US EPA adopts revised rules for new power plants

Tulsa, OK-Gina McCarthy, administrator who took the stage at the national environmental protection agency, the Press Club in Washington, D.C. September 20, their agency newly revised pollution to adopt standards for new power plants.

McCarthy said that the proposed rules is a flexible, accessible way in the future from morning fleet of power plants. According to the rules, the large natural gas-fired turbines would emit less than 1,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide per MWh, while new small natural gas-fired turbines would have to spend less than 1,100 kilograms of carbon dioxide per MWh.

New coal-fired power plants would need units less than 1,100 kilograms of carbon dioxide per MWh or spend, optimize more than 84 months operating plants offer the flexibility and time to technologies, between 1,000 and 1,050 kilograms of carbon dioxide per MWh in the average.

The average US coal plant emits 1,768 kilograms of carbon dioxide per MWh-hour. Natural gas plants emit 800 to 850 pounds.

Administration was coal-fired electricity site according to the US energy information responsible for 37 percent of all power generation in 2012.

President Barack Obama directed the EPA to develop and release pollution standards for new and old power plants in June 2013 as part of a larger plan to tackle climate change.

"Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. More than 97 percent of the climate researchers are convinced that human induced climate change is taking place on the basis of scientific data. If our climate change goes unchecked, this devastating effects on the United States and the planet needs. Reduction of CO2 pollution is of vital importance for the protection of Americans, health and the environment which our economy depends, "she said.

This latest version of the EPA standards for new power plants that is result of some 2 million public comments, said McCarthy.

"We have done what requires democracy. We paid attention. We heard these comments, and that's what today's proposal reflects, "she said.

One way the is can meet standards the use of CO2 sequestration - a technology that she said "proved"

"CO2 capture and sequestration technologies will eventually tire and be so today are commonly used in power plants, such as scrubber", she said.

Cleanup of conventional thermal power plants to be a boost for the economy and not a burden for them, she said.

"The argument that we must choose between economic growth and environmental protection is wrong," she said.

The EPA fully expected many comments on these proposals, like it after the first version of the new source performance standards in March 2012, she said.

"We will do what we have done. We give every comment we receive detailed attention, "she said.

During the writing proposed rules, she said, committed revised and finally applied the EPA to regulate CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions power generation fleet, existing not only new power plants, but of the country.

Coming up, however, is "on a longer time scale," she said with rules for the regulation of the older power plants.

EPA comment period for 60 days after publication in the Federal Register open being.

President Obama has the EPA come instructed until June 2014 a proposal to clean up the older plants.

In 2009, EPA determines that greenhouse threatened with pollution Americans health and welfare by leading long-lasting changes in our climate, can have a number of negative effects on human health and the environment.

This article originally appeared on electric light & makes, and was published with permission.

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Listen here: emergency power supply and sustainable way of living off-grid

Hurricanes. Snow storms. Earthquake. Tornadoes. You have all clobbered populated areas in recent years, leading to extended power outages, fuel shortages, also the lack of drinking water. But people were living comfortably in completely off-grid, their own electricity produce, the use of sustainable sources of heat and even recycled water.

Have questions for Barry? Parts of you they can be answered in the comments and in the next episode.
These off-grid systems are and who sneaked into established America. Generators are sold in some supermarkets, wood stoves are popular heating, people learn how makes to recover and to reuse greywater and battery, which fuse are solar power systems through low-cost batteries combined with rising utility prices is rejuvenated. Inevitably, prices for these technologies more affordable will be more expensive as electricity, gas and water.

Our special guest for this week's show is death of DuBois, CEO of Sangha energy. Death company specializes in off-grid living systems including generators, battery backup solar power, grey water recovery systems. Tune in this week energy to renewable energy world show how death and Barry about your options for sustainable electricity, heat and water talk - also in your suburban jungle.
YOU will find click here to listen to the episode 5 of the energy show, and past events here.

About the energy show

We start as energy costs consume more and more of our hard-earned dollars, as a consumer really to make sure. But we need to us to accept $5 / gallon gas prices, $200 / month electricity bill and $500 heating costs. There are literally hundreds of products, tricks, and techniques that we can use to dramatically reduce these costs - very cost effective.

The energy show on renewable energy world is a weekly 20 minutes podcast, which offers to reduce tips and advice, your home and energy consumption. Each week we cover topics that help to lower your electricity bill explain new products and technologies in plain English, and through the hype cut so that you can make intelligent and cost-effective energy decisions.

About your host

Barry Cinnamon is a longtime supporter of renewable energy and a widely recognized solar power experts. In 2001 he founded Akeena solar - she grew to the largest national residential solar installer from the middle of the last decade with more than 10,000 roof customers coast to coast. He cooperates with Westinghouse to build Westinghouse solar in 2010, and sold the company in the year 2012.
His pioneering work to reduce costs on the rooftop solar power systems include Andalay, the first solar panel with built-in racking, earthing and cabling; the first UL listed AC solar panel; and the first fully "plug and play" AC solar panel. His current efforts focus on reducing soft costs for solar power systems, cause the system rates against double from Germany, in the United States.

Although Barry may be known for his outstanding work in the solar industry, he has hands-on experience with a variety of energy-saving technologies. He makes residential energy audits since the days of punch cards, developed one of the first ground source heat pumps in the early 80s and always adhere to the laws of thermodynamics.

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Habitat for humanity-reinforced with solar power

Habitat for humanity were turn increasingly to the Sun for energy solutions, the homeowners save money on bills.

A donated solar plant at Newark, Delaware will help with two disabled sons power costs a family. Now, they can afford better medical care they need. This is just the latest in a long string of recent announcements about Habitat homes to compensate for solar energy, cost of living for the working poor in the United States and abroad.

The Newark project has donated solar panels from Motech and service of leasing company Sungevity.

"This is a hard-working family seeks to provide the best possible care for their children under difficult financial and emotional conditions" Sharon o' Shea, Marketing Director Motech said in a statement.

And the company was happy to be able to help.

But Habitat for humanity makes created for families with low incomes a regular inclusion in the houses solar.

The nonprofit last month announced that it an eco-village in Wisconsin will be powered with 18 net zero houses, heated and cooled by solar photovoltaics and geothermal features building.

"The project is an impressive model of sustainable community development that has the potential benefit families economically and socially", Larry Gluth, senior Vice President of Habitat said for humanity, in a statement.

