Upcoming
Event
Energy Exchange 2021
U.S. DOE
Aug 2, 2021
Upcoming
Event
2021 ASHE Annual Conference
ASHE
August 8-11, 2021 (in-person) and/or September 15-17, 2021 (virtual)
This event is your opportunity to:
EARN continuing education credits in-person and/or virtually and use them towards Certified Healthcare Facility Manager (CHFM) and Certified Healthcare Constructor (CHC) renewal.
CONNECT with other leaders and solution providers in health care facility management through innovative networking opportunities.
PARTICIPATE in sessions covering topics related to codes and compliance, sustainability and efficiency, infection prevention and more.
ATTEND in-person and add on the virtual component for only $99.
News
Wide Area Blackout Risk Assessment
Energy Central
Jul 22, 2021
When a triggering event occurs during a time of insufficient reserve energy, the balance between energy production and energy consumption can be distorted, leading to a wide area blackout. Though historically rare events, wide area blackouts have the potential to become yearly occurrences as energy sources transition from central generating stations to distributed renewables.
As the effects of climate change worsen throughout the U.S., air conditioners with high torque compressors will become the dominant load. This increases the risk of wide area blackouts occurring when a triggering event occurs. To address this increased risk and maintain system resiliency, new power system models must be developed and new protective relaying schemes implemented.
In this free 30-minute webinar, attendees will learn about:
Triggers that can initiate wide area blackouts.
Power system parameters that increase the risk of wide area blackouts.
Implementable actions to prevent wide area blackouts when a triggering event occurs.
Presenter: Tony Sleva, PE, LSM-IEEE: Mr. Sleva has more than 50 years of professional experience as an engineering manager, electrical engineer, project manager, forensic investigator, author, and research engineer. He has experience designing and operating transmission systems, distribution systems, large generating plants, and small distributed energy systems. Mr. Sleva is an adjunct instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, teaching continuing education courses for the power industry.
News
With only 2% of governments’ recovery spending going to clean energy transitions, global emissions are set to surge to an all-time high
IEA
Jul 20, 2021
The sums of money, both public and private, being mobilized worldwide by recovery plans fall well short of what is needed to reach international climate goals. These shortfalls are particularly pronounced in emerging and developing economies, many of which face particular financing challenges.
Under governments’ current recovery spending plans, global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are set to climb to record levels in 2023 and continue rising in the following years. This would leave the world far from the pathway to net-zero emissions by 2050 that the IEA set out in its recent Global Roadmap to Net Zero.
These findings come from the new Sustainable Recovery Tracker that the IEA launched today to help policy makers assess how far recovery plans are moving the needle on climate. The new online tool is a contribution to the G20 Ministerial Meeting on Environment, Climate and Energy in Naples, which takes place on 22 and 23 July under the Presidency of Italy.
The Tracker monitors government spending allocated to sustainable recoveries and then estimates how much this spending boosts overall clean energy investment and to what degree this affects the trajectory of global CO2 emissions. The Tracker considers over 800 national sustainable recovery policies in its analysis, which are publicly available on the IEA website.
“Since the Covid-19 crisis erupted, many governments may have talked about the importance of building back better for a cleaner future, but many of them are yet to put their money where their mouth is. Despite increased climate ambitions, the amount of economic recovery funds being spent on clean energy is just a small sliver of the total,” said Fatih Birol, the IEA Executive Director.
Governments have mobilized USD 16 trillion in fiscal support throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, most of it focused on emergency financial relief for households and firms. Only 2% of the total is earmarked for clean energy transitions.
In the early phases of the pandemic, the IEA released the Sustainable Recovery Plan, which recommended USD 1 trillion of spending globally on clean energy measures that could feature prominently in recovery plans. According to the Plan – developed in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund – this spending would boost global economic growth, create millions of jobs and put the world on track to meet the Paris Agreement goals.
According to the Tracker, all the key sectors highlighted in the IEA Sustainable Recovery Plan are receiving inadequate attention from policy makers. Current government plans would only increase total public and private spending on clean energy to around USD 350 billion a year by 2023 – only 35% of what is envisaged in the Plan.
The Tracker shows the stark geographic disparities that are emerging in clean energy investment. The majority of funds are being mobilized in advanced economies, which are nearing 60% of the investment levels envisaged in the Sustainable Recovery Plan. Emerging and developing economies, many of which have limited fiscal leeway, have so far mobilized only about 20% of the recommended spending levels.
