QUICK NEWS, 8-18: WIND - A BROADWAY HIT; SOLAR POWER PLANTS GET APPROVED; EV BATTERY ADVANCE; A NEW ENERGY TEMPLATE IN TEXAS

WIND - A BROADWAY HIT
Wind Turbines Are Coming to New York, and Not Just Offshore
Patrick McGeehan, August 16, 2010 (NY Times)

"For years, New York officials have envisioned powering the region from a set of huge wind turbines in the Atlantic Ocean off Long Island. But…[w]ithin three years, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey hopes to have five wind towers, each more than 280 feet tall, operating on the west side of New York Harbor…[T]he City of Bayonne, N.J., plans to install an equally large turbine to power a sewage-pumping station…[and] the Department of Veterans Affairs is considering placing wind turbines on or near its hospitals in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

"New York, it turns out, is a windy city, well suited for turning stiff breezes into electricity. If open space were not so rare, the city might be a prime spot for harnessing the wind…In 2008, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced his plan to use wind power to help reduce the city’s dependence on power plants that run on fossil fuels. So far, there are…only token projects like the small turbines on the roof of an apartment building in the Bronx and a wind-powered electronic billboard for Coca-Cola in Times Square."

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"The city’s Economic Development Corporation has been studying the feasibility of putting turbines atop buildings…But the high hopes rest on a partnership, with utility companies and the New York Power Authority, that has designs on building a wind farm on about 65,000 acres of the Atlantic floor…with hopes of generating as much as 700 megawatts of power there by 2016…

"The Port Authority’s proposed project at Port Jersey on the border of Bayonne and Jersey City would be similar, in appearance and purpose, to a wind farm that was built at a sewage-treatment plant in Atlantic City five years ago…[I]t could be operating by 2013…[T]he five turbines would produce as much as 7.5 megawatts — enough to run at least 2,000 homes…[T]he power generated [will be used] to operate the container port there, then to feed the surplus energy into the local power grid, offsetting some of the authority’s consumption elsewhere…"

The wind-powered sewage treatment facility at Atlantic City (click to enlarge)

"…[T]he City of Bayonne may tap the wind quicker. Construction of a 262-foot-tall turbine has already begun at a plant operated by the city’s Municipal Utilities Authority...That $5.6 million tower, which would be the biggest wind turbine in New Jersey outside of Atlantic City, is expected to start producing more than enough energy to power the plant by September. The city plans to sell the excess power, saving at least $150,000 a year…

"…[Both will] help New Jersey achieve its stated goal[s] of developing 200 megawatts of wind energy onshore by 2020…[and] 3,000 megawatts of wind energy offshore within 10 years…[The] Board of Public Utilities provided $12 million in rebates to three companies that are racing to build the first wind farm 12 miles or more off the coast of New Jersey…[The] State Legislature approved a bill that would provide $100 million in tax credits to the developers of offshore wind farms…[T]hose deepwater projects would cost about twice as much to build as turbines on land…"


SOLAR POWER PLANTS GET APPROVED
BrightSource, NextEra Win Approvals for California Solar Power Contracts
Mark Chedak and Christopher Martin, August 12, 2010 (Bloomberg News)

"California regulators approved renewable power contracts totaling more than 400 megawatts for utilities PG&E Corp. and Edison International to help to meet state energy goals.

"PG&E, owner of the state’s largest utility, won the California Public Utilities Commission’s permission…to buy electricity from a 250-megawatt solar plant being developed by a unit of NextEra Energy Inc., the largest U.S. producer of wind and solar power…[The state had previously, in seven years,] approved contracts for 5,113 megawatts of existing solar, wind, biomass and geothermal plants and another 7,795 megawatts that haven’t been completed yet…A total of 5,935 megawatts of new renewable energy contracts were awaiting regulatory approval as of July 30…"

The NextEra solar power plant will use trough technology. (click to enlarge)

"California ordered its utilities to get 20 percent of their power from renewable sources by the end of this year. The commission doesn’t expect that goal to be met, and may allow extensions to as late as 2013 in cases where transmission lines aren’t available…

"Edison’s Southern California Edison utility won permission…from regulators to buy 117-megawatts from the Ivanpah solar plant being developed in California’s Mojave Desert by closely held BrightSource Energy Inc. PG&E already won approval to buy 275 megawatts from the project. A megawatt is enough power for about 800 typical U.S. homes…"

The solar power tower technology to be used at Ivanpah. (click to enlarge)

