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Combined Heat & Power
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News
Methane limits could be COP26's real legacy
Axios
Jan 28, 2022
Why it matters: The significance of this pledge at the COP26 summit shouldn't be overlooked. Though it's less abundant than longer-lived carbon dioxide, methane is dozens of times more powerful at trapping heat in the atmosphere.
How it works: While efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions require systemic change, such as retooling the way society generates and uses energy, methane is easier to target.
It only requires actions like plugging leaks in oil and gas infrastructure and other human-caused sources such as agriculture and waste.
The voluntary pledge commits countries to reducing methane emissions by 30% by 2030.
Pledge signatories include 15 of the world’s top 30 methane emitters: the United States, European Union, Indonesia, Pakistan, Argentina, Mexico, Nigeria, Iraq, Vietnam and Canada, the White House announced in a fact sheet.
Details: Recent U.N. reports found that tackling methane emissions in addition to carbon dioxide would pay dividends in the near term.
One report published in May by the U.N. Environment Program found that if global emissions of methane were slashed nearly in half by midcentury, it could prevent about 0.3°C (0.54°F) of warming.
The intrigue: President Biden's rollout of the methane pledge will be reinforced by action at home — unlike Biden's climate speech Monday at the summit, which was buffeted by Sen. Joe Manchin's (D-W.Va.) brushback against key pieces of his climate agenda in Congress.
Between the lines: On Tuesday, the EPA will propose new regulations targeting methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, including both existing and new sources of emissions.
The EPA regulations will also require states to develop plans to cut emissions from existing sources, including about 300,000 oil and gas well sites.
The methane rules would cut 41 million tons of methane emissions from 2023 to 2035, the EPA said in a statement. According to the agency, that’s more than the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from all U.S. passenger cars and commercial aircraft in 2019.
Context: In recent years, methane concentrations in the atmosphere have increased at a faster rate, making some scientists suspicious of possible links to the boom in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for natural gas.
In addition, melting permafrost in the Far North can free up methane and other greenhouse gases that had been frozen for centuries in organic matter.
Countries are targeting methane to slow the rate of climate change in the next one to two decades, which could avert crossing climate change "tipping points" such as the collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Yes, but: Cuts in carbon emissions will be necessary to stem warming in the long term, and those pledges have been far harder to elicit from world leaders so far.
What's next: Methane emissions will soon be tracked down to individual sources via satellites, aircraft and ground-based instruments, making it possible for observations to transform a voluntary initiative like the Global Methane Pledge into an eventual regulatory regime.
For example, the Environmental Defense Fund is developing a methane-monitoring satellite with a planned launch in 2023, with other methane probes planned by other entities.
The U.N. and European Union just rolled out an international methane emissions observatory at the G20 summit, with a plan to include satellite monitoring.
News
We can make money with an idle CHP; what could be better?
Horti-Daily
Jan 28, 2022
A horticultural company's energy costs strongly determine its cost price. That is true at Jaco's farm, Padland Brielle, too. Limiting energy costs as much as possible is, therefore, a top priority for him. "Especially with the current energy prices," says Jaco, who grows 2.5 hectares of cucumbers. He sells these via The Greenery.
He uses a 1.4MW CHP to heat his greenhouse. He delivers the generated electricity back to the grid. "However, we don't use it during our eight-to-nine-week crop changeover. And it regularly stands idle at other times during the year too. Especially in the summer, when we don't need much heat."
Flexibility
Offering power generated by his CHP for emergencies was not an option for Jaco until recently. "Your power had to be exclusively available to TenneT [a high-voltage grid operator] for at least 24 hours. I could do that during the crop changeover. But it was too risky for the rest of the year. I didn't want to risk my CHP not being available if I might need it. That would negatively affect my crop," he explains.
However, in early 2021, AgroEnergy introduced this emergency 'flexpool'. That brought providing emergency power within the grower's reach. Participating growers can make their power available at hours that suit them. It does not have to be available for 24 hours.
AgroEnergy pools this capacity and offers it collectively to the market. "We can now offer CHP power at hours that suit us. And we don't have to be on standby for 24 hours. That provided the flexibility I was looking for," says Jaco.
"We now make emergency power available during crop rotations. And also, at other times during the year, when we don't need the CHP. We let AgroEnergy know when we'll have emergency power available. That's on the CHP usage predictions they give us. Other than that, there's nothing else to do."
No impact on daily operations
De Bakker has been part of this pool since October. And he has no regrets. It is even bringing in good money. "The fees for offering emergency power vary but are generally good. And you earn money from an idle cogeneration plant. What could be better?"
"Offering emergency power is, thus, an ideal way of optimizing CHP efficiency. And there's no question of negative effects on daily operations. We only offer emergency electricity when it suits us."
The grower cannot think of any disadvantages to the emergency power pool. "Except perhaps that you have to determine two days ahead exactly when you'll have CHP capacity available. You have to keep an eye on that," Jaco concludes.
News
Georgia Tech Research: CHP as a Platform for Clean Energy Systems
Georgia Tech
Jan 24, 2022
The paper, digitally available now and in print this December in the journal Applied Energy, finds that CHP – or cogeneration – could measurably reduce Georgia’s carbon footprint while creating green jobs. Georgia ranks 8th among all 50 states for total net electricity generation and 11th for total carbon dioxide emissions, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
“There is an enormous opportunity for CHP to save industries money and make them more competitive, while at the same time reducing air pollution, creating jobs and enhancing public health,” said principal investigator Marilyn Brown, Regents and Brook Byers professor of Sustainable Systems at Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy.
Benefiting the Environment, Economy, and Public Health
The research finds that if Georgia added CHP systems to the 9,374 sites that are suitable for cogeneration, it could reduce carbon emissions in Georgia by 13%. Bringing CHP to just 34 of Georgia’s industrial plants, each with 25 megawatts of electricity capacity, could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2%. The study authors, using modeling tools they developed, note that this “achievable” level of CHP adoption could add 2,000 jobs to the state; full deployment could support 13,000 new jobs.
According to Brown, CHP systems can be 85 to 90% efficient, compared with 45 to 60% efficiency of traditional heat and power systems. CHP has advantages over renewable electricity from solar and wind, which only offers intermittent power.
CHP technologies co-produce electricity useful for heat and cooling, resulting in ultra-high system efficiencies, cleaner air, and more affordable energy. Georgia industries that would profit from CHP include chemical, textile, pulp and paper, and food production. Large commercial buildings, campuses, and military bases also could benefit from CHP. By utilizing both electricity and heat from a single source onsite, the energy system if more reliable, resilient, and efficient.
CHP can meet the same needs at higher efficiency using less overall energy, while reducing peak demand on a region’s utility-operated power grid, Brown explained. In addition, if there is an outage or disruption in a community’s power grid, companies with their own onsite electricity sources can continue to have power.
Calculating CHP Costs and Benefits per Plant
The research used a database of every Georgia industrial site to determine which facilitates operated or could operate a CHP system. They then identified the appropriate type of CHP system for plants without one. To help assess if a CHP system was a financially sound investment, they developed a model to estimate the benefits and costs of each CHP system, factoring in the cost to install the equipment, operations and maintenance, fuel expenses, and financing. The result was an estimated “net present value” of each system that reflected the present value of future costs and benefits, Brown explained.
The paper also used data analytics to predict economic and health benefits of CHP for Georgians. Plants converting to cogeneration could boost the state’s clean energy workforce by 2,000 to 13,000 depending on how widely it’s adopted, Brown said. Currently, the state has about 2,600 jobs in electric vehicle manufacturing and less than 5,000 in the solar industry, according to the 11th Annual National Solar Jobs Census 2020.
In addition to job growth, CHP adoption could lead to dramatic health benefits for the state’s more vulnerable residents, Brown emphasized. “We’re displacing more polluting electricity when companies generate their own from waste heat,” she noted.
The study estimates nearly $150 million in reduced health costs and ecological damages in 2030 in the “achievable” scenario for CHP, with nearly $1 billion in health and ecological benefits if every Georgia plant identified in the study adopted CHP.
“The public health improvements are gigantic -- that’s a lot of lives saved, as well as childhood asthma and heart problems avoided,” Brown said.
Georgia Tech’s research was sponsored by Drawdown Georgia, a statewide initiative focused on scaling market-ready, high-impact climate solutions in Georgia this decade. The organization has identified a roadmap of 20 solutions, including electricity solutions such as CHP.
The impact of CHP could be dramatic considering that electricity generation accounts for nearly 37% of Georgia’s energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, according to findings Brown and other researchers published earlier this year in the journal, Environmental Management.
Identifying Ideal CHP Sites
Georgia Tech researchers identified numerous different industrial sites in Georgia that could use combined heat and power. Ideal locations include established universities or military bases, and large industrial sites such as paper making, chemical sites, and food processing facilities. Georgia’s number-one industry is agriculture, with chemicals and wood products among the state’s top manufacturers.
“I find Georgia’s potential to take advantage of existing industrial and commercial facilities to build CHP plants very interesting,” said study co-author Valentina Sanmiguel, a 2020 master’s graduate of the School of Public Policy in sustainable energy and environmental management. “I hope both industries and policymakers in Georgia realize the benefits that cogeneration has on the environment, the economy and society and take action to implement CHP in the state at a greater scale.”
Dissecting Hurdles to Adoption
Despite the advantages of CHP, there remains hurdles to its adoption – for one, establishing these facilities is capital-intensive, ranging from tens of millions for a campus CHP plant to hundreds of millions for a large plant at an industrial site. Once built, these facilities require their own workforce to operate, explained Brown.
“The cost-competitiveness of CHP systems depends significantly on two factors – whether they are customer or utility-owned, and the type of rate tariff they operate under,” said Brown.
In the paper, Georgia Tech cited three ways to improve the business case for CHP: clean energy portfolio standards, regulatory reform, and financial incentives such as tax credits.
Those approaches have worked well in North Carolina, noted Isaac Panzarella, director of the Department of Energy Southeast CHP Technical Assistance Partnership, and the assistant director for Technical Services for the North Carolina’s Clean Energy Technology Center at North Carolina State University. North Carolina State University, where Panzarella is based, recently installed its second CHP facility on campus.
North Carolina, he added, has a policy that supports the use of renewable energy. Along with solar and wind, North Carolina embraced converting waste from swine and poultry-feeding operations into renewable energy.
“It’s taken a long time, but finally there are more and more of these digester or biomass operations, using CHP to generate electricity and thermal energy from those waste resources,” he said.
While Georgia Tech is not yet operating a CHP system, the Campus Sustainability Committee is currently examining options for lessening their energy footprint.
“Georgia Tech seeks to leverage Dr. Brown’s important research, and the deep faculty expertise at Georgia Tech in climate solutions, as we advance the development of a campus-wide Carbon Neutrality Plan and Campus Master Plan in 2022,” said Anne Rogers, associate director, Office of Campus Sustainability. “The Campus Master and Carbon Neutrality Plan will provide a roadmap to implementing sustainable infrastructure solutions to advance Georgia Tech’s strategic goals.”
Brown emphasized that Georgia utilities should get behind cogeneration projects to help the state reduce its carbon footprint.
Another hurdle is the relatively low electric rates in the Southeast, which provide less of an opportunity to achieve a reasonable payback on those systems.
Georgia’s industries that wish to be competitive globally need to look at CHP considering that the rest of the world is embracing renewable and recycled energy at a faster rate than the U.S., Brown noted.
“In industries where CHP is well understood, and there are solidly established businesses, it’s a great investment and a smart way to keep jobs in the community, while being good for the environment. The hurdles are not about technology; they are all about policies and business models,” she concluded.
News
Using CHP to improve efficiency and reduce emissions
Electrical Business
Jan 24, 2022
A century later, CHP technology is seeing a resurgence due to its improved efficiency. Gas engine CHP systems are now almost 90% energy-efficient. Cogen systems are generally installed onsite for large facilities and buildings that need both electricity and thermal energy, such as institutions, hospitals, schools, and greenhouses.