In Washington, D.C., two families in an ultra-energy efficient duplex, which built began as the "Empowerhouse", for the biannual Solar Decathlon two years ago after a story on www.thinkprogress.org moved in this month.

Students from Caltech, Parsons the new school design and Milano School of International Affairs, management and urban policy developed Stevens Institute home more affordable to build something the winner.

With foot thick walls and triple-glazed Windows the House is built, use little energy, what, that makes it means the whole place not many rooftop solar panels needs.

Habitat for humanity a second floor on the 1000 Solar Decathlon house built. Finally, half-duplex houses cost $200,000, which is similar to other Habitat Prize in the D.C. area. And the owners save $72,000 to utilities over the lifetime of their 30-year mortgage.

Habitat commitment to solar energy and energy efficiency, but goes beyond the borders of the United States

The nonprofit has 127 thermal solar hot water systems on homes in Eurasia, save these families the 20 per cent of their monthly household income, which pay would have installed for the hot water.

Habitat helped install a in-site power generation also solar panels on houses in Japan following the devastating earthquake and tsunami, the families of the disaster recover and prepare for the future.

This story originally appeared in www.cleanenergyauthority.com.

The information and opinions in this blog are solely those of the author and do not necessarily RenewableEnergyWorld.com or the companies that advertise on this Web site and other publications. This blog has been posted directly by the author and has not been reviewed for accuracy, spelling or grammar.

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It is time to invest in a power system of the 21st century

America's power system is also vulnerable to modern challenges - a harsh reality, underlined that over a longer period by Hurricane Sandy left 8.1 million people in the dark. However, should no longer surprise widespread outages. The American Society of civil engineers gave the country's electrical infrastructure a "D" class in 2008. Years earlier described a Clinton era Energy Secretary America as "A superpower with a third world grid". Although power system vulnerability over a decade has been clear, has done little to resolve this critical weakness. Wants the United States to remain globally competitive, must the country finally in the establishment of a 21st century makes sustainable economic growth can invest.

All power system excessively dependent on is central power generation and long-distance trains by nature prone to massive failures, and our system has proved this time and again. Every day nearly 500,000 Americans spend at least two hours without electricity during power fluctuations undesirable and blackouts economic activity to a halt grinding - the country up to $188 billion costs annually. Loss of money after failures will climb only higher in the future, since the economic activities require increasingly reliable electricity. High-tech companies need consistent, quality makes, manufacturing plants and almost all companies to protect need reliable energy for the operation of computers and other information technologies. Unfortunately, the nation's current power system not capable of is to not only comply with modern reliability, such as large power outages but also heavier are more common.

Fortunately, the United States have prepared examples to improve its power system. Germany and other European countries have already shown that modern energy systems are technically possible and economically viable. Investment in an intelligent network that integrates significant amounts of local clean energy improves the reliability of the system, economic losses in the event of. The German power system which sufficiently corresponds to midday energy solar roof includes must of half of the country, a global reliability record in 2011 with 15.31 Minute downtime. Even more impressive is that Germany - the world's fourth-largest economy and is home to a strong industrial base - requirements, which have provided massive amounts of reliable power supply and distributed renewable energy. As well as renewable energy sources provide more than 40 percent of the Danish electrical generation and its grid is much more reliable than in the United States. On average, the United States having three times as many failures as Denmark each outage lasts fourteen times as long. In other words, the United States give about 50 times, how long in the dark, even though Denmark is 40 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources.

A modern power system utilizes the latest technologies, the growing demand for reliable energy. Enhanced distributed generation protects against cascading blackouts by weakening the impact of each individual power plant or transmission line scheitern households, businesses and industries. Response, advanced smart grid solutions - like demand, inverter and battery storage - improve driving ability of the grid by interference, while at the same time locally all vital dimensions of the power grid: energy, voltage and frequency. Importantly, provides power without waste, power surges or other interruptions in voltage or frequency that currently plague manufacturing plants and sensitive electronics integrated distributed generation with intelligent network solutions. Moreover, modern grid lay the groundwork for standalone energy "Islands" to continuous power during failures of the widespread grid, to provide essential services several universities and research institutions successfully rely on costly power Hurricane sandy and longer outages.

Despite broad claims that renewable energy is unreliable and expensive, the exact opposite is true evidence. As Germany and Denmark have shown, renewables are intermittent but not unpredictable and superior grid reliability can be achieved also with far higher market penetration of renewable energy sources as the United States is waiting in the next 10 years.

An error by the United States to invest in a 21st century power system would substantially more expensive than the costs prove the transition to a modern power system. The Galvin electricity Institute estimates that the annual cost of power outages more than double annual cost of preventive smart grid investments. To maintain our antiquated power system itself, massive investments are $673 billion by 2020 it is estimated that required. Why not invest this money in the creation of a modern makes system that is able to meet the full set of America's energy needs is?

The clean coalition has developed to reach a road map for the United States to a timely and affordable modern energy system. The roadmap contains summaries of the most important technologies and solutions for efficient travel. As long as the nation is still on central power generation and more than 280,000 km of transmission lines, the power system remains overly susceptible to errors for far-spread by accident, weather and deliberate attack. It is time for the United States in a power system of the 21st century, rather than hundreds of billions of dollars, to invest the care a pathetic legacy issues.

The information and opinions in this blog are solely those of the author and not necessarily the RenewableEnergyWorld.com and company, the advertising on this website and other publications. This blog was written directly by the author and has not been reviewed for accuracy, spelling or grammar.

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Kenyan Island to Fight Malaria Using Solar Power

Since solar photovoltaic panels were first invented they have been used for many purposes and will no doubt continue to do so over the coming years. It is always good to hear of them being installed for a worthwhile cause over and above the usual benefits that they provide to the environment.

A Kenyan island is gradually having solar panels fitted to homes in its fight against malaria in the locality. This would be of considerable benefit to inhabitants of the small island and, if the project proves successful, could be used in other remote parts of the world that have problems with this awful disease.

Rusinga Island is situated in the eastern part of Lake Victoria in Kenya being around 10 miles long and five miles wide with between 20,000 to 30,000 inhabitants.

The scheme has been thought up by Netherlands Wageningen University that will involve in excess of 4,000 solar panels powering insecticide-free mosquito traps being installed across the island. It is hoped that the project could result in malaria being eradicated from the island.

Willem Takken is the leader of the research team and he made it clear that, ultimately, they would like to remove malaria from the island but in a way that is both sustainable and environmentally friendly.

