Electricity Policy

Molten salt storage part of 100 MW solar project for Nevada

US Renewables Group, a U.S. private equity investment firm focused on renewable power and advanced fuels, announced today that its portfolio company, SolarReserve, has closed financing for the 110 MW Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project to be built near Tonopah, Nevada.

The Crescent Dunes project, which utilizes innovative, highly efficient and U.S. developed technology, will be the nation’s first commercial scale solar power tower with fully integrated energy storage. The facility incorporates molten salt energy storage technology in a tower configuration and will be the largest of its kind in the world; providing reliable, zero-emission electricity generation on demand – day or night.

Build transmission? What, me worry?

Plans for a major transmission line project through the Yuma area may be short-circuited due to a law being considered by Congress.

As currently envisioned, the Sonoran-Mojave Renewable Transmission (SMRT) Project would construct new transmission lines and upgrade the existing grid to help deliver renewable energy from remote sites in southeastern California and western Arizona to load centers across the desert Southwest.

SMRT is being developed through the cooperation of nine public and private power firms and entities, including Arizona Public Service, and is headed by the Western Area Power Administration, a U.S. Energy Department agency.

If passed, however, a House bill sponsored by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) would stop WAPA from borrowing any more of the $3.25 billion available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for SMRT and other electrical projects in the works.

“If this bill were to pass, Recovery Act funding would not be available for the Sonoran-Mojave project. It would certainly complicate things,” said Randy Wilkerson, WAPA public affairs specialist.

McClintock’s bill came in the wake of solar-energy firm Solyndra’s bankruptcy, after it had received a $535 million federal loan guarantee.  

Editor’s Note: McClintock misses the point. Solyndra’s collapse wasn’t because solar is infeasible or unpopular. It was just that the recent glut of cheaper Chinese solar panels drove down prices to a point where Solyndra couldn’t compete.  30 Sept. 2011.

http://www.yumasun.com/arizona-wapa.html

Group: Cut IT efficiency by 1,000

The GreenTouch Consortium – a global research initiative dedicated to dramatically improving the energy efficiency of information and communications technology networks by a factor of 1,000 - says it will reveal a comprehensive roadmap at an Open Forum on 17 Nov. at its members meeting in Seattle.

The Australia-based consortium was formed last year and now claims 300 participants from 50+ member organizations in 19 countries that are “working together to define the challenges, identify the trends and issues and develop solutions that will achieve the goal of delivering within five years the architecture, specifications, roadmap and demonstrations of key components needed to increase the energy efficiency of ICT networks ‒ in particular, the service provider networks that make up the Internet ‒ by a factor of 1,000 from current levels.”  30 Sept. 2011.

http://www.itwire.com/the-internets-energy-efficiency-will-increase

Southern nears NRC call on Vogtle 3-4

Southern Co. is poised to end a three-decade freeze on nuclear development as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission considers granting it the first license to build new reactors since the Three Mile Island accident.

Atlanta-based Southern has more at stake than its bottom line and reputation, Chief Executive Officer Thomas Fanning said during two interviews. If there is to be a nuclear revival in the US, Southern, the largest US power company, must deliver the $14 billion project on-time and on-budget, he said.

“We’ve got to be successful,” Fanning said during an interview at Bloomberg headquarters in New York. “This is the first, best shot for the nuclear renaissance in America.”