Plans to build a power plant featuring integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology and carbon capture and storage (CCS) hit a wall in January 2008 when the Bush administration withdrew support, citing cost overruns. Those concerns have since been exposed as an artifact of specious financial accounting that overestimated the cost of the plant by $500 million.
Those involved say that FutureGen may now be far more politically palatable and expedient. With five years of development already completed, they say that FutureGen is positioned to quickly advance two of the Obama administration’s top goals: economic stimulus and reduction of carbon emissions. “You have a project here that is shovel ready, and with the advancement of technology and importance of CCS, it’s very worthy of a large government infusion,” says Nick Akins, executive vice president for generation at utility giant American Electric Power (AEP), a member of the FutureGen Alliance.
FutureGen remains attractive because IGCC plants that capture and sequester CO2 are expected to offer one of the cheapest ways to achieve carbon-neutral power generation by 2020. Generating a megawatt-hour of power with CCS-equipped IGCC would cost $99 to $119 in 2020, according to European Commission cost estimates released this winter. That beats their estimates for the price of power from conventional coal plants with CCS, natural-gas generators with added CCS, and solar thermal power. (The cost of generating power from offshore wind farms was harder to predict, with estimates ranging from $86 to $152 per megawatt-hour.)
Saul is a gifted inventor – in the video below he proposes a new idea to harness the energy of wind at high altitudes. Now this is something for all the basant lovers!
Lithium ion battery is the new promise for electric vehicles. There have been some great advances in this area and companies around the globe are vying for the top spot. Here are some excerpts from a BusinessWeek article on this topic.
U.S. contenders such as Ener1 and A123 claim superior cell technology for cars. Johnson Controls (JCI), the world’s biggest maker of conventional lead-acid car batteries, boasts of its automotive experience and alliance with France’s Saft, which makes lithium-ion batteries for aerospace and industry. The Asians are counting on their dominance in lithium-ion devices for computers and appliances and on their ties with the hybrid programs of Toyota (TM) Motor and Honda Motor.
Lithium ion is regarded as a core enabling technology for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which, unlike most current hybrids, can be recharged with normal household current and run much longer on electricity before a gas-powered engine takes over. Lithium-ion cells can store up to three times more juice and generate twice the power of the nickel-metal hydride batteries used in today’s hybrids. The T-shaped lithium-ion battery for the Chevrolet Volt, due in 2011, will contain 200 such cells. “They aren’t just another part. They are the car,” says Masahiko Otsuka, president of Automotive Energy Supply, a joint venture between Nissan Motor (NSANY) and NEC that aims to invest $275 million in new lithium-ion facilities.
MANAGING THE GRID, TOO
General Motors (GM) and Ford (F) both assert that a domestic lithium-ion industry is vital if the U.S. is to be a major player in green cars. Otherwise, Detroit’s fate would be in the hands of suppliers half a world away. Besides, lithium-ion technologies can be used to help electric utilities manage their grids more efficiently—a potentially bigger market than cars. “As a country, we can rely on others,” says Denise Gray, energy storage director at GM. “But we could fall behind.” GM turned to South Korea’s LG Chem to supply lithium-ion cells for the Volt because the carmaker says U.S. companies lacked sufficient manufacturing experience.
Another Asian contender is Toyota-controlled Panasonic EV Energy. Panasonic supplies 90% of the nickel-metal hydride batteries used in today’s hybrids. Last year it agreed to buy Sanyo Electric, the largest maker of rechargeable batteries.
China has more than 10 manufacturers—Beijing has declared lithium ion a strategic industry. Mainland battery giant BYD Auto, in which Warren Buffett holds a 10% stake, turned heads at the Detroit car show with a small plug-in hybrid sedan, the F6DM, that it says can run 60 miles on a lithium-ion battery before the vehicle switches to gasoline. In China, BYD already sells a plug-in for $22,000. The Volt is expected to cost $40,000.
Analysts say no U.S. or Asian contender has solved all of the challenges of producing lithium-ion car batteries that are safe, reliable, and affordable: Questions linger over the battery’s ability to last long enough to satisfy car buyers, for example. With no company in mass production, there is little real-world evidence to back up bold claims. Tokyo-based JPMorgan (JPM) analyst Yoshiharu Izumi thinks Panasonic is the most formidable player, but “it’s too early to say who will win.”
Fast Company issued its 2009 list of most innovative companies – here is the list of those in the clean energy category.
NextEra Energy Resources: The top producer of wind and solar energy nationwide, serving 25 states. Its parent, FPL Group, has broken ground on the world’s first hybrid power plant, combining solar with natural gas to boost efficiency.
Q-Cells: The fast-expanding photovoltaic (PV) solar-cell producer turned out 150 million units in 2008 and expects to nearly double the number in 2009. Heavy investment in next-gen thin-film technology should keep Q-Cells at the vanguard.
First Solar: The current leader in thin-film technology, whose panels are approaching the low-cost holy grail of $1 per watt.