“Not only is clean energy investment still far from what’s needed to put the world on a path to reaching net-zero emissions by mid-century, it’s not even enough to prevent global emissions from surging to a new record. Many countries – especially those where the needs are greatest – are also missing the benefits that well planned clean energy investment brings, such as stronger economic growth, new jobs and the development of the energy industries of the future,” Dr Birol said
“Governments need to increase spending and policy action rapidly to meet the commitments they made in Paris in 2015 – including the vital provision of financing by advanced economies to the developed world,” Dr Birol added. “But they must then go even further by leading clean energy investment and deployment to much greater heights beyond the recovery period in order to shift the world onto a pathway to net-zero emissions by 2050, which is narrow but still achievable – if we act now.”
News
BLOOM ENERGY UNVEILS ELECTROLYZER TO SUPERCHARGE THE PATH TO LOW-COST, NET-ZERO HYDROGEN
Bloom Energy
Jul 18, 2021
The Bloom Electrolyzer relies on the same, commercially proven and proprietary solid oxide technology platform used by Bloom Energy Servers to provide on-site electricity at high fuel efficiency. Highly flexible, it offers unique advantages for deployment across a broad variety of hydrogen applications, using multiple energy sources including intermittent renewable energy and excess heat.
Superior Value at High Temperatures
Low-cost electrolysis has been difficult to achieve due to electricity costs, which can account for nearly 80 percent of the cost of hydrogen production through electrolysis. An opportunity has emerged, as renewable energy costs have declined precipitously over the last decade. Any reduction in electricity requirements makes hydrogen production more economical and scalable.
Because it operates at high temperatures, the Bloom Electrolyzer requires less energy to break up water molecules and produce hydrogen. As a result, Bloom Energy’s electrolyzer consumes 15 percent less electricity than other electrolyzer technologies to make hydrogen when electricity is the sole input source.
Unlike low-temperature PEM and alkaline electrolyzers that predominantly require electricity to make hydrogen, the Bloom Electrolyzer can leverage both electricity and heat to produce hydrogen. Bloom Energy’s high-temperature electrolyzer technology has the potential to use up to 45 percent less electricity when integrated with external heat sources than low-temperature PEM and alkaline electrolyzers.
“The launch of the Bloom Electrolyzer is a big leap forward in our mission to enable and empower the global hydrogen economy and a decarbonized society,” said KR Sridhar, founder, chairman, and CEO, Bloom Energy. “Hydrogen enables us to leverage abundant and inexpensive renewable energy to provide zero-carbon power, reliably—instead of intermittently. Given its efficiency and input options to make hydrogen, Bloom Energy’s electrolyzer is expected to produce hydrogen at a lower price than any alternative on the market today.”
Decarbonizing Heavy Industries
High-temperature electrolysis unlocks substantial value with heat-intensive processing applications in hard-to-decarbonize heavy industries, like steel, chemical, cement, and glass manufacturing. By utilizing excess heat from these processes, hydrogen can be produced at a higher electrical efficiency. Further, the hydrogen required to power high-temperature furnaces at these factories can be produced on-site using Bloom Energy electrolyzers, eliminating transportation and distribution costs.
Optimizing Intermittent Renewables
When the Bloom Electrolyzer is paired with intermittent renewable resources, such as wind and solar, the resulting green hydrogen provides an important storage mechanism. Hydrogen can be stored for long periods of time and transported over long distances. Alternatively, Bloom Energy’s fuel cells can convert this hydrogen to electricity, thereby providing continuous, reliable power.
Gigawatt Production and Scale
Bloom Energy began manufacturing in the U.S. in 2001 and now supports more than 1,500 American clean energy jobs. Bloom Energy’s Sunnyvale, California and Newark, Delaware manufacturing facilities are capable of producing 500 megawatts of electrolyzers today and a gigawatt within a year.
Since the Bloom Electrolyzer utilizes the same solid oxide platform as the company’s core fuel cell product, utilizing many of the same components, Bloom Energy can scale and leverage supply chain synergies.
Enabling and Empowering the Global Hydrogen Economy
Bloom Energy’s technology dates to the 1980s, when the co-founders first developed electrolyzers to support the military and later NASA’s Mars exploration programs. In the early 2000s, 19 patents were awarded to Bloom Energy for its electrolyzer technology. With reduced renewable energy costs and the global movement to decarbonize, Bloom Energy believes this is the right moment to commercialize its hydrogen technology. Collaborating with industry-leading organizations, Bloom Energy celebrated several milestones over the past year:
First announced electrolyzer pilot: In November 2020, Bloom Energy announced it will supply its electrolyzers to an industrial complex in Changwon, Korea in collaboration with its Korean partner, SK EcoPlant. Supporting the Changwon RE100 initiative to create renewable ecosystems, the new project paves the way for South Korea to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. The units will ship to Changwon in mid-2022.
