New Projects

Revised plan for clean coal power plant could save customers $437.7mn in 20 years

Wed, 16 May 2012 19:30:00 GMT

Under the revised "Power Block First" proposal for the 611 MW Taylorville Energy Center (TEC) in Illinois, electricity customers in the state could save an estimated $437.7 million over a 20-year period, including more than $250.6 million in the plant's first five years of operation, according to a rate impact analysis conducted by Pace Global LLC, a Siemens (NYSE: SI) business.

As TEC's power capacity is bid into the PJM auction in future years, hundreds of millions in additional savings for ComEd customers could also be realized because of lower resulting auction prices. PJM holds an annual auction for generating capacity contracts that begin three years into the future.

Using U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts of natural gas and power prices, and electricity demand growth, Pace Global found that adding TEC's power into the Illinois energy markets would reduce average electricity bills by $21.9 million per year over the first 20 years of the project. During the plant's first five years of operation, customers can expect $50.1 million in average annual savings.

The revised “Power Block First” proposal would authorize construction of the initial stage of TEC. The first phase of the project would equip a combined-cycle natural gas-fired power plant that would be equipped to accept substitute natural gas (SNG) from a potential future coal gasification unit. Should market conditions improve and the plant meets the General Assembly’s approval, the second phase of the plant would incorporate the coal gasification unit along a with carbon capture and storage system.

"The 'Power Block First' plan allows Illinois to take advantage of today's low natural gas prices to build a necessary new source of electric power resulting in lower overall rates," said Tenaska Vice President Bart Ford. "In the future, when economics favor the use of Illinois coal, equipment can be added to convert coal to clean SNG, capture carbon dioxide and provide for geologic storage."

The new plan also allows Tenaska to preserve the air permit and interconnection position for the initial natural gas-fired power plant. The ability to proceed with the SNG portion of the plant is preserved as a hedge against the possibility of increasing gas prices.

Survey: U.S. citizens willing to pay more for renewable energy sources

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:03:00 GMT

A new survey finds that Americans are willing to pay more in their electric bills in order to support the switch to renewable energy sources.

The survey was conducted by researchers at Harvard and Yale in 2011 and published in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change. The report says that the average U.S. citizen is willing to pay $162 a year more to support a national policy that requires 80 percent “clean” energy by 2035, representing a 13 percent increase in electric bills nationwide.

However, the support reportedly dropped off when “clean” energy was expanded to include natural gas or nuclear, seemingly because of the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan and controversy over natural gas drilling, a process known as hydraulic fracturing, according to The New York Times.

The researchers — Joseph E. Aldy, Matthew J. Kotchen and Anthony A. Leiserowitz — ran a what-if exercise and found the current level of public support insufficient to overcome opposition in Congress, the article said. The researchers found that the annual added cost per household of a clean energy policy would have to drop below $59 a year to pass the current Senate and below $48 a year to pass the current House, or a less than a 5 percent increase in electricity rates on average.

According to the article, the survey suggests lawmakers in many states may find the public willing to bear the burden of higher electric bills if the goals seem achievable.

To read a summary of the survey, click here.

Western Wind acquires 4,000 MW wind energy pipeline

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:47:00 GMT

Western Wind Energy Corp. has executed a term sheet with Champlin/GEI Wind Holdings (CGEI Wind) to acquire the rights and title to a 4,000 MW wind energy development pipeline for $20 million. The pipeline includes near-term projects in Hawaii and Utah, and additional projects in California and throughout the U.S.

The acquisition is made payable by the issuance of 8 million common shares at $2.50 per share. The term sheet will be subject to regulatory and company approvals.

CGEI Wind is jointly owned by Good Energies and Champlin Windpower LLC.

Eclipsall to supply solar photovoltaic panels to Uganda

Wed, 16 May 2012 13:30:00 GMT

Eclipsall, a provider of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules based out of Toronto, Ontario, has entered into an agreement to supply 3 MW of solar panels to the Government of Uganda, Ministry of Health.

The panels will be used for planned solar installations on 100 medical clinics throughout the Republic of Uganda. The medical clinics are located largely in remote areas of the country. The installations will include both grid tied and off-grid systems and will include battery back-up and related services to ensure that the systems continue to operate in a stand-alone fashion.