Vestas: The Danish wind giant, which boasts a 23% market share worldwide, parked a 131-foot blade outside the Democratic National Convention in Denver to symbolize its four current and planned factories in Colorado.
Chevron Energy Solutions: Yes, an oil company owns a leading energy-efficiency consultant and is the top installer of customized wind, solar, and biomass nationwide.
Pelamis Wave Power: This Scottish company built the world’s first commercial wave-power farm, off Portugal last year, with the three orange converters bobbing off the country’s Atlantic coast and powering 1,500 homes.
Raser Technologies: Its unique new zero-emissions plant in Utah is the first to tap vast low-temperature geothermal resources previously unusable for generating power. The company is developing seven more sites.
Ausra: This Australian import’s brand of solar thermal power uses cheap flat mirrors rather than PV cells. After scoring $100 million in VC financing and opening a test plant in California, Ausra plans a larger one for 2010 that will power 120,000 homes.
PG&E: Besides making big investments in wind and solar, the “greenest big utility” sponsors the nation’s largest smart-meter program, gave away 1 million CFL bulbs, and hooked up more customers’ solar systems to the grid than anyone else.
Verenium: The company’s scientists use a brew of enzymes to turn sugarcane waste into fuel at the nation’s first demonstration-scale cellulosic ethanol plant, in Louisiana. BP inked a $90 million partnership last year.
The continuing economic recession in the US and overall around the globe has impacted a number of large solar and biofuels projects. However venture capitalists are increasingly interested in smaller ventures and most of the investments are in this area. There are investors around the world are interested in ventures which require little in the way of expensive equipment and facilities, or those that have managed to attract foreign investment. Those were some of the conclusions of clean-tech investors who gathered at this week’s GoingGreen East conference in Boston.
As the credit markets have tightened, many capital-intensive projects have stalled. For example, OptiSolar, a company based in Hayward, CA, has sold planned solar-farm projects because it couldn’t raise money to expand manufacturing. Corn-ethanol plants are being shut down and some sold in bankruptcy proceedings for a fraction of their value. Meanwhile, some next-generation biofuels companies, such as Mascoma, based in Boston, have put plans for new plants on hold.
Projects requiring hundreds of millions of dollars have fallen from favor, says Jim Matheson, a general partner at Flagship Ventures. Don Wood, managing director at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, says that his firm is turning to businesses that require smaller plants, such as those that desalinate water and cost only $10 million.
Perhaps the biggest winners will be companies with technologies to improve energy efficiency. Wood says that in the coming years, “efficiency is where you’ll get the highest marginal return on investment,” in large part because costs are low. Some such ventures take advantage of cheap sensors, communications hardware, and software packages to monitor and control energy use both in buildings and on the electricity grid, says Chuck McDermott, a general partner at Rockport Capital. He says that sensors are cheap enough now that they can be distributed throughout a building, even in the ductwork. A pair of sensors on each side of an air filter in a heating system can detect when the filter needs to be changed to save energy. Sensors and controls on appliances will allow homeowners and utilities to reduce energy use.
Research is going on to find the bacteria which efficiently convert biomass to sugar, reports Technology Review. All this to produce more biofuel that is Ethanol, which amounts to 15% of mix in gasoline sold in many parts of US. Zymetis, a start up company which is foussed on this work, has genetically modified a rare, cellulose-eating bacterium to break down and convert cellulose into sugars necessary to make ethanol, and it recently completed its first commercial-scale trial. Earlier this year, the company ran the modified microbe through a series of tests in large fermenters and found that it was able to convert one ton of cellulosic plant fiber into sugar in 72 hours. The trial, researchers say, illustrates the organism’s potential in helping to produce ethanol cheaply and efficiently at industrial scales. Zymetis is now raising the first round of venture capital to bring the technology to commercial applications.
Ethanol production from cellulosic sources is an expensive multistage process. The cellulosic feedstock is first pretreated with heat and chemicals to break down the material’s tough cell walls. Expensive manufactured enzymes are then added to the mix to convert purified cellulose into glucose, which is then treated with yeast that turns the sugars into ethanol. As a result, scientists and several startup companies are developing improved microbes that could accomplish several of these steps, thus making the resulting biofuels more competitive with fossil fuels.
Toward that goal, Laughlin says that the company has developed an ethanol-producing system that revolves around a microbe that quickly and efficiently combines the first two steps of the conventional ethanol process. “It has the ability to break down whole plant material, and it excretes enzymes that break down cellulose, [which works] very well in solution,” says Laughlin.
Two more private sector power projects have entered construction phase after achievement of financial closure: Hubco-Narowal Power Project and Liberty Power Tech Project, of 220 and 200 MW capacity respectively. The Managing Director of PPIB announced this during the signing ceremony, which was also attended by other senior officials from PPIB and the Project Companies.
The Sponsor of Hubco-Narowal project located at Narowal is the Hub Power Company Limited, while the lenders of project include Habib Bank Limited (HBL), National Bank Limited (NBP), Allied Bank Limited (ABL) and Bank Al-Falah.
