Alternative Energy Archives - Page 15 of 41

Tesla Wins Massive Contract to Help Power the California Grid

September 19, 2016 Webmaster

It’s the latest response to a fossil-fuel disaster.

Tesla just won a bid to supply grid-scale power in Southern California to help prevent electricity shortages following the biggest natural gas leak in U.S. history. The Powerpacks, worth tens of millions of dollars, will be operational in record time—by the end of this year.

Tesla Motors Inc. will supply 20 megawatts (80 megawatt-hours) of energy storage to Southern California Edison as part of a wider effort to prevent blackouts by replacing fossil-fuel electricity generation with lithium-ion batteries. Tesla’s contribution is enough to power about 2,500 homes for a full day, the company said in a blog post on Thursday. But the real significance of the deal is the speed with which lithium-ion battery packs are being deployed.

“The storage is being procured in a record time frame,” months instead of years, said Yayoi Sekine, a battery analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “It highlights the maturity of advanced technologies like energy storage to be contracted as a reliable resource in an emergency situation.”

Here’s a chart showing the acceleration of energy-storage deployment as batteries gain popularity.

The deal fits into Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk’s long-term vision of transforming Tesla from an an electric car company to a clean-energy company. That’s the same motivation behind his pending deal to acquire SolarCity Corp., the rooftop solar company founded by his cousins, of which he is also chairman and the largest shareholder.

In total megawatt hours, the Tesla batteries will make up the biggest lithium-ion battery project in the world, though it will soon be surpassed by others under contract, according to data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.¹ A Tesla spokeswoman declined to comment on the value of the 20 megawatt deal. According to Tesla’s website, a 2-megawatt Tesla battery system costs about $2.9 million, and any contracts greater than 2.5 megawatts must be negotiated directly with the company.

Tesla just won a bid to supply grid-scale power in Southern California to help prevent electricity shortages following the biggest natural gas leak in U.S. history. The Powerpacks, worth tens of millions of dollars, will be operational in record time—by the end of this year.

Tesla Motors Inc. will supply 20 megawatts (80 megawatt-hours) of energy storage to Southern California Edison as part of a wider effort to prevent blackouts by replacing fossil-fuel electricity generation with lithium-ion batteries. Tesla’s contribution is enough to power about 2,500 homes for a full day, the company said in a blog post on Thursday. But the real significance of the deal is the speed with which lithium-ion battery packs are being deployed.

“The storage is being procured in a record time frame,” months instead of years, said Yayoi Sekine, a battery analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “It highlights the maturity of advanced technologies like energy storage to be contracted as a reliable resource in an emergency situation.”

Here’s a chart showing the acceleration of energy-storage deployment as batteries gain popularity.

The deal fits into Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk’s long-term vision of transforming Tesla from an an electric car company to a clean-energy company. That’s the same motivation behind his pending deal to acquire SolarCity Corp., the rooftop solar company founded by his cousins, of which he is also chairman and the largest shareholder.

In total megawatt hours, the Tesla batteries will make up the biggest lithium-ion battery project in the world, though it will soon be surpassed by others under contract, according to data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.¹ A Tesla spokeswoman declined to comment on the value of the 20 megawatt deal. According to Tesla’s website, a 2-megawatt Tesla battery system costs about $2.9 million, and any contracts greater than 2.5 megawatts must be negotiated directly with the company.

Bloomberg

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Engineer Says Alpart Could Be Operated Solely On Renewable Energy

August 24, 2016 Webmaster

Consulting engineer Howard Chin is making the case for the Alpart plant, which was recently acquired by Chinese firm Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company Ltd (JISCO), to be operated entirely using renewable energy.

JISCO has announced plans to invest US$2 billion to expand the plant which will see the addition of an aluminium smelter powered by a coal-fired plant.

Chin has, however, argued that the heat that would be generated from the coal-fired plant could be detrimental to aquatic, plant and animal life in and around the Black River area, and as such, renewable-energy sources should be considered.

“Cooling the power plant and running the bauxite refinery requires a lot of water. How hot would the Black River become downstream of Alpart? Hot enough to kill animal life? Certainly, NEPA (National Environment and Planning Agency) is not answering these questions which have to be answered. Nor do they have the technical capability to do so,” Chin said in an emailed response to The Gleaner.

STORAGE POWER PLANT

In recognition of the problem of storage capacity associated with renewables, Chin explained that a large pumped hydroelectric storage power plant could be used to power the alumina plant in the first instance.

