by Michael Sivak, Sivak Applied Research Battery electric vehicles are only as clean as the energy source used to generate the electricity that powers them. The calculated relative amounts of well-to-wheels emissions of greenhouse gases from eight different energy sources are shown in the table below. (The calculations were based... Read more →

Rolls-Royce announced that following a successful equity raise, it has established the Rolls-Royce Small Modular Reactor (SMR) business to bring forward and deliver at scale the next generation of low-cost, low-carbon nuclear power technology. (Earlier post.) Rolls-Royce Group, BNF Resources UK Limited and Exelon Generation Limited will invest £195 million... Read more →

MAN Energy Solutions a{announced} that its gas-powered, four-stroke engines are “H2-ready” and operable in stationary mode with a hydrogen content of up to 25% by volume in a gas-fuel mix. As such, within the power-plant segment, the company’s MAN 35/44G TS, 51/60G and 51/60G TS gas engines are now designated... Read more →

Incorporating energy efficiency measures can reduce the amount of storage needed to power the nation’s buildings entirely with renewable energy, according to analysis conducted by researchers at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). As more communities plan to eventually rely on 100% renewable energy, the... Read more →

Rolls-Royce is further developing its mtu gas engine portfolio for power generation and cogeneration to run on hydrogen as a fuel and thus enable a climate-neutral energy supply. Already today, gensets powered by mtu Series 500 and Series 4000 gas engines can be operated with a gas blending of 10%... Read more →

Lightsource bp, together with Xcel Energy and EVRAZ North America, launched its new 300-megawatt Bighorn Solar project. Lightsource bp, a 50:50 joint venture with bp, unveiled the solar project that will help reduce emissions and support more than 1,000 jobs at EVRAZ’s Pueblo steel mill—the world’s first steel mill to... Read more →

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and the University of Washington have formed the industry-wide Universal Interoperability for Grid-Forming Inverters (UNIFI) Consortium to advance research on grid-forming inverters supporting variable renewable energy growth across the power system. Funded through... Read more →

The technology group Wärtsilä has issued a report ahead of COP26, the UN’s Climate Change Conference to be held in Glasgow this autumn, describing the environmental and economic opportunities for states that decarbonize rapidly. The Front-Loading Net Zero report states that electricity production costs could be reduced by up to... Read more →

The US Department of Energy announced Stage 1 winners of the Conductivity-enhanced materials for Affordable, Breakthrough Leapfrog Electric and thermal applications (CABLE) Conductor Manufacturing Prize. The 10 teams selected in Stage 1 of this $4.5-million, three-stage competition will work to develop affordable, manufacturable materials that conduct electricity more efficiently and... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is awarding $20 million in funding to a project to demonstrate technology that will produce clean hydrogen energy from nuclear power. This approach will allow clean hydrogen to serve as a source for zero-carbon electricity and represent an important economic product for nuclear plants... Read more →

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects that, absent significant changes in policy or technology, world energy consumption will grow by nearly 50% between 2020 and 2050. In its International Energy Outlook 2021 (IEO2021), EIA projects that strong economic growth, particularly with developing economies in Asia, will drive global increases... Read more →

New research by economic and public policy consulting group M.Cubed finds a proliferation of backup generators across California, with nearly 90% being diesel-fueled, posing significant obstacles to achieving greenhouse gas reduction targets and driving nearly $136 million in annual health costs. Over the last year, the generator population jumped by... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) has selected four projects to receive a combined $9.4 million to develop technology focused on removing sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) from the US power grid. SF6 has been the standard gas used inside high voltage electrical equipment as an insulating... Read more →

General Motors plans to source 100% renewable energy to power its US sites by 2025—five years earlier than previously announced, and 25 years ahead of its initial target that was set in 2016. By accelerating its renewable energy goal, GM aims to avoid 1 million metric tons of carbon emissions... Read more →

Rio Tinto has approved a new solar farm and battery storage at Weipa in Queensland, in a move that will more than triple the local electricity network’s solar generation capacity and help provide cleaner power to Rio Tinto’s operations. The Weipa operations in Far North Queensland includes three bauxite mines,... Read more →

A team at MITEI (MIT Energy Initiative) has found that hydrogen-generated electricity can be a cost-competitive option for backing up wind and solar. In a paper published in the journal Applied Energy, they report devising a methodology to estimate the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) of meeting the seasonal nature... Read more →

