With a focus on the San Diego region’s job growth, smarter technology development, solar energy storage integration and increased electric vehicle infrastructure and deployment, Smart City San Diego is delivering results. The collaborative is made up of City of San Diego, GE, UC San Diego, CleanTECH San Diego and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E).  It formed to leverage each entity’s strengths to create and implement initiatives to improve the region’s energy independence, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and assert San Diego as a clean energy leader.

“Over the past year, Smart City San Diego has been forward-thinking about creating opportunities for a more sustainable region,” said San Diego Mayor Sanders. “Moving into 2012, our collaborative will continue to build on those results and develop and launch even more initiatives to drive economic growth for our region.”

These results include:

Car2Go: The City of San Diego and SDG&E worked with Daimler’s Car2Go to make San Diego’s launch of its plug-in electric vehicle car sharing pilot a big success. The City continues to work with SDG&E to increase the number of public-access charging stations throughout the Car2Go targeted region. The team is working collectively to educate the community about the benefits of the pilot program and expects to increase public interest in electric vehicles and encourage the growth of the plug-in electric vehicle industry in San Diego. Data gained from Car2Go will provide information on where charging stations are most needed. Smart City San Diego also continues to work to streamline the permitting process for deploying charging stations.

Smart Appliances: SDG&E and GE are working together to test the communication links between GE’s smart appliances and SDG&E’s smart meters to ensure consumers are empowered with the best technologies to manage energy use and costs. GE’s Appliances business is supplying SDG&E with a smart dishwasher, washer and dryer along with a GE Nucleus energy manager and Programmable Control Thermostat to expedite the testing process. SDG&E’s team is currently testing the communication between these assets prior to consumer deployment.

Economic Development and Job Growth: CleanTECH San Diego – working with the City of San Diego, SDG&E, UC San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and its private sector member companies – is quantifying and categorizing regional clean tech companies that touch smart grid technology development. Categories include solar energy, energy storage, energy efficiency, clean transportation and other technology companies. CleanTECH San Diego has also created a baseline analysis of the direct and indirect economic impacts of the named clusters. This baseline analysis can help quantify year-over-year job growth and other economic impacts of the regional smart grid sector. This will be particularly helpful in measuring the economic impact of the over 180 solar companies and over 20 storage companies that call San Diego home.

Solar Integrated Energy Storage: UC San Diego and SDG&E have submitted a grant application to test, demonstrate and evaluate a variety of solar integrated energy storage projects over a 12 to 24 month period. If funded, this initiative will test multiple applications at multiple sites and provide analysis for the benefit of utilities, grid planners, regulators, solar inverter manufacturers, system integrators, business modelers, energy storage manufacturers and other early adopters. CleanTECH San Diego supports this initiative as part of efforts to advance the region as an Innovation Hub (IHub).  In August 2010, the California Governor’s Office of Economic Development designated the greater San Diego region as an IHub for solar energy storage.  The purpose of the IHub is to build on the region’s existing innovation infrastructure and strong culture of collaboration to accelerate the convergence of solar energy and energy storage.

Policy Leadership: In July 2010, Smart City San Diego hosted California Public Utilities Commissioner Mark Ferron for a day long briefing on San Diego’s smart grid initiatives.  The Commissioner met with industry representatives from the solar, energy efficiency, smart grid and technology sectors and toured UC San Diego’s world renowned microgrid.  The collaborative held a roundtable with the Commissioner to brief him on the vision and work of Smart City San Diego.

Solar Decathlon 2013 Finalist: The City of San Diego and UC San Diego worked with the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon Committee to make San Diego one of two finalists for the location of the 2013 Solar Decathlon. The event promotes the outreach, education, and economic benefits of energy security, renewable energy and energy efficiency.  If early projections bear out, attendance at the event has the potential to be larger than the San Diego Convention Center’s highest attended conference and create a positive economic impact for the region.

Economic Development and Job Growth: GE worked with CleanTech San Diego and SDG&E to host a GE Sourcing Supplier Diversity event for the first time in San Diego.  Over 50 diverse local suppliers participated in one-on-one sessions with GE buyers to learn how best to work with GE and be considered for future projects.