Interestingly, Rusinga Island does not even benefit from any form of mains electricity that can be used by its inhabitants. Therefore, the idea is to install homes with solar panels that have been produced locally. At the same time, houses would also have a mobile phone charging point installed and fittings for two lights with the later enabling residents on the island to be able to read and study when it is dark. The alternative would have been to use generators that would have been fuelled by kerosene that would have proved prohibitive from a cost point of view and cause pollution.

The idea is that the mosquito traps will encourage mosquitos by the utilisation of natural odours thus removing the requirement to use insecticides that are deemed to cause harm. It will be less likely that the mosquitos will develop a natural resistance to the pesticides which is something that has been happening and has made it particularly difficult to fight malaria.

Wageningen University have had a pilot scheme running that has involved 18 homes on the island. Those properties had the solar panels fitted and they are fully operational. The results have been positive as the mosquito traps have proved most effective. Locals have utilized the solar energy and have been very pleased with the benefits.

Commencing last week on World Malaria Day, residents of the island will see solar panels and mosquito traps installed on about 50 homes each week.

The team at Wageningen University are to be commended for their involvement in the above project that will hopefully see a progressive reduction in the number of people living on the island that could catch malaria.

Article written by Danielle Biggs from the Solar Panels UK. For further information visit Solar Panels UK Google+ page here.

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The real power behind the current energy efficiency industry?

President Barack Obama recently urged the energy efficiency in his State of the Union address. His endorsement is a plus, no argument. But it may not be the Federal Government that drives the industry's next growth spurt.

The push for clean energy seems more and more base, of the city and the community.

Consider this clear green energy trends and events.

Cities increasingly require that builders evaluate and report how well their commercial real estate use energy. Officials say that the results will help to create Government better policy. The information is also valuable in real estate transactions. Buyers get a better sense of the true value of a building. And owners of green buildings can use the information as a marketing tool for rental or sale of real estate. Minneapolis is the last town, usually reporting and disclosure. Public buildings must comply with this year and the largest private building in 2014. Other cities with similar requirements are Boulder, Seattle, New York City, San Francisco, Austin, Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia.Massachusetts, the top US State for energy efficiency and a thriving market for solar energy, is known its reputation building community by Community law in the year 2008, as the Green Communities Act. While the law has many components, a key feature is its community grant program. Use 20 percent within five years, cities and towns, to be, if they agree to reduce energy subsidies. Communities must also streamline, more energy to keep the revenue within its borders is nice for green energy projects, as well as other measures. Massachusetts is trying, more environmentally friendly and more efficient become partly because it makes sense economically. About 80 percent of the State energy dollars are to places such as South America, Canada and in the Middle East, the sources its fuel paid. State officials call it a $18 billion "economic opportunity lost." The State wants more money in its own country "through investment in the domestic renewable energy and energy efficiency projects." General breast again are communities like the program. So far 110 have signed 45.2 per cent of the population of the Superstorm Sandy Staates.Nach, New York City looks to Microgrids – smaller, more concentrated local energy systems closer to more working a neighborhood operation on the user to develop. Utility officials can isolate a Microgrid storm masonry it cascading on the larger power grid fails. The NYS2100 Commission the Governor Andrew Cuomo find ways the State for future storms provide the State recommended that incentives to develop the creation of Microgrids. Connecticut urges Microgrid development for similar reasons. Has the Department of energy and environmental protection have been evaluating, 36 projects and plans to grant about 15 million $ to come to the best of them ahead. Governor Dannel Malloy will use an additional $30 million in the next two years on Microgrids.More and more municipalities build solar gardens, offers the advantages of solar tenants, with shady roofs or who face other barriers to solar system - an estimated 75 percent of the US population. (See this blog for more details).
Why is the city, the city and the community is becoming the power behind the clean and efficient energy?

I recently interviewed Rob Thornton, President of the International District Energy Association, during the preparation of this year's Guide to power heat coupling, published by PennWell. He offered an interesting insight.

Much consolidation has undergone such as banking, power industry mergers and acquisitions and takeovers of national and international energy companies in recent years. In many places the hometown utility is no longer. As a result, officials of the city have little influence over the shape of their current system.

"Mayor have used, had a direct relationship with the leadership of the utility investor. This person is now three States away. Mayor realize that she is not same range or lever, or engagement, they have used", said Thornton.

As a result, mayors and city leaders consider to increasingly their responsibility, their cities clean energy. You feel compelled to act, sometimes by organizations as C-40 cities, a network of megacities around the world working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "It is a trend that we actually see, arise," Thornton said.

This trend is good for clean energy in many ways. Decisions, the proximity to home evoke less not-in-my-backyard resistance to new infrastructure. Local people develop a sense of ownership in energy projects and are therefore more likely to support than oppose them.

So, while it is good news that clean energy and energy efficiency are getting attention from the highest office holder in the United States, is the industry also the home team win. Tellingly, the Mayor and the City Council about the benefits of efficiency prove just as important as the support of the President and the Congress to win.

ELISA Wood is a long-time energy writer whose blog a week comes to the RealEnergyWriters.com.

Silicon Valley Investors Shifting to Power Grid After Solar Sours

Companies including VantagePoint Capital Partners and Khosla Ventures are stepping up funding for systems to manage electricity, which are typically less capital intensive than solar-panel factories. Venture capital and private-equity financing for renewables dropped to its lowest in at least six years in 2012, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Competition for the best investments from Blackstone Group LP to Warren Buffett along with a plunge in profit from the solar and wind industries prompted the shift. It pushed Silicon Valley into taking smaller stakes in emerging technologies that help squeeze efficiency and flexibility from power supplies.

"We are going through a repositioning of cleantech," said Wal van Lierop, founder of Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, which is based in Vancouver. "The big sectors -- solar, wind and LEDs -- are in the process of being consolidated. They're maturing, so they fall out of the cleantech opportunity basket. We now are trying to find the next hot spots."

Investment flowing from private equity and venture capital firms into renewable energy fell 34 percent to $5.75 billion last year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the lowest since at least 2006. That accounted for 2.2 percent of the $268.7 billion invested in the clean energy industry, down from as much as 6.5 percent in 2008.

Grid Technology

Chrysalix invested in the energy-management providers Enbala Power Networks and AlertMe Ltd. Khosla funded LightSail Energy Inc., which is developing energy storage devices.