The United States continued a trend of significant growth in large-scale battery capacity, with US battery power capacity reaching 1,650 megawatts (MW) by the end of 2020. According to EIA’s report, Battery Storage in the United States: An Update on Market Trends, US battery power capacity grew by 35% in... Read more →

Increased economic activity and a changing fuel mix in the electric power sector in 2021 will lead to a significant increase in energy-related carbon dioxide emissions this year, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) August Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). After decreasing by 11% in 2020, US energy-related CO2... Read more →

Four first-of-a-kind 3D-printed fuel assembly brackets, produced at the Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, have been installed and are now under routine operating conditions at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Unit 2 in Athens, Alabama. The components were developed in collaboration... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Hyundai Electric & Energy Systems Co. (Hyundai Electric), a leading electrical equipment manufacturer and energy solution provider, to develop a hydrogen fuel cell package for mobile power generation. The endeavor combines Hyundai Motor’s decades-long fuel cell experience and Hyundai... Read more →

The technology group Wärtsilä is investigating the adoption of hydrogen and ammonia as viable engine fuels through advanced testing in Wärtsilä’s fuel-flexible combustion engines. Hydrogen and ammonia contain no carbon; hence, combustion releases no CO2 emissions. Full-scale engine tests have been recently carried out in Wärtsilä’s engine laboratory in Vaasa,... Read more →

Renewables are expanding quickly but not enough to satisfy a strong rebound in global electricity demand this year, resulting in a sharp rise in the use of coal power that risks pushing carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity sector to record levels next year, according to a new report from... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a request for information (RFI) (DE-FOA-0002548) regarding the concept of an “energyshed” and energyshed management systems. Given that the term “energyshed” is relatively new, DOE is seeking feedback on its concept and definition, as well as its application to the electric grid.... Read more →

bp released the 70th annual edition of the bp Statistical Review of World Energy; the data collected in this year’s edition includes energy data for 2020. The Review captures the significant impact the global pandemic had on energy markets and how it may shape future global energy trends. Both primary... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group (the Group) announced that five key affiliate companies, including Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation, will join Climate Group’s RE100, a global initiative committed to moving toward 100% renewable energy. Joining 300 other global companies, the Group plans to further accelerate efforts on sustainable development and carbon... Read more →

Parts of the United States are at elevated or high risk for potential electricity emergencies this summer, according to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) 2021 Summer Reliability Assessment. Summer peak electricity demand in the United States is strongly influenced by temperature. While NERC’s risk scenario analysis shows adequate... Read more →

Electric cars do not emit carbon on the road, but the generation of electricity also produces carbon emissions—far more when the power is generated from fossil fuels than from renewable energy sources. Audi is thus partnering with energy providers to support the expansion of renewable energy sources in Europe. The... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group announced that its dedicated hydrogen fuel cell system brand, HTWO, will make its motorsports debut, providing its fuel cell generator to the ETCR (Electric Touring Car Racing) category. ETCR is the world’s first all-electric touring car race category that provides leading vehicle manufacturers a global stage to... Read more →

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder are developing new computational tools and models to better understand and manage the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells. Hendrik Heinz, an associate professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, is leading the effort in partnership with the University of... Read more →

Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) is making a full-scale effort to develop offshore nuclear power plant technology. SHI has signed a Molten-Salt Reactor (MSR) development and joint research agreement with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), Korea’s only comprehensive nuclear research and development institute. Through this agreement, SHI plans to... Read more →

TerraPower and PacifiCorp announced efforts to advance a Natrium reactor demonstration project at a retiring coal plant in Wyoming. The companies are evaluating several potential locations in the state. The Natrium technology has a 345MW sodium fast reactor coupled with a molten salt-based integrated energy storage system that will provide... Read more →

Osmotic energy—also known as blue energy—capitalizes on the energy naturally released when two solutions of different salinities mix—conditions that occur in countless locations around the world where fresh and salt water meet. The key to capturing blue energy lies in selectively permeable membranes, which allow only one constituent of a... Read more →

In Japan, JERA and IHI Corporation will conduct a demonstration project under the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization’s “Development of Technologies for Carbon Recycling and Next-Generation Thermal Power Generation / Research, Development and Demonstration of Technologies for Ammonia Co-Firing Thermal Power Generation” program. This will be the world’s... Read more →

In Ludwigshafen, Germany, Dr. Martin Brudermüller (BASF) and Dr. Markus Krebber (RWE), accompanied by Chairman of the Mining, Chemical and Energy Industries Union (IG BCE) Michael Vassiliadis, presented a project idea that envisions a new 2 GW offshore wind farm in the German North Sea to provide the Ludwigshafen chemical... Read more →

