An Ignoble Experiment

2. WA Parish carbon capture project first in the U.S.

Microsoft and EDF Renewable Energy (EDF RE) have entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for wind energy generated by the Pilot Hill Wind Project (formerly known as K4) in Illinois.

Credit: Microsoft

The 175 MW wind project is located on the same electric grid that powers Microsoft's Chicago-area data center. Physical construction will begin shortly with commercial operation anticipated during the first quarter of 2015.

The participation of companies like Microsoft in renewable energy generation projects points to a growing trend of "blue chip" organizations taking charge of their energy destiny by procuring directly -- with a focus on both reducing their carbon footprint and controlling long-term energy costs.

"It is encouraging to see leading corporations investing in the U.S. wind sector based not only on their desire to positively impact the environment," said Ryan Pfaff, executive vice president for EDF Renewable Energy, "but also because it simply makes good business sense, as the cost of wind energy continues to decline, and with the support provided by the Production Tax Credit."

This couldn't describe Microsoft better, as the Pilot Hill Wind Project becomes Microsoft's largest wind investment to date. In November, Microsoft purchased 110MW of wind energy from the Keechi Wind Project in Texas. Microsoft will purchase up to 675,000 MWh of renewable energy from Pilot Hill Wind Project annually.

"The Pilot Hill Wind Project is important to Microsoft because it helps solidify our commitment to taking significant action to shape our energy future by developing clean, low-cost sources to meet our energy needs," said Brian Janous, director of energy strategy for Microsoft. "Microsoft is focused on transforming the energy supply chain for cloud services from the power plant to the chip. Long-term commitments like Pilot Hill help ensure a cleaner grid to supply energy to our data centers."

For more:
- see this report

Read more about: EDF Renewable Energy
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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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3. Clean tech index ranks top state, city leaders

Construction at the WA Parish power plant has begun on the first commercial-scale post-combustion carbon capture retrofit project in the U.S. and the largest such project in the world.

Credit: U.S. Department of Energy/NETL

Once completed, the Petra Nova Project will capture about 1.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually from an existing coal-fired power plant in Texas. The captured CO2 will then be used to extract additional, hard-to-access oil from a previously depleted field 80 miles away, safely storing the carbon underground in the process.

Originally a 60 MW capture project for which NRG Energy Inc. and JX Nippon received $167 million in support from the U.S. Department of Energy, the project design was expanded to capture emissions from 240 MW of generation at the Houston-area power plant, quadrupling the size of the capture project without additional federal investment.

The Petra Nova Project will capture 90 percent of the CO2 using a process previously deployed in a DOE-sponsored 3-year pilot-scale test in Alabama where it successfully captured more than 150,000 metric tons of CO2 per year from a coal power plant. With this capture rate, coal-fired power generation would have a greenhouse gas footprint much lower than that of a traditional natural gas-powered plant.

After compressing and transporting the captured CO2 via pipeline, the greenhouse gas will be used to displace previously unreachable oil. Once the oil is separated from the CO2, the greenhouse gas will be injected back into the underground oil field for permanent storage. Carbon dioxide has been successfully used since the early 1970s to safely bring up more oil from reservoirs previously considered to be uneconomic for further production.

Through Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), the captured CO2 will create a revenue stream for the project by increasing domestic oil production at the West Ranch oilfield. EOR is expected to boost oil production at the field from around 500 barrels per day to approximately 15,000 barrels per day. The West Ranch oilfield is currently estimated to hold approximately 60 million barrels of oil recoverable from EOR operations.

In the CO2 capture system, virtually all sulfur dioxide (SO2) will be removed from the processed flue gas. Particulate matter and nitrogen oxide controls are already on the unit and mercury controls will be installed by 2015 before the capture system becomes operational. The flue gas leaving the CO2 capture system is expected to be among the cleanest fossil fuel emissions in the world.

After $1 billion in investments, construction is expected to be complete within about two years with commercial operation by the end of 2016.

For more:
- visit this website

Read more about: enhanced oil recovery, coal power
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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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4. DVP embarks on first Northern Virginia Solar Partnership project

From electric vehicles (EV) and renewables adoption to patent and investment activity, clean energy is becoming a popular energy choice among mainstream America. Clean Edge has released its 2014 U.S. Clean Tech Leadership Index, which tracks the clean-tech activities of all 50 states and the 50 largest metro areas in the United States.

U.S. Clean Tech Leadership Index. Click on image to enlarge. Credit: Clean Edge, Inc.

Net-zero building and energy storage mandates and new public-private investment vehicles are just a few of the emerging policies that are dramatically shifting the energy landscape. Granted, there have been some regional attacks against policies that support clean tech, such as net metering and renewable portfolio standards. For the most part, the clean-tech industry and its allies have avoided the repercussions of such efforts.

"Climate disruption and the growing availability of market-competitive clean energy technologies are driving many states and cities to tackle climate issues head-on," said Clean Edge founder and managing director Ron Pernick. "More than ever, this year's Leadership Index highlights how some top regions are taking climate action seriously, with double digit clean energy adoption rates, new policies like California's energy storage mandate, and the deployment of clean-energy investment vehicles such as New York's green bank."

According to the index, eleven states now generate more than 10 percent of their electricity from non-hydro renewable energy sources, with two -- Iowa and South Dakota -- exceeding 25 percent. Solar installations climbed more than 40 percent year-over-year in the U.S., while registrations of all-electric vehicles doubled between the 2013 and 2014 indexes, to approximately 200,000 nationwide.

California leads the nation in clean tech for the fifth consecutive year, with Massachusetts and Oregon repeating their second and third rankings, respectively, from the 2013 State Index. Vermont and Connecticut moved into the top 10 this year, while Hawaii and Minnesota dropped out.

In the Metro Index, San Francisco and San Jose again took the top two spots, while San Diego jumped four places to number three, giving California the nation's top three metros and five of the top seven.

For more:
- download the index

Read more about: clean technology
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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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5. U.S. lags in lowering solar PV costs

Dominion Virginia Power (DVP) will install more than 3,000 solar panels capable of generating more than 800 kW of electricity at the Prologis Concorde Distribution Center in Sterling, Virginia. The panels will be installed on the rooftops of two adjacent buildings on its campus, covering nearly 102,000 square feet.

This installation for Prologis is the first Northern Virginia project in Dominion's Solar Partnership Program, where the company leases rooftop or ground space at commercial, industrial or public facilities for installation of solar panels. All the electricity generated in the $2.5 million project will flow to the electric grid for use by DVP customers.

"Our customers in Northern Virginia are focused on renewable energy and this installation reflects Dominion's commitment to understanding how solar power can fit into our generation mix," said Ken Barker, vice president of Customer Solutions. "The partnership with Prologis will enable us to evaluate the benefits and study the impact of distributed solar generation on our electric grid."

Construction for Prologis will begin in July 2013 and should be fully operational in October.

Dominion's Solar Partnership Program will construct and operate up to 30 MW of company-owned solar facilities on leased rooftops, or on the grounds of commercial businesses and public properties throughout the company's service areas. When fully implemented, the program will generate enough power for up to 7,500 homes. Already complete are rooftop solar installations at the Canon Industrial Resource Technologies facility Old Dominion University.

For more:
- visit this website

Read more about: solar energy
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By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

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