Since most conventional electricity generation is limited to an average of 50% efficiency (coal-fired/gas-combined cycle), waste energy in the form of heat is discharged to the atmosphere. CHP offers significant improvements in efficiency because it produces two forms of energy from a single source: heat and electricity.
CHP is limited only by its ability to employ power generation in proximity to the heat load. Large-scale power plants were built in an era when heat wasn’t considered beyond a moderate combined-cycle system; the transmission & distribution requirements are intensive, and their locations made it impossible to utilize the heat source effectively.
Wastewater treatment plants are a prime example of a year-round CHP application. Thermal and electrical energy are in high demand throughout the process, where methane gas captured from the digesters run engine generators, producing heat for the digesters and electric power for supporting the onsite electrical loads (e.g. pumps, process equipment).
A remote mining application in Canada’s North, for example, could also benefit from plant and site heating in an islanded power application.
The growing interest in distributed generation, lower-cost of installation and maintenance, and flexibility with renewables, provide an advantage in efficiency and immediate reduction in carbon emissions. As we navigate to new energy sources, gas engine CHP systems will integrate effectively with renewables and future fuels, such as hydrogen.
What’s driving the growth of CHP?
Greater energy efficiency, reliability and lower costs are top priorities for any business. Companies need to focus on their Environmental Social Governance (ESG) when setting standards for their operations. Socially conscious investors use these metrics to screen potential investments and consider how a company performs as an environmental steward.
Facilities with significant heating loads (e.g. hospitals, universities, military bases, ski resorts, shopping malls, high-rise office buildings) can all obtain reduced operating costs by implementing CHP systems that provide heat energy to meet the facility’s thermal requirements while taking advantage of offsetting (exporting electrical generation).
Unlike long-term, grand-scale power projects with higher costs, commercial businesses that are financially able to build their own cogen plants can complete these projects quickly and efficiently, gaining substantial savings in the short term.
Edmonton International Airport recently implemented a CHP solution designed around its terminal heating loads, as opposed to upgrading boilers alone. This not only met their heating requirements but allowed EIA to offset its electrical utility loads, raising overall efficiency. It also gives them the ability to export or offset the grid when power prices peak and heat demand is low.
Many manufacturers now offer standardized CHP systems that remove the hassle and complexity of customized engineering elements. These packaged CHP solutions reduce onsite installation and construction costs and offer big benefits for smaller sites, including customized maintenance solutions for those without trained operators onsite.
News
Can green hydrogen compete on cost?
Wood Mackenzie Research Report
Jan 24, 2022
We explored the economics of green, grey, brown and blue hydrogen in Hydrogen costs to 2050: getting ready to scale. Fill in the form for a complimentary extract and read on for an introduction. ... The hydrogen boom is well underway, but not all hydrogen is created equal. A spectrum of hydrogen colors are in play – but the real gamechanger will come when low-carbon green hydrogen costs become competitive in major markets.
We explored the economics of green, grey, brown and blue hydrogen in Hydrogen costs to 2050: getting ready to scale. Fill in the form for a complimentary extract and read on for an introduction.
Green hydrogen has some catching up to do – but the project pipeline is gathering pace Green hydrogen – hydrogen created from the electrolysis of water using renewable energy – has a tiny share of the global energy market today. It is currently still largely uncompetitive against fossil-fueled alternatives. However, the momentum behind net zero ambitions means that investors are betting on its long-term potential.
As a result, the hydrogen project pipeline has grown seven-fold since December 2020. We’re tracking more than 560 low-carbon projects in our database with a minimum of 180 GW total electrolyzer capacity designation. Most projects are still at early development stage, with the bulk of new projects advanced through Q2 this year.
Until 2019, global estimated electrolyzer manufacturing capacity was just 200 MW. By the midway point of 2021 that had jumped to 6.3 GW of announced capacity, with 1.3 GW added in Q1 alone.
Now, as we reach the end of Q4, electrolyzer manufacturers are dramatically expanding plans for gigawatt scale factories. In recent weeks, Ohmium, Clean Power Hydrogen, Green Hydrogen Systems, Sunfire and FFI have all announced large-scale factories, joining Cummins, Haldor Topsoe, ITM, Nel, McPhy, Siemens, Thyssenkrupp and Plug Power.
Electrolyzer capex is falling fast We expect a significant drop in electrolyzer capex by 2025. Costs are being driven down by a range of factors including economies of scale, new entrants to the market, greater automation and increased modularity.
Cost drivers differ for different electrolyzer types. Reductions for solid oxide electrolyzers are set to be the most dramatic in the next 6-8 years; but alkaline and polymer electrolyzer membrane (PEM) costs are forecast to fall 35-50% by 2025.
Capex reduction will help drive down the levelized cost of hydrogen production (LCOH). Combined with cheap renewable PPAs and good renewable utilisation in many markets, the potential for competitive green electrolysis-based hydrogen really starts to grow. At the same time, as the world adjusts to high commodity prices while demand bounces back from Covid-19 lows, the economics of blue, grey and brown hydrogen have become less favorable than they were a year ago. (Though the world of blue hydrogen – which pairs natural gas reforming with carbon capture and storage (CCS) – is also expanding with a rapidly increasing project pipeline for CCS projects linked to hydrogen.)
This combination of forces means that we believe green hydrogen will be competitive in 12 markets – those with the highest utilization rates and lowest renewable electricity prices – by 2030. Brazil and Chile are amongst the front-runners of harnessing cheap renewables to produce green hydrogen off-grid. And by 2050, 20 of the 24 countries in our analysis see very competitive green hydrogen costs.
Hydrogen costs to 2050: getting ready to scale includes a country-by-country breakdown of LCOH forecasts for green, blue, grey and brown hydrogen. To find out more fill in the form at the top of the page to download a complimentary extract.
News
Enbridge hydrogen blending project now operational
DIESEL & GAS TURBINE WORLDWIDE
Jan 22, 2022
Enbridge Gas now has the capacity to deliver blended gas, clean hydrogen injected into the natural gas distribution network to reduce the fuel’s carbon footprint, to about 3600 customers in Markham. ... Enbridge Gas Inc. and project partner Cummins Inc. said that North America’s first hydrogen blending initiative is fully operational and serving the city of Markham, Canada.
Enbridge Gas now has the capacity to deliver blended gas, clean hydrogen injected into the natural gas distribution network to reduce the fuel’s carbon footprint, to about 3600 customers in Markham.
The renewable hydrogen gas now available for blending is produced at Enbridge’s existing utility-scale Markham Power-to-Gas facility, established in 2018 by Enbridge and Cummins with financial support from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), the Canadian Gas Association (CGA) and NGIF Capital Corporation.
Through this pilot project, Enbridge Gas will initially provide a maximum hydrogen blended content of up to 2% by volume of the natural gas supplied to approximately 3,600 customers in Markham, Ontario starting in 3Q21, eliminating up to 117 tons of CO2 annually from the atmosphere, the two companies said.
The pilot project will not impact the standard market cost of natural gas.
This $5.2 million pilot blending project involves enhancements to the existing Markham Power-to-Gas facility, which was built through an Enbridge-Cummins joint venture in 2018 to help balance Ontario’s electricity supply and demand by storing the province’s surplus electricity as pure hydrogen until it’s needed.
The plant has also proven its potential as a solution to the challenge of storing the province’s surplus electrical energy using Enbridge’s existing natural gas pipeline infrastructure or in the form of pure hydrogen, which can later be reconverted back to electricity, Enbridge said.
“Zero-carbon hydrogen is now playing a role in Ontario’s shift to lower‐carbon, sustainable energy solution—and is an important example of the investments Enbridge Gas is making across multiple markets to green the natural gas grid while continuing to meet the demand for safe, reliable and affordable energy,” said Cynthia Hansen, Enbridge’s executive vice president and president of gas distribution and storage.
The pilot project’s success places Enbridge Gas in a position to validate and pursue larger-scale hydrogen-blending activities in other parts of its distribution system, strengthening the capacity for made-in-Ontario clean energy solutions, Enbridge said.
“Projects like this demonstrate that the energy transition is accelerating quickly, driving the green hydrogen economy in North America, and paving the way for large-scale adoption,” said Amy Adams, Cummins vice president of fuel cell and hydrogen technologies. “Cummins is proud to leverage our electrolyzer technology to support Ontario’s zero-carbon goals and bring cleaner, greener energy to residents.”
On Oct. 29, 2020, the Ontario Energy Board approved an application by Enbridge Gas for a project to use the Markham Power-to-Gas facility as a pilot project to test blending of renewable hydrogen gas into the existing natural gas network, reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Enbridge Gas is Canada’s largest natural gas storage, transmission and distribution company and is based in Ontario. Cummins Inc. makes diesel, natural gas, electric and hybrid powertrains, and powertrain-related components. It is based in Columbus, Indiana.
News
PG&E partners with Maas, California Energy Exchange to turn cattle waste into RNG
Daily Energy Insider
Jan 18, 2022
“Together, in partnership with the dairies, we’re able to take greenhouse gas emissions out of the atmosphere and, in turn, provide clean, renewable gas to PG&E’s residential and business customers, including the transportation industry,” said Chris DiGiovanni, director of Wholesale Marketing and Business Development for PG&E. “PG&E was an early supporter of California’s statewide goal to reduce methane emissions to 40 percent below 2015 levels by 2030, and projects like this are key steps toward this effort.”
Merced projects through Maas Energy’s facilities have been working since mid-December, utilizing a third-party pipeline to flow products to PG&E’s transmission system. Without the project, all this methane would end up in the atmosphere. Approximately 55 percent of California’s methane emissions come from dairies and livestock, according to the California Air Resources Board 2018 Greenhouse Gases Emissions Inventory.
“Maas Energy Works, and our 15 dairy family partners, are grateful to PG&E for delivering our clean cow gas to the market,” Daryl Maas, CEO for Maas Energy, said. “Merced County is the nation’s second-largest dairy county, and we expect this project will make Merced a leading producer of renewable transportation fuels as well. This effort prevailed through permitting, COVID, construction challenges, and many other ‘first ever’ milestones.”
Traditionally, methane conversion and transport like this have been derailed through a mix of factors, including lack of access and cost-effective alternatives. The partners tout mid-market pipelines, like the one used by CEE for the Maas Energy project, as major inroads to making methane capture a cost-effective RNG source.
News
DOE Announces $420 Million to Advance Clean Energy Breakthroughs at Energy Research Centers
U.S. DOE
Jan 18, 2022
“Spearheaded by world-leading scientists, DOE’s Energy Frontier Research Centers are innovation powerhouses that have unlocked scientific breakthroughs leading to transformative climate solutions like solar windows and carbon capture technology,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “This funding will create good-paying jobs and open doors to an array of clean energy technologies across industries that will be crucial to lowering carbon emissions, meeting our climate goals, and creating the clean infrastructure of the future.”
The EFRC program brings together diverse teams of scientists across disciplines and institutions – including universities, national laboratories, industry, and nonprofits – solely focused on solving complex problems in early-stage research and accelerating advances in the most challenging areas of materials sciences, chemical sciences, geosciences, and biosciences. Since the program’s introduction in 2009, there have been 88 EFRCs across 41 states, with 41 currently active.
EFRC research has led to hundreds of scientific discoveries and more than 200 issued patents that have led to the development of clean technologies like high-capacity batteries, windows that convert sunlight to electricity, and materials that can capture carbon dioxide. This foundational research also supports cross-DOE initiatives including the Energy Earthshots.
