Fuel Cell Seminar, CADER/DPCA

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Fuel Cell Seminar http://www.gofuelcell.com
30 Oct – 2 Nov 2000, Portland, OR

This is the major Fuel Cell event, held every two years. The last one was in Palm Springs. There was a huge turnout -over 2000 people, with lots of financial types and corporations represented. It was a strange kind of transitional hybrid between a professional technical conference and an industry trade show. The exhibitions were far more lavish than ever before.

My own foremost impression – it is not about fuel cells. It’s about the fuel. The fuel cell is the easy part. Getting fuel for it (espec PEM) is the hard part. The great majority of papers and discussion revolved around fuel processing.

Most often heard new (to me) jargon — “fromwellhead to wheel”. This refers to need to take the efficiency of entire fuel cycle into account– for example methanol has already sacrificed energy content by the time it’s made. Reformer hydrogen has less energy content than the fossil fuel you start with.

FUELCELL PUBLICATIONS

Abstracts of the 2000 Fuel Cell Seminar. The book given to attendees is about 1.5 ” thick. Also on a CD. ( a set of 250 pdf files, totalling over 83 MB) The book or the CD may be available for purchase from the conference sponsors. Contact:
“Wiesenfeld, Susan”
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The new 5th edition of the DOE Fuel Cell Handbook (Oct 2000) was handed out at the Seminar. Will be available on the NETL website. http://www.netl.doe.gov (I have the CD…main pdf file is 3.5 Meg which I can email on request)
To order the CD http://198.99.246.10/

[web tip] — The NETL website has its fuelcell materials under the Strategic Center for Natural Gas/End-Use. The “News” is particularly useful:
http://www.netl.doe.gov/scng/news/news_toc2.html
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A couple of choice items:
–The Fall 2000 issue of Fuel Cell Catalyst [PDF-70KB] is now available. This is a new free quarterly newsletter for the fuel cell industry, reporting on government and industry fuel cell issues, including: special themes focused on particular segments of the industry, in-depth looks at federal fuel cell programs, and reports from companies on the status of their own research.
http://www.netl.doe.gov/scng/publications/Catalyst_October.pdf
Subscribe at http://fuelcellnews.listbot.com/
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–The final solicitation [PDF-498KB] for DOE’s Strategic Center for Natural Gas new fuel cell initiative, called the Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance, or SECA, was posted 11/3/00. The goal of SECA is to accelerate the development of the industry based needed to produce low-cost solid-state fuel cells.
http://www.netl.doe.gov/business/solicit/2000pdf/40854/40854.pdf
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Several key reports are available at the DOE Office of Transportation website:
http://www.ott.doe.gov/oaat/library.html

-Challenges for Transportation Fuel Cells: Fuel Processing and Cost – October 2000
http://www.ott.doe.gov/pdfs/2000FCpresentation.pdf

-A.D. Little Fuel Cell Cost Study–Cost Analysis of Fuel Cell System for Transportation – March 2000
http://www.ott.doe.gov/pdfs/Baseline_Cost_Model.pdf
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FUEL CELLS & CIDI Engine R&D
Solicitation Number: DE-RP04-01AL67057
Description: Solicitation for financial assistance applications for research, development and analysis of automotive and stationary fuel cell power systems, fuels for fuel cells, and Compression Ignition Direct Injection (CIDI) engines.
(download full solicitation document available 851 KB)
http://www.doeal.gov/cpd/readroom.htm

UFTO NOTES 2000

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11 Dec 2000 UFTO Note – Smart Setback for Room Thermostats
20 Nov 2000 UFTO Note – World Commission on Dams
29 Oct 2000 UFTO Note – Travel Reports
01 Sep 2000 UFTO Note – Las Vegas Energex2000
14 Aug 2000 UFTO Note – TeamFuel-Intelligent Fuel Management
12 Jul 2000 UFTO Note – CO2 Sequestration – DOE Resources
10 Jul 2000 UFTO Note – Fast Pyrolysis of Biomass
22 Jun 2000 UFTO Note – NxtPhase Optical I, V Transducers for High Voltage
13 Jun 2000 UFTO Note – Zero Emission Coal (Los Alamos)
13 Jun 2000 UFTO Note – ELISIMS: Detailed Simulation of Power Industry (Los Alamos)
31 May 2000 UFTO Note – DOE Distributed Power Website
21 May 2000 UFTO Note – DOE Hydrogen Program
07 May 2000 UFTO Note – Amorphous Metal Motors
25 Apr 2000 UFTO Note – Energy Storage Assoc Meeting Notes
30 Mar 2000 UFTO Note – Fuel Cells Discussed on Investors Net Radio Show
27 Mar 2000 UFTO Note – Powercosm: George Gilder Brings a New Paradigm to Power
27 Mar 2000 UFTO Note – Sag Line Mitigator -UPDATE
22 Mar 2000 UFTO Note – Biomass Cofiring
13 Mar 2000 UFTO Note – DOE Final POST Report on Outages
03 Mar 2000 UFTO Note – Startup Company to Develop Wireless Sensors
29 Feb 2000 UFTO Note – QuickStab Stability Limit Predictor Enhanced
21 Feb 2000 UFTO Note – BPA Conf on DG, Renewables
14 Feb 2000 UFTO Note – IEEE DistGen Stds update
04 Feb 2000 UFTO Note – A Proposition for a New “Regulatory Contract”
24 Jan 2000 UFTO Note – Xenergy Distrib Power Study
21 Jan 2000 UFTO News Watch – Not your Father’s utility industry
06 Jan 2000 UFTO Note – DOE Power Outage Study

