In Albuquerque, NM, an ambitious project that would
allow energy to flow freely across the nation's three massive
power grids
could break down significant barriers to ramping up alternative
energy in the US. The planned "Tres Amigas" project in Clovis,
NM., would route energy from isolated wind and solar
installations to urban centers and other places that consume the
most power. At a news conference in mid-October, Gov. Bill
Richardson called the transmission station "historic" and the
first of its kind in the country. The "SuperStation" will be
built on 22.5 square miles in eastern New Mexico near the Texas
border. Clovis is near the site where the three power grids come
closest together.
Richardson said the station will produce 50 high-wage jobs and
earn $4 billion annually for New Mexico from energy sales.
Hydrogen-Fueled Vehicles Work to Perfection in West Virginia
A hydrogen production and dispensing station constructed and
operated with support from the Office of Fossil Energy's
National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has opened at the
Yeager Airport in Charleston, WV. The facility will produce,
compress, store and dispense hydrogen as a fuel source for
vehicles that have been converted to run on hydrogen, as well
other types of ground equipment at the airport.
Hydrogen is considered the fuel of the future because it does
not produce air pollutants when used – clean water is the only
byproduct. NETL directs research and development in hydrogen
energy to resolve the challenges faced by many of its most
promising technologies.
The Yeager Airport uses coal-generated grid electricity to split
water to produce pure hydrogen fuel. About 300 gallons of water
is used to produce up to 12 kilograms of hydrogen per day,
enough to completely refuel three vehicles. The fuel will be
used by airport operations, the 130th Air Wing of the
West Virginia Air National Guard, and the Charleston community.
The facility at Yeager Airport is a research, development, test,
and evaluation platform designed to allow new innovations in
hydrogen technology to be "swapped in" and tested within the
context of an operating hydrogen station.
The new hydrogen-dispensing facility is the first of three that
are planned along Interstate 70 from Charleston, WV, to
Pittsburgh, PA, to demonstrate the viability of hydrogen as an
alternative transportation fuel. Additional facilities will be
constructed at West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV, and
Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
Progress Energy Inc., Raleigh, NC, plans to close three
coal-fired power units and replace them with a natural
gas-fueled plant at the site near Goldsboro, NC.
The company said the new plant would increase
electricity-generating capacity while cutting emissions. A
request has been filed with the NC utilities commission to build
a 950-megawatt natural gas plant to replace the 397 megawatts of
coal-fired generation at the plant. The project would cost $900
million and be completed in early 2013.
The Central Energy Fund (CEF) has received bids from interested
parties for the supply of solar water heaters (SWHs) for the
first phase of a major project rollout in Port Elizabeth.
South African National Energy Research Institute is reviewing
the bids and will make a final decision on three or four
suppliers in forthcoming weeks. The project would entail the
large-scale installation of SWHs for domestic use in the Nelson
Mandela Bay municipality over the next five years. About
100,000 SWHs could potentially be installed. A target of
installation of 60,000 units over the next five years has been
set with a potential to save 41 MW of power.
Technology International Inc. has developed a borehole imaging
system that stands on the cusp of commercialization.
By pushing the limits of seismic-while-drilling technology, the
patent-pending SeismicPULSER system provides more accurate
geo-steering for the discovery of new oil and natural gas
reserves, facilitating new field development and improving well
economics. Drill-bit seismic-while-drilling techniques use a
downhole acoustic source and receivers at the surface to create
real-time images that allow operators to "see" ahead of the
drill bit.
The Office of Fossil Energy's National Energy Technology
Laboratory (NETL), Washington, DC,
has selected nine new projects targeting environmental tools and
technology for shale gas and coalbed methane (CBM) production.
NETL's goals for these projects are to improve management of
water resources, water usage, and water disposal, and to support
science that will aid the regulatory and permitting processes
required for shale gas development. Primary goal of Fossil
Energy's Oil and Natural Gas Program is to enhance the
responsible development of domestic natural gas and oil
resources that supply the country's energy. The following
recipients will help provide the new technologies, tools,
strategies, and knowledge toward reliable and environmentally
responsible development of natural gas: All Consulting, Tulsa,
OK; GE Co., Niskayuna, NY; WVU, Morgantown, WV; Univ. of
Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR; Ground Water Protection Research
Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK; Geological Survey of Alabama,
Tuscaloosa, AL; Aitela Inc, Albuquerque, NM; University of
Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; and Texas Engineering Experiment
Station, College Station, TX.
