Green Options » transmission

Tokyo Auto Show: Honda CR-Z Hybrid Coming To America

Christopher DeMorro — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:53:08 +0000

I don’t normally get excited about hybrids. They’re pretty humdrum if you ask me, and I was into performance vehicles way before I was into alternative fuels. The Prius is boring, the Fusion is just a Fusion, and the Insight and downright ugly.

But Honda seems to have been listening, having announced that the aggressively styled CR-Z concept hatch will make it into production as a 2011 model for Japan and America. This is a hybrid car I could actually see myself driving.

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BrightSource Splits Utility-Scale Solar Site With Giant Housing Developer

Susan Kraemer — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:31:06 +0000

It is easy enough for solar companies to sign contracts under new RPS laws requiring utilities to buy more and more renewable energy. But building any new power sites or transmission is fraught with difficulties, even when these are for a societal good like renewable energy.

But BrightSource has been creative in finding sites for its utility-scale solar thermal plants. Here’s a new example.

They have just made a deal with Nevada housing developer Coyote Springs Land Company to site a 960 MW solar thermal plant on 12 square miles of a 43,000 acre housing development planned before the economic real estate apocalypse. Some solar was part of Coyote’s original plan for its golfing community 50 miles north of Las Vegas, but not 12 square miles of it!

Now with housing in free-fall, the expertize of housing developers comes in handy to help us meet the need for more renewable energy. Solar power developers could piggyback on the experience of housing developers with the know-how to get through red tape.

This could be how renewable power overcomes siting hurdles - and how the construction industry digs its way out of a deep recession. A marriage made in heaven.

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Senate Climate Debate: Six to Watch on the Climb to Sixty

Joe Walsh — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:42:48 +0000

Back in late spring, critics on the left attacked the Waxman-Markey bill for compromising on carbon credits even as the right slapped on the “energy tax” label, and - at least if early September is any indication - that label has stuck.

It is not clear that President Obama and Majority Leader Harry Reid (pictured left with New Mexico Democrat Jeff Bingaman - another key climate voice) can win a simple majority for carbon-capping climate change legislation this year, with industrial state Dems already defecting, but the lift for Reid and his whips will be even tougher: they cannot overcome a GOP filibuster without a 60 vote super-majority.

If those Senators in favor of climate legislation get the 60 votes they need to block a filibuster and pass a climate bill, they likely can’t do it without a little help from these six. These are the six Senators that lobbyists will be courting, the White House will be pressing, and you should be watching in the coming days and weeks as the Senate addresses climate change.

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Battle of the States Begins: Arizona Wants Solar Business

Jennifer Kho — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:23:54 +0000

Arizona wants to be the “solar-energy hub of the world,” Kristin Mays, chair of the Arizona Corporation Commission, which regulates utilities in the state, said at the Intersolar North America conference in San Francisco this week.

The state last week enacted a law that offers new incentives, including a tax credit of up to 10 percent, for solar companies that set up shop there.

At the Intersolar North America conference in San Francisco this week, some state rivalry became apparent as Arizona leaders argued the state’s advantages compared to California. “We know the Mojave desert’s off limits. Well, the desert in Arizona is open for business,” said Barry Broome, CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, to laughter from the audience.

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Environmental Groups Sue Over Transmission Corridors

Timothy B. Hurst — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:53:40 +0000

A coalition of environmental groups have sued the federal government over the creation of transmission corridors that will perpetuate the use of coal-fired power throughout the West.

The lawsuit (pdf) against the Interior, Agriculture and Energy departments filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California charges that the agencies “created a sprawling, hopscotch network of 6,000 miles of rights-of-way” without:

considering environmental impacts;
analyzing alternatives;
weighing federal policies that support renewable energy;
ensuring the corridors’ consistency with federal and local land-use plans, and;
consulting other federal agencies or Western states and local governments.
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New Design Integrates Wind Turbines Into Transmission Towers

Timothy B. Hurst — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:54:23 +0000

Concept incorporates vertical-axis wind turbines directly into transmission towers already dotting the landscape.

Three Frenchmen, architects Nicola Delon and Julien Choppin, along with engineer Raphaël Ménard, believe they have stumbled upon a scalable design that would not only allow wind turbines to work in virtually any landscape, they believe it avoids some of the aesthetic hurdles normally facing large wind farms. The Wind-it concept would fuse vertical-axis wind turbines directly into new or existing electricity transmission infrastructure.

The team estimates that if a third of France’s high-voltage electricity towers were renovated with turbines, they could rival the power generation of two nuclear reactors, or about 5 percent of the country’s energy needs.

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Economic Stimulus Package: Will Obama Push for a Smart Grid?

