Before I get to the energy, I'd like to let everyone know that I've created a bracket challenge for the 2010 FIFA World Cup @ ESPN.com. You can sign up here. If that link doesn't work for some reason, go to the ESPN Fantasy Games homepage here.
Group name: dailykos wc challenge
Password: dkos
Hope to see everyone there. BTW, if no one else beats me to it, I plan on writing a World Cup preview diary, probably tomorrow. With that, on to the energy!
Hopefully, the U.S. will soon see an expansion in geothermal energy:
Government preparations for geothermal land leasing and for project environmental studies are progressing in California, thanks to coordinated efforts by a host of federal, state and local authorities.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has auctioned off a new round of land leases in the state's hot-rock region in the southwest and three new areas are being prepared for bids. Several more new areas are also being considered for future auctions.
Meanwhile the California Energy Commission recently published a project guidebook, or manual, on environmental review issues for projects being developed in the southwest desert regions. Some 332,000 acres of land under Bureau of Land Management control in Nevada were auctioned on May 12 for geothermal exploration and development. Bidding went as high as $1,000 an acre, which Magma Energy, of Reno, paid for a Churchill County parcel.
Other areas to be autioned off soon include: 19,162 acres in the West Chocolate Mountains, southwest of Los Angeles; 6,400 acres in the Superstition Mountings; & 22,460 acres in the Haiwee area of Inyo County, CA. Other areas under consideration include 72,000 acres, covering 21 specific industry nominations in: the Surprise Valley of Modoc County; Glamis, Imperial County; Randsburg, in Kern County; and Tennant, in Siskiyou County.
Speaking of geothermal energy, Google has provided funding for a new method of geothermal drilling that could considerably reduce costs & make the process faster.
More on geothermal: The state of Alaska has taken steps to increase geothermal energy production:
Ormat Technologies this week said that it will accelerate geothermal exploration work this summer on Mount Spurr following Alaska Governor Sean Parnell's signing of Senate Bill 243. Originally, the annual royalty rate paid from geothermal production on state lands was a minimum of 10 percent of gross revenues.
This bill significantly reduces that rate to the same level paid on Federal land. While it is believed that Alaska has substantial geothermal potential, it has yet to develop a commercial geothermal power plant.
In October 2008, Ormat leased approximately 36,000 acres of state land through a competitive bid process, and has since conducted early exploration work at the site. Ormat plans to begin drilling core holes this year as part of exploration and early field development, which is expected to take three years. Construction is expected to last another three years. Ormat hopes to be the first Independent Power Provider selling geothermal power to utilities in Alaska.
I think there may be a certain know-nothing ex half-term governor who may not be happy about this.
Did you want to buy a Nissan Leaf but haven't gotten around to it? Too late:
Nissan has sold out its first-year production run of the all-electric Leaf vehicle, according to an AFP story.
Chief executive Carlos Ghosn said the company has taken 13,000 US orders and 6,000 orders in Japan. All of the US orders were from individuals, while some of the Japanese orders were from municipal fleet operators.
Deliveries are scheduled to begin in December.
If you were one of those lucky enough to secure your Leaf, charging it may soon become much easier:
Coulomb Technologies, in partnership with Ford, Chevrolet and smart USA, will provide 4,600 free home and public ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations for electric vehicles throughout the United States through the ChargePoint America program.
ChargePoint America will provide 4,600 Level II (220 – 240 volts) public and private ChargePoint Networked Charging Stations by October 2011 to program participants in nine regions in the United States: Austin, Texas; Detroit, Michigan; Los Angeles, California; New York, New York; Orlando, Fla.; Sacramento, Calif.; the San Jose/San Francisco Bay Area, California; Redmond, Wash.; and Washington DC. Charging station installation, in most regions, will be paid for by the individual or station owner, according to Coulomb.
Coulomb will work together with its distribution and industry partners to evaluate the demand from the respective geographic regions and allocate charging stations based on this and other factors. The ChargePoint America project will collect data characterizing vehicle use and charging patterns, and Purdue University and Idaho National Labs will analyze the data.
The $37-million ChargePoint America program is made possible by a $15-million grant funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through the Transportation Electrification Initiative administered by the Department of Energy. ChargePoint charging stations are available now for installation in all nine designated regional metropolitan areas of the US.
(Three main factors went into the selection of the regions, Coulomb said. First, each region had to be on at least one of the participating automakers list of target regions where their vehicles will be for sale during the program period. Second, the regions themselves had to write a letter to support the grant proposal. Third, major metropolitan areas that were geographically dispersed were considered.) More than 1,000 new public charging stations will be installed by December 2010, adding to the existing ChargePoint Network. The remaining stations will be installed by September 2011.
If you've purchased a Chevrolet Volt, Ford Focus Electric, or the smart fortwo electric drive, whose home is located within one of the nine target regions, will be eligible to receive a home charging station at no cost. Your home must be within a 70-mile radius of a given city center to qualify. You can apply for the ChargePoint America program at the auto dealer or with the auto company where they purchase the new electric vehicle.