The project represents one of the first major export contracts for Eclipsall.

Study evaluates MISO challenges for MATS compliance

Tue, 15 May 2012 20:04:00 GMT

In a study commissioned by the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO), economists at The Brattle Group evaluated the feasibility of complying with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule.

The study found that the projected amount of retrofits on coal units and the amount of new generation to replace retiring coal units in the MISO region will exceed the historical maximum achieved for simultaneous deployments of retrofits and new builds by 51 to 162 percent, based on MISO’s current projections of retrofit requirements and announced projects. For nationwide retrofits, the requirements imposed by MATS would be below historical maximums if the EPA’s projections are correct, or up to 93 percent above historical maximums if industry estimates are more accurate.

With respect to the timeline needed for retrofits, the study revealed that some types of upgrades can be completed before 2015 without difficulty, including activated carbon injection (ACI) and dry sorbent injection (DSI), which can be implemented within approximately a year and a half. Most projects, however, have a longer lead time of approximately three to four years, including wet and dry scrubber, baghouse, electrostatic precipitator (ESP), and selective catalytic reduction (SCR), as well as new gas combustion turbines (CTs) and combined cycles (CCs). Some of these longer lead time projects may not be completed by the MATS compliance date (April 2015, with a potential one-year extension) to the extent they have not already started.

The study evaluated the potential for craft labor to become a bottleneck that could introduce project delays and increase costs. Comparing the projected labor needs against the current labor supply for each craft revealed that boilermakers are the most likely bottleneck. As many as 7,590 boilermakers (or 40 percent of boilermakers currently employed nationally) could be needed to complete the projected retrofits and new generation construction by 2015. This potential demand is more than four times the number of boilermakers currently employed in the Utility System Construction Industry. Therefore, meeting the projected demand for boilermakers will likely require a combination of adjustments on the supply side, including training new labor, relocation, extending work hours and attracting craft labor from other industries.

With respect to the incremental outage periods necessary to implement the projected retrofits, the study estimates that some upgrades, such as dry scrubber, DSI, selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR), and ACI, require that the outage duration need only be extended a few days or a week, although some types of upgrades impose much longer outages. Wet FGD, baghouse, and SCR retrofits are likely to require that outages be extended by approximately three weeks. Considering the fleet-wide impacts of these outages, it appears that MISO may have to schedule approximately 45 percent more megawatts of coal outages per season for MATS compliance by fall 2015, assuming that many plants will gain a one-year compliance extension. These additional outage requirements appear to be feasible to implement under MISO’s low-retirement scenarios without causing system reliability concerns. The study notes that implementing the incremental outages under scenarios with higher coal retirement scenarios (12 GW and 19 GW) would likely require a combination of extending the six-month outage season to nine months and requesting an additional one-year reliability extension to 2017 for MATS compliance.

The study, “Supply Chain and Outage Analysis of MISO Coal Retrofits for MATS,” is available for download here.

Chile's Supreme Court halts start of 640 MW Cuervo hydropower project

Tue, 15 May 2012 18:57:00 GMT

By HydroWorld.com staff

Appeals by environmental groups have stymied construction of Chile's 640 MW Cuervo hydroelectric plant less than a week after work on the project appeared imminent.

On May 9, the Cuervo hydropower facility had been approved by Chile's Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA), but that decision was denied by the country's Supreme Court on May 11.

The Supreme Court said SEIA acted illegally in approving the Cuervo project and ignored the Chilean National Geology and Mining Service's recommendation that project developers conduct a new soil survey.

This survey must be completed, the Supreme Court says, before the project will be eligible for approval.

The delay is the latest in a nearly three-year string of stops. The project's developer, Energia Austral, originally anticipated the plant to be approved some time in 2011.

GE-Tamoin consortium signs wind turbine service agreement with Iberdrola

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:40:00 GMT

A consortium including GE (NYSE: GE) and Spanish energy services company Tamoin Energías Renovables signed the largest single GE wind turbine maintenance agreement in Europe with Iberdrola Renovables S.A. of Madrid. The contract with Iberdrola covers servicing 310 GE wind turbines installed in Spain.