“GE is proud to bring our grid modernization technology and expertise to Smart City San Diego,” said Mark Hura, global smart grid commercial Leader for GE’s Digital Energy business.  ”An efficient, reliable and sustainable electric infrastructure is essential to powering economic growth and supporting business, industry and the dynamic lifestyles of a skilled workforce.  We applaud all the successes over the past year and look forward to many more to come.”

Formed in January 2011, Smart City San Diego was charged with bringing together leading organizations from government, business, education and non-profit to maximize synergies to drive sustainability programs forward, identify new opportunities, embrace additional collaborators, and move the San Diego region beyond today’s boundaries of sustainability.  This model will be able to be duplicated in other regions.

The collaborative leverages its strengths and resources as a partnership to develop and implement local initiatives that will empower consumers, improve environmental quality, drive economic growth, and reduce the San Diego region’s reliance on oil.  The collaborative is working toward a more consumer-focused, environmentally conscious energy future by addressing San Diegan’s 21st century energy needs.

Click here for the Smart City San Diego website

A microgrid is a localized grouping of electricity generation, energy storage, and loads that normally operate connected to a traditional centralized grid.  The microgrid at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) is one of the best examples of an electricity network that provides local control yet is interconnected with the larger electricity grid.

Recently the Rocky Mountain Institute visited UCSD to study and document the microgrid that controls and integrates electricity supply and demand on the campus.  One result of their visit was a six minute video that spotlights the groundbreaking work being done on the La Jolla campus

At UCSD, the microgrid provides the ability to manage 42 megawatts of generating capacity, including a central cogeneration plant, an array of solar photovoltaic installations and a fuel cell that operates on natural gas reclaimed from a landfill site. The central microgrid control allows operators to manage the diverse portfolio of energy generation and storage resources on the campus to minimize costs. In addition, the campus can “island” from the larger grid to maintain power supply in an emergency, as in the case of the power blackout that struck parts of Southern California, Arizona and Mexico in September 2011.

The microgrid at UCSD provides a living laboratory to experiment with integration and management of local resources and to optimize the use of these resources in interaction with market signals from the larger grid.

Click here to watch the video.

Articles of Interest
Solar forecasting and microgrids
Understanding the Role of Buildings
UC San Diego is a campus-wide living laboratory for sustainable energy

This quarter’s SCRUB showcased three distinctly different cleantech businesses.  TransPower seeks to become a leading supplier of power generation, energy storage and power control technologies. Principal product areas include an advanced electric propulsion system for heavy-duty vehicles and a modular energy storage system for use with EV technology.  Interra Energy’s core process revolves around using waste biomass to create biochar through pyrolysis for use within sustainable agriculture practices, which can create waste biomass and thus a sustainable loop. NuLEDs aims to be a leader in LED lighting and control for commercial environments. Their primary product is a networked digital controller technology that can provide flexible dimming and tailoring of specific colors, correlated color temperatures (CCT) and color rendering index (CRI).

In the past nine quarterly SCRUB sessions CleanTECH San Diego has provided advice, introductions and critical evaluations to 32 future cleantech stars.  If you have a cleantech enterprise that would benefit from a good SCRUB you should forward your business summary to Jason Anderson at jasona@cleantechsandiego.org  

CleanTECH San Diego SCRUB Graduates 2008-2012
(Click on name to link to website)

TransPower

Interra Energy

NuLEDs, Inc.

MultiSpark LLC.

TourEngine Inc.

Lightwave Photonics LLC.

Home Town Farms

Butler Sun Solutions

350 Green

WaterSmart Software   

Shrink Nanotechnologies  

Eco ReBox   

Vari-Ro

Marine Power Partners 

OnRamp Wireless

New Leaf Biofuel 

TransPacificEnergy, Inc. 

Balboa Pacific 

EcoDog

Malama Composites

Pyron Solar

Kai BioEnergy

Community Fuels

ISE Corporation

Chlorofill

Sustainable Green Technologies

California Wind Systems

ECOR (Noble Environmental Technologies)  

Strategic Enzyme Applications  

SleepServer

This quarter’s SCRUB was hosted by CleanTECH San Diego member, Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps LLP. 

