Weekly Clean Energy Roundup:May 16, 2006

News and Events

News and Events

New Ethanol Fuel Pumps in Indiana

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman visited Indianapolis, Indiana, last week to congratulate Meijer, Inc. on its plans to add E85 fuel pumps at up to 20 Meijer supermarkets. E85 is a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline and can be used in special “flexible fuel” vehicles that burn either E85 or gasoline. Currently, 656 fueling stations in the United States offer E85, up from fewer than 100 in 2001. “Flexible fuel vehicles and E85 are proven options for substituting a clean-burning renewable fuel for gasoline, and I believe it should be our common goal that E85 become a nationwide fueling option,” Secretary Bodman said. See the Secretary’s comments and the press release from the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (NEVC).

Secretary Bodman also attended “Ethanol Day” at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This year, all vehicles in the IndyCar Series will be fueled by ten percent ethanol-enriched fuel, and next season they will run on 100 percent ethanol. See the DOE press release.

Although the number of E85 pumps in the United States remains small, sales of E85 are growing rapidly. In Minnesota, there are now 206 E85 pumps, compared to only 106 in 2005, and E85 sales more than tripled over the past year. In other parts of the Corn Belt, the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) has celebrated the opening of 13 E85 stations over the past month, while Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm applauded a partnership of GM, Meijer, and others that will bring 20 new E85 fuel pumps to the state. And South Dakotans may have the best deal of all: they get to choose their ethanol blend (including E85) at pumps in Watertown and Britton. Outside the Corn Belt, the Kroger Company is adding E85 pumps to 18 fuel stations in Texas this summer, while Lititz, Pennsylvania, just gained the first publicly available E85 fuel pump in the Northeast. See the press releases from the NEVC (PDF 50 KB); the IRFA; Governor Granholm; the South Dakota Corn Council and Corn Growers Association; Kroger; and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Company Proposes 500-Megawatt Wind Plant off the Texas Coast

The Texas General Land Office (GLO) announced last week that Superior Renewable Energy has proposed building a 500-megawatt wind facility off the coast of Padre Island. The company has signed a multi-million-dollar lease agreement for nearly 40,000 acres of land in the Gulf of Mexico. Superior Renewable Energy is currently developing large-scale wind energy projects in New Mexico, South Dakota, California and Hawaii. The Texas GLO previously signed a lease for a company to build a 150-megawatt wind facility off the coast of Galveston. See the Texas GLO press release.

Under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the regulatory authority for offshore wind energy developments is now the Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS). The MMS is currently holding public meetings on the subject of offshore renewable energy, including a meeting tomorrow near Washington, D.C., and upcoming meetings in California, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Texas. The meetings are the first step in an 18-month process to develop a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in order to establish rules for the new MMS Alternate Energy-Related Use program. Comments can also be submitted by July 5th using a new Programmatic EIS Web site, provided by DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory. See the MMS press release and the related Web site.

Three Geothermal Power Plants Moving Ahead in Nevada

Geothermal power developers are planning to build three new geothermal plants in Nevada. AMP Resources, LLC aims to bring its 26-megawatt Stillwater 2 Geothermal Plant online by the end of 2007, which will make it the first of the three plants to be completed. The company was awarded a construction permit from the Nevada Public Utilities Commission (PUC) last week, and plans to submit to the PUC a long-term power purchase agreement with Nevada Power Company. The plant will replace the 7-megawatt Stillwater 1 Geothermal Plant, located in western Nevada, about 75 miles east of Reno. See the Nevada PUC press release (PDF 18 KB) and the AMP Resource Web site.

Ormat Nevada, Inc. is next in line, having just signed an agreement to sell the power from its proposed geothermal plant to Sierra Pacific Power Company. The 20-year agreement still needs the approval of the Nevada PU
C, but if approved, Ormat will build a 15- to 25-megawatt geothermal plant at the site of its existing Steamboat Geothermal Complex in western Nevada. Ormat expects the Galena No. 3 Geothermal Power Project to start producing power in 2008. See the Ormat press release.

