Solargenix Breaks Ground on Large Solar Power Plant in Nevada Nevada to Host the World’s Largest Photovoltaic Power Plant BP and Edison Plan a 500-Megawatt Hydrogen Project in California Ford and GM to Help Install E85 Pumps in Missouri and Illinois Nanotech Proposal Holds Promise for Clean Energy Technologies DOE Conducts Energy Assessments at Four Industrial Facilities
Energy Connections
Natural Gas Wholesale Prices Down 24 Percent, Says Platts
Solargenix Breaks Ground on Large Solar Power Plant in Nevada
Solargenix Energy LLC broke ground this weekend in Boulder City, Nevada, on a 64-megawatt solar thermal power plant, the largest of its kind to be built since 1992. Called Nevada Solar One, the power plant will employ trough-shaped mirrors to focus the sun’s energy onto “receiver” tubes that carry oil. The hot oil will be used to boil water into steam, which will drive a turbine and generator to produce power. According to Schott, which is providing 19,300 receiver tubes for the plant, its new efficient receiver tube design will heat the oil to more than 750 degrees Fahrenheit. Acciona Energia, a Spanish renewable energy company, is investing $262 million in the plant, which should begin power production next year. See the Solargenix Web site, the press releases from Acciona Energia and Schott, and a description of solar trough technology on DOE’s Troughnet Web site.
More solar thermal plants could be coming to Nevada. International Automated Systems, Inc. signed a $150 million contract last week to install a 100-megawatt power plant for Solar Renewable Energy-1 LLC of Nevada. The company has developed an innovative technology based on thin acrylic Fresnel lenses that focus sunlight onto receiver tubes, and it intends to combine that technology with a bladeless turbine driven by steam passing through rocket nozzles. See the press release and the solar and turbine technology pages on the International Automated Systems Web site.
Nevada to Host the World’s Largest Photovoltaic Power Plant
Powered by Renewables (PBR) announced last week that it will partner with SunEdison to develop the world’s largest solar photovoltaic (PV) project in Clark County in southern Nevada. The proposed 18-megawatt project is nearly double the size of the current world-record holder, a 10-megawatt solar PV project in Germany. It will be privately owned, and its power will be sold to the U.S military. PBR and SunEdison are also planning to develop another 18 megawatts of solar PV projects at locations throughout Nevada. According to PBR, construction on the Clark County installation should begin in July, with other projects following next year. See the PBR press release.
Smaller solar power projects are popping up across the country. In New York State, local chapters of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) are intending to install small solar power systems on their union buildings. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) recently provided $740,000 to install a 60-kilowatt system on the union trading center in Harriman and to install a total of 90 kilowatts of solar power on three other IBEW buildings. In New Jersey, Dome-Tech Solar installed a 250-kilowatt solar power system at a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary. And in California, Chevron Energy Solutions worked with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to install 185 kilowatts of sun-tracking solar panels; 100 kilowatts of flexible, thin-film solar panels; and a 250-kilowatt fuel cell system at the San Francisco Processing & Distribution Center. Chevron Energy Solutions also installed energy efficiency enhancements at the facility and at the nearby Embarcadero Postal Center. See the press releases from NYSERDA, Dome-Tech Solar, and Chevron Energy Solutions.
BP and Edison Plan a 500-Megawatt Hydrogen Project in California
BP and the Edison Mission Group announced last week that they plan to build a $1-billion hydrogen-fueled power plant in southern California. The 500-megawatt plant would be located next to BP’s Carson refinery, about 20 miles south of Los Angeles, and would generate hydrogen from petroleum coke, a byproduct of the refining process. Carbon dioxide would also be generated by the process and will be separated, transported to an operating oilfield, and injected into the reservoir to stimulate more oil production. The hydrogen will be burned in a gas turbine to produce electricity.
Although the project remains largely speculative because of the many agencies, companies, and other stakeholders that would be involved, the companies hope to complete detailed engineering and commercial studies this year, finalize project investment decisions in 2008, and bring the new power plant online by 2011. The plant is the second large-scale hydrogen project announced by BP; the first is a 350-megawatt project fueled with natural gas and located in Scotland. See the press release from Edison International?the parent company for the Edison Mission Group?and the project description on the BP Alternative Energy Web site.
Ford and GM to Help Install E85 Pumps in Missouri and Illinois
Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation (GM) have extended their commitment to E85?a blend of 85 percent ethanol with 15 percent gasoline?with specific plans to install new E85 pumps. Ford and VeraSun Energy will establish a “Midwest Ethanol Corridor” by converting 40 existing fuel pumps in Illinois and Missouri to E85. The project will increase the availability of E85 in the region by about a third. Ford estimates there are 50,000 owners of Ford flexible fuel vehicles in Illinois and 28,000 in Missouri. See the Ford press release.