Smart Setback for Room Thermostats

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Smart Setback for Room Thermostats

Smart Systems International appears to be succeeding where others have failed, in implementing occupancy-based thermostat setback. Applied first in hotel guest rooms, their systems are now seeing increased interest for use in schools and offices. The technology is “smart” enough to overcome the obstacles that have stopped other attempts, i.e. occupant discomfort and impatience, though the solutions they’ve developed may not be immediately evident.

Upon detailed review, the basis of their success begins to emerge–basically, they’ve thought the problems through and solved them. The system automatically relaxes the heating or air conditioning when guests leave, but in controlled so that it can be restored to the desired temperature in a fixed amount of time (adjustable to 5, 11, 18 minutes) when they return.

The best indication of the merits of their claims is in the market acceptance they’re enjoying with some big name hotel chains and others. Conservation is back in the forefront, and this technology could be a good addition to the arsenal of any ESCO, utility, or building owner.

CONTACT:
Ron Davies, President and CEO, or
Tom Kearin, CFO,
Smart Systems International, Las Vegas, NV,
702-734-0044, TomK@smartsystemsintl.com

Website: http://www.smartsystemsintl.com

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The following material is adapted from the company’s website and press releases.

Smart Systems International develops, manufactures and sells patented in-room energy control systems. These products are designed to support three basic requirements: use advanced thermodynamic algorithms to ensure customer comfort is not sacrificed while maximizing energy savings; use state of the art wireless technology to ensure installation takes minutes, not hours; and design for simplicity and low cost. As a result, SSI controls produce energy savings of 20% – 40% per year without compromising customer comfort and deliver pay backs of 12 – 18 months. The system can control through-the-wall units in individual hotel rooms, a central HVAC system with fan coils, heat pumps, or other HVAC equipment.

The company has installed thousands of Smart Systems in hotel rooms across the U.S. from Alaska to Hawaii and the Caribbean including at such marquee brands as Courtyard by Marriott, Crowne Plaza, Embassy Suites, Fairfield by Marriott, Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn, Homestead Village, Silverleaf Resorts, Sunterra Resorts and others. In addition to the lodging industry, Smart Systems is selling its energy controls to schools, home builders, energy services companies and electric utilities, and the US Postal Service. Installations include the Clark County School District, Escambia County (Pensacola Florida) Schools, Miami Dade Schools, Post Offices in Las Vegas Nevada, Sitterle Homes, the Trane Company and the Public Service Company of New Mexico.

Smart Systems International recently announced the completion of an $11.0 million equity financing, which they will use to support increased sales activities and to expand distribution channels, staffing, customer field support, and inventory.

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A recent article about the company can be found at:
http://www.thesiliconoasis.com/smart.htm

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Smart Systems International Products

http://smartsystemsintl.com/products.html

Smart Systems 1000

The Smart Systems 1000 is the original “People Sensing Technology” energy management system. It has been installed in thousands of hotel rooms in every conceivable climate from Anchorage, Alaska to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to prove its performance capabilities. Designed for the fancoil and through the wall systems, the 1000 is just as effective on any window air conditioners. Hotel owners appreciate not only the ease of installation and lack of maintenance required, but also, benefit immediately from the drop in peak demand charges, as well as reduction in energy use of 30-50%. There are two basic models: a plug ‘n’ play unit which simply plugs into the nearest outlet, and a hardwired version which is wired with the HVAC unit.

Smart Systems 2000

The Smart Systems 2000 is the “eye” and “ear” of the base stations and an intergral link in SSDN. It uses passive infrared motion detectors to determine occupied and unoccupied states. It has a 25 foot radius and 360 degree detection range when placed on 8 feet ceilings. It communicates wirelessly through encoded transmissions with the base station. It operates on 4 AA batteries which last about 3 years.

Smart Systems 5000

The Smart Systems 5000 is the radical new design from Smart Systems. Unlike its predecessors, it has a user interface and buttons for various functions unavailable on the Smart Systems 1000. This is the full service model which accommodates users’ sleep time requirements and allows for the adjustment of recovery time at any time. The icon system of buttons and large digit LCD have been tested extensively for simplicity, intuitiveness, and ease of use. All of the instructions in this non-programmable unit fit neatly inside the cover. An adapter allows it to control HVAC systems higher than 24 VAC (the standard for home thermostats), making it the ultimate solution for all HVAC systems: residential, commercial, and industrial. The 5000 communicates wirelessly with PC’s.

