Smart-grid development advanced on June 18 with the release of the National Institute of Standards and Technologies’ June 18 on standards for the smart grid. The report, prepared by the Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, Cal-if., is the first of three phases in NIST’s plan to expedite development of the smart grid. NIST will accept public comments for 30 days after publication of a notice in the Federal Register announcing the report’s availability, then establish priorities, standards and action plans by early fall.
The U.S. Energy Dept. says it will build a flagship clean-coal powerplant in Illinois, reversing a previous Bush administration move to scrap the ambitious FutureGen project in favor of smaller carbon-capture and -storage projects (CCS) around the U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and his industry partner, the FutureGen Industrial Alliance, a group of 20 leading power utilities and coal companies, reached agreement on the project: a 275-MW integrated gasification combined-cycle powerplant that could cost between $1.3 billion and $1.8 billion. The plant will be sited in Mattoon, Ill., 180 miles south of Chicago, and will be the first commercial-scale, coal-fired
Citing a need for smaller and more affordable nuclear reactors, Babcock & Wilcox Co. is developing a self-contained, modular 125-MW nuclear reactor to be built in its U.S. plants and shipped by rail to construction sites. B&W would like to secure turnkey contracts with utilities to manufacture and install the reactors, says Christofer Mowry, president and chief executive officer of the new Lynchburg, Va.-based division of Babcock & Wilcox, B&W Modular Nuclear Energy LLC. Photo: The Babcock & Wilcox Co. Four reactors combine for 500 MW. An array of the 15-ft-dia x 75-ft-tall modules could create small and mid-sized nuclear
By 2016, a solar satellite could begin beaming up to 4,000 MW a year via microwave to a receiving station in Fresno, Calif., now that Solaren Corp. has signed a 200-MW power sales contract with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Solaren, Manhattan Beach, Calif., is still designing the system, but plans call for an array of geosynchronous orbiting mirrors several miles wide to focus sunlight onto photovoltaic cells. An amplifier will convert the electrical power into a microwave beam aimed at a ground receiving station in Fresno County, where it will be converted to AC power and fed into the
The Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB) has chosen a site for permanent storage of highly adioactive spent fuel from Swedish plants. The site, near Forsmark, is 75 kilometers north of Stockholm. Estimated to cost between $2.5 billion and $3.2 billion, the repository includes 50 km of tunnels in granite bedrock 500 meters underground, requiring the excavation of 1.8 million cu m of rock. Spent fuel would reside in 25-tonne copper-coated canisters, surrounded by a buffer of bentonite clay that would act as a watertight barrier. SKB plans to submit two applications to Swedish environmental and nuclear authorities
The U.S. Energy Dept. said June 12 it would move forward to build a flagship clean-coal power plant in a small Illinois town, reversing a previous Bush administration decision to scrap the ambitious FutureGen project entirely in favor of smaller carbon-capture and storage projects (CCS) around the country. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and his industry partner, the FutureGen Industrial Alliance, a group of 20 leading power utilities and coal companies, reached agreement on the project, a 275-MW integrated gasification combined cycle power plant that could cost between $1.3 billion and $1.8 billion. The plant, to be sited in Mattoon, Ill.,
Federal water-pumping in California’s Central Valley Project jeopardizes the continued existence of several threatened and endangered species, says the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Fisheries Service. Changing water operations to reduce the threat will reduce water available for drinking, irrigation and industry by an estimated 5% to 7%. The cutback could lead to higher water-use rates and, depending on the level of drought, further rationing. The Bureau of Reclamation’s pumping operations will not be immediately affected.
In a rapid-fire series, President Barack Obama and Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced $773 million in funding under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act for geothermal and solar-energy projects. On May 27, Obama announced $350 million for geothermal demonstration projects, research and development, and other geothermal initiatives. He also announced $117.6 million for solar technology development and deployment. On June 1, Chu said the Energy Dept. would invest $156 million in combined heat and power, district energy systems, waste-energy recovery systems and equipment; $50 million in energy efficiency for information and communication technology; and $50 million for advanced clean-energy materials
Rocky Mountain Power Inc. has applied to the Nevada Public Utilities Commission for a permit to build a segment of PacifiCorp’s 1,900-mile, $6-billion Energy Gateway Transmission Expansion Project. On May 21, PacifiCorp’s Salt Lake City-based division applied to build 77 miles of 500-kV transmission and ancillary facilities in Clark and Lincoln counties, Nev. Portland, Ore.-based PacifiCorp’s Energy Gateway, announced in 2007, is envisioned as a network that will branch to the west and southwest from Windstar substation near Casper, Wyo., with north-to-south links between the branches in Utah and a separate segment between Washington and Oregon. The Federal Energy Regulatory
A self-described “geothermal wildcatter” from Oregon intends to use a waste byproduct of oil and gas production to generate electricity along the Texas coast. Geo Texas Co., a Eugene, Ore.-based startup company led by geothermal pioneer Steve Munson, will pay Texas $386,000 a year for leases up to 30 years on 128,758 acres of state land off the coasts of Brazoria and Matagorda counties, near Galveston, to produce geothermal energy. The company will pay more if it produces energy. Munson plans to build a 20-MW, $50-million demonstration plant on land within two to three years. Research has uncovered an estimated
RSS