SkyPower Corp. and Scotian Windfields announce that Nova Scotia
Environment
has granted environmental approval for 25.5 MW of wind turbine
capacity for the Digby wind power project in Digby, Nova
Scotia. Once completed, the Digby project will be one of Nova
Scotia's largest wind parks. Skypower and Scotian Windfields
are currently identifying 3 more suitable turbine locations and
will seek approval for 4.5Mws more.
Ohio's first Advanced Energy Job Stimulus Program project has
received a $10 million loan
that will assist in a significant expansion at the Willard &
Kelsey Solar Group's manufacturing facility in Perrysburg.
Willard & Kelsey manufactures thin-cell photovoltaic solar
panels that are used in residential and commercial settings to
generate electricity. The company will receive the loan funds
over a two-year period to expand from one manufacturing line
employing 40 workers to as many as 16 lines employing more than
3,500 workers. Average annual wage and benefits for company
employees will be approximately $61,000. Total project cost is
$1.2 billion.
South Africa's PBMR Company and the Nuclear Industries
Association of South Africa
(Niasa) hope that the local development of the fourth-generation
high-temperature gas-cooled pebble-bed modular reactor (PBMR),
and national electricity supplier Eskom's intention to also
build advanced third-generation pressure water reactors (PRWs),
will result in the creation of a South African nuclear industry,
which will supply both the international and local markets.
In
2004 with $130 million in stock offerings with which to work.
The U.S. Navy is working with an OPT buoy in Hawaii, with hopes
of using marine energy to run its bases. Lockheed is using the
company's technology to power data-gathering buoys, and in
Oregon, OPT has applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission for permits to produce 250 megawatts in three
locations. Around the world, more than 300 marine energy
projects are being planned, and a new report from Pike Research
forecasts that the industry will provide 2,700 megawatts of
power generation capacity by 2015. More than 50 companies
worldwide, a third in the U.S., are developing prototypes.
U.S. Energy Corp., Riverton, WY, and its partner, Houston
Energy, L.P.
(HE), announces that an initial production test from the
Stoddard #1 well (first well drilled with HE) in southeast Texas
resulted in approximately 3.9 MMCF and 240 barrels of oil per
day or an equivalent of 5.34 MMCFE/D.
A new study, sponsored by the Nature Conservancy, of energy
development indicates that centralized solar electric generation
may destroy more habitats per kilowatt-hour produced than coal,
even taking mining into account. The report, Energy Sprawl or
Energy Efficiency: Climate Policy Impacts on Natural Habitat for
the United States of America, examined a range of energy sources
and delivery modes, from biodiesel and ethanol to nuclear and
geothermal. The authors calculated the land area within the
U.S. required to meet energy consumption levels based on
assumptions in current Cap-and-Trade laws, then ranked each
source of energy by its power output divided by the total land
area that energy source would disrupt. This is referred to as
"energy sprawl." Biofuels had the highest energy sprawl.
Ethanol, biomass-fueled electrical generation and biodiesel
combined would require more than 2,500 square kilometers – about
960 miles – per Terrawatt-hour of energy generated per year.
Nuclear and geothermal were at the bottom of the list. Coal
consumes almost 10 square kilometers per TW-hr/yr, while solar
requires 15.3 km per TW-hr/yr, and photovoltaic generation would
take four times the amount of land to generate the same amount
of electricity as coal. For every square mile of Appalachian
mountain used in coal mining, it would take between
one-and-a-half square miles of desert instead to replace that
coal-fired power with industrial solar.
Duke Energy Corp. plans to build its ninth wind farm in the
U.S., and fourth in Wyoming,
as it continues to build it alternative-energy program. The
latest project, dubbed "Top of the World," will be on some
17,000 acres of private and public land Duke Energy holds under
long-term lease. The effort is expected to be in operation
before 2011, and generate enough electricity to power the
equivalent of 50,000 to 60,000 homes on an annual basis. The
new project will be powered by at least 66 turbines from General
Electric. Duke announces plans to roll out 700,000 smart meters
to measure customers' electricity usage while proposing the
investment of $121 million for a study of permanent underground
storage of part of the carbon dioxide emissions from an Indiana
power plant under construction.