"Our specialty is with large technology risk, where if the technology works there's a big economic breakthrough," Vinod Khosla, the billionaire founder of Khosla Ventures in Menlo Park, California, said in an interview. "That's what we keep looking for in all areas."

Alan Salzman, chief executive officer of VantagePoint Capital Partners, said systems that allow energy to be used more efficiently and help the grid cope with variable supplies from wind and solar plants represent the richest new areas.

Energy storage is "an essential component" for renewable energy to thrive, Salzman said. "That's an area that has been hugely underserved historically that we think remains hugely interesting," he said.

Energy Efficiency

VantagePoint, based in San Bruno, California, backed Next Step Living Inc. and Tendril Networks Inc., which developed energy-efficiency software to reduce power consumption.

"One of the disappointments in the U.S. is that our utility smart-grid deployments have really slowed," Salzman said. Deployments have "shifted overseas right now, away from the U.S., because of our regulatory environment," he said. "It doesn't mean that our archaic system -- see Hurricane Sandy -- isn't ripe for updating."

So-called energy smart technologies including efficiency products and equipment for the electricity grid amounted to $2.2 billion of the clean energy investment from venture capital and private equity tracked last year by New Energy Finance. The category accounted for 38 percent of VC/PE funding for clean energy last year, up from 15 percent in 2008.

Renewables Dwindling

Profits have drained away from renewable energy in the past three years as manufacturing capacity surged quicker than demand. Solar cell prices plunged 74 percent since the end of 2010 to 40 cents from $1.46 for each watt of capacity. The cost of installing wind turbines on land fell 15 percent to $81.44 per megawatt of capacity since mid-2009, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates.

That reduced the industry's attractiveness for venture capital companies. With solar, now that the technology is proven, the industry's biggest challenge is driving down costs, said Raj Prabhu, managing partner at Mercom Capital Group in Austin, Texas.

Solyndra LLC got more than $1.2 billion in venture capital funding. Then it liquidated after competition from Chinese manufacturers priced its tubular solar modules out of the market. Panel maker MiaSole Inc. was sold in January to Hanergy Holding Group Ltd. for about $30 million. That's a fraction of the $494.4 million poured into it by Kleiner, Vantage Point and Firelake Capital, according to Mercom Capital Group.

VC Misfires

Another misfire for the VC investors was A123 Systems Inc., a provider of batteries for electric cars. It filed for bankruptcy in October as sales of the vehicles failed to meet expectations. It got at least $278 million from VC firms including North Bridge Venture Partners LP and CMEA Ventures.

"VCs are really good at finding new technologies but not so good at manufacturing," Prabhu said. "They've learned that they need to stick to picking technology winners, not building factories. The new money is going downstream to help build markets. The industry is now mainstream."

As venture capital moves away from traditional renewables, mainstream investors are starting to move in. Buffett's MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. decided in January to spend as much as $2.5 billion on two large solar farms, after forming a unit dedicated to wind and solar holdings last year.

The private equity company Blackstone Group LP in September bought Vivint Inc. for $2 billion, giving it access to a home-security and energy-management provider with more than 670,000 North American customers. Vivint says the networks that manage these services complement its growing residential solar systems by smoothing the flow of solar power onto the electricity grid and into homes.

Solar's Gleam

A few parts of the solar industry remain attractive for investors, even after the slump in the costs of panels. Elon Musk's SolarCity Corp. has more than doubled since its initial public offering on Dec. 12. It develops rooftop solar systems, which are more economical to install since the price of cells plunged.

Technology to store and conserve energy also is gaining attention among VC investors. Utilities are taking more of their power from renewables. Wind turbines produce power when there's a breeze, and solar only when the sun is up. Integrating those power flows into distribution grids used to coping with steady supplies from coal and nuclear plants requires new systems that give engineers more flexibility.

Black Coral

In December, Next Step Living, a residential energy-efficiency company, raised $18.2 million from VantagePoint, Black Coral Capital and the Massachusetts Green Energy Fund LP.

The month before, billionaire Peter Thiel led a $37.3 million fundraising for LightSail Energy Inc. It's developing storage systems that compress air in tanks and generate power when the air is released, backed by Khosla and Microsoft Inc. founder Bill Gates.

Gates and Khosla also joined French oil company Total SA in May for a $15 million second round for Liquid Metal Battery Corp., now called Ambri Inc., which is building batteries for the power grid that were developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Donal Sadoway.

"We continue to push energy efficiency, which is less capital intensive and allows a company to get into a very big market by improving existing infrastructure rather than having to build a new way of delivering power," said Neil Suslak, a managing partner at Braemar Energy Ventures. "Efficiency and capital-light deals are the flavor of the month."

Copyright 2013 Bloomberg

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AWEA: Wind power takes new U.S. generating system in 2012

Wind energy industry had the U.S. its strongest year ever in the year 2012, who proclaimed American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) on 30 January. The industry installed a record 13.124 megawatts (MW) United States electrical generation capacity last year, more than 60,000 MW cumulative wind power reach capacity, enough, makes the almost 15 million homes. The annual total output surpasses the previous record of 10,000 MW in 2010 installed. For the first time, wind energy was the number one source of new United States electrical generation plants, 42% of all new generating capacity.

In last year's fourth quarter alone 8.380 MW installed were, so it makes the strongest quarter in the history of the United States of wind. AWEA pointed out that this was due to production tax credit to a large extent on the imminent expiration of the Federal Republic. It was planned, on December 31, 2012, but in the end the American taxpayer was extended by Congress as part of relief Act of the year 2012.

The top 10 States for new capacity installations in the year 2012, in order, were Texas (1,826 MW), California (1,656 MW), Kansas (1440 MW), Oklahoma (1,127 MW), Illinois (823 MW) (Iowa) (814 MW), Oregon (640 MW), Michigan (611 MW), Pennsylvania (550 MW), and Colorado (496 MW). Golden State won its position as the second largest State in installed wind capacity surpassed Iowa, which was reached the 5,000-MW milestone in wind capacity, following Texas, and in addition to the Iowa number two since 2008 — California. See AWEA press release.

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ARPA-E Awards $130 million for 66 power engineering projects

The Energy Department on 28 November announced 66 research projects by the advanced research projects Agency (ARPA-E) energy total $130 million received in funding through its program, selected "OPEN 2012". ARPA-E seeks transformational technologies that show promise fundamental technical but are not ready for private-sector investment. The selected projects include 11 technology areas in 24 States.