Timothy B. Hurst — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:17:40 +0000

Spending in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on environmental projects being debated in Congress right now already includes $100 billion in ‘green stimulus.’ But because of the stated preference for so-called ‘shovel-ready‘ infrastructure projects, long-term infrastructure projects like mass transit and a smart grid may suffer.

The bill already includes spending for incentives for clean energy; the retrofitting of public buildings and public housing; low and moderate-income home weatherization; clean water and environmental restoration projects. But mass transit and smart grids require the kind of planning and long-term investment not encapsulated by that tidy new buzzword, ’shovel-ready.’

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Al Gore Calls for “Civil Disobedience” to Stop Construction of New Coal-Fired Power Plants

Timothy B. Hurst — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:05:24 +0000

New York, September 24, 2008- Mr. Gore’s attack on coal was clear and forceful. “Clean coal is like healthy cigarettes - it does not exist,” he said. But Gore also added that if we can sequester coal, than okay. But since the technology does not exist right now, we shouldn’t be pretending it is a solution.

Addressing attendees at the Clinton Global Initiative, Gore called on the young people in the United States to reject new coal-fired power plants. “It’s time for civil disobedience to stop the construction of new coal plants,” implored the former Vice-President.

After introductory remarks by former President Bill Clinton, Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg, and cyclist Lance Armstrong, Al Gore launched a familiar-sounding polemic against carbon-based fuels with an intensified focus on the dishonest - and perhaps illegal - actions of the “carbon lobby.” Al Gore joined the discussion begun by the high-profile collection of heads of state, corporate leaders, and one very well-behaved rockstar/activist.

Joining Clinton on stage was former Vice-President Al Gore; the Queen of Jordan Rania Al-Abdullah; the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Coca-Cola, E. Neville Isdell; the President of Liberia, Ellent Johnson-Sirleaf, and Bono.

Gore takes on big carbon

Gore said for the carbon lobby to be trying to convince their stockholders that renewable energy is risky business and that climate change is a hoax, they are purporting a type of stock fraud that should be addressed by attorneys general across the country.

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2,000 MW Wind Farm Will Send Power from Wyoming to Southern California

Timothy B. Hurst — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 21:33:54 +0000

Add the name of Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz to the growing list of investors throwing their hats into the ring of a booming wind energy and transmission industry in the American west.

The Anschutz Corp. said Tuesday it has acquired the rights to a proposed $3 billion, 3,000-megawatt transmission project that will bring electricity from Wyoming to Southern California, Las Vegas and Phoenix.

The 900-mile TransWest Express Project will carry power from a 2,000-megawatt wind farm Anschutz is developing in south-central Wyoming, a large portion of which will be built on a ranch he has owned for about 15 years.

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Transmission Politics Hold Up Utility-Scale Solar [update]

Timothy B. Hurst — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:30:02 +0000

California plan facing ‘NIABY’ foes (Not In Anyone’s Back Yard)

[UPDATE: I have added a list of the environmental groups that oppose Superlink below] A project being developed by San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and Stirling Energy is facing opposition from some environmentalists because the plan also calls for a 150-mile, high-voltage transmission line that would pass through 23 miles of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, a spot known for its hiking trails, wildflowers, palm groves, cacti and spectacular mountain views.

The proposed Sunrise Powerlink would carry energy produced from several wind, solar, and geothermal installations from the California’s Imperial Valley to San Diego. The entire route would be about 150 miles long with 554 towers from end to end. (But with a cheery name like Sunrise Powerlink, how could anyone oppose it?)

While federal and state officials put the brakes on new coal-fired power plants and as investors back out of others, the demand for more renewable energy will only grow stronger. And as it turns out, the spots with the best renewable resources also have the harshest and often least habitable climates - dry, hot, windy, barren, etc. - so the electricity then needs to be transmitted to areas where people have settled (i.e. cities). And that is where some problems are surfacing.

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Sun Won’t Set on Sunrise Powerlink Debate; More Hearings This Week

Maria Surma Manka — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 12:49:02 +0000

Sunrise Powerlink is a transmission project proposed by San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E). According to a SDG&E map, the 150-mile line would wind its way from Imperial County east of San Diego, through Anza-Borrego State Park, and down into San Diego. It would be the first new transmission line connecting the San Diego area to the state’s energy grid in 25 years. SDG&E says the line is needed to transport wind and solar energy from projects in Imperial County to San Diego, and to meet California’s requirements to get 20 percent of its energy from renewables by 2010.

Simple, right? Hardly. This project has been hugely controversial. SDG&E’s cost savings numbers have been largely inflated, opponents argue that renewable energy projects in Imperial County don’t depend on the construction of Sunrise Powerlink, and SDG&D has admitted that it doesn’t need the line to meet the state’s renewable energy requirement as previously stated. Rather, opponents argue, the line will be a huge windfall for SDG&E and other contractors while hanging the ratepayers out to dry in the process. A recent article from the Voice of San Diego noted:

"The power line’s $447 million annual savings was cut to $142 million a year after erroneous calculations were uncovered. A solar energy project whose fate was once tied to the line has failed to demonstrate that it works on a commercial scale. SDG&E has equivocated about how much renewable energy can be found in Imperial County, where the line will begin. The company has waffled about whether the line is necessary to spark renewable energy development in Imperial County."