The agreement is set for three years with an option to extend for two additional years and provides the foundation for a long-term relationship among Iberdrola, GE and Tamoin. GE will act as the technology partner in the consortium to provide high availability and reliability for the installed GE wind turbine fleet by supplying parts, specialized labor and technological support, while Tamoin will supply skilled labor.

The scope of the agreement includes planned and unplanned maintenance for the GE wind turbines at the following Iberdrola wind farms: Cuesta Colorada, Cerro Calderón, Cerro Palo, Muela 1, Maza, Calleja, Isabela and Sierra Quemada y Gavilanes.

Martifer Solar to build solar PV plant at GM facility

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:33:00 GMT

Martifer Solar signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with General Motors Brasil to build a 300 kW solar photovoltaic (PV) project at GM’s Joinville industrial complex in southern Brazil.

Martifer Solar has also opened a new subsidiary in Brazil. The company currently has branches in Chile, Mexico and Ecuador.

As part of the solar installation, Martifer Solar will perform the design and execution of the project, supply the 235 W Mprime modules and other PV equipment and install the monitoring system.

The facility is expected to be completed at the end of 2012.

Brazilian company to invest more than $4bn in new power projects

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:44:00 GMT

Brazil-based CPFL Energia (NYSE: CPL) plans to spend 8.3 billion reais ($4.17 billion) on new power projects over the next five years, according to BNamericas.

About 1.68 billion reais ($841.4 million) are being earmarked for new generation projects, including six wind farms, four thermal plants, a hydroelectric facility and the 1 MW Tanquinho solar substation in Campinas.

CPFL reportedly said the investment plan was based on predictions of electricity demand leading up to the 2016 Olympic games, the article said.

Solar modules to power redevelopment in New Orleans

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:40:00 GMT

Mage Solar is supplying 3,300 solar modules to a redevelopment project in New Orleans.

The Mage Powertec Plus US modules will be used in six housing projects. Other segments include the city’s River Garden Apartments and the Bonne Terre Apartments in Houma with a combined 564 kW of solar energy spread out over 69 rooftops and 26 parking canopies.

The project was designed, engineered and executed by Pontchartrain Mechanical of New Orleans, a mechanical contractor in the Gulf coast region and a provider of environmental systems, and the developer is HRI Properties.

Funding for the project was made possible through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the EmPower Louisiana initiative administered by the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. Net metering arrangements have been made with the local electric utilities.

Uranium exploration project acquired by UEC

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:51:00 GMT

Uranium Energy Corp. (UEC) said it has acquired the rights to explore for uranium on the Channen Project, a 10,704-acre property in southern Goliad County, Texas. The project is on the Goliad trend within the South Texas Uranium Belt, and is approximately 50 miles to the southeast of UEC’s Hobson uranium processing facility.

UEC said the new property was initially identified after analyzing a group of logs exhibiting gamma-ray anomalies displaying uranium roll-front deposit type characteristics in several sandstone formations.

Company geologists are currently planning an exploration program to include a drilling campaign that will be initiated upon receipt of exploration permits from the Railroad Commission of Texas. It is anticipated that the drill program will initially consist of a statistical grid covering the entire 10,704-acre property.

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Areva, Mitsubishi partner to explore for uranium in Australia

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:28:00 GMT

Areva and Mitsubishi Corp., through their subsidiaries Afmeco Mining and Exploration Pty Ltd (AFMEX) and Mitsubishi Development Pty. Ltd. (MDP), said they will partner in a uranium exploration program in Australia.

The companies said exploration will be conducted for several years across tens of thousands of square kilometers of Australia where little or no previous exploration has yet been undertaken.

Under the terms of the agreement entered into between both companies, MDP will cover 100 percent of AFMEX’s exploration expenditure for several years up to a predetermined amount. Once the threshold is reached and if MDP confirms its interest, MDP will have the option to acquire 49 percent of the uranium exploration permits held by AFMEX in Australia and enter into a joint venture owned 51 percent by AFMEX and 49 percent by MDP. The operations of the new joint venture will be managed by AFMEX.

Australia produced nearly 6,200 tons (about 16.1 million pounds) of uranium in 2011. It is the world’s number three uranium producer behind Kazakhstan and Canada.