“It could be done using a large renewable energy system backed up by a pumped storage system,” he said.

Pumped hydroelectric storage facilities store energy in the form of water in an upper reservoir, pumped from another reservoir at a lower elevation. During periods of high electricity demand, power is generated by releasing the stored water through turbines in the same manner as a conventional hydropower station. During periods of low demand, the upper reservoir is recharged by using lower-cost electricity from the grid to pump the water back to the upper reservoir.

Turning his attention to the Bayer Process, which would be used to produce aluminium should the Chinese go ahead with plans to build a smelter at Alpart, Chin observed that the heat given off could be transferred to the alumina refinery, which requires it in large quantities. According to the former Jamaica Institution of Engineers president, the smelter could also be powered by renewable energy.

“The alumina refinery needs a lot of heat. The aluminium smelter needs electricity and ends up giving off a lot of heat. Frankly, it might be possible to run the combined alumina and aluminium refining plant on a mostly very large renewable-energy system and a very large pumped storage system, and moving the heat from where it is produced to where it is needed,” he said.

Gleaner

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BMR wind farm commissioned

August 23, 2016 Webmaster

Malvern, St Elizabeth — Eighteen months after ground was broken, the 36.3-megawatt wind farm run by BMR Jamaica Wind at Potsdam, Malvern, high in the Santa Cruz Mountains, was formally commissioned in mid-August.

Priced at US$89.9 million, the wind project, located across the road from another wind farm run by light and power company Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), is being described as the single largest investment in St Elizabeth since construction of the Alpart alumina plant at Nain in the late 1960s.

The BMR project includes eleven wind turbines, which will provide energy to JPS’s national grid at US12.9 cents per kilowatt-hour.

BMR Jamaica Wind is a subsidiary of US-based BMR Energy. Guests at the recent formal commissioning were told that billionaire British investor, Sir Richard Branson — who turned up for the commissioning — was in the process of acquiring BMR through his wide- ranging and far-flung Virgin Group.

Branson, who triggered laughter by ripping up and throwing away what he said were his speaking notes, told his audience that his motive for the acquisition was to promote a clean energy revolution.

“I decided recently that we needed to get one or two core (clean energy) companies under our belt so that we can actually get out there and speed up this revolution …” he said.

“ We were delighted to acquire BMR and we will be out there trying to hustle and bustle governments all over the Caribbean and other countries to hurry up towards carbon neutrality by 2050. Personally, I don’t need to make money out of it, if it makes a bit of money, fine; if it doesn’t, fine. I just want to get the wind out there get the solar out there, … be powered by sun, wind, sea… a green energy revolution and bring the cost of energy down for everybody; get rid of the dangers of coal and oil and the dirty energies that we are using today… ” said Branson, founder of the Virgin Group.

Funding for the BMR project in Malvern was sourced through a package including a US$42-million loan from the US quasi-government investment agency Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), which pushes US overseas investment globally; US$10 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which promotes private sector development; US$10 million from the IFC-Canada Climate Change Programme and equity investment of US$26.9 million from BMR Energy.

Jamaica’s energy minister Andrew Wheatley said the BMR wind farm formed part of the government’s drive to significantly reduce reliance on fossil fuels and reduce the current annual oil bill of about US$2 billion. Ninety-two per cent of Jamaica’s energy needs are currently met by oil imports, he said.

The project was in line with the target of 30 per cent renewables in the national energy mix by 2030, as stated in the National Energy Policy, and in keeping with Vision 2030 Jamaica, the minister said.

“Projects like BMR continue to establish Jamaica as a clear renewables market leader within the Caribbean. By the end of this year, we would have added 80 MW of renewable energy to the national grid, through Wigton III (a wind farm at Rose Hill in southern Manchester), Content Solar (solar plant in Clarendon), and this facility,” Wheatley said.

Bruce Levy, president of BMR Energy, said the company had plans to expand the wind farm at Malvern by an additional three wind turbines. Small farmers would co-exist with the energy-generating operations, he said.

Jamaica Observer

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LNG ushers in price stability — JPS

August 19, 2016 Webmaster

As LNG partner New Fortress Energy begins shipment of liquefied natural gas to the island, power distributor Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo) is indicating that savings will depend on pricing, which varies from month to month.

Chief Financial Officer of the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo) Dan Theoc told the Jamaica Observer: “The cost of LNG at Bogue is likely to be cheaper than the cost of oil next month (September) when Bogue is expected to come on line.”