As California is poised to adopt a new round of car standards designed to cut emissions and expand the market for electric vehicles (EV), a new report provides insight into California’s emerging leadership role in this fast-growing economic sector.  New data reveals that California took in $467 million in global EV venture capital (VC) investment (69 percent of total dollars) in the first half of 2011 and, along with Michigan, is the top patent holder for new EV technology in the United States.  Powering Innovation: California is Leading the Shift to Electric Vehicles from R&D to Early Adoption, from the nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization Next 10, tracks key indicators to assess opportunities and obstacles for California in the EV sector.

Click here for the 32 page report and here for the Key Findings.

San Diego’s contribution to the growth of EV was featured in the report.  (Page 22) “The San Diego Region more than tripled its EV workforce between 2004 and 2010.  The largest contributions to growth have been Motor Vehicle Components, composing 52 percent of the region’s EV employment in 2010, and Advanced Batteries with 42 percent of regional EV employment.”  (Page 22) “The San Diego Region boasts the highest employment concentrations in both Advanced Battery and Motor Vehicle Components.”  (Page 24) “In Research and Development, San Diego represents 60 percent of EV related employment statewide, equal to roughly 150 jobs of the more than 280 EV jobs in the region.”

Of particular value in the report are the observations on Page 26 which summarize the realities of EV, “Why Electric Vehicles?  Benefits and challenges to powering innovation.”

You can drill down to the company level of the transportation technology sector in the San Diego region via the cleantech cluster database on CleanTECH San Diego’s website.  Click here.

The Future of the Electric Grid was published this week by the MIT Energy Initiative.  The 268 page report aims to provide a comprehensive, objective portrait of the U.S. electric grid and the challenges and opportunities it is likely to face over the next two decades.  It also highlights a number of areas in which policy changes, focused research and demonstration, and the collection and sharing of important data can facilitate meeting the challenges and seizing the opportunities that the grid will face.  The report shows that with new policies, the electric grid in the United States could handle the expected influx of electric cars and wind and solar generation.

Much of the report relates directly to developments in the San Diego region.  Chapter 5 is about The Impact of Distributed Generation and Electric Vehicles.  Chapter 8: Utility Regulation touches on the current challenge in San Diego to have a rate structure for distributed generation which is equitable for all parties.

(From page 182 of the report), “The distortions caused by these implicit subsidies rise with the penetration of distributed generation and with energy conservation more generally.  Consider, for example, proposed “zero net energy” buildings: if network costs continue to be recovered on a per-kWh basis, these customers could in theory receive all the benefits of being connected to the grid, drawing and injecting power on demand, while paying little or nothing toward the cost of the system or the option to use the network.”  Of course, the opposite side of the issue is also compelling.

Click here for the complete report and here for the abstract.

The multidisciplinary effort of the MIT Energy Initiative to generate The Future of the Electric Grid included economists, engineers and, of course, graduate students from MIT and from without.  Click here for an excellent video of the introductory presentation by the study c-chairs of the report. 

The last two sections of the report include a useful Glossary plus a list of Acronyms and Abbreviations.

Today Carlsbad-based Aptera Motors ended their quest to manufacture an innovative electric vehicle.  Here is the news from Paul Wilbur, Aptera’s CEO.

After years of focused effort to bring our products to the market, Aptera Motors is closing its doors, effective today. This is a difficult time for everyone connected with our company because we have never been closer to realizing our vision. Unfortunately, though, we are out of resources.

It is especially disappointing since we were so close…

Aptera executives had been engaged in exhaustive due diligence with the Department of Energy (DOE) pertaining to an ATVM (Advance Technology Vehicle Manufacturing) loan. Our business plan was examined from top to bottom by internal agency representatives, independent consultants and experts in academia. They did an amazing job of vetting us and they tested every possible weakness in our plan. And after nearly two years of discussions, we had recently received a Conditional Commitment Letter for a $150 million loan.

The ATVM loan would have provided funding for the development and commercialization of a five-passenger, midsized sedan (similar to a Toyota Camry) that would be base priced at less than $30,000 and deliver more than a 190 mile per gallon equivalent. The concept of this vehicle had been in place since the very beginning of Aptera, and we had been wholly focused on its development for the last year. The last remaining hurdle was finding new funds to match the DOE loan.

