One of the world’s largest wind developers and the largest U.S. shipbuilder will work together to engineer and build wind turbines specifically designed to withstand harsh marine environments. The Oct. 6 announcement from Madrid, Spain-based Gamesa and Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp. was one of many significant announcements made earlier this month at the American Wind Energy Association’s first-ever offshore wind conference. Photo: Courtesy Gamesa Gamesa’s venture with Northrup will push the Spanish firm to develop new turbine blades suitable for marine use. Gamesa and Northrop say they will develop and test two 5-MW wind turbines by the end of
The Tennessee Valley Authority announced on Oct. 4 that it hired France’s AREVA to begin preliminary steps to complete the 1,200-megawatt Unit 1 at the mothballed Bellefonte Nuclear Generating Station in Hollywood, Ala. Photo: Courtesy Of Tennessee Valley Authority French contractor will restart TVA’s idle powerplant project. Jarret Adams, a spokesman in the design firm’s Bethesda, Md., office, says AREVA’s contract includes the plant’s nuclear island, digital instrumentation, control system and control room. “This contract is for the preliminary engineering only,” Adams says. “It’s … preliminary and only covers fiscal year 2011. Our contract is a portion of the $248
Transmission Developers Inc. says it has started talks with two large Canadian power developers that are interested in moving power over TDI’s proposed $1.9-billion transmission line from Canada to New York. The Toronto-based developer plans to build the 355-mile Champlain Hudson Power Express, a high-voltage, direct-current line with 1,000 MW of capacity from Quebec to New York City. Donald Jessome, TDI’s president and CEO, did not name the renewable-energy projects for which his company is negotiating but described them as “projects already built or currently being built.” TDI expects to begin construction of the merchant line in September 2011 and
In an announcement that could jump-start offshore wind development along the Atlantic seaboard, Google and investment firms Good Energies, New York, and Marubeni Corp., Tokyo, said Oct. 12 that they are backing the development of a 350-mile underwater high-voltage DC transmission line from of Northern New Jersey to Norfolk, Va. The line, being developed by Chevy Chase, Md.�based Trans-Elect, would provide a transmission backbone linking several different offshore wind farms off the coasts of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey, and add up to 6,000 MW to the Atlantic grid from wind farms. Construction of the first phase of the
The construction of a new $10-billion nuclear reactor in Maryland seem to be dead after Constellation Energy told the Dept. of Energy that it is no longer interested in negotiating a federal loan guarantee to support the project. In a letter to DOE, Constellation said it was unable to continue negotiations after it was presented with a “shockingly high estimate” of the fee the company and its joint-venture partner, Electricite de France, would have to pay to obtain the loan—$880 million. “Such a sum would clearly destroy the project’s economics (or the economics of any nuclear project for that matter),
Canadian government officials expect to complete negotiations by year-end with potential buyers of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., the national corporation that manages the country’s nuclear-energy research program, including its CANDU reactor technology. Controlling costs and positioning Canada’s nuclear industry to “seize domestic and global opportunities” are factors driving the sale, says a government spokesperson. Officials decline to disclose names of potential purchasers, but Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin confirms it is one of the bidders. A spokeswoman said a successful bid would allow the firm to expand its sector work from refurbishing facilities, but she declined to elaborate. Despite laudatory reviews, AECL
Several contracting and engineering companies involved in the current build-out of a new generation of nuclear plants have received $30-million contracts from the Dept. of Energy to study and make recommendations on the design of future facilities. The companies will report on new techniques for the design and construction of nuclear plants, provide analytical assessments and conceptual designs, and give advice on policy creation and research and development requirements. This program is about looking “10 to 20 to 50 years down the line,” says Craig Grochmal, Shaw Group’s vice president of business development. Shaw was awarded one of six group
Mounting an effort to combat the blackouts and brownouts that are familiar features of life in Cairo, the Egyptian government recently secured the final piece of financing for a new 1,500-MW, combined-cycle gas-fired powerplant designed to keep the capital city’s lights on longer. With Egypt’s electricity demand set to grow 50% by 2017, the planned $1.3-billion Giza North plant represents a small but critical step toward power sufficiency. A $384-million loan from the European Investment Bank completed financial requirements for the plant, which is 30 kilometers northwest of Cairo. The World Bank board of directors approved a $600-million loan for
Keen to reduce their region’s growing energy reliance on Russia, European financial institutions have thrown their weight behind the $10.3-billion Nabucco gas pipeline through Turkey. Map: Walter Kornegay And Sue Pearsall For ENR Nabucco pipeline would provide gas delivery route that avoids Russia. Russia is fighting back with two rival projects, the first already well into construction. Together, the three pipelines could pump 149 billion cu meters of gas per year into the continent. The 3,300-kilometer-long Nabucco pipeline will cross Turkey, continue through Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, and terminate some 50 km inside Austria at Baumgarten. It is planned to
American Transmission Co., Pewaukee, Wis., has proposed making $3.4 billion in Wisconsin-focused power-line upgrades—a portion of what could be a roughly $25-billion transmission build-out designed to deliver thousands of megawatts of renewable power from the Great Plains states across the Midwest. Map:Sue Pearsall For ENR Minnesota leads way in transmission line projects worth up to $26 billion. Source: American Transmission Co. The focus on expanded transmission capacity is driven by state renewable-energy requirements. A transmission assessment conducted in July by Houston-based Quanta Services estimated that 11 Midwest states would need roughly 47,000 MW of new wind generation to meet 80%
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