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NREL test proves effectiveness of PV technology

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:43:00 GMT

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has released a repeatable test protocol that simulates real shade conditions and can predict with greater precision the effects of shade on a solar array.

The research, which was paid for by DOE, demonstrated that under heavy shading conditions the use of microinverters instead of typical string inverters can help mitigate the impacts of shade by improving system performance by more than 12 percent.

Shade significantly impacts solar photovoltaic (PV) performance, and is considered in PV system design. The effects of shade can vary depending on the configuration of the PV modules, the extent of the shade, and the use of shade mitigating power electronics in the system. The industry currently lacks representative, repeatable test procedures for evaluating the annual effect of shade on different PV systems equipped with different shade mitigation devices.

The report details a repeatable test procedure for simulating shaded operation of a PV system and an analysis model for converting these measurements into annual performance forecasts.

To download the study, click here. (PDF)

Geothermal training center in El Salvador receives $2mn grant

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:14:00 GMT

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on May 14 said it has awarded a grant for approximately $2 million that will help El Salvador establish a geothermal training center for Latin America and the Caribbean. The center, IDB said, will enable other countries to develop their capacities to efficiently exploit this geothermal as a renewable energy sources.

The program’s three courses will be held at Universidad de El Salvador between 2013 and 2015. Each course will be taken by 30 geothermal experts. The operation will also finance 10 scholarships for Salvadoran participants and another 10 scholarships for participants from other countries.

The project, which was approved by the IDB Board of Executive Directors, will provide the only theoretical and practical graduate-level training in geothermal energy available in Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2010, Universidad de El Salvador, together with LaGeo and support from Italy, offered a specialized degree course on a pilot basis. The new program will include an evaluation of this pilot course.

A Sustainable Regional Training Plan in Geothermal Energy will be prepared to examine future demand for training as well as academic and financial aspects. The plan will define curriculum and teaching methods needed to ensure that participants receive the best training available in the region. Studies will also be conducted to determine the demand for masters or doctoral-level training in geothermal energy.

The region’s geothermal development potential is estimated at 6,000 MW. Of this, 43 percent is located in Central America, 39 percent in Mexico, 17 percent in the Andean region, and 1 percent in the Southern Cone. Two geothermal fields in El Salvador are currently being exploited, Ahuachapán and Berlíncon, with a combined installed capacity of 204 MW. This represents 14 percent of national installed capacity and 25 percent of net generation capacity, with production projected for an additional 25-30 years.

Of the program’s total cost of $2.9 million, approximately $1.4 million were provided by the Nordic Development Fund and $824,000 from the Fund for the Special Program on Sustainable Energy and Climate Change (SECCI-IDB). Counterpart financing for the program totals $770,000.

Brazil hydroelectric power mix to get $56bn in investments by 2022

Mon, 14 May 2012 16:37:00 GMT

Brazil’s hydroelectric power grid is expected to receive $56 billion in new investments by 2022, according to Business News Americas.

Vario ECP said in the article that the new projects would total 32 GW of new capacity, bringing Brazil’s installed capacity to 115 GW. According to the article, some of the major projects in Brazil are the 11.2 GW Belo Monte, the 6.1 GW Tapajos, the 3.75 GW Jirau and the 1.82 GW Teles Pires. Belo Monte and Teles Pires are expected to begin operations in 2015 and Tapajos is scheduled for operations in 2017. Jirau is set to begin in February of 2013.

The 3.4 GW Santo Antonio hydro project began operating from two turbines in March, the article said.

Investment fund formed, funding for Quebec wind farm announced

Mon, 14 May 2012 16:12:00 GMT

Eolectric Inc. and Fiera Axium Infrastructure Inc. have announced the creation of an investment fund, Eolectric Club L.P., and completion of equity financing for the Vents du Kempt wind farm.

The purpose of the Eolectric Club L.P. is to invest in wind farm projects throughout Canada. Eolectric Club L.P.’s investors are Eolectric Inc., Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc. and Fiera Axium Infrastructure Canada, Limited Partnership.

