"Shepards Flat, Largest On-Shore Wind Farm in the World, Begins Operations
Arlington, Oregon, September 24, 2012 -- SCOA executives were on-site to mark the kick-off operations of Shepards Flat Wind Farm, one of the largest on-shore wind farms in the world, generating up to 845 MW of clean wind energy. SCOA joined co-owners, Caithness Energy, GE Energy Financial Services, Google and Tyr Energy, Inc., as Shepards Flat began operations in Oregon."（PDF）
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Caithness Shepherds Flat
Caithness Shepherds Flat, LLC ("Shepherds"), an affiliate owned by Caithness Energy, LLC was created to develop, finance, construct, own and operate a wind power generation facility with capacity of up to 909 MW located immediately south of the Columbia River in north-central Oregon, on approximately 32,000 acres in Gilliam and Morrow counties.
When completed, Shepherds will be the largest wind facility in Oregon.
Shepherds has secured all land rights, interconnection and transmission rights and material permits (which are non-appealable) required for construction of its three phases. On August 14th, 2008, the Company entered into three long-term power purchase agreements with Southern California Edison.
In conjunction with Caithness Shepherds Flat is Columbia Wind, LLC, an affiliate owned by Caithness Energy, LLC which was created to develop, finance, construct, own and operate a wind power generation facility with capacity of up to 413 MW located immediately south of the Columbia River in north-central Oregon.
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アメリカ側は、 ロスアラモス国立研究所が中心となってこの実証実験が行われます。ロスアラモス国立研究所Los Alamos National Laboratory、LANL）といえば、第二次世界大戦中に、マンハッタン計画の中で原子爆弾の開発を目的として創設された研究施設として知られています。原子力エネルギーの開発の利用の歴史において、広島・長崎という民衆に対する無差別大量兵器の利用における投下側と被爆側という鮮烈な過去を、もつ両国がこの地で電力、エネルギーの共同研究を行うと知って、過去を思い出すと複雑な思いに駆られます。
"The Los Alamos system includes:
♦ A 2 megawatt solar photovoltaic array
♦ Massive back-up battery storage system
♦ A demonstration “smart house” with intelligent appliances and energy systems that people can tour
♦ New meters on 2,000 homes for real-time monitoring of electric consumption
♦ Central command-and-control center to run the network"
"Seajacks Zaratan, the newest addition to Seajacks’ self-propelled jack-up fleet, was contracted to perform Operation and Maintenance (O&M) work on the Gunfleet Sands offshore windfarm, jointly owned by DONG Energy (50.1%) and Marubeni Corporation (49.9%).
This was the first job for Seajacks Zaratan, which was delivered by Lamprell Energy in May of this year. The state-of-the-art vessel incorporates a fully-redundant DP2 propulsion system, a 2000m2 deck area and an 800T leg-encircling crane.
Seajacks Zaratan mobilized in Amsterdam and carried out the work at the Gunfleet Sands site, 7km off the coast of Clacton-on-Sea, in early August. After successful completion of this assignment, Zaratan is now back in the Netherlands preparing for the installation of, 80 monopiles, Transition Pieces and WTGs on the Meerwind offshore wind farm, which is located in Germany.
“This was an important milestone for Seajacks. Not only was this the first job for Seajacks Zaratan, but it was also the first O&M contract that has been awarded to Seajacks. We already have a successful track record working with DONG Energy, installing 97 of the 102 turbines at Walney. It was a pleasure to work with them again on this project.
Our company is currently recognised as being a leading installation contractor, and we are focused on developing our reputation as a leading O&M provider. With our fleet of self propelled jackups, we are well positioned to serve both installation and maintenance markets.”
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海洋エネルギー開発の新たな中心地となりそうな米オレゴン州のニューポートNewport 沖に、ニュージーランドのWave Energy Technology(WET-NZ)社の波力発電システムが８月の終わりに搬入され、６週間のテスト運転がまもなく始まります。
ニュージーランドのWave Energy Technology(WET-NZ)社は、ニュージーランドの波力発電開発のベンチャー企業で、2008年ころより同社の波力発電装置の実験をおこなってきました。今回、オレゴン州でテストされるのは、同社が実用モデルと位置づける40kWの半分の20kWの波力発電装置です。アメリカの大学などの参加する研究チームによりその働きが検証される予定です。
その動きは、動画が公開されていますので、それで働きがわかります。結構単純な動きです。
"What a day! At 1625 on Wednesday afternoon, the ORCA divers, assisted by the OSU RHIB and the F/V Enterprise, pulled the retaining pins that lock the float on the WET-NZ. The afternoon was marked by a building 15-20 knot sea breeze, 4 – 6 foot swells, and a 2 foot wind chop, but that did not deter the deployment team as they worked to connect the umbilical from the WET-NZ to the Ocean Sentinel. Led by NNMREC-OSU’s Sean Moran and NWEI’s Justin Klure, the team worked diligently to complete the task.
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With the WET-NZ installed, the mooring system complete, and the umbilical to the Ocean Sentinel connected, yesterday was a huge success. A special thanks to all of the team for their hard work. Days like this can only happen with the collective talents of each person that was involved. We’d like to personally thank all of you that made this happen.
