Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:February 16, 2005

News and Events

• Large Wind Power Plants Slated for North Dakota and Massachusetts
• Two Companies Get a Boost from Wind Turbine Manufacturing
• Long Island Aims to Feature a 10-Megawatt Fuel Cell Facility
• EPA and Four Partners to Build a Hydraulic Hybrid Delivery Van
• State Energy Collaborative Awards $4 Million to Eight Projects
• Europeans Join Forces to Develop Organic LEDs

Energy Connections

Large Wind Power Plants Slated for North Dakota and Massachusetts

PPM Energy is proposing to build North Dakota’s largest wind plant, a 150-megawatt facility near Rugby, in the north central part of the state. The company submitted a letter of intent to the North Dakota Public Service Commission in late January and plans to build the 100-turbine wind project by the end of the year. North Dakota Governor John Hoeven expressed support for the project, and plans to meet with the company next week. See the governor’s press release.

Two smaller wind plants are also under development in northwest Massachusetts. Berkshire Wind Power LLC is planning to build the 15-megawatt Berkshire Project on Brodie Mountain, near the New York border. A group of the state’s municipal utilities and their power supplier – the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC) – announced in December they would buy power from the project, which Berkshire Wind Power plans to build this year. In addition, enXco is planning to build a 30-megawatt wind project on Bakke Mountain and Crum Hill, in the Hoosac Range near the Vermont border. The Hoosac Wind project has passed through most of the permitting process, but has yet to earn its final building permit. See the MMWEC press release (PDF 122 KB) and the Hoosac Wind Web site.

Here’s one place you won’t find wind turbines: on the roof of the New York Sports and Convention Center (NYSCC), the proposed new home for the New York Jets. Though wind turbines were included in a plan released last summer, the latest plan eliminates them, and the Jets plan to buy green power from upstate New York instead. See the Jets’ announcement on the NYSCC Web site.

Two Companies Get a Boost from Wind Turbine Manufacturing

While utilities, wind turbine manufacturers, and wind project developers grab most of the wind power headlines, the growth in the wind turbine business is providing economic benefits for smaller companies as well. A case in point is Aerisyn, LLC, a manufacturer of metal towers for wind turbines, which announced in late January that it will build North America’s first automated wind tower production facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee, this summer. The $7-million facility will create 75 new jobs initially and as many as 150 new jobs within the next three years. The plant will be located in an existing building that has long bays, a heavy-duty crane, and easy access to the port, all of which are ideal for wind tower construction. Ironically, the building was previously used for building nuclear reactor components. See the press release from the City of Chattanooga.

The growth in wind power is also benefiting Missouri-based Zoltec Companies Inc., a manufacturer of carbon fibers, which can be used to provide strength to wind turbine blades. Zoltec recently signed an agreement with Vestas Wind Systems AS of Denmark to provide up to $100 million worth of carbon fiber and carbon fiber materials over the next three years. To meet the increased demand, the company is starting up five idled production lines in Abilene, Texas, and plans to double its worldwide production capacity by 2006. See the Zoltec Web site and press release (MS Word 30 KB).

Long Island Aims to Feature a 10-Megawatt Fuel Cell Facility

The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) plans to support the construction of the world’s largest fuel cell power facility at its West Babylon substation. On February 1st, LIPA requested proposals for a 10-megawatt fuel cell power plant, which it intends to bring online by July 1, 2006. The proposed facility would dwarf existing fuel cell plants, which only cracked the 1-megawatt barrier in 2000. LIPA proposes to enter into a 20-year power purchase agreement with the winning bidders, who will own and operate the facility. Proposals are due by April 25th. See the LIPA press release.

Long Island already hosts the current record-holder for fuel-cell installations, a 1.4-megawatt facility at one of Verizon’s critical call-routing centers in Garden City. See the March 2002 press release from UTC Fuel Cells.

EPA and Four Partners to Build a Hydraulic Hybrid Delivery Van

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last week that it will work with four partners to build the world’s first full hydraulic hybrid delivery vehicle. Hydraulic hybrids work like hybrid electric vehicles, except that they use tanks of hydraulic fluids under pressure to store mechanical energy, whereas a hybrid electric vehicle stores electrical energy in a battery. EPA and its four partners?UPS, Eaton Corp.,
International Truck and Engine Corporation, and the U.S Army National Automotive Center (NAC)?will begin by building a full hydraulic hybrid powertrain and an innovative hydraulic hybrid propulsion system integrated with the drive axle. A second phase of the project will follow up a year later by adding a clean diesel engine. The UPS demonstration vehicle is projected to achieve a 60 to 70 percent improvement in fuel economy over today’s delivery vehicles, while meeting the 2010 EPA standard for nitrous oxide emissions from heavy vehicles. The EPA expects a 3-year payback period for the added cost of the hydraulic hybrid system. See the EPA press release and online fact sheet.

The plans for the UPS demonstration vehicle are sure to be a hot topic at the Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicle Conference 2005, which starts on February 22nd in La Quinta, California. Billed as the nation’s premier gathering of industry, military, and regulatory leaders focused on cleaner and more efficient heavy-duty vehicles, the conference is organized by WestStart-CALSTART and the NAC, with major support from the Federal Transit Administration. See the conference announcement from WestStart-CALSTART.