But, based on current price differentials and the fact that Bogue will only represent approximately 12 to 15 per cent of the generation mix, it is expected that total savings — based on this price differential – will be marginal (less than five per cent), all other things remaining equal, Theoc told the Business Observer.

Spot prices for LNG on the Henry Hub (HH) index registered US$2.82 per million Btu in July after starting the year at US$2.28 in January and falling to US$1.73 in March.

Crude, on the West Texas Intermediate index, started the year at US$30.32 per barrel and crested at US$44.65 in July.

“Unfortunately, we cannot say definitively what the impact of natural gas will be in the future because of the volatility in oil prices relative to natural gas prices,” Theoc said.

JPS will be buying natural gas from Fortress under a 20-year exclusive gas supply agreement and they will be responsible for all of the supply chain logistics and infrastructure costs.

That includes the mode of delivery to the island, the frequency of delivery, the storage of the LNG, the regasification and the distribution by pipeline to the property.

Theoc noted, “We will pay for gas based on the Henry Hub Index plus an agreed margin (which we cannot disclose), similar to how we buy fuel today from Petrojam based on the US Gulf Average Mean Index plus an agreed margin.”

In general, he added, “It is worth noting that the HH index in the past five years has been far less volatile compared to Oil-based Indices (like US Gulf, WTI and Brent Crude), so we view the move to HH as being a plus for price stability.”

It is expected that Bogue will actually make up 12 to 15 per cent of the generation mix on natural gas and that when the 190MW plant in Old Harbour comes on line in 2018, approximately 40 per cent of our generation mix will be based on gas-fired power plants.

In general, it is expected that renewables penetration will increase from five per cent in 2015 to 12 per cent by 2018.

The consequence, Theoc said, will be an improvement in fuel diversity from a situation where 95 per cent of production was oil-fired last year to a situation where less than 50 per cent is fired by oil.

The CFO said the pending award of a gas project to Jamalco will also potentially increase the percentage of generation units which are fired by natural gas by about ten per cent to further replace oil-fired units by 2019.

Jamaica Observer

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New Climate Change Programme Raises Concern – Mahlung

August 2, 2016 Webmaster

A new proposal expected to reduce the amount of solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface has raised concerns among policymakers.

They indicate it could provide an incentive for countries not to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Solar Radiation Management proposal is currently being discussed among several stakeholders with the aim of addressing some of the risks associated with climate change. It is expected to inject sulphate particles into the earth’s stratosphere, which will reduce the amount of solar radiation and add a cooling effect with respect to the earth’s temperatures.

Following the Conference of the Parties, which was held in France last year, several countries committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions in a bid to curtail global temperatures. Clifford Mahlung, project administrator at the Climate Change Division in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, said while he welcomes any initiative to mitigate against the effects of climate change, it is critical that any such project takes into account the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

“It wouldn’t reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but it would have a cooling effect on the earth’s temperature. It’s a new science initiative. It hasn’t been tried anywhere else in the world, but there are some conclusions that it has very good potential …” he said.

“The big concern for me, though, being from a small island which suffers greatly from the negative impact of climate change, is that it could also provide an incentive for countries not to reduce their greenhouse emissions. Instead, they would rely on this technology, which would be defeating the whole purpose to combating climate change. It could give people a false sense of hope,” Mahlung told The Gleaner.

“Also, you are not sure how long those sulphates will remain in the atmosphere and, if, over time, it will not have a reverse effect. There’s a concern with respect to what is known as acid rain, which is a mixture of ordinary rainfall and sulphur dioxide which can be harmful to trees,” he added.

However, he said that once the project is properly thought through, it could produce positive results.

Gleaner

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JMMB Invests In Solar System

July 23, 2016 Webmaster

JMMB Group Limited will spend US$420,000 ($53 million) on a solar energy system to power various offices across Jamaica this year.

The project forms part of a wider move by JMMB to reduce its carbon footprint.

“We plan to implement this on a location-by-location basis, with the first implementation taking place at one of our locations in Kingston, in the coming months. The cost is as stated, US$420,000,” the financial conglomerate told the Financial Gleaner.

JMMB estimates the project payback period will span just about five years based on expected energy savings.

The solar plant will generate up to 293,935 kilowatts, hours of electricity per year with the use of clean renewable energy.

“The system is expected to save the company US$90,000 annually, and reduce oil energy dependency by 34 per cent,” JMMB said in its newly released annual report for year ending March 2016.