Not only will the Leaf help combat climate change, it will also create jobs:
Nissan broke ground on May 26 on a manufacturing facility in Smyrna, Tennessee, that will produce the lithium-ion batteries that power the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle. Although it will initially be produced in Japan, the Nissan Leaf and its lithium-ion batteries will be produced in Smyrna beginning in 2012. Modifying Nissan's existing vehicle assembly plant in Smyrna to produce the Leaf and building the new battery plant will represent an investment of up to $1.7 billion, which is initially being supported by a DOE loan for 80% of that investment. According to Nissan, roughly 13,000 people in the United States have placed a reservation for the Nissan Leaf since reservations opened on April 20. The Nissan Leaf will start rolling out to select markets in the United States, Japan, and Europe in December, followed by increased availability in spring 2011 and full market rollout in 2012.
Nissan isn't the only auto company creating green jobs. From the same article:
Ford Motor Company is also investing in electrified vehicles. The company announced on May 24 a $135 million investment in Michigan to design, engineer, and produce key components for the company's 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 more than 50 engineers to build an in-house capability for electrified vehicles. 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 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.
Students @ Mississippi State University (SEC!) have reason to celebrate:
After nearly two weeks of intense competition, Mississippi State University (MSU) claimed top honors on May 27 in the second year of the EcoCAR competition, a three-year automotive engineering competition sponsored by DOE and General Motors Corporation (GM). Officially dubbed "EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge," the competition invited university engineering students from across North America to re-engineer a GM-donated sport utility vehicle 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 MSU team met the challenge by building an extended-range electric vehicle (EREV), using a 21.3-kilowatt-hour battery pack from A123Systems that provided an electric range of 60 miles. That was backed up with a 1.3-liter, biodiesel-fueled, turbocharged diesel engine that powered a 75-kilowatt generator from UQM Technologies. The team kept the two systems separate, with the battery pack powering an 8-kilowatt motor on the rear transaxle, and the engine powering a 45-kilowatt motor on the front transaxle. During the competition, the vehicle achieved a fuel economy equivalent to 118 miles per gallon of gasoline.
The high fuel economy helped the MSU team garner 844 out of a possible 1,000 points, earning its first-place finish. Coming in second place was the Virginia Tech University team, which built an EREV with a 40-mile electric range, also driven by a 21.3-kilowatt-hour battery pack, but with a 90-kilowatt motor. Their 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-kilowatt-hour battery pack to power an 80-kilowatt motor. Like the MSU team, their backup power source was a 1.3-liter, biodiesel-fueled, turbocharged diesel engine, which powered a 75-kilowatt UQM generator.
A promising sign for the American Power Act:
With eighty wildfires raging across Alaska due to hot dry weather, lightning and erratic winds and smoke from the fires spreading across the state – but there is no climate change, oh no, it’s never climate change; it’s always going to be "unprecedented" – Senator Begich(D-AK) made some comments in favor of moving forward on the American Power Act, over the Memorial Day recess.
He told Alaska public radio listeners that he was one of those pressing for energy to be considered as soon as congress returns after the Memorial Day break. (It actually couldn’t have been be considered till late June, anyway, after the CBO and the EPA have finished the six week review of the bill which was sent to them May 13th) and had positive words for the new bill.
Some deals that Begich liked in the bill were higher revenue sharing for states that get oil money, a partial nationalization of oil revenue, which works well to keep Norway’s North Sea Oil exploration more careful than ours. Alaska already relies on oil money to fund government services. Begich gushed that this climate bill will lead to "billions" for Alaska. But he also liked the push to incentivize renewable energy. He clearly favors a Renewable Energy Standard, but in the next breath revealed why it needs to customized for each state, as it is now.
While his love for oil is certainly problematic, it helps to show why some kind of oil exploration will likely be in any bill that passes. He does have one other problem with the bill-hydro power:
Alaska has abundant hydro resources, but states on the drought side of the nation also have another reason to not count hydro in an RES. The Southwest will have less water from snow melt in future decades so hydro is discounted because of a newly "unrenewable" aspect. But, in the regions likely to see increased precipitation, new forms of clean hydro-power is included in renewable energy standards. Oklahoma included hydro in their brand new RES. Every state has different standards because of the differences in future regional climates.
One of those local issues we don't think about that will need to be resolved. But the fact that Begich is warming to some sort of bill is promising.
New biofuel development is headed to Oregon:
With production expected to begin next year, Colorado-based ZeaChem has broke ground on a cellulosic ethanol biorefinery in Boardman, OR. The plant will use ZeaChem’s core technology, to produce ethyl acetate, a salable chemical intermediate that can turn poplar tree waste into cellulosic ethanol. The biorefinery is expected to produce up to 250,000 gallons per year.
"Breaking ground on ZeaChem’s biorefinery in Boardman is a significant milestone," said Jim Imbler, president and chief executive officer of ZeaChem. "As a leader in this industry, ZeaChem is committed to producing economical and sustainable advanced biofuels and bio-based chemicals, creating jobs, and being a good neighbor in the community."
