DOT Awards $80 million for High-Speed Rail
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced it’s delivered nearly $80 million in grants to five states as part of President Obama’s high-speed and intercity passenger rail program.
The bulk of the funds-$66.6 million-will go towards program management and preliminary engineering on a planned high-speed rail service in Florida, running between Tampa and Orlando. The project includes 84 miles of track where trains will run at 168 miles per hour.
California also received grants for track relocation work in support of a high-speed rail line connecting San Francisco and Sacramento; to Wisconsin, for environmental assessments of planned stations on a 110-mph rail line between Milwaukee and Madison; and to New York State, for planning projects to increase the speed of the Empire Corridor to 110 mph. The 468-mile Empire Corridor connects all New York’s largest cities.
New Mexico will receive a grant to create the state’s first rail plan, which would eventually link all the major cities in the Southwest. With the exception of New Mexico, all of the projects also received a share of $8 billion in Recovery Act funds announced in late January. See the DOT press release and an article on the Recovery Act funding for high-speed rail from the February 3 edition of the EERE Network News.
U.S. Wind Growth Slows in First Quarter
The U.S. wind industry had its slowest first quarter since 2007 this year, installing only 539 MW, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA).
While the industry installed over 10,000 MW in 2009, the project pipeline has slowed over the past 18 months, a situation that AWEA attributes to a lack of long-term market signals, low energy demand, and low energy prices.
AWEA notes the amount of wind installations each quarter over the past three years has varied dramatically, falling near 100 MW in the slowest times and rising to more than 4,000 MW in the most active quarters.
Illinois led first-quarter growth with the 300 MW Streator Cayuga Ridge South Wind Power Project, and the state has two more large wind plants under construction. See the AWEA press release and the first-quarter report (PDF 587 KB).
The first quarter trend may continue through 2010, according to IHS Emerging Energy Research. The study finds that the U.S. wind industry is growth-constrained in 2010 and will face increased competition, holding growth to about 6,300 MW to 7,100 MW.
In the long term, however, the IHS report projects 165 GW of new U.S. wind capacity through 2025, on average about 11,000 MW a year.
The Global Wind Energy Coalition (GWEC) has a similar outlook, expecting the North American market to grow at a steady pace for the next couple years before accelerating again in 2012. GWEC expects an additional 63 GW of wind capacity to be installed in the US and Canada over the next five years, an average of 12,600 MW per year. GWEC has an even brighter outlook for global wind power, anticipating average annual growth of 21%, resulting in global wind capacity increasing from 158.5 GW in 2009 to 409 GW by 2014. See the press releases from IHS and the GWEC, as well as the full GWEC report (PDF 4.0 MB).
Nissan Breaks Ground on Leaf Battery Plant
According to Nissan, roughly 13,000 people in the US have signed up to buy the Leaf since reservations opened on April 20. The EV will start rolling out to select markets in the US, Japan, and Europe in December, followed by increased availability in spring 2011 and full market rollout in 2012. See the Nissan press release.
On May 26, Nissan broke ground on a lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility in Smyrna, Tennessee, which will produce batteries for the Leaf.
Although the car will initially be produced in Japan, it will be manufactured in Smyrna beginning in 2012. Nissan is spending $1.7 billion to modify an existing vehicle assembly plant in Smyrna to produce the Leaf and to build the new battery plant. A DOE loan provides 80% of that investment.
Ford announced a $135 million investment in Michigan to design, engineer, and produce key components for its next-generation hybrid vehicles. Ford engineers in Dearborn will design the battery packs, while engineers in Livonia will design electric-drive transaxles. Ford is adding about 50 engineers to build an in-house capability for EVs.
Beginning in 2012, Ford’s Rawsonville Plant in Ypsilanti will assemble the battery packs, while Ford’s Van Dyke Transmission Plant in Sterling Heights will build the electric drive transaxles, creating 170 new green jobs at the two facilities. Ford plans to launch an electric commercial van in North America later this year and will introduce an electric version of the Ford Focus in 2011. See the Ford press release.