Interested applicants are encouraged to assemble diverse and multi-disciplinary teams of researchers to achieve a well-defined set of research goals. DOE encourages applications led by, or in partnership with, Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) that are underrepresented in the Basic Energy Sciences portfolio and applications representing groups historically underrepresented in STEM. Applications are open to all accredited U.S. colleges and universities, national laboratories, nonprofits, and private sector companies.
News
DOE LAUNCHES NEW INITIATIVE TO MODERNIZE NATIONAL GRID
U.S. DOE
Jan 18, 2022
“The foundation of our climate and clean energy goals is a safe, reliable, and resilient electric grid that is planned hand-in-hand with community partners and industry stakeholders,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “DOE’s new Building a Better Grid initiative is a job booster spurred by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and collaboration with communities to upgrade the nation’s grid, connect more Americans to clean electricity and broadband, and reliably move clean energy to where it’s needed most.”
Independent estimates indicate that we need to expand electricity transmission systems by 60% by 2030, and may need to triple it by 2050. Rebuilding and improving our nation's aging roads and bridges and electric grid is a cornerstone of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. More than 70% of the nation’s grid transmission lines and power transformers are over 25 years old, creating vulnerability. Extreme weather events like the Dixie Wildfire, Hurricane Ida, and the 2021 Texas Freeze have made it clear that America’s existing energy infrastructure will not endure the continuing impacts of extreme weather events spurred by climate change. Furthermore, the interconnection queue waiting times for the number of clean energy generation and storage projects slated to be added on to the grid is growing, as use of renewable electricity accelerates faster than ever. And with the clean energy investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, even more clean energy sources will join the queue for grid integration.
As outlined in a new Notice of Intent issued by the Department today, Building a Better Grid will support the development of nationally significant transmission projects and grid upgrades by:
Engaging and collaborating early with states, tribal nations, and stakeholders to accelerate transmission deployment.
Enhancing transmission planning to identify areas of greatest need such as high-priority national transmission needs and conducting longer-term national-scale transmission planning analysis.
Deploying more than $20 billion in federal financing tools, including through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s new $2.5 billion Transmission Facilitation Program, $3 billion expansion of the Smart Grid Investment Grant Program, and more than $10 billion in grants for states, Tribes, and utilities to enhance grid resilience and prevent power outages, and through existing tools, including the more than $3 billion Western Area Power Administration Transmission Infrastructure Program, and a number of loan guarantee programs through the Loan Programs Office.
Facilitating an efficient transmission permitting process by coordinating with federal agencies to streamline permitting, using public private partnerships, and designating corridors.
Performing transmission-related research and development to continue developing and reducing the costs of technologies that enable the transmission system to be used more efficiently.
“Clean air, clean water, and clean energy are fundamental to the health and well-being of every American. Today’s launch of the Building a Better Grid Initiative takes important steps to upgrade and expand the electric grid so that more Americans can benefit from affordable and abundant clean energy. I applaud Secretary Granholm for her leadership on this critical strategy to solve the climate crisis, improve public health and create high-quality jobs in America. I am determined to help communities lower costs with the transition to a resilient and clean energy economy and I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues to ensure that the critical transmission investments in the Build Back Better Act reach President Biden’s desk, so he can sign them into law,” said U.S. Representative Kathy Castor (FL-14), Chair, House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.
“Transmission infrastructure is the backbone of a reliable, resilient, and clean electricity system. Significant transmission investments are needed to achieve our ambitious clean energy goals; however, today these investments face numerous barriers. I applaud Secretary Granholm and DOE’s leadership on the Building a Better Grid initiative. This committed focus on grid modernization will help meet our nation’s 21st century clean energy needs all while protecting Americans from future energy disruptions and lowering costs. I look forward to working with the Department as it continues to implement the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” said U.S. Representative Paul Tonko (NY-20), Chair, House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee for Environment and Climate Change.
“Too many Americans, including many Californians, have experienced the harsh consequences of power grid failures in the face of mounting extreme weather events due to climate change. The Department of Energy’s actions today will build a more secure, resilient, clean, and efficient energy system that our nation can rely on. I applaud the DOE’s efforts and will continue my work in Congress to modernize and strengthen our national electric transmission system,” said U.S. Representative Scott Peters (CA-52).
“I proudly supported the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act because it will pave the way to upgrading our energy transmission infrastructure. The Department of Energy’s new Building a Better Grid Initiative, made possible by the bipartisan infrastructure package, will improve the transmission permitting process enabling us to efficiently deploy renewable energy such as offshore wind and solar. This is a critical step to strengthening the resiliency of the power grid,” said U.S. Representative Elaine Luria (VA-2).
DOE recognizes the importance of collaborative engagement with other federal agencies, state and local governments, American Indian and Alaska Native tribal nations, industry, unions, local communities, environmental justice organizations, and other stakeholders to create a safe, reliable, and resilient grid. The Department is committed to working with these partners to increase coordination and transparency; employ available tools and resources to assist in transmission project development; and improve transmission siting, permitting, and authorization processes.
News
Hydrogen to clean up energy with $10 trillion spend
Rethink Energy
Jan 18, 2022
These are some of the findings in Rethink’s major new study, Hydrogen to clean up energy with $10 trillion spend which provides a global forecast of hydrogen, by demand through to 2050, with figures and pricing models across 21 key countries and 14 different industry sectors across the economy.
By the middle of the century, total investment of $10 trillion will have seen the cost of hydrogen fall by over 95% from levels seen in 2020, spurring a 10-fold increase in global demand. In total, 771 million tons of hydrogen will be required per year as the world heads towards net zero emissions on this timeline.
Combined Heat & Power
Upcoming Events
Upcoming
Event
The 10th Annual SEI Energy Briefing
SEI
February 1, 2022, 8:30 to10:00 am ET
Topics include:
$1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act programs signed on November 15, being implemented in 2022 including electric vehicle infrastructure
What’s in store for electric vehicle charging and battery storage trends
C-PACE funding
$300M Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) program
CO-GEN to achieve greater energy resiliency
Benefits of Solar PV
Who should attend:
Those interested in the state of the national, regional, and local energy economy; facilities managers; energy professionals; project and property developers; municipal developers; and those looking to work in the energy industry.
Upcoming
Event
Sustainability in Indoor Ag: Where Are We Headed Next?
Agritecture
Feb 2, 2022
- Understanding what metrics to track and how to track them
- High energy consumption, especially amongst vertical farms
- Sourcing energy from the grid
- Reliance on plastic packaging in the industry
- General greenwashing... Hosts Kylie Horomia, Head of Industry Transformation at WayBeyond, and Ricky Stephens, Director of Digital Strategy at Agritecture, will chat with speakers who can offer specific ideas, insights, and solutions to some of the challenges uncovered related to sustainability, including:
- Understanding what metrics to track and how to track them
- High energy consumption, especially amongst vertical farms
- Sourcing energy from the grid
- Reliance on plastic packaging in the industry
- General greenwashing
Upcoming
Event
AESP Annual Conference & Exhibition
AESP
Feb 7 to 10, 2022
Conference tracks cover many issues:
Beneficial electrification
Customer engagement
Demand flexibility
Diversity, equity, and inclusion
EM&V
Gas
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Upcoming
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CampusEnergy 2022
IDEA
February 15-18, 2022
District energy systems on college and university campuses continue to set higher standards for efficiency, resiliency and environmental performance. With carbon targets for 2030 fast approaching, IDEA member institutions are actively planning, designing, partnering, constructing and commissioning a wide range of innovative energy and environmental technologies. Join IDEA and the leaders in the industry at CampusEnergy2022 in February to gain invaluable access to these industry experts.
Upcoming
Event
2022 Federal Market Workshop
NAESCO
March 10, 2022, 8:00 am to 6:00 pm ET
The popular Federal Workshop will attract ESCO leaders and vendor representatives already working in the Federal space and those seeking to break into the Federal market. In addition, Federal agency officials tasked with setting and implementing Federal energy efficiency and infrastructure policies will be with us as invited speakers and attendees. NOTE our new location
Upcoming
Event
Electrification 2022 International Conference & Exposition
Alliance to Save Energy
March 14-17, 2022
Upcoming
Event
2022 International Biomass Conference & Expo
BBI International
Mar 14, 2022 - Mar 16, 2022
Upcoming
Event
Commercial, industrial, institutional, and governmental sectors from across the region
AEE
March 23-24, 2022
Save the dates or register today and take advantage of our early bird pricing.
... The Association of Energy Engineers invites you to join your peers at our events in 2022. Learn, connect with other professionals and discuss key energy issues on energy management, efficiency, automation, data analytics, policy, supply, procurement, resiliency, sustainability, and more.
Save the dates or register today and take advantage of our early bird pricing.
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Event
ACI’s 10th National Conference on Microgrids
ACI
March 30-31, 2022
The discussions this year will address these new revelations happening in the industry and provide answers to help microgrid owners and utility companies grow even further and even into new avenues such as electric vehicles and power trading.
ACI’s 10th National Conference on Microgrids will be taking place in Boston, USA on the the 30th & 31st March of 2022. The two day event will consist of a number of informative presentations followed by interactive Q&A sessions and panel discussions, bringing together key industry stakeholders including utility companies, microgrid owners, project developers, energy technology providers, renewable energy providers, relevant consultants, associations and governmental bodies.
Featuring an Exclusive Tour of the Sterling Municipal Light Department’s Award-Winning Microgrid
In addition to the main two day event, during the afternoon of Tuesday 29th March 2022 a limited number of conference delegates will receive a unique opportunity to visit Sterling Municipal Light Department’s Innovative Microgrid Facility.
Upcoming
Event
World Hydrogen North America
Energy Central
Apr 6 & 7, 2022
Combined Heat & Power
Partner News
Partner
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4.2 MW CHP system rigged into place in New York City, Times Square
NES-WES
Jan 26, 2022
This marks over 50 MW's of CHP and power projects that our team has completed in the Metro New York City area. Huge shoutout to our team for their continued hard work! Check out some photos of the rig below!
Partner
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CAPSTONE GREEN ENERGY TO PROVIDE 600 kW CHP SYSTEM TO ALABAMA HOSPITAL
Capstone Green Energy
Jan 24, 2022
The 600 kW microturbine-based energy system will be fueled by low-pressure natural gas (LPNG) and will run in parallel with the local area grid providing supplemental power for the hospital's needs. The highly efficient energy system will be configured to repurpose the waste heat produced by the microturbine for the hospital's hot water requirements.
Beyond supporting the power needs of a critical hospital facility, the new clean energy system provides a hedge against rising utility costs. This, along with the system's high efficiency, will ultimately reduce the facility's operational costs. Likewise, the system offers environmental benefits, including an estimated reduction in greenhouse gas emissions roughly equivalent to removing an estimated 245 cars from the road annually.
"We continue to experience increasing interest in Capstone Green Energy portfolio products," said Doug Demaret, President of Lone Star Power Solutions. "Our relationship with Capstone makes Lone Star unique in our ability to provide completely integrated on-site clean energy solutions for customers that have sophisticated energy requirements. We are glad to be able to offer tailored solutions to meet their economic, operational, and environmental goals."
"There are few energy solutions out there that can deliver the kind of reliability and security that microturbines provide to power-critical sites like hospitals," said Darren Jamison, Chief Executive Officer of Capstone Green Energy. "When you factor in the cost benefits and environmental factors, you have a complete solution that improves the bottom line, strengthens service delivery, and reduces environmental impact. Utilizing a Capstone clean energy system is a truly ideal strategy for hospitals," concluded Mr. Jamison.
Partner
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Making Mexican farms more sustainable with biogas CHP
2G
Jan 24, 2022
Thanks to the cogeneration unit, the energy efficiency of their energy use has drastically increased resulting in a lower CO2 footprint and lower energy bills. The farm succeeded in reducing its CO2 emissions by 4,700 tonnes per year and cut their electricity costs by 25-30%. In total energy savings reach 45-50% compared to the situation before installing the biogas cogeneration unit.
