Photo Courtesy of Principle Power Latest round of DOE funds earmarked for siting, construction and installation. Related Links: U.S. Offshore Wind Energy Purveyors Gaining Ground Offshore N.J. Wind-Farm Developer Will Challenge State Rejection Clemson Facility to Drive New Grid, Wind-Energy Research Three offshore wind-energy producers have received the nod from the U.S. Dept. of Energy to construct demonstration projects off both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The projects, which will receive up to $47 million each in DOE funds, were among seven projects selected in December 2012 to receive $4 million each to demonstrate design, engineering and permitting for their
Related Links: Report: Global Market for Geothermal Heats Up Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam Prompts Safety Concerns Djibouti and Ethiopia are developing new geothermal power capacities that are intended to enable them meet increasing demand for electricity and enhance their sustainable-energy portfolio.The World Bank has provided details about its contractor prequalification procedure for the drilling of four full-size geothermal production wells in Djibouti, while Icelandic powerplant builder Reykjavik Geothermal says it hopes to commence its $2-billion Corbetti Geothermal Power Project in Ethiopia in July.The World Bank, one of the financiers of the $31-million Djibouti Geothermal Power Project, which is being developed
Related Links: Apple Apparently Moving Away From the Grid To Power Its Data Center in North Carolina Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signs bill to provide manufacturers with power tax cut After converting an abandoned manufacturing plant originally built for solar-panel manufacturer First Solar Inc., Apple Inc. has started shipping sapphire glass from its new production site in Mesa, Ariz. The facility's revival and ongoing construction continue after months of political maneuvering, the price collapse of solar panels and the subsequent fire sale to save the multimillion-dollar development.Apple is unwilling to disclose much about the plant's output, but technology blogs and
Related Links: Pipeline Bursts Heat Up Safety Questions Over Keystone XL Engineer Blows Whistle on Canada Pipeline Inspections Canada's National Energy Board released its final audit report on Trans- Canada's pipeline management system on April 24. NEB found the company to be in non-compliance with risk-assessment and hazard-identification regulations, monitoring and maintenance protocols, internal audits, inspections and management review.The setback to TransCanada's effort to secure approval to build a major new pipeline segment came less than a week after the U.S. State Dept. delayed, until after the November elections, its decision on construction permitting for the last leg of the
Related Links: Russia Moving To Expand Global Nuclear Power Market Share Nuclear Resurgence Dims Due to Rising Costs, Low Demand Additional nuclear powerplant shutdowns will make it harder for the United States to meet its climate goals, a new policy brief from the nonprofit Center for Climate and Energy Solutions concludes.Further, more retirements could lead to more widespread blackouts, similar to those seen in the Northeast during 2014's polar vortex, said Bill Mohl, president of Entergy Wholesale Commodities, a division of Entergy Corp., on April 28.Since October 2012, four power companies have said they will retire five nuclear reactors earlier
Related Links: Google Invests In Solar Africa Morocco Pushing Solar Project in Western Sahara A $24-million photovoltaic field under construction in Rwanda is nearing completion on land belonging to a village built to house orphans from the central African country’s genocide 20 years ago.Even as the nation and many parts of the world paused this month to mark this grim anniversary, Rwanda’s infrastructure is improving, and its economy, perhaps, is pursuing a steady road to growth, relying less on volatile commodity prices and more on knowledge and ease of doing business.The 8.5-MW photovoltaic field is perched on top of a
Related Links: ASEAN Infrastructure Spending To Top $500B by 2020 Vietnam, Indonesia Hold Opportunity for U.S. Infrastructure Firms With an expanding population and a stated goal of adding roughly 60 gigawatts of power-generating capacity by the year 2022, the government of Indonesia has advanced multiple major power projects in recent months. While many of the projects are traditional coal-fired and gas-fired powerplants, the archipelago nation is looking to expand its renewables mix, with a heavy emphasis on geothermal power.In an press conference on April 8, state-owned enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan announced plans to build a 2,000-MW coal-fired powerplant in the
Construction industry and union groups are blasting the Obama administration for again postponing a decision on the proposed $5.3-billion Keystone XL oil pipeline.
Related Links: Southern Co. Refuels Coal Fleet With Gas In a move that could lead to widespread gasification of lignite—a lower grade of coal that is widely available—utility Southern Co. has signed a memorandum of understanding with Shenhua Group, China's largest coal producer and a large power generator, to collaborate on the research, development and deployment of the Atlanta firm's gasification technology."While we are still early in our market development process, we believe there will be strong worldwide demand" for the firm's transport integrated technology, or TRIG, the technology to be used at Mississippi Power's new 582-MW integrated gasification combined-cycle
Photo Courtesy of Black & Veatch Related Links: 2014 ENR Top 500 Design Firms Overview: A Recovery in Need of Speed At about 1:00 a.m. on April 16, 2013, snipers hit and knocked out 17 transformers in 19 minutes at the Pacific Gas & Electric's Metcalf power transmission station near San Jose, Calif. This illustrates a nightmare scenario for electric utilities: A physical or cyber attack that disrupts power transmission.More and more utilities are bringing in engineers to examine the electrical grid's vulnerabilities to attacks."Our security consulting division is closely involved with our utility customers to find the best ways
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