The Energy Blog

FYI: Smith Electric Vehicles Orders Drive Components for 4,000 Vehicles

Enova Systems, Torrance, CA, has announced that it has received a production order and has begun delivering 90kW and 120kW electric drive components for in excess of 1,000 units during 2008, and as many as 3,000 in 2009 to Smith Electric Vehicles, in Vigo Centre, UK, a division of The Tanfield Group Plc. Tanfield also intends to start production of its commercial electric vehicles in North America during 2008.

Enova has supplied electric drive train components to Tanfield since 2006, to help produce high performance electric drive train systems for Smith Electric Vehicle’s zero emission vans and trucks. Smith utilises a 120kw electric drive system in the Smith Newton, the world’s first zero emission 7.5t - 12t truck. A 90kw electric drive system is installed in the Smith Edison, the world’s first all-electric sub-3.5t van.

A typical Smith Electric vehicle can achieve ranges of up to 150 miles between battery charges and speeds of 50 mph. Because they are zero emission, Smith Electric Vehicles are exempt from the London Congestion Charge and also qualify for free parking in parts of central London.

The electric truck market seems to be taking off.  When will electric cars really reach this level?

DOE announces $33.8 Million in Enzyme Research for Cellulosic Ethanol

Inexpensive cellulosic ethanol is essential for the development of liquid fuel products from non-food materials.  Several companies are already involved in building pilot plants or small commercial plants to produce cellulosic ethanol. (see cellulosic ethanol category for more information) One of the major cost constraints on the process is the cost of the enzymes used to convert these materials into sugars.  To this end the DOE announced four projects to conduct further research on enzymes.  The following is adapted from the DOE press release:

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Feb. 26 announced that DOE will invest up to $33.8 million, over four years, for four projects that will focus on developing improved enzyme systems to convert cellulosic material into sugars suitable for production of biofuels. Combined with industry cost share, up to $70 million will be invested in these projects, with a minimum 50 percent cost share from industry.

Cellulosic ethanol can be made from a wide variety of non-food materials, including agricultural wastes such as corn stover and cereal straws, industrial plant waste like saw dust and paper pulp, and energy crops such as switchgrass, specifically for fuel production.  By relying on a variety of feedstocks, cellulosic ethanol can be produced in nearly every region of the country, using material grown locally.  Though it requires a more complex refining process, cellulosic ethanol contains more net energy and results in lower greenhouse emissions than traditional corn-based ethanol.

Funding is subject to appropriations from Congress.  Selected projects include:

End in Sight for Silicon Shortage in Solar industry

Severe shortages of silicon have plagued the solar photovoltaic market over the past few years. According to a Frost & Sullivan press release a turnaround can be expected this year with polysilicon catching up with the demand . Quoting from the press release:

It was estimated that the demand for silicon feedstock neared 26,000 tonnes in 2004. In 2005 there was a rise in wafer production by nearly 7 per cent. However, this increase was not sufficient to keep up with the market need. In 2006 the shortage of feedstock reached a critical point affecting the production of solar panels and, consequently, the industry growth.

However, things are about to change. "We expect polysilicon supply to catch up with the demand already in 2008" – says Alina Bakhareva, Renewable Energy Programme Manager at Frost & Sullivan. "The majority of the new quantities will be supplied to the market by top 4 producers that are expanding their existing production capacities."

In fact, four top polysilicon producers are expected to add more than 17000 tonnes of capacity in 2008. This would represent over 50% increase over their current capacities.

On the demand side, demand from the semiconductor industry is expected to grow at steady one-digit rates. Demand for solar-grade polysilicon is expected to reach over 50% of the total demand for high purity silicon in 2008-2009.

This should bode very good news for the silicon solar PV cell manufacturers. With silicon supply no longer a constraint manufactures can ramp up production to meet demand and as a market driven supply chain develops the price of silicon should eventually settle out at a lower price. Then competitive prices and technical merits can let consumers choose what type of cells they prefer, rather than having to use what is available.  This more importantly means that solar PV can be a significant (10s of gigawatts) source of renewable energy in a shorter time period -- perhaps in as short as five years.

