*News and Events
NREL and DuPont to Design and Build a Pilot “Biorefinery”
New Large Wind Facilities Online in California, New Mexico
Massachusetts Provides $4 Million for Community Wind Power
Lowe’s Installs 370-Kilowatt Solar Power System in L.A.
Green Power Comes to North Carolina and Georgia
Three Hydropower Facilities to be Shut Down in Maine
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NEWS AND EVENTS
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NREL and DuPont to Design and Build a Pilot “Biorefinery”
DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and DuPont announced on Monday that they will work together to develop the world’s first integrated “biorefinery” that uses corn or other organic materials to produce a variety of fuels and chemicals. Under a $7.7-million agreement, the two organizations will collaborate to develop, build, and test a pilot-scale biorefinery that will make use of the entire corn plant, including the stalks, husks, and leaves. Those parts, which currently go to waste, will be converted into fuel-grade ethanol and electrical power. Purified sugars from the corn kernel will be converted into chemicals such as Sorona, DuPont’s new corn-based
polymer. See the NREL press release at:
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See also DuPont’s Sorona Web site at:
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DuPont’s efforts to convert corn into a polymer follow the earlier advances made by Cargill Dow LLC, which produces its NatureWorks PLA, a polylactic polymer, from cornstarch. The process seems to have appeal for Toyota Motor Corporation, as well: the company announced in July that it plans to build a pilot plant for producing polylactic
polymer from sugar cane. Toyota’s pilot plant will be capable of producing 1,000 tons of biobased plastic per year. See the Cargill Dow Web site and the Toyota press release at:
Despite new techniques to turn corn waste into ethanol and other products, researchers continue to perfect the current industry techniques of converting corn kernels into ethanol. The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) announced in late September that a new National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center has opened at Southern
Illinois University Edwardsville. The new research center is the only facility in the world that fully emulates both wet-mill and dry-mill processes for converting corn into ethanol. See the RFA press release and the new center’s Web site: [sorry this link is no longer available]
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New Large Wind Facilities Online in California, New Mexico
FPL Energy, LLC maintained its reputation as the largest U.S. wind power developer in recent weeks, with the dedication of both its 162-megawatt wind power plant in California and its 204-megawatt wind plant in New Mexico. California’s new High Winds Energy Center had a capacity of 150 megawatts when it was dedicated on September 18th, but it will be expanded to 162 megawatts before the end of the year. PPM Energy, Inc. is buying all the power from the project and selling it wholesale to cities throughout the state. The New Mexico Wind Energy Center, dedicated on October 1st, is the world’s third-largest wind power facility. The Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) is buying all the power from the project for sale to its customers through the “PNM Sky Blue” green power program. See the press releases from PPM Energy and PNM at:
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The California Independent System Operator (ISO), which operates California’s power grid, claimed some of the credit for the High Winds Energy Center. According to the ISO, California wind generators are usually able to avoid “deviation penalties” incurred when they deliver more or less energy than they are scheduled to deliver. While such
penalties can cause a significant roadblock to wind energy development in other states, the California ISO uses high-tech wind forecasting to schedule the wind energy about one hour ahead of time. The ISO also allows wind energy producers to “net out” any deviations over the course of a month, which helps to minimize any penalties. The wind energy producers now enrolled in the ISO program represent more than 300 megawatts of wind energy capacity. See the California ISO press release:
Massachusetts Provides $4 Million for Community Wind Power
The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) announced in mid-September a $4 million initiative to help cities and towns throughout the state tap into wind power. The MTC administers the state’s Renewable Energy Trust, which has developed detailed wind resource maps for each of the 351 communities in the state. The MTC is
holding a series of meetings across the state to gauge interest and to determine what resources are needed
for developing successful local wind installations. See the MTC press release and Web site at:
for developing successful local wind installations. See the MTC press release and Web site at:
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The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has long recognized the benefits of small wind power installations, and has just published a new booklet, “Permitting Small Wind Turbines: A Handbook.” The handbook is available as a 495-KB PDF file on the AWEA Web site at:
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For more information on small wind turbines, see the AWEA Small Wind Systems Web site at: [sorry this link is no longer available]
Lowe’s Installs 370-Kilowatt Solar Power System in L.A.
