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Quasar Energy Group began construction of an anaerobic digester in Franklin, Ohio, that will accept regional food processing and waste and biosolids, the company reported on May 29.“The project builds on a continuing collaboration between quasar and PPG Industries Inc., according to the company, as Quasar has managed PPG’s lime lakes reclamation project in Barberton, Ohio, since 2009. There, PPG also operates a specialty chemicals manufacturing site.”

Advanced Energy Economy recognized a number of cities this week that have executed programs to optimize energy efficiency, and CEO Graham Richards stated that high speed broadband is the key to optimizing energy usage. AEE’s release includes the following:“Chattanooga created a “smart grid” system utilizing an ultra-high-speed gigabit-per-second broadband network consisting of thousands of smart switches and meters. Among many other functions, the network allows them to reroute power almost instantaneously when power lines go down.”

White Paper Outlines Three Ways to Stretch Funds for Efficiency Projects from $2.6 Billion to More Than $10.5 BillionProp 39 implementation should follow a phased-in approach, shifting from grants and technical assistance in the early years to financing mechanisms that extend the duration and impact of the program in later years.All elements of Prop 39 should seek to attract and leverage outside capital; this includes the grant-funding elements, which should require applicants to leverage additional dollars in the form of utility rebates, local bond revenues, public or private loans, or other sources.Entities with experience dealing with private markets should oversee the finance elements of Prop 39 implementation. The State Treasurer’s office currently administers a number of programs that deal directly with private markets. At the same time, other state entities may be better positioned to interact with school districts and other applicants, allowing the Treasurer’s office to focus on the finance-related elements of program implementation.Prop 39 implementation should seek to align existing and forthcoming California energy finance programs, serving as a bridge to a more comprehensive approach to financing advanced energy in California.OPTION A - The first option dedicates roughly 40% of Prop 39 revenues to leverage opportunities, generating total program value of more than $10.5 billion over 30 years. Option A dedicates approximately $1.5 billion in technical assistance and project grants, with disbursement weighted toward early delivery for readily qualified projects. This schedule recognizes that complex and more expensive projects that require sophisticated audits and planning may take longer to properly analyze and work their way through the queue.Grants for direct funding of energy improvement projects total about $1.2 billion.An innovative new Interest Rate Offset Grant (IROG), in the amount of $320 million, created as a companion to the market-rate revolving loan fund program (below). The IROG grant pays the interest costs, in whole or in part, of the loan to ensure that the loan is affordable to the public institution.A $1 billion revolving loan fund that provides capital at market rates to finance projects too expensive to be funded by direct grants and $100 million in credit enhancements to facilitate the sale of loans to private lenders.Option B allocates a little over $2 billion in direct grants over the five-year period. Like Option A, these grant disbursements are weighted toward early delivery to readily qualified projects.Option B also allocates $500 million to a low-interest revolving loan fund and establishes a $50 million credit enhancement program. This approach uses existing financing programs and limits the need to incorporate innovative financing strategies.Adding the Interest Rate Offset Grant mechanism to Option B would substantially increase the total program value, to a total of just over $6.5 billion.

Two AEE members, Verizon and Bloom Energy, are planning to collaborate run Verizon's data centers on advanced energy. Bloom Energy, which builds fuel cells that can efficiently power data centers, is planning to install ten cells in a California facility. GigaOM reports:

Advanced energy businesses collaborate all the time, but often project financing is different enough from technology to technology that the models cannot transfer. Greentech Media covers Noesis Energy's use of an innovative financing model originally designed around solar energy to scale energy efficiency.

Frantzis’ new role as AEE senior vice president of strategy and corporate development. Frantzis, who joined AEE from Navigant, will be instrumental in convening meetings of industry leaders to identify opportunities for advanced energy growth among other responsibilities. The Hill quoted AEE CEO Graham Richard on the appointment:

his week Tesla announced the creation of a coast-to-coast supercharger network that would cover the route from LA to NYC by the end of 2013. The company plans to triple the number of chargers by the end of June 2013 and expand the network until it covers the entire continental United States by May 2015. Tesla's release includes the following:

CNBC has included several advanced energy companies in the energy category of their Disruptor 50, their list of top companies "disrupting the marketplace and poised for hypergrowth." The advanced energy companies include LightSail Energy, an energy storage company, Nest Labs, home of the up and coming smart thermostat, and AEE member company Opower. Opower is a Virginia-based energy efficiency company that uses data to drive social change, and is one of the topics of a recent Policy Podcast. 

This was a record-breaking week for California. On May 23, according to the California Independent System Operator, the agency that tracks and operates most of the state's power grid, solar generation reached a peak of 1,872 megawatts. That record didn't stand for long, however, as the next day proved even better. A mere 23.5 hours after that record was set, California reached a new peak of 1,897 megawatts. Not content to let solar have all the week's glory, California's wind energy picked up the pace this week as well, reaching a peak of 4,258 megawatts on May 26, or about 16% of the state's demand. KCET reports:

Google X, Google's lab in charge of making futuristic technology possible today (think Google Glass), has acquired Makani Power. Makani Power, which was recently featured in the New Yorker, specializes in high altitude wind turbines. Google X usually works on big ideas from inside Google; GigaOM notes it might be a new paradigm for them. Katie Fehrenbacher writes: