Dubbed “The Ugly 3” by opponents, Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101 on the Colorado ballot propose statewide cuts in taxes and fees that could cost the state billions of dollars in revenue and force severe cuts in social services, road repairs and capital building programs. Related Links: Getting to the Bottom of Amendments 60, 61 and Prop. 101 All three measures are being pushed by an anti-tax group called CO Tax Reforms, which says they are the result of “taxpayers’ revenge” for motor vehicle fee increases voted by the legislature last year and a mill-levy freeze enacted in
Construction on a 250-MW hydroelectric powerplant in Nicaragua is slated to begin in November after financing for the $700-million project was lined up through a slate of Brazilian firms and regional organizations. Earlier this year, a consortium led by Brazil’s state utility Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras (Eletrobras) and Centrales Hidroelectricas de Centroamerica (CHC)—a subsidiary of the Brazilian construction firm Queiroz Galvao—was awarded a 30-year, build-operate-transfer concession for the Tumarin hydroelectric facility on the Rio Grande de Matagalpa River, located northeast of the capital Managua. When completed in 2014, the 60-meter-high dam will create a 55-sq-kilometer reservoir in Nicaragua’s south Atlantic autonomous
Pakistan’s catastrophic floods this year overshadowed the Indus River’s pivotal role in irrigating the country’s farmland and generating its electricity. But even as river levees tumbled, engineers were completing plans to enlarge generating capacity of the Indus’ mighty Tarbela dam by 27% and to build the even larger Diamer Basha hydro project farther upstream. Photo: Courtesy Mott Macdonald Group Tarbela siltation prompted power planners to site a second dam upstream. Diamer Basha will be sited more than 300 kilometers upriver of Tarbela but will, nevertheless, boost the lower plant’s output by reducing sedimentation. Since Tarbela’s completion some 36 years ago,
Green energy is in; fossil fuels are out. At least that’s the message in the popular press. But if a cutting-edge power project in Florida is any indication, the future may lie not with one or the other but the two working in concert. Image: Courtesy of Florida Power & Light FP&L’s Martin County facility would add solar power to the plant’s natural-gas feedstock. Before the end of the year, Florida Power & Light expects to activate what it describes as the world’s first powerplant to integrate concentrated solar power into an existing gas-fired combined-cycle facility in Indiantown, in Martin
When Fluor Corp., Irving, Texas, reports its quarterly earnings on Nov. 4, results will include a $163-million write-off because of unexpected complications in building the 504-MW Greater Gabbard wind farm off the coast of England. The loss on the $1.8-billion, fixed-price contract with Scottish and Southern Energy plc means the project will be unprofitable, says Avram Fisher, an analyst who follows Fluor for BMO Capital Markets. Fluor, which announced the write-off on Oct. 18, blames problems with weather, materials and equipment delivery as well as additional costs for marine vessels and some subcontractors. “One of the factors wouldn’t have been
Fluor Corp.’s built many complex structures but its first offshore wind farm project isn’t going well. Greater Gabbard project has faced weather and equipment problems. Related Links: Britain’s Huge Offshore Wind Farm Faces An Array of Challenges The Irving, Texas-based contractor will report quarterly earnings Nov. 4 and will take a $163-million write-off in its third-quarter earnings because of unexpected complications in building the 504-MW Greater Gabbard wind farm off the coast of England. The loss on the $1.8-billion, fixed-price contract with Scottish and Southern Energy plc means that the project will be unprofitable, says Avram Fisher, an analyst who
Google and investment firms Good Energies and Marubeni Corp. announced on Oct. 12 that they would back the early stages of developing a 350-mile DC transmission line from northern New Jersey to Norfolk, Va. The line, being developed by Chevy Chase, Md.–based Trans-Elect, would provide a transmission backbone linking several different wind farms off the Atlantic Coast and add up to 6,000 MW to the Atlantic grid. Construction of the first phase of the line, from northern New Jersey to Rehoboth Beach, Del., could begin in 2013, cost $1.8 billion and be complete by 2016. The total project is expected
The construction of a new $10-billion nuclear reactor in Maryland seem to be dead after Constellation Energy told the Dept. of Energy it is no longer interested in negotiating a federal loan guarantee to support the project. In a letter to DOE, Constellation said it was unable to continue negotiations after it was presented with a “shockingly high estimate” of the fee it would have to pay to obtain the $880-million loan. “Such a sum would clearly destroy the project’s economics or the economics of any nuclear project, for that matter, says Constellation Vice Chairman Michael Wallace.
One of the world’s largest wind developers and the largest U.S. shipbuilder will work together to engineer and build wind turbines specifically designed to withstand harsh marine environments. The Oct. 6 announcement from Madrid, Spain-based Gamesa and Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp. was one of many significant announcements made earlier this month at the American Wind Energy Association’s first-ever offshore wind conference. Photo: Courtesy Gamesa Gamesa’s venture with Northrup will push the Spanish firm to develop new turbine blades suitable for marine use. Gamesa and Northrop say they will develop and test two 5-MW wind turbines by the end of
The Tennessee Valley Authority announced on Oct. 4 that it hired France’s AREVA to begin preliminary steps to complete the 1,200-megawatt Unit 1 at the mothballed Bellefonte Nuclear Generating Station in Hollywood, Ala. Photo: Courtesy Of Tennessee Valley Authority French contractor will restart TVA’s idle powerplant project. Jarret Adams, a spokesman in the design firm’s Bethesda, Md., office, says AREVA’s contract includes the plant’s nuclear island, digital instrumentation, control system and control room. “This contract is for the preliminary engineering only,” Adams says. “It’s … preliminary and only covers fiscal year 2011. Our contract is a portion of the $248