EU Research Shows that Hydrogen Energy Could Reduce Oil Consumption in Road Transport by 40% by 2050

The EU HyWays project has released its main report "European Hydrogen Energy Roadmap" The "Roadmap" analyzes the potential impacts on the EU economy, society and environment of the large-scale introduction of hydrogen in the short- and long- term (up to 2050). A few excerpts from the press release announcing the report follow:

The scientific project HyWays funded by the EU's research program has found that introducing hydrogen into the energy system would reduce the total oil consumption by the road transport sector by 40% between now and 2050. Substantial barriers have first to be overcome, ranging from economic and technological to institutional barriers, and actions must be taken as soon as possible. Following a series of more than 50 workshops the project has produced a Roadmap to analyze the potential impacts on the EU economy, society and environment of the large-scale introduction of hydrogen in the short- and long- term, as well as an action plan detailing what needs to be done for this to take place. The report is published as the Member States are due to give their approval of a new €940m public/private research partnership for the development of hydrogen and fuel cells.

The extensive and high-quality simulations of the project predict that the break-even point would be most likely reached between 2025 and 2035. The HyWays Roadmap estimates that in 2030 there will be 16 million hydrogen cars and the total cumulative investment for infrastructure build-up will amount to €60 billion.

I am still not a convert to the hydrogen economy, especially for use in transport vehicles.  I believe that economical plug-in vehicles and electric vehicles can be produced at less cost before the 2025-2035 time period that is cited and by 2050 should be able to reduce oil consumption by significantly more than 40% with biofuels providing a significant reduction in fuel consumption of light vehicles, which is not an option with fuel cells. The development of a low cost fuel cell for transportation is a major technical challenge in itself, let alone the infrastructure required to distribute the hydrogen. I admit that good progress is being made on these items, but why should we have two major projects going when it is clear that one can be economically developed in a shorter time. The EU certainly can proceed independent of the U.S. and Japan, but it seems such a waste to do so. Hydrogen from natural gas or by electrolysis seem to me to be a waste of fossil fuels and/or inefficient use of electricity. Hydrogen may have a place in power production and other large stand-alone projects where a hydrogen transportation infrastructure does not have to be developed.  This should be the first area that is developed. 

Yergin: Climate Change and Energy are Converging into New Era of Clean Energy

The sometimes outspoken Daniel Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) and executive vice president, IHS Inc., spoke at the 2008 National Governors Association (NGA) Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 23. Some of his remarks may be of interest to readers of TEB.

“High energy prices, climate change and energy security are converging as the new engine driving the development of clean energy, There is a major shift in public opinion towards clean energy, which is being bolstered by the growing conviction that new carbon policies will reshape the competitive landscape of the global energy business.”  . . .

Citing CERA’s new study, Crossing the Divide: the Future of Clean Energy, Yergin said that renewable power and biofuels could be supplying as much as 16 percent of the global electric and transportation needs by 2030.  . . .

On current oil prices, he added, “A major reason for the current leap to around $100 a barrel is the economy – but now a weak U.S. economy, rather than the strong global economy that has been so important the last few years. A slowing U.S. economy, rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and expectations of more, and a weak U.S. dollar – along with the reappearance of inflation around the world – are driving investors into oil and other commodities. Instead of the traditional ‘flight to the dollar’ during times of uncertainty, we are seeing a ‘flight to oil.’”  . . .

Two of his key insights from the Crossing the Divide study may be of special interest to readers:

Renewable power technologies are poised for substantial growth – Wind will make the largest gains, followed by solar power and biomass — despite near-term bottlenecks in wind turbine manufacturing, supply shortages in silicon and competitive pressures from escalating component costs.

Conventional emission-free technologies – Nuclear and hydroelectric generation will account for most of the clean energy impact for the next decade, and almost half the gross clean power additions by 2030. The coal resource base and utilization in the United States and China will create a powerful drive to develop “clean coal” technologies.

