Internal Department popular target for renewable energy on public lands

The U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) announced on October 10 that the Department of the President objective achieved authorizing 10,000 megawatts of renewable energy on public land. DOI met the milestone with his assertion that the site chokecherry and Sierra Madre wind energy project in Southeastern Wyoming suitable for wind energy development. The project is a proposed complex that could generate up to 3,000 megawatts of power. Developers expect the proposal and create an estimated 1,000 construction, operation and maintenance jobs, where Summit construction, employs 114 permanent workers and makes enough energy to generate almost 1 million apartments.

The Commission approved the Bureau of land management, to continue for the Sierra Madre and chokecherry wind farms and infrastructure with site-specific environmental analysis. Additional environmental reviews will be needed for the turbine layouts. The proposed project would comprises two sites to exist to 1,000 wind turbines on approximately 219.707 hectares land about 10 miles south of Rawlins. It is developed in phases and are operated by power company of Wyoming LLC. If constructed, the wind, which have complex should a footprint of less than 2,000 hectares.

Since 2009 DOI has solar authorized 33 renewable energy projects, including 18 utility-scale facilities, seven wind parks and eight geothermal plants with associated transmission corridors and infrastructure projects to make a connection enabling it with established power grids. If built, represents more than 10,000 megawatts this projects electricity or enough electricity, makes available more than 3.5 million homes. You support would also an estimated 13,000 construction and operation according to project developer jobs. See press release DOI.

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Interior Department Approves Solar Energy Zones on Public Lands

Solar zones in six Western states will spur development on public lands like the Ivanpah solar project, shown here, being built on BLM land in California.
Credit: BrightSource Energy

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) on October 12 finalized a program to spur development of solar energy on public lands in six Western states. The Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for solar energy development provides a blueprint for utility-scale solar energy permitting in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The PEIS establishes solar energy zones with access to existing or planned transmission, incentives for development within those zones, and a process for consideration of additional zones and solar projects.

The Solar PEIS establishes an initial set of 17 Solar Energy Zones, totaling about 285,000 acres of public lands. The zones will serve as priority areas for commercial-scale solar development, with the potential for additional zones through ongoing and future regional planning processes. If fully built out, projects could produce as much as 23,700 megawatts of solar energy, enough to power approximately 7 million U.S. homes. The program also allows, on a case-by-case basis, for the possibility of carefully sited solar projects outside the solar energy zones on about 19 million acres in "variance" areas. See the DOI press release and the complete list of the solar energy zones.

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New public private partnership to help U.S. manufacturing innovation

The Obama management announced the launch of a new public-private Institute for the production of innovation on August 16. The new partnership, the national additive manufacturing innovation Institute, competitions on chose a first prize of $30 million in federal funds, get through $40 million of the award-winning Consortium matched. The consortium includes industrial companies, universities, schools and non-profit organizations at the Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia "tech belt."

Announced 9 March 2012 President Obama his plan invests $1 billion to catalyze a national network of up to 15 production innovation Institute to the country that would serve as regional hubs for the production. The President called for Congress to this proposal Act and the national network of manufacturing innovation to create. Institute on additive manufacturing invest five federal agencies - the departments of Defense, energy and trade, the National Science Foundation and NASA - together committed $45 million in a pilot project. Additive manufacturing is a process of making dreidimensionaler solid objects from a digital model. See the White House press release.

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Administration Maps Solar Energy Development on Public Lands

The solar PEIS planning effort has focused on identifying locations on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands that are most suitable for solar energy development. The solar PEIS will serve as a roadmap for solar energy development by establishing solar energy zones, which have access to existing or planned transmission and minimal resource conflicts, and incentives for development within those zones. The blueprint’s comprehensive analysis will make for faster, better permitting of large-scale solar projects on public lands.

These areas are characterized by excellent solar resources, good energy transmission potential, and relatively low conflict with biological, cultural, and historic resources. The final PEIS identifies 17 Solar Energy Zones (SEZs), totaling about 285,000 acres of public lands, as priority areas for utility-scale solar development, with the potential for creating additional zones through ongoing and future regional planning processes. The blueprint also allows for utility-scale solar development on approximately 19 million acres in "variance" areas lying outside of identified SEZs. It also excludes 78 million acres from solar energy development to protect cultural or natural resources. In total, the final PEIS estimates that 23,700 megawatts could be developed from the 17 zones and the variance areas, enough renewable energy to power 7 million U.S. homes.