Technical details:
2G Biogas Model avus500plus of 495 ekW & 313 tkW plus Biogas Conditioning Skid
Electricity production of 3.9 GWh per year
Thermal energy production of 2.22 GWh per year
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New Canaan, CT selectmen approve a 35 kW CHP plant for Town Hall
Aegis Energy
Jan 24, 2022
One CHP’s environmental footprint is equal to taking 25 cars off of the road as well as saving the municipality money, Mark Robbins, president of MHR Development, said at a prior meeting.
The selectmen approved two contracts for the Town Hall project. The first was worth $322,750, including a $30,000 contingency fee with Aegis Energy for the unit that will be installed in the Town Hall boiler room.
“Electric and heat savings generated by this project are estimated by MHR Development to be between $35,000 to $40,000 a year,” Zagarenski said.
Selectman Nick Williams said it was a “great thing for the town.” He and First Selectman Kevin Moynihan voted in favor for the project. Selectman Kathleen Corbet was not present.
Robbins addressed the town’s energy initiative, which includes solar panel installations on several town buildings and the CHP units.
After the meeting, Robbins told Hearst that both CHP and solar helps the town be “environmentally sustainable,” while “economically efficient,” since less energy is wasted when it is generated at the point of consumption. In addition, the town benefits from net metering, which means excess power generation can be given to the grid for credits from Eversource.
Measures such as generating energy by CHP’s and solar paneling systems “reduce pressure on the overtaxed electrical grid, which will only increase” and “decrease the dependence and strain on the electrical grid.”
Moynihan has said he hopes that a CHP will also be installed at Lapham Community Center to cover the building’s needs and nearby field lights. However, Eversource does not yet supply gas to the center, Robbins said.
The energy source for the CHP’s will be natural gas, “which has been around for hundreds of years,” Moynihan said. Aegis is the “leading” installer of CHP’s, he added. “They’ve got over 1,000 units in operation in the northeast.”
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MTU supplying CHP power plants for Romanian data center campus
mtu a Rolls Royce solution
Jan 22, 2022
Rolls-Royce and its distributor partner Knopf & Wallisch (K&W) supplied three mtu customized and containerized combined cooling, heat and power plant (CCHP) trigeneration units.
The generator sets are based on mtu 20V 4000 L64 FNER gas engines which are designed for quick ramp-up and ramp-down and offer a wide-range of load operations. The gensets are hydrogen-ready, offering the ability to blend 25% hydrogen along with natural gas and can be transformed into a pure hydrogen engine in the future
The first of the five data centers will open its doors in the first quarter of 2022. The mtu CCHP units supply electricity, heat and cooling for the building and the infrastructure. The concept to use the gas gensets as prime power producing electricity while using the main grid as backup is a unique configuration that is currently rarely seen. Guided by ClusterPower’s requests, K&W developed a highly efficient solution to capture most of the exhaust heat from the system with conversion chillers and transform it into chilled air to cool the data center facilities.
“I think that Romania has a lot to say about the European future of innovation and digitalization and we have the opportunity here to develop new infrastructures, using the latest technologies and with modern environmental standards,” said Georgescu. “We are lucky enough to start fresh and we will put this opportunity to good use. It is always nice to know that we have partners ready to support us in our endeavors.”
Partner
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Tecogen Receives 1 Megawatt Microgrid System Order for New York City Hotel
Tecogen
Jan 17, 2022
“When this hotel was originally in development, we worked with the owner and construction team to implement the Tecochill solution for cooling the facility,” noted Jeff Glick, Vice President of East Coast Sales at Tecogen. “As the energy needs of the hotel increased, Tecogen was asked to provide a solution to increase available electric capacity by one megawatt. The modularity of the InVerde 125 kW units as well as our microgrid control feature enabled a flexible and cost-effective solution that met their requirement for 1 MW of onsite capacity generation. We are excited to continue working with this hotel to meet their energy needs.”
The InVerde e+ system includes proprietary inverter technology which allows units to integrate with other distributed generation assets such as battery storage and solar, as well as the ability to function independently from the utility during grid outages. The InVerde e+ system has UL2200 and UL1741SA certifications which are required by most utilities to operate in both grid-parallel operation and in island mode during grid outages. All Tecogen systems are equipped with a proprietary emissions technology called Ultera which reduces criteria emissions to levels on par with fuel cell technology.
“When the engineering team for this project considered the expanding need of the hotel’s power requirements, Tecogen was selected for several reasons,” added Benjamin Locke, CEO of Tecogen. “The modular aspect of the InVerde units enables incremental increases for onsite power generation both cost-effectively and without significant disruption for existing infrastructure. In addition, Tecogen’s ability to meet the short lead times for system delivery was instrumental in maintaining the hotel’s aggressive project schedule, which requires commissioning later this year.”
The units are planned for shipment in mid-2022.
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DT Farms adds 2 MW of CHP to be able to expand its greenhouse footprint in electricity constrained Ontario
Siemens Energy
Jan 17, 2022
Naturally, this has presented problems for many Ontario greenhouses and other businesses with substantial power needs; holding them back from realizing their full growth potential.
Take DT Enterprise Farms, for example. Established in the year 2000 by brothers Tony and Don Mastronardi, DT Farms started out with a 7-acre operation and went on to build an additional 9 acres one year later.
Fast forward to 2020, and DT Farms was in growth mode once again with plans to add a new state-of-the-art range but were held back by a crucial power problem. “Ontario hydro just does not have enough infrastructure to supply all of these greenhouses with the amount of power we need,” explained DT’s VP Tony Mastronardi.
“They were looking to expand their greenhouse operation with a new facility and grow lights, but they were told by the local utility company that the power simply just wasn’t available. While the area has an electricity supply shortage, they definitely don’t have a gas supply shortage - and that really created the opportunity.”
With its own generator shop and panel shops, T&T Power Group was able to provide a turnkey combined heat and power solution to take DT Enterprise Farms completely off-grid while still providing electricity at a very reasonable cost.
“T&T was able to present a solution that gave us 2 MWs of power; that was pretty much a turnkey deal,” said Tony.
“If [DT Farms] wasn’t able to get the CHP due to the fact that there was such a lack of hydro, this range probably would not have been built - because the sole purpose of this range was to produce hydroponic tomatoes for our customers during the winter months.”
Since greenhouses like DT Farms have a large thermal load in addition to the electrical load, it’s possible to recover all wasted heat from the coolant and the exhaust on the generators, to be converted into hot water that can actually be used in the facility - which is exactly what T&T Power arranged for DT Farms.
“Using a conventional power generator to convert a fuel like natural gas into electricity is actually not a very efficient process,” explains Tilo. “Most of that energy in the fuel is actually lost as heat - and it also creates a lot of harmful emissions for a relatively small amount of electricity.”
Needless to say, combined heat and power generation (CHP) is by far the most environmentally-friendly way to convert natural gas into useful energy.
As the Canadian distributor for the Siemens Energy gas engine, T&T Power Group is able to design and build highly efficient, robust CHP systems equipped to run for decades.
“Siemens Energy chose T&T as its Canadian distributor because we know the type of support they provide in the market. They understand their customers, they know how to provide solutions for those customers, and they know how to service and support them in a way that makes their operations and projects successful” - Exor Montes, BDM, Siemens Energy NA.
T&T’s successful CHP project with DT Enterprise Farms sets an excellent example for other Ontario greenhouses and businesses that are struggling to grow due to problems attaining enough power from the utility system, or that are just simply fed up with the cost of power that is already available to them.
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Caterpillar extends packaged CHP systems range
Caterpillar
Jan 13, 2022
Designed, assembled, and tested at Caterpillar facilities in the U.S., the sound-attenuated units reduce the lead time to implement CHP capabilities by including all the major elements needed to support a cogeneration application, including the generator set, heat recovery and dissipation systems, combustion and ventilation air systems, master controls, and balance of plant components. The CHP solutions offer standardized configurations to reduce lead times while allowing for the customization of the radiator system, exhaust and air system, fuel system and other components.
Now available for purchase in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, Caterpillar’s containerized CHP solutions come with a standard Caterpillar warranty, with a suite of additional extended service coverage options available. They can be equipped with Cat Connect Remote Asset Monitoring, which provides data visualization, reporting, and alerts that are accessible from anywhere in the world through an easy-to-use web interface and mobile app.
“Caterpillar is committed to helping customers achieve their sustainability goals through a comprehensive range of innovative power solutions that precisely address power needs, fuel availability, emission standards and return-on-investment targets,” said Thomas Smith, North America gas segment manager for Caterpillar’s Electric Power Division. “By expanding our containerized CHP options, we have further simplified the process for customers to support their environmental, social and governance initiatives quickly and economically.”
Caterpillar said facilities can reduce operating costs by implementing a CHP system or a combined cooling, heat and power (CCHP) system. Most Cat natural gas-fueled engines can be configured with a CHP or CCHP system to simultaneously generate power for electrical loads while capturing waste heat that can be repurposed as thermal energy for facility processes or heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) requirements.
While the combination of grid power and traditional boilers for thermal energy offers less than 50% energy efficiency, Caterpillar said CHP and CCHP systems can provide total energy efficiencies of up to 90% or more.
Cat CHP and CCHP systems are applicable in a wide range of industrial and commercial facilities, such as manufacturing plants, refineries, regional district heating plants, resorts, shopping malls, high-rise office buildings, universities, data centers and hospitals.
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CHP and chilled water system for indoor agriculture facility in Harrisburg, PA
Kinsley Energy
Jan 10, 2022
... Kinsley Energy Systems is supplying a high efficiency CHP and chilled water system for the Lab Energy Cogeneration Plant. Fueled by liquified natural gas (LNG), the CHP plant will operate independently from the electric grid and serve as and the sole source of electric power and thermal energy to the facility. Kinsley is providing the CHP plant consisting of four TEDOM packaged CHP units (totaling 3.5 MW), backup boilers, high-efficiency magnetic bearing electric chillers, and closed-circuit cooling towers with associated pumping systems. With built-in redundancy, the CHP plant will reduce energy costs, cut carbon emissions, and ensure cultivation facility resiliency. The project broke ground in August 2021 with anticipated full commissioning of the cogeneration system in early 2022.
People on the Move
Congratulations, Emily Robertson! 2022 CHPA Governing Board Member
2G
Jan 6, 2022
The Combined Heat and Power Alliance is the leading national voice for deploying combined heat and power (CHP). The CHP Alliance leads its members’ education and advocacy activities with Congress and the Administration, and state policymakers develop coordinated communications strategies and mobilize members and affiliates to support expanded awareness of the use of CHP.
Of her election to the 2022 CHPA Governing Board, Emily Robertson says, “Now, more than ever before, there is awareness and willingness to affect change across the US in terms of policy that will begin to really make an impact on how we as a country are going to face looming challenges of sustainability, energy efficiency, and infrastructure. The CHPA is the leading voice advocating for policy that will help America’s manufacturers and other businesses to reduce energy costs and emissions and to enhance grid reliability. I am excited to see what the coming years will bring and am thrilled to be part of the CHPA Governing Board and to work to communicate the importance of CHP here in the US and continue to push policies that will support the growth of the CHP industry.”
Interested in more from Emily? Click the button below to read her full article in District Energy Magazine titled - CHP: The Future Has Begun
"Projects demonstrate the technology’s potential in decarbonizing the energy supply."
Hydrogen CHP Article
Combined Heat & Power
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Methane limits could be COP26's real legacy
Axios
Jan 28, 2022
Why it matters: The significance of this pledge at the COP26 summit shouldn't be overlooked. Though it's less abundant than longer-lived carbon dioxide, methane is dozens of times more powerful at trapping heat in the atmosphere.
How it works: While efforts to cut carbon dioxide emissions require systemic change, such as retooling the way society generates and uses energy, methane is easier to target.
