An Ignoble Experiment

2. DVP base rates unchanged despite 20 years and millions in storm costs

Preliminary results are in from a Department of Energy funded initiative to find new ways of capturing carbon dioxide (CO₂) from coal-fired power plants.

New research by Rice University's George Hirasaki (left) and Sumedh Warudkar suggests that process optimization will allow engineers to significantly reduce the "parasitic" power costs of removing carbon dioxide from the exhaust of coal-fired power plants. Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University

Coal and natural gas fired power plants account for about half of the CO₂ added to the atmosphere each year, making these power plants prime candidates for new and improved carbon capture technology.

"It has been estimated that the use of current technology for CO₂ capture would drive up the cost of electricity by 70 to 100 percent," said Sumedh Warudkar, a co-investigator on the Rice University team. "In our study, we examined whether it would be possible to improve on that by using lower-value steam to run the amine recyclers."

Capturing CO₂ with conventional technology is an energy-intensive process that can consume as much as a fourth of the high-pressure steam that plants use to produce electricity. Rice University scientists have found that CO₂ can be removed more economically using waste heat -- low-grade steam that cannot be used to produce electricity.

The results are encouraging and suggest that two elements of Rice's design -- optimized amine formulation and the use of waste heat -- can reduce parasitic power loss 10 percent from 35 percent to around 25 percent.

The amount of heat required to recycle amine in the second phase of the process is a major challenge in adapting two-phase amine processing for power plants because amine recycling would require as much as one-quarter of the high-pressure steam that could otherwise be used to drive turbines and make electricity -- a phenomenon known as "parasitic" power loss, which will drive up the cost of electricity by lowering the amount of electricity a plant can produce for sale.

Additional research is underway to develop and test novel materials and a single integrated column that can further economize CO₂ capture by increasing efficiency and reducing parasitic power loss.

For more:
- see this video

Read more about: Power Plants, carbon capture
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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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3. Conn. Light and Power seeks recovery from Mother Nature's wrath

Dominion Virginia Power (DVP) says it will attempt to hold its base rates steady for the next two years, despite hundreds of millions in costs related to major weather events, including an earthquake.

Despite more than $450 million in storm costs in 2011 and 2012, Dominion has proposed that its base rates remain unchanged for at least the next two years. The base rates, which can only be adjusted every two years, have not increased since 1992.

Over the past two years, the company experienced significantly higher costs from damage primarily caused by Hurricane Irene in August 2011, the earthquake that shutdown North Anna Power Station, and other severe storms. Over the next three years, the company plans to invest approximately $8 billion in continued infrastructure improvements.

Even with the non-base rate adjustments expected to occur over the rest of the year, the company's electric rates will still be among the lowest in Virginia and well below national and regional averages. Current company projections place the impact of all other rate adjustments this year at about 3 percent.

For more:
- see this article

Read more about: Dominion Virginia Power, Base Rates
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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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4. US, UK renewable energy generation on upward trajectory

Connecticut Light and Power (CL&P) has filed a request with the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) for the recovery of millions of dollars associated with the havoc of five major weather events in 2011 and 2012.

The expenditures associated with CL&P's around-the-clock response efforts totaled $462.3 million. Of that amount, the utility is seeking to recover $414 million over six years.

Two storms, one in 2011 and one in 2012, make up most of the millions -- a Nor'easter accountable for $175 million and Superstorm Sandy racking up $156 million, respectively. The remaining costs are associated with 2011's Tropical Storm Irene and two other major storms, one in June 2011 and one in September 2012.

The damage from these storms required entire sections of CL&P's electrical distribution system to be completely rebuilt.

If approved, the request would result in a rate increase of $3 per month for a typical residential customer beginning in December of 2014.

"The damage from these natural disasters and the response to complete repairs was extraordinary and unlike anything in CL&P history," said Bill Herdegen, CL&P president and CEO. "Typically, storms of this magnitude strike years or decades apart, but in 16 months, we experienced four of the company's ten most devastating storms. Responding to Mother Nature's wrath is a necessary, but costly part of the utility business."

But there are some who attribute the costs to much more than just dumb luck. U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal and Congressman Joe Courtney want the utility to eat the storm costs as a consequence of its own failure.

"In what other line of business would a company who failed to perform charge extra for its inadequacy?" Blumenthal said in an interview with The Harford Courant.

The Democrats also recommended that PURA not force ratepayers to pay until Northeast Utilities (NU), CL&P's parent company, discloses the compensation of executives at NStar, which NU purchased for $5 billion last year, according to The Berkshire Eagle.

For more:
- see this article

Read more about: Connecticut Light and Power, PURA
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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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5. US, Asia-Pacific warming to LED technology

Renewable energy sources and natural gas have expanded rapidly over the last four years ending in 2012 compared to the same timeframe ending in 2008, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data.

During the same four years ending in 2012, coal and nuclear power generation, oil imports and use, energy consumption, and CO₂ emissions all declined, according to EIA, with domestic energy production from renewable energy sources (i.e., biofuels, biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar and wind) growing by 23.48 percent, and solar and wind more than doubling their output.

In 2012, renewable energy generation saw significant increases and accounted for 11.23 percent of domestic energy production compared to 9.84 percent in 2008. Driven in part by government support, hydropower production grew by 7.01 percent, geothermal by 18.23 percent, biofuels by 40.66 percent, solar by 138.20 percent, and wind by 149.27 percent.

"…the energy policies pioneered by the Obama Administration have generated dramatic growth rates for renewable energy during the past four years, while significantly reducing oil imports and greenhouse gas emissions," said Ken Bossong, Executive Director of the SUN DAY Campaign. "The investments in sustainable energy made by the federal government as well as state officials and private funders have paid off handsomely underscoring the short-sightedness of seemingly endless proposals to slash or discontinue such support."

The use of renewables in the United Kingdom is on a similar trajectory. In 2012, the U.K. generated 11.3 percent of its electricity from renewables overall. Much of the growth is attributed to new on- and offshore wind farms -- up by 15 percent and 46 percent, respectively. Further, biomass generation increased 17 percent and solar PV capacity increased 70 percent.

For more:
- see this report

Read more about: renewable energy, Energy Consumption
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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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