The July 27 Federal Register Notice of Availability for the Final PEIS will begin a 30-day protest period, after which DOI may consider adopting the document through a Record of Decision. The BLM released the draft solar PEIS in December 2010, and in response to the over 80,000 comments received from cooperating agencies and key stakeholders, issued a supplement to the draft solar PEIS in October 2011. See the Energy Department press release and the solar PEIS.

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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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Interior Department Flips Switch on First Public Lands Solar Project

Officials flipped the switch to start Silver State North, a 50-megawatt solar plant located 40 miles south of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Credit: Enbridge

U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on May 7 flipped the switch to start the first large-scale solar energy facility on U.S. public lands delivering power to consumers. Silver State North is a 50-megawatt plant located 40 miles south of Las Vegas, Nevada, that will use photovoltaic (PV) technology to generate enough power for about 9,000 Nevada homes. The plant was built on 618 acres of public land managed by Interior's Bureau of Land Management, after the solar facility underwent full environmental analysis and public review. It was developed by First Solar and is owned by Enbridge.

Prior to 2009, there were no solar energy projects permitted on public lands. Since then, the Interior Department has authorized 29 large-scale renewable energy projects on or involving public lands, including 16 solar facilities, 5 wind farms, and 8 geothermal plants. See the Interior Department press release.

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BLM Seeks Comments on Solar and Wind Energy Public Land Leases

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on December 29 published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking about BLM's interest in establishing an efficient, competitive process for issuing right-of-way leases for solar and wind energy development on the public lands. The BLM believes such a process would help ensure fair access to leasing opportunities for renewable energy development and capture fair market value for the use of public lands. Existing regulations limit the competitive process to procedures for responding to overlapping right-of-way applications. The BLM is seeking input on how best to offer public lands through a nomination and competitive process instead of just by right-of-way application.

The agency will evaluate ways to establish competitive bidding procedures for lands within designated solar and wind energy development leasing areas, define qualifications for potential bidders, and structure the financial arrangements necessary for the process. The announcement in the Federal Register began a 60-day comment period that closes February 27. See the BLM press release and the notice in the Federal Register.

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DOE's Top Energy Innovator Challenge Open to Public Voting

DOE announced on December 19 that it will give the American public the chance to vote for the most innovative and promising technologies supported by the "America's Next Top Energy Innovator" challenge. In all, 36 start-up companies elected to participate in this first-of-its-kind effort. These companies have signed 43 option agreements allowing them to license cutting-edge technologies developed and patented by one of DOE's 17 national laboratories and the Y-12 National Security Complex, one of four production facilities in the National Nuclear Security Administration's Nuclear Security Enterprise. Competitors used a streamlined application process and a greatly reduced upfront fee of $1,000.

Beginning in mid January, Americans will be able to view profiles of the companies and vote on those that could contribute most to the country’s economic and energy future. An expert panel will evaluate the companies and identify those that have most advanced their business plans. See the top innovator Web page.

Among the companies competing are Vorbeck Materials, based in Jessup, Maryland, which is using a Pacific Northwest National Laboratory-developed method for building tiny chemical structures to greatly improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries. And, Boulder, Colorado-based e-Chromic LLC will use electrochromic technology developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to create a new thin film window material that reflects sunlight on demand, making windows more energy efficient while reducing cooling costs for consumers. See the DOE press release and a White House blog on start-ups.

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Washington State Becomes the Largest Public Biodiesel Consumer

Washington State Ferries, owned and operated by the state transportation department, is the largest ferry service in the United States and third largest in the world. Twenty-two ferries transport 11 million passengers from the mainland and larger islands across Puget Sound each year at a cost of 18 million gallons of diesel fuel.