The OPEN 2012 projects focus on a wide range of technologies, including advanced fuels, vehicle design and materials, building efficiency, grid modernization, energy storage, and renewable energy.

For example, is the electron energy develop for the growing market of electric vehicle motors and generators for wind turbines, Corporation in Landisville, Pennsylvania, a technology for the production of permanent magnets, the less cost and are stronger than they are today. For another project of the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota, develop an air-cooled unit for power plants, which offers low environmental impact and helps maintain water and energy efficiency in power generation.

The projects were selected by a process on the basis of merit by thousands of concept paper and hundreds of applications. They are based in 24 States with approximately 47 per cent of the projects conducted by universities, 29% of small businesses, 15% of large enterprises and 7.5% from national labs and 1.5% from non-profit organizations. The announcement brings ARPA-E projects total approximately 285, for a total amount of around 770 million $ awards. See Energy Department press release.

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Largest Texas wind power entry operator sets

The large operators of Texas reported this month a record for wind power generation.
Credit: Todd Spink

The electric reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), state the largest operators have achieved a new State record for wind power generation at the 10 wind power output 8.521 megawatts (MW), almost 26% workload currently represents, surpassing the current record of more than 150 MW. ERCOT manages the electrical flow of Texas 23 million customers in 85% of State electric consumers.

Almost 7,000 MW of new record include electricity from wind farms West Texas wind, followed by more than 1,100 MW of wind farm along the coast of Texas. ERCOT has more than 10,000 MW of wind power capacity with almost 21,000 MW of additional wind generation in the year under review for development. Completion of the high-voltage transmission projects until end of 2013 improved the ERCOT wind power to the metropolitan areas of West Texas moved ability where the grid demand. See the press release of ERCOT.

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MHI and SSE partner Orkney Islands power cargo container battery storage install

According to a press release issued by MHI, there three are involved overall container-project: two of the container home is about 2,000 units of lithium ion batteries and a third House is the air conditioning system that makes responsible for converting direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC).

The storage system is set, the Kirkwall installed power plant in the UK Orkney Islands. Power is always a lack of profit making or to the and be transferred from the Mainland via a u-boat cable. In theory, the storage system is excess energy in the lithium-ion batteries should, if needed, provides the supply exceeds an increased degree of reliability for future performance.

The problem of storing energy in the heart of one of the biggest perceived weaknesses of the renewable energy technologies calls: If the wind is not blowing whats happens when the tide is not rotating, and when the Sun isn't shining is? According to Michael Goggin, Manager of transmission policy with the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), energy storage systems such as that developed by MHI and SSE work well in certain situations, but in others it may be actually less cost effective than alternative methods.

"Integrated power system on the Mainland, there are many existing sources of flexibility, so that new energy storage resources are not required to accommodate the very small amount of variability and uncertainty," Goggin said. "Storage is an option to increase a system's flexibility makes it and using it makes sense when it is more cost effective." However, other options, particularly the greater use of the existing resources are or building more transmission, usually less expensive on large integrated makes systems."

After the AWEA of "wind power and energy storage" Factsheet allows built into the existing system of power increase flexibilities operators or reduce the output of generators. This makes it more space for certain variability possible, easy, and inexpensive.

Goggin went on to say that he believes that systems can benefit from the power of the island far better from energy storage systems. "they have no connection to the outside world and have often weak transmission systems and inflexible power plants," he said, "so that it tends to be more cases where can be economical storage."

MHI/SSE shared memory system is to go online early 2013.

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New York Offers $107 Million for Large Solar Power Projects

New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo on August 9 announced that $107 million is available for a major solar power incentive program that will increase the amount of electricity generated by photovoltaic (PV) systems throughout New York. The NY-Sun Competitive PV Program, administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, seeks proposals for PV systems greater than 50 kilowatts to be installed at larger commercial and industrial customer sites.

The newly established NY-Sun Competitive PV Program will make $36.4 million available in 2012 and $70.5 million in 2013. This phase of the program is available through the end of 2013 for PV projects in New York City and upstate New York at eligible customer sites. This is an expansion of a two-year-old program that previously focused on large PV systems for the commercial, industrial, and municipal sectors exclusively in New York City, Westchester County, and the lower Hudson Valley. All projects will require co-funding to best leverage state resources with funding capped at $3 million per project. See the New York press release and the NY-Sun Competitive PV Program initiative website.

The governor also signed a series of bills on August 17 as part of the NY-Sun initiative that will make solar energy more affordable for homeowners and businesses. The new laws include statewide tax credits for the lease of solar equipment and power purchase agreements, statewide sales tax exemptions for commercial solar equipment, and an extension of the real property tax abatement in New York City for solar installations. See the New York press release.

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MICROGRIDS: So much more than backup power

While very reliable today, the U.S. electricity grid is old and has gone at least five decades without a significant technological upgrade. The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is working with industry on one solution to help maintain a secure, reliable flow of energy: microgrids.

A microgrid is a smaller power grid that can operate either by itself or connected to a larger utility grid. Microgrids can serve areas as small as a few houses, all the way up to large military installations.

"If your home was part of a microgrid, you could continue to receive power even when the utility power goes out," NREL Electrical Engineer Mariko Shirazi said. "It gives you the ability to ride through any disturbances or outages by seamlessly switching over to locally generated power."

It's important to note that a backup power system — like a diesel generator — is not the same as a microgrid. Backup generators supply power to local loads in the event of an outage, but there is usually a delay or blip when you lose power and disconnect from the utility grid before the backup kicks in. In addition, a backup system is never meant to run continuously, nor to put power into the grid. However, the reverse is true — a microgrid can serve as a backup power supply.

A microgrid senses the quality of the power flowing through the grid. In the event of an outage, it can disconnect from the grid at a moment's notice. It can also leverage solar, wind, or stored energy to supplement a dip in the current power supply. If things are running smoothly with the regional grid, a microgrid generating electricity from renewable sources can export that clean energy to the grid for everyone's use.

Just Connect and Go?

The major components of a microgrid include a source of power generation, local loads, and electrical switching gear. It might also include inverters and energy storage — all of which sounds easy enough to just connect up to get started, right?

"These technologies are in different stages of maturity; the challenge is to get them all to operate together in a stable, concerted way to accomplish the goals of efficiency, security, and energy reliability — all of which are required from a microgrid," NREL Electrical Engineer Greg Martin said.

