Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:April 26, 2006

News and Events

Arizona Completes a One-Megawatt Solar Trough Plant

Arizona Public Service Company (APS) commemorated Arizona’s first solar trough power plant on Earth Day, April 22nd. The one-megawatt plant features more than 100,000 square feet of trough-shaped mirrors, and is the first solar trough plant built in the United States in 17 years. Located between Phoenix and Tucson, the plant consists of six rows of mirrors, each more than 1,200 feet long. The mirrors concentrate the sun’s energy to heat oil, which is then used to vaporize an organic fluid. The vapor spins a turbine to drive a generator, producing power, and the vapor is then condensed and reused.

Although existing solar trough systems boil water rather than an organic fluid, the organic fluid vaporizes at a lower temperature than water, allowing the plant to produce more power at lower temperature. Such organic-fluid power conversion systems are typically employed in geothermal and biomass power plants. The APS system also allows for hot oil storage, which will help the plant match its power output to the utility’s needs. Solargenix Energy LLC provided the solar troughs for the APS plant, while Ormat International designed and installed the power conversion system.

The APS plant is the vanguard for a resurgence of solar trough plants in the United States. Solargenix is currently building a 64-megawatt plant in Boulder City, Nevada, that will be the largest solar trough plant in the world when it is completed next year, while other large solar trough plants have been proposed in California. See the APS press release.

Air Force Plans for 18 Megawatts of Solar Power at Nevada Base

The U.S. Air Force issued a request for solicitation last week for the installation of an 18-megawatt solar photovoltaic array at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. The Air Force hopes to find a contractor willing to own, operate, and maintain the solar power array, while the Air Force Base will buy all the power from the solar plant. The Air Force will provide about 140 acres for the solar array, and the contractor must interconnect the system to the Nevada Power Company power grid. To generate additional revenue, the contractor can sell renewable energy credits for the solar power generated at the site, but the Air Force may not award a contract if the proposals fail to reduce the long-term costs for electrical utility services at the base. Proposals are due on May 18th. See the Air Force solicitation on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site.

A number of organizations are currently pressing ahead with large solar photovoltaic projects. In early April, the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC) announced plans to install 5 megawatts of solar power, which will probably be dispersed over a number of NJMC properties. By 2020, the commission intends to install a total of 20 megawatts of renewable power sources in the Meadowlands District, which includes about 30 square miles in northeast New Jersey. See the NJMC press release.

Other planned solar projects will be the largest yet in Florida and Connecticut. Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) plans to install a 250-kilowatt system in Sarasota, while the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF) announced in March that it will help fund a 433-kilowatt array on the distribution center of a company in eastern Connecticut. The CCEF has funded more than 100 solar power systems, representing a total capacity of more than one megawatt. Meanwhile, California continues its leadership in the realm of large solar power facilities: last week, the City of Oakland dedicated a 1.1-megawatt system, designed and built by PowerLight, while SunPower Corporation finished installing a 480-kilowatt system at Microsoft Corporation’s campus in Mountain View. See the press releases from FPL, CCEF, PowerLight, and SunPower.

Woody Biomass Projects Receive $4.2 Million in USDA Grants

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded $4.2 million on Monday to 18 small enterprises that will use the money to develop innovative products and renewable energy from woody biomass from national forests. Although many of the recipients are forest products companies, funds were also awarded to the Cawaco Resource Conservation & Development Council, Inc., which is planning a project to co-fire biomass with coal in the Gadsden Steam Plant in Alabama; Big Valley Power, a biomass power plant in Redding, California; the Montana Community Development Corporation, which has been experimenting with using wood waste from logging operations to fuel a boiler at a paper mill; Nevada’s Lake Tahoe Unified School District, which plans to fuel a cogeneration system with biomass fuel; Mt. Taylor Machine, a New Mexico company that makes fuel for pellet stoves; and the town of Red River, New Mexico, which plans to ship wood chips from forest thinning to a biomass power plant. According to the USDA, the grant program improves forest health and reduces the risk of wildfires by removing built-up fuel hazards. See the USDA press release.