In 2009, Washington's transportation department concluded a five-year pilot program that determined biodiesel fuel blends—soy-based biodiesel blended with petroleum diesel—to be a viable fuel source for normal operations in any weather condition. Today, thanks to a $165,000 American Recovery Act and Reinvestment Act loan through the DOE State Energy Program, the ferries run on a blended biodiesel fuel that will prevent over 65 million pounds of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the environment each year.

The pilot program proved the viability of the fuel, but there was still a kink in the biodiesel supply chain. Traditionally, the blending process needs to be performed in a specialized facility and then transported to customers, which is costly in time and resources. Instead, biodiesel producer Whole Energy Corporation installed a system with the State Energy Program loan to blend biodiesel with petroleum-based diesel on distribution trucks.

Using this method, the corporation has been able to deliver this biofuel blend to its customers at a competitive rate and keep the state-owned ferry service afloat with locally blended biofuel. Since making the cost-competitive upgrade, Whole Energy has also expanded its customer base to other ferry lines serving Puget Sound communities and also the Army Corps of Engineers. See the Energy Blog post.

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Boardwalk prices public offering of common units

{"s": "Bwp", "k": "a00, a50, b00, b60, c10, g00, h00, l10, p20, t10, v00", "o": "","j": ""} Press release Source: Boardwalk pipeline partners, LP on Friday May 27, 2010, 9:15 am EDT

HOUSTON-(BUSINESS WIRE) - Boardwalk pipeline partners, LP (NYSE: BWP - News) announced today that it has the public offering of 6,000,000 common units at $29.33 per unit price. Boardwalk expects to close the offering on the 2 June 2011. Boardwalk has granted, up to an additional 900,000 common units purchase a 30-day option the insurance carriers.

In connection with this offer get Boardwalk net proceeds after offers cost of around $173,5 million, proportionate including the general partner of 3.6 million, maintain the General Partner interest of 2% capital contribution. Boardwalk expected net proceeds from the offering, together with the amounts by the general partner, contributed, to loans under the partnership of outstanding repay revolving credit facility, but some or all of the proceeds for general partnership purposes use can, including retirement of other long-term debt.

BofA Merrill Lynch, Citi, j.p. Morgan and Wells Fargo Securities Act Barclays Capital, Bank as joint book-running Manager provides for the joint unit. A copy of the final prospectus supplement relating to this offer - if available - can be obtained from any of the underwriters, including:

Barclays Capital, c/o Broadridge financial solutions, 1155 long Iceland Ave., Edgewood, NY 11717. per phone (888) 603-5847, or via e-Mail at barclaysprospectus@broadridge.com. Prospectus Department-Bank of America Merrill Lynch, 4 world financial center, New York, NY 10080, Attn: Or e-Mail dg.prospectus_requests@baml.com. Citi, Brooklyn army Terminal, Attn: Prospectus Dept., 140 58th Street, 8th floor, Brooklyn, NY 11220. per phone (800) 831-9146 or by e-Mail at batprospectusdept@citi.com. J.p. Morgan, via Broadridge financial solutions, 1155 long Iceland Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717. phone at (866) 803-9204. or Wells Fargo Securities, Attn: equity syndicate Dept., 375 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10152. per telephone at (800) 326-5897 or by e-Mail at cmclientsupport@wellsfargo.com.

This press release constitutes neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy securities or to sell securities in any State or jurisdiction in which solicitation or sale would be such an offer, unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the in any such jurisdiction. The offer is only by the prospectus supplement and accompanying base prospectus, which is in a registration statement, the effective 29 April 2010 has been made.

Boardwalk pipeline partners, LP, is that a limited partnership, through its subsidiaries, Gulf crossing pipeline company LLC, Gulf South pipeline company, LP and Texas gas transmission, LLC, in the interstate transportation and storage of natural gas has worked. Boardwalk's interstate natural gas pipeline systems have about 14,200 miles of pipeline and u-Bahn storage boxes with aggregate capacity of about 167 BCF gas.

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding the expectations, plans, or prospects for Boardwalk pipeline partners, LP and its subsidiaries. These statements are based on current expectations and beliefs of management and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, which actual results could differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, market conditions and other factors outside the instructions juxtapose control of the company and the risk factors and others in den's Boardwalk discussed the US Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

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