(Image, right: As part of its microgrid research, NREL recently worked with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District to test microgrid-ready natural-gas generators at the Distributed Energy Resources Test Facility. Credit: Connie Komomua. Enlarge image )

There are two prongs to the microgrid work at NREL: innovative research and partnering with industry.

NREL works with industry to test microgrid systems by providing the experts as well as the infrastructure to support microgrid testing. The U.S. Department of Defense is also working with NREL researchers to examine using microgrids to improve base reliability. Testing includes using grid simulators, load banks, and generators, all currently at the Distributed Energy Resources Test Facility at the National Wind Technology Center near Boulder, Colorado.

"We use equipment such as a grid simulator to create a virtual electric grid to test equipment that is planned to be connected to a utility," Martin said. "We create outages, or some other kind of electrical phenomenon, to make sure the equipment operates as expected. We basically try to make stuff work while making sure it works the way it's supposed to."

"Utilities need to be shown that this technology is safe to integrate into the system and won't affect the normal operations," NREL Energy Systems Integration Director Ben Kroposki said. "One of the goals at NREL is to provide that test bed for a variety of scenarios to be run so that utilities can see that the risk is being reduced."

An example: take a 200-kilowatt microgrid in a residential area with 100 kilowatts of photovoltaics (PV) installed on homes. When all the homes are grid-connected through a local utility, those 100 kilowatts of PV are no big deal. But once the homes are disconnected from the grid, that's a high ratio of PV. Researchers work with industry to figure out which resources have to be maintained to keep the power reliability needed for critical loads. Key questions include, should the homes start shedding loads if a cloud crosses the sun and the PV power drops? Or is energy storage needed, so when a cloud comes, the power supply stays consistent?

NREL is leading the way in understanding issues in energy systems integration and helping industry work through them. The lab's research tools will get a boost when the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) is completed later this year.

Taking Research to the Next Level

"ESIF is going to be like our current lab on steroids, and will expand our testing scale to 1 megawatt," Martin said. "We'll be able to test large single components like large utility-scale inverters. We'll also be able to scale up the complexity of our testing. Using the Research Electrical Distribution Bus [REDB], and hardware-in-the loop, we'll be able to connect dozens of sources and loads and be able to test their interactions with each other. Now, we collect single data points. At ESIF, we'll be able to collect high-speed, time-synchronized data at numerous points throughout the REDB."

(Image, left: NREL is leading the way in understanding issues in energy systems integration and helping industry work through them. The lab's research tools will get a boost when the Energy Systems Integration Facility is completed later this year. Credit: Dennis Schroeder Enlarge image)

Using a high-performance computing data center, NREL will be able to simulate entire distribution systems. When testing a microgrid system, engineers can monitor its voltages and frequencies at the point where it joins the distribution system, enabling them to simulate the effect of a microgrid on the larger utility. This is important, because being physically connected to the grid is often not practical — plus, the utility doesn't have to worry about putting an unproven technology on their system.

"Utilities see this as a growth area, and they would like to understand it," Shirazi said. "Even if they aren't implementing a microgrid themselves, they may want to understand how it works for those customers who do want to install one on a section of their distribution system. Working with NREL helps them implement this type of system without impacting their customers."

NREL's grid simulators make this testing possible without hooking up the equipment to the regional utility grid — which would be prohibitively tricky. First, researchers would need the foresight to know when voltage anomalies were going to happen, and assuming they could catch them, there would be only one chance to test equipment. With grid simulators, researchers can create voltage and frequency anomalies and see how the system behaves.

"ESIF is going to give us more research power, both in the actual electrical power but also in the ability to collect data across all points in the system," Martin said. "It will also offer really awesome visualization that will enable us to look at data coming in from different places, to look at simulations and video feeds, in a really nice, easy, big way. We're sure this visualization capability will help ignite collaborations among NREL, industry, utilities, academia, and government agencies."

"ESIF is really going to move us forward to the next generation of power systems in this country," Kroposki said. "There is consensus that our utility grid is aging and that we can get benefit out of making it more intelligent, efficient, and capable of accepting more sources of energy."

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FERC Awards license for Oregon wave power station

Ocean power technologies, which is planning a device for converting wave energy off the Hawaiian coast called, in the year of 2009 to tap wave power off the coast of Oregon.
Credit card: Ocean power technologies, Inc

Ocean power technologies (OPT) announced on 20 August that her daughter U.S. has approved Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) of a planned 1.5 megawatt power plant for wave off the coast of Oregon. This is exhibited in the United States the first FERC license for a wave power plant. The license provides enough power for about 1,000 homes, an authorisation for the use of up to 10 OPT devices.

Construction of the first 150 kilowatt device is nearing completion and the Reedsport, is expected to be approximately 2.5 miles to Oregon coast ready this year for providing. Extension is the wave energy converter from an open steel cylinder down into the ocean from a floating buoy. A piston is halfway down the cylinder and crime waves, the piston up and down moves the application of pressure to sea water along the cylinder, filled bags, the high pressure sea water into a turbine which drives a generator eject to produce electricity.

OPT is cooperative an Oregon-based electric power for this first system from the Department of energy makes Congressional delegation and PNGC with the support of the Oregon, financially. FERC has granted in particular, a 35-year license for grid-connected wave energy production. After the first device is deployed, OPT plans up to nine more devices and connection, network infrastructure, in receipt of additional funding and all necessary regulatory approvals. See press release OPT.

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$1.9 Billion Power Line Opens Renewables for San Diego

The Sunrise Powerlink transmission line under construction in California.
Credit: San Diego Gas & Electric

The $1.9 billion Sunrise Powerlink, a 500,000-volt transmission line linking San Diego to the Imperial Valley, is now in service after a five-year permitting process and 18 months of construction. San Diego Gas & Electric announced on June 18 that the line will connect San Diego with one of the most renewable-rich regions in California. For environmental reasons, nearly 75% of the tower locations required helicopters to set the tower structures and it took more than 28,000 flight hours to complete the aerial construction.

The Sunrise Powerlink will soon deliver a significant amount of wind and solar power to San Diego. Over the past three years, San Diego Gas & Electric signed eight renewable agreements for more than 1,000 megawatts of solar and wind power from projects in Imperial County. In 2011, more than 20% of the utility's power came from renewable energy, and by 2020, it will get 33% from renewable resources. See the San Diego Gas & Electric press release.

