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EERE NETWORK NEWS -- October 8, 2003
A weekly newsletter from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE)
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
<http://www.eere.energy.gov/>
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Featuring:
*News and Events
NREL and DuPont to Design and Build a Pilot "Biorefinery"
New Large Wind Facilities Online in California, New Mexico
Massachusetts Provides $4 Million for Community Wind Power
Lowe's Installs 370-Kilowatt Solar Power System in L.A.
Green Power Comes to North Carolina and Georgia
Three Hydropower Facilities to be Shut Down in Maine
*Energy Connections
EIA Cautiously Optimistic About Heating Costs this Winter
*About this Newsletter
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NEWS AND EVENTS
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NREL and DuPont to Design and Build a Pilot "Biorefinery"
DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and DuPont announced
on Monday that they will work together to develop the world's first
integrated "biorefinery" that uses corn or other organic materials to
produce a variety of fuels and chemicals. Under a $7.7-million
agreement, the two organizations will collaborate to develop, build,
and test a pilot-scale biorefinery that will make use of the entire
corn plant, including the stalks, husks, and leaves. Those parts,
which currently go to waste, will be converted into fuel-grade ethanol
and electrical power. Purified sugars from the corn kernel will be
converted into chemicals such as Sorona, DuPont's new corn-based
polymer. See the NREL press release at:
<http://www.nrel.gov/news/press/2003/2903_corn_fuel.html>.
See also DuPont's Sorona Web site at:
<http://www.dupont.com/sorona/biotechnology.html> and
<http://www.dupont.com/sorona/technologyplatform.html>.
DuPont's efforts to convert corn into a polymer follow the earlier
advances made by Cargill Dow LLC, which produces its NatureWorks PLA,
a polylactic polymer, from cornstarch. The process seems to have
appeal for Toyota Motor Corporation, as well: the company announced in
July that it plans to build a pilot plant for producing polylactic
polymer from sugar cane. Toyota's pilot plant will be capable of
producing 1,000 tons of biobased plastic per year. See the Cargill Dow
Web site and the Toyota press release at:
<http://www.cargilldow.com/corporate/home.asp> and
<http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/news/03/0724.html>.
Despite new techniques to turn corn waste into ethanol and other
products, researchers continue to perfect the current industry
techniques of converting corn kernels into ethanol. The Renewable
Fuels Association (RFA) announced in late September that a new
National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center has opened at Southern
Illinois University Edwardsville. The new research center is the only
facility in the world that fully emulates both wet-mill and dry-mill
processes for converting corn into ethanol. See the RFA press release
and the new center's Web site at:
<http://www.ethanolrfa.org/pr030922b.html> and
<http://www.siue.edu/ETHANOL/>.
New Large Wind Facilities Online in California, New Mexico
FPL Energy, LLC maintained its reputation as the largest U.S. wind
power developer in recent weeks, with the dedication of both its
162-megawatt wind power plant in California and its 204-megawatt wind
plant in New Mexico. California's new High Winds Energy Center had a
capacity of 150 megawatts when it was dedicated on September 18th, but
it will be expanded to 162 megawatts before the end of the year.
PPM Energy, Inc. is buying all the power from the project and selling
it wholesale to cities throughout the state. The New Mexico Wind
Energy Center, dedicated on October 1st, is the world's third-largest
wind power facility. The Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) is
buying all the power from the project for sale to its customers
through the "PNM Sky Blue" green power program. See the press releases
from PPM Energy and PNM at:
<http://www.ppmenergy.com/rel_03.09.18.html> and
<http://www.pnm.com/news/2003/1001_wind_ranch.htm>.
The California Independent System Operator (ISO), which operates
California's power grid, claimed some of the credit for the High Winds
Energy Center. According to the ISO, California wind generators are
usually able to avoid "deviation penalties" incurred when they deliver
more or less energy than they are scheduled to deliver. While such
penalties can cause a significant roadblock to wind energy development
in other states, the California ISO uses high-tech wind forecasting to
schedule the wind energy about one hour ahead of time. The ISO also
allows wind energy producers to "net out" any deviations over the
course of a month, which helps to minimize any penalties. The wind
energy producers now enrolled in the ISO program represent more than
300 megawatts of wind energy capacity. See the California ISO press
release, in PDF format only, at:
<http://www.caiso.com/docs/09003a6080/27/11/09003a608027110f.pdf>.
Massachusetts Provides $4 Million for Community Wind Power
The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) announced in
mid-September a $4 million initiative to help cities and towns
throughout the state tap into wind power. The MTC administers the
state's Renewable Energy Trust, which has developed detailed wind
resource maps for each of the 351 communities in the state. The MTC is
holding a series of meetings across the state to gauge interest and to
determine what resources are needed for developing successful local
wind installations. See the MTC press release and Web site at:
<http://www.mtpc.org/NewsandReports/press/pr_09_17_03_wind.htm> and
<http://www.masstech.org/windpower/>.
The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has long recognized the
benefits of small wind power installations, and has just published a
new booklet, "Permitting Small Wind Turbines: A Handbook." The
handbook is available as a 495-KB PDF file on the AWEA Web site at:
<http://www.awea.org/smallwind/documents/permitting.pdf>.