It only requires actions like plugging leaks in oil and gas infrastructure and other human-caused sources such as agriculture and waste.
The voluntary pledge commits countries to reducing methane emissions by 30% by 2030.
Pledge signatories include 15 of the world’s top 30 methane emitters: the United States, European Union, Indonesia, Pakistan, Argentina, Mexico, Nigeria, Iraq, Vietnam and Canada, the White House announced in a fact sheet.
Details: Recent U.N. reports found that tackling methane emissions in addition to carbon dioxide would pay dividends in the near term.
One report published in May by the U.N. Environment Program found that if global emissions of methane were slashed nearly in half by midcentury, it could prevent about 0.3°C (0.54°F) of warming.
The intrigue: President Biden's rollout of the methane pledge will be reinforced by action at home — unlike Biden's climate speech Monday at the summit, which was buffeted by Sen. Joe Manchin's (D-W.Va.) brushback against key pieces of his climate agenda in Congress.
Between the lines: On Tuesday, the EPA will propose new regulations targeting methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, including both existing and new sources of emissions.
The EPA regulations will also require states to develop plans to cut emissions from existing sources, including about 300,000 oil and gas well sites.
The methane rules would cut 41 million tons of methane emissions from 2023 to 2035, the EPA said in a statement. According to the agency, that’s more than the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from all U.S. passenger cars and commercial aircraft in 2019.
Context: In recent years, methane concentrations in the atmosphere have increased at a faster rate, making some scientists suspicious of possible links to the boom in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for natural gas.
In addition, melting permafrost in the Far North can free up methane and other greenhouse gases that had been frozen for centuries in organic matter.
Countries are targeting methane to slow the rate of climate change in the next one to two decades, which could avert crossing climate change "tipping points" such as the collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Yes, but: Cuts in carbon emissions will be necessary to stem warming in the long term, and those pledges have been far harder to elicit from world leaders so far.
What's next: Methane emissions will soon be tracked down to individual sources via satellites, aircraft and ground-based instruments, making it possible for observations to transform a voluntary initiative like the Global Methane Pledge into an eventual regulatory regime.
For example, the Environmental Defense Fund is developing a methane-monitoring satellite with a planned launch in 2023, with other methane probes planned by other entities.
The U.N. and European Union just rolled out an international methane emissions observatory at the G20 summit, with a plan to include satellite monitoring.
News
We can make money with an idle CHP; what could be better?
Horti-Daily
Jan 28, 2022
A horticultural company's energy costs strongly determine its cost price. That is true at Jaco's farm, Padland Brielle, too. Limiting energy costs as much as possible is, therefore, a top priority for him. "Especially with the current energy prices," says Jaco, who grows 2.5 hectares of cucumbers. He sells these via The Greenery.
He uses a 1.4MW CHP to heat his greenhouse. He delivers the generated electricity back to the grid. "However, we don't use it during our eight-to-nine-week crop changeover. And it regularly stands idle at other times during the year too. Especially in the summer, when we don't need much heat."
Flexibility
Offering power generated by his CHP for emergencies was not an option for Jaco until recently. "Your power had to be exclusively available to TenneT [a high-voltage grid operator] for at least 24 hours. I could do that during the crop changeover. But it was too risky for the rest of the year. I didn't want to risk my CHP not being available if I might need it. That would negatively affect my crop," he explains.
However, in early 2021, AgroEnergy introduced this emergency 'flexpool'. That brought providing emergency power within the grower's reach. Participating growers can make their power available at hours that suit them. It does not have to be available for 24 hours.
AgroEnergy pools this capacity and offers it collectively to the market. "We can now offer CHP power at hours that suit us. And we don't have to be on standby for 24 hours. That provided the flexibility I was looking for," says Jaco.
"We now make emergency power available during crop rotations. And also, at other times during the year, when we don't need the CHP. We let AgroEnergy know when we'll have emergency power available. That's on the CHP usage predictions they give us. Other than that, there's nothing else to do."
No impact on daily operations
De Bakker has been part of this pool since October. And he has no regrets. It is even bringing in good money. "The fees for offering emergency power vary but are generally good. And you earn money from an idle cogeneration plant. What could be better?"
"Offering emergency power is, thus, an ideal way of optimizing CHP efficiency. And there's no question of negative effects on daily operations. We only offer emergency electricity when it suits us."
The grower cannot think of any disadvantages to the emergency power pool. "Except perhaps that you have to determine two days ahead exactly when you'll have CHP capacity available. You have to keep an eye on that," Jaco concludes.
News
Georgia Tech Research: CHP as a Platform for Clean Energy Systems
Georgia Tech
Jan 24, 2022
The paper, digitally available now and in print this December in the journal Applied Energy, finds that CHP – or cogeneration – could measurably reduce Georgia’s carbon footprint while creating green jobs. Georgia ranks 8th among all 50 states for total net electricity generation and 11th for total carbon dioxide emissions, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
“There is an enormous opportunity for CHP to save industries money and make them more competitive, while at the same time reducing air pollution, creating jobs and enhancing public health,” said principal investigator Marilyn Brown, Regents and Brook Byers professor of Sustainable Systems at Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy.
Benefiting the Environment, Economy, and Public Health
The research finds that if Georgia added CHP systems to the 9,374 sites that are suitable for cogeneration, it could reduce carbon emissions in Georgia by 13%. Bringing CHP to just 34 of Georgia’s industrial plants, each with 25 megawatts of electricity capacity, could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2%. The study authors, using modeling tools they developed, note that this “achievable” level of CHP adoption could add 2,000 jobs to the state; full deployment could support 13,000 new jobs.
According to Brown, CHP systems can be 85 to 90% efficient, compared with 45 to 60% efficiency of traditional heat and power systems. CHP has advantages over renewable electricity from solar and wind, which only offers intermittent power.
CHP technologies co-produce electricity useful for heat and cooling, resulting in ultra-high system efficiencies, cleaner air, and more affordable energy. Georgia industries that would profit from CHP include chemical, textile, pulp and paper, and food production. Large commercial buildings, campuses, and military bases also could benefit from CHP. By utilizing both electricity and heat from a single source onsite, the energy system if more reliable, resilient, and efficient.
CHP can meet the same needs at higher efficiency using less overall energy, while reducing peak demand on a region’s utility-operated power grid, Brown explained. In addition, if there is an outage or disruption in a community’s power grid, companies with their own onsite electricity sources can continue to have power.
Calculating CHP Costs and Benefits per Plant
The research used a database of every Georgia industrial site to determine which facilitates operated or could operate a CHP system. They then identified the appropriate type of CHP system for plants without one. To help assess if a CHP system was a financially sound investment, they developed a model to estimate the benefits and costs of each CHP system, factoring in the cost to install the equipment, operations and maintenance, fuel expenses, and financing. The result was an estimated “net present value” of each system that reflected the present value of future costs and benefits, Brown explained.
The paper also used data analytics to predict economic and health benefits of CHP for Georgians. Plants converting to cogeneration could boost the state’s clean energy workforce by 2,000 to 13,000 depending on how widely it’s adopted, Brown said. Currently, the state has about 2,600 jobs in electric vehicle manufacturing and less than 5,000 in the solar industry, according to the 11th Annual National Solar Jobs Census 2020.
In addition to job growth, CHP adoption could lead to dramatic health benefits for the state’s more vulnerable residents, Brown emphasized. “We’re displacing more polluting electricity when companies generate their own from waste heat,” she noted.
The study estimates nearly $150 million in reduced health costs and ecological damages in 2030 in the “achievable” scenario for CHP, with nearly $1 billion in health and ecological benefits if every Georgia plant identified in the study adopted CHP.
“The public health improvements are gigantic -- that’s a lot of lives saved, as well as childhood asthma and heart problems avoided,” Brown said.
Georgia Tech’s research was sponsored by Drawdown Georgia, a statewide initiative focused on scaling market-ready, high-impact climate solutions in Georgia this decade. The organization has identified a roadmap of 20 solutions, including electricity solutions such as CHP.
The impact of CHP could be dramatic considering that electricity generation accounts for nearly 37% of Georgia’s energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, according to findings Brown and other researchers published earlier this year in the journal, Environmental Management.
Identifying Ideal CHP Sites
Georgia Tech researchers identified numerous different industrial sites in Georgia that could use combined heat and power. Ideal locations include established universities or military bases, and large industrial sites such as paper making, chemical sites, and food processing facilities. Georgia’s number-one industry is agriculture, with chemicals and wood products among the state’s top manufacturers.
“I find Georgia’s potential to take advantage of existing industrial and commercial facilities to build CHP plants very interesting,” said study co-author Valentina Sanmiguel, a 2020 master’s graduate of the School of Public Policy in sustainable energy and environmental management. “I hope both industries and policymakers in Georgia realize the benefits that cogeneration has on the environment, the economy and society and take action to implement CHP in the state at a greater scale.”
Dissecting Hurdles to Adoption
Despite the advantages of CHP, there remains hurdles to its adoption – for one, establishing these facilities is capital-intensive, ranging from tens of millions for a campus CHP plant to hundreds of millions for a large plant at an industrial site. Once built, these facilities require their own workforce to operate, explained Brown.
“The cost-competitiveness of CHP systems depends significantly on two factors – whether they are customer or utility-owned, and the type of rate tariff they operate under,” said Brown.
In the paper, Georgia Tech cited three ways to improve the business case for CHP: clean energy portfolio standards, regulatory reform, and financial incentives such as tax credits.
Those approaches have worked well in North Carolina, noted Isaac Panzarella, director of the Department of Energy Southeast CHP Technical Assistance Partnership, and the assistant director for Technical Services for the North Carolina’s Clean Energy Technology Center at North Carolina State University. North Carolina State University, where Panzarella is based, recently installed its second CHP facility on campus.
North Carolina, he added, has a policy that supports the use of renewable energy. Along with solar and wind, North Carolina embraced converting waste from swine and poultry-feeding operations into renewable energy.
“It’s taken a long time, but finally there are more and more of these digester or biomass operations, using CHP to generate electricity and thermal energy from those waste resources,” he said.
While Georgia Tech is not yet operating a CHP system, the Campus Sustainability Committee is currently examining options for lessening their energy footprint.
“Georgia Tech seeks to leverage Dr. Brown’s important research, and the deep faculty expertise at Georgia Tech in climate solutions, as we advance the development of a campus-wide Carbon Neutrality Plan and Campus Master Plan in 2022,” said Anne Rogers, associate director, Office of Campus Sustainability. “The Campus Master and Carbon Neutrality Plan will provide a roadmap to implementing sustainable infrastructure solutions to advance Georgia Tech’s strategic goals.”
Brown emphasized that Georgia utilities should get behind cogeneration projects to help the state reduce its carbon footprint.
Another hurdle is the relatively low electric rates in the Southeast, which provide less of an opportunity to achieve a reasonable payback on those systems.
Georgia’s industries that wish to be competitive globally need to look at CHP considering that the rest of the world is embracing renewable and recycled energy at a faster rate than the U.S., Brown noted.
“In industries where CHP is well understood, and there are solidly established businesses, it’s a great investment and a smart way to keep jobs in the community, while being good for the environment. The hurdles are not about technology; they are all about policies and business models,” she concluded.
News
Using CHP to improve efficiency and reduce emissions
Electrical Business
Jan 24, 2022
A century later, CHP technology is seeing a resurgence due to its improved efficiency. Gas engine CHP systems are now almost 90% energy-efficient. Cogen systems are generally installed onsite for large facilities and buildings that need both electricity and thermal energy, such as institutions, hospitals, schools, and greenhouses.
Since most conventional electricity generation is limited to an average of 50% efficiency (coal-fired/gas-combined cycle), waste energy in the form of heat is discharged to the atmosphere. CHP offers significant improvements in efficiency because it produces two forms of energy from a single source: heat and electricity.