SSDN®

The Smart Systems energy management system uses a wireless data and command network protocol, the Smart Systems Digital Network (SSDN), to accomplish specific tasks inside and around buildings and premises, including residential, commercial, and industrial properties. The SSDN is being distributed to third party vendors for use in integrating SSDN communications technology in their products. The SSDN is hardware independent and as such can be set up in many ways. The protocol is based upon a set of common integrated chips using standard 8-bit UART technologies. The chip set, protocol and software needed to set up the SSDN are standard and common components and no special proprietary chip sets, microcode, or software are required. Download the SSDN by clicking here.

World Commission on Dams

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Even if you’re not connected in any way with large scale hydro around the world, this major report issued last week is significant. Imagine the boost to distributed generation and renewables if world opinion rallies against big dams.

The Commission has an extensive website of its own which has more than you’ll ever want to know, including the complete report available to download. http://www.dams.org/

The site has links to dozens of press accounts of the announcement last week. (I first heard about it in this week’s Economist.) Here is a good overview which arrived here today in an email newsletter. At least it could take your mind off Florida for a few minutes.

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World Commission Takes Tough Stance on Dams

LONDON, England – Dams have made an important and significant contribution to human development but, in too many cases, the social and environmental costs have been unacceptable and often unnecessary, according to the final report of the World Commission on Dams (WCD).

Dams deliver significant development services in 140 countries and generate 19 percent of the world’s electricity, the WCD says in ‘Dams And Development: A New Framework for Decision-Making.’ The report was released today in London, with former South African President Nelson Mandela as the group’s spokesman.

Dams account for 12 to 16 percent of global food production, and 12 percent of large dams supply domestic and industrial water, as well as provide flood control services in 70 countries. However, they have also demonstrated a marked tendency towards schedule delays and cost overruns, and have led to the loss of forests and wildlife habitat and the loss of aquatic biodiversity of upstream and downstream fisheries, the report notes.

“Large dams display a high degree of variability in delivering predicted water and electricity services and related social benefits – with a considerable portion falling short of physical and economic targets,” while others continue to generate benefits after 40 years. The WCD also found that efforts to counter the ecosystem impact of large dams have met with limited success, and the “negative social impacts reflect a pervasive and systematic failure to assess and account for the range of potential negative impacts on displaced and resettled people as well as downstream communities.”

Some estimates suggest that as many as 80 million people have been displaced by dams around the world, while the livelihoods of many more who live downstream have been affected. Mitigation, compensation and resettlement programs are often inadequate, it notes.

The report authors claim the final document provides the most comprehensive and independent review of dams, and examines the technical and economic performance of dams, as well as their environmental and social performance, and assesses the potential alternatives to dams to offer insights into “one of the most of the controversial development debates of our time.” A number of environmentally and economically viable supply options are emerging, including wind and solar energy, but “obstacles such as market, institutional, intellectual and financial barriers limit the adoption rate” of other renewable energy alternatives, it explains.

The final report seeks to turn costly controversies into clear and productive consensus, and the WCD claims that it has brought together, for the first time, all parties in the increasingly confrontational debate about the role that 45,000 large dams have played in development around the world. The report is the result of two years of consultation in an “unprecedented global public policy process” that was signed unanimously.

“It is one thing to find fault with an existing system,” says Mandela. “It is another thing altogether, a more difficult task, to replace it with an approach that is better.”

The report proposes a framework for decision-making that moves beyond the simple tradeoffs of costs and benefits, to include a ‘rights and risks approach’ that recognises all legitimate stakeholders in the negotiation of choices. It proposes a set of core values, strategic priorities, and practical criteria and guidelines to govern future water and energy resources development, and challenges governments and other parties to change the way they view energy and water resources development.

“It means nothing to build billion-dollar dams if your monuments alienate the weak,” says WCD chairman Kader Asmal. “It means nothing to stop all dams if your protests only entrench poverty. But show me a clear and sustainable way to provide food, energy, stability and running water for those who most need it — that means something. And that we have done.”

The WCD conducted detailed reviews of large dams in the United States, Turkey, Norway, Zambia, Thailand, Pakistan, Brazil and South Africa, and surveyed 125 large dams and reviews on environmental and economic issues. It recommends 26 guidelines for review and approval of dam projects at five key stages.

“The WCD urges governments, NGOs, businesses, professional associations, aid agencies, utilities and affected peoples to practice what we preach because we preach only what we have practised ourselves,” concludes Asmal. “We listened to all sides. We reviewed alternatives. We balanced ideal against possible and made our decision to sign this report with confidence. We exclude only one development option: inaction. The cost of conflict is too high.”

“Dams offer huge benefits but sometimes at a large cost,” says James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, which funds less than 1 percent of dam projects in the world. “Our involvement in large dams has been decreasing and is focusing more on financing dam rehabilitation and safety and much less on financing new dams.”

Until 1985, the World Bank financed 3 percent of new dams. There are 800,000 dams around the world, of which approximately 45,000 are categorized as large or higher than 15 m. The industry is estimated to be worth $42 billion.

