Congress must set a national renewable-power standard and revamp the electric grid to help the U.S. wind-energy industry reach its potential and compete globally, governors from 29 states said. A jumble of state laws should be replaced by a federal edict, according to a report from the Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition, which includes California, Florida and Massachusetts. The absence of such a standard is hurting the U.S., the governors said. The governors also are calling on Congress to develop a new electric grid, streamline the approval process for offshore and on-shore wind projects and extend a Treasury Department energy- grant program under the economic recovery act.

Signs of hope have begun to emerge for the clean-tech sector, with clean energy becoming a driving force for global economic recovery. In 2009, combined global revenue for the three major clean-energy sectors -- solar photovoltaics (PV), wind power, and biofuels -- grew by 11.4% over 2008, reaching $139.1 billion. These three sectors are expected to reach $325.9 billion by 2019, according to the Clean Energy Trends 2010 report. The report also examines many of the issues shaping the clean-energy marketplace, including the failure of nations to reach a global climate accord in Copenhagen; China’s seemingly unstoppable rise to global clean-tech dominance; and the growing ubiquity and declining cost of clean-energy technologies.

Wind-generated electricity is growing rapidly in the U.S. but the pace still lags far behind that in China, according to the American Wind Energy Association. Although the U.S. has the largest amount of installed wind power capacity in the world, the wind power industry is "fighting to get on a level playing field" with other government-subsidized power-providers, an AWEA spokesman told a conference of parts manufacturers, suppliers, wind project developers and economic development officers from around the southeastern U.S. A little more than 1.5% of power supplied in the U.S. is generated by wind.

The University of California San Diego has received a grant to battle one of the biggest enemies of solar-power generation: clouds. Researchers are working to find better ways to predict when the sun will hide behind a cloud and when it will emerge. Because electricity can’t be stored -- at least not on the scale that utilities distribute it -- it has to be used the moment it’s generated, so it’s important to model when the sun can be channelled. Also taking part in the research are San Diego Gas & Electric Co.; the California Independent System Operator, which runs the state’s power grid; and San Diego-based EDSA, which helps big utilities design power systems and simulate and analyze their operations.

The U.S. Department of Energy has given two grants totaling $1 million to Lockheed Martin to determine the feasibility of tapping into the ocean's hot and cold spots to save energy. Instead of looking at how to harness wave and tidal power, as the Seadog and Oyster projects have been doing, the grants require researchers to determine whether they could take advantage of the ocean's varying temperatures. The first part of the grant is to develop software and tools for determining which thermal areas of the ocean have the greatest potential for being tapped as renewable-energy sources. Specifically, it will look at Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) technology, exploiting the large temperature difference between the ocean's solar-warmed layer and a cold sink to generate electricity.

Lawmakers at the heart of Senate energy and climate negotiations revealed key details of their legislative proposal during a closed-door meeting with major industry groups they are courting in hopes of winning over Senate moderates. Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) shared an eight-page outline of their draft legislation that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the next four decades, including provisions to limit business costs while ramping up domestic production of oil, gas and nuclear power. The bill also calls for greenhouse gas curbs across multiple economic sectors, with a 2020 target of reducing emissions by 17% below 2005 levels and an 80% limit at midcentury. A full outline of the bill will be delivered to a larger group of senators who have been working over the last year on the climate and energy issue. Related News: Deal nearing on Senate climate bill: lawmaker

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has issued a decision that would allow the use of tradeable renewable energy credits (TRECs) in the state. The legislature had previously authorized the CPUC to allow the use of TRECS in 2006. In October, 2008, the CPUC issued its first proposed decision authorizing the use of TRECs. Since then the CPUC considered various proposed decisions that would have permitted the use of TRECs until adopting the final decision. TRECs are renewable energy credits that can be traded separate and apart from the energy associated with their creation.

California regulators questioned supporters of an initiative that would make it harder for local governments to create public power agencies, as opponents argued the measure would make it too difficult for communities to provide residents with renewable energy choices. The California Public Utilities Commission has yet to take any official stance on Proposition 16. The June ballot initiative would change the state constitution to require two-thirds of voters to give their OK before local governments can use taxpayer funds to create or expand publicly owned utilities. At issue is the expansion of so-called "community choice aggregation," or CCA. These public power entities, made possible by state legislation passed in 2002 after the state's energy crisis, allow cities or counties to buy energy on the wholesale market to sell to residents.

Marin County energy officials have filed a complaint with the California Public Utilities Commission over what they claim are attempts by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to quash their plans to offer an alternative, cleaner energy source to county residents. The Marin Energy Authority claimed that PG&E was violating state law by seeking to kill the Marin Clean Energy initiative. The initiative, a program of the authority, is intended to increase the use of renewable energy in Marin County. It would also place the authority in the position of a competitor with PG&E as a provider of electricity in the area. The complaint alleges PG&E has engaged in threats, lawsuits and hostile marketing to stop the authority's plan to offer electricity from a higher percentage of renewable sources but at the same price as PG&E.

A northern California community said it was taking the unique step to use U.S. economic stimulus funds to build a 1-megawatt solar power facility. Yolo County in northern California said it teamed with solar power company SunPower Corp. and Bank of America to work on the design and construction of a 1-megawatt solar power system. The partners are financing the project in part through clean energy renewable energy bonds and energy conservation bonds available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

About 30,000 fallow acres in western Kings and Fresno counties could return to productivity as home to a massive installation of solar power panels. Westlands Water District has a lease contract with Westside Holdings, a private investment group with plans for a 5,000-megawatt solar power plant. If built, it would be one of the largest installations of solar photovoltaic panels in the world. The Westlands Solar Park is being planned as a solar photovoltaic installation, one of three types of solar plants proposed in the San Joaquin Valley.

State regulators have recommended the state’s first new big solar power plant in nearly two decades be approved after a two-and-half-year review of its environmental impact on the Mojave Desert. The recommendation by staff members of the California Energy Commission -- which still must be accepted by the commission board -- comes three weeks after the federal Department of Energy offered the project’s builder, BrightSource Energy, a $1.37 billion loan guarantee to construct the 392-megawatt Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System. In an assessment, energy commissioners found that a smaller version of the project that BrightSource proposed would mitigate any damage to several protected plant species on the site.