"The California Energy Commission is reviewing the entire 392-megawatt Ivanpah plant…[A] final decision [is expected by early September]...BrightSource expects to have all the permits needed to start construction [on federal land] this year…Ivanpah’s three phases would use arrays of pole-mounted mirrors, or heliostats, to reflect the sun’s rays to boilers mounted on top of towers, heating the water inside to more than 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (538 Celsius). The resulting steam would then be piped to an electricity-generating turbine…

"The [CPUC also approved]…the contract between San Francisco-based PG&E and Eurus Energy America Corp. for 48 megawatts of solar photovoltaic power…"


EV BATTERY ADVANCE
New Battery Tech Could Cut Electric Car Battery Pack Costs by 85%; Company plans to have new battery on the market in five years
Shane McGlaun, August 16, 2010 (Daily Tech)

"…Yet-Ming Chiang, a researcher and founder of A123 Systems, has developed a new battery design that he claims could make electric vehicles much cheaper. Chiang has started a new company to commercialize the battery technology called 24M. The researcher says that the new battery he has designed could cut costs of the battery packs for electric vehicles, such as the Chevrolet Volt, by as much as 85%.

"That cut in price on the battery pack…as much as $10,000…[could] make [electric vehicles] more cost competitive with traditional gasoline vehicles. A24 has raised $10 million in venture capital and an additional $6 million from Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy or ARPA-E. The money will be used to fund collaboration between A24, MIT, and Rutgers University."

Chiang's A123 Systems designed the lithium-ion battery for the soon-to-go-on-sale Chevy Volt. (click to enlarge)

"Chiang is offering no details on the battery technology and only gives cryptic details on the battery he has developed…[and says only that it] is a semisolid energy storage device and…uses tech that combines the best attributes of conventional batteries, fuel cells, and flow batteries."

A fuel cell would need an external fuel source and a flow battery would need bulky storage but Chiang has some kind of "hybrid" battery with neither obstacle. (click to enlarge)

[Yet-Ming Chiang, founder, A123 Systems/inventor, 24M battery:] "In a typical rechargeable battery, only half of it is actual energy-storing materials. The rest is supporting materials. That's a problem I've been thinking about for years--how do you improve the efficiency of the design?"

"Chiang says that a fuel cell doesn’t have to deal with [design efficiency], but the hydrogen isn't easy to come by…Like a fuel cell, Chiang says that his battery can store large amounts of energy, but it doesn't need huge amounts of supporting materials like a typical flow battery. The design is also said to work with a wide range of chemicals. A proof-of-concept battery has been produced and works…The goal is to have the new battery in the field within the next five years."


A NEW ENERGY TEMPLATE IN TEXAS
Report predicts big benefits for green industry in Texas
Karina Kling, August 16, 2010 (News 8 Austin)

"…[Texas’ Clean Energy Economy; Where We Are. Where We’re Going. What We Need to Succeed., a report for the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation by Billy Hamilton Consulting, says] that if the state chooses to invest in renewable energy programs, it could spur the creation of 22,900 new jobs a year and $2.7 billion annually in local and state tax revenue.

"The report suggests the state model legislation to incentivize green energy investment in Texas, and, based on three potential scenarios, increase energy costs for consumers."

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"In the high-range scenario… a 20 percent increase in the state’s clean energy generating capacity…[would the average Texan’s energy bill] an average of $13 a month…[and] create an average of 22,900 jobs per year for the next decade…In the baseline scenario, the average residential consumer would see an increase of $4 a month by 2020, for a 15 percent increase in the state's clean energy generating capacity…[T]his moderate scenario would create 6,000 new jobs per year and generate gains in state productivity as well as increased state and local tax revenues…[In] the low-range scenario…[with a] renewable electric generating capacity…[of 2.2 percent] the clean energy sector would continue to be a steady source of job creation and economic growth, but would not thrive…

"State leaders in support of expanding the renewable energy industry in Texas hope to pass legislation in the beginning of the 2011 legislative session…The report notes that Texas may face carbon dioxide emission costs if federal efforts to regulate emission standards take hold. Reducing the state's carbon footprint by investing in greener energy could then save the state money…"

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"In an effort to relieve [any financial burden on low-income Texans, the elderly and the disabled], the report suggests that the state take advantage of various public policies…that provide assistance…

"The report also concedes that various factors that could inhibit green energy production efforts, one of which includes large capital spending costs associated with the transition to new smart grid power systems…"