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EREN NETWORK NEWS -- November 13, 2002
A weekly newsletter from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE)
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network (EREN).
<http://www.eren.doe.gov/>
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Featuring:
*News and Events
U.S. Navy Dedicates a 750-Kilowatt Solar Power System
Company Proposes 12.5 Gigawatts of Wind at 17 Offshore Sites
DOE Releases Its Strategic Plan for Efficiency, Renewables
DOE Refocuses Truck Initiative and Unveils Hydrogen Roadmap
Puget Sound Energy to Restructure Time-of-Use Pilot
Ethanol Construction Boom Brings Michigan Its First Plant
How About Solar Power on the Moon?
*Site News
Practical Ocean Energy Management Systems (POEMS)
*Energy Facts and Tips
EIA Updates Energy Analyses for Iraq and Afghanistan
*About this Newsletter
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NEWS AND EVENTS
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U.S. Navy Dedicates a 750-Kilowatt Solar Power System
The U.S. Navy announced last week that it has installed the largest
federal solar power system to date at Naval Base Coronado, located
in San Diego, California. The 750-kilowatt system generates enough
electricity during the day to power 935 homes. The photovoltaic
panels also form a half-mile-long covered parking structure in the
naval base's parking lot, providing shading for more than 400
vehicles. The solar panels actually have a peak capacity of 924
kilowatts, but the system that connects the panels to the electrical
grid will produce only 750 kilowatts. That system converts the
direct current output from the panels into three-phase, 12-kilovolt
power that is fed into the Navy's electrical distribution system.
The system is expected to provide three percent of the base's peak
summer electrical load. Installed through an Energy Savings
Performance Contract with NORESCO, an energy services company, and
designed, manufactured, and installed by PowerLight Corporation, the
system is expected to save more than $288,000 in energy costs each
year. See the November 6th press release and the accompanying fact
sheet on the Navy Region Southwest Web site at:
<http://www.cnrsw.navy.mil/Programs/PAO/News/NewsReleases.htm>.
In another part of San Diego County, much smaller solar power
systems are providing a useful service to much different facilities:
the learning centers at three Indian reservations. The Manzanita and
La Posta bands of Mission Indians and the Campo Band of Kumeyaay
Indians now have high-speed Internet access, thanks to a
collaboration among San Diego State University's Mount Laguna
Observatory, the Tribal Digital Village Network, and the High-
Performance Wireless Research and Education Network (HPWREN), an
interdisciplinary project of the University of California, San Diego
(UCSD). A new microwave antenna at the observatory provides a
connection between the UCSD broadband system and three solar-powered
relays, which provide the final link to learning centers on each
reservation. Each relay station is powered by a 320-watt solar power
system with battery backup. See the HPWREN press release at:
<http://hpwren.ucsd.edu/news/021029.html>.
The installation brings the total number of Internet-connected
reservations in San Diego County to 10. The county has 18 small
Indian reservations, the most of any county in the United States.
For more information, see the University of San Diego Web site at:
<http://www.sandiego.edu/nativeamerican/reservations.html>.
Company Proposes 12.5 Gigawatts of Wind at 17 Offshore Sites
A relative newcomer among wind energy developers is aiming to be a
leader in U.S. offshore wind power, with proposals in development
for 17 sites along the east coast. Winergy LLC lists sites off the
coasts of Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland,
and Virginia as potential locations for its wind facilities. Most of
the proposed wind plants total hundreds of megawatts each, and three
exceed 1000 megawatts in capacity. The largest, called Gulf Bank and
located off the Maryland coast, is a whopping 1,821.6 megawatts in
capacity.
Just how many of these wind sites will actually be developed is
anyone's guess, of course, but the company should earn some respect
for just the sheer chutzpah of its proposals. The current list of
proposed projects totals 12,552.8 megawatts, about equal in peak
capacity to 12 average-sized nuclear power plants. And apparently,
they're not done yet: According to the Winergy Web site, the company
has identified a total of 22 sites for which it has begun the
initial application process. The company acknowledges that the
permitting process for each site is likely to take three to five
years. See the Winergy Web site at:
<http://www.winergyllc.com/index.asp>.
