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Experts: Coal Plants Must Adapt to New Energy Landscape

August 25, 2018

The Trump administration’s Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule announced August 21 calls for coal-fired power plants to meet state-designed performance standards, most notably focused on increases in heat rate and overall efficiency for individual generating stations.

Energy experts speaking at the MEGA Symposium in Baltimore, Maryland, on August 22 agreed it’s a goal worth pursuing. They also said it will be difficult to achieve due to the evolving nature of U.S. power generation.

The rise of natural gas, which today accounts for the largest percentage of the nation’s electricity production, along with the addition of renewable sources such as wind and solar power to the grid, has lessened the amount of coal-fired generation across the country. It has decreased coal’s capacity factor—the average power generated by a particular energy source, divided by the rated peak power of that source—to just above 50%, behind natural gas, and well below the 73% capacity factor for coal as recently as 2008, according to the U.S.…

Bill Supporting Xcel Energy Nuclear Plants Dies in Minnesota

May 30, 2018

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A bill that would have provided more cost-recovery certainty for Xcel Energy’s two Minnesota nuclear plants didn’t get through the state House of Representatives prior to the legislative session ending on May 20, effectively killing the measure.

The bill would have allowed Xcel to submit proposals to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) designating each of its nuclear plants—the dual-unit Prairie Island station and the single-unit Monticello plant—as carbon-reduction facilities. As part of the process, the company would have included a proposed statement of the total expected costs, including but not limited to capital investments and operation and maintenance costs associated with the facility’s operation.

The MPUC would then have been required to approve or reject the total expected costs within 10 months of the filing date. The solution would have given Xcel the ability to recover a facility’s total costs outside of a general rate case proceeding. Proponents of the legislation suggested that it would have given Xcel more certainty than it currently has concerning cost recovery.…

Net Metering and Time-Variant Rates Drive Solar Power and Energy Storage Growth [PODCAST]

April 29, 2018

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Nevada law has included net metering provisions for more than 20 years. Net metering is an arrangement that allows energy generated by a customer’s leased or purchased solar system to offset monthly power bills. It also permits excess energy supplied to the grid to earn credits, which are then automatically applied to future billing periods in which more energy is consumed than produced.

Historically, net metering was a one-for-one transaction in Nevada. For every kWh supplied to the grid, a credit was given to the customer for one kWh in the future. The scheme changed in 2015 when the Nevada Public Utilities Commission (PUC) created a laddered approach that ratcheted down the value of customer-generated energy over a period of years to about 2¢/kWh, which was much less than the retail rate of about 11¢/kWh. The change effectively stopped all construction on new residential rooftop solar systems.

Through Assembly Bill 405 (AB 405), the Nevada Legislature modified the net metering rate structure effective June 15, 2017.…

Report: Clean Energy Investments Hit $333.5 Billion in 2017

January 18, 2018

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Though some countries, including the U.S., have moved to support coal-fired power generation over the past year, investments in renewable energy continued to rise, according to a new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).

The research group on January 16 said global investment in clean energy such as wind and solar reached about $ 333.5 billion in 2017, a 3% rise from the prior year, and just 7% below the record in 2015. BNEF said about half of all investment went to solar projects, with China accounting for nearly $ 133 billion—or about 40%—of the total investment in renewables. China’s total is 24% more than it spent in 2016, according to BNEF.

The report said two dozen countries invested more than $ 1 billion in clean energy initiatives in 2017. It noted that the falling costs of equipment such as wind turbines and solar panels has opened new markets, and is bringing electrification to areas—particularly in developing countries—where there is limited access to a transmission grid.…

Alternative Materials for Alternative Energy

December 22, 2017

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Moving toward sustainable manufacture of photovoltaics, Dr. Manuela Schiek’s research group in Oldenburg, Germany, has discovered how the latest technology in confocal laser scanning microscopy is enhancing both accuracy and efficiency of their research into organic semiconductors and transparent electrodes.

Harvesting energy directly from the sun in order to generate electricity, solar cells appear to represent the epitome of green energy. But have you ever stopped to consider the manufacturing process?

Take the case of crystalline silicon for example, a main component of conventional solar cells. First, transforming silica ore into its valuable crystallised form requires temperatures above 2,000C. Not only is this an incredibly energy-hungry process, but obtaining ultra-pure silicon also involves several hazardous chemicals and a potent greenhouse gas. Other main offenders in the modern manufacture of many inorganic thin-film solar cells include components comprising the toxic elements selenium and cadmium.

Indium is also a vital ingredient, forming indium tin oxide (ITO), but reserves of this finite resource are estimated to become unviable in the near future, which poses another set of potential challenges.…

Oman Starts Power Plant as Part of New Energy Development

December 16, 2017

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Oman recently began operating a Wärtsilä-built power plant in the northern part of the country, part of more than $ 1 billion in power and energy projects being developed in the Arab nation. The Musandam Independent Power Project (IPP) is a 120-MW natural gas-fired plant (Figure 1) that can use light fuel oil as a secondary fuel. It is the first plant to be inaugurated as part of the Musandam Power Company (MPC), a consortium of Oman Oil Company (OOC)—which holds 70% of MPC shares—and LG International Corporation, a South Korean energy supplier and developer. The MPC was created to encourage energy-related development in Oman through both foreign and domestic investment.

Salim Al Hashmi, project director for MPC, at a mid-November ceremony officially opening the IPP said “This plant is a central part of the major integrated development of the Musandam Governorate. The project will play a significant role in meeting the power needs of the region’s current and upcoming industries, while at the same time benefiting the local community.”…