The Energy Blog

Fuel Tech Receives Orders for $3.5 Million

Fuel Tech (NASDAQ: FTEK), a leader in the optimization of combustion systems in utility and industrial applications, today announced multiple air pollution control orders totaling $3.5 million.

In the United States, new business was secured from several customers, including three major electric utilities:

1. a Southeastern alliance partner for which NOxOUT® Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR) equipment is to be installed on a small coal-fired boiler. 
2. a Midwestern alliance partner for which NOxOUT SNCR equipment is to be installed on two small coal-fired boilers.
3. a Southwestern power generator, which has placed orders for a NOxOUT demonstration on a large lignite-fired boiler and for mapping and modeling on several other such boilers.

Overseas, an order was received in northern Italy for a NOxOUT installation on a municipal solid waste (MSW) incinerator.

City of Richmond, CA Gets Three Zap Trucks

The City of Richmond and Bay Area electric car distributor ZAP (OTC BB: ZAAP.OB) are launching a pilot fleet program to demonstrate ZAP electric trucks in a city fleet, the first fleet in the country to incorporate all-electric city-trucks. These trucks will be used on the historic Bay Trail restoration project with the City's Public Works department.

"As the first fleet in the country to incorporate all-electric city-trucks we are proud to promote zero emissions vehicles," said Richmond Mayor McLaughlin. "We're signaling a direction. Our legacy for the young people of Richmond is lower green house gas emissions, cleaner air, less pollution and a greater commitment to make Richmond vibrant and sustainable."

Solar Installations up 33% in US in 2006, 41% in World, Solar Capacity only Utilized 62%

In an update on the solar industry Solarbuzz reports that the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) devices in the United States increased by about 33 percent in 2006 over the previous year. Worldwide PV installations totaled 1,744 megawatts (MW) in 2006, a new record and a growth of 19 percent over 2005. The United States contributed just 8 percent of those installations, or about 140 MW, while Germany led the world market with 960 MW of PV installations, comprising 55 percent of the world's total PV installations for 2006. To supply that market, the global production of solar cells reached 2,204 MW in 2006, a growth of 33 percent over PV production in 2005, while the production of polysilicon a critical ingredient for silicon solar cells increased by 16 percent.

The Photovoltaic Service Program at Navigant Consulting has published a “Pre-Release” of its quarterly PV industry newsletter, Solar Outlook. The feature article in the release is an analysis of 2006 PV technology shipments. The PV industry grew by 41%, the same rate as the CAGR from 2000 to 2006. In 2005, thin film technologies were 6% of total shipments. Thin films increased their share of total to 7% in 2006, and are on track to increase by another percentage point, to 8% in 2007. Many more facts are included in the referenced pdf.

Notice that the Solarbuzz numbers are for global production, while the Navigant numbers are for shipments, perhaps explaining the difference in numbers or it may simply be a matter of discrepencies in data collection.

TOP TEN SOLAR MANUFACTURERS

RANKING	2004	2005	2006
1	Sharp Solar	Sharp Solar	Sharp Solar, 22%
2	Kyocera	Kyocera	Q-Cells, 12%
3	BP Solar	Q-Cells	Kyocera, 9%
4	Shell Solar	Shott Solar	Suntech, 8%
5	Q-Cells	BP Solar	Sanyo, 6%
6	Shott Solar	Mitsubishi Electric	Mitsubishi Electric, 6%
7	Sanyo	Sanyo	Shott Solar, 5%
8	Mitsubishi Electric	Shell Solar	Motech, 5%
9	Isofoton	Motech	BP Solar, 4%
10	Motech	Isofoton	SunPower, 3%
Total Shipments	1049.8	1407.7	1982.4

Super-Fermenting Fungus Genome Sequenced

DOE's Joint Genome Institute (JGI) achieved a key milestone to understanding fermentative organisms by sequencing the genome for the fungus Pichia stipitis. The fungus is proficient at fermenting xylose, one of the main sugars in cellulosic biomass. The research performed in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service's Forest Product Laboratory (FPL) identified numerous genes in the fungus that allow it to break down cellulose and ferment the xylose. The researchers also analyzed the metabolic pathways associated with those genes.

P. stipitis is the most proficient microbial fermenter in nature of the five-carbon "wood sugar" xylose--abundant in hardwoods and agricultural leftovers, which represent a motherlode of bioenergy fodder.

"The information embedded in the genome sequence of Pichia has helped us identify several gene targets to improve xylose metabolism," said Thomas W. Jeffries of the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin. "We are now engineering these genes to increase ethanol production." Jeffries said that yeast strains like Pichia have evolved to cope with the oxygen-limited environment rich in partially digested wood that is encountered in the gut of insects, from where the sequenced strain was originally isolated.

FPL has a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) in place with a New York City-based bioenergy company, Xethanol Corporation, which plans to integrate Dr. Jeffries' findings into its large-scale biofuels production processes.

11 MW PV Solar Tracking Plant Dedicated

GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of General Electric (NYSE: GE), PowerLight, a subsidiary of SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWR) and Catavento dedicated the 11-megawatt Serpa solar power plant on March 28, on schedule.

GE Energy Financial Services financed and purchased the project in an approximately US $75 million transaction last year. PowerLight designed, deployed, operates and maintains the plant. The plant uses PowerLight's PowerTracker(R) system that follows the sun's daily path across the sky to generate more electricity than conventional fixed-mounted systems. Catavento did the project development, permitting and manages the project, which began feeding Portugal's electricity grid in late January.

$23 Million to Develop Fermentation Organisms

Five projects will receive $23 million over the next four years from DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), to develop highly efficient fermentative organisms that convert cellulosic biomass into ethanol.

