E-Power S.A., the first private-sector power generation project in Haiti delivered on the basis of international tendering, started operations in Port-au-Prince Jan. 13, a year and a day after the devastating 2010 earthquake. The $56.7-million, 30-Mw, heavy fuel-oil-fired power plant will boost capacity in Port-au-Prince by 40%. IFC, a member of the World Bank Group that focuses on the private sector in developing countries, provided long-term $17-million financing, and syndicated an additional $12 million from the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO). The utility is 60%-owned by local investors with Korea East-West Power Co. Ltd, a Korean electricity utility, also holding
An agreement between Suncor Energy Inc. and Total Exploration & Production Canada Ltd. is expected to restart construction of a stalled multibillion-dollar oil-sands production facility this year. Total will buy a 49% stake in the Suncor-operated Voyageur upgrader project, located near Fort McMurray. The $1.75-billion deal also includes Total acquiring 19% of Suncor’s Fort Hills mining project and Suncor acquiring 37% of Total’s Josyln mining project. Work on the upgrader, which upgrades bitumen mined from the oil sands into oil, was suspended in 2008. Work will resume once front-end engineering design is updated. Dany Laferriere, Suncor spokesperson, says the agreement
New York City-based Verdant Power has applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a pilot license to install 30 propeller-like turbines in the east channel of the East River in New York City that could generate up to 1 MW of hydropower. Verdant expects to have the license within six to 12 months. After securing the license, it will install the grid-connected Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy system, says Trey Taylor, co-founder and president of Verdant. Though Verdant calls the system a tidal system, the power is generated from the flow of the river, not the ebb and flow of
Maryland and New Jersey officials, worried about the high cost of electricity and predictions of limited supplies, are giving up on the established system and seeking to construct their own powerplants. The Maryland Public Service Commission on Dec. 29 issued a draft request for proposals for up to 1,800 MW of new generation in or around Maryland. The final RFP is expected in March. A week earlier New Jersey Board of Public Utilities President Lee Solomon said the board had started seeking new base-load generation in that state. The New Jersey Legislature was poised to pass a bill that would
A Dept. of Energy Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report released in December shows that, after remaining virtually unchanged from 2008 to 2009, the price of installed solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems in the U.S. declined sharply in 2010. Photo Courtesy U.S. DOE Government subsidies spur market growth and demand in the U.S., as in Spain and Germany. “PV has priced itself into the market and is now competitive with other renewables,” says Art Larson, a spokesman for San Diego Gas and Electric. The utility signed its first three PV projects in 2010. A total of 305 MW of PV will
Texas is poised for an unprecedented boom in the construction of high-voltage transmission lines. Photo: Courtesy of U.S. DOE The Lone Star State is reviewing $9 billion worth of transmission-line projects. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas is reviewing some $9 billion in transmission projects that would add 7,866 miles of new lines in west Texas, the Texas panhandle and other parts of the state over the next five years, ERCOT says in planning reports filed on Dec. 30 at the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT). The planned projects include more than 2,000 miles of new 345-kV transmission lines
American Electric Power is considering whether to proceed with a commercial-scale carbon-capture project at its 1,300-MW Mountaineer plant in New Haven, W.Va., because of unclear federal guidance, a company spokeswoman said on Dec. 27. She said Charles Patton, president and CEO of AEP utility Appalachian Power, told West Virginia regulators earlier this month that it is re-evaluating the estimated $660-million project in light of no federal legislation regulating carbon-dioxide emissions. AEP, which has been operating a pilot 30-MW carbon-capture project at the Mountaineer plant since 2009, had planned to build a 235-MW facility that would begin operations in 2015. The
In the middle of a cornfield in only one afternoon, Clay Warren’s company can install streetlights that are independent of any electrical grid, leaving behind nothing but tire tracks bathed in the glow of light-emitting diode (LED) lamps. Photo Courtesy Of Interactive Energies Lighting fixtures can be installed quickly with a minimal footprint. Photo Courtesy Of Interactive Energies Without sun or wind power, each unit’s battery can hold a five-day charge. Interactive Energies is doing just that at the southwest entrance of the Castleton Square mall in Indianapolis, according to IE co-founder Warren. The Simon Property Group hired the firm,
In an effort to get a jump on pending environmental rules, Colorado regulators in late December approved plans to retire six coal-fired units at two utilities, switch two units from coal to natural gas and build two natural gas-fired powerplants. Photo: Xcel Energy Three units at Xcel Energy's coal-fired Cherokee power plant in Denver Driven by a state law, Minneapolis, Minn.-based Xcel Energy plans to spend about $1 billion by 2017 retiring 591 megawatts, switching 700 MW from coal to natural gas and building a 570-MW gas-fired plant. The utility will also add pollution control equipment at two powerplants. Xcel
The Dept. of Energy on Dec. 21 announced a $1.45-billion loan guarantee for Abengoa Solar Inc.’s Solana project, the world’s largest parabolic trough concentrating solar plant. The 250-MW project near Gila Bend, Ariz., is the first U.S. large-scale solar plant capable of storing energy it generates. Solana would avoid the emissions of 475,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year compared to a natural-gas-burning plant. DOE has guaranteed or conditionally committed to support 16 clean-energy projects totaling nearly $16.5 billion. Together, they will produce over 37 million megawatt-hours. DOE is also supporting the world’s largest wind farm and a 2,200-MW nuclear
RSS