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Energy Department Honors Utilities with Public Power Wind Awards

The Energy Department on June 19 recognized three utilities—two in Minnesota and one in California—with the 2012 Public Power Wind Award. Minnesota's Moorhead Public Service and the Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, along with California's City of Palo Alto Utilities, received the awards. The American Public Power Association (APPA) and the Energy Department's Wind Powering America initiative created the Public Power Wind Award to recognize APPA-member utilities that demonstrate outstanding leadership in advancing wind power and furthering energy independence.

Now in its tenth year, the annual award recognizes APPA members in three categories: Small Member System, Large Member System, and Joint Action Agency. Moorhead Public Service received the Small Member System award for its years of leadership in wind energy that began with its pioneering utility-scale wind investments in 1999. The City of Palo Alto Utilities received the Large Member System award for delivering 17% of its energy mix from wind power, and for using wind energy to provide 97.5% of the renewable energy credits the utility uses for its green power program, PaloAltoGreen. And Minnesota Municipal Power Agency received the Joint Action Agency award for installing a wind turbine in each of its member communities, with which it collaborated to develop the 44-megawatt Oak Glen Wind Farm in Steele County, providing enough electricity to power 14,000 homes. See the DOE Progress Alert and the Wind Powering America website.

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Too nice to Fáil: what's wrong with the power grid?

The temperature is 100 degrees and we have no air conditioning, no running water, no telephone and no Internet. It was swept 60 hours since our household electricity lost due to the super States and the capital, Derecho, a rare surprise storm, the ten US on June 29.

About 5 million of us life in conditions of a century earlier. And as we fumble in the dark, it is easy to see how vulnerable our deep dependence on electricity makes us.

The term of the grid reliability is deeply embedded in the American psyche. We are his absence so accustomed, stream flows, we can hardly understand. By the habit we flip on the light switch, if even after power out has been a room for hours.

We have good reason to trust. Finally is behind the counter of the world's largest machine, the North American power grid. With 211.000 miles of high voltage lines and 5,800 power stations, the use of electricity to our homes and businesses, the system is a technical wonder.

A miracle - until a storm or a heat wave or even a squirrel chewing makes the right wire to the right place, omitted large swaths of the customer.

It is the grid size and networking, which makes remarkable and efficient, but also vulnerable to widespread mishap. We saw that most clearly fell 50 million without power in the Northeast blackout of 2003, when a chain of events causes error which quickly from city to city, State to State, finally leave.

But the American consumers in General to a blackout as a sign of an inherent problem with our power grid. After 9 June Derecho worked about 30,000 workers, some utilities as far away as Texas and Oklahoma, borrowed from recovery makes in the Middle Atlantic and the close to nearby States. However, is angry consumers to the length that it takes time. And if the dispute is so large as was in New England last year after the freak Halloween nor Easter, politician take the case, examines regulatory authorities and some utility executives can threatened their jobs.

If our lights do not and are not quickly resolved, we believe that someone must be blamed. The problem can be not perhaps the the grid itself. In the eye of the consumer is current such as air; It is simple because for us. If it is not, someone mess.

The energy industry this is called power of invisibility. In many ways, it speaks to the success of the product. Anyone over in America whether electricity purchase? It is a given that we our houses to produce grid, pay the monthly invoice and the energy flows.

But this invisibility, this success is a failure.

Power companies in large parts of the nation are trying the grid make less vulnerable by smartening it, and some of those smartening rely on consumer interaction, control of our electricity consumption by new digital technologies. It includes installation of smart meters and energy shows, building Microgrids and development of more solar power and other forms of distributed generation, to decentralize the grid, and therefore at least take some of the exposure that comes with the size. (Think the death star in the movie of StarWars).

Suddenly, we must pay electricity, and we would rather let it remain invisible.

So have the energy industry to smart-grid-work to do, to find out, what work the consumer makes. Much study is now in progress on human behaviour and energy. The goal is to encourage them to embrace us intelligent energy technologies, so that we use electricity more efficiently. It's been hard going. Most consumers see no underlying problem with the power supply. If it's not broken, why fix it?

I can't say that I like without air conditioning and water. But perhaps the occasional loss of comfort, a good thing, is an eye-opener, a reminder that we need to consider our electric system to strengthen inherent weakness and work. The grid can break. It is not too good for failure.

ELISA wood is a long-time energy writer, whose Werk is available under RealEnergyWriters.com

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Problems at San Onofre nuclear power plant fuel pump concerns

In recent months, Southland have hammered by rising gas prices, residents, falling house prices and much uncertainty about the global economy.

These factors alone would be enough stress to someone. Southern California Edison San Onofre nuclear power plant has however about an another wrinkle to the equation.

The troubled plant on the California coast was for about two months was shut down. And it will remain by the Commission until investigators determine the cause of excessive wear on hundreds of pipes that carry the radioactive water in the plant.

You also want to ensure that there is no danger for public safety, federal regulators announced.

More than 300 of the pipes to be scrapped due to excessive wear and tear. At the end of March Edison announced that it had a confirmatory action of the nuclear regulatory Commission, letter the outlines actions of the Rosemead-based utility on San Onofre must be completed, before restart units 2 and 3 the permission of the Commission. These actions include:

SCE can be connected to all the pipes in units 2 and 3 for which tests specified wear industry guidelines, as well as all the pipes prone, because of their geographical location to wear.

SCE determines the causes for the tube-to-tube removal and set a protocol of control and/or limit values for both units, including plans for a mid-cycle shut down for further checks.

An NRC team of inspectors

The plant site is 19 conduct their own inspections and analysis of the plant since March.

NRC spokesman Victor Dricks said similar were problems found and corrected other nuclear installations.

He said "Other people already in a position to resolve these types of problems and to return to the service" on Thursday. "We have two resident inspectors are, and we have also another team."

NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko was expected, that the site on Friday along with U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep Darrell Issa, R-Vista.

Dricks said that the plant is currently not a security risk, because he shuts down.

Still, residents and businesses are concerned about possible health risks. Are issues, such as the plant shut down - whether temporarily or permanently - supply and electricity will affect electricity costs for SCE customers.

"I have a client with a large printing company, which is 40,000 to 50,000 square meters," said Daniel lien, first Vice President and regional manager with inland Community Bank in Pasadena. "This would make a big difference if the prices be adjusted upwards when this stream from the network comes." "And it could cause a deficiency in the power supply."

Edison spokesman Scott Andresen said that the San Onofre plant 2,200 megawatts electricity, enough power supplied 1.4 million medium-sized apartments. But he refused to speculate how the plant would affect shutdown SCE customers.

