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Getting to Know Your Experts: Tom Helmer, Executive Solution Architect at UDC – [an Energy Central Power Perspectives™ Expert Interview]

April 24, 2024

As the energy industry hurtles forward at an unprecedented pace, it's crucial to pause and take stock of the groundbreaking developments shaping its trajectory. In this exclusive interview with Tom Helmer, Executive Solution Architect at UDC and established member of Energy Central’s Network of Experts, we delve into the latest advancements and projects driving innovation. Tom shares..
Energy Central…

Are mini-grids really the ultimate solution to sub-Saharan Africa’s trailing electrification efforts?

March 21, 2023

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| Energy Jobs

Today, a mere google search of the phrase ‘mini-grid potential in sub-Saharan Africa’ gives an overwhelming number of relevant results ranging above 4 million in a search time less than a minute. While this means there is an undeniable and thrilling potential of off-grid solutions backed up with articles, journals, papers, and research with dominating focus on solar mini-grid..
Energy Central…

Thermal Storage and Heat Pumps Will be the Low Cost Peak Shaving Solution for Utilities and Users

August 3, 2022

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| Energy Jobs

We are now in a time of decreased Security of Supply (call it SOS) and utilities are continuously challenged in keeping the guarantee of delivering power on the same level. A famous Dutch newspaper NRC told that cooling equipment will come into the economic range of many people in Developing Countries and increase the peaks on the grid. In many of these countries but also in the richer..
Energy Central…

A Win-Win-Win Solution for DER Owners, the Power Grid, and the Environment

January 13, 2022

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| Industry News

New distributed energy resources (DERs) are being added to the power grid every day. However, DERs don’t automatically provide owners with the greatest value possible. In many cases, that requires the help of an aggregator, that is, a company that specializes in managing DERs owned by a pool of clients and optimizing performance of the overall system based on real-time signals coming from the wholesale power markets.

“Wholesale electricity markets need grid services from distributed energy resources. We connect those underutilized distributed energy resources—typically behind customer meters—to those wholesale power markets to orchestrate and monetize those resources to deliver reliable, cost-effective, and clean energy,” Gregg Dixon, co-founder and CEO of Voltus, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast.

Voltus’ customers and grid services partners generate cash by allowing Voltus to maximize the market value of their flexible load, distributed generation, energy storage, energy efficiency, and electric vehicle resources. “Voltus is to the electricity industry what Airbnb is to the real estate market in the sense that Airbnb connects under-utilized apartments or homes to buyers who want to make use of those under-utilized assets, and Voltus does that for the electricity grid,” Dixon explained.…

How General Atomics Developed Its Revolutionary Nuclear Fuel Solution

June 1, 2018

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| Industry News

The U.S. is pouring funding into developing new fuel technology for advanced nuclear reactors in a bid to help the flagging industry. On April 27, it awarded General Atomics (GA) $ 3.2 million for two projects that the San Diego, California-based company is developing, including an accident tolerant fuel (ATF) solution that the company says is “truly revolutionary.”

The funding, for which GA will provide a cost share, is aimed to advance development and licensing of new reactor fuel that features silicon carbide (SiC) composite fuel cladding containing uranium carbide (UC) fuel pellets. One project, being conducted in collaboration with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee with total funding of $ 2,763,744, will combine advanced computer modeling and simulation with new microcapsule irradiation to establish techniques that “substantially reduce the time and expense required to qualify new fuels,” the company said. The second project, funded at a total of $ 475,819, would back the pre-application license review of SiC-UC fuel by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, allowing the company to develop an efficient roadmap for formal regulatory qualification.…

Cogeneration Solution Serves Processing Plant Needs [PODCAST]

February 25, 2018

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| Industry News

Concentric Power, a California-based provider of high-efficiency energy modules for onsite refrigeration and electric power generation, recently launched a $ 100 million financing program for cogeneration and microgrid projects.

“We are excited to create a new path forward in energy infrastructure financing and development,” Brian Curtis, founder and CEO of Concentric Power, said in a press release. “The next 20 years will be transformative for how electric power is generated and consumed. Industrial and ag consumers see these shifts coming but would often rather invest capital in their core business rather than in plant utilities. Concentric’s technology strategy and finance program enable customers to utilize third-party financing to roll out sustainable infrastructure.”

Concentric has already developed two significant projects: Taylor Farms in Gonzales, California, and True Leaf Farms in San Juan Bautista, California. Both are large agricultural processing facilities that require several MW of power and refrigeration to operate.

Taylor Farms (Figure 1) installed solar panels and a wind turbine to supply some of its power demand, but it wanted a reliable backup to fill voids when the wind and solar couldn’t provide the processing plant’s needs.…