CHP is limited only by its ability to employ power generation in proximity to the heat load. Large-scale power plants were built in an era when heat wasn’t considered beyond a moderate combined-cycle system; the transmission & distribution requirements are intensive, and their locations made it impossible to utilize the heat source effectively.
Wastewater treatment plants are a prime example of a year-round CHP application. Thermal and electrical energy are in high demand throughout the process, where methane gas captured from the digesters run engine generators, producing heat for the digesters and electric power for supporting the onsite electrical loads (e.g. pumps, process equipment).
A remote mining application in Canada’s North, for example, could also benefit from plant and site heating in an islanded power application.
The growing interest in distributed generation, lower-cost of installation and maintenance, and flexibility with renewables, provide an advantage in efficiency and immediate reduction in carbon emissions. As we navigate to new energy sources, gas engine CHP systems will integrate effectively with renewables and future fuels, such as hydrogen.
What’s driving the growth of CHP?
Greater energy efficiency, reliability and lower costs are top priorities for any business. Companies need to focus on their Environmental Social Governance (ESG) when setting standards for their operations. Socially conscious investors use these metrics to screen potential investments and consider how a company performs as an environmental steward.
Facilities with significant heating loads (e.g. hospitals, universities, military bases, ski resorts, shopping malls, high-rise office buildings) can all obtain reduced operating costs by implementing CHP systems that provide heat energy to meet the facility’s thermal requirements while taking advantage of offsetting (exporting electrical generation).
Unlike long-term, grand-scale power projects with higher costs, commercial businesses that are financially able to build their own cogen plants can complete these projects quickly and efficiently, gaining substantial savings in the short term.
Edmonton International Airport recently implemented a CHP solution designed around its terminal heating loads, as opposed to upgrading boilers alone. This not only met their heating requirements but allowed EIA to offset its electrical utility loads, raising overall efficiency. It also gives them the ability to export or offset the grid when power prices peak and heat demand is low.
Many manufacturers now offer standardized CHP systems that remove the hassle and complexity of customized engineering elements. These packaged CHP solutions reduce onsite installation and construction costs and offer big benefits for smaller sites, including customized maintenance solutions for those without trained operators onsite.
News
Can green hydrogen compete on cost?
Wood Mackenzie Research Report
Jan 24, 2022
We explored the economics of green, grey, brown and blue hydrogen in Hydrogen costs to 2050: getting ready to scale. Fill in the form for a complimentary extract and read on for an introduction. ... The hydrogen boom is well underway, but not all hydrogen is created equal. A spectrum of hydrogen colors are in play – but the real gamechanger will come when low-carbon green hydrogen costs become competitive in major markets.
We explored the economics of green, grey, brown and blue hydrogen in Hydrogen costs to 2050: getting ready to scale. Fill in the form for a complimentary extract and read on for an introduction.
Green hydrogen has some catching up to do – but the project pipeline is gathering pace Green hydrogen – hydrogen created from the electrolysis of water using renewable energy – has a tiny share of the global energy market today. It is currently still largely uncompetitive against fossil-fueled alternatives. However, the momentum behind net zero ambitions means that investors are betting on its long-term potential.
As a result, the hydrogen project pipeline has grown seven-fold since December 2020. We’re tracking more than 560 low-carbon projects in our database with a minimum of 180 GW total electrolyzer capacity designation. Most projects are still at early development stage, with the bulk of new projects advanced through Q2 this year.
Until 2019, global estimated electrolyzer manufacturing capacity was just 200 MW. By the midway point of 2021 that had jumped to 6.3 GW of announced capacity, with 1.3 GW added in Q1 alone.
Now, as we reach the end of Q4, electrolyzer manufacturers are dramatically expanding plans for gigawatt scale factories. In recent weeks, Ohmium, Clean Power Hydrogen, Green Hydrogen Systems, Sunfire and FFI have all announced large-scale factories, joining Cummins, Haldor Topsoe, ITM, Nel, McPhy, Siemens, Thyssenkrupp and Plug Power.
Electrolyzer capex is falling fast We expect a significant drop in electrolyzer capex by 2025. Costs are being driven down by a range of factors including economies of scale, new entrants to the market, greater automation and increased modularity.
Cost drivers differ for different electrolyzer types. Reductions for solid oxide electrolyzers are set to be the most dramatic in the next 6-8 years; but alkaline and polymer electrolyzer membrane (PEM) costs are forecast to fall 35-50% by 2025.
Capex reduction will help drive down the levelized cost of hydrogen production (LCOH). Combined with cheap renewable PPAs and good renewable utilisation in many markets, the potential for competitive green electrolysis-based hydrogen really starts to grow. At the same time, as the world adjusts to high commodity prices while demand bounces back from Covid-19 lows, the economics of blue, grey and brown hydrogen have become less favorable than they were a year ago. (Though the world of blue hydrogen – which pairs natural gas reforming with carbon capture and storage (CCS) – is also expanding with a rapidly increasing project pipeline for CCS projects linked to hydrogen.)
This combination of forces means that we believe green hydrogen will be competitive in 12 markets – those with the highest utilization rates and lowest renewable electricity prices – by 2030. Brazil and Chile are amongst the front-runners of harnessing cheap renewables to produce green hydrogen off-grid. And by 2050, 20 of the 24 countries in our analysis see very competitive green hydrogen costs.
Hydrogen costs to 2050: getting ready to scale includes a country-by-country breakdown of LCOH forecasts for green, blue, grey and brown hydrogen. To find out more fill in the form at the top of the page to download a complimentary extract.
News
Enbridge hydrogen blending project now operational
DIESEL & GAS TURBINE WORLDWIDE
Jan 22, 2022
Enbridge Gas now has the capacity to deliver blended gas, clean hydrogen injected into the natural gas distribution network to reduce the fuel’s carbon footprint, to about 3600 customers in Markham. ... Enbridge Gas Inc. and project partner Cummins Inc. said that North America’s first hydrogen blending initiative is fully operational and serving the city of Markham, Canada.
Enbridge Gas now has the capacity to deliver blended gas, clean hydrogen injected into the natural gas distribution network to reduce the fuel’s carbon footprint, to about 3600 customers in Markham.
The renewable hydrogen gas now available for blending is produced at Enbridge’s existing utility-scale Markham Power-to-Gas facility, established in 2018 by Enbridge and Cummins with financial support from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), the Canadian Gas Association (CGA) and NGIF Capital Corporation.
Through this pilot project, Enbridge Gas will initially provide a maximum hydrogen blended content of up to 2% by volume of the natural gas supplied to approximately 3,600 customers in Markham, Ontario starting in 3Q21, eliminating up to 117 tons of CO2 annually from the atmosphere, the two companies said.
The pilot project will not impact the standard market cost of natural gas.
This $5.2 million pilot blending project involves enhancements to the existing Markham Power-to-Gas facility, which was built through an Enbridge-Cummins joint venture in 2018 to help balance Ontario’s electricity supply and demand by storing the province’s surplus electricity as pure hydrogen until it’s needed.
The plant has also proven its potential as a solution to the challenge of storing the province’s surplus electrical energy using Enbridge’s existing natural gas pipeline infrastructure or in the form of pure hydrogen, which can later be reconverted back to electricity, Enbridge said.
“Zero-carbon hydrogen is now playing a role in Ontario’s shift to lower‐carbon, sustainable energy solution—and is an important example of the investments Enbridge Gas is making across multiple markets to green the natural gas grid while continuing to meet the demand for safe, reliable and affordable energy,” said Cynthia Hansen, Enbridge’s executive vice president and president of gas distribution and storage.
The pilot project’s success places Enbridge Gas in a position to validate and pursue larger-scale hydrogen-blending activities in other parts of its distribution system, strengthening the capacity for made-in-Ontario clean energy solutions, Enbridge said.
“Projects like this demonstrate that the energy transition is accelerating quickly, driving the green hydrogen economy in North America, and paving the way for large-scale adoption,” said Amy Adams, Cummins vice president of fuel cell and hydrogen technologies. “Cummins is proud to leverage our electrolyzer technology to support Ontario’s zero-carbon goals and bring cleaner, greener energy to residents.”
On Oct. 29, 2020, the Ontario Energy Board approved an application by Enbridge Gas for a project to use the Markham Power-to-Gas facility as a pilot project to test blending of renewable hydrogen gas into the existing natural gas network, reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Enbridge Gas is Canada’s largest natural gas storage, transmission and distribution company and is based in Ontario. Cummins Inc. makes diesel, natural gas, electric and hybrid powertrains, and powertrain-related components. It is based in Columbus, Indiana.
News
PG&E partners with Maas, California Energy Exchange to turn cattle waste into RNG
Daily Energy Insider
Jan 18, 2022
“Together, in partnership with the dairies, we’re able to take greenhouse gas emissions out of the atmosphere and, in turn, provide clean, renewable gas to PG&E’s residential and business customers, including the transportation industry,” said Chris DiGiovanni, director of Wholesale Marketing and Business Development for PG&E. “PG&E was an early supporter of California’s statewide goal to reduce methane emissions to 40 percent below 2015 levels by 2030, and projects like this are key steps toward this effort.”
Merced projects through Maas Energy’s facilities have been working since mid-December, utilizing a third-party pipeline to flow products to PG&E’s transmission system. Without the project, all this methane would end up in the atmosphere. Approximately 55 percent of California’s methane emissions come from dairies and livestock, according to the California Air Resources Board 2018 Greenhouse Gases Emissions Inventory.
“Maas Energy Works, and our 15 dairy family partners, are grateful to PG&E for delivering our clean cow gas to the market,” Daryl Maas, CEO for Maas Energy, said. “Merced County is the nation’s second-largest dairy county, and we expect this project will make Merced a leading producer of renewable transportation fuels as well. This effort prevailed through permitting, COVID, construction challenges, and many other ‘first ever’ milestones.”
Traditionally, methane conversion and transport like this have been derailed through a mix of factors, including lack of access and cost-effective alternatives. The partners tout mid-market pipelines, like the one used by CEE for the Maas Energy project, as major inroads to making methane capture a cost-effective RNG source.
News
DOE Announces $420 Million to Advance Clean Energy Breakthroughs at Energy Research Centers
U.S. DOE
Jan 18, 2022
“Spearheaded by world-leading scientists, DOE’s Energy Frontier Research Centers are innovation powerhouses that have unlocked scientific breakthroughs leading to transformative climate solutions like solar windows and carbon capture technology,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “This funding will create good-paying jobs and open doors to an array of clean energy technologies across industries that will be crucial to lowering carbon emissions, meeting our climate goals, and creating the clean infrastructure of the future.”
The EFRC program brings together diverse teams of scientists across disciplines and institutions – including universities, national laboratories, industry, and nonprofits – solely focused on solving complex problems in early-stage research and accelerating advances in the most challenging areas of materials sciences, chemical sciences, geosciences, and biosciences. Since the program’s introduction in 2009, there have been 88 EFRCs across 41 states, with 41 currently active.
EFRC research has led to hundreds of scientific discoveries and more than 200 issued patents that have led to the development of clean technologies like high-capacity batteries, windows that convert sunlight to electricity, and materials that can capture carbon dioxide. This foundational research also supports cross-DOE initiatives including the Energy Earthshots.
Interested applicants are encouraged to assemble diverse and multi-disciplinary teams of researchers to achieve a well-defined set of research goals. DOE encourages applications led by, or in partnership with, Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) that are underrepresented in the Basic Energy Sciences portfolio and applications representing groups historically underrepresented in STEM. Applications are open to all accredited U.S. colleges and universities, national laboratories, nonprofits, and private sector companies.