Harnessing excess nuclear energy: In May 2021, Bloom Energy announced its collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to test the use of nuclear energy to create clean hydrogen through the Bloom Electrolyzer. Rather than ramping down power generation when an electric grid has surplus energy, the Bloom Electrolyzer can use the excess electricity and steam generated by nuclear plants to produce low-cost, zero-carbon hydrogen, providing clean energy for use when it’s needed while simultaneously offering nuclear power plants a source of revenue for their excess power. The units are undergoing testing in Bloom Energy’s laboratories and are expected to ship to INL in Q3.
Integrating hydrogen solutions: In May 2021, Bloom Energy announced a collaboration with energy technology company Baker Hughes to explore commercialization and deployment collaborations in many areas, including integrated hydrogen solutions, to advance the energy transition. The companies will look to pair the Bloom Electrolyzer with Baker Hughes’ compression technology for efficient production, compression, transport, and storage of hydrogen. They will also assess excess heat utilization for steam generation to further increase efficiency and cost effectiveness of hydrogen production and target applications like blending hydrogen into natural gas networks alongside on-site hydrogen production for industrial use.
Orders are being accepted for the Bloom Electrolyzer, with commercial shipments expected to begin in fall 2022
News
California Regulators Waive Key Standby Charges for Eligible Microgrids
Energy Central
Jul 16, 2021
The July 15 decision to suspend capacity reservation charges is part of the CPUC’s multiphase effort to spur the commercial development of microgrids, with the upcoming phase centered on the value microgrids can provide to the grid (R.19-09-009).
The decision is a “step in the right direction,” according to Bloom Energy, a fuel cell company.
“While there is still more work to be done, we look forward to working with the CPUC and key stakeholders to further explore the value of resilient energy and revisiting the [behind-the-meter] tariff in Track 4,” said Jennifer Duffourg, a Bloom Energy spokeswoman.
In its decision, the CPUC dismissed calls to eliminate standby charges entirely, but said it was reasonable to waive capacity reservation charges for certain microgrids and to evaluate the policy in 2026.
“The commission, the utilities and stakeholders can gain experience, learn lessons, collect data and information, and determine whether this suspension is fair and provides value to the public,” the CPUC said.
After two initial phases, the commission turned its attention to standby charges, which are fees utilities use to cover their costs for being available to supply electricity to self-generation customers when their systems aren’t producing electricity.
The charges, which total about 2 cents per kWh in California, can make microgrid projects financially unviable, according to microgrid advocates.
In its decision, the CPUC rejected arguments raised by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE) and San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) that eliminating the charges would violate a ban on shifting costs from one group of customers to other ones.
The utilities wanted to continue levying capacity reservation charges.
The decision largely mirrored a proposal released in June by a CPUC administrative law judge.
Under the decision, eligible microgrids must meet the California Air Resources Board’s distributed generation air pollution standards.
Eligible microgrids also include those that show by manufacturer certification that they can use renewable fuels, such as renewable natural gas, biogas or green hydrogen, and that commit to only using renewable fuels by Dec. 31, 2030.
In a change from the proposed decision, microgrids that receive payments through the CPUC’s Self Generation Incentive Program are ineligible for a suspension of the capacity reserve charge, unless the owners show their microgrids provide incremental benefits.
Eligible microgrids must also meet performance standards. Eligible microgrids, for example, must have a capacity factor of at least 85%. In a change from the proposal, the CPUC said a microgrid could also have a self-supply factor of at least 85%. They must also have an availability factor of at least 95%.
Microgrid owners must give utilities data showing they meet the performance standards.
In addition, microgrid owners must recertify twice a year that they meet the performance standards. The proposed decision called for quarterly recertification.
If a microgrid benefiting from the suspended reservation charge is hit with a generation failure or cannot serve its load, it will receive utility power but will have to pay a “demand assurance amount” to cover the utility’s costs.
The demand assurance amount will be double the monthly capacity reservation charge the microgrid would have been paying during the month of the outage.
Microgrid supporters such as Bloom Energy and the Clean Coalition back reductions in standby charges for behind-the-meter generation microgrids, in part, because microgrids offer holistic benefits including the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the need for capacity on the grid.
They also argued that standby charges do not pay microgrids fairly for increased redundancy and resiliency, according to the CPUC.
The CPUC gave PG&E, SCE and SDG&E 90 days to revise their tariffs in line with the decision.