Travel Reports

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In September, I attended these three conferences. They were all different, but also had a great deal in common. This writeup attempts to capture major themes and to provide highlights of some of the more interesting developments that came to light. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you’d like further details on anything discussed below (or anything you see on the agendas that I didn’t mention).

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EESAT Electric Energy Storage Applications and Technologies Conf.
Sept 18-20, 2000, Orlando, FL

Distributed Power Strategies and Business Opportunities
Sept 25-27,2000, Washington, DC

Clean Energy Roundtable
Sept 27-29, 2000, Aspen, CO

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One major common theme–

“Attack of the Killer Investment B’s”

Many investment banking firms are cranking up bigtime to get a piece of the action in high9s-clean-distributed energy technology. They’re starting to “get it” and don’t want to miss out, though there’s a lot they don’t know about it (and their in-house utility analysts aren’t much help). They’re attending these events in ever increasing force, and also putting on their own!

BofA Securities, CIBC World Markets, Robertson Stephens, First Albany, Deutsche Banc Alex Brown, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Lehman … They’re issuing research reports, initiating coverage, and investing in and pushing services to companies in this industry. Not only are they coming to energy conferences, they’re putting on their own, usually invitation-only for clients and other investors.

– Goldman Sachs will be handling Powercell’s (zinc-bromine flow battery) next financing, following a recent $30 Million infusion from a variety of investors.

– Credit Suisse First Boston is acquiring DLJ, which is doing a private placement for ZBB (the other zinc-bromine flow battery).

– Bear Stearns, famous for their very popular 250 page research report, “Distributed Energy Services” back in April, is coming out with one on microturbines in the next couple of weeks, with more to follow.

– Beacon Group, recently acquired by Chase H&Q, has been actively doing energy technology investments alongside their extensive array of more traditional energy sector plays.

– Price Waterhouse Cooper is helping STM (stirling motor) to raise $4M each coming from a coalition of DTE, Delco Remy, Ricardo (engine consultants) and a group from Singapore, to be followed in the near future with a probable private offering.

The main drivers behind all this excitement include deregulation/competition, demand for premium power, environmental concerns (new regs, Kyoto, etc.), and technology advances (renewables, distributed resources, and the internet). Add to that the general supply crunch here and abroad. While there are some aspects of the investment “flavor of the month”, these trends are seen as real, irreversible, and significant.

Traditionally, development stage companies are financed by venture capital or corporate money. Now, however, companies are going public earlier and earlier (“pre-earnings” and even “pre-revenue”). This means that retail investors are engaging in “public venture capital” as it has been called, taking on the higher risk of early stage companies.

Speaking plainly, there’s a bubble in the pre-ipo and public company stocks that is similar to what’s been happening in the dot-com world and elsewhere. The players are piling on, and both good and bad can come of it. While this industry enjoys all the attention and increased capital (and valuations), there will be a continual shaking out, with big winners and losers–as we’ve seen very recently. One just hopes the losers won’t put a drag on the whole sector.

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Clean Energy Roundtable http://www.montreuxenergy.com

This is one in a series of invitation-only conferences, many in Europe, targeting senior executives. The “Aspen Clean Energy Roundtable” meeting was the 7th annual such event, with many repeat attendees. A number of major energy companies, bankers, and NGO’s were represented, plus a sizable contingent from the DOE National Labs, but just a few utility people. Speakers are strongly discouraged from doing sales pitches, but rather to shed light on big trends and issues.

The biggest trend and issue — a widely held view that is an absolute necessity to come up with a “low/no carbon” energy future, in light of global climate risks and population growth and economic development. Furthermore, hydrogen is the key, as the main energy carrier of the future. There were a few visionaries who began talking about the potential of a “hydrogen economy” in the mid 70’s (during the first oil crisis). Maybe their day is coming.

Another prominent theme was the evolving role of government, from “Nanny” to enabler. Bruce Stram of Enron Energy Services spoke about this historic role of government, intervening heavily to cope with market imperfections, as less necessary as telecommunications and information flow improve. Instead, government should avoid “command and control” and instead punish social externalities with penalties, and support a vigorous R&D program.

Swiss Re reviewed their outlook that global climate issues represent huge risks to the insurance industry, noting losses from hurricanes and other weather-related damages. They’ve been very active promoting Kyoto, emissions trading, and clean development mechanisms.
http://www.swissre.com/e/issues/environmental.html

Shell Hydrogen is a new independent business within the Shell group. CEO Don Huberts explained the parent company’s commitment to sustainable development (disposed of coal assets, and set up Shell Renewables and Shell Hydrogen). He described a 250 kW SOFC installation in Norway integrated with fish farming, use of an SOFC with injection of CO2 into depleted wells and deep aquifers, commercial and residential CHP with SOFC or PEM, and a proprietary natural gas processor to make hydrogen for residential fuel cells.
http://www.shell.com/hydrogen-en/

Valuing Renewables — Shimon Awerbuch of ICF Consulting reviewed his work on using a portfolio approach to valuing renewables. Traditional engineering-based approaches are completely inadequate–they ignore financial risk; they didn’t work in manufacturing (completely missed computers, robotics, and CAD); and they don’t work for high capital, low operating cost projects. Portfolio concepts are routinely applied in securities investment, where adding even a higher cost (lower return) investment to a portfolio can reduce the total risk, for an overall better result. See his articles Public Utilities Fortnightly, Feb 15, 2000, and Energy Policy (to be published) awerbuch@aol.com

Other presentations included:

CMS Energy is pursuing environmentally friendly technology solutions, including microturbines for gas field pumping operations, a methanol plant installed in Africa to eliminate a massive gas flare, and their own “virtual power plant” program they’re calling Elan (electric local area network).