Roughly three years ago, JMMB embarked on a company-wide initiative coined ‘Go Green’, with one of the primary objectives to change the group’s energy practices in a way that was more environmentally friendly and cost-efficient.

“This investment in a grid-tied solar system is just another step in the direction of making us even more efficient at how we use energy,” the company said via email.

A grid-tied solar system is one where the system itself is tied to the external electricity grid, as opposed to batteries.

“In other words, the system uses the sun to generate our electricity needs, with any unused electricity going back to the external grid, as opposed to being stored in batteries,” said JMMB.

JMMB expects the project to expand over time through exploration of other renewable resources to all JMMB Group locations, where possible.

JMMB Group made $2.3 billion profit off $10.42 billion of net revenue in FY2016.

Gleaner

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Good News For Ja’s Climate Change Response, But …

July 22, 2016 Webmaster

MAHLUNG… emissions from the transport sector have increased significantly

JAMAICA SAW a reduction in its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions between 2008 and 2012, signalling a step in the right direction for the island’s efforts to stave off negative climate change impacts.

“We have seen a reduction from about 27,000 gigagrams (CO2 equivalent) in 2008 to just about 20,000 in 2012,” revealed Clifford Mahlung, project administrator for the Third National Communication and Biennial Update Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Mahlung was referencing findings from the Biennial Update Report that is to be submitted to Cabinet in another two or so weeks for their approval before submission to the UNFCCC.

“The main reason for this is the reduction in fuel consumption in the mining/bauxite sector. It was in 2008 that we had a downturn in the demand for bauxite,” he noted.

However, a former seasoned climate change negotiator for Jamaica, Mahlung cautioned that the island would need to continue its efforts to reduce emissions – and for a variety of reasons.

“With the upturn in bauxite since 2012, you could see the levels going up,” he noted.

And even with the move towards renewables ‘that are now somewhere about 20 per cent of the energy mix’, Mahlung said, emissions from the transport sector was trending up.

“What we have found is that emissions from the transport sector have increased significantly. It is now about 28 per cent of the total emissions and second only to the energy sector, which is 31 per cent,” he noted.

“It means that there should see some focus on how we can reduce the emissions coming out of the transport sector,” he added.

For this, Mahlung has lauded the efforts of actors such as the JPS.

“We support the report that we have heard from the JPS, for example, about the introduction of electric cars. And definitely we should also still be actively pursuing an improved mass transit system, such as rail,? he added.

JPS announced earlier this month that it was seeking a deal with American electric car maker Tesla – to fuel the appetite for electric cars, which are seen as one answer to current high levels of petrol consumption.

Global climate change is fuelled by emissions of GHGs, including carbon dioxide and methane, with significant negative implications for, in particular, small-island developing states, including Jamaica.

Among the negative impacts of the changing climate is increased global temperatures and extreme weather events, such as droughts, the burden of which Jamaicans have had to bear in recent times.

pwr.gleaner@gmail.com

The Gleaner

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NEPA Releases Hold On LNG Project After Weekend Stop Order

July 20, 2016 Webmaster

New Fortress Energy was issued at the weekend with a stop order by the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) on pipe-laying works to link its LNG terminal to the Jamaica Public Service Company’s (JPS) Bogue plant in Montego Bay.

Representatives of the company, following a meeting with NEPA Tuesday morning, managed to secure a new permit allowing work to continue on the project, which has an end-of-summer deadline to start supplying gas to JPS.

New Fortress, a subsidiary of Fortress Investment Group LLC, is currently laying the pipelines from the port to the 120MW Bogue plant, but has faced setbacks getting landowners to allow the pipes to pass through their property.

“It’s a minor issue, actually. We had some property owners that were being difficult about their rights of way. So Fortress had taken a different route, which wasn’t permitted. They had to go back to get the permit just for the switch in the route,” JPS boss Kelly Tomblin told Gleaner Business.

She said, initially, all landowners were in agreement with the route “but then a property owner changed their mind”.

New Fortress had gone to NEPA for approval of the new route, but “NEPA hadn’t approved it yet. They did so today (Tuesday),” Tomblin said, while conceding that work on the project had continued.

Officials from NEPA visited the site at the weekend to enforce a stop order.

Tomblin said the project or its timelines won’t suffer any adverse fallout from the work stoppage, which roughly spanned two working days.

“I’m sure they can make that up,” she said.

New Fortress said as much last night, after affirming “utmost respect” for planning rules.

