Jared Anderson

Posts by Jared Anderson

PUC to Xcel Energy: That $16.6 Million you Wanted? No Dice

By


The Colorado Public Utilities Commission on Thursday ruled that Xcel Energy will not be able to collect the $16.6 million balance it says it is owed for work performed on the SmartGridCity project in Boulder.

The ruling is in line with an earlier decision by an administrative law judge that the utility should not be allowed to collect the remaining $16.6 million in costs it incurred in the project because it had not met established criteria demonstrating customer benefits, according to a story in the Boulder County Business Report. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 22, 2013 at 12:00 PM

Oil Company Tax Cut in Alaska Highly Controversial

By


Crude oil production in Alaska has been steadily declining for years with potentially dire consequences for the Trans Alaska Pipeline System and the state’s tax revenue base.

“Alyeska today is working to respond to the challenges posed by declining throughput. Throughput peaked at 2.1 million barrels a day in 1988. It has only steadily decreased since. In 2011, Alyeska on average moved about 600,000 barrels per day. With the lower flow levels, the crude oil takes longer to reach the Valdez Terminal – about 2 weeks, on average – and the oil is colder on arrival. The slower, colder oil has more potential for water and wax to settle and drop out, and as throughput declines further, the potential for ice to form during shutdown or flowing conditions increases,” according to operator Alyeska Pipeline Service Company’s website. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 22, 2013 at 10:30 AM

Solar Device That Likes It Hot Hikes Efficiency

By


There’s still a ways to go, but PETE is moving along.

“Photon enhanced thermionic emission,” the conceptual breakthrough that Stanford researchers introduced three years ago as a way to capture and make use of both the light and heat in a solar device, has undergone improvements that boost its efficiency by 100 times. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 21, 2013 at 3:00 PM

Concentrated Solar Power Leaps Forward: Shams 1 Technical Details

By


The Shams 1 concentrated solar power plant was inaugurated earlier this week in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi, UAE. At 100 megawatts, Shams 1 is currently the largest operational CSP plant in the world. The project is noteworthy because it is a major step forward for renewable energy technology, and CSP in particular, but also because it was developed in an Opec country. Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, partnered with French oil major Total and Spain’s energy infrastructure company Abengoa. Breaking Energy attended the proceedings, along with several other international journalists, as Masdar’s guest. Masdar is a subsidiary of Mubadala, a UAE government-owned investment vehicle.

“With the addition of Shams 1, Masdar’s renewable energy portfolio accounts for almost 68 percent of the Gulf’s renewable energy capacity and nearly 10 percent of the world’s installed CSP capacity”, according to the company. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 21, 2013 at 12:15 PM

Experts Call on DOE to Speed up LNG Export Approvals

By


The US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing on the approval process for exporting LNG to non-free trade agreement countries on Tuesday. One approval has thus far been granted to export LNG to non-free trade agreement nations and several are currently pending. Proponents of LNG exports are anxious to get projects running before the global LNG market tightens as major LNG export projects come on stream in other parts of the world, particularly Australia.

Here are a few highlight from the hearing courtesy of the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas: Keep reading →

 /  Published March 21, 2013 at 8:30 AM

Masdar City: New Urban Energy Future and Climate Change Solution?

By


The United Arab Emirates has one foot firmly planted in tradition and the other stretching toward new ground. The UAE was built on traditional fossil fuels – an Opec member since 1967, home to the world’s 7th largest oil and natural gas reserves and the first Middle Eastern country to export LNG – the country is also a regional and global renewable energy pioneer. The UAE recently inaugurated the largest thermal solar power plant in the world, Shams 1, and the Arabian Islamic nation is about to begin producing nuclear power, a significant accomplishment given the region’s geopolitical complexity. Against that backdrop, the UAE has embarked on an aggressive experiment into urban sustainability designed to rely upon and pioneer cutting edge renewable energy technology with a project called Masdar City.

But is Masdar just an expensive gamble bankrolled by oil wealth, or a visionary approach to sustainable urban development that could help turn down the climate change dial? The answer most likely falls somewhere in between. Lessons learned along with technology solutions developed as part of this unique project could be applied in other parts of the developing and developed world to assist governments seeking to reach greenhouse gas reduction targets. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 20, 2013 at 2:30 PM

UAE’s Masdar Inaugurates World’s Largest Concentrated Solar Plant

By


An enormous solar power plant is taking shape in the desert, and Breaking Energy is there to see it.

The project’s importance to the country and region, as growing economies and populations in the Middle East and North Africa require increasing amounts of energy, is self-evident. The fact that an Opec country has taken this step underscores the need to generate electricity from all available sources, particularly sources other than valuable hydrocarbons. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 18, 2013 at 9:00 AM

Oil Sands Developers: Market Access Issues Weigh Even As Tech Promises Emissions Reductions

By


It’s telling that a panel discussion about using technology to reduce the environmental impacts associated with Canadian oil sands development ended up mainly being about dire market access issues impacting producers.

At the FT Global Investment Series: Focus on Canada conference held in New York City this week, corporate executives were clearly concerned about reducing greenhouse gas emissions from oil sands projects, but they were also very concerned about the billions of dollars being lost from commodity price differentials between Canadian heavy oil and other grades. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 15, 2013 at 2:30 PM

Cellulosic Ethanol Breakthrough In Oregon

By


It’s been a long road, but the government-backed ZeaChem cellulosic ethanol demonstration plant in Oregon is finally turning out fuel.

The company announced the step this week, calling the Boardman plant “among the first operational cellulosic biorefineries in the world.” It’s a bit of good news in the seemingly illusory realm of ethanol made from non-food feedstocks, which have been slow to fulfill their promise of extricating the industry from the food vs. fuels debate. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 14, 2013 at 2:30 PM

Canadian Government and Business Leaders ‘Frustrated’ with Keystone XL Debate

By


The controversial Keystone XL Pipeline was very much on the agenda at today’s FT Global Investment Series: Focus on Canada event held in New York City, with government officials and business leaders using strong language to underline the importance of US – Canadian trade relations with regard to the pipeline.

“For the record, I would note that is no small irritant to some in Canada that our American friends focus on the current and future emissions from the oil sands while, here in the United States, a far greater environmental impact is caused by hundreds of coal-fired plants that remain in operation,” said Jim Prentice, Senior Executive Vice President and Vice Chairman at CIBC. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 14, 2013 at 8:45 AM
Page 6 of 361...2345678910...36