GM is also increasing E85 availability in Illinois: the company announced at the Chicago Auto Show that it will add 26 new E85 pumps in the greater Chicago area through a partnership with VeraSun Energy and Shell. GM also displayed a Chevrolet Avalanche that can run on E85 at the Chicago Auto Show. The company has launched a campaign to promote E85, called “Live Green Go Yellow,” that includes a companion Web site. See GM’s press release, Chicago Auto Show Web site, and “Live Green Go Yellow” Web site.
Nanotech Proposal Holds Promise for Clean Energy Technologies
President Bush’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2007, released last week, includes $1.2 billion for the multi-agency National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), which develops materials and technologies on the scale of a billionth of a meter (a nanometer). The NNI budget proposal includes $258 million for DOE, a 25 percent increase compared to this year’s funding. Nanotechnology has wide applications in science and technology, and its potential for clean energy technology is already obvious in the development of solar cells and energy storage devices. See the NNI Web site and summary of the funding proposal (PDF 98 KB).
A number of research efforts have focused on nanotech for solar cells. Most recently, researchers at DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have employed nanoscale crystals of semiconductors to produce multiple electrons from a single photon. The achievement could boost the electrical output from solar cells. Meanwhile, researchers at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Australia and at Pennsylvania State University have been using nanoscale tubes of carbon and titania to build solar cells out of relatively inexpensive materials such as conductive polymers and dyes. Chemists at Italy’s University of Bologna, UCLA, and the California NanoSystems Institute have even created nanoscale molecular “motors” that run on solar energy. See the press releases from LANL, QUT, Penn State, and UCLA.
For energy storage, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is trying to boost the storage capacity of ultracapacitors using carbon nanotubes, while mPhase Technologies and Bell Labs have built a prototype battery that never loses charge when it sits unused. The battery separates the electrolyte from the reactive parts of the battery with a silicon-based nanoscale membrane. See MIT press release and the mPhase Web site.
DOE Conducts Energy Assessments at Four Industrial Facilities
DOE conducted an industrial Energy Saving Assessment last week at a combined heat and power (CHP) facility in Alsip, Illinois, southwest of Chicago, and is preparing to carry out three-day assessments at the Lubrizol Corporation’s chemical plant in Deer Park, Texas; at a Boise Cascade paper mill in International Falls, Minnesota; and at the Superior Industries International Inc. facility in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Through its free energy assessments, DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is working with major manufacturing facilities to identify opportunities to save energy and money, primarily by focusing on steam and process heating systems. EERE’s Energy Saving Teams have completed visits to 28 large federal facilities and are in the process of visiting 200 of the most energy-intensive manufacturing facilities in the United States as part of the national “Easy Ways to Save Energy” campaign launched in October 2005.
Last week’s energy assessment was carried out at the Alsip Paper Condominium Association, a CHP facility producing steam and 8.3 megawatts of power for adjacent paper mills operated by Madison Paper Company and SCA Tissue. CHP facilities are an efficient means of producing both power and steam for industrial plants. The upcoming energy assessment in Texas is at Lubrizol’s largest plant and the largest additive manufacturing facility in the world. It manufactures motor oil additives and other products. The Boise Cascade facility features four paper machines that together produce about 1,500 tons of paper per day. And finally, the Superior Industries plant manufactures aluminum wheels and other aluminum components for the auto industry. See the DOE press releases about the energy assessments at Alsip, Lubrizol, Boise Cascade, and Superior Industries.
EERE’s first six industrial Energy Saving Assessments identified a total of $10 million per year in potential energy cost savings. On average, the suggested energy-saving improvements at the six industrial plants would reduce their natural gas consumption by 6.7 percent. EERE recently announced that all 200 manufacturing facilities have been selected, and together they represent 15 percent of the industrial natural gas consumption in the United States. See the February 1st edition of the “EERE Progress Alerts” and the list of the 200 manufacturing facilities on EERE’s “Save Energy Now” Web site.
Energy Connections
Natural Gas Wholesale Prices Down 24 Percent, Says Platts
The wholesale price for natural gas dropped by 24 percent from January to February, according to Platts, the energy information business of The McGraw-Hill Companies. At $7.56 per million Btu (British thermal unit), this month’s wholesale price is still 27 percent above the average price a year ago, but at least the high prices are showing signs of easing. Platts credited the drop to an unusually mild winter (this was before the latest snowstorm in the Northeast) and large inventories of natural gas in storage. The latest “Short-Term Energy Outlook” from DOE’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) notes similar trends in weather and natural gas storage, and predicts that “any further weakening of natural gas demand (from weather or other factors) could cause a sharp downward correction in prices during 2006.” See the Platts press release and the EIA’s “Short Term Energy Outlook.”
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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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