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The California Energy Commission March 26 approved about $9.5 million in clean energy and research contracts--an unusually high amount. “I wouldn’t say it’s out of character” to consider so many contracts at a single meeting, said Energy Commission spokesman Adam Gottlieb. He added, “No other state funds research and development as much as California.” The Energy Commission wants to deal with many of the contract issues before the end of the fiscal year in June. According to Gottlieb, the large number of contracts was largely due to the cancellation of a meeting last month because of a lack of a quorum. The commission also signed off this week on a request to expand the footprint of a Pacific Gas & Electric substation near Fresno. About $4 million of the contracts approved this week were for research and development projects. Among them was a $1.1 million contract with University of California, Irvine, to develop criteria to help system operators predict the impacts of differing fuel compositions on combustion system operation. The project’s goal, according to contract manager Marla Mueller, is to develop criteria as to how gas, including liquefied natural gas, hydrogen, and gases from biomass, landfills, and digesters, will behave when changed. Also approved unanimously was a $708,245 contract with the University of California, Los Angeles, to develop additional features to the Home Energy Efficient Design software tool to help designers meet the goal of net zero energy residential buildings by 2020. The software, which estimates the energy usage of a home, has a large user base in California, according to Norm Bourassa of the Energy Commission’s efficiency standards office. Thirty-five additional features will be added to the software, Bourassa said, including a thermal comfort calculator module. The commissioners also gave the green light to a $2.5 million increase in contracts with investor-owned utilities for their New Solar Home Partnership call centers, as well as two year extensions. Pacific Gas & Electric’s deal was increased to $1.4 million, Southern California Edison’s by $566,700, and San Diego Gas & Electric’s by $540,400. PG&E got the larger sum because it has a lot more activity in its program, according to the commission. Also among the larger dollar amounts approved was a $689,558 contract with CTB Energetics to review current greenhouse gas assessment activities and to make specific recommendations for greenhouse gas assessment procedures. The information is to provide a foundation for the development of greenhouse gas assessment protocols. There were a total of 15 Public Interest Energy Research and Energy Resources Program Account contracts on this week’s docket. With regard to the PG&E substation, the commission unanimously approved Panoche Energy Center’s petition seeking to add 6.5 acres to the under-construction substation to bring the total size to nine acres. The applicant said the additional area was needed due to design changes, according to project manager Dale Rundquist. The applicant says the design changes will improve the substation’s long-term electricity transmission reliability and that the electric transmission lines also will be reconfigured. The associated peaker plant, approved by the Energy Commission in December 2007, is expected to go online later this year. Also during this week’s meeting, the Commission voted to adopt its 2008 annual PIER report. Last year the Commission spent a total of $83.5 million for research through the PIER program. Of that, $62.5 million was for electricity research, development, and demonstration projects and $21 million was for natural gas projects, according to the report.

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