Unfortunately, very little information is currently available on the
status of the Winergy proposals. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is
the current starting point for offshore wind energy applications,
and a search of their district Web sites only yielded one relevant
item, a public notice that Winergy intends to submit an application
for a 975.6-megawatt wind facility off the coast of Virginia, near
the entrance to Chesapeake Bay (called "Porpoise Banks 2" on the
Winergy Web site). The Norfolk District of the Corps of Engineers is
accepting comments on the proposal through November 19th. See the
announcement on the Norfolk District Web site at:
<http://www.nao.usace.army.mil/Regulatory/PN/02-R2163/02-R2163.htm>.
Meanwhile, the first attempt to establish an offshore wind power
plant in the United States continues to move ahead, slowly but
surely. The proposal by Cape Wind Associates, LLC to build a
420-megawatt wind facility off the coast of Massachusetts will face
another hurdle tonight: The Massachusetts Electricity Facility
Siting Board is holding a public hearing to examine the issues
associated with a 17-mile transmission line that will connect the
wind plant to the New England electrical grid. The company's
preferred route involves a cable running under Nantucket Sound, then
through the towns of Yarmouth and Barnstable in Massachusetts. See
the announcement on the Cape Wind Web site at:
<http://www.capewind.org/reporting/efsbmeeting_110802.htm>.
On November 21st, the New England District of the Corps of Engineers
will host an additional public meeting in Bourne, Massachusetts. The
meeting will provide the public with an update on the Environmental
Impact Statement and Environmental Impact Review that are being
prepared for the project. See the announcement on the New England
District Web site at:
<http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/news/2002-132.html>.
DOE Releases Its Strategic Plan for Efficiency, Renewables
DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
released its strategic plan on November 7th. According to David
Garman, DOE Assistant Secretary for EERE, the strategic plan
highlights the office's role in addressing the National Energy
Policy and describes how EERE is incorporating the President's
Management Agenda and the recommendations from the EERE Strategic
Program Review (completed in March) into the office's new way of
doing business.
As spelled out in the strategic plan, EERE aims to dramatically
reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, reduce the burden of energy
prices on the poor, increase the viability and deployment of
renewable energy technologies, increase the reliability and
efficiency of our nation's electrical power systems, increase the
energy efficiency of buildings and appliances, increase the energy
efficiency of industry, and spur the creation of a domestic
bioindustry. The office also looked inward and pledged to change the
way it does business. Along with details on how EERE will achieve
all these goals, the strategic plan includes a listing and
description of each of the 11 EERE programs that were formed when
the office reorganized this summer. See the EERE strategic plan and
Assistant Secretary Garman's announcement on the EREN Web site at:
<http://www.eren.doe.gov/eere/spmemo.html>.
DOE Refocuses Truck Initiative and Unveils Hydrogen Roadmap
Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham made two announcements yesterday
that will help to yield cleaner vehicles and a greater use of
hydrogen as an energy carrier.
Secretary Abraham joined representatives from the U.S. departments
of Defense and Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency,
and the U.S. trucking industry to announce a new vision for the
country's initiative for cleaner trucks, the 21st Century Truck
Partnership. The partnership will now aim for a future where U.S.
trucks and buses will safely and cost-effectively move larger
volumes of freight and greater numbers of passengers while emitting
little or no pollution and dramatically reducing their dependence on
foreign oil. Among the technologies to be pursued by the partnership
are hybrid electric heavy-duty vehicles, supplemental power systems
to reduce engine idling, aerodynamic designs, components with lower
rolling resistances, and advanced heavy-duty engines and fuels --
all while increasing the safety and security of trucks and buses.
The partnership's research and development priorities will be
reevaluated in light of these goals.
In a separate announcement, Secretary Abraham unveiled the National
Hydrogen Energy Roadmap, which identifies the challenges and paths
forward to a future energy system that is centered on the use of
hydrogen. The new roadmap -- the result of a 12-month collaborative
process -- outlines the research, development, demonstration, codes
and standards, and education efforts necessary to lead the nation to
a clean and sustainable energy future based on hydrogen.
See the DOE press release and Secretary Abraham's November 12th
speeches on the DOE Web site at:
<http://www.energy.gov/HQPress/releases02/novpr/pr02.htm> and
<http://www.energy.gov/HQDocs/speeches/hqspeeches.html>.
