DOE to Invest $35 Million in Concentrating Solar Power Projects
DOE announced last week that it will invest up to $35 million over the next 4 years in 15 concentrating solar power (CSP) projects which, combined with the project cost-sharing from the project participants, will result in up to $67.6 million being invested in these projects.
CSP technologies concentrate the sun’s heat for conversion into electricity, and the ability to store that thermal energy and draw on it after sunset will greatly increase the economic feasibility of CSP power plants. Of the 15 projects, 11 will involve the research and development (R&D) of thermal energy storage technologies, 1 involves R&D for advanced heat transfer fluids, and 3 will be geared toward near-term demonstrations of thermal storage technologies.
The projects are expected to further DOE’s goal of reducing the cost of CSP electricity from today’s 13-16 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) with no thermal storage to 8-11 cents per kWh with 6 hours of thermal storage by 2015, and to less than 7 cents per kWh with 12-17 hours of thermal storage by 2020. Seven companies and six universities were selected for this award.
The 11 projects that were awarded funding for thermal energy storage R&D will investigate a variety of methods to store extremely high-temperature thermal energy for CSP applications. Many of these projects are testing the feasibility of yet-untested techniques, such as General Atomics’ use of thermochemical cycles to store solar heat.
Infinia Corporation will add thermal storage to dish-shaped solar concentrators, demonstrating its use of phase-change materials on 40-50 dish-engine systems at DOE’s Sandia National Laboratories. Phase-change materials will also be investigated by Lehigh University, Terrafore, and the University of Connecticut, with the latter embedding passive heat exchangers in the materials.
Abengoa, Acciona, the City University of New York (CUNY), and the University of Arkansas will investigate the use of solid materials for heat storage, with Abengoa and CUNY using ceramics and the University of Arkansas exploring the use of high-performance concrete. And both the University of Alabama and Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) will investigate the use of molten salts, with TEES creating a suspension of carbon nanotubes in a molten salt material to improve its thermal stability at 500°-600°C.
Under the only project to receive funding for R&D of advanced heat transfer fluids, Symyx will study salt mixtures to identify heat transfer fluids that can function across the wide temperature range of 80°-500°C. Finally, three projects relate to near-term demonstrations of thermal energy storage technologies. Abengoa will analyze several new energy storage concepts to see if any can cut costs by at least 20%; Acciona will design, validate, and demonstrate a prototype for storing 800 megawatts of thermal energy for four hours; and U.S. Solar Holdings will explore two or more utility-scale energy storage technologies, which will be integrated with the 1-megawatt Arizona Public Service CSP plant, located in Red Rock, Arizona. See the DOE press release.
Chrysler to Produce an Electric Car or Plug-in Hybrid by 2010
Chrysler, LLC unveiled working prototypes of an electric vehicle and two plug-in electric hybrids on Tuesday and announced plans to bring one of the vehicles to market in the United States by 2010. Certainly the most eye-catching vehicle is the Dodge EV development vehicle, a two-passenger, rear-wheel-drive, all-electric sports car that combines a lithium-ion battery pack with a 200-kilowatt motor, capable of generating 268 horsepower and 480 foot-pounds of torque. That’s enough to propel the vehicle to 60 miles per hour (mph) in less than 5 seconds and to reach a top speed exceeding 120 mph.
Most notably, Chrysler claims that the Dodge EV has a driving range of 150-200 miles, approaching the range and performance of the all-electric Tesla Roadster. According to Chrysler, the Dodge EV can be recharged in eight hours using a standard 110-volt outlet, or in only four hours using a 220-volt outlet, the type commonly used for electric ovens and dryers.
Chrysler’s plug-in hybrid vehicles-the Jeep EV and Chrysler EV development vehicles-are a bit more mundane, as they are essentially plug-in hybrid versions of the Jeep Wrangler and the Chrysler Town & Country minivan. However, they do represent the first use of hybrid technology in an off-road vehicle and a minivan by a U.S. automaker. Both vehicles employ roughly 200-kilowatt electric motors and have an all-electric range of 40 miles, the same as the Chevy Volt. With the help of a small gasoline motor and about eight gallons of gasoline, the Chrysler vehicles’ range can be extended to 400 miles. Chrysler is exploring the use of in-wheel electric motors to create a four-wheel-drive Jeep EV and is also working with the General Electric Company to develop plug-in hybrids under a DOE contract.
