Renewing energy and economies

Princeton Development Corp.

has brought renewable energy to the Greek isle of Crete, several Mexican villages and Feather River Community College in Quincy, Calif.

Next up: Carson City, Nevada.

Princeton Development is the Sausalito, Calif., company chosen by Carson City last month to help promote renewable energy and bring new companies and jobs to the area.

In the next month, Princeton and city officials will unveil further deals of their partnership, including just how big a boost they hope it will give the Carson City economy.

In the meantime, though, just who is Princeton Development? The 21-year-old renewable energy development company is the lead company in a group of companies called Princeton Energy Group that consists of engineering consultants and development companies established for Princeton's various projects around the world.

Princeton Development works with both end-users of electricity and suppliers of it to develop and deliver renewable energy.

"We work with customers to use electricity more efficiently and with utilities to produce the power," said Steve Taber Jr., Princeton's chairman of the board.

An example of the former is Feather River Community College in the Sierra Nevada.

According to Taber, the school hired a consultant to replace its existing electric heating system with a more cost-effective and energy-efficient one.

"The plan was unimplementable," said Taber.

Enter Princeton Development.

The company designed a system in which buried pipes pumping a refrigerant stay warm by soaking up the heat from underground.

The so-called ground source project "was quite innovative at the time, in 1995, 1996," said Taber, and saved the college about $100 per student.

According to Princeton Development, the Feather River project cost about $512,000 and saved the school about $1.2 million in operating costs.

The company works with utilities, too.

Princeton Development has built two wind power plants in Greece where, according to Taber, "the wind blows like crazy." The goal is to move the country away from its almost exclusive use of lignite, an expensive and dirty coal, said Taber, that is causing the Parthenon to decay.

Wind is also saving the country money.

According to Taber, wind power costs about half that of electricity generated by lignite.

In Mexico, the company is working with the regional energy authority in Baja California and breaking ground on an $85 million wind power plant that is expected to cost about one-third less than current electricity, which is a mix of coal, nuclear, hydro and oil.

Princeton Development also brought electricity for the first time to several small villages in Mexico, said Taber, through the installation of photovoltaic - solar - panels.

The company says it is as inventive with financing as it is with technology.

"We pioneered the use of tax-exempt municipal leases for renewable energy projects," for cities and counties, said Eric Thompson, Princeton Development associate.

"It's not a bond where the city is on the hook.

The risk is on us," he said.

Such cheap financing, said Taber, has enabled users to extend the payback period for such projects.

"At the time most were looking for two- to three-year payback," said Taber.

"We can stretch that to 10 to 12 years because of innovative financing."

Princeton Development always covers the costs of developing and building its projects while customers pay based on electricity savings, said Taber.

Taber said the company is excited by challenging projects, which includes Carson City.

"Nevada has a wealth of renewable energy," said Taber.

He estimates the state could produce enough renewable energy - wind, solar and geothermal - to meet all of its electricity needs as well as exporting up to $100 million in energy to other western states.

"Despite that Nevada imports about 50 percent of its energy," said Taber, "which is like exporting jobs to Texas."

Renewable energy also produces five to 10 times more jobs than energy produced by fossil fuels, said Taber.

But the state is a relatively small market for electricity, said Taber - only about 8,000 megawatts versus California's 40,000 megawatts.

That means Carson City needs to team up with other Nevada buyers, such as other counties or towns, to make it worth the investment to develop renewable energy in northern Nevada.

According to Taber, Carson City officials are now working with other Nevada users to build up more buying power and will announce those partners with Princeton Development soon as well as more specifics about their contract.

"It's an elegant agreement," said Taber.

"The risk to the city is nil.

At the same time, there is incentive for us to take the risk.

If we can successfully grow jobs and improve energy then the city will buy energy from us.

But the bonus is on us to prove ourselves."