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富士通とレオパレス21は、福島県のレオパレス21 アパート60棟に相当する、出力合計1メガワット の規模の太陽光発電所をICT（Information and Communication Technology）、つまり情報・通信に関連する技術を屈指して分散する太陽光発電所を結び、仮想型太陽光発電所の実証事業を開始すると発表しました。
" 三菱重工業は、三菱商事と共同で、メキシコ連邦電力庁（Comision Federal de Electricidad：CFE、本庁：メキシコシティ）からロス・アスフレス（Los Azufres）III 発電所向け地熱発電プラントをフルターンキー契約で受注した。出力は5万kWで、完成は2014年12月の予定。これにより、当社の同国向け地熱発電プラントの受注は累計12基となる。
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Los Azufres, Mexico, 2000 - 100 MW (4 x 25 MW)
Units 13-16 at Los Azufres II feed the nation’s electrical distribution grid and are capable of producing more than 800 GWh of clean electricity a year.
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Los Azufres II (Mexico) Geothermal power plant(PDF)
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さて、今回一部稼動したGreen Crude Farmは、コロンバスにあるとのことです。同じような条件の土地です。
しかし、今回の計画の規模は、はるかに大きく、2014年末までに300エーカー（１エーカーは、約0.4ha。4000平方メートル相当。したがって３００エーカーで約120ha）の面積のプラントを建設し、年産150万ガロン（1.5 million gallons per year。１ガロンは約3.78リットル。したがって、150万ガロンは、約５６７万リットル相当。）、日産１００バレル（4200ガロン）のバイオ燃料が生産できる計算になります。
"Initial Phase of World’s First Green Crude Farm Completed On Time and On Budget
Sapphire Energy, Inc., one of the world leaders in algae-based green crude oil production, today announced the first phase of its Green Crude Farm, the world’s first commercial demonstration algae-to-energy facility, is now operational. Construction of this first phase, which began on June 1, 2011, was completed on time and on budget. When completed, the facility will produce 1.5 million gallons per year of crude oil and consist of approximately 300 acres of algae cultivation ponds and processing facilities. By reaching this key milestone, Sapphire Energy is on target to make algae-based Green Crude a viable alternative fuel solution capable of significantly reducing the nation’s need for foreign crude oil, which will serve as the blueprint for scalable algae biofuel facilities globally.
The Green Crude Farm, also known as an Integrated Algal Bio-Refinery, was funded with both private and public funds, including $85 million in private investment from Sapphire Energy backed by a USDA loan guarantee and a $50 million grant from the US DOE. Today, the cultivation area consists of some of the largest algae ponds ever built with groupings of 1.1 acre and 2.2 acre ponds which are 1/8 of a mile long. The initial phase also includes all the necessary mechanical and processing equipment needed to harvest and extract algae and recycle water for the 300 acre Green Crude Farm.
In March, the first seeding of ponds with algae, otherwise known as inoculation, took place and a series of “shakedown” tests began to ensure that all systems are working as planned. Today, the farming operations are exceeding Sapphire Energy’s internal productivity goals in terms of biomass yield, demonstrating that large scale cultivation is possible and much larger cultivation systems can be implemented with the proper agronomic processes in place. The company harvested its first crop in June without any system difficulties and has since harvested 21 million gallons of algae biomass totaling 81 tons. Next, the Green Crude Farm is preparing to transition its operations to a winter variety of algae while continuous cultivation, harvest and extraction activities continue.
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Construction: Completed on time and on budget
Unit Operations: Conducting all united operations, including cultivation, harvest and extraction in a continuous process
Cultivation: Biomass productivity exceeding the company’s goals
Harvest: Successfully harvested 81 tons of biomass
In building the Green Crude Farm:
634 full-time equivalent employees were hired throughout the entire construction phase
$16 million was directly invested with local New Mexico contractors
Sapphire Energy will continue to conduct “shakedown” testing, as well as operate and expand farming operations over the winter, as the facility is commissioned into 2013. By the end of 2014, the Green Crude Farm will produce 100 barrels of Green Crude per day. The commercial demonstration project is expected to prove “commercial” techno-economics, and Sapphire’s commercial scale Green Crude facility.
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スペインのマドリッドであと１０日ほど、9/14から開始されるソーラーデカスロン・ヨーロッパ Solar Decathlon Europe 2012 に参加する千葉大学チームのソーラーハウス｢おもてなしハウス Omotenashi House｣の現地での組み立て作業が開始されました。状況は、ツィッターのChibaUniSDE2012や、FacebookのOmotenashi House - おもてなしハウスで知ることができます。
"国際的な大学対抗のエコ建築のコンテストである、ソーラーデカスロン・ヨーロッパ Solar Decathlon Europe 2012が今年9月にスペインのマドリッドで開催されます。
アメリカエネルギー省が企画したアメリカでの本大会とは別に、ヨーロッパでの開催は2010年に続き2回目となります。2012年大会には、世界15カ国から20チームあまりが参加し、１０のカテゴリーで審査を受け、受賞作を決定します。
コンテストの審査項目は以下、
1. Architecture (建物)
2. Engineering & Construction (エンジニアリング&建設)
3. Energy Efficiency (エネルギー効率)
4. Electrical Energy Balance (電力の需給バランス)
5. Comfort Conditions (快適性)
6. House Functioning (機能性)
7. Communication and Social Awareness (ネットワークと社会性)
8. Industrialization & Market Viability (事業化、市場での可能性)
9. Innovation (技術的な革新性)
10. Sustainability (持続可能性)
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