Designing a custom system to lift and set 2,200-ton and 2,600-ton offshore platforms is notable enough. But Belle Chasse, La.-based Versabar Inc. had to work with three different cultures across nine time zones and sail past real-life pirates to a site 8,500 miles away to make its most recent job successful—all within 10 months. Photo: Versabar Inc. Versatruss raises deck and carefully positions it over its jacket (above), then gently lowers it onto the jacket (below). Operators tested the procedure dockside before executing in 110 ft of open water. Versabar was hired by Al Khafji Joint Operations to use its

Slow responses from plant vendors have impeded generic design assessments (GDA) of two nuclear reactor types vying for the U.K.’s potentially large “new build” program. In an interim report released on Nov. 7, the U.K. Health & Safety Executive (HSE) lists inadequate submissions in support of the Westinghouse AP1000 and Areva’s EPR reactors. “If we are to complete GDA on time, we need the design companies to work with us and provide the high-quality and timely information we need,” says Kevin Allars, HSE’s director of the assessment. HSE is scheduled to complete the GDAs in June 2011 after 42 months

Sacramento Municipal Utility District is leading the national shift to �smart grid� networks with help from a $127-million stimulus grant. Photo: SMUD In June, SMUD hired Greenville, South Carolina-based Utility Partners of America, Inc. for $7.5 million to replace the smattering of 620,000 electromechanical and first-generation solid-state meters with Landis+Gyr smart meters that collect usage information digitally in real time from 50,000 demand-response, control relay access points. The digital meters will allow customers who generate their own energy using solar or wind turbines to act as micro-generators and sell power to the grid. The devices could also improve customer service

The U.S. Energy Dept. on Nov. 23 announced it will award $18 million to 107 small businesses to research, develop and deploy clean-energy technologies. The companies were selected competitively from 950 applicants based on near-term commercialization and job-creation prospects. Funding is from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Firms with successful results are eligible for $60 million in additional grants.

The Dept. of Energy has selected 32 projects to receive a total of $620 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to advance and evaluate new technologies to make the nation's electricity grid more effective. The DOE funding will be complemented by more than $1 billion in private-sector matching funds for those projects. Related Links: Smart Grid Demo List Grid Modernization Will Mean Construction DOE Awards $3.4 Billion for 'Smart Grid' Upgrades The "smart grid" funding awards, announced Nov. 24, include energy-storage pilot projects, as well as plans that involve smart metering and distribution and transmission monitoring equipment. If

The cause of a massive electrical blackout that darkened large portions of Brazil in early November is still being investigated despite initial reports from the national grid operator that lightning and strong winds affected the transmission grid in southern Brazil. Photo: Germano Luders Itaipu hydro plant, on the border of Paraguay and Brazil, stayed in operation following Nov. 10 storms, officials say. Transmission lines serving the Brazilian grid did not fare as well. At 10:13 p.m. on Nov. 10, the lights went out in Brazil. For almost three hours a massive swath of the South American country, including 18 of

Europe’s largest energy project, Nord Stream, this month received vital approvals from Sweden and Finland when they gave their OKs for the twin underwater pipelines to pass through their exclusive economic zones in the Baltic Sea. + Image Image: Nord Stream AG The natural gas pipeline across the Baltic sea Nord Stream will carry natural gas 1,220 km, from Vyborg, Russia, near St. Petersburg, to Greifsburg, Germany. It will cross the territories of four other nations: Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Poland. Only Russia and Germany still have to approve the project, but that is considered a formality. The 1,220-km offshore

As the U.K. begins to fast-track nuclear power permitting, its safety regulator and those of Finland and France have sent Europe’s main nuclear plant supplier back to the drawing board. Already grappling with construction delays at its first EPR pressurized water reactor project—Finland’s Olkiluoto 3 (OL3) plant—Areva Np., Paris, must now also rethink key safety systems. In an unusual joint move, nuclear safety regulators in the U.K., Finland and France recently revealed safety concerns about the EPR’s control and instrumentation (C&I) systems. Photo: TVO Delays Finland’s Olkiluoto 3 nuclear plant may be started much later than the June 2012 deadline.

Consulting engineers and construction contractors alike are looking forward to participating in the single-largest investment ever for modernizing the U.S. electric grid. The $3.4 billion of grant awards announced late last month by President Obama will be matched by utilities in 49 states for a total of $8.2 billion to install “Smart Grid” technologies. The Energy Dept. hopes that investment will put the country on a path to obtain 20% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020 and shave more than 1,400 MW off peak power demand. On the long-heralded Smart Grid, customers and electricity providers will be linked

A joint venture to develop up to 100,000 MW of solar power in Middle Eastern and North African deserts by 2050 was formed on Oct. 30 in Munich. The group DII GmbH is owned by 12 major firms, most of them based in Germany, including Siemens A.G., Deutsche Bank A.G. and the DESERTEC Foundation. DII ultimately aims to supply as much as 15% of Europe’s electricity demand and a substantial part of local needs.