Or go straight to the National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap on the EREN
Web site at:
<http://www.eren.doe.gov/hydrogen/features.html>.
Secretary Abraham's speech on hydrogen energy was presented to the
Global Forum on Personal Transportation, held in Dearborn, Michigan,
and hosted by DOE. The State of Michigan's NextEnergy Initiative
also provided support for the forum. The forum was timed perfectly,
since the public act to establish the state's NextEnergy Authority
was just approved in mid-October. Michigan Governor John Engler
signed Senate Bill 1316 into law on October 17th, thereby creating a
new state authority that will encourage the development of
alternative energy technologies and businesses within the state. Six
bills were introduced to both houses of the Michigan legislature in
May to support the governor's NextEnergy Initiative; of those, only
two bills have stalled, both of which are related to tax breaks for
vehicles. See the May announcement with links to all of the bills on
the NextEnergy Web site at:
<http://www.nextenergy.org/020510NextEnergy.htm>.
Puget Sound Energy to Restructure Time-of-Use Pilot
Many people fail to realize an essential fact about electricity:
it's not just how much of it you use, but when. Using electricity
during the daytime hours, when most utilities experience their peak
loads, can drive up energy costs and strain electrical systems.
Since utilities will often draw on their least-efficient, most-
polluting plants to meet their peak load, using electricity at these
times also carries with it heavy penalties in terms of total energy
use and pollution. The problem is, most consumers pay a flat rate,
so they have no incentive to shift their electrical use to off-peak
hours.
The utility industry has a solution to this problem: "time-of-use"
or "time-of-day" pricing, which combines a higher electrical rate
during peak hours with a meter that actually measures when the
electricity is being used, not just how much. When structured
correctly, this approach rewards customers by letting them pay much
less for off-peak electricity, potentially saving a bundle on their
bills.
That is, of course, if the system is structured correctly.
Unfortunately, one of the nation's leading time-of-use pilot
programs, run by Puget Sound Energy in Washington State, turns out
not to have been set up right. The utility announced in late October
that the program was working, in one sense: customers managed to cut
their electrical load during peak hours by 5 to 6 percent. But the
company was greeted with chagrin when it also noted that those
customers were paying, on average, about 80 cents more each month
than they would have under the standard flat-rate billing. Puget
Sound Energy blames the lack of financial rewards on the currently
lower cost for peak power, but facing a mass desertion of its
program, also announced last week that it will ask the Washington
Utilities and Transportation Commission to end the pilot program
early. The company plans to restructure the rates for the program;
in the meantime, it is giving back $1 per month to the program
participants. See the Puget Sound Energy press releases at:
<http://www.pse.com/news/2002/pr20021024a.html> and
<http://www.pse.com/news/2002/pr20021106a.html>.
Ethanol Construction Boom Brings Michigan Its First Plant
Michigan Ethanol, LLC completed construction of the first ethanol
production plant in Michigan in late October. The new facility,
located outside of Caro, Michigan, will process nearly 16 million
bushels of corn each year, producing 40 million gallons of ethanol.
Wisconsin also gained an ethanol plant in October, as Badger State
Ethanol LLC finished construction on a corn-to-ethanol plant that
will also produce 40 million gallons of ethanol each year. The new
plant, located near Monroe, is the largest ethanol plant in
Wisconsin.
The booming ethanol industry continues to set new production
records: In September, the industry set a new monthly production
record of 145,000 barrels per day, up 25 percent from September
2001. Currently, 68 ethanol plants nationwide have the capacity to
produce 2.65 billion gallons per year, and 10 additional ethanol
plants under construction. See the press releases from the Renewable
Fuels Association at: <http://www.ethanolrfa.org/press.shtml>.
The leading ethanol production company, Archer Daniels Midland
Company, also continues to grow. The company announced in late
October that it would buy The Dow Chemical Company's share of World
Ethanol, which is a joint venture of the two companies. During 2003
and 2004, Dow will gradually shift its ethanol customers to two ADM
facilities, and will exit the ethanol industry by January 1, 2005.
