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DOE Announces US$62.4 Million in Clean Coal R&D Awards

US Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman announced the award of US$62.4 million for 32 clean coal research projects to develop a coal-fired zero emissions power plant. It will also advance energy-related policy initiatives in energy, climate and hydrogen, including the FutureGen zero-emissions power plant. Among the objectives of the research are: Improved and new methods of producing pure hydrogen in coal gasification; Hydrogen handling – safe storage of hydrogen, and on-board storage which will aid the commercialisation of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles; Improved and simplified removal of multiple pollutants in coal gasification; Development of carbon dioxide capture technology that can be retrofit on existing coal-based powerplants; Expansion of carbon sequestration technology to identify and accurately assess the CO2 storage capacity of geologic formations; and, Development of new alloys to advance ultra-supercritical generation with pulverized coal, an emerging newer technology that can deliver power with ultra-low emissions and ultra-high efficiency. The projects will be managed by the DOE Office of Fossil Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and will support NETL’s Coal and Power Research and Development (R&D) program in four program areas of interest: Carbon Sequestration; Power Systems Advanced Research; Coal Fuels and Hydrogen; and Advanced Gasification. The projects total […]

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DOE Announces US$62.4 Million in

US Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman today announced the award of US$62.4 million for 32 clean coal research projects to advance President George W. Bush’s goal to develop a coal-fired zero emissions power plant. This initiative will also advance other energy-related policy initiatives in energy, climate and hydrogen, including the FutureGen zero-emissions power plant of the future. Among the objectives of the research are: Improved and new methods of producing pure hydrogen in coal gasification; Hydrogen handling – safe storage of hydrogen, and on-board storage which will aid the commercialisation of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles; Improved and simplified removal of multiple pollutants in coal gasification; Development of carbon dioxide capture technology that can be retrofit on existing coal-based powerplants; Expansion of carbon sequestration technology to identify and accurately assess the CO2 storage capacity of geologic formations; and, Development of new alloys to advance ultra-supercritical generation with pulverized coal, an emerging newer technology that can deliver power with ultra-low emissions and ultra-high efficiency. The projects will be managed by the DOE Office of Fossil Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and will support NETL’s Coal and Power Research and Development (R&D) program in four program areas of interest: Carbon Sequestration; Power […]

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Xcel Energy Contracts for Additional Wind Power

Xcel Energy (NYSE:XEL) has completed contract negotiations with two renewable energy developers to add 129 megawatts of wind power to the company’s Colorado electric generating mix by the end of the year. The contracts were awarded to Prairie Wind Energy, for a 69-megawatt wind facility near Lamar, Colo., and Invenergy, for a 60-megawatt wind facility near Peetz, Colo., in Logan County. “The development of these two wind facilities will increase our Colorado wind generation by more than 50 percent and further our plan of aggressively pursuing the development of wind power in Colorado,” said David Eves, Xcel Energy vice president of resource planning and acquisition. The addition of new wind power is part of Xcel Energy’s Least-Cost Resource Plan (LCP) for Colorado, through which the company is seeking to acquire a variety of new electrical generation sources to meet increasing customer demand. Last fall, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission granted Xcel’s request to issue a “request for proposals” (RFP) to pursue the acquisition of up to 500 megawatts of cost-effective wind power by 2006, as part of the LCP process. The RFP was issued in large part to allow the company to take advantage of the federal Production Tax Credit […]

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MTI Micro Plans Commercialization of Military Products In 2006

MTI MicroFuel Cells Inc. (MTI Micro), the developer of Mobion(TM) micro fuel cell technology for handheld electronic devices, announced plans to deliver products to the government and military markets in 2006. MTI Micro is a subsidiary of Mechanical Technology Incorporated (Nasdaq: MKTY). MTI Micro plans to offer fuel cell products that lighten the loads of military electronic devices -sensors, rugged PDAs, radios, and other electronics typically powered by high-cost, heavy, non-rechargeable batteries. To ramp up for the 2006 entry into the military markets, MTI Micro is working on a range of military projects during 2005. The Company plans to deliver sensor powerpack prototypes to the Army’s Special Operations Command Forces (SOCOM) in the second quarter of 2005; develop and deliver a soldier/radio power pack prototype in the third quarter; and announce an agreement with a lead customer/partner for sensor products by the end of the year. MTI Micro is now providing Mobion(TM) based test and evaluation kits for government labs and military device manufacturers. The kits demonstrate the advantages of powering a variety of military electronics with a direct methanol fuel cell. The MobionTM kit connects to a handheld electronic, such as global positioning system (GPS) unit, serving as an […]

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