Energy Supply Solutions

Energy Supply Solutions

The following is a brief overview of energy supply solutions undertaken by members of The Pew Center's Business Environmental Leadership Council (BELC).

For more information on each of these companies efforts to address climate change, please see the Businesses Leading The Way section of this Web site.

ABB

• ABB manufactures alternative energy and small-scale distributed power generation components and systems that complement existing power markets, including wind farms, fuel cells, and combined heat and power plants using miniature gas turbines. ABB is also developing a number of technologies for energy efficiency and clean energy, including a joint venture with DuPont to develop fuel cell systems.
  
  
• ABB has built approximately 1,500 small combined heat and power (CHP, also known as cogeneration) plants in Europe. CHP plants produce both electricity and steam to heat nearby buildings, reducing GHG emissions by 60 percent compared to coal-fired power plants and by about 30 percent compared to natural gas-fired plants.
  
  

American Electric Power

• In August of 2004, AEP announced that it is committed to accelerating IGCC deployment by building one, or more, commercial-scale, base-load IGCC plants (up to 1,000 megawatts) as soon as 2010. IGCC technology converts coal into a gas and passes it through pollutant-removal equipment before the gas is burned. The process is more efficient and results in fewer emissions of NOx, SO₂ and mercury, in addition to lower carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon capture and sequestration is also expected to be easier and more cost-effective from an IGCC plant than from a pulverized coal plant because the IGCC process creates a high-pressured CO₂ waste stream.
  
  
• American Electric Power's second major wind farm, the 160-MW Desert Sky project, was dedicated in May 2002. This project brings the company's total wind generation to over 300 MW, making it one of the largest wind generators in the United States.
  
  
• Almost 125 schools participate in AEP’s Learning from Light! and Watts on Schools programs, in which AEP partners with learning institutions to install solar photovoltaic systems and to track energy use.
  

• AEP’s Learning from Wind! program provides education on wind power and is used for renewable energy research. Online data from five 10 kW wind turbines allows consumers to monitor real time and historical data on both the local wind conditions and the operation of the turbines, to evaluate whether a small wind turbine might be able to meet their energy needs.
  

• AEP has constructed a 900 MW state-of-the-art natural gas cogeneration facility for Dow Chemical Company to provide energy and steam to its Plaquemine, LA site.
  

• AEP has been co-firing biomass at 4,000 MW of coal-based power generation in the United Kingdom (Fiddler’s Ferry and Ferry Bridge) since 2002.
  

• AEP has begun testing of biomass co-firing at some smaller power plants in its U.S. service territory to evaluate potential reductions in CO₂ and GHG emission levels.

Air Products and Chemicals

• Air Products’ larger hydrogen plants function as “cogeneration” facilities. In addition to producing hydrogen, steam is often produced and exported to a nearby user. The energy efficiency of these hydrogen plants is over 85% of what is theoretically achievable, exceeding the 60% efficiency level typical of modern natural gas-fired combined cycle turbine power plants.
  
  
• A cogeneration unit was also installed to provide energy, heating and cooling at the Air Products Hersham, UK European headquarters. This innovative approach for providing energy to an office complex reduced CO₂ emissions by 2700 metric tonnes per year.

ALCOA

• Alcoa and other leading corporations are partnering with World Resources Institute (WRI) to build markets for renewable energy. Convened in 2000, WRI's Green Power Market Development Group seeks to develop corporate markets for 1,000 MW of new, cost competitive green power by 2010.
  
  
• Alcoa produces high-efficiency turbine blades for the industrial turbine market in the electric power generation industry.

Baxter

• Baxter switched from using fuel oil to using wood to generate steam in one of its largest manufacturing facilities. The renewable wood fuel is comprised principally of scrap wood from local furniture and lumber operations.
  
  
• Baxter installed a photovoltaic system at its Marsa, Malta manufacturing plant.
  
  

CH2M HILL

• CH2M HILL purchases green tags from the Bonneville Environment Foundation for its Portland, Oregon and Seattle offices. In addition, CH2M HILL’s corporate headquarters campus in Denver is purchasing 100 blocks (each representing 100 kWh of electricity) of wind power per month from Excel Energy’s Windsource program for a period of three years.
  

Deutsche Telekom

• Deutsche Telekom installed photovoltaic panels at six sites. Three of them were installed in cooperation with employee training centers.
  
  
• Deutsche Telekom’s subsidiary DeTeImmobilien installed a 250 kW fuel cell facility in its technical unit in Munich with the target to reduce the emission of about 600 tons of CO₂ per year.
  
  
• Deutsche Telekom has forced its energy suppliers to switch to a less carbon-intensive energy mix.

DTE Energy

• DTE Energy is partnering with the U.S. DOE, the State of Michigan, and the City of Southfield to develop, build, and operate a pilot project that will create hydrogen gas from tap water and use that gas in stationary fuel cell generators and to refuel fuel cell vehicles. DTE Energy’s Hydrogen Technology Park, a $3 million, five-year pilot project, will be capable of delivering about 100,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.
  
  
• DTE Biomass Energy operates 29 landfill gas recovery projects at sites across the United States. Methane recovered from these projects is converted into pipeline-quality gas, steam, or electricity. DTE Biomass landfill projects have captured the equivalent of more than 25 million metric tons of CO₂.
  
  
• In 1996, Detroit Edison introduced the SolarCurrents^® program and became the first utility in the nation to provide customers with solar power through the grid from a central facility.
  
  
• DTE Energy’s Detroit Edison has promoted geothermal technology in its service area, where nearly 4,000 residential units and two-dozen commercial businesses have geothermal systems.

DuPont

• DuPont and several other companies are partnering with World Resources Institute (WRI) to build markets for renewable energy. Convened in 2000, WRI’s Green Power Market Development Group seeks to develop corporate markets for 1,000 MW of new, cost-competitive green power by 2010.
  
• DuPont announced in June 2005 DuPont™ Generation IV membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) technology for fuel cells requires significantly less catalyst loading compared with the previous generation, while still delivering approximately 20 percent higher power density and well over two times improvement in durability and reliability, leading to more cost-effective fuel cell systems.
  
• DuPont leads the Integrated Corn-Based BioRefinery (ICBR) project – a U.S. Department of Energy-funded research program. As part of the ICBR, DuPont, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and other companies will develop the world's first integrated pilot-scale "biorefinery" that will make use of the entire corn plant—including the stalks, husks, and leaves—to make electricity, biofuels, and an array of biomaterials. For example, in 2003 DuPont received the President’s Green Chemistry Award for the development of bio-PDO, a raw material for its Sorona fiber.
  
• DuPont is a leading supplier of materials for photovoltaic cells, and provides numerous materials for windmills as well.

Exelon

• Selling wind energy in Pennsylvania
  
  
  • PECO WIND is a new environmentally friendly power option provided by PECO and leading wind energy marketer Community Energy, Inc., of Wayne, Pa. PECO launched the product in May 2004, and almost 10