Honeywell’s microturbine group sees their devices fitting into a seamless array of energy management systems, controlled over the internet in real time.

Stirling Energy Systems, in Phoenix, is gearing up to develop huge solar power farms using dish concentrators with the Swedish-made Kockums stirling engine.

H-Power is aggressively pursuing rural markets for their existing commercial small scale PEM fuel cell systems.

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Electric Energy Storage Applications and Technologies Conf.
EESAT http://www.cmcmtg.com/eesat

The message is similar to the June ESA meeting [See UFTO Note, 25 April, 2000]
–storage is coming into its own, as part of the boom in new energy technology, along with DG, renewables, premium power, etc. The complete proceedings will be published in hardcopy and on a CD, by early December.
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Keynoter Bill Parks, the lead for DOE’s new Distributed Power effort, [UFTO Note May 31] noted the convergence of many issues, including growth (economic, population and energy demand), price spikes, high oil imports, power quality needs, air and water quality, and climate change. New companies are entering, and everyone proclaims to be green. On top of that, average energy efficiency in the US hasn’t improved, capacity margins are below 10%, and power infrastructure is aging. DOE’s expanded efforts will go beyond the core technology R&D emphasis, to deal with systems, and to address institutional barriers. For example, the IRS is reviewing depreciation schedules for CHP and DG.
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Value of Storage – Tom Jenkin, Brattle Group, described an LP model they’ve developed to analyze in detail the arbitrage possibilities for a storage system. The model calculates the maximum net revenue over a one week period by optimizing the use of a generic storage device, hour by hour. At any given time, the device can do one of four things: charge (i.e. buy energy), sell energy, sell reserve capacity, or do nothing. Using price data for the California ISO, initial results suggest a capital cost of $250-$750/kW can be supported in this kind of application. tjenkin@brattle.com, 617-864-1576.
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At EA Technology (UK), they’ve developed a model to calculate net present value cost-benefit of various storage technologies in various applications. Alan Collinson, abc@eatl.co.uk
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Regenesys, the National Power spin off, has announced their first commercial scale project (120 MWH, 15 MW) at a power plant in the UK. This is one of the prominent “flow” battery technologies discussed several times before in UFTO Notes. Notably, they have qualified it to provide blackstart, in addition to energy management, arbitrage, and frequency and voltage regulation. They also have an initial agreement with TVA to the first N American installation.
http://www.innogytech.com
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Tokyo Electric is getting good results with their advanced sealed Sodium-Sulfur battery. A key to safety is an innovative self-shut down mechanism where an inner tube expands if heated (by the reactions that would result from a leak) and blocks the ceramic electrolyte. A 6 MW, 48 MWH system has been operating since mid 1999, for load leveling and ancillary services.
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AutoCap reported on the advantages of charging battery cells individually, greatly extending the expected life of batteries in large systems. When an entire string of cells are charged in series, due to variations some cells are overcharged and some undercharged. They’ve developed a system with an isolated charger, and a cell selector device that monitors and charges one cell at a time. This applies only to the maintenance charging, not the heavy recharging cycle after a discharge.
http://www.autocap.com/
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New Supercapacitor — there are countless stories around about ultracaps or supercaps. Many use low voltage aqueous electrolyte concepts, with extremely high surface area electrodes made of very porous materials, and utilizing the double layer effect. Though they can deliver unheard of capacitance in small packages (farads instead of microfarads), these cells have problems with high impedance and self-discharge. To reach any useful working voltage, cells must be put in series, and run into additional issues to do with voltage balance. According to tests of an 11,000 Farad unit at EPRI PEAC, a Russian company has a breakthrough concept involves an asymmetrical design, which solves these problems, and can deliver very high discharge rates over a wide temperature range, with high specific energy.
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From the website: http://www.esma-cap.com
“JSC ESMA electrochemical capacitors utilize a polar cell and aqueous electrolyte. The negative electrode is made of an activated carbon material having high surface area, where electric energy is accumulated at the electric double layer. The positive electrode is made of nickel hydroxide and designed for high charge/discharge rate. This combination of electrodes provides a 4-5 times increase in specific energy over capacitors designed with both electrodes made of a carbon material. The maximum operating voltage of the cells ranges from 1.3 to 1.6 V depending on the capacitor type and its operating mode. The capacitor is prismatic in shape, with a case made of plastic. It has a resealable safety valve in its cover to release gas during improper use when a certain value of excess pressure is reached. JSC ESMA capacitors have been designed to remain in service even if the operating voltage level is exceeded. Capacitor operating characteristics do not degrade if the capacitor is operated under an excessive voltage level over a short time. The capacitors can withstand a short circuit current caused by improper handling.”
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Emitter Turn-Off Thyristor (ETO) is a new solid state switch developed at Virginia Tech that promises great improvement over GTOs and IGBTs. It is a hybrid based on the GTO and MOSFET. It is much smaller and simpler, it uses less drive power, and it is 10 times faster — it can turn off 3000 amps in 2-3 microseconds, vs. 30 for present devices. This speed will enable switches that can react to faults in time to safely turn off rather than relying on fusing. Virginia Tech is actively looking for licensees to commercialize the ETO. (I have pdf copies of the full paper and the patent application.)
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Zinc Bromine Flow Batteries (ZBB & Powercell) Powercell’s standard unit is the PowerBlock, 100kW/100kWh, in one self contained package complete with power electronics, is in production. (http://www.powercell.com) ZBB Technologies Inc. in Wisconsin is developing a larger utility scale version, with DOE funding. Two 400 kWh demonstration units are being installed on Detroit Edison’s system this Fall. Though based on the same original work at Exxon years ago, the two programs have important design differences.
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Flywheels!
Active Power, following on their very successful IPO, has a deal with Caterpillar, who is selling systems under the name CAT 250. This is a 250 KVA, 12 sec system. A price of $250-325/KVA was mentioned. Active Power has also recently built active harmonic filtering into the package. Duke Power reported on a demo installation at one of their customer sites.