News
DOE LAUNCHES NEW INITIATIVE TO MODERNIZE NATIONAL GRID
U.S. DOE
Jan 18, 2022
“The foundation of our climate and clean energy goals is a safe, reliable, and resilient electric grid that is planned hand-in-hand with community partners and industry stakeholders,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “DOE’s new Building a Better Grid initiative is a job booster spurred by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and collaboration with communities to upgrade the nation’s grid, connect more Americans to clean electricity and broadband, and reliably move clean energy to where it’s needed most.”
Independent estimates indicate that we need to expand electricity transmission systems by 60% by 2030, and may need to triple it by 2050. Rebuilding and improving our nation's aging roads and bridges and electric grid is a cornerstone of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. More than 70% of the nation’s grid transmission lines and power transformers are over 25 years old, creating vulnerability. Extreme weather events like the Dixie Wildfire, Hurricane Ida, and the 2021 Texas Freeze have made it clear that America’s existing energy infrastructure will not endure the continuing impacts of extreme weather events spurred by climate change. Furthermore, the interconnection queue waiting times for the number of clean energy generation and storage projects slated to be added on to the grid is growing, as use of renewable electricity accelerates faster than ever. And with the clean energy investments in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, even more clean energy sources will join the queue for grid integration.
As outlined in a new Notice of Intent issued by the Department today, Building a Better Grid will support the development of nationally significant transmission projects and grid upgrades by:
Engaging and collaborating early with states, tribal nations, and stakeholders to accelerate transmission deployment.
Enhancing transmission planning to identify areas of greatest need such as high-priority national transmission needs and conducting longer-term national-scale transmission planning analysis.
Deploying more than $20 billion in federal financing tools, including through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s new $2.5 billion Transmission Facilitation Program, $3 billion expansion of the Smart Grid Investment Grant Program, and more than $10 billion in grants for states, Tribes, and utilities to enhance grid resilience and prevent power outages, and through existing tools, including the more than $3 billion Western Area Power Administration Transmission Infrastructure Program, and a number of loan guarantee programs through the Loan Programs Office.
Facilitating an efficient transmission permitting process by coordinating with federal agencies to streamline permitting, using public private partnerships, and designating corridors.
Performing transmission-related research and development to continue developing and reducing the costs of technologies that enable the transmission system to be used more efficiently.
“Clean air, clean water, and clean energy are fundamental to the health and well-being of every American. Today’s launch of the Building a Better Grid Initiative takes important steps to upgrade and expand the electric grid so that more Americans can benefit from affordable and abundant clean energy. I applaud Secretary Granholm for her leadership on this critical strategy to solve the climate crisis, improve public health and create high-quality jobs in America. I am determined to help communities lower costs with the transition to a resilient and clean energy economy and I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues to ensure that the critical transmission investments in the Build Back Better Act reach President Biden’s desk, so he can sign them into law,” said U.S. Representative Kathy Castor (FL-14), Chair, House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.
“Transmission infrastructure is the backbone of a reliable, resilient, and clean electricity system. Significant transmission investments are needed to achieve our ambitious clean energy goals; however, today these investments face numerous barriers. I applaud Secretary Granholm and DOE’s leadership on the Building a Better Grid initiative. This committed focus on grid modernization will help meet our nation’s 21st century clean energy needs all while protecting Americans from future energy disruptions and lowering costs. I look forward to working with the Department as it continues to implement the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” said U.S. Representative Paul Tonko (NY-20), Chair, House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee for Environment and Climate Change.
“Too many Americans, including many Californians, have experienced the harsh consequences of power grid failures in the face of mounting extreme weather events due to climate change. The Department of Energy’s actions today will build a more secure, resilient, clean, and efficient energy system that our nation can rely on. I applaud the DOE’s efforts and will continue my work in Congress to modernize and strengthen our national electric transmission system,” said U.S. Representative Scott Peters (CA-52).
“I proudly supported the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act because it will pave the way to upgrading our energy transmission infrastructure. The Department of Energy’s new Building a Better Grid Initiative, made possible by the bipartisan infrastructure package, will improve the transmission permitting process enabling us to efficiently deploy renewable energy such as offshore wind and solar. This is a critical step to strengthening the resiliency of the power grid,” said U.S. Representative Elaine Luria (VA-2).
DOE recognizes the importance of collaborative engagement with other federal agencies, state and local governments, American Indian and Alaska Native tribal nations, industry, unions, local communities, environmental justice organizations, and other stakeholders to create a safe, reliable, and resilient grid. The Department is committed to working with these partners to increase coordination and transparency; employ available tools and resources to assist in transmission project development; and improve transmission siting, permitting, and authorization processes.
News
Hydrogen to clean up energy with $10 trillion spend
Rethink Energy
Jan 18, 2022
These are some of the findings in Rethink’s major new study, Hydrogen to clean up energy with $10 trillion spend which provides a global forecast of hydrogen, by demand through to 2050, with figures and pricing models across 21 key countries and 14 different industry sectors across the economy.
By the middle of the century, total investment of $10 trillion will have seen the cost of hydrogen fall by over 95% from levels seen in 2020, spurring a 10-fold increase in global demand. In total, 771 million tons of hydrogen will be required per year as the world heads towards net zero emissions on this timeline.
Combined Heat & Power
Upcoming Events
Upcoming
Event
The 10th Annual SEI Energy Briefing
SEI
February 1, 2022, 8:30 to10:00 am ET
Topics include:
$1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act programs signed on November 15, being implemented in 2022 including electric vehicle infrastructure
What’s in store for electric vehicle charging and battery storage trends
C-PACE funding
$300M Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) program
CO-GEN to achieve greater energy resiliency
Benefits of Solar PV
Who should attend:
Those interested in the state of the national, regional, and local energy economy; facilities managers; energy professionals; project and property developers; municipal developers; and those looking to work in the energy industry.
Upcoming
Event
Sustainability in Indoor Ag: Where Are We Headed Next?
Agritecture
Feb 2, 2022
- Understanding what metrics to track and how to track them
- High energy consumption, especially amongst vertical farms
- Sourcing energy from the grid
- Reliance on plastic packaging in the industry
- General greenwashing... Hosts Kylie Horomia, Head of Industry Transformation at WayBeyond, and Ricky Stephens, Director of Digital Strategy at Agritecture, will chat with speakers who can offer specific ideas, insights, and solutions to some of the challenges uncovered related to sustainability, including:
- Understanding what metrics to track and how to track them
- High energy consumption, especially amongst vertical farms
- Sourcing energy from the grid
- Reliance on plastic packaging in the industry
- General greenwashing
Upcoming
Event
AESP Annual Conference & Exhibition
AESP
Feb 7 to 10, 2022
Conference tracks cover many issues:
Beneficial electrification
Customer engagement
Demand flexibility
Diversity, equity, and inclusion
EM&V
Gas
Program management
Rates and policy
Soft skills
Tech innovations
Upcoming
Event
CampusEnergy 2022
IDEA
February 15-18, 2022
District energy systems on college and university campuses continue to set higher standards for efficiency, resiliency and environmental performance. With carbon targets for 2030 fast approaching, IDEA member institutions are actively planning, designing, partnering, constructing and commissioning a wide range of innovative energy and environmental technologies. Join IDEA and the leaders in the industry at CampusEnergy2022 in February to gain invaluable access to these industry experts.
Upcoming
Event
2022 Federal Market Workshop
NAESCO
March 10, 2022, 8:00 am to 6:00 pm ET
The popular Federal Workshop will attract ESCO leaders and vendor representatives already working in the Federal space and those seeking to break into the Federal market. In addition, Federal agency officials tasked with setting and implementing Federal energy efficiency and infrastructure policies will be with us as invited speakers and attendees. NOTE our new location
Upcoming
Event
Electrification 2022 International Conference & Exposition
Alliance to Save Energy
March 14-17, 2022
Upcoming
Event
2022 International Biomass Conference & Expo
BBI International
Mar 14, 2022 - Mar 16, 2022
Upcoming
Event
Commercial, industrial, institutional, and governmental sectors from across the region
AEE
March 23-24, 2022
Save the dates or register today and take advantage of our early bird pricing.
... The Association of Energy Engineers invites you to join your peers at our events in 2022. Learn, connect with other professionals and discuss key energy issues on energy management, efficiency, automation, data analytics, policy, supply, procurement, resiliency, sustainability, and more.
Save the dates or register today and take advantage of our early bird pricing.
Upcoming
Event
ACI’s 10th National Conference on Microgrids
ACI
March 30-31, 2022
The discussions this year will address these new revelations happening in the industry and provide answers to help microgrid owners and utility companies grow even further and even into new avenues such as electric vehicles and power trading.
ACI’s 10th National Conference on Microgrids will be taking place in Boston, USA on the the 30th & 31st March of 2022. The two day event will consist of a number of informative presentations followed by interactive Q&A sessions and panel discussions, bringing together key industry stakeholders including utility companies, microgrid owners, project developers, energy technology providers, renewable energy providers, relevant consultants, associations and governmental bodies.
Featuring an Exclusive Tour of the Sterling Municipal Light Department’s Award-Winning Microgrid
In addition to the main two day event, during the afternoon of Tuesday 29th March 2022 a limited number of conference delegates will receive a unique opportunity to visit Sterling Municipal Light Department’s Innovative Microgrid Facility.
Upcoming
Event
World Hydrogen North America
Energy Central
Apr 6 & 7, 2022
Combined Heat & Power
Partner News
Partner
News
4.2 MW CHP system rigged into place in New York City, Times Square
NES-WES
Jan 26, 2022
This marks over 50 MW's of CHP and power projects that our team has completed in the Metro New York City area. Huge shoutout to our team for their continued hard work! Check out some photos of the rig below!
Partner
News
CAPSTONE GREEN ENERGY TO PROVIDE 600 kW CHP SYSTEM TO ALABAMA HOSPITAL
Capstone Green Energy
Jan 24, 2022
The 600 kW microturbine-based energy system will be fueled by low-pressure natural gas (LPNG) and will run in parallel with the local area grid providing supplemental power for the hospital's needs. The highly efficient energy system will be configured to repurpose the waste heat produced by the microturbine for the hospital's hot water requirements.
Beyond supporting the power needs of a critical hospital facility, the new clean energy system provides a hedge against rising utility costs. This, along with the system's high efficiency, will ultimately reduce the facility's operational costs. Likewise, the system offers environmental benefits, including an estimated reduction in greenhouse gas emissions roughly equivalent to removing an estimated 245 cars from the road annually.
"We continue to experience increasing interest in Capstone Green Energy portfolio products," said Doug Demaret, President of Lone Star Power Solutions. "Our relationship with Capstone makes Lone Star unique in our ability to provide completely integrated on-site clean energy solutions for customers that have sophisticated energy requirements. We are glad to be able to offer tailored solutions to meet their economic, operational, and environmental goals."
"There are few energy solutions out there that can deliver the kind of reliability and security that microturbines provide to power-critical sites like hospitals," said Darren Jamison, Chief Executive Officer of Capstone Green Energy. "When you factor in the cost benefits and environmental factors, you have a complete solution that improves the bottom line, strengthens service delivery, and reduces environmental impact. Utilizing a Capstone clean energy system is a truly ideal strategy for hospitals," concluded Mr. Jamison.
Partner
News
Making Mexican farms more sustainable with biogas CHP
2G
Jan 24, 2022
Thanks to the cogeneration unit, the energy efficiency of their energy use has drastically increased resulting in a lower CO2 footprint and lower energy bills. The farm succeeded in reducing its CO2 emissions by 4,700 tonnes per year and cut their electricity costs by 25-30%. In total energy savings reach 45-50% compared to the situation before installing the biogas cogeneration unit.
Technical details:
2G Biogas Model avus500plus of 495 ekW & 313 tkW plus Biogas Conditioning Skid
Electricity production of 3.9 GWh per year
Thermal energy production of 2.22 GWh per year
Partner
News
New Canaan, CT selectmen approve a 35 kW CHP plant for Town Hall
Aegis Energy
Jan 24, 2022
One CHP’s environmental footprint is equal to taking 25 cars off of the road as well as saving the municipality money, Mark Robbins, president of MHR Development, said at a prior meeting.
