Tag Archives: Utilities

Aemetis Announces Restart of 60 Million Gallon Per Year Keyes Biofuels Plant – WSJ.com

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Aemetis, Inc. (OTCQB: AMTX), an advanced fuels and renewable chemicals company, announced today that the Aemetis 60 million gallon per year capacity ethanol facility in Keyes, California has completed planned maintenance and preparations for the production of Advanced Biofuel under recent EPA rulings, and is now restarting production.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

The plant will start up using corn as the principal feedstock, with grain sorghum or a feedstock blend used after startup to maximize operating income. In December 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved the use of grain sorghum feedstock along with biogas in a combined heat and power system to produce an Advanced Biofuel containing approximately 50% lower carbon content than gasoline. Advanced Biofuel generates D5 Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) that have traded at a premium to traditional ethanol D6 RINs.

[…]  “About $5 million of capital investment and new working capital has been invested since mid-January for maintenance and to enable the plant to produce Advanced Biofuel in a flexible configuration that enables the use of multiple feedstocks and energy sources.”

McAfee added, “The Keyes plant has sustainable cost advantages in Advanced Biofuels production. The plant’s location enables both rail and ocean shipping access to advanced biofuel feedstock from lower-cost supply sources. The Keyes plant is also equipped with an energy-efficient Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system to reduce energy costs and decrease the carbon content of fuel. By using grain sorghum feedstock and sourcing biogas for the CHP system instead of natural gas, the Keyes facility is now able to produce Advanced Biofuel to support EPA requirements for advanced fuels.”

See on online.wsj.com

On-Site Utility – EuroSite Power Providing Savings to DoubleTree by Hilton – Cogeneration & On-Site Power Production

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LONDON, UK – EuroSite Power Inc., (OTCQB: EUSP) an On-Site Utility, offering clean electricity, heat, hot water and cooling solutions to hospitality, healthcare, housing and leisure centers in the United Kingdom and Europe is now operating a combined heat and power system supplying clean energy to DoubleTree by Hilton, Cambridge, UK.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

EuroSite Power will produce clean energy in the form of electricity, heating and domestic hot water for each hotel at a price lower than The Ability Group’s previous and future energy suppliers. Because The Ability Group opted for the company’s On-Site Utility solution, each hotel pays only for the energy used and avoids all capital, installation and operating costs. EuroSite Power also handles all service, maintenance and repair meaning neither The Ability Group nor Hilton Worldwide need to provide manpower to support the energy equipment.

See on www.cospp.com

Waste and Recycling Industry – Landfill Gas Collection Almost 50% of Renewable Energy Supply USA

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WASHINGTON, April 18, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The waste and recycling industry is continuing to reduce its release of greenhouse gases — even as waste volumes increase, according to the latest greenhouse gas inventory released by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

Despite the fact that we are landfilling 6 percent less than 20 years ago, we have greatly improved our ability to reduce methane emissions. As a result, these emissions declined by 30 percent during the same period. This has happened as a result of converting methane to energy, flaring of methane emissions and oxidation techniques.

There are 594 landfill gas-to-energy sites in the United States that generated 1,813 megawatts (MW) of energy and 312 million standard cubic feet a day (mmscfd) of gas. This is enough energy to directly power 1 million homes and heat 729,000, respectively.

Methane gas collected at landfills is used to power home, businesses and government facilities across the nation. Some of it is even used to fuel garbage trucks. Landfill-gas-to-energy projects and other forms of biomass-derived energy make up the almost half of the nation’s renewable energy supply, almost the same amount as is derived from solar, wind, geothermal and hydropower combined.

See on online.wsj.com

SolarReserve Expands International Development Activities into Latin America – WSJ.com

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SANTA MONICA, Calif., April 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — SolarReserve, a leading U.S.-based solar energy developer; today announced the company’s international expansion into the Latin American region through the opening of its office in Santiago, Chile.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

SolarReserve’s industry leading CSP technology features an integrated molten salt energy storage system, allowing firm, reliable electricity to be generated on-demand and delivered when the client requests the electricity. This energy storage capability provides a stable electricity product similar to that of conventional fuel-burning power facilities, but without the associated harmful emissions and price volatility.

Engineered and proven by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, the technology generates power from sunlight by focusing energy from a field of sun-tracking mirrors called heliostats onto a central receiver. Liquid salt, which flows similarly to water when melted, is circulated through the receiver, collecting the energy gathered from the sun. The heated salt is then routed to an insulated storage tank where it is stored with minimal energy losses. When electricity is needed, the hot salt is routed to heat exchangers to produce steam that is then used to generate electricity in a conventional steam turbine cycle. Therefore, the system minimizes risk, time and cost, while providing high capacity storage that allows energy production on-demand, day or night.

