Green Energy News | April 15, 2001

April 15, 2001 – Vol.6 No.3

ENERGIES... week of April 15, 2001

SOLAR CALIFORNIA. Starting immediately, residential and commercial customers in California can, by law, sell back up to one megawatt of their own solar generated electricity to their utility company. Up from 10 kilowatts in previous legislation, the new net metering law was conceived as a way to increase total grid capacity at peak periods, while encouraging more solar power generation in the state - without cost to the taxpayer.

While it’s not likely that many homeowner’s will be building one megawatt systems, commercial customers - who closely examine their power usage patterns against the potential for solar generated electricity - would likely be the first to take full advantage of the legislation. For these customers the new law improves the economics of solar energy. Visit the California Solar Energy Industries Association press release through PowerLight Corporation at http://www.powerlight.com/

EV MAIL DELIVERY. Starting soon, some residents of California will have their mail delivered by electric vehicle. The first shipment of an eventual 500 electric postal delivery vehicles have been delivered to the state post offices.

The vehicles are based on Ford’s Ranger EV technology. The vehicles will be recharged at night, not at peak periods when California experiences its power shortage problems. The EV’s are ideally suited to mail delivery because of the short, predictable routes made by carriers. Visit Ford at http://www.ford.com/

SMALL CAR / GOLF CAR HYBRID. With a more sophisticated product than its competitors, Dynasty Motor Corporation has formally entered the Low Speed Vehicle (LSV) market with the shipment of 8 IT (tm) battery powered sedans to three dealers in the U.S. Southeast. The IT vehicle will travel 30 miles on a single charge with a top speed of 25 miles per hour. (Don’t confuse this IT with the other IT - a scooter code-named Ginger - making mainstream news early this year.)

In 16 months Dynasty has gone from concept to the shipment of its first cars. Unlike other LSV designs, also known as Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEV) which are open to the elements, Dynasty’s first product is a fully enclosed five-door hatchback/sedan. Other body configurations built on the same chassis are expected to follow. Dynasty has signed up five dealers in the U.S. for the IT electric vehicles and is reviewing other dealer candidates. Where street legal in the U.S., LSV’s are restricted to roads with a 35 mph speed limit. Watch this space for technical and pricing information as it arrives.

WINDWATCH - CANADA. In a 50:50 partnership Suncor and Enbridge will build an 11 megawatt windfarm in Southwest Saskatchewan if the last regulatory hurdles are cleared. The SunBridge Wind Power Project will expand Canada’s total wind generating capacity by 10 percent. The facility will have 17 turbines and supply enough power for 6,000 homes, although when operational in June of 2002 a major customer for the power will be the Canadian government.