The first investment of Eolectric Club L.P. is Vents du Kempt Wind Power L.P. This new entity will pursue the development, construction and operation of the 101.2 MW wind farm in Quebec, representing a total construction cost of approximately C$340 million ($339.5 million). Eolectric Club L.P. holds a 51 percent interest in Vents du Kempt Wind Power L.P. and Fiera Axium Infrastructure Canada, Limited Partnership, owns 49 percent.

The Vents du Kempt wind farm is composed of 44, 2.3 MW wind turbines and will be built in the municipalities of Causapscal and Sainte-Marguerite-Marie in Matapédia, Quebec. The project has executed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Hydro-Quebec Distribution. Construction will begin this fall, and commercial operation is expected to begin in late 2014.

Solar inverter manufacturing facility opens in South Carolina

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:26:00 GMT

REFUsol Inc., a manufacturer of high-efficiency solar inverters, received the necessary safety certificates to begin distribution of its solar inverters produced at the Greenville County, S.C. plant of its sister company, Prettl Electronics.

REFUsol (Prettl) announced plans earlier this year to hire 80 people as it began production of the REFUsol 12K, 16K, 20K and 024K inverters. These inverters have officially met the guidelines for the Buy American provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Section 1605.

REFUsol also announced an investment of $1.5 million as it boosts production of the inverters.

Mill opened for production of nuclear plant steam generator tubes

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:19:00 GMT

Sandvik on May 11, 2012, opened a new mill for the manufacturing of stainless steel and high nickel alloy tubes for use in nuclear power plant steam generators.

The mill, in Sandviken, Sweden utilizes the advances in equipment design from tube manufacture, annealing, final finishing, inspection and dispatch.

“The energy sector is a key segment for Sandvik and we see a lot of interesting opportunities for nuclear and steam generator tubing,” said President of Sandvik Materials Technology Jonas Gustavsson.

Work on the site began in 2010 and has involved over 150 people and 330 specialist suppliers up to its completion.

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Nuclear regulators: FP&L must revise COL applications

Fri, 11 May 2012 19:28:00 GMT

Florida Power & Light (FP&L) must make changes to its application for combined construction and operating licenses to build and operate two Westinghouse AP1000 1,100 MW nuclear reactors at its Turkey Point nuclear power plant before the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) can complete its review, according to a letter dated May 4 from the NRC.

In the letter, the NRC said there were two significant issues that are affecting the staff’s ability to complete its safety and environmental reviews of units 6 and 7 at Turkey Point: Geology, seismology and geotechnical engineering and the alternative sites. NRC said many of the responses to 2011 requests for additional information were “either unclear, incomplete or based on conclusions that are not supported by the references provided.” NRC also said that, in some cases, FP&L’s responses reinterpreted data and results of peer-reviewed publications, which resulted in “dismissal of certain geologically recent deformations” that could result in “minimizing the potential seismic hazard in the region without providing sufficient justification.”

The letter said that FP&L did not give an “adequate basis regarding the availability of water” for the Martin, Glades and Okeechobee 2 alternate sites. FP&L also did not give an “adequate response regarding the potential to use treated waste water at locations other than the Turkey Point site,” and that the company has not “provided adequate clarification regarding the use of land area as a screening criterion for sites.”

The NRC said it cannot continue to review those areas of the application without the revised information and cannot issue a schedule for completing the overall review until the modifications are made.

An FP&L spokesman said in Platts that the company will re-review the information, and that the submittals identified as deficient were completed under an agency-approved quality assurance program.

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El Salvador to add 689 MW of renewable energy through 2026

Fri, 11 May 2012 15:44:00 GMT

El Salvador could see the addition of 689 MW of renewable generating capacity through 2026 according to a renewables development master plan, Business News Americas said.

Hydro projects up to 20 MW would add up to 170 MW of generation, followed by 200 MW of thermo solar, 90 MW of photovoltaics (PV), between 60 and 90 MW of geothermal, 60 MW of wind, 45 MW of biomass and 35 MW of biogas, the article said.

Current capacity from these sources could reach 204 MW of geothermal, 110 MW of biomass, 35 MW of hydro (with projects up to 20 MW each), 6.3 MW of biogas and 0.5 MW of PV, according to the article.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency reportedly helped draft the plan that is part of the country’s national energy policy, the article said.