When finished in 2011, a flat 3½ -acre piece of land with 20 shipping containers on concrete pads in upstate New York won’t hint at the complexity underneath: 200 flywheel storage devices spinning at Mach 2 to retain and release up to 20 MW of energy on a second-to-second basis. Photo Courtesy Beacon Power LeChase Construction workers put a control trailer in place. Tyngsboro, Mass.-based Beacon Power is developing this first-of-a-kind energy storage facility in Stephentown, N.Y., one of several energy-storage projects that got a push forward from grants, loan guarantees and tax credits made available through the American Recovery

The Shaw Group Inc. will provide technical support services for at least two new nuclear power units in China under an agreement with the government signed on Aug. 17. The Baton Rouge, La.-based engineer-contractor currently is building four of the AP1000 closed-loop pressurized water reactors in the country, along with its consortium partner, Westinghouse Electric Co. Photo: Courtesy of The Shaw Group In Zhejiang province, a module is placed at the Sanmen nuclear power-plant, one of six plants Shaw Group will build for China. Shaw’s services on the new AP1000 reactors at the Xianning nuclear powerplant project in Hubei province

Under a national Smart Grid effort, the American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association jointly are developing a standard that would provide a common basis for electrical-energy consumers to describe, manage and communicate information about electrical-energy consumption and forecasts. The first meeting on the proposed ASHRAE/NEMA Standard 201P, Facility Smart Grid Information Model, is on Aug. 30 to Aug. 31 at ASHRAE headquarters in Atlanta. The goal is to define an object-oriented information model to enable appliances and control systems in buildings, homes and industrial facilities to manage lighting, heating, ventilating and air-conditioning

Wind energy, which accounted for 39% of all new U.S. electric generating capacity last year, could provide 20% of the nation’s electricity by 2030 if growth trends continue for wind power installations, according to a recent study. On the down side, siting, planning and cost allocation issues remain “key barriers” to transmission investment, the study says. Slide Show It may be possible to reach the U.S. government’s goal of producing 20% of the nation’s electricity from wind energy by 2030, but the production goal it is not a shoe-in, says a recent report. To reach the 20% goal, installations would

The U.S. Energy Dept. has decided to abandon its original plan for the FutureGen 275-MW coal-fired power plant to test advanced carbon-capture and storage technologies. The agency announced Aug. 5 that will instead use its $1 billion in federal stimulus funding to refit and repower an existing plant in western Illinois to capture carbon dioxide. The money will go to members of the FutureGen Alliance, made up of U.S. and overseas utilities, powerproviders and other firm, as well as to Ameren Energy Resources, Babcock & Wilcox and Air Liquide Process & Construction to install new equipment at a 200-MW Ameren

Verdant Power Inc., the leading U.S. tidal power developer, and the China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group (CECEP), a renewable energy company, have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop tidal energy projects in China. The agreement is the first of its kind between China and the U.S. involving marine and hydrokinetic power projects. According to Trey Taylor, president of Verdant Power, the two firms have identified potential sites and are currently gathering data at those locations. The Generation-5 turbines they plan to use in China, says Taylor, “will be demonstrated at pilot project sites in North America as

China has installed the first major offshore wind farm outside of Europe. + Image In China, most offshore wind farms likely will be built in intertidal areas. Located in the East China Sea, near Shanghai, the 102-MW Donghai Bridge Wind Farm began transmitting power to the national grid in July. The farm, which is slated to expand in the coming years, eventually will generate annually 267 million kilowatt-hours of electricity—enough to power 200,000 Shanghai households. It currently is supplying power to the Shanghai Expo and serving as a showcase project at the five-month-long international event. The $337-million Donghai Bridge farm

Work has begun on a $700-million ferronickel plant in eastern Cuba, near Moa, that is slated for completion in 2013. The Las Camariocas plant is the largest construction project now under way in the island nation. It has been undertaken by Quality Cuba S.A., a joint-venture contractor comprising Cuba’s state-owned engineering and construction firm, Quality Couriers International S.E.A., and the government of Venezuela. Upon completion, the plant is expected to annually produce 68,000 tons of ferronickel, which is an ingredient in stainless steel. Quality Cuba S.A. also is partnering with Brazil’s Odebrect to build a $600-million container terminal at the

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gave final approval July 27 to Central Maine Power, a subsidiary of the Spanish-owned company Iberdrola USA, to begin work on a $1.4-billion electricity transmission network, one of the largest construction projects in Maine’s history. The project includes five, 345-kV substations linked by 450 miles of new or rebuilt transmission line. The line’s southern end will tie into the New England grid near the New Hampshire border and its northern end will link with Canadian transmission lines in Orrington, Maine. The utility has contracted with Maine contractors Cianbro Corp., Pittsfield, and RJ Grondin &

More than any other European nation, the U.K. is pinning its hopes for a low-carbon-electricity future on offshore wind power. It already has more offshore generation than any other nation, at over 1,000 MW. But with construction costs posing the major hurdle to reach the U.K.’s goal of generating 12,000 MW by 2020, the quest is on for the best foundations in ever-deeper waters. Because of supply bottlenecks and other factors, the real construction cost of offshore wind farms has risen 20% since the first commercial schemes were built seven years ago, says Rob Hastings, head of marine resources at