Magnet-Motor (Germany) reported on their use of 2KWH/150 KW flywheels on public buses, ever since 1988. Company website: http://www.magnet-motor.de/homeengl.htm

Several programs are working on flywheels using superconducting magnetic bearings: the Shikoku Research Institute, Chubu Electric with Mitsubishi, and Boeing Phantom Works. This last one appears to have some resemblance to the earlier work at Argonne that was supported in part by ComEd. It is funded under the DOE Superconductivity Initiative.

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Distributed Power Strategies and Business Opportunities
Sept 25-27,2000, Washington, DC

http://www.intertechusa.com/energy/distributedpower2000/introduction.html

One of dozens of conferences on distributed power, this one had some big names and a high level of international participation, but no big announcements or new insights. As usual, the networking opportunities were at least if not more valuable than the sessions.
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Ake Almgren, CEO of Capstone, was co-chair, with Mark Fallek of DTE Energy. In his opening remarks he noted that DG and central station plants are both needed, it’s not an either-or situation. DG can be thought of as another way to “distribute” power, not to “generate” it. Central station plants have a very long lead time, and difficult siting requirements. Also, T&D costs contribute as much as $4-500/KW to the price of power, which DG can avoid. Fallek cited some future global market estimates for DG of $38 billion/year. Premium power, now a $50 billion market, is growing at 30%/yr, suggesting $500 billion in 15 years.
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Bob Shaw, who single-handedly invented venture capital in new energy technology, and who helped start many of the notable companies now making headlines, gave a perspective that was extremely bullish on DG and renewables, but a bit alarmed about the “bubble” situation. He is convinced that DG really will take over from central station power, sooner rather than later. DG is a perfect case of a “disruptive technology”. The engines built by US automakers every year are equivalent to the capacity of the entire US generating system. So, an industry 1/10 the size of Detroit could replace that system in a mere 10 years. The fact that VCs and Wall Street see energy technology as the “next big thing” is making capital available to this sector as never before, but it is also leading to unsustainable valuations that could become problematic. The paper is available online: http://www.arete-microgen.com. I also have a copy of the powerpoint presentation, which provides some additional material.
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“First, Second, or Third Coming??”
Is DG just a replay of one or two previous episodes, or very different this time? Shaw clearly espoused the latter view, but others were less convinced. In the 60’s, a midwestern gas company pushed a “total energy” concept based on reciprocating engines; maintenance problems and the poor suitability of recips to baseload operation proved the undoing. In the 80’s, the PURPA QF provisions led to a swarm of packaged cogen installations; QF contracts have all but faded from the scene. Shaw maintains that today’s convergence of developments is really different. Robert Swanekamp, editor of Power Magazine, took an extreme contrarian position that DG is a non-event, and that 1/2 of the large CCGT’s on order will be cancelled as a power glut emerges. He said he had no knowledge of the disruptive technology argument, but that didn’t stop him from dismissing it. (He was probably the only person present who hadn’t heard about Clayton Christensen’s ideas and their relevance to DG. See UFTO Note 19 April 1999; or http://www.disruptivetechnologies.com/)
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Technologies — there were a dozen or more presentations by companies: makers of fuel cells, stirling engines, and microturbines; power electronics, internet-based controls and energy management; and O&M.
Barriers — reports on the EEI and IEEE interconnection efforts; an excellent overview of competitive, institutional, regulatory and financial obstacles by Nat Treadway, (for a similar presentation, see http://www.leeric.lsu.edu/deri/info/may2000/treadway.pdf)

