MORE NEWS, 8-3 (BREAKTHROUGH GEOTHERMAL; SOLAR PV POWER PLANT PRE-SELLS ITS OUTPUT; BEES, BALLOONS AND GREENHOUSE GASES)

BREAKTHROUGH GEOTHERMAL
New geothermal heat extraction process to deliver clean power generation; PNNL’s advanced heat recovery method makes most of low-temp ‘hot rock’ sources
July 15, 2009 (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

"A new method for capturing significantly more heat from low-temperature geothermal resources holds promise for generating virtually pollution-free electrical energy.

"Scientists at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will determine if their innovative approach can safely and economically extract and convert heat from vast untapped…low-temperature geothermal resources at an economical cost. In addition to being a clean energy source without any greenhouse gas emissions, geothermal is also a steady and dependable source of power…"

From PNNL.gov via YouTube

"A technical and economic analysis conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology estimates that enhanced geothermal systems could provide 10 percent of the nation's overall electrical generating capacity by 2050…

"PNNL's conversion system will take advantage of the rapid expansion and contraction capabilities of a new liquid developed by PNNL researchers called biphasic fluid. When exposed to heat brought to the surface from water circulating in moderately hot, underground rock, the thermal-cycling of the biphasic fluid will power a turbine to generate electricity."

Rendering of the NETL nanostructured metal-organic heat carrier (MOHC) that could be the key to low temperature geothermal. (click to enlarge)

"To aid in efficiency, scientists have added nanostructured metal-organic heat carriers, or MOHCs, which boost the power generation capacity to near that of a conventional steam cycle…PNNL's nanotechnology and molecular engineering expertise [is] an important factor in the development…PNNL is receiving $1.2 million as one of 21 DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy grants through the Geothermal Technologies Program.

"Some of the research was conducted in EMSL, DOE's Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory on the PNNL campus...


SOLAR PV POWER PLANT PRE-SELLS ITS OUTPUT
PG&E in solar deal with Sempra Generation
Nichola Groom (w/Gerald E. McCormick), July 27, 2009 (Reuters)

"California utility PG&E Corp…entered into a contract to buy 48 megawatts of photovoltaic solar power from a unit of Sempra Energy…

"The power will come from Sempra Generation's new Copper Mountain Solar facility outside of Las Vegas, which will be completed in 2011. Copper Mountain will produce 100 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year, or enough to power more than 14,000 homes…"

click to enlarge

"Copper Mountain will be built with solar panels made by…Arizona-based First Solar Inc…

"PG&E and other California utilities have been scrambling to lock in contracts for clean power to fulfill a state mandate that requires them to source 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2010."

click to enlarge

"Copper Mountain, located in Boulder City, Nevada, is an extension of an existing 10 MW Sempra solar plant… PG&E has agreed to buy all 58 MW of power produced by the facility.

"The project will create about 200 construction jobs…"


BEES, BALLOONS AND GREENHOUSE GASES
Bees, balloons, pollen to test novel CO2 monitoring approach
July 20, 2009 (National Energy Technology Laboratory via DOE Pulse)

"Bees and pollen are not just for honey anymore. Researchers at DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory [NETL] are using them—along with helium-filled balloons—in an innovative method to verify that no carbon dioxide (CO2) leaks from sequestration sites.

"NETL-developed chemical tracers are co-injected at low levels to fingerprint the CO2, differentiating it from natural carbon dioxide. Researchers will determine if pollen collected by bees contains measurable quantities of tracer or if bees bring back tracer from direct contact with foliage. They will use balloons to determine atmospheric variations in tracer content to assess the effectiveness of CO2 storage sites."

NETL's CCS-monitoring protocol is a little more complicated than bees and balloons. (click to enlarge)

"NETL conducted the studies at the Center for Zero Emissions Research and Technology (ZERT) research site on an agricultural field at Montana State University (MSU) in Bozeman.

"NETL researchers, in cooperation with bee experts at MSU, placed hives about 150 meters upwind and downwind from CO2 sources marked with tracers. A third control hive was located some distance from the test plot."

Bees and balloons could make CCS monitoring cheaper but not necessarily more insurable. (click to enlarge)

"Along with the samples of the bees’ pollen, sorbent packets were placed near the hive entrances to monitor hive ventilation gas for tracer. A third monitor was placed about 25 meters from each hive in order to account for any background levels of tracer near the hive. Atmospheric tracer levels were also monitored…

"To determine atmospheric variations in tracer content…NETL researchers contracted Apogee Scientific to use a large helium-filled balloon…for sequential exposures of sorbent tubes at known times and known elevations. Researchers are conducting laboratory analysis of the tracer levels…"