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AEP Views West Virginia Project as Possible Model
WIDE-SCALE DEPLOYMENT IS AT LEAST five years away. But the architects behind the first-ever power plant to attempt to capture and store carbon dioxide emissions will fire up a pilot project in September in a test that could last up to three years.If the 10-megawatt trial at the Mountaineer Plant in New Haven, W.Va., is deemed successful, then American Electric Power will implement the same...
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A Competitive Resources
FOR MICHAEL YACKIRA, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF executive officer of Reno-based NV Energy, deciding whether to purchase geothermal energy to meet the state's renewable portfolio standard is a no-brainer.“It's been commercially viable for a long period of time,” Yackira said. “For us, it's always been the most competitive of the three forms of renewable energy.” geothermal power plants, which harvest...
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Combined Heat and Power Policies Needed
COMBINED HEAT AND POWER HAS LONG been a component of the U.S. energy sector. Indeed, Thomas Edison's first power plants captured both heat and power. That's quite an endorsement of the technology. However, despite more than a century of use, CHP still has not reached its full market potential. Policymakers could do a lot to change that.CHP is a suite of technologies that can produce electric or...
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Providing Flexible Solutions
NATURAL GAS EMITS ABOUT 45 PERCENT less CO2 than coal and about 30 percent less than oil. The increased use of this clean fuel can combat climate change by reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions. And, because using natural gas directly in America's homes and businesses is by far its best and most efficient use, the more we use natural gas in space heating, water heating andcooking applications...
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The EnergyBiz Award Winners of 2009
SOMEWHAT PARADOXICALLY, THE ELECTRIC UTILITY INDUSTRY, ESSENTIAL TO all innovation in the post-industrial age, has been among the least driven by technological or structural innovation. With the exception of certain electric utilities, including some very large ones that no longer exist, the key to success has been stability and predictability. No longer. In the face of a looming environmental...
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How Executives Become Game Changers
LEADERSHIP HAS NEVER BEEN EASY, BUT IT ONCE WAS much simpler. Consider the leadership of Alexander the Great. On the battlefield, the place where it mattered most, Alexander led by example, fighting at the head of his troops, visible to friend and foe alike in gilded helmet and white plume. Directions were simple and conveyed by shouted command to those within earshot. But for most of the mass of...
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Forecasting For Dollars
IT'S 5 A.M. ON A MONDAY AND OPERATIONS AT THE Puget Sound Energy trading desk are heating up. Actually, as with utilities every where, the Bellevue, Wash., operation is never quiet. This flurry of activity is repeated from coast to coast as the desks gear up for that day's trades and, in this case, as the company's power generation bids are prepared for the day-ahead market for Tuesday.Expected...
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The Challenges of Big Wind
STEADIER THAN THE WIND THAT TURNS WIND TURBINES or the sun that charges solar panels, the urgency to integrate intermittent sources and other forms of renewable generation is unprecedented. The challenges to face in doing so are nearly equal to the urgency.Large systems such as PJM Interconnection have been built to support influxes of large amounts of generation through their traditional...
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LAST YEAR, THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST POWER GRID WAS put to the test—twice—when surges in wind power exceeded forecasts. Both events required unplanned spills through our dams and calls out to regional wind operators to curtail generation.These surges were a wake-up call for the region, demonstrating how quickly wind power is reshaping the future of electricity generation, transmission and...
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Back to the Future
RUSSIA, THE BIGGEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD BY AREA AND THE FOURTH-BIGGEST BY INSTALLED electricity generating capacity, is nearing a significant milestone. By next year—unless the global recession continues to dampen demand—it should again reach the level of electricity consumption it had in 1990, all of 20 years ago.The collapse of the Soviet Union and the transition from communism hit the entire...