See the Dow press release at:
<http://www.dow.com/dow_news/corporate/2002/20021031a.htm>.
How About Solar Power on the Moon?
As if it isn't hard enough to install solar power systems on
rooftops and in parking lots, a physicist at the University of
Houston (UH) now proposes installing them on the moon! Estimating
that the world could need as much as 20 terawatts of power by 2050,
physicist David Criswell looked to the moon, which receives about
13,000 terawatts of solar power. The energy-hungry world of the
future could receive its energy supply by harvesting just one
percent of that energy, he says, envisioning massive banks of solar
panels that beam their energy to earth via microwaves. Worried about
the shipping costs? No problem: You make the solar cells from moon
dust, says Criswell. And think of the advantages: no clouds, no haze
-- heck, no atmosphere at all to block the sunlight. But despite the
press release's claim that the moon "continuously receives
sunlight," we must point out that, just like the Earth, only half of
the sun receives sunlight at any one time -- and the lunar night
lasts about 15 days! See the press release ("'Fly Me to the Moon'
for Clean, Reliable Electricity") on the UH World Space Congress
2002 pressroom at: <http://www.uh.edu/wsc2002/>.
A technology team led by ENTECH, Inc. is preparing to study power
concepts that are a bit more down-to-earth -- but still not on it.
ENTECH will work with NASA Glenn Research Center and Assumption
School, both located in Cleveland, Ohio, to develop advanced
concepts for generating power in space. ENTECH has already
demonstrated a solar array in space that converted 27 percent of the
solar energy striking it into electricity. The new team has been
awarded $195,000 from the National Science Foundation and will
develop a roadmap for developing solar concentrator arrays for use
in space. See the ENTECH press release at:
<http://www.entechsolar.com/PR101502.htm>.
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SITE NEWS
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Practical Ocean Energy Management Systems (POEMS)
<http://www.poemsinc.org/>
POEMS, based in San Diego, California, facilitates education and
research in renewable ocean energy, sustainable development, and
mitigation of coastal environmental problems. Programs include a
proposed endowment fund, which will award grants to individuals and
organizations for promising new projects in ocean energy. Its Web
site features educational resources for teachers, as well as
technical and general FAQs about ocean energy.
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ENERGY FACTS AND TIPS
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EIA Updates Energy Analyses for Iraq and Afghanistan
DOE's Energy Information Administration (EIA) demonstrated
interesting timing when it updated its "Country Analysis Briefs" for
Iraq and Afghanistan last month. The EIA briefs examine the general
situation in each country and then focus in on its energy picture.
For war-torn Afghanistan, currently trying to rebuild its
infrastructure under a transitional administration, the EIA notes
that the "hurdles to recovery" are high. Still, the country has some
valuable energy assets, including up to 5 trillion cubic feet of
natural gas reserves. Thirty-one natural gas wells that formerly
supplied the Soviet Union remain shut today. The country also holds
about 95 million barrels in oil reserves, and is considered a
potential route for carrying oil and natural gas from the Caspian
Basin to the Indian Ocean. See the Afghanistan Fact Sheet on the
EIA Web site at:
<http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/afghan.html>.
The Afghanistan figures pale in comparison to those for Iraq, which
holds 110 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and more than
112 billion barrels of proven oil reserves -- the world's second
largest oil reserves. Iraq has been allowed to export some of its
oil under an "Oil for Food" program, monitored by the United
Nations. Under that program, Iraq exports officially averaged
2 million barrels per day in 2001, but dropped considerably in 2002.
However, the EIA reports that Iraq is apparently smuggling up to
400,000 barrels per day through various routes, possibly generating
as much as $2 billion per year through illegal channels. See the
Iraq Fact Sheet at:
<http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/iraq.html>.
Despite the growing threat of war against Iraq, oil prices are
holding steady in the United States. According to the EIA, the
markets are now waiting to see Iraq's response to the recent U.N.
Security Council resolution. Meanwhile, the U.S. Strategic Petroleum
Reserve now contains 590 million barrels of oil, and OPEC nations
hold about 4.9 million barrels per day of excess production capacity
that could be brought on line if needed. See the EIA Energy
Situation Analysis Report at:
<http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/security/esar/esar.html>.
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