Las Vegas Energex2000

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Las Vegas Lemonade

ENERGEX’2000 GlobeEx’2000 35th IECEC
Riviera Hotel Convention Center, LAS VEGAS, USA
JULY 23-28, 2000

http://www.globeex.com/
http://www.cableregina.com/nonprofits/ief/PAGE14.HTM
http://Www.aiaa.org/calendar/iecec00cfp.html
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If ever there was a time to make lemonade (i.e. when the world gives you lemons), this conference was it. One of the worst organized, most jumbled, and light on content imaginable. A great many speakers simply didn’t show up. Attendance was mostly by DOE, 3rd world energy officials, academics, and a few vendors and entrepreneurs. It was also very heavy on Nevada as a great place to do business, most notably development of the Nevada Test Site. (Also, I would not recommend the Riviera Hotel.)

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So, for some lemonade. Plenary speeches, which mostly consisted of high level pep talks and very general overviews of the energy situation around the world, did offer a few good points.

– Dan Reicher (DOE Assist. Secty for Energy Effic) gave an optimistic and aggressive account of DOE’s commitments to renewables and efficiency, with emphasis on cost-effectiveness. He noted that in 1999, for the first time, more new windpower came on line than new nuclear.

– Nevada State Senator Randolph Townsend, who spearheaded deregulation in Nevada, actually said–if your legislators ever tell you they think they know what’s best, they’re dead wrong. The whole business of deregulation is one of surprises and unintended consequences.

– Admiral Truly, Director of NREL, suggested that the growth of the petroleum industry in the first half of the 20th century is going to prove to be an excellent analogy for what is starting to happen with biomass refining in the 21st century.

– Richard Sonstelie, recently retired CEO of Puget Sound Power, explained that the utility industry has always known that generation, transmission and distribution are entirely different businesses, and that generation has never been a natural monopoly. He went on to develop the idea that distribution isn’t either, and that it’s been terribly oversimplified. Distribution actually consists of a long list of distinct businesses (e.g., network planning, construction, outage response, call centers, customer research, energy procurement, meter reading, billing and collections, etc.). The only aspect of the pipes and wires business that can even begin to be viewed as a natural monopoly is the ownership of pipes and wires–in that it doesn’t make sense to have more than one set in any given location (there are exceptions to this, as we know, and some would argue the point.). Therefore, it isn’t necessary to treat the entire Disco as a regulated monopoly. Most of its activities can be handled on a competitive business model, with incentives and penalties to assure that service/reliability standards are met. After all, pipes and wires are “transportation” businesses, and their metrics should more like those applied to Federal Express. Utilities are already outsourcing what they’re not best at, and some are doing for other utilities–as new lines of business–what they’re good at themselves.

– Jan Pepper, renewables expert and until recently with APX, in charge of setting up their green power market, outlined the growing scale of green power programs. Eight states have already adopted renewable portfolio standards, and 13 have systems benefit charge used to support green power. Truth in labeling/certification agencies are emerging. An intriguing new trend–the “green” attribute of green power can be traded separately from the actual KWH’s themselves. This enhances the marketability of power from intermittent generators.

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Two topics that got a lot of attention: Building Heating, Cooling and Power (BCHP is the new acronym) and geothermal, particularly the local heating and cooling variety. (If there is interest, I can provide more information on these items.)

Building Heating, Cooling and Power (BCHP)

The DOE has gotten very interested in on-site generation which maximizes the use of the waste heat for heating and cooling. The BCHP Initiative has over 70 participants, including government, utilities, ESCOs, manufacturers, vendors, etc. http://www.bchp.org/

The gas industry continues to push hard on gas cooling. The GAX heat pump technology promises 30% higher efficiency than the best gas furnace, and 100 beta units will go into the field next year. There is increasing emphasis on humidity control through the use of dessicants.
Rocky Research is a technology development company in Las Vegas that has a impressive array of work going on in heating, cooling and refrigeration, and is looking for commercialization partners for several of its technologies. http://www.rockyresearch.com

Geothermal Heat Pump Consortium is a non-profit organization advancing the use of “GeoExchange” heating and cooling systems, notably in commercial and industrial applications, in addition to residential. (GeoExchange Systems work by moving heat, rather than by converting chemical energy to heat like in a furnace. Every GeoExchange System has three major subsystems or parts: a geothermal heat pump to move heat between the building and the fluid in the earth connection, an earth connection for transferring heat between its fluid and the earth, and a distribution subsystem for delivering heating or cooling to the building.)
http://www.geoexchange.org

One supplier, ClimateMaster, offers a range of advanced products geared to commerical and residential, including a split system that can be used in combination with a traditional furnace.
http://www.climatemaster.com

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The most unusual find–I met a German project developer with a story about a “solar chimney”. They actually built a demo in Spain (with Finosa), with at 200 meter chimney that ran for 7 years. The fullscale design calls for a 950 meter chimney, 135 meters in diameter, surrounded by 4 mile diameter circular heat absorber structure (like a greenhouse roof). Heat rising through the chimney will generate 100 MW by turning a fan blade in the base. Crops can be grown in the covered area, and black tubing filled with water can provide storage to make power 24 hours a day. They already have permitted projects and are raising money. The company also has a number of solar trough programs in Spain, Crete and Jordan.
http://www.solarmillennium.de/engl/eseiten/eaufwind.htm

TeamFuel.com — Intelligent fuel management.

