Today's Top Stories
1. Geothermal outlook positive for 2013
2. Natural gas supply transformation shaping a new gas market
3. Renewable energy mergers and acquisitions to double in 2013
4. Facility scoring system factors in regional impacts
5. Lux identifies top emerging technology companies in energy Also Noted: University TechWatch
Spotlight On... Texas leads competitive retail market again
Scarce resources in 2030; Rural broadband access and much more...  | | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | Harvesting energy: The power of tornadoes
AVEtec has been awarded an approximately $350,000 grant from Breakout Labs and the Thiel Foundation to promote innovation in science and technology, in this case harnessing clean energy. AVEtec's proposal is to harness the power of atmospheric vortexes (tornadoes). Article HVDC sparks transmission growth in Eastern U.S.
Has the day finally arrived for widespread adoption of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission? As the U.S. electric grid continues to age, specifically in the Eastern Interconnect, there is an emerging need for additional transmission. Feature News From Across the Energy Industry:
1. Order 1000 leaves some transmission problems unsolved
2. Utility data analytics driving Soft Grid
3. IEEE standards updates address smart grid wireless communications
| This week's sponsor is SmartGrid Careers. |  | | Market Your Open Smart Grid Career Opportunities to 17K Qualified Smart Grid Professionals! |
Today's Top News 1. Geothermal outlook positive for 2013
Even though the country's renewable energy experienced continued economic challenges, some experienced growth. According to the Geothermal Energy Assocation, 2012 was a year of growth for geothermal and 2013 looks just as promising. Seven new geothermal projects and additions came online in 2012 -- totaling 147.05 MW of gross capacity, representing the highest yearly increase in geothermal power capacity since the production tax credit was made available to geothermal in 2005. This also represents and a 5 percent increase over 2011. There are more projects that are expected to come online is 2013. According to the GEA, 2012 was a year of firsts for the geothermal industry, including the first hybrid solar-geothermal project commissioned by Enel Green Power; the first co-production of geothermal power at a gold mine commissioned by ElectraTherm; the first utility-scale geothermal power plant in Oregon was brought online by U.S. Geothermal. In terms of policy progress, 2012 was a fairly good year. Congress took action on a to help geothermal, including allowing projects to lock in the federal tax credits once they were under construction, instead of being online by a specific deadline. The Senate Finance Committee approved the change and it is actively under discussion in the lame duck session's "fiscal cliff" negotiations. If adopted, it could spur strong growth in geothermal for several years. For more:
- see this article Related Articles:
Geothermal looks to regain traction in California
Geothermal primed to help California reduce GHG emissions Read more about: renewable energy, geothermal
back to top |
| This week's sponsor is Zpryme. |  | Zpryme's Smart Grid Insights and FierceSmartGrid are conducting a survey to assess the current sentiment and outlook for the Smart Grid industry on a monthly basis. We would like to invite utility, energy, and Smart Grid executives to participate in this month's survey. Click here to take the survey.