But SDG&E points to government reports that say San Diego will need more transmission capacity to meet a growing population. A coalition called Californians for Clean and Reliable Energy (Cal-CARE) has organized to support the project. It’s made up of a long list of businesses, unions, and government officials – but no green groups that I could find. Cal-CARE’s Co-Chair and former chairman of the California Energy Commission Bill Keese said in a statement earlier this summer: "By linking the state to abundant supplies of solar, wind and geothermal power in the Imperial Valley, the Sunrise Powerlink will battle climate change by helping meet California’s environmental mandates of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the use of renewable energy."

Hearings at the California Public Utilities Commissions (CPUC) were delayed when Commissioner Dian Grueneich ruled that more analysis was needed. Hearings resumed in San Francisco this week and may run through the end of September. The CPUC and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management are expected to release an environmental impact statement in January, with a decision about whether to approve the line happening in mid-2008 at the earliest.

Cal-CARE
Energy and Nature
Rancho Penasquitos Concerned Citizens
Voice of San Diego

Moving the Wind

Maria Surma Manka — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:07:05 +0000

Global warming concerns, government policies, and money-saving efficiency benefits have spurred clean energy systems to spring up all over the world. But a giant wind farm in the middle-of-nowhere North Dakota doesn’t do much good if there aren’t transmission lines to connect the power with the more populated areas that need it.

Europeans are facing similar distribution and reliability issues with their burgeoning renewable energy growth, and some see a continent-wide grid as the solution. Dr. Jurgen Schimd of ISET, a renewable-energy institute at the University of Kassel in Germany, says a transmission system that stretches across Europe is the answer. It could, for example, move electricity generated from a Spanish wind farm to the Netherlands where the wind is not blowing.

Norway is key to Dr. Schmid’s plans, as the Scandinavian nation is well-supplied with hydroelectric plants that can store energy from sources like the wind. For instance, the wind power is used to pump water up into the reservoirs that feed the hydroelectric turbines, so the power is “on tap” when needed. According to Dr. Schmid, even if the wind died and wind farms shut down all across Europe, Norway’s hydropower would leap to action and fill in the gap for up to four weeks.

This continent-wide transmission system for renewable energy has also sparked a renewed interest in direct current (DC). Over 100 years ago, when power grids covered shorter distances, alternating current (AC) transmission was favored because it loses less electricity than DC. However, as transmission lines have grown longer, high-voltage DC lines now suffer lower loses than AC. So using a DC transmission system would allow electric grids to be restructured more efficiently, losing less energy while transmitting it from Point A to Point B.

Some nations have already started work on a DC transmission system. A group of Norgwegian companies have begun building high-voltage DC lines between Scandinavia, the Netherlands, and Germany. An Irish wind power company called Airtricity proposes what it calls a Supergrid that would link offshore wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean with customers in northern Europe.

The electric grid in the U.S. is in sore need of an upgrade, and we should consider ideas that utilize the different forms of renewable energy abundant across the country (like hydroelectric in the Northeast, wind in the Midwest, solar in the Southwest). It’s a combination of these renewable sources – along with crucial upgrades in efficiency – that will provide a clean, reliable network of distribution in the 21st century.

Thanks to Working Dad at Housekept for the tip.

The Economist
Wikipedia

Ready for more wind!

Maria Surma Manka — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 08:00:00 +0000

The Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) is responsible for delivering hydroelectric power within a 15-state region of the central and western United States. WAPA – an agency of the U.S. Department of Energy – has a transmission system that carries electricity from 57 power plants to homes and businesses across a great portion of this country.

Stifle that yawn! The exciting news is that its new administrator is gung-ho on wind power. Tim Meeks took over the top spot last week, and pointed out to the Closed Circuit newsletter that the percentage of Federal hydropower WAPA is providing is decreasing because of customers’ growing needs for energy. But wind power can help alleviate this need:

Another area we are focusing on is integrating wind into the existing transmission system. Wind energy is here. It's a renewable resource that is getting a lot of attention both from consumers and politicians. Wind energy is the world's fastest-growing energy technology. We need to do what we can physically to make it easier for wind generators to connect to the system.

This is important because a big issue with new wind power is making sure that there is enough room on the wires – the transmission system – to handle the extra power. Having a major power administrator welcoming wind and committing to getting more of wind on the electric grid bodes well for a continued, booming expansion of this vital energy source.

Western Area Power Administration
Closed circuit newsletter