"It is difficult, a precise context as a percentage of the pie and ripples to implement," he said. "Our top priority is now to units 2 and 3, as safe as possible." "We won't turn them back until we and the NRC holds, it is safe."

Andresen said that SCE has a contingency plan with the CAL ISO in the event that the work come back online. Cal ISO manages the provision of electricity on high-voltage, long-distance services makes 80 percent of the California power grid lines, from which.

"We have request / response programs for customers as the Flex switch off plan where you have your air conditioning opt can-in for two hours a day," Andresen said. "We do this every year."

State Energy officials warned already of rotating power outages in the region when a heat wave hits and San Onofre remains dark. The loss of the nuclear power plant makes it harder makes where reliable energy transfer long contested since import in the San Diego area.

It could take up to two months new start two former plants in Huntington Beach, localized, as the substitute makes an important source, officials said.

The twin rooms, natural gas-fired plants in Huntington Beach were retired earlier this year. Plant nutrition severed gas pipe and 3-foot holes were cut in the boiler.

San Onofre unit 3 closed was in January, after a leak in a pipe created with radioactive water as a precaution. Extensive wear and tear has been shut down on similar hoses in its twin, unit 2, for maintenance work was found.

"I am very concerned about the electric power," said Jim Randall, President and founder of Allfast fastening systems Inc. "we spend about $150,000 per month cost of electricity and in the summer, which will be doubled." And keep prices elevated.

Allfast makes the rivets that are used in the construction of civil and military aircraft.

"The State of California is very unfriendly with makes", Randall said. "If you... get them to places such as Alabama and Tucson have other places of friendly prices." That is, why businesses moving California. "

Verna Rollinger, Mayor of the provisional said of Laguna Beach, affecting them since Edison holding nuclear waste on-site at San Onofre instead of moving it somewhere else.

"If the plant was originally licensed the plan never was to keep the waste on the ground," she said. "There are 4,000 tons of radioactive nuclear waste in San Onofre sit." "I was told that if the waste was shut down Unit 1 was adopted, go on a barge somewhere, but apparently never happened."

Andresen said SCE little choice in the matter.

He said "Every nuclear power plant in the United States keeps its spent fuel on-site,". "We not everything with him until the Federal Government with a plan where comes this."

Hydro power has great potential; Many critics

Hydropower is climate friendly, but it remains a controversial energy source. It is not always the case, the renewable energy has a positive impact on the environment, such as some large dam projects have proven.

People have used for more than 2,000 years of water generated energy. Today electricity from water produces 15 percent of global electricity production - accounts for more than nuclear energy. Other renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy, making only 4 percent.

Potential of water, however, is exhausted, and it is an attractive alternative to energy to CO2 levels.

Studies show that water power could meet almost all the planet energy. But that's not likely.

"Cost benefit only, according to André Böhling Greenpeace Germany doesn't". "Water as a renewable energy has on in the differentiated form - be considered on a case by case basis."

The different results of large dam projects illustrate the Böhling.

Old dam, new energy

Such a project in Honduras called the Esperanza provides hydroelectric plant an example of ideal as water and can be used effectively. The system draws on existing dam structures, takes a minimum amount of space, and the positive effects of energy production constantly are obvious.

Canadian businessman Ron Turner directs the project, which clean energy award has been nominated for the world. The plant is the first project in the world to sell its carbon offsets under the Kyoto Protocol of 1997.

But many large dam projects in environmental, economic and social disasters, to develop always much too intrusive on nature and society.

The Indian Sardar Sarovar dam and the three Gorges Dam in China symbolize environmental destruction and disregard for human rights instead of environmental progress.

Dams, flooding forests are particularly problematic. Over the years let the rotting plants, they leave large amounts of methane - a gas, has the worse effects on the climate than carbon dioxide.

Despite their dubious record, continue to large dams are built in India, China and South America.

Discussions to end

In much of the West, such projects are no longer possible.

"The debate on major new projects in Germany past", Harald Uphoff said by Germany's National Association of hydropower plants.

The growth opportunities that remain, likely on new methods and technologies. Experts test currently special buoys that can be hung up in rivers with little environmental impact.

Another focus is the often more than 50-year-old modernisation plants to generate more power, and the project in Honduras offered an example of how this can work.

Potential for Germany?

Accounting for 3.5 percent of Germany's electricity, hydropower is the country of the second largest form of renewable energy after wind. But the economic and ecological sense more water power facilities is a separating theme.

"In the long term, people not significant increases in water-power production, should expect," said Andre Böhling.

Others disagree with, as Uphoff, who argues that "such attitudes lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Industry power argue that water at least might provide a third more power in Germany. Their hopes lie largely with miniature plants - small, decentralized systems with outputs up to five megawatts. Are responsible for 20 percent of hydropower in Germany.

"Such facilities are often enough provide energy for small communities", Uphoff said.

15,000 unused Web sites

The Federal Government supported a study 2008 used by German rivers and streams, the discovery of 15,000 embankments and barrages for power generation. Industry wants water to see facilities account for so much energy production as nuclear power plants, but ecological concerns stand in the way.

A 2009 adopted German legislators with incentives for electricity production in environmentally friendly ways. Those who are their small hydropower facilities with environmentally sound measures, such as the Fischtreppen, equip get more money for each Watt, which contribute to the power supply.

Turbines off NYC East River Will Power 9,500 Homes

As part of the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy Project, 30 turbines are being installed along the strait that connects the Long Island Sound with the Atlantic Ocean in the New York Harbor. The project, led by Verdant Power, Inc., is the first ever commercially licensed tidal energy project in the United States. The turbines are scheduled to be fully installed by 2015 and will use the flow of the East River and tides to generate 1,050 kilowatts of electricity—enough to power 9,500 New York homes.

The turbines will also collect important data about environmental impacts on fish and river sediment and provide jobs to a team of technicians who will maintain and monitor the equipment.

DOE helps advance water power technologies by funding research to determine the size of the water resource and by developing innovative technologies to unleash its energy potential. The department began providing Verdant Power with funding in 2008 to improve the turbines’ blade design. Verdant had been successfully developing and testing turbine prototypes in the East River since 2002, but those turbine rotors were not durable enough to be scaled up for commercialization. With the DOE assistance, Verdant designed and tested new blades, which are stronger and more reliable—allowing them to capture more energy from faster currents at greater depths and at a lower cost. Read the complete story in the DOE Energy Blog.

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