Organisms that can ferment these cellulosic biomass materials into ethanol are crucial to the success of commercial-scale integrated biorefineries and cellulosic ethanol refining. Such organisms must be able to survive a wide range of environmental conditions while resisting mutations that would hinder their effectiveness.

Cargill Incorporated, Celunol Corporation, DuPont, Mascoma Corporation, and Purdue University were selected for the five projects. Combined with the industry cost share, more than $37 million could be invested in these projects.

These contracts are part of EERE's Biofuels Initiative (BFI), which has the goal of reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil by meeting the following targets:

• To make cellulosic ethanol (or ethanol from non-grain biomass resources) cost competitive with gasoline by 2012.
• To replace 30 percent of current levels of gasoline consumption with biofuels by 2030 (or 30x30).

How Should We Approach Saving the Environment?

An interesting commentary on environmentalism appeared today on Eco World discussing the differences between supply side and demand side environmentalism.

At a time like this, where the momentum to do anything to achieve energy independence dovetails fitfully with the momentum to do anything to reduce CO2 emissions, policymakers pressured by environmentalists may enact sweeping legislation that could completely change our way of life. But there are two ways environmentalists can go to pursue their core values in the 21st century, and they represent very, very different choices. One of the most fundamental areas where these two choices diverge concerns energy and water policy.

A “supply side” environmentalist - for lack of a better term - would argue that the priority should be to achieve energy and water abundance. To do this, for example, they would advocate construction of nuclear powered desalinization plants, as well as pumping stations and aqueducts. They would advocate increased production of fresh water from seawater, and they would advocate distributing this water to restore every depleted aquifer on earth.

A “demand side” environmentalist, by contrast, would argue that conservation of energy and water is the only approach that could possibly make sense. They would argue that it isn’t possible to produce enough energy for everyone at current levels of consumption. They would fight for energy and water rationing, with punitive fines and even criminal penalties for overuse of these resources.

Read the whole article and express your opinions.

VRB Power Systems VRB-ESS for Sorne Hill "Has a Strong Economic Case"

VRB Power Systems (TSX-V: VRB) announced that the Vanadium Redox Battery Energy Storage System (VRB-ESS™) being sold to Tapbury Management Limited (“Tapbury”), previous post, for Phase II of the Sorne Hill Wind Farm in County Donegal, Ireland (“Sorne Hill”) has been increased in size from a 1.5MW x 8hr system to a 2MW x 6hr system.

The value of this contract to VRB Power has increased from US$6.3 million to approximately US$9.4 million. The agreement remains subject to execution of final contracts between Tapbury and VRB Power.

The re-sizing of this system follows completion of the independent feasibility study, by Grant Thorton, on the implementation of the VRB-ESS at Sorne Hill jointly commissioned by Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) and Tapbury. This study validates a number of the key revenue streams that will be generated by the VRB-ESS. It also concludes that the optimum size of the system is 2MW of power with 6 hours of storage and the ability to provide 3MW of pulse power for 10 minute periods every hour in order to deal with short term volatility in wind generation.

“We are delighted with the findings of this study,” stated John Ward, Director of Tapbury. “The report provides technical and economic validation for a number of the key revenue streams that we had previously identified for the planned implementation of the VRB-ESS at Sorne Hill. The increase in the size of the system enables us to maximize these revenue streams and, when combined with additional market based payments, shown in the Grant Thornton report included in the study, provides a strong economic case for this purchase. In particular, the study demonstrates the potential for purchasers of VRB Energy Storage Systems in the Irish market to achieve a very healthy IRR of 17.5% on their investment.”

Dispatchable Wind turbine System

Attleboro, MA - General Compression, Inc., the pioneer of dispatchable wind power, has successfully closed an initial round of funding for over $5,000,000. These funds will be used to accelerate the development of General Compression's revolutionary dispatchable wind technology.

The company focuses on collecting energy from the wind as compressed air, storing the compressed air in pipes and underground geologic features, and expanding the air on demand to make electricity. The company anticipates that this technology will lead to a dispatchable wind energy platform that will offer utility scale energy parks creating wind energy on demand at competitive prices.

Dispatchable wind energy can be sold when prices are high, and stored when prices are low.

Conventional turbines need to protect their generators from accepting too much energy. When the wind blows over 10 meters/second (m/s) most turbines feather their blades to begin shedding incoming wind energy. When wind speeds reach 15 m/s, most turbines stop accepting any new energy, and at 25-30m/s the machines shut down.

Their system is not limited in its output like a generator, and can accept much higher energy inputs and rotor speeds. In windy sites, this means that for the same foundation, tower, and blades, energy production can be substantially improved.

Israeli Discovery Converts Radioactive Waste into Safe Inert Vitrified "Rock" and Clean Energy

This post is adapted from an item in ISRAEL 21c that describes an Israeli discovery that converts dangerous radioactive waste into clean energy: 

The problem of radioactive waste is a global one, and getting increasingly worse. All countries in the industrialized world are waking up to the need for safer hazardous waste disposal methods.

An Israeli firm, Environmental Energy Resources (EER), has developed a reactor that converts radioactive, hazardous and municipal waste into inert byproducts; vitrified slag and clean energy.

Shown above, a chunk of black, lava-like rock that is the result of the PGM process invented by EER.

Using a system called plasma gasification melting technology (PGM) developed by scientists from Russia's Kurchatov Institute research center, the Radon Institute in Russia, and Israel's Technion Institute - EER combines high temperatures and low-radioactive energy to transform waste into vitrified slag and syngas which is used to make electricity.

"We go up to 7,000 degrees centigrade and end at 1,400 centigrade," says Moshe Stern, founder and president of the Ramat Gan-based company.