The Sponsors of Liberty Power Tech Project located near Faisalabad are Liberty Mills Limited and Mukaty Family, while lenders of project are Allied Bank Limited (ABL), Habib Bank Limited (HBL), National Bank Limited (NBP), Faysal Bank Limited (FBL), Meezan Bank Ltd and Bank Al-Falah Ltd.
The estimated investment in Hubco-Narowal project is approximately US $274 million while Liberty Power Tech Project is US $240 million and they are targeted to be commissioned by March 2010 and December 2010, respectively. With the initiation of construction work at these two project sites, a total of twelve (12) new IPPs are now under construction and will add a capacity of 2,539 MW by end of 2010. This is a major success in attracting private investment to eliminate the present load shedding as per government commitment to the nation.
With the recent global economic recession, green technology spending and development has taken a hit. But the stimulus spending plan can bring spending on green and clean technology back. The question is that how can Pakistan become part of this push and develop some technology and expertise to benefit with local situation and also as a service provider. MSNBC reports that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009–the stimulus package provides about $80 billion altogether for renewable energy, energy efficiency, mass transit, updating the electrical grid and research. The hope is that investing in solar power and other forms of renewable energy will create jobs, help businesses grow, make our economy more productive, and create a cleaner world for the future.
Excerpts:
The package helps bring clean energy businesses to the forefront by using tax incentives, bonds, grants and loan guarantees. Two measures that will help solar are the grants and loan guarantees for renewable energy. Tax credits are great when you’re making money, but many investors aren’t profiting in the current economy, dampening appetites for tax credits. The stimulus allows those installing solar power to apply for a cash grant instead of a tax credit and get the money back in 60 days. These grants will bring investors back into solar and wind, ensuring strong growth.
The stimulus also provides $6 billion in loan guarantees that will help solar energy grow by making more credit available. Solar energy is a low-risk investment, about as safe as they come. If you put solar panels on a roof, the sun produces power, which in turn makes money. Still, credit has gotten so tight that even safe investments like solar can’t get credit.
“A solar power system generating electricity has a forecastable income stream over the next 30 years,” says Lyndon Rive, CEO of SolarCity, a Foster City, Calif.-based solar installer. “But it’s hard to get credit for these systems. By backing up loans, the government gets lenders to start lending again, which leads to more systems being installed, more jobs and more businesses.”
Other measures to support renewable energy and energy efficiency are also being developed, like on-bill financing in California. On-bill financing of energy efficiency projects will help businesses fund energy efficiency improvements that are paid back through their utility bills, helping them save money overall. Cities in California and other parts of the country are creating solar power and energy efficiency funding for homeowners, who pay back the money over many years through their property taxes. The SBA has a little-publicized 7a loan program to fund energy efficiency projects. The more innovative funding for clean energy and green building that’s available, the more rapidly the field will grow and help the economy.
We have been hearing for a long time about the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) Gas Pipeline. Based on the political and security conditions the project keeps moving back and forth. I don’t think that IPI will go anywhere this year and it will always be a favorite target for anarchists.
Here’s one article from December which appeared in Business Recorder.
Advisor to Prime Minister on petroleum and natural resources, Dr Asim Hussain, has highlighted that Pakistan is vigorously pursuing Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project to meet the growing energy demands and possibility of increasing import of crude and petroleum products. Pakistan’s delegation, led by Dr Asim will visit Tehran on December 29 to sort out the issue of price revision for the signing of GSPA of the IPI project, he said.
He was talking to Mashallah Shakari, Iranian Ambassador in Pakistan, who called on him in his office here on Tuesday. They expressed satisfaction with the progress in IPI gas pipeline project and desired that its early implementation would also serve to strengthening and expanding the economic and trade relations among the regional countries. The advisor told the envoy that IPI is an important component of Pakistan’s long-term energy plan, “and we are fully committed to its early completion.
Asim said that oil and gas co-operation between the two countries would open up new vistas for their mutual advantage. He invited Iranian investors to avail the investment opportunities existing in Pakistan’s oil and gas sector. Pakistan imports 10,000 bpd Iranian light crude and is working on crude oil import arrangements from Iran on deferred payment, the advisor said. The meeting was also attended by Petroleum Secretary Mahmood Saleem Mahmood and other officers of the ministry.
Technology Review has reported about the shift in thinking towards vehicle.
From the article - there is a nice slideshow at the site as well:
The talk at this year’s Detroit Auto Show was all about electric cars and plug-in hybrids–hybrid cars whose batteries can be recharged from wall sockets. But both types of vehicles will remain uncommon on U.S. highways for several years. Although both Ford and Chrysler have said that they will release electric vehicles in 2010, they had disclosed no further details at press time. Several companies expect to beat Chevrolet’s ballyhooed Volt plug-in to market but are limiting production runs and plan to gather data on how their vehicles are used before broader commercial releases. Other companies are concentrating on small, sometimes eccentric-looking vehicles for city commuting, but it’s still unclear whether drivers will embrace the idea.