The plant with the furthest to go is under development in northern Nevada, near Interstate 80 and just southwest of Winnemucca. Nevada Geothermal Inc. has started drilling production wells at the site to support its planned 30-megawatt Blue Mountain power plant. See the Nevada Geothermal press release and the company’s Blue Mountain Web page.

Kauai Pursues Biomass and Wind Power and Solar Water Heating

Hawaii has abundant renewable energy resources and no fossil fuel resources, and that latter fact has left the state largely dependent on expensive fuel imports delivered by ship. Fortunately, Hawaii’s utilities are expressing a growing interest in renewable energy sources to meet their needs. The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) is a case in point: the utility is currently working with three companies to develop renewable energy power plants on the island. Green Energy Hawaii will develop a 7.5-megawatt “closed loop” biomass power plant, using a dedicated supply of woodchips and other biomass grown on a local tree farm. The plant will gasify the biomass and use the hot gas to power a turbine. In addition, Cleaves & Company will relocate a 4.5-megawatt biomass plant from California to Kauai. The plant will be fueled with California walnut shells at first, but the company plans to develop local biomass sources. Finally, UPC Kauai Wind Power, LLC will develop a 10.5- to 15-megawatt wind power plant. See the KIUC press releases on the contracts with Green Energy Hawaii (PDF 481 KB), Cleaves & Company (PDF 483 KB), and UPC Kauai Wind Power (PDF 304 KB).

The utility is also encouraging its customers to employ renewable energy through a solar water heating incentive program. In addition to rebates and a state tax incentive, the utility has teamed up with a credit union and a housing agency to offer no-interest loans on solar water heating systems. See the KIUC press release (PDF 482 KB).

Hybrid Sales Doubled in 2005 but are Varied Thus Far in 2006

The number of new hybrid vehicles on U.S. roads doubled in 2005, according to R.L. Polk & Company. Registrations for new hybrid vehicles fell just short of 200,000, representing more than one percent of all new vehicle registrations in the United States. The Toyota Prius continues to lead the market with 52.6 percent of new registrations, followed by the Honda Civic with 12.8 percent and the Lexus RX400h with 9.7 percent. See the Polk press release.

So far this year, hybrid sales are seeing mixed but mostly positive trends. Ford Motor Company’s Escape Hybrid and Mariner Hybrid are benefiting from zero percent financing; in April, the company sold 3,039 Escape Hybrids and 381 Mariner Hybrids, more than double its hybrid sales in April 2005. Toyota Prius year-to-date sales are down about 10 percent, at 30,357, but the company claims that a limited supply is slowing sales, while demand remains strong. Honda Civic Hybrid sales are up, with 10,264 sold from January through April, a 17 percent increase over 2005, while Accord Hybrid year-to-date sales are down significantly at 2,329, a 58 percent drop from last year. Honda Insight sales for the year to date, though meager at 320, are up 85 percent over 2005 sales. Honda has not significantly updated the vehicle since its introduction in 1999. See the press releases from Ford, Toyota, and Honda.

Energy Connections

Twelve Sites in Seven States Vie for FutureGen Project

The competition is fierce for a chance to host the cleanest coal-fired power plant yet, called FutureGen. Twelve sites in seven states are in the running for the power plant that will generate power and hydrogen while capturing its carbon dioxide emissions and storing them deep underground. According to the FutureGen Alliance, the proposed sites include four locations in Illinois, two in Ohio, two in Texas, and one each in Kentucky, North Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming. The FutureGen Alliance represents some of the world’s largest coal companies and electric utilities and has partnered with DOE to design and build the facility. The Alliance will decide upon a short list of candidate sites by late summer, and DOE will review the candidate sites in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act. The Alliance expects to make a final site selection by late summer 2007. See the FutureGen Alliance press release (PDF 21 KB).

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