The selectmen approved two contracts for the Town Hall project. The first was worth $322,750, including a $30,000 contingency fee with Aegis Energy for the unit that will be installed in the Town Hall boiler room.
“Electric and heat savings generated by this project are estimated by MHR Development to be between $35,000 to $40,000 a year,” Zagarenski said.
Selectman Nick Williams said it was a “great thing for the town.” He and First Selectman Kevin Moynihan voted in favor for the project. Selectman Kathleen Corbet was not present.
Robbins addressed the town’s energy initiative, which includes solar panel installations on several town buildings and the CHP units.
After the meeting, Robbins told Hearst that both CHP and solar helps the town be “environmentally sustainable,” while “economically efficient,” since less energy is wasted when it is generated at the point of consumption. In addition, the town benefits from net metering, which means excess power generation can be given to the grid for credits from Eversource.
Measures such as generating energy by CHP’s and solar paneling systems “reduce pressure on the overtaxed electrical grid, which will only increase” and “decrease the dependence and strain on the electrical grid.”
Moynihan has said he hopes that a CHP will also be installed at Lapham Community Center to cover the building’s needs and nearby field lights. However, Eversource does not yet supply gas to the center, Robbins said.
The energy source for the CHP’s will be natural gas, “which has been around for hundreds of years,” Moynihan said. Aegis is the “leading” installer of CHP’s, he added. “They’ve got over 1,000 units in operation in the northeast.”
Partner
News
MTU supplying CHP power plants for Romanian data center campus
mtu a Rolls Royce solution
Jan 22, 2022
Rolls-Royce and its distributor partner Knopf & Wallisch (K&W) supplied three mtu customized and containerized combined cooling, heat and power plant (CCHP) trigeneration units.
The generator sets are based on mtu 20V 4000 L64 FNER gas engines which are designed for quick ramp-up and ramp-down and offer a wide-range of load operations. The gensets are hydrogen-ready, offering the ability to blend 25% hydrogen along with natural gas and can be transformed into a pure hydrogen engine in the future
The first of the five data centers will open its doors in the first quarter of 2022. The mtu CCHP units supply electricity, heat and cooling for the building and the infrastructure. The concept to use the gas gensets as prime power producing electricity while using the main grid as backup is a unique configuration that is currently rarely seen. Guided by ClusterPower’s requests, K&W developed a highly efficient solution to capture most of the exhaust heat from the system with conversion chillers and transform it into chilled air to cool the data center facilities.
“I think that Romania has a lot to say about the European future of innovation and digitalization and we have the opportunity here to develop new infrastructures, using the latest technologies and with modern environmental standards,” said Georgescu. “We are lucky enough to start fresh and we will put this opportunity to good use. It is always nice to know that we have partners ready to support us in our endeavors.”
Partner
News
Tecogen Receives 1 Megawatt Microgrid System Order for New York City Hotel
Tecogen
Jan 17, 2022
“When this hotel was originally in development, we worked with the owner and construction team to implement the Tecochill solution for cooling the facility,” noted Jeff Glick, Vice President of East Coast Sales at Tecogen. “As the energy needs of the hotel increased, Tecogen was asked to provide a solution to increase available electric capacity by one megawatt. The modularity of the InVerde 125 kW units as well as our microgrid control feature enabled a flexible and cost-effective solution that met their requirement for 1 MW of onsite capacity generation. We are excited to continue working with this hotel to meet their energy needs.”
The InVerde e+ system includes proprietary inverter technology which allows units to integrate with other distributed generation assets such as battery storage and solar, as well as the ability to function independently from the utility during grid outages. The InVerde e+ system has UL2200 and UL1741SA certifications which are required by most utilities to operate in both grid-parallel operation and in island mode during grid outages. All Tecogen systems are equipped with a proprietary emissions technology called Ultera which reduces criteria emissions to levels on par with fuel cell technology.
“When the engineering team for this project considered the expanding need of the hotel’s power requirements, Tecogen was selected for several reasons,” added Benjamin Locke, CEO of Tecogen. “The modular aspect of the InVerde units enables incremental increases for onsite power generation both cost-effectively and without significant disruption for existing infrastructure. In addition, Tecogen’s ability to meet the short lead times for system delivery was instrumental in maintaining the hotel’s aggressive project schedule, which requires commissioning later this year.”
The units are planned for shipment in mid-2022.
Partner
News
DT Farms adds 2 MW of CHP to be able to expand its greenhouse footprint in electricity constrained Ontario
Siemens Energy
Jan 17, 2022
Naturally, this has presented problems for many Ontario greenhouses and other businesses with substantial power needs; holding them back from realizing their full growth potential.
Take DT Enterprise Farms, for example. Established in the year 2000 by brothers Tony and Don Mastronardi, DT Farms started out with a 7-acre operation and went on to build an additional 9 acres one year later.
Fast forward to 2020, and DT Farms was in growth mode once again with plans to add a new state-of-the-art range but were held back by a crucial power problem. “Ontario hydro just does not have enough infrastructure to supply all of these greenhouses with the amount of power we need,” explained DT’s VP Tony Mastronardi.
“They were looking to expand their greenhouse operation with a new facility and grow lights, but they were told by the local utility company that the power simply just wasn’t available. While the area has an electricity supply shortage, they definitely don’t have a gas supply shortage - and that really created the opportunity.”
With its own generator shop and panel shops, T&T Power Group was able to provide a turnkey combined heat and power solution to take DT Enterprise Farms completely off-grid while still providing electricity at a very reasonable cost.
“T&T was able to present a solution that gave us 2 MWs of power; that was pretty much a turnkey deal,” said Tony.
“If [DT Farms] wasn’t able to get the CHP due to the fact that there was such a lack of hydro, this range probably would not have been built - because the sole purpose of this range was to produce hydroponic tomatoes for our customers during the winter months.”
Since greenhouses like DT Farms have a large thermal load in addition to the electrical load, it’s possible to recover all wasted heat from the coolant and the exhaust on the generators, to be converted into hot water that can actually be used in the facility - which is exactly what T&T Power arranged for DT Farms.
“Using a conventional power generator to convert a fuel like natural gas into electricity is actually not a very efficient process,” explains Tilo. “Most of that energy in the fuel is actually lost as heat - and it also creates a lot of harmful emissions for a relatively small amount of electricity.”
Needless to say, combined heat and power generation (CHP) is by far the most environmentally-friendly way to convert natural gas into useful energy.
As the Canadian distributor for the Siemens Energy gas engine, T&T Power Group is able to design and build highly efficient, robust CHP systems equipped to run for decades.
“Siemens Energy chose T&T as its Canadian distributor because we know the type of support they provide in the market. They understand their customers, they know how to provide solutions for those customers, and they know how to service and support them in a way that makes their operations and projects successful” - Exor Montes, BDM, Siemens Energy NA.
T&T’s successful CHP project with DT Enterprise Farms sets an excellent example for other Ontario greenhouses and businesses that are struggling to grow due to problems attaining enough power from the utility system, or that are just simply fed up with the cost of power that is already available to them.
Partner
News
Caterpillar extends packaged CHP systems range
Caterpillar
Jan 13, 2022
Designed, assembled, and tested at Caterpillar facilities in the U.S., the sound-attenuated units reduce the lead time to implement CHP capabilities by including all the major elements needed to support a cogeneration application, including the generator set, heat recovery and dissipation systems, combustion and ventilation air systems, master controls, and balance of plant components. The CHP solutions offer standardized configurations to reduce lead times while allowing for the customization of the radiator system, exhaust and air system, fuel system and other components.
Now available for purchase in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, Caterpillar’s containerized CHP solutions come with a standard Caterpillar warranty, with a suite of additional extended service coverage options available. They can be equipped with Cat Connect Remote Asset Monitoring, which provides data visualization, reporting, and alerts that are accessible from anywhere in the world through an easy-to-use web interface and mobile app.
“Caterpillar is committed to helping customers achieve their sustainability goals through a comprehensive range of innovative power solutions that precisely address power needs, fuel availability, emission standards and return-on-investment targets,” said Thomas Smith, North America gas segment manager for Caterpillar’s Electric Power Division. “By expanding our containerized CHP options, we have further simplified the process for customers to support their environmental, social and governance initiatives quickly and economically.”
Caterpillar said facilities can reduce operating costs by implementing a CHP system or a combined cooling, heat and power (CCHP) system. Most Cat natural gas-fueled engines can be configured with a CHP or CCHP system to simultaneously generate power for electrical loads while capturing waste heat that can be repurposed as thermal energy for facility processes or heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) requirements.
While the combination of grid power and traditional boilers for thermal energy offers less than 50% energy efficiency, Caterpillar said CHP and CCHP systems can provide total energy efficiencies of up to 90% or more.
Cat CHP and CCHP systems are applicable in a wide range of industrial and commercial facilities, such as manufacturing plants, refineries, regional district heating plants, resorts, shopping malls, high-rise office buildings, universities, data centers and hospitals.
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News
CHP and chilled water system for indoor agriculture facility in Harrisburg, PA
Kinsley Energy
Jan 10, 2022
... Kinsley Energy Systems is supplying a high efficiency CHP and chilled water system for the Lab Energy Cogeneration Plant. Fueled by liquified natural gas (LNG), the CHP plant will operate independently from the electric grid and serve as and the sole source of electric power and thermal energy to the facility. Kinsley is providing the CHP plant consisting of four TEDOM packaged CHP units (totaling 3.5 MW), backup boilers, high-efficiency magnetic bearing electric chillers, and closed-circuit cooling towers with associated pumping systems. With built-in redundancy, the CHP plant will reduce energy costs, cut carbon emissions, and ensure cultivation facility resiliency. The project broke ground in August 2021 with anticipated full commissioning of the cogeneration system in early 2022.
People on the Move
Congratulations, Emily Robertson! 2022 CHPA Governing Board Member
2G
Jan 6, 2022
The Combined Heat and Power Alliance is the leading national voice for deploying combined heat and power (CHP). The CHP Alliance leads its members’ education and advocacy activities with Congress and the Administration, and state policymakers develop coordinated communications strategies and mobilize members and affiliates to support expanded awareness of the use of CHP.
Of her election to the 2022 CHPA Governing Board, Emily Robertson says, “Now, more than ever before, there is awareness and willingness to affect change across the US in terms of policy that will begin to really make an impact on how we as a country are going to face looming challenges of sustainability, energy efficiency, and infrastructure. The CHPA is the leading voice advocating for policy that will help America’s manufacturers and other businesses to reduce energy costs and emissions and to enhance grid reliability. I am excited to see what the coming years will bring and am thrilled to be part of the CHPA Governing Board and to work to communicate the importance of CHP here in the US and continue to push policies that will support the growth of the CHP industry.”
Interested in more from Emily? Click the button below to read her full article in District Energy Magazine titled - CHP: The Future Has Begun
"Projects demonstrate the technology’s potential in decarbonizing the energy supply."
Hydrogen CHP Article
1The Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act, passed into law in 1998 as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act provides safe harbour protection to "online service providers" for "online storage" in section 512(c). Section 512(c) applies to online service providers that store copyright infringing material. In addition to the two general requirements that online service providers comply with standard technical measures and remove repeat infringers, section 512(c) also requires that the online service providers: 1) do not receive a financial benefit directly attributable to the infringing activity, 2) are not aware of the presence of infringing material or know any facts or circumstances that would make infringing material apparent, and 3) upon receiving notice from copyright owners or their agents, act expeditiously to remove the allegedly copyright infringing material. These news items and event posting do not represent any guidance by the U.S. DOE, nor are they intended to influence any party. The news and events are only for the general interest information provided to CHP stakeholders.