We were so optimistic that the company would move forward that we were in discussions to reactivate a mothballed automotive plant in Moraine, Ohio. In the past months we had engaged with the labor union that operated that facility to discuss the hiring of 1,400 new job opportunities. These jobs would have reactivated talented workers who had been dismissed when the facility was closed.

During the same time, we continued development of our patent-pending composite manufacturing system that enables energy efficient vehicle production by drastically reducing vehicle weight (by as much as 30%) while tripling its strength. This same patent pending system allowed us to finish the surface of our composites without manual finishing and without the high capital cost of a typical automotive paint shop. In all, the process would save nearly $750-million versus a typical volume auto assembly plant start-up.

We were well on the way to satisfying the vision of efficiency on which the company was founded and we are confident that with time and capital we could still achieve our goal. The Aptera formula: aerodynamics plus light weight design (through composites) delivered efficiency of 206 EPA miles per gallon in tests at Argonne National Labs. That wasn’t a simulation; it was real measured performance. Despite that promise of efficiency, this challenged market – specifically large private investors – did not have an appetite to lead an investment for the perceived low volume return of our three-wheeled vehicle. So we reprioritized our product plan to four-door sedans, which also cost us time.

We remain confident, even as this chapter closes, that Aptera has contributed tech new technologies to build a future for more efficient driving. Through the dedicated staff at Aptera, our board and suppliers we have touched this future. All that remains is for someone to grab it. We still believe it will happen.

Paul Wilbur
President and CEO
Aptera Motors

On Thursday Qualcomm Incorporated announced the first Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging (WEVC) trial for London in what is a UK and industry-leading initiative.  Qualcomm is collaborating with the UK Government, as well as the Mayor of London’s office and Transport for London (TfL) to deliver the trial.  Earlier in the week Qualcomm announced it had acquired substantially all of the technology and other assets of HaloIPT, a leading provider of wireless charging technology for electric road vehicles.  See my post of November 8th.

The pre-commercial trial is expected to start in early 2012 and will involve as many as 50 electric vehicles (EVs).  The trial will use Qualcomm wireless inductive power transfer technology that enables high-efficiency power transfer across a large air gap.  It is very easy to use: the driver simply parks the vehicle in the usual way and the system automatically aligns for power transfer, making parking easier and charging hassle free.

The trial, which will be based partially in Tech City, the East London cluster receiving the strong support of the Prime Minister, is planned to leverage the Tech City entrepreneurial community and encourage companies to innovate around services and applications, in order to enhance the smart EV experience.

Prime Minister David Cameron said, “This wireless charging technology is a giant leap forward for the electric car industry and I am delighted that London businesses will be among the first to benefit from the trial.”

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said, “In my quest to deliver cleaner air for the capital, I want London to be the electric car epicenter of Europe. Encouraging a massive uptake in electric driving is key to this vision of becoming a zero-emission city.”

“Qualcomm is very pleased to be participating in the London WEVC pre-commercial trial, which builds on the existing trials of electric vehicles sponsored by the Technology Strategy Board and the Office for Low Emission Vehicles in the UK,” said Andrew Gilbert, executive vice president of European Innovation Development at Qualcomm. “Wireless charging eradicates the EV plug-in cable and makes charging of electric vehicles simple and easy for drivers.”

Addison Lee, the UK’s largest minicab company, and Chargemaster plc, the leading European operator of advanced EV charging infrastructure, have also agreed to participate in the WEVC London trial.

Qualcomm is not the only high tech giant with a wireless plug-in connection.  In March Google announced a trial of a Plugless Power charging station for vehicles at its Mountain View, CA headquarters.

“Qualcomm has been investing in wireless power for a number of years and the HaloIPT acquisition will further strengthen our technology and patent portfolio,” said Andrew Gilbert, executive vice president of European Innovation Development for Qualcomm. “Building on 20 years of development and innovation in wireless power at The University of Auckland and its commercialization company Auckland UniServices Ltd, the HaloIPT team, in a relatively short period of the time, had established itself as a leading developer in wireless electric road vehicle charging — with HaloIPT winning industry acclamation and awards.”

