Photo Courtesy of REC Solar Disruption Hawaiians suspect NextEra will slight systems based on rooftop solar panels in favor of utility-scale projects, such as the Kauai solar project. Photo Courtesy of REC Solar Related Links: Hawaiian Utilities Balk at Speed of Solar Panel Adoption With Cable-Linked Projects Island State Aims To Be Model Advocates of renewable energy are not cheering the proposed sale of Hawaii's principal electric utility to the nation's largest solar and wind energy producer. Opponents of the deal fear the buyer may halt the growth of distributed solar generation to favor utility-scale projects it would operate. Similar
Rendering Courtesy of Cape Wind A rendering of the proposed wind farm in Nantucket Sound. Construction has yet to begin on the project's 130 turbine installations. Rendering Courtesy of Weeks Marine After coming on board the Cape Wind project in August 2014, contractor Weeks Marine announced it was building a wind-turbine installation vessel to be used in the developing U.S. offshore wind energy market. Related Links: Weeks Marine Finds Green Niche Cape Wind Signs Power Purchase Deal With Utilities Utility companies National Grid and NStar on Jan. 6 said they were withdrawing from their commitments to buy power from the
Rendering Courtesy of Ostara Nutrient Recovery Reactor Reactor unit, as in this rendering, will produce more plant fertilizer from wastewater biosolids. Related Links: Ostara Nutrient Management Solutions Pile driving is underway for construction of Canada's largest-ever nutrient-recovery facility, which will remove phosphorus from sewage solids in Edmonton, Alberta, and use it to make 10,000 kilograms per day of plant fertilizer. The facility will scale up by 20 times a demonstration plant installed in 2007."We are constructing a standard reinforced-concrete slab foundation on top of driven steel piles," says Gavin Post, project manager at Epcor Water Services, Edmonton. The firm and
Courtesy IEA Two coal-fired powerplants are scheduled to add 9,000MW to the South African grid by 2020. Courtesy IEA Power production projects underway are expected to fuel regional GDP growth projected at 5% in 2015. Despite the challenges of inadequate policy, problems of pricing and lack of infrastructure, analysts say countries in sub Saharan Africa hope to increase power generation in 2015. The region is launching initiatives designed to meet the demands of projected GDP growth of more than 5% and also provide power to many of the 620 million people who currently live without access to electricity.Despite existing constraints,
Related Links: Precast Concrete Network Arch Bridge Is A First Unusually Slender Arch Marks Prague Bridge Arch bridges are one of the oldest types of bridges. The oldest known bridge in the world known to still be in use is the Caravan Bridge, a stone arch bridge across the Meles River in Izmir, Turkey. It was built in 850 B.C.Roman engineers built many arch bridges, quite a few of which are still standing. Probably the most famous is the Pont du Gard, an aqueduct bridge in southern France. Built in the first century A.D., it features three tiers of limestone
Image Courtesy of InterBering LLC The Moscow-Beijing high-speed rail line may one day connect to a possible tunnel under the Bering Strait to North America. Related Links: Dream Projects: Bering Strait Tunnel China has bagged a Russian contract to build a high-speed railway that would connect Moscow to Beijing in just 48 hours. This is part of a more grandiose plan to connect China with the United States and Canada by creating a tunnel in the Pacific."If the funds are raised smoothly … the line can be completed in five years at the quickest," Wang Meng-shu, a tunnel and railway
Related Links: First Energy: The Hidden Gem Of Marcellus Shale? Ohio-based utility FirstEnergy is adding about $100 million in transmission upgrades in West Virginia as part of a $250-million company-wide program to support natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale region.Mon Power, FirstEnergy’s utility unit in the state, expects 400 MW of load growth through 2019 from new gas facilities, said Todd Meyers, a spokesman for the Akron-based parent company.“Some of the coal mines that took decades to become our largest customers have been eclipsed by plants planned by the natural gas industry,” he said.Projects include the just completed $52-million
Related Links: $741M Overhaul of San Ysidro Land Port of Entry Burdened by Myriad Site Constraints San Ysidro Land Port of Entry The maelstrom of the $741-million remake of the world's busiest border crossing—the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry between Southern California and Mexico—was the 570-ft-long by 55-ft-wide cable-stayed canopy over the 24 lanes of tandem inspection booths that process 50,000 vehicles daily. The general contractor's agreement with SYLPOE not to worsen the already-lengthy vehicle wait times during construction of the canopy—and the tandem replacement booths—turned an intensely difficult project into a hellish one."The canopy was a pretty complicated
Courtesy of Mortenson Co. Aided by bigger and better turbines, wind power picked up speed in 2014. Courtesy of Verengo In addition to utility-scale production units, residential solar power is providing distributed generation that is growing at exponential rates. Related Links: Expansion in Natural Gas Production Spurs Big U.S. Export Plans Batteries Set To Put Big Charge Into Energy Storage http://enr.construction.com/infrastructure/power_industrial/2014/0414-Prices-Dropping-as-More-Turbines-Turn.asp As 2014 began, Keystone XL supporters were pushing for President Obama to approve the pipeline’s southern segment. A Dec. 30, 2013, BNSF train carrying crude from the Bakken field derailed near Casselton, N.D., triggering a fiery explosion. Earlier in
Photo Courtesy of Southern Co. The Kemper energy facility in Mississippi, now in the startup and testing phase, has garnered international attention as the first U.S. commercial-scale powerplant to implement carbon capture and storage technology, the linchpin of the Obama administration's carbon pollution plan for new powerplants. Related Links: Clean Coal: Is Carbon Capture and Storage Fossil Fuels' Best Hope? Front and center in environmental oversight this year were the Obama administration’s efforts to push through measures to address climate change through regulatory, rather than legislative means.President Obama announced his Climate Action plan in 2013, and federal agencies unrolled several
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