“We have received official notice that work can continue on our pipeline installation, subject to our permit conditions,” said New Fortress spokesman Jake Suski.

“We have the utmost respect for the rules and process and will continue to take direction from NEPA around permit issues. At this time, we don’t anticipate any delays as a result of these conversations around the pipeline installation,” he said.

The LNG project is already running about five months behind its original schedule. Gas delivery should have begun in April.

“The point is, we want to get gas to this power plant very quickly. So Fortress was moving very quickly. But we have to make sure we work very closely with the regulator and I think Fortress understands that now,” said Tomblin.

tameka.gordon@gleanerjm.com

The Gleaner

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JPS Launches Smart Meter Roll-Out

July 12, 2016 Webmaster

A smart meter is seen on display at the launch. Ricardo Makyn

The Jamaica Public Service (JPS) launched their nationwide smart meter roll-out at the JPS headquarters on July 7.

According to President and CEO of JPS Kelly Tomblin, “the future of energy is bright… Jamaica and JPS are embedded in a phase of unprecedented progress”. Gary Barrow, chief technology officer at JPS, underscored the importance of smart meters and the benefits to the current national grid.

“We’re actually putting more intelligence in the grid to provide the stability and reliability that is going to be necessary when we start to integrate mass amounts of these renewables and that is really the start of our smart grid, the primary driver,” he said. “This year, we’re going to be launching three applications … those are going to be smart-phone applications.” On these applications, customers will be able to get outage notifications, restoration times, and real-time consumption and see their bill online and pay it.

“All of our appliances in a short while will become Wi-Fi-enabled and it will mean that you will be able to use your smartphone wherever you are, whatever time, to actually look at your devices, to get access to your devices and turn them on and off,” he said. The company is also investing in other smart grid technologies and services, including smart LED street lighting, smart parking and smart vehicle-charging stations for electric vehicles. This is all part of building a smart energy economy.

A pilot programme was launched three years ago in sections of the Jacks Hill and Barbican communities and Barrow said the company learned much from both customers and on the technical side.

“Already, we have over 50,000 smart meters in the field right now that we’re able to control remotely and we’re able to get usage patterns, but we don’t have the software that actually allows our customers to dial in.”

This year, the company is targeting to roll out over 20,000 smart meters on that network at a cost of approximately US$5 million. Seven parishes will be covered: Kingston, St Catherine, Clarendon, St Ann, St Mary, St James and Westmoreland. JPS technicians will visit customers over the next four to five months and will change the current meters free of cost

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JPS Unfazed By LNG Shipper’s Losses

July 1, 2016 Webmaster

Tomblin

The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS), managers of the national electricity grid expects Golar LNG to ship liquefied natural gas to Jamaica, despite its heavy losses.

Golar is contracted to New Fortress Energy (NFE), the latter being JPS’s selected partner to develop and supply natural gas to the Jamaican utility. New Fortress is five months behind schedule with deliveries.

JPS President and Chief Executive Officer Kelly Tomblin said that even in the worst-case scenario, the power utility remains protected.

“Golar is a public company with a market cap of about US$1.5 billion and a balance sheet with over US$4 billion of assets. It’s been in business since 1946 and is widely followed by investors all over the world,” said Tomblin in a response to Gleaner queries.

“New Fortress Energy has indicated to me that they have been a dependable and reliable partner in preparing to deliver gas to Jamaica. JPS is protected contractually if New Fortress fails to bring gas, as required in the gas supply agreement.”

NFE earlier this year contracted Golar for two years to ship LNG to Jamaica. The first shipments will feed JPS’s plant at Bogue in Montego Bay, which has already been retrofitted to burn gas as well as diesel oil.

In early June, NFE acknowledged Gleaner queries regarding the implications of Golar’s finances, but did not follow through with a response.

NET LOSSES

Golar reported net losses of US$80 million for its first quarter ending March. The loss was mainly because of its US$61.5 million in operating expenses, towering over its US$18.6 million in revenues for the period. Over 12 months, Golar posted a US$197.6-million net loss for financial year 2015 and US$43 million in net losses for 2014.

Last month, CEO Gary Smith resigned, and its former CEO, Oscar Spieler, retook control of the company amid restructuring of the operations.

Tomblin expects the LNG projects at Bogue and, later, at Old Harbour, along with additional capacity from renewable plants, to reduce the power utility’s reliance on heavy oil from 95 per cent to 50 per cent in the medium term.

steven.jackson@gleanerjm.com

The Gleaner