Nissan to Sell the Altima Hybrid in Only Eight States

Nissan is preparing to enter the U.S. hybrid vehicle market for the first time, but the company will limit the sales of its Altima Hybrid to the eight states that have adopted California’s emissions standards: California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. When it goes on sale early next year, the Altima Hybrid will feature a 2.5-liter, four-cylinder engine and a continuously variable transmission. It will be assembled at Nissan’s manufacturing plant in Smyrna, Tennessee, making it the first hybrid vehicle from a Japanese company to be built in the United States. Currently, only Ford’s hybrid vehicles are built domestically. See the Nissan press release.

DOE Conducts Industrial Energy Assessments in Six States

DOE launched industrial Energy Saving Assessments over the past week at facilities in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, and Pennsylvania. The GAF Materials Corporation facility in Mobile, Alabama, produces roofing materials for residential and commercial construction. In Louisiana, the Donaldsonville Nitrogen Complex, owned by CF Industries, Inc., is the largest fertilizer plant in the United States, producing three types of nitrogen fertilizers. The Bowater Incorporated paper mill in Grenada, Mississippi, produces 247,000 metric tons of newsprint each year. The Nucor Steel facility in Norfolk, Nebraska, part of the Nucor Bar Mill Group, produces more than 200 grades of steel. Eastman Kodak’s facility in Rochester, New York, produces photographic materials and is the largest industrial complex in the northeast United States. And the Michael Foods facility in Klingerstown, Pennsylvania, dries and processes egg products. DOE’s free three-day energy assessments are helping major manufacturing facilities to identify energy-saving opportunities, primarily by focusing on steam and process heating systems used at the plants. See the Web sites for Bowater, Nucor Steel – Nebraska, and CF Industries, and the DOE press releases on the visits to Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, and Pennsylvania.

DOE’s Energy Saving Teams have completed visits to 33 large federal facilities and are in the process of visiting 200 energy-intensive manufacturing facilities as part of the national “Easy Ways to Save Energy” campaign launched in October 2005. The first 33 industrial Energy Saving Assessments have identified more than $150 million per year in potential energy cost savings. If implemented, these energy-saving measures could reduce natural gas consumption by more than 11 trillion Btu per year. See the results of many of these industrial Energy Saving Assessments on the “Save Energy Now” Web site, provided by DOE’s Industrial Technologies Program.

A recent report from the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) notes that there are still plenty of opportunities for industries to save energy. By reviewing the results of audits carried out by DOE’s Industrial Assessment Centers (IAC), the ACEEE report found that the assessed industries averaged $30,000 in annual energy savings and $30,000 in savings from reduced waste and increased productivity. Overall, the IAC program yields between $5 and $9 in energy savings for every program dollar spent, according to ACEEE. See the ACEEE report.

Energy Connections

EIA: Regular Gasoline Prices May Fall Short of $3 per Gallon

While prices for regular gasoline are currently flirting with $3 per gallon, DOE’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) does not expect regular gasoline prices to maintain such a high average price over the course of any month this summer. Last week’s “This Week in Petroleum,” an EIA publication, examined the current trend in crude oil and gasoline prices. First, three refineries on the Gulf Coast are returning to service, which should ease supplies. Second, some refineries that are down for maintenance should return to service soon. Both these factors lead EIA to conclude that gasoline prices should soon be coming down. However, uncertainty over crude oil supplies and any problems phasing out the MTBE additive could throw a wrench in the EIA’s forecast. See the EIA report, and for the latest gasoline and crude oil prices, see the American Automobile Association’s Fuel Gage Report and the New York Mercantile Exchange Web site.

Shell Exploration & Production Company announced last week that it is preparing to resume oil production from its Mars oil platform, the largest producing platform in the Gulf of Mexico that was affected by Hurricane Katrina. Shell expects initial production to begin in late May and full production in late June?just in time for the hurricane season. The Mars platform represents about 5 percent of daily oil production in the Gulf. As of last week, the Mineral Management Service (MMS) reports that 22 percent of oil production and 13 percent of natural gas production remains unavailable in the Gulf. The ExxonMobil Pipeline Company has taken an unusual approach to addressing that production shortfall: in early April, the company reversed the flow direction in a pipeline that runs between Texas and Illinois, allowing Canadian crude oil to be delivered to refineries in Beaumont, Texas. See the MMS report and the press releases from Shell and ExxonMobil.

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