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EERE NETWORK NEWS -- June 11, 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
DOE Selects Seven Universities to Advance HTS Wires
ChevronTexaco Powers Oil Field with Large Solar Power System
First Solar to Expand its Solar Manufacturing Facility
State of Ohio Supports Fuel Cells with $20 Million in Grants
Six North American Green Roof Projects Win Awards
World's Largest Hydropower Project Now Filling Up in China
*Site News
Builders Without Borders
*Energy Connections
BP Report: World Oil Supply Comfortably Exceeds Demand
*About this Newsletter
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NEWS AND EVENTS
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DOE Selects Seven Universities to Advance HTS Wires
DOE announced on June 5th its selection of seven U.S. universities
that will help develop the next generation of high-temperature
superconductor (HTS) wires. The universities -- located in California,
Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Texas, and Wisconsin -- will share
$1 million for their research, which could play an important role in
relieving congestion in the nation's electrical transmission and
distribution systems. See the DOE press release at:
<http://www.energy.gov/HQPress/releases03/junpr/pr03124.htm>.
Superconductivity is the ability of certain materials to carry current
with no resistance at low temperatures. When used for wires,
superconductors experience much lower energy losses than standard
copper wires. Although typical superconductors require extremely low
temperatures, HTS materials achieve superconductivity at temperatures
that can be achieved with liquid nitrogen, making them more practical
for use in operating machinery. Equipment made with HTS wires -- such
as motors, generators, or transformers -- will be about half the size
of conventional equipment and will operate at higher efficiencies. See
DOE's "Superconductivity for Electric Systems" Web site at:
<http://www.eere.energy.gov/superconductivity/>.
The first generation of HTS wire is already commercially available,
and the second-generation product -- expected to sell for one-half to
one-fifth the cost of the first-generation wire -- is now under
production. American Superconductor Corporation announced in late May
that it had delivered 30 1.5-meter lengths of second-generation
HTS wire to Ultera for the fabrication of a multi-wire HTS conductor.
The conductor will be built and tested as part of a collaboration with
DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. See the American Superconductor
press release at:
<http://www.amsuper.com/html/newsEvents/news/105405711691.html>.
ChevronTexaco Powers Oil Field with Large Solar Power System
Renewable energy is now helping to provide a reliable flow of oil to
California, thanks to a new 500-kilowatt solar power installation at a
ChevronTexaco oil field near Bakersfield. United Solar Systems
Corporation (Uni-Solar) provided 4,800 amorphous-silicon solar panels
for the project, which covers six acres and helps to power oil-well
pumps and processing plants in ChevronTexaco's Midway-Sunset oil
field. The demonstration project will help Chevron Energy Solutions (a
ChevronTexaco subsidiary) gain experience with solar technology.
Uni-Solar is itself a subsidiary of Energy Conversion Devices, Inc.,
in which ChevronTexaco holds a 20 percent stake. See the ChevronTexaco
press release at:
<http://www.chevrontexaco.com/news/press/2003/2003-06-05_1.asp>.
With the help of generous state subsidies, the number of large solar
power systems in California is constantly growing. In Fairfield, for
example, Solano County officials dedicated a new 230-kilowatt system
last week. PowerLight Corporation installed the system, which is the
first phase of a 350-kilowatt project. See the June 3rd press release
by selecting 2003 press releases on the PowerLight Web site at:
<http://www.powerlight.com/company/co_innews.cfm>.
First Solar to Expand its Solar Manufacturing Facility
First Solar, LLC broke ground on a $20 million expansion of its solar
module production facility last week. The expansion will allow the
plant to produce 25 megawatts of solar modules each year beginning in
2005. First Solar produced 1.5 megawatts of solar modules in 2002 and
expects to progressively double that to 3.0 megawatts in 2003 and to
6.0 megawatts in 2004. See the June 3rd press release on the First
Solar Web site at: <http://www.firstsolar.com/company_news.html>.
First Solar was launched in 2000 with a production line that used
glass-coating technologies to manufacture thin-film solar panels at a
theoretical rate of 100 megawatts per year, although its finishing
line at the time was expected to produce at most 25 megawatts of solar
modules per year. However, after gaining production experience during
start up and commissioning of the plant, First Solar determined that
actual plant capacity was constrained by certain equipment and
processes -- constraints the new plant expansion will address. Among
the actions taken by First Solar to address the production problems
was the hiring of automation expert Rohwedder, Inc. in late 2002 to
build and install a new coating system for the company. See the
Rohwedder press release at:
<http://www.rohwedder.de/DBoutputE/investorNewsDetail.asp?newsID=135>.
State of Ohio Supports Fuel Cells with $20 Million in Grants
Ohio Governor Bob Taft awarded a total of $20 million to two
educational institutions over the past week in support of fuel cell
research and development. An $18 million grant went to Case Western
Reserve University (CWRU) to establish the "Power Partnership for
Ohio," which will support the research, development, and
commercialization of fuel cells. CWRU will house the facility and
collaborate with other Ohio educational institutions and companies in
its fuel cell projects. One of those institutions, Stark State College
of Technology, was awarded an additional $2 million to establish a
Fuel Cell Prototyping Center, which will serve as a learning center
for the public. See the governor's press releases at:
<http://www.state.oh.us/gov/releases/052903cwruwright.htm> and
<http://www.state.oh.us/gov/releases/060403fuelcell.htm>.