“We are immensely proud of what has been achieved by our team at HaloIPT over the past 18 months,” said John Miles, Executive Chairman of HaloIPT and a Director at Arup.  ”In that short space of time, we have brought world-class university research to the attention of the global automotive industry and, through really innovative design, demonstrated the potential for wireless charging in front of several of the world’s leading OEMs.  That has been a terrific achievement.”

In addition to the HaloIPT transaction, Qualcomm and Auckland UniServices, the commercialization company of the University of Auckland, have committed to a long-term research and development arrangement to promote continued innovation in the field of wireless charging for electric road vehicles by way of inductive power transfer.

“UniServices is proud to see the development of technology for the wireless charging of electric vehicles become an important area for Qualcomm,” said Peter Lee, chief executive officer, UniServices.  ”We believe Qualcomm is well positioned to make available this technology to third parties for the wireless charging of electric road vehicles, and the relationship will provide opportunities for continued research and development of this technology.”

Bruce Bigelow’s article in Xconomy:  Qualcomm Buys HaloIPT (and Patents) for Wireless Charging Technology

What do electric vehicles have to do with winter sports?  Beats me.  But while all of the Shaun White want-to-be’s are checking out snowboards at SnowJam 2011 you can take a run in the new all-electric Nissan Leaf. 

The ‘drive electric tour’ will provide the opportunity to learn all about the Nissan LEAF.  You will be guided through several display areas, have the opportunity to talk with LEAF experts, and explore the many innovations from Nissan including:

· The Nissan LEAF battery system and charging details
· The “sexy science” of the Nissan LEAF and how it compares to other vehicles
· Staying in-touch with your LEAF through your phone or computer
· Fuel efficiency and costs
· Environmental impact
· Meet Nissan LEAF’s helpful accessories
· 100 miles is more than enough!

But the best part of the ‘drive electric tour’ is that you can drive the car for yourself!  You will be able to drive the car on a pre-determined course with a ‘co-pilot’ to answer your questions and show you all of the interior features of the car.

*drive electric tour dates and hours may vary from those of the event/venue dates and hours.

Friday, November 11: 8am-8pm
Saturday, November 12: 9am-6pm
Sunday, November 13: 9am-6pm

Del Mar Fairgrounds, O’Brien Hall
2260 Jimmy Durante Boulevard
Del Mar, CA

Event Entry
Complimentary VIP Entry into the SnowJam San Diego Show is provided to each pre-registered Nissan LEAF guest ($15 admission value, includes free lift ticket to Mountain High Resort; one admission per pre-registered guest). Must register by Wednesday, November 9th, print registration confirmation and turn in at the event ticket counter for entry (must be 18 years of age to test drive).

Parking
Complimentary Parking will be provided to Nissan LEAF pre-registered guests at the Solana Gate entrance to the Del Mar Fairgrounds on Via de la Valle between Jimmy Durante and Hwy 101.  Please print out your test drive reservation to show parking attendant and follow the signs for ‘drive electric tour’ parking.

Here is the link to the Nissan registration site for the event.

In Revenge of the Electric Car, director Chris Paine (Who Killed the Electric Car?) takes his film crew behind the closed doors of Nissan, GM, and the Silicon Valley start-up Tesla Motors to chronicle the story of the global resurgence of electric cars.  A special screening of the documentary will be held November 11th at 6:00pm at the Landmark, Ken Cinema, 4061 Adams Avenue, San Diego.

Joel Pointon, Electric Transportation Manager of San Diego Gas & Electric, David Almeida, Coordinator for the Caifornia PEV Rebate Program (CCSE), and Greg Newhouse, Chairperson of the local Clean Cities Coalition for San Diego, will appear in person to introduce the film and for Q&A after the 6:00pm show.

Cast: Tim Robbins, Bob Lutz, Carlos Ghosn, Elon Musk, Greg “Gadget” Abbott, Danny DeVito, Jon Favreau, Anthony Kiedis, Stephen Colbert, Talulah Riley.   Run time 90 minutes

Click for a hot trailer of Revenge of the Electric Car

Link to Landmark Ken Cinema