News
National Labs unite to study large-scale hydrogen storage under $6.75M federal grant
Daily Energy Insider
Jul 15, 2021
Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNNL), and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will receive $6.75 million from the United States Department of Energy (DOE) to consider large-scale hydrogen storage for the next three years.
Funding, provided by DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), will go toward studying the possibilities of such storage in geologic formations. Researchers will seek to determine and overcome the technical and operational risks of subsurface hydrogen storage to both humans and the environment, utilize emerging technologies to create better and safer storage systems, and assess what technical, operational, and economic concepts are needed to allow such storage for pure hydrogen or hydrogen-natural gas blends.
“This is an exciting project for us because it addresses a timely and critical component of a low-carbon energy future,” Joshua White, LLNL reservoir engineer and principal investigator, said. “At the same time, the required expertise builds on LLNL’s decades of experience working in the subsurface on related technologies such as geologic carbon storage, natural gas storage, and geothermal energy.”
The project is called SHASTA, short for Subsurface Hydrogen Assessment, Storage and Technology Acceleration. Researchers will divide up their efforts: White will join LLNL reservoir engineer Nicola Castelletto on subsurface modeling work, a lab geochemist, Megan Smith, will study high-pressure, high-temperature experimental possibilities. All hope to advance hydrogen as a low-carbon fuel option for various applications, but there are traditional hurdles.
In large amounts, hydrogen must be stored in salt dome structures or caverns, and many regions lack such geological prerequisites. Therefore, part of this project will involve investigating whether porous media — similar to underground natural gas storage reservoirs — would be an acceptable alternative and whether existing natural gas storage infrastructure could be adapted and re-used.
Material compatibility, reservoir-scale performance, and the characterization of microbial interactions with these efforts will all be major focuses for researchers.
Combined Heat & Power eCatalog of Recognized Package CHP Systems
Packaged CHP Systems:
Rigorous Recognition Process
The Packaged Combined Heat and Power Catalog (eCatalog) is a voluntary public/private partnership designed to increase deployment of CHP in commercial, institutional and multi-family buildings and manufacturing plants. The core of the eCatalog are CHP Packagers who commit to provide pre-engineered and tested Packaged CHP systems that meet or exceed DOE performance requirements and CHP Solution Providers who commit to provide responsible installation, commissioning, maintenance and service of recognized Packaged CHP systems and also provide a single point of project responsibility.
Customer Engagement Partners: Incentivizing CHP in Your Area
Maximize Your CHP Investment When You Install Recognized Systems
An essential element in market success of energy efficient technologies, such as CHP, is a robust customer engagement partner to educate end-users and provide assistance through the project development process. States, localities and utilities that are implementing programs and policies to increase the use of CHP in support of key economic, security, efficiency and environmental goals can integrate the eCatalog into their efforts by linking recognized CHP packages offered by Solution Providers or Packagers in their region to their programs. The eCatalog provides a unique platform for convening recognized CHP equipment and suppliers with state, local and utility market outreach, customer acquisition and incentive programs.
eCATALOG PACKAGED CHP SYSTEM PERFORMANCE
Packaged CHP System standardized1 electrical and thermal performance data presented for comparison in the eCatalog have been reviewed and recognized as accurate based on engineering data and available performance test data submitted by the Packagers. Emissions data presented in the eCatalog are based on either third-party emissions test results when available, or prime mover manufacture’s emissions certification data, both using standard EPA test methodologies or equivalent. When evaluating CHP performance for a particular project, it is important to use final performance data from the Packager or Solution Provider that reflects specific site conditions such as actual fuel characteristics, ambient temperatures and altitude, and thermal load temperatures or pressures. As an example, hot water thermal capacity ratings in the eCatalog are based on a standard hot water supply temperature of 180 F, with packager specified return temperatures for each system. Actual hot water available from a packaged CHP system for a project will depend on the specific temperature requirements of the hot water supply and return at the site, and may vary from data presented in the eCatalog.
“Even a small blip on the power grid can disrupt our production equipment and cause six to eight hours of lost production time. With the CHP systems, if there is a power blip we go into island mode and don't experience any disruption.”
Learning
What are the benefits of CHP?
Combined heat and power (CHP) systems can provide reliable, flexible, low-cost, energy efficiency to a variety of industrial, commercial, and institutional energy consumers.
See MoreApplying
CHP IN ACTION
Is there any potential, and are there real opportunities in my market? Where has CHP been installed? Is CHP a good fit for my facility?
See MoreCase Study
Get the details.
Interested in what others in your field of use are doing with CHP Systems? Case studies provide even more information about CHP solutions in neighborhood or in your business world.
See More