The Ohio Department of Development's Office of Energy Efficiency is
also supporting clean-burning and renewable energy technologies
through awards of up to $75,000 for cost-shared projects throughout
the state. The office aims to support distributed energy projects
using such technologies as microturbines, biomass energy, landfill gas
systems, cogeneration, solar thermal, solar electric, and wind power.
Proposals are due by June 27th. See the request for proposals, a
779-KB file in PDF format only, at:
<http://www.odod.state.oh.us/cdd/oee/DERRFP2003.pdf>.
Six North American Green Roof Projects Win Awards
The first-ever "Green Roof Awards of Excellence" were presented to six
North American green roof projects during the first-ever conference on
green roofs for all of North America, held in late May in Chicago. Of
the six winners, five were in the United States, including one each in
Baltimore, Maryland; San Bruno, California; Shorewood, Wisconsin;
Chicago, Illinois; and Salt Lake City, Utah. The sole Canadian winner
was a project in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Green roofs involve planting
gardens and other vegetation on the roofs of buildings, helping to
keep the building cool while also reducing the urban heat island
effect that can drive up temperatures within cities. The awards cover
both new and retrofit green roofs, and demonstrate some of the diverse
approaches to this innovative building technology. See the awards on
the "Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities" Web site at:
<http://www.greenroofs.ca/grhcc/awards.htm>.
World's Largest Hydropower Project Now Filling Up in China
The largest hydropower project in the world is now filling its
reservoir in preparation for producing power later this year. Located
on China's Yangtze River, the Three Gorges Project has been under
construction since 1994 and will eventually achieve a capacity of
18,200 megawatts. When completed in 2009, it is expected to generate
nearly 85 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, equal to
about 6.5 percent of the country's electrical needs in 2001. The
reservoir began filling on the morning of June 1st, when the gates of
19 water diversion holes at the bottom of the dam were closed. See the
Chinese Embassy press release at:
<http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/50308.html>.
Flood control was China's primary motivation for building the
controversial water project. According to the Chinese Embassy, its
reservoir will inundate a record 244 square miles of land stretched
out over 412 miles of the river, most likely displacing about
1.2 million people in 365 townships. See the Chinese Embassy fact
sheet at: <http://www.china-embassy.org/eng/6893.html>.
In contrast to the Three Gorges Project, hydropower capacity in the
United States has recently been characterized by small-scale projects,
capacity-adding refurbishments of existing projects, and occasional
decommissioning of older units. For instance, PacifiCorp recently
agreed to decommission and eventually remove the 6-megawatt Powerdale
Hydropower Project on Hood River in Oregon, starting in 2010.
Meanwhile, in Idaho, a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation project is
refurbishing an old hydropower plant to generate 3 megawatts of power.
Built in 1912, the plant hasn't operated since 1982. See the press
releases from PacifiCorp and the Bureau of Reclamation at:
<http://www.pacificorp.com/Press_Release/Press_Release28236.html>
and <http://www.usbr.gov/pn/news/02new/diversioncontract.html>.
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SITE NEWS
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Builders Without Borders
<http://builderswithoutborders.org/>
Builders Without Borders is an international network of ecological
builders who form partnerships with communities and organizations
around the world to create affordable housing from local materials.
The group's projects focus mainly on strawbale construction.
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ENERGY CONNECTIONS
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BP Report: World Oil Supply Comfortably Exceeds Demand
The world's supply of oil is more than sufficient to meet demand, even
when disruptions occur in oil-producing countries, says a new report
from BP. The company released its 52nd annual "BP Statistical Review
of World Energy Use" on Tuesday. A look at the report makes one fact
clear: the Middle East has much greater oil reserves than the rest of
the world. While most areas of the world have only 10 to 40 years of
proven oil reserves at their current rate of oil production, the
Middle East has 92 years of proven oil reserves, guaranteeing its
dominance of world oil markets far into the future.
World energy use increased 2.6 percent in 2002, well ahead of the
10-year growth trend of 1.4 percent per year. China was largely
responsible for the increased growth; in China alone, energy use
increased nearly 20 percent, much of which was met with coal. Chinese
coal consumption grew 28 percent in 2002, causing world use of coal to
increase 7 percent. See the BP press release and full report at:
<http://www.bp.com/centres/press/p_r_detail.asp?id=992> and
<http://www.bp.com/centres/energy/>.
Although the full report does not include non-hydro renewable energy
sources ("because of problems with the completeness, timeliness, and
quality of data"), the BP Web site includes a brief summary, noting
that although renewable energy provided only 2.5 percent of the
world's energy needs in 2000, wind and solar energy have both
increased more than ten-fold over the last decade. Worldwide, roughly
32,000 megawatts of wind power are now installed, and solar power
capacity is just under 1,000 megawatts. See the BP renewables page
(and note the left-hand column links to pages about wind and solar
energy) at: <http://www.bp.com/centres/energy/renewables/index.asp>.
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ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER
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