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. announced last week that it has installed a 370-kilowatt solar power system on the roof of its West Hills store in Los Angeles, California. PowerLight Corporation furnished the system, which uses Shell Solar modules that cover 37,500 square feet of the store’s roof. See the October 10th press release on the PowerLight Web site: [sorry this link is no longer available]
When it comes to large solar power installations, California continues to dominate the nation’s news. Other recent large installations include a 214-kilowatt system in Vallejo, which led the city to declare itself as the number one city in the nation in terms of installed photovoltaic capacity per capita. And in Santa Monica, a 50-kilowatt solar power system now power’s the Ferris wheel at the city’s Pacific Park. See the City of Vallejo press release: [sorry this link is no longer available]
See also the September 11th press release from Shell Solar at:
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Green Power Comes to North Carolina and Georgia
Green power — electricity from renewable energy sources — came to North Carolina and Georgia for the first time on October 1st. In North Carolina, NC GreenPower launched a statewide initiative with the support of all the state’s utility companies. The utilities are selling green power at a premium of $4 per 100 kilowatt-hours, with discounts available to buyers of 10,000 kilowatt-hours or more. In Georgia, the Green Power Electric Membership Corporation — Green Power EMC, for short — began providing green power to 16 electric cooperatives throughout the state. Green Power EMC is drawing on nine megawatts of green power generated by three landfill gas projects. See
the press releases from NC Green Power (a 722-KB PDF file) and from Walton EMC, one of the 16 member cooperatives in Georgia, at:
http://www.ncgreenpower.org/media/NCGreenPowerMediaKit.pdf
http://www.ncgreenpower.org/media/NCGreenPowerMediaKit.pdf
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See also the NC GreenPower and Green Power EMC Web sites at:
While many people are buying green power directly from their utility, another option is to buy green tags, also called tradable renewable energy credits, which represent the attributes or benefits of renewable energy generation. In September, the Center for Resource Solutions announced that six new suppliers have earned the center’s
Green-e certification, which verifies that each green tag does in fact represent power produced from renewable energy. See the Green-e press release: http://www.green-e.org/media_ed/7new.trcs.html
Green tags have attracted enough international interest to inspire the International Energy Agency to help launch a new Web site called TRECNET, the Tradable Renewable Energy Credit Expert Network. The site is meant as a tool for information sharing. See the TRECNET Web site: [sorry this link is no longer available]
Three Hydropower Facilities to be Shut Down in Maine
PPL Corporation announced Monday that it has reached an agreement with a coalition of federal and state government agencies and private groups to sell three of its hydroelectric dams in Maine. The coalition has a five-year option to buy the three facilities for $25 million, with plans to remove two of the dams and bypass the third in order to restore runs of Atlantic salmon and other migratory fishes to the Penobscot River. The three projects represent 18 megawatts of hydroelectric generating capability.
PPL will continue to own about 27 megawatts of hydroelectric capacity on the Penobscot River and its tributaries in Maine, and the agreement will allow PPL to boost energy output at its remaining projects. The private groups have also agreed to drop opposition to PPL’s federal relicensing efforts for its remaining dams. See the PPL press release: [sorry this link is no longer available]
Although dam removal has obvious benefits for fish migration, the full impact of such a project is difficult to quantify. A report issued in mid-September by the Heinz Center — a nonprofit institution for environmental policy — attempts to draw together all the information that is currently available on the topic. See the Heinz Center press release at:
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Both the latest report and a related report produced last year are available on the Heinz Center’s Publications page at: http://www.heinzctr.org/publications.ht
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| Kevin Eber is the Editor of EREE Network News, a weekly publication of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). |
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