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A profitable existing company is going to a new stage of growth, with a new name and fully web-enabled extension of their business model. Acting directly on behalf of buyers of liquid petroleum fuels, they monitor (wireless/internet) the level of fuel in the customer’s tank, optimize fuel purchasing, and arrange delivery, taking a fixed fee per gallon delivered.

As a result, the customer:
– No longer has to manage their own fuel tank inventory
– Is assured that tanks will never run out of fuel
– No longer needs to negotiate decentralized contracts or daily pricing
– Can leverage their volume through TeamFuel purchasing power
– Is guaranteed the lowest possible price and optimal delivery of their fuel

They already have several major utilities as satisfied clients (APS, PSEG, SoCalEdison, ) and provide them with either fleet fuel or generation fuel.

The teamfuel.com website will be up in another week or two. Dynamic Inventory Management actually occurs on password protected intranet sites, one for each client.

They are seeking equity investment in two rounds, one now and the second next year, to scale up their software/server capabilities and add sales and marketing staff.

An executive summary and business plan are available for possible investors. New customer contacts are also more than welcome. If you’d like more information, contact

Bill Green, CEO bgreen@ecolink.com 415-381-2783

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Here is a brief summary posted on garage.com (a new silicon valley company supporting startups by providing access to angel and venture investors http://www.garage.com)

Each year U.S. commercial vehicle fleets, utilities, railroads, and airlines spend more than $100 billion on fuel. This fuel is stored in and distributed via a network of 200,000 tanks, which range in size from 10,000 gallons to over 100,000 gallons. The variable consumption patterns of these tanks – along with environmental compliance laws, interstate fuel tax calculations, and fluctuating fuel prices – make the procurement and management of fuel for these tanks a time consuming and expensive proposition for tank owners. TeamFuel provides an outsourced fuel management solution that acts as a intermediary between the thousands of local fuel suppliers and the tanks they service.

TeamFuel’s software and remote monitoring solutions optimize fuel purchases (via demand aggregation and market timing), resolve complex environmental and tax issues, and deliver guaranteed savings to fleets and tank owners. Unlike FuelQuest, which is a marketplace for suppliers, and FuelMan, which focuses on over-the-road fuel purchases by truck drivers, TeamFuel addresses the needs of fleets and tank owners.

TeamFuel’s dynamic inventory replenishment strategy is currently used by Walt Disney, Frito-Lay, Laidlaw, Southern California Edison, Toys “R” Us, Arizona Public Service, and 65 other companies. These customers have signed long-term management contracts, with a fixed fee per gallon, for TeamFuel’s services. The Company profitably generated revenues of $1.2 million in 1999. 2004 revenues are projected to be $88 million.

TeamFuel’s management team and 12-person staff have deep experience in the fuel and energy industry. The Company’s CEO previously founded a chemical exchange and has extensive experience in supply chain management. The founder and President of TeamFuel has been involved with fuel procurement outsourcing for more than 20 years.

CO2 Sequestration – DOE Resources

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CO2 Sequestration – DOE Resources
(One of a series of UFTO Notes based in part on the recent visit to Los Alamos National Laboratory)

The Dept of Energy is very active in this arena, and is exploring a wide range of approaches, both near and long term. Here are links to various DOE and lab websites which offer a number of reports, studies, plans, and other information:
– http://www.fe.doe.gov/coal_power/sequestration/index.html
– http://www.netl.doe.gov/products/gcc/indepth/carbseq/seq_ind.htm
– http://www.lanl.gov/partnerships/co2/

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Advanced Process Concepts for Carbon Management Workshop

A invitational workshop was held last March, to identify and assess a number of advanced concepts for carbon management and to obtain industrial support for the most promising concepts. [Unfortunately, very few utility representatives attended.]

The workshop was sponsored by the Center for Applied Research in Carbon Management [CARCM, a joint effort between the National Energy Technology Lab (NETL) and Los Alamos National Lab (LANL)]. It was hosted by Texas Utilities (TXU) in Dallas on March 20 & 21, 2000 with 33 participants. Complete details and copies of the presentations are available at:

– http://www.lanl.gov/energy/ecology/carcm_workshop/index.html

The “Summary of Breakout Sessions” provides a good overview of the conference conclusions.

Abstract: Innovative thinkers from national labs, universities, government, and industry were brought together in a workshop to develop a working definition of advanced/novel carbon sequestration concepts, assess the technical and financial risks associated with several examples, and identify new examples. Four breakout sessions discussed carbon dioxide extraction from air, coupling energy production with carbon sequestration, biological/terrestrial approaches, and by-products.
– http://www.lanl.gov/energy/ecology/carcm_workshop/pdf/breakout.pdf

Contact:
R. Tom Baker, Los Alamos National Lab
505-667-7013 bakertom@lanl.gov