For more information on small wind turbines, see the AWEA Small Wind
Systems Web site at: <http://www.awea.org/smallwind.html>.
Lowe's Installs 370-Kilowatt Solar Power System in L.A.
Lowe's Companies, Inc. announced last week that it has installed a
370-kilowatt solar power system on the roof of its West Hills store in
Los Angeles, California. PowerLight Corporation furnished the system,
which uses Shell Solar modules that cover 37,500 square feet of the
store's roof. See the October 10th press release on the PowerLight Web
site at:
<http://www.powerlight.com/company/press-releases/index.shtml>.
When it comes to large solar power installations, California continues
to dominate the nation's news. Other recent large installations
include a 214-kilowatt system in Vallejo, which led the city to
declare itself as the number one city in the nation in terms of
installed photovoltaic capacity per capita. And in Santa Monica, a
50-kilowatt solar power system now power's the Ferris wheel at the
city's Pacific Park. See the City of Vallejo press release, in PDF
format only, at: <http://www.ci.vallejo.ca.us/uploads/75/613.pdf>.
See also the September 11th press release from Shell Solar at:
<http://www.shell.com/home/Framework?siteId=shellsolar>.
Green Power Comes to North Carolina and Georgia
Green power -- electricity from renewable energy sources -- came to
North Carolina and Georgia for the first time on October 1st. In North
Carolina, NC GreenPower launched a statewide initiative with the
support of all the state's utility companies. The utilities are
selling green power at a premium of $4 per 100 kilowatt-hours, with
discounts available to buyers of 10,000 kilowatt-hours or more. In
Georgia, the Green Power Electric Membership Corporation -- Green
Power EMC, for short -- began providing green power to 16 electric
cooperatives throughout the state. Green Power EMC is drawing on nine
megawatts of green power generated by three landfill gas projects. See
the press releases from NC Green Power (a 722-KB PDF file) and from
Walton EMC, one of the 16 member cooperatives in Georgia, at:
<http://www.ncgreenpower.org/media/NCGreenPowerMediaKit.pdf> and
<http://www.waltonemc.com/news.cfm?docID=698>.
See also the NC GreenPower and Green Power EMC Web sites at:
<http://www.ncgreenpower.org> and <http://www.greenpoweremc.com>.
While many people are buying green power directly from their utility,
another option is to buy green tags, also called tradable renewable
energy credits, which represent the attributes or benefits of
renewable energy generation. In September, the Center for Resource
Solutions announced that six new suppliers have earned the center's
Green-e certification, which verifies that each green tag does in fact
represent power produced from renewable energy. See the Green-e press
release at: <http://www.green-e.org/media_ed/7new.trcs.html>.
Green tags have attracted enough international interest to inspire the
International Energy Agency to help launch a new Web site called
TRECNET, the Tradable Renewable Energy Credit Expert Network. The site
is meant as a tool for information sharing. See the TRECNET Web site
at: <http://www.trecnet.org/>.
Three Hydropower Facilities to be Shut Down in Maine
PPL Corporation announced Monday that it has reached an agreement with
a coalition of federal and state government agencies and private
groups to sell three of its hydroelectric dams in Maine. The coalition
has a five-year option to buy the three facilities for $25 million,
with plans to remove two of the dams and bypass the third in order to
restore runs of Atlantic salmon and other migratory fishes to the
Penobscot River. The three projects represent 18 megawatts of
hydroelectric generating capability.
PPL will continue to own about 27 megawatts of hydroelectric capacity
on the Penobscot River and its tributaries in Maine, and the agreement
will allow PPL to boost energy output at its remaining projects. The
private groups have also agreed to drop opposition to PPL's federal
relicensing efforts for its remaining dams. See the PPL press release
at: <http://www1.pplweb.com/newsapp/news_releases.home>.
Although dam removal has obvious benefits for fish migration, the full
impact of such a project is difficult to quantify. A report issued in
mid-September by the Heinz Center -- a nonprofit institution for
environmental policy -- attempts to draw together all the information
that is currently available on the topic. See the Heinz Center press
release at:
<http://www.heinzctr.org/Press_Releases/dam_removal_research.htm>.
Both the latest report and a related report produced last year are
available on the Heinz Center's Publications page at:
<http://www.heinzctr.org/publications.htm>.
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ENERGY CONNECTIONS
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EIA Cautiously Optimistic About Heating Costs this Winter
DOE's Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its Short-Term
Energy Outlook on Tuesday, and the outlook for U.S. fuel prices this
winter is good if the weather is normal. But with the supply situation
remaining tight, a colder-than-normal winter would present a
substantial risk of higher fuel prices.
U.S. heating fuel inventories are on track to reach normal or near-
normal levels by the end of October, a substantial improvement from
the end of last winter, when natural gas inventories reached record
lows. Based on these inventories, the EIA projects that those using
heating oil will see an 8 percent decrease in heating costs this
winter (compared to last winter), while homes heated with natural gas,
propane, and electricity will see increases of 5 percent, 3 percent,
and 2 percent, respectively. See the EIA press release at:
<http://www.eia.doe.gov/neic/press/press220.html>.
The Short-Term Energy Outlook is posted on the EIA Web site at:
<http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/contents.html>.
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ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER
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