Bank of America to Assess Cost of Carbon on Loans to Utility Companies

The banking industry is taking an increasing interest in green energy and carbon emissions, in lieu of the Federal government not taking any action. Because of this failing, the Bank of America has decided to start assessing the cost of carbon in their risk and underwriting processes for loans to power companies, currently estimating the cost of carbon will fall between $20-$40 per ton of carbon dioxide, anticipating that either a carbon tax will be assessed in the future or that CCS will be required at some point. This follows the establishment of the Carbon Principles, which established guidelines for banks to use in considering the risk factors in making loans to power companies, as announced by a consortium of banks on Feb. 4.

This action effectively acts as a carbon tax and will raise the cost of electricity from power plants emitting carbon to a cost that will give renewable energy a fairer playing field.  This action could increase the spread between the cost of electricity made from nuclear power and coal power, considering that nuclear does not produce any carbon due to the operation of their plants. While I support Gen III+ nuclear (the next generation of nuclear plants), I also believe that the direct and indirect subsidies that the government gives nuclear plants should be eliminated (not much chance of this happening though), which would probably bring coal plants with CCS back into more favorable economics as compared to nuclear.

This action should help clear up the logjam that has been developing regarding construction of new coal fired plants. Because the procedures for approval of Gen III+ plants have not been ironed out, it will still take an extended period to get the first few of these on line. Also the nuclear industry has said that it will not build additional plants until the first 6-8 of these plants are in operation. Thus coal plants will probably start being built again in the not to distant future.  Wind power is near the point where their manufacturing capacity is significant and this should keep their growth rate growing strong.  Solar has many years (5-7) before their capacity could reasonably be expected to be significant and their costs reduced, so the immediate impact on them is nil -- still waiting for more silicon capacity and thin-film technologies to be more developed. However these factors have not kept solar from growing at a high pace.   

In a speech at the Feb. 12 North Carolina Issues Forum Ken Lewis, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America made the following statements outlining his banks position on this subject: 

Emissions from Photovoltaic Life Cycles

A new report has found that thin-film cadmium telluride solar cells have the lowest life-cycle emissions primarily because they consume the least amount of energy during the module production of the four types of major commercial PV systems: multicrystalline silicon, monocrystalline silicon, ribbon silicon, and thin-film cadmium telluride (CdTe).

The study, published in the Environmental Science & Technology journal, based on PV production data of 2004–2006, presents the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions, criteria pollutant emissions, and heavy metal emissions of the four types of PV systems considered. Life-cycle emissions were determined by employing average electricity mixtures in Europe and the United States during the materials and module production for each PV system.

They found that thin-film cadmium-telluride solar cells had the best life-cycle profile. Even though the process emitted  heavy metal cadmium, it still had a lower overall level of “harmful air emissions” than the other PV technologies in the study.

The report stated that "Overall, all PV technologies generate far less life-cycle air emissions per GWh than conventional fossil-fuel-based electricity generation technologies. At least 89% of air emissions associated with electricity generation could be prevented if electrity from photovoltaics displaces electricity from the grid."

The fact that Cd-Te technology was found to have the lowest emissions profile is interesting, but the main point, to me, is that all technologies had low emissions profiles, that are insignificant when compared to the emissions of the fossil fuel technologies that they replace. While I do not find it suprising that all solar PV systems have a low emissions profile, I find it suprising that the authors did not include thin-film silicon or copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) cells in their study.  I assume the overall results would have been the similar, but it woud have given a fairer comparison to the technologies now in use.  One problem with scientific research is that it takes so much time to do the study and get it published that by that time the information is made public it is sometimes outdated.

DOE Enhanced Geothermal Systems Projects

In a move that I greet with great enthusiasem DOE has embarked on a project with a number of partners to test Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) technologies at a commercial geothermal power facility near Reno, Nevada.