|
2. Natural gas supply transformation shaping a new gas market
Significant natural gas demand growth in North America will occur over the next decade, driven by a combination of greater use of gas-fired generation plants and higher natural gas demand for industrial use, according to research from Navigant. In the mid-term much of the growth will be driving by increased coal-to-gas substitution in the power sector as a result of persistently low but slowly increasing natural gas prices, as well as significant scheduled retirements of existing coal-fired generation plants which are expected across the United States over the next five to seven years. Natural gas use in the U.S. power generation sector is expected to increase 55 percent from 28.9 Bcfd in 2012 to 44.8 Bcfd in 2035. Demand is projected to increase 37 percent by 2035. Currently, shale gas represents 38 percent of U.S. production, but will increase to 66 percent in 2035. "With the recent transformation of natural gas supply in North America, ample supply has already driven impactful market responses, which in turn will help redefine a 'new' North American gas market in the future," said Gordon Pickering, a director in Navigant's Energy Practice. For more:
- see the report Related Articles:
CO2 technology could change natural gas industry economics
Overwhelming optimism for natural gas future Read more about: North America, natural gas
back to top |
3. Renewable energy mergers and acquisitions to double in 2013
4. Facility scoring system factors in regional impacts
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) ENERGY STAR program provides an innovative energy performance rating scale for businesses to measure current building energy performance and reduce consumption through goal setting, savings tracking and recognition of superior performance. With the addition of Energy Points, utilities will be able to help building owners factor in the regional impact of how their energy is being generated, while accounting for renewable energy use in their broader energy efficiency scores. Further, efficiency of all resources, including water and waste, can be accounted for. Using the EPA's ENERGY STAR program, building owners and facility managers enter historical billing data and building details to receive a score between 1 and 100 indicating the relative energy efficiency of the building. For example, a score of 85 indicates that a particular building is operating more efficiently than 85 percent of its peers. Energy Points adds insight to the ENERGY STAR score by helping owners/managers understand the relative efficiency of all resources and regional pricing. For example, an Energy Points efficiency score of 85 for electricity indicates that production in a specific location is more efficient, sustainable and risk averse than 85 percent of other regions, while a score of 25 results from inefficient, unsustainable and risk-prone fuel sources such as coal. Combining the scoring systems, utilities can optimize the performance of efficiency projects for building owners by focusing their efforts on the buildings that are least efficient and are located in regions where electricity generation is unsustainable and expensive. Read more about: Energy Efficiency, EPA
back to top |
5. Lux identifies top emerging technology companies in energy
Lux technology has identified some of the best emerging technology companies of 2012 to address the social and economic needs created by energy and infrastructure issues. Vigilent, a grid storage and efficient building systems company, receives a high Lux rating for artificial intelligence-based energy management software, which learns operational habits and optimizes building energy efficiency and consumption and offers payback periods of less than two years. In solar, Lux rates SunPower highly as the manufacturer of the highest efficiency crystalline silicon modules on the market with 21 percent efficiency. Further, Lux notes that SunPower has strong strategic partners and a multi-gigawatt project pipeline in the high profit margin regions of the Americas and Asia. Lux rates Enviro Voraxial highly for its high-efficiency, low-footprint oil-water separators which are especially suitable for the offshore market. In 2012, the company quadrupled its revenue. Solazyme, an alternative fuels company, also received a high Lux rating. As one of the few advanced fermentation companies generating revenue today, Solazyme is aligning partners and scaling production facilities to sell into high value markets before bringing down costs to compete in commodity fuels and chemicals, according to Lux. For more:
- see this article Related Articles:
Top sustainable energy and infrastructure companies
Bridgelux, Prudent Energy get "positive" Lux ratings Read more about: SunPower, Lux Research
back to top |
Also Noted | This week's sponsor is University TechWatch. |  | University Clean Tech Directory and Database
More than 400 technologies and startups - mined, vetted and indexed from 200+ U.S. universities - plus continuous database updates
Use discount code "FIERCE2012" for $100 off
See www.universitycleantech.com |
SPOTLIGHT ON... Texas leads competitive retail market again A new report recognizes Texas as the competitive retail market leader for the sixth consecutive year. Also receiving nods for their policies to foster choice for electricity customers are New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Maryland. Article >Prepare for scarce resouces in 2030. Article
>Frontier to deliver energy services. Article
>New FCC fund boosts rural broadband access. Article
> White paper: Cyber Security and the Energy Sector Utilities face many security challenges today. AT&T and Sierra Wireless are working together to provide strong and proven security technologies enabling utilities with a secure and flexible two-way communications infrastructure to connect and communicate in real time. Download now. > Survey: Take the Smart Grid Index Survey Zpryme's Smart Grid Insights and FierceSmartGrid are conducting a survey to assess the current sentiment and outlook for the Smart Grid industry on a monthly basis. We would like to invite utility, energy, and Smart Grid executives to participate in this month's survey. Click here to take the survey. > Reach Over 17K Smart Grid Professionals for $249! Market your open Smart Grid career opportunities to over 17,000 qualified Smart Grid candidates. Our career marketing package leverages a powerful combination of e-mail marketing, social media promotion and visibility to over 4,500 targeted unique site visitors every month! www.smartgridcareers.com | |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Keep a civil tongue.