Related Links: Clean Coal: Is CCS Fossil Fuels' Best Hope? (ENR, 2014) Clean Coal Viable, DOE panel says (ENR, 2010) The U.S. Dept. of Energy has pulled out of the $1.65-billion FutureGen carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) demonstration project in Meredosia, Ill. striking a perhaps fatal blow to the project just as it was gearing up to begin construction.A DOE official said on Feb. 4 that the project had not achieved sufficient progress in securing additional financing to supplement the $1 billion allocated by DOE through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. Those unused funds have been
Photo by AP Wideworld Engineers had stamped the demolition plans for the Ohio overpass that collapsed Jan. 19 onto Interstate 75 in Cincinnati, says contractor Kokosing. Related Links: CEO Statement Engineering Oversight Might Have Prevented Ohio Overpass Collapse, Says Bridge Inspector The Ohio Dept. of Transportation had required an engineered demolition plan for the Hopple St. Ramp bridge that collapsed Jan. 19 onto Interstate 75 in Cincinnati, killing a worker, according to the contractor Kokosing.Kokosing released Feb. 6 documents detailing its engineer-stamped demolition plan, noting that it chose an alternative approach that reduced the weight of equipment and machinery loads
Related Links: Australia Boosts Infrastructure As Mining Sector Loses Steam Aussie TBM Sets New Excavation Record “Isabelle,” the third TBM, was launched from Cherrybrook, in November 2014, and will excavate the 6 km from Cherrybrook southeast to Epping. A fourth and final machine is currently being assembled at Cherrybrook to dig the final tunnel to Epping.The TBMs have begun digging through sandstone and shale on a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week schedule and are staffed by a rotating crew of 15. To reach the tunneling depth of 9 meters at Bella Vista, crews removed about 120,000 tonnes of rock. At the Cherrybrook site,
Peter Reina for ENR Gatwick hopes to get government approval to build a new runway. Peter Reina for ENR Related Links: U.K. Commission Grounds Plan for New Airport East of London New U.K. Airport Proposal Fuels Debate At least some of the $3 billion in planned investment is underway at Gatwick Airport, 45 kilometers south of London, including a $150-million north terminal upgrade and baggage improvements in the south terminal. Improving Gatwick for the growing number of passengers—over 34 million last year—keeps development director Willie McGilleveray busy enough for now. But he'll be even busier if private owner Gatwick Airport
SunEdison Alternative energy developer SunEdison's $2.4-billion purchase of First Wind provides 21 MW of solar assets but moves firm into wind sector for the first time. Missouri-based solar-power developer SunEdison aims to become one of the country's leading alternative-energy providers with its $2.4-billion acquisition of Boston wind-energy giant First Wind, completed on Jan. 29. The deal is SunEdison's first involving wind energy. In the transaction, the firm and one of its operating units, TerraForm Power, purchased 500 MW of operating wind powerplants and 21 MW of operating solar powerplants from First Wind. "With the acquisition of First Wind, SunEdison becomes the leading
Photo courtesy Gazprom The South Stream Transport partnership last year commissioned three producers -- Europipe, United Metallurgical and Severstal -- to fabricate 75,000 12-meter pipes for $1 billion for the Black Sea section of the project. With South Stream now cancelled and the partners bought out, Gazprom looks to redirect its efforts to Turkey. Related Links: Work on Southern Gas Corridor Begins With South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion The cold bed of the Black Sea is once again the focus of the state-controlled Russian energy giant Gazprom as its engineers plot to resuscitate its South Stream pipeline project using new routes.
Rendering courtesy of Alstom Five Alstom 6-MW turbines will be installed at the Deepwater Wind's offshore power project near Block Island, R.I. Related Links: Deepwater Winds Plans Two Northeast Offshore Networks Utilities Pull Out of Cape Wind In Major Blow to Offshore Wind Project While Cape Wind’s 468-MW offshore wind-farm development appears to be dead in the water, Deepwater Wind is moving full steam into early-stage construction of a $225-million wind farm, three miles southeast of Block Island in Rhode Island. “The response from the financial markets to the project has been extremely positive,” says Jeffrey Grybowski, chief executive officer
Photo by AP Wideworld OSHA and the contractor are looking into why an overpass collapsed during demolition, but some say due engineering diligence could have prevented the decision to begin removing a side span before the middle span. Related Links: Construction Worker Killed In Ohio Overpass Collapse Separate investigations by the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration and the contractor Kokosing into the cause of the Jan. 19 Interstate 75 overpass collapse near Cincinnati will likely take months. But an industry expert suggests that adequate engineering documentation before the demolition of the overpass might have prevented the accident, in which
Photo Courtesy of RWDI Wind-tunnel tests revealed high wind loads and motion at the supertower's top, so the design team added horizontal wind slots. Related Links: Team Building 1,397-ft 432 Park Avenue Tower Went to Extremes to Make It White RWDI WSP USA Building Structures The structural engineer for Manhattan's 1,397-ft-tall 432 Park Avenue is pleased with the modifications to Rafael Viñoly Architects' design. The spaghetti-box shape performed poorly in wind-tunnel tests, especially regarding high wind loads and motion at the tower's top.The design solution was to remove windows and create five horizontal slots in the building at the double-height
Andreas Tselebidis, who has developed concrete mixes for more than 15 supertowers, says his assignment to design the mix for the world's first extra-high-strength architectural concrete supertower—the 1,397-ft 432 Park Avenue in Manhattan—is his most challenging ever.
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