ZeaChem is receiving $25 million in stimulus money for the plant that will create 300 direct and indirect jobs.
Solar manufacturing jobs are headed to San Diego:
Kyocera today announced that it has begun manufacturing solar modules in San Diego, Calif., to serve the U.S. market's growing demand for clean, sustainable solar electric generating systems. The U.S. module production line will support a new milestone for Kyocera's solar energy business -- global production volume targeting 1,000 megawatts (one "gigawatt") of solar cells per year by March 2013.
The new solar manufacturing line has an initial production target of 30 megawatts per year. It leverages Kyocera's world-class U.S. manufacturing capabilities to produce the company's most powerful and efficient solar power products. Initial production includes solar modules ranging from 210 watts to the company's latest flagship 235-watt modules.
This announcement gets added importance due to a "buy American" provision added to the Department of Defense appropriations bill in the House.
Staples is quickly becoming the greenest company in the U.S.:
Office products company Staples, Inc., has had its latest solar energy system activated – a 1.1 megawatt array in La Mirada, Southern California. The new facility is the retail chain’s 32nd solar system provided by Maryland-based solar energy services firm SunEdison. It covers 300,000 square feet of roofspace at the Staples fulfillment center in southeast Los Angeles County.
SunEdison financed and constructed the facility, which it now owns and operates, selling power back to the office products retailer.
Expectations are that the system will produce nearly two million kilowatt-hours of energy each year, which should have environmental benefits over the next 20 years equivalent to taking 3,200 cars off the road.
Boise, Idaho is adding solar power:
Boise Mayor David Bieter announced the city's plan to build a renewable energy plant Wednesday in the State of the City Address. Currently, the city is in negotiations with Boise-based Sunergy World to build the solar power facility. "It's a really big step for Boise getting alternative energy," said Bieter.
The $45 million project will transform city-owned property from a covered-up dump site, to a state-of-the-art renewable energy plant. "We'll take an old area and make it into something productive," said Bieter. The facility would sit just west of the Boise Airport and produce enough energy for 1,200 homes, says Sunergy World Director of Project Development Robert Cavazos. The construction process will also bring jobs in a weak economy. "That's been our intent to bring everything, including jobs, to Boise. That's the goal," says Cavazos.
The green project calls for bringing in solar panels and building a manufacturing facility to store them. A Micron-owned company, Transform Solar, will provide the solar panels and an Oregon manufacturing company will expand their operations into Idaho. "It's a wonderful opportunity for Micron to bring their product right here in Boise where it's made for the state of Idaho," says Cavazos.
A once dirty oil refinery in Delaware is cleaning up its act:
A refining industry leader whose company plans to reopen the Delaware City Refinery said today that the new owners hope to expand into renewable fuels production at the site, while also launching a trailblazing low-sulfur home heating oil process.
PBF Energy Partners Chairman Thomas D. O’Malley sketched out his company’s vision of the future during an hour of speeches marking final settlement on the company’s $220 million purchase of the 210,000 barrel-per-day refinery from Texas-based Valero Energy.
O’Malley said that PBF also will pursue bio-diesel production at Delaware City, and expects to spend about $500 million on construction of a gas/oil hydrotreater that will allow the Delaware plant to produce low-sulfur home heating oil . The same unit also would cut emissions of smog-forming nitrogen dioxide by about 300 tons per year.
Finally, it's not enough to get clean energy. We also need to be able to transmit it. A new project has designs on doing just that:
The project, called the Tres Amigas Superstation, would use superconducting "pipelines" and converter stations to connect three grids: the Western, Eastern, and Texas Interconnections. Connections between the grids have been limited because the grids aren't synchronized--the AC power is out of phase. Special stations that convert AC power into DC power and then back into AC power in the correct phase are needed to move power from one grid to another.
Only a fraction of 1 percent of the electricity generated in the United States can currently be transferred between the grids, and there is no direct connection between Texas and the Western grid. The Tres Amigas station, which will connect all three grids together in one place for the first time, will initially more than double the ability to transfer power between them, providing five gigawatts of capacity. Eventually, the station is expected to transfer as much as 30 gigawatts of power.
A recent announcement shows that Tres Amigas is moving closer to reality:
Tres Amigas, the developer of a first – of – its – kind transmission project that seeks to unite America’s three power grids and provide access to markets for renewable energy resources, has selected Viridity Energy to design, build and operate the power-trading platform for its superconductor project it is developing in New Mexico. Conshohocken, Penn., Viridity Energy will provide the network and commercial operations supporting the sale and delivery of Tres Amigas’s transmission services to power generators.
Last fall Tres Amigas selected American Superconductor Corp., (AMSC) to supply superconductor wires and cables. That contract is expected to be worth $1 billion to AMSC, which, as part of the deal, took a minority equity stake in Tres Amigas with a $1.75 million investment.
Cleantech-focused private equity fund AltEnerg is a majority shareholder of the Tres Amigas. Earlier this year we reported that AltEnergy had raised enough money to fund the project’s three-year long development program. Tres Amigas is expected to cost $600 million to develop and is scheduled for completion in 2014.
eKos Earthship