EERE: Funds for Marine, Biomass, and Wind Energy, plus State Energy Efficiency

On 9/15/2010 2:03 AM, EERE Network News wrote:

A weekly newsletter from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). The EERE Network News is also available on the Web at: www.eere.energy.gov/news/enn.cfm September 15, 2010 News and Events DOE Awards $37 Million for Marine and Hydrokinetic Energy DOE Awards $16.5 million for Biomass Research and Development DOE Awards $5.2 Million for Wind Forecasting and Wind Turbine Development DOE Awards Nearly $30 Million for State Energy Efficiency Projects DOE Awards $9.6 Million for Transformational Energy Research Projects DOE Proposes Energy Efficiency Enforcement Penalties for 27 Companies Energy Connections ACORE Releases a State-by-State Report on Renewable Energy

News and Events DOE Awards $37 Million for Marine and Hydrokinetic Energy In the largest single U.S. funding commitment to date for this technology, DOE announced on September 9 its selections for more than $37 million in funding to accelerate the technological and commercial readiness of emerging marine and hydrokinetic technologies. These technologies generate renewable electricity from free-flowing rivers and streams, ocean tides and waves, and temperature differences in the ocean. The 27 projects in 17 states range from concept studies and component design research to prototype development and in-water device testing. DOE will leverage private-sector investments by providing cost-shared funding to industry and industry-led partnerships. Ocean Power Technologies plans to deploy its wave energy converter off the Oregon coast. Credit: Ocean Power Technologies The selected projects are led by companies and institutions in Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, and Washington. The projects include in-water tests in Alaskan rivers and off the shores of Maine, Oregon, and Washington. For example, Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. will deploy a full-scale 150-kilowatt (kW) wave energy conversion system in the Oregon Territorial Sea and will collect two years of detailed operating data. And the Public Utility District No.1 of Snohomish County, Washington, will deploy, operate, monitor, and evaluate two 10-meter diameter tidal turbines in Puget Sound. The project is expected to generate 1 megawatt of electrical energy during periods of peak tidal currents, with an average energy output of approximately 100 kW. In addition, the Ocean Renewable Power Company will test five tidal turbines in Cobscook Bay, off the coast of Eastport, Maine. See the DOE press release, the full list of projects, and DOE's Wind and Water Power Program Web site. DOE Awards $16.5 million for Biomass Research and Development DOE announced on September 8 the award of up to $16.5 million for two major research and development cost-share initiatives that will support the expansion of renewable fuels production. Under the first initiative, DOE will invest up to $12 million over three years in four projects that will employ pyrolysis, the heating of biomass in the absence of oxygen to create a bio-based oily liquid called bio-oil. The projects will explore a variety of catalytic processes to upgrade this bio-oil into so-called "drop-in" biofuels—advanced biofuels that are compatible with our existing fueling infrastructure. Drop-in biofuels may include a bio-based crude oil substitute that could be processed in existing refineries, as well as bio-based versions of gasoline, diesel fuel, and jet fuel that can be handled the same way as their petroleum-based counterparts. For example, the Gas Technology Institute will test wood, corn stover, and an aquatic plant in an automated, integrated pilot facility that converts biomass directly into gasoline and diesel fuel. North Carolina State University will determine whether switchgrass can be sustainably grown in close proximity to pine trees. Enlarge this image. Credit: Todd Johnson Under the second initiative, DOE will provide up to $4.5 million to three projects focused on developing sustainable methods of biomass crop production. The projects will design, model, and implement biomass production systems across different regions of the country while looking at factors such as how plants impact soil erosion and water quality, quantifying the environmental impacts of different strategies for producing energy crops and using crop residues. The projects will also provide insight into where to locate bioenergy crops within a landscape in order to maximize their potential positive impacts. Under this initiative, a team led by North Carolina State University will examine sites in Alabama, Mississippi, and North Carolina and will investigate biomass production options that are compatible with forest management, with a focus on the intercropping of pine and switchgrass. Meanwhile, the University of Minnesota and Purdue University will focus on energy crops in the Mississippi River watershed and watersheds in the Upper Midwest, respectively. See the DOE press release and DOE's Biomass Program Web site. DOE Awards $5.2 Million for Wind Forecasting and Turbine Development DOE announced on September 13 that it will award more than $5.2 million over two years to five projects that will support U.S. wind energy development. Two of the projects, focused on short-term wind forecasting, will receive a total of $3.4 million over two years. AWS Truepower, LLC will lead a project that will focus on a region of high wind energy use in Texas, while WindLogics, Inc. will lead a project targeting portions of several upper-Midwestern states. In addition, three projects will receive a total of more than $1.8 million to develop midsize wind turbines, with Clean Green Energy, LLC developing a 200-kilowatt (kW) vertical-axis wind turbine; Northern Power Systems developing a 450-kW wind turbine; and Texas Tech University developing a 500-kW model that can be tilted upward without using cranes. Vertical-axis wind turbines resemble upright eggbeaters and have maintenance advantages because the generator is located near the ground. See the DOE press release and the Web site for DOE's Wind and Water Power Program. DOE Awards Nearly $30 Million for State Energy Efficiency Projects DOE announced on September 9 its investment of $28.5 million in competitive awards in 12 states and territories to support energy efficiency projects. DOE's State Energy Program selected Alabama, Alaska, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, Puerto Rico, Texas, Virginia, and Washington for the awards. The funding falls into two categories, "Strengthening Building Retrofit Markets" and "Stimulating Energy Efficiency Action." Retrofit support will assist states in developing targeted building retrofit markets in the residential and commercial sectors. The energy efficiency funding will help states generate the necessary policy and program frameworks to support short- and long-term investments in energy efficiency. The winning proposals covered an array of approaches to reduce energy use. For example, Nevada will expand its Home Performance with Energy Star Program with the goal of retrofitting at least 5% of Nevada's single-family residences by 2021, focusing on major metropolitan areas. And Mississippi and Kentucky will team up to generate a lasting market transformation for energy efficiency in the southeastern United States with utility investment in efficiency. In a complementary effort, DOE's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability awarded a grant to Hawaii to help its public utilities commission reduce electricity use by 4,300 gigawatt-hours by 2030. See the DOE press release and DOE's State Energy Program Web site. DOE Awards $9.6 Million for Transformational Energy Research Projects DOE announced on September 10 that it has selected six transformational energy research and development projects to receive a total of $9.6 million through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The selections, made by DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), include a dehumidifier based on a nano-structured solid polymer that is permeable to moisture but impermeable to air; next-generation permanent magnets with a lower content of critical rare-earth metals, to increase the efficiency and power density of electric machines; a cryogenic carbon capture system for fossil-fuel power plants; an airborne wind turbine, consisting of a high-performance wing that carries a turbine and is tethered to the ground; a dynamic liquid prism that can be adjusted using an applied electric field, allowing concentrating photovoltaic systems to track the sun without the use of mechanical systems; and a thermal energy storage system for concentrating solar power systems that uses supercritical fluids to potentially store twice the energy of an equivalent-size molten-salt system. Supercritical fluids are substances at temperatures and pressures above their critical point, which means that distinct liquid and gas phases of the substance have ceased to exist. See the DOE press release, the technical descriptions of the selected projects, and DOE's ARPA-E Web site. DOE Proposes Energy Efficiency Enforcement Penalties for 27 Companies As part of an ongoing commitment to rigorously enforce appliance efficiency requirements, DOE announced on September 13 new proposed penalties against 27 companies selling products in the United States without certifying that those products comply with energy efficiency or water conservation standards. The legally required certifications help ensure that products sold in the United States deliver significant energy and cost savings to the U.S. public. The 27 companies include manufacturers, importers, and private labelers of appliance, plumbing, and lighting products. Collectively, the notices propose penalty fees of more than $3.5 million, though these fines may be reduced if the companies quickly comply with certification requirements. Unless companies address these claims within 30 days, DOE will file actions either in the United States District Court or with an administrative law judge to demand payment of the proposed penalties. DOE is committed to aggressively issuing and enforcing minimum energy and water efficiency levels for products found in U.S. homes and businesses. Under the Obama Administration, the agency has acted quickly to establish energy efficiency standards for more than 20 different product categories that will save consumers between $250 and $300 billion on their energy bills through 2030. Over the past year, DOE's appliance standards enforcement efforts have initiated 75 enforcement investigations and actions, including the 27 new penalty cases, and have removed from the market 66 products that failed to meet federal energy efficiency standards. See the DOE press release, the penalty notices, and the Web site for DOE's Appliances and Commercial Equipment Standards Program.