Mississippi State University Wins EcoCAR Competition
On May 27, after nearly two weeks of intense competition, Mississippi State University (MSU) won the second annual EcoCAR competition, a three-year automotive engineering competition sponsored by DOE and General Motors.
"EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge," invited university engineering students from across North America to re-engineer a GM-donated SUV to achieve improved fuel economy and reduced emissions. The 16 competing teams also strove to retain the vehicle’s performance, safety, and consumer appeal. The competition included a series of safety and technical tests at GM’s Desert Proving Grounds in Yuma, Arizona.
The MSU team built an extended-range electric vehicle (EREV), using a 21.3-kilowatt-hour (kWh) battery pack from A123Systems. The car, which has an electric range of 60 miles is backed up with a 1.3-liter, biodiesel-fueled, turbocharged diesel engine that powers a 75 kilowatt (kW) generator from UQM Technologies.
The team kept the two systems separate. The battery pack powers an 8 kW motor on the rear transaxle, and the engine powers a 45 kWh motor on the front transaxle. During the competition, the vehicle achieved a fuel economy equivalent to 118 miles per gallon of gasoline. See a video of the car’s design on YouTube.
Virginia Tech University came in second place with an EREV with a 40 mile electric range, also driven by a 21.3 kWh battery pack, but with a 90 kW motor. The extended range was achieved with a flex-fueled, 2.4-liter, four-cylinder engine. Landing in third place was Pennsylvania State University, again with an EREV, which used a 12.8 kWh battery pack to power an 80 kW motor. Like the MSU team, their backup power source was a 1.3-liter, biodiesel-fueled, turbocharged diesel engine, which powered a 75 kW UQM generator.
In the first year of the EcoCAR challenge, the teams determined the design for their vehicles, and in the second year, they had to turn those designs into reality. For the next and final year, the teams will have to refine their vehicles to near-showroom quality.
You can participate in a Web chat with the top three teams on Friday, June 4, at 3 p.m. EST on the EcoCAR blog site, "Inside the Green Garage." See the press releases from GM and MSU, as well as the EcoCAR Challenge Web site.
Florida Regulators Approve 100 MW Biomass Plant
The Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) and American Renewables received approval for a 100 MW biomass plant on May 27 from the Florida Public Service Commission.
American Renewables plans to build, own, and operate the Gainesville Renewable Energy Center. Under a 30-year contract, GRU will purchase all the power produced by the facility, which will generate power from urban wood waste, wood processing wastes, and logging residues.
American Renewables will build the facility at GRU’s Deerhaven Generating Station, which has an 80 MW unit that can run on natural gas or oil and a 235 MW coal plant. They plan to begin construction in December and begin commercial operation in late 2013. See the GRU press release and the project summaries from GRU and American Renewables.
US Should Act Now to Cut Greenhouse Gases
The US should act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to develop a national strategy to adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change, according to three reports from the National Research Council (NRC).
The reports, issued May 19, examine the science of climate change, ways to limit future climate change, and ways to adapt to its impacts. The first report finds that multiple lines of evidence support the scientific understanding of climate change, and concludes that climate change is occurring, is largely caused by human activities, and poses significant risks for a broad range of human and natural systems. The report also notes that many climate change impacts are already evident.
The second report concludes that limiting emissions must be a global effort, but strong U.S. actions could encourage other nations to follow. The report recommends a U.S. emissions budget of the equivalent of 170-200 gigatons of carbon dioxide emitted from 2012 through 2050. That averages out to 5.26 gigatons of carbon dioxide per year – the nation emitted the equivalent of about 7 gigatons of carbon dioxide in 2008. The report also finds that a carbon pricing system is the most cost-effective way to reduce emissions.
The third report notes the ongoing climate change impacts on the US and recommends a national adaptation strategy to help respond to these impacts. It emphasizes that actions to limit climate change and actions to adapt to it should not be seen as separate alternatives, but rather partners that work together to respond to the problem. Two additional reports will be issued later this year. See the National Academies press release and the special Web site for the reports, America’s Climate Choices.
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EREE Network News is a weekly publication of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
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