State Energy Collaborative Awards $4 Million to Eight Projects

The State Technologies Advancement Collaborative (STAC) awarded more than $4.3 million to eight projects last week as a result of its Energy Efficiency and Fossil Energy Science Solicitation. Five of the eight projects relate to energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, including advanced power converters for motor drives and distributed power systems; advanced power supplies for motors; membranes for separating hydrogen from synthesis gases; improved catalysts for the Fischer-Tropsch process, which produces synthetic fuels from either gasified biomass or gasified coal; and a predictive model to help ethanol plants produce high-quality distiller’s dried grain with solubles (DDGS), a marketable co-product of the fuel production process. The remaining three projects, which together received nearly $1.4 million in STAC funding, relate to large superalloy castings for industrial gas turbines, methane recovery from lignite coal seams, and control technologies for coal plants to increase their efficiency and reduce their emissions. See the STAC press release (PDF 19 KB).

While STAC allows states, territories, and DOE to collaborate on energy projects, states continue to pursue significant energy-related projects on their own. The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF), for instance, recently issued a request for proposals for its “Project 100,” an initiative to help develop renewable energy projects in the state. CCEF also called for applications to its Renewable Energy Pre-Development Program, which provides up to $500,000 per project to help develop renewable energy projects. Finally, CCEF announced that it has an additional $9 million available for its Commercial, Industrial, and Institutional Solar Photovoltaic Program (PDF 212 KB), which provides a $5-per-watt subsidy for solar power systems. See the CCEF press releases on Project 100, the Pre-Development Program, and the solar power subsidies.

Other active states include Pennsylvania, which awarded more than $1 million in Alternative Fuel Incentive Grants on Monday, and Wisconsin, which is offering zero-interest loans and increased cash-back rewards for renewable energy systems through its Focus on Energy initiative. See the press releases from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Wisconsin’s Focus on Energy initiative (PDF 121 KB).

Europeans Join Forces to Develop Organic LEDs

More than 20 of Europe’s leading companies and research establishments in the fields of lighting applications and organic electronics and materials announced on February 1st that they have formed an integrated research and development project to advance organic light emitting diode (OLED) technologies. Unlike the LEDs that are currently found in many consumer electronics, OLEDs use organic molecules that can be spread out over a large surface, causing the entire surface to emit light. The project’s goal is to demonstrate bright, white OLED light tiles?with a long lifetime and high energy efficiency?for use in general lighting applications by 2008. The project is called “OLLA,” which is an extreme abbreviation of “high brightness Organic Light emitting diodes for information communication technologies and Lighting Applications.” See the OLLA Web site and press release (PDF 114 KB).

According to ABI Research, OLEDs are already showing up in the dashboard displays of some cars, as well as cell phones, digital cameras, and car radios. To help OLEDs find wider use, Universal Display Corporation is currently working with DOE to develop an OLED-based “smart window” that can switch between a transparent window and a source of white light. The company is also developing infrared-emitting OLED displays for use by military personnel wearing night vision equipment, and is exploring the use of ink-jet printers to produce OLED panels. See the press releases from ABI Research and Universal Display.

Traditional LEDs continue to gain ground as well. Carmanah Technologies Corporation continues to rack up sales for its solar-powered LED products, with applications in aviation lights, illuminated traffic signs, and solar-powered warning flashers. In early February, the company received a $615,000 order from the U.S. Marine Corps to supply solar-powered LED airfield lights for the Marine Corps’ second-largest airbase in the Middle East. See the Carmanah press releases.

Energy Connections

Kyoto Protocol Takes Effect Today

Following its ratification by Russia in late 2004, the Kyoto Protocol enters into force today, causing its greenhouse gas emission targets to become binding legal commitments for those industrialized countries that have ratified it. The Kyoto Protocol also puts several market-based mechanisms in action, including international greenhouse gas emissions trading and the Clean Development Mechanism, which credits participating countries for encouraging clean development in developing countries. The Kyoto Protocol sets emission targets for industrialized countries for the years 2008 to 2012, aiming to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions in industrialized countries to at least 5 percent below 1990 levels. See the background information about the Kyoto Protocol on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Web site.

If all industrialized countries participated in the treaty, the Kyoto Protocol would apply to about half of global greenhouse gas emissions, but since the United States and Australia have not ratified it, the Kyoto Protocol’s limits apply to 32 percent of global emissions. Although the United States is not participating, the Bush Administration has set a target to reduce the U.S. greenhouse gas intensity (the amount of greenhouse gas produced per unit of gross domestic product) by 18 percent by 2012. For more information, see the special Web site established by the Pew Center on Global Climate Change to mark the passing into force of the Kyoto Protocol.

As the Kyoto Protocol takes effect, researchers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have verified that global temperatures in 2004 made it the fourth-warmest year on record, falling behind 2002, 2003, and the record year of 1998. The researchers also anticipate that 2005 could set a new record for global temperature. According to NASA, Earth’s surface now absorbs more of the Sun’s energy than gets reflected back to space. That extra energy, together with a weak El Nio, is expected to make 2005 warmer than the years of 2003 and 2004, and perhaps even warmer than 1998. See the press release from the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

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