Next year, Chrysler plans to place 100 electric vehicles in its own fleets and in fleets run by governments, businesses, and utilities, and the company will select one electric-drive model to be produced in 2010 for sale in North America. Chrysler has even launched a new Web site to promote the efforts of its ENVI team, which is developing the electric vehicles. See the Chrysler press release and Web site, and for background information, see the articles from this newsletter on the DOE contract, the Tesla Roadster, and the Chevy Volt.
Chrysler actually has a history of producing electric vehicles through its GEM subsidiary, which has been manufacturing low-speed neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) for the past 10 years. GEM currently stands for "Global Electric Motorcars LLC," but Chrysler is marking the anniversary by renaming the company as "GreenEcoMobility." The company is also launching a more streamlined version of egg-shaped GEM NEV, which will be called the GEM Peapod. The new vehicle is scheduled for production in 2009, and future plans include a larger city electric vehicle and a light-duty commercial truck.
Over the past decade, GEM has produced 38,000 NEVs with a top speed of 25 mph and a range of about 30 miles. The vehicles are street-legal in more than 40 states and can be recharged in 6-8 hours with a standard 110-volt outlet. See the Chrysler press release and GreenEcoMobility Web site.
Fuel Economy for New Vehicles Rises for Fourth Straight Year
The average fuel economy of cars and light trucks sold in the United States for Model Year (MY) 2008 is estimated at 20.8 miles per gallon (mpg), an increase of 0.2 mpg over last year’s figure, and that estimate is probably low. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) bases its fuel economy estimates on sales projected by the automakers prior to the launch of the model year, and this year the sale of light trucks-pickups, sport utility vehicles, and minivans-has dropped off precipitously, as sales of small cars have boomed. As a result, automakers have sold more fuel-efficient vehicles than they expected, so the average fuel economy will probably end up higher than the EPA’s estimated figures.
U.S. fuel economy reached a peak of 22.0 mpg in MY 1987, and then began a 17-year slide as consumers bought an increasing percentage of light trucks and higher horsepower vehicles each year, outweighing the fuel efficiency gains from improved automotive technologies. But after reaching a low point of 19.3 mpg in MY 2004, a combination of more fuel-efficient vehicles and lower market share for light trucks has caused the average fuel economy to increase by 1.5 mpg, an 8% increase. In that time, the market share of light trucks has dropped from 52% to 48%, while the fuel economy of cars and light trucks increased by 1.0 mpg and 1.4 mpg, respectively.
It’s important to note that the EPA recently changed its method of determining fuel economy to better reflect "real-world" conditions, such as faster speeds and the use of air conditioning. To account for that change, the EPA phased in gradual adjustments to the old fuel economy values, starting with MY 1986. Without the adjustment, MY 2008 would achieve an estimated 26.0 mpg, slightly higher than the unadjusted figure for MY 1987, which was 25.9 mpg. In the intervening years, average vehicle weight has increased 28% and average horsepower has increased 88%, yet fuel economy has also increased, thanks to the use of hybrid technologies, variable valve timing, cylinder deactivation, gasoline direct injection, turbocharging, and continuously variable transmissions. See the EPA press release and report on fuel economy trends.
California Adopts a Long-Term Energy Efficiency Plan
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) adopted a long-term energy efficiency strategy last week that aligns well with DOE’s goals for zero-energy buildings. California’s new "Long Term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan" includes two "Big Bold" strategies for significant energy efficiency gains in new buildings: to have all residential buildings achieve zero net energy use by 2020, and to have all commercial buildings achieve zero net energy use by 2030.
In comparison, DOE’s Building Technologies Program aims to achieve marketable zero energy homes by 2020 and zero energy commercial buildings by 2025. California’s plan also goes a bit farther, with two more stretch goals: to reshape the heating, ventilating, and air conditioning industry to ensure optimal building performance and to weatherize all the homes of eligible low-income families by 2020. See the CPUC press release and the Building Technologies Program’s Zero Energy Goals.
California’s new plan focuses on energy efficiency goals for electricity and natural gas consumption, with targeted efforts for residential and commercial buildings, industries, and farms. The industrial effort hinges mainly on the development of a national certification program for energy-efficient industrial plants, with the goal of achieving a 25% reduction in industrial energy intensity by 2020, while the agricultural effort intends to achieve a 15% reduction in fossil-fuel energy intensity by 2020.
The strategic plan also recognizes that energy efficiency programs should include efforts to commercialize emerging technologies, to provide technical assistance to users and sellers of the technologies, to educate and inform people about energy efficiency opportunities, to mandate minimum energy efficiency codes and standards, and to offer incentives to consumers. See the full plan on the California Energy Efficiency Web site.
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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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