EGS technology enhances the permeability of underground strata, typically by injecting water into hot underground strata at high pressure. The concept was initially developed to create geothermal reservoirs in hot underground strata where no water existed—a technology called "hot dry rock"—but has since been extended as a means of enhancing the performance of existing geothermal reservoirs.

Under the DOE project, EGS technology will be tested in a well at the 11-megawatt Desert Peak facility, which is owned by Ormat Technologies, Inc. The well is currently not able to produce commercially useful quantities of hot geothermal fluid, but with the help of EGS, the site is thought to have the potential to produce 50 megawatts of power or more.

Meanwhile, an application of EGS in a true hot dry rock application in Australia is continuing to make progress. Geodynamics, Limited (ASX: GDY) announced on February 5th that the company has completed its production well, called Habanero 3. The Company is now moving forward with preparations for an open circulation test, planned to commence 10 to 14 days from the date of the announcement, by injecting water into Habanero 1 and removing the heated geothermal water from Habanero 3. The test should give the company an indication of the potential power production of the artificially created geothermal reservoir.

AE Biofuels Builds Integrated Cellulose Ethanol Commercial Demonstration Plant

Another company is entering the Cellulosic ethanol market place with the announcement that AE Biofuels, Cupertino, CA, has begun construction of an integrated cellulose and starch ethanol commercial demonstration facility in Butte, Montana. The plant will use proven patent-pending Ambient Temperature Cellulose Starch Hydrolysis (ATCSH) enzyme technology to optimize process conditions for multiple feedstocks. Non-food ethanol feedstocks used by the facility are expected to include switch grass, grass seed straw, small grain straw, and corn stalks alone and in combination with a variety of traditional starch and sugar sources. The 9,000 square foot pilot plant facility is expected to be fully operational in the second calendar quarter of 2008.

In 2007, AE Biofuels™ acquired enzyme technology from Renewable Technology Corporation and formed its ethanol technology subsidiary, Energy Enzymes. The company’s low-cost, multi-activity enzyme technology is designed to reduce operating and capital costs for both cellulosic ethanol and starch ethanol plants and provides a platform to integrate the two processes. AE Biofuels utilizes patent-pending ambient temperature enzymes to eliminate the up-front “cooking” process that occurs in traditional starch ethanol production. The company has three patents pending for the use and implementation of its technology.

The key to the integrated process is AE Biofuels’ patent pending ATSH process. The ATSH converts starch to sugar without the cooking step of conventional corn plants. ATSH enzymes convert the raw starch to sugar at ambient temperatures. Eliminating the cooking step allows the beer from the cellulosic fermentation process to be used as the starch process water, increasing the overall alcohol concentration of the final beer and reducing water use, energy use and feedstock costs.

This technology is a endorsement of enzyme technology as a viable means of producing cellulosic ethanol, if it meets the companies claims.  The elimination of process steps, low cost enzymes and reduced cooling water consumption are all keys to lower cost cellulosic ethanol.

FYI: Abengoa to Build 280MW Concentrating Solar Power Plant in Arizona

Arizona Public Service Co. (APS) announced plans that Abengoa Solar will build the Solana Generating Station, a 280-megawatt (MW) concentrating solar power (CSP) plant, 70 miles southwest of Phoenix, near Gila Bend, Ariz.

Solana will employ technology that can both produce and store energy during the day, and then provide that energy for use by APS customers across periods of peak demand. APS will purchase 100 percent of the plant’s energy output. The plant will employ a proprietary Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) trough technology developed by Abengoa Solar, and will cover a land area of around 1,900 acres. The technology uses parabolic mirrors that track the sun on one axis and focus solar energy on receiver tubes containing a heat transfer fluid. The hot heat transfer fuild is used to convert water into steam, which turns the plant’s turbines to create electricity. The solar plant will also include a thermal energy storage system that allows for electricity to be produced as required, even after the sun has set.  . . . more

The selection of parabolic trough technology for this plant is evidence that it still the most proven technology and the only technology for which energy storage technology has been demonstrated.