Energy Connections ACORE Releases a State-by-State Report on Renewable Energy The American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) released a report on September 14 that compiles data on renewable energy developments, resource potentials, and financial, market, and policy information on a state-by-state basis. The report is intended to be an executive summary of the renewable energy sector in each state. The state summaries show the wide range of renewable energy development in the United States, ranging from Louisiana, with only 200 kilowatts of grid-connected solar power and production capabilities for 1.5 million gallons of biofuels per year, to California, with 2.7 gigawatts of wind power, 2.6 gigawatts of geothermal power, 1.1 gigawatts of grid-connected solar power, 705 megawatts of biomass power, and production capabilities for nearly 200 million gallons of biofuels per year. The report also notes the state policies that helped to accomplish that scale of deployment. In California, such policies include a renewable energy requirement; a mandate for utilities to provide grid connections and net metering for solar and wind energy systems; a program to invest $2.17 billion in grid-connected solar power over 10 years; a feed-in tariff for renewable energy systems; and a number of other rebates, tax incentives, and financing programs for renewable energy. ACORE will provide quarterly updates for the online, interactive report, titled "Renewable Energy in America," which is available on the ACORE Web site.

This newsletter is funded by DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and is also available on the EERE Web site. If you have questions or comments about this newsletter, please contact the editor. This service is provided to you at no charge by DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE). Visit the Web site at http://www.eere.energy.gov.

 

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