Israel-based Aquarius Engines unveiled a hydrogen-fueled version of its free-piston linear engine new hydrogen engine. The 10kg machine, based on the same technology as the original patented single-piston linear engine, operates exclusively on hydrogen. The new Aquarius Hydrogen Engine’s lightweight design and unique internal-gas-exchange-method would greatly reduce emissions and lower... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $40 million in funding for a new Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program that will limit the amount of waste produced from advanced nuclear reactors, protecting the land and air and increasing the deployment and use of nuclear power as a... Read more →

Bloom Energy announced an agreement with Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to test the use of nuclear energy to produce clean hydrogen through Bloom Energy’s solid-oxide, high-temperature electrolyzer. This carbon-free hydrogen is obtained through electrolysis that is powered by nuclear generation. When the electric grid has ample power, rather than ramping... Read more →

NuScale Power and Prodigy Clean Energy, a Canadian company that designs and develops marine nuclear plants, announced a second Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support business development opportunities for a marine-deployed nuclear generating station powered by the NuScale Small Modular Reactor (SMR). NuScale Power and Prodigy Clean Energy have been... Read more →

AlphaStruxure, a provider of Energy as a Service (EaaS) solutions, announced an agreement to deploy an integrated microgrid and electric bus charging infrastructure project for Montgomery County, Maryland. The project will enable at least 44 buses in Ride On Montgomery County’s transit fleet to transition from diesel to electric, advancing... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded FuelCell Energy $8 million in Phase 2 funding for the previously announced ARPA-E project for development of ultra-high efficiency SOFC systems for power generation (earlier post). This additional funding commitment from the DOE represents another key step in FuelCell Energy’s path to... Read more →

Solid oxide fuel cell company (SOFC) Bloom Energy and Baker Hughes, an energy technology company, will collaborate on the potential commercialization and deployment of integrated, low-carbon power generation and hydrogen solutions to advance the energy transition. Baker Hughes and Bloom Energy will begin collaborating on potential customer engagements immediately, with... Read more →

PowerCell Sweden AB and Hitachi ABB Power Grids have signed an agreement regarding an in-depth collaboration around fuel cell based stationary power solutions. The intention is to combine the two companies’ technologies and to market fuel cell-based total solution offers that facilitates the transition to a more sustainable energy production.... Read more →

Researchers at Xi’an Jiaotong University in China have developed a Na-ion direct formate fuel cell to co-produce electricity and hydrogen (e-h2 Na-DFFC). A paper on their work is published in the Journal of Power Sources. Using formate—a solar fuel that can be readily synthetized from carbon dioxide—the researchers reported that... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) released a new report, Hybrid Energy Systems: Opportunities for Coordinated Research, highlighting innovative opportunities to spur joint research on hybrid energy systems (HES). These opportunities could drive the production of valuable fuels, chemicals, and products, provide greater cost savings, increase grid flexibility, and enhance... Read more →

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts an increase in demand for petroleum products during the 2021 summer driving season as the impacts of COVID-19 diminish in the United States. EIA’s annual Summer Fuels Outlook, released today with EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), expects a 15% increase in US highway... Read more →

NuScale Power has finalized an investment and strategic partnership agreement with JGC Holdings Corporation (JGC HD), a holding company of the world’s leading EPC contractor group companies headquartered in Japan. As part of a commercial relationship with Fluor Corporation—NuScale’s majority investor and EPC partner in the United States—JGC HD will... Read more →

The Biden Administration announced a series of measures to support rapid offshore wind deployment, including designation of a new wind energy area and targeting the deployment of 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030. New Wind Energy Area. The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is announcing a... Read more →

The California Energy Commission (CEC), California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and California Air Resources Board (CARB) released the first joint agency report and a summary document examining how the state’s electricity system can become carbon-free by 2045. The report is the initial analysis called for in Senate Bill 100 (SB... Read more →

Rolls-Royce and Fermi Energia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to study the potential for the deployment of affordable, compact nuclear power stations, known as small modular reactors (SMR) in Estonia. The study will cover all aspects of deployment including grid suitability, cooling, emergency planning, human resources, licensing feasibility, economics... Read more →

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) announced a $4-million Lab Call to address the risks of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and geomagnetic disturbance (GMD) to the energy system. CESER, which leads DOE’s efforts to address both... Read more →