See on online.wsj.com

Intel, Microsoft top clean energy ranking | SmartPlanet

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The EPA has released an updated ranking of the top 50 organizations that use renewable energy to power their U.S. operations.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

The agency’s Green Power Partnership, which updates the list quarterly, said Intel uses clean energy to cover 100 percent of its electricity load. Microsoft moved into second place by increasing its green power use to more than 1,9 billion kilowatt-hours annually. Kohl’s came in third, followed by Whole Foods and Walmart.

See on www.smartplanet.com

San Jose, Calif., Businesses Embrace Recycling – RT – Recycling Today

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The city’s businesses recycle nearly triple the material in six months.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

Michael Miller of San José’s Fairmont Hotel says, “The two-container, wet/dry system was quite easy to implement, and we are pleased by how committed and supportive our staff is of this most important initiative. As a result, we are realizing cost savings and proudly increasing the amount we recycle.”

According to San José Councilman Sam Liccardo, the city is on track to achieve an 80 percent waste diversion rate by 2014. “That’s good news for everyone because this helps extend the life of our landfills and reduces associated taxpayer costs, which can be significant,” he says.

“And, with a single, streamlined collection service,” Liccardo adds, “we have reduced the number of garbage trucks driving through busy business districts. These are among the steps that help move San José towards a sustainable future.”

See on www.recyclingtoday.com

Report: US Smart Grid Cybersecurity Spending to Reach $7.25B by 2020 : Greentech Media

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Securing the new IT infrastructure of the power grid against cyber-attack is going to be big business, but that’s not because it makes money for the utilities that are buying it. Instead, today’s smart grid cybersecurity investments are mostly about meeting regulations, satisfying shareholders, and trying to justify the costs …

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

…one of the key tenets of cybersecurity is that you don’t talk about cybersecurity — at least, not the specifics of how you’re discovering, isolating, eliminating and building new protections against new intrusions and attacks that change from day to day.

Those threats can range in intent from simple intrusion and data theft, to full-scale attempts to take over control systems, and can vary in sophistication from cheesy password-stealing scams to sophisticated “advanced persistent threats” coming from shadowy government-backed, quasi-criminal “hacktivist” and mercenary groups.

In North America, much of that spending is being driven by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC)’s Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) requirements. Covering the U.S. and Canada, these rules come with stiff fines of up to $1 million per day for utilities that can’t prove they’re meeting security guidelines, and newer versions add a lot more serial-connected smart grid assets to their purview. The Department of Energy’s $4.5 billion in stimulus grants also came with cybersecurity strings attached, as outlined by the ongoing government-industry work being coordinated by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST.

See on www.greentechmedia.com

Whisky distilleries start powering biomass energy plant

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A cluster of Scottish whisky distilleries have started supplying a new biomass energy plant with enough waste to power 9,000 homes.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

The innovative Helius CoRDe energy plant was opened in Rothes, Speyside, this week to transform the by-products from the local whisky industry into power.

Adrian Bowles, Helius Energy CEO said: “This is renewable energy in action using innovative technology to provide enough power for 9000 homes, and produce animal feed using by-products from local whisky distilleries.

See on www.clickgreen.org.uk

Nuclear Energy Radiating on Capitol Hill – Forbes

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Nuclear energy is back in the hot seat. U.S. lawmakers want to know more about the emergency response plans in place if a nuclear accident were to occur as well as what the game plan is to find radioactive nuclear fuel a permanent home.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

“A new strategy is needed, not just to address these damages and costs but because this generation has a fundamental ethical obligation to avoid burdening future generations with the entire task of finding a safe permanent solution for managing hazardous nuclear materials they had no part in creating,” says the Energy Department’s blue ribbon panel.

While the report focuses more on finding long-term storage for radioactive waste, it also considered the reprocessing of such fuel. Panelists held out hope for the eventual re-use of those byproducts but concluded that any real solutions are decades away. The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board concurs, adding that reprocessing may reduce nuclear waste but it does not yet eliminate it.

See on www.forbes.com

Ceramic Fuel Cells receives German order for micro combined heat and power units – Proactiveinvestors (AU)

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Ceramic Fuel Cells (ASX: CFU) has received a binding order for 60 integrated micro combined heat and power (mCHP) units from German energy service provider EWE.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

Integrated mCHP generators combine fuel-cell technology and a condensing boiler to meet all electricity and heat requirements for single-family homes and small office buildings.

Operating this new fleet will demonstrate the latest product improvements that Ceramic and its development partner Gebrüder Bruns Heiztechnik GmbH have incorporated, including enhanced overall control and thermal efficiency.

See on www.proactiveinvestors.com.au