Next Step Biofuels, Omaha, NB, has discovered a way to make
pellets that burn like coal
from all the leftover parts of a corn plant. The corn pellets,
a new form of renewable energy, are made from corn stalks, leafs
and cobs left behind after harvest. Coal-fired power plants can
reportedly burn the corn pellets along with coal, reducing
pollution.
The Central Energy Fund (CEF) is seeking consulting service for
a joint-venture wood-waste power plant in George.
Cape Clean Energy (CCE), owned 81.5 percent by CEF and the
remainder by Carbon & Environmental Options, will develop and
operate the project. CCE has procured about 70,000 t/y of
feedstock and is looking for an additional 20,000 t/y. The
project is expected to start operating in the first quarter of
2010.
Excel Energy Inc. had partnered with Abengoal Solar IST, a
Spanish company, to break ground on a $4.5 million concentrating
solar power plant
at the Cameo coal-fired power station near Grand Junction, CO.,
demonstrating whether the sun's heat can be used at an existing
coal-fired power plant to produce electricity. When completed
at the end of the year, the test plant will use mirrors aligned
in a parabolic trough to concentrate the sun's heat on pipes
that hold fluid. The fluid will then transfer the heat to
water, producing steam to spin a turbine and produce
electricity. By using the sun's heat it is expected carbon
dioxide emissions will be reduced. The plant uses about 900 tons
of coal a year and produces about 77 megawatts of power. The
test plant will produce about 1 megawatt of power, enough to
support 1,000 homes.
KeLa Energy, LLC, Orlando, FL, has developed and produced an
enhanced coal based fuel containing up to 50 percent biomass by
weight.
The goal is to determine if high levels of biomass could be
successfully integrated into a KeLa Engineered Fuel pellet.
KeLa produced a cleaner burning fuel pellet from waste coal
fines and renewable biomass using a binder based on recycled
carpet and other recycled plastics. The resulting fuel pellet
has a heating value equal or greater than coal (typically 15
percent higher). The KeLa pellets can be transported and
handled like coal and be used as a blend stock with existing
coal or as a stand-alone fuel. Testing using 10 percent biomass
pellets showed 39 percent reduction in sulfur oxides and a 42
percent reduction of nitrous oxides. Research by the University
of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research is being used to
demonstrate that blending biomass not only extends the fossil
resources but also reduces emissions of pollutants. The biomass
used in the KeLa process can be sourced from timber waste, mill
waste, agricultural waste, and urban waste. Both kiln dried and
green biomass materials are acceptable.
South Africa has the potential to generate some 150 MW in small
hydro schemes, in addition to the some 50 MW now being generated.
NuPlanet's Bethlehem Hydro has switched on a 3 MW hydro plant
and the other 4 MW plants will be ready to be commissioned later
this year. It is reported that 15 MW plants are being planned
and in three to four years there will be some 50 MW of small
hydro under construction. Small hydro projects have a capacity
of up to 10 megawatts, and can involve small dams, pumps or
water mills.
The world's largest offshore wind farm is in operation
at a site 30 kilometers off the coast of Denmark called Horns
Rev 2. It consists of 91 turbines made by Siemens. The farm is
projected to generate 209 megawatts or enough electricity to
supply 200,000 households for a year. Total cost of the project
was estimated at $1 billion.
Electrawinds Belgium is planning an R1.2-billion wind farm
in the Coega Industrial Development Zone in the Eastern Cape.
The wind farm project consists of 25 wind turbines of 2.3 MW
each. The project would be fully operational by 2011.
Electrawinds plans to have the first turbine in place by May of
2010. The country has a target of installing 10,000 GWh of
renewable energy by 2013.
ElectraTherm will deliver two Green Machines this month to
Florida Canyon Mine in Northern Nevada.
The machines will create fuel-free, emissions-free electricity
immediately, using geothermal heat from the mine. The
technology will hook into the existing mining processes, and
create 100kW of clean energy.
NRG Energy and the City of Houston, Houston, TX, are planning a
solar plant
near its existing I.H. Wharton natural gas-fired plant, in
northwest Houston. The 10-megawatt plant will supply up to 1.5
percent of the city's power demand. Construction cost is
estimated at $40 million and completion is expected July 2010.
Under a 25-year proposed agreement the city of Houston will buy
power for its buildings from the plant, which will be the
largest solar plant in Texas.
Focus on Energy, Madison, WI, has helped finance solar-electric
generation projects that produce 2.5 megawatts of electricity,
enough to power about 350 homes a year. The production avoids
having to burn more than 2,650 tons of coal at a coal-fired
generator. Focus on Energy has helped fund 582 solar electric
systems in Wisconsin, including the town of Menasha's
28-kilowatt system and a 14.7-kilowatt project for the Navarino
Nature Center near Shiocton.
Joint Venture Partners SunEdison Canada and SkyPower Corp.
announce the activation of Canada's first ground mount
photovoltaic solar system.
The 9.1 megawatt project named First Light, located in Stone
Mills, Ontario, covers 90 acres of land. First Light is expected
to generate more than 10 million kilowatt hours, enough
electricity to power almost 1,000 homes the first year of
operation. The system will remove almost 8,000 metric tons of
CO2 from the air in its first year of operation, the
equivalent of carbon emissions from almost 1,800 cars.
Zero Emission Energy Plants Ltd. and Colombia's Integrador De
Soluciones Technologicas Ltd
announce a partnership for the purpose of developing
gasification plants in Colombia utilizing the Pratt & Whitney
Rocketdyne, Inc. compact gasification technology. The
partnership is the first step in ZEEP's Latin America Clean
Energy Strategy with plans to expand to other Latin American
countries in the future.
Duke Energy Corp., Wilmington, NC, is funding a pilot study of
commercial wind turbines
in the waters offshore of North Carolina. The pilot study would
focus on Pamlico Sound, between North Carolina's Outer Banks and
the mainland. The pilot turbine installation will facilitate
utility-scale wind energy development by enabling studies to
optimize measuring and predicting the wind resource, quantifying
ecological impacts, and demonstrating turbine performance in
tropical storm conditions. Duke Energy has 634 megawatts of
land-based wind energy in Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming,
another 99 MW under construction and with an additional 251 MW
of wind projects scheduled to begin operation in 2010.
NRG Energy, a wholesale power generation company that operates
in the U.S.,
Australia and Germany, has begun a pilot project to replace some
coal with locally grown switchgrass and sorgham at its Big Cajun
II plant in Louisiana. The company said that the Big Cajun II
project could lead to commercial-scale projects using biomass
fuels to reduce carbon intensity from coal plants. The company
is also planning to expand its South Texas Project nuclear power
plant, and is testing the use of solar panels at a natural gas
plant in Houston.
The Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) has partnered with the
South African government
to assess the possibility of building its first solar park,
which could add up to 5,000 MW of electricity to South Africa's
energy mix. A solar park would serve as a concentrated zone of
solar development and would include significant solar generation
capacity by different independent power producers, it is
reported. Construction of the park could start as early as
December 2010. CCI is working on similar projects in India,
Australia and in the South Western States of the U.S., where
feasibility studies are nearing completion.
Cook Inlet Region Inc. (CIRI) has unveiled plans to develop land
at Cook Inlet for energy,
but in an unconventional way. CIRI plans to use underground
coal gasification to tap into seams of 55 feet thick – without
physically touching the coal or moving earth. Instead, they
plan to inject oxygen into the seam to spark combustion,
essentially igniting the coal seam. Water follows, squelching
the reaction and pushing out syn gas, or coal gas. By the time
the project would be operating in early 2014, CIRI thinks it
would produce a product competitive with today's low energy
prices in Southcentral. At the surface, CIRI proposes capturing
carbon dioxide before sending the gas to a 100-megawatt combined
cycle power plant. Electricity would flow into the Railbelt
grid. Methane can be added to syn gas to create natural gas.
Coskata Inc., Warrendale, IL, opened a demonstration scale
cellulosic ethanol plant in the Westinghouse Plasma Center in
Madison, PA.
The center is a subsidiary of Alter NRG Corporation and operates
a gasifier that will support the ethanol plant.
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