reduce pollution and a new plan to build a "straddling bus" is among the most space-age schemes yet.

In an effort to go green and relieve congestion without widening roads, the Shenzhen Huashi Future ParkingEquipment company is developing a "3D Express Coach" (also known as a "three-dimensional fast bus").

The innovation will allow cars less than 2 meters high to travel underneath the upper level of the vehicle, which will be carrying passengers (PHOTOS).

According to China Hush, the 6-meter-wide 3D Express Coach will be powered by a combination of electricity and solar energy, and will be able to travel up to 60 kilometers per hour carrying some 1200 to 1400 passengers.

The first 115 miles of track is set for construction in Beijing's Mentougou district starting in late 2010. The Chairman of the Huashi Future Parking Equipment company boasts it will take only a year and 500 million yuan (around $73 million) to build the futuristic transportation system.

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Accelerating Solar: A Look at the Next Decade

There is a lot of price pressure and cost pressure in the photovoltaics industry. Much of that is coming from the scale that’s happened and the capacity that’s been installed. We’ve seen costs come down fairly rapidly in addition to those prices coming down and that’s helping make this technology evolve and grow even faster. (Many) of the markets are geographically significant — Germany and Europe more broadly — but what we’re seeing is also a lot of change and growth happening in China, in India, in the U.S. and other parts of the world.

Many parts of the world already have electricity rates that are over $0.40/kWhr. Solar today averages $0.25/kWhr. In almost all of Africa, Pakistan, Hawaii, Italy and large portions of Japan, the price of electricity is already in excess of what the cost of electricity is coming from solar. Solar can make a difference and what’s exciting is that the markets can grow as the industry grows. We’ve had a lot of different opportunities to be able to scale this industry in an organic and continuous fashion.

Of the changes that are happening, we see a lot coming from China. We see utilities in China where there are basically less than 10 major utilities already getting actively engaged in solar and becoming vertically integrated. A utility in China is very different than a utility in the U.S. so those utilities are able to bring the market along with the manufacturing. Many of them today make their own aluminum, for example, as part of how they do load leveling. Rather than worrying about pumping water uphill for storage, they use that nighttime power to create other products. Several utilities have already taken large steps toward getting to large-scale manufacturing. Many of them are becoming significant players, able to bring down the total costs across the value chain.

I just visited BYD in China. You probably know that very well as a company that Warren Buffett invested in for their auto business. But they have a very large-scale LED manufacturing business, a very large-scale solar manufacturing business and a very large-scale advanced battery manufacturing business. They see a convergence happening here where storage–which they’re working on for their electric car–can be scaled in a way to meet utility needs. There are also companies like Nokia that are making everything from cell phones to large screen displays to cars. Give them an active involvement in the way manufacturing can be done and bring those together with the market expertise that they have. There’s a lot of change that’s happening and a lot of that is happening on ever smaller localized scales. That’s the parallel to the Internet. Those localized scale uses are now being connected to these manufacturing industries that can be sustained as local economies.

If we were to be able to change the cost of capital for solar just to match what the cost of capital is for rural electrical cooperatives across the U.S., where the cost of capital is 2 percent, then solar would not only compete with peaking power, but it would also be competing with load following power. Government policy and the ability to access capital are the two key drivers which have helped this industry grow at the rate at which it has grown in the last decade.

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From Solar to Storage, BYD Dreams of Power

Personal Experience (to BYD's Headquarters)

From Solar to Storage, BYD Dreams of Power

A small building complex powered by rooftop solar panels and eight windmills is Wang Chuanfu's favorite venue for meeting fellow executives at BYD.

The two-villa compound at BYD's Pingshan base in eastern Shenzhen is known as the company's Future Village – a zero-emissions model for independent electricity production and storage.

The village is also a model for a key venture tied to BYD's future business plans. Power generated on site from the sun and wind is stored in a unique, BYD-made power-saving unit slightly larger than a refrigerator. All of its solar panels, wind turbines, water purifiers and silicon storage cells were built by BYD as well.

Future Village points to the fact that BYD, under chairman and founder Wang, is quickly moving beyond batteries, IT equipment and carmaking. The company is now using its successful, low-cost, vertically integrated enterprise model for a major foray into renewable energy.

In the past, it was widely thought that U.S. investor Warren Buffett's interest in BYD keyed on electric vehicles. But Future Village suggests the real money will be in energy storage units, according to the general manager of Beijing-based research firm Dragonomics, Arthur Kroeber.

Not coincidentally, Buffett's MidAmerican Energy Holdings has started using BYD's battery package system at an energy storage station in Oregon.

Kroeber thinks BYD's core competitiveness lies in batteries rather than automobiles.

BYD's Storage Strategy

An energy storage unit is essentially a large battery pack. BYD currently makes one such product and plans to add a second to its lineup based on an exclusive "iron battery" technology.

Already available is a cabinet-shaped, 380-volt unit with an output of 200 per kwh. One of these units has been installed at BYD's Future Village to provide outdoor power.

BYD says the unit uses about 1,200 "iron batteries" to store 800 KW of electricity, which could satisfy eight months of consumption for a household of four. The unit has a 20-year lifespan and can be fully charged in four hours.

A future product is a 380-volt energy storage unit with an output of 1 MW per hour and 4,000 kwh of storage capacity. It's now undergoing tests at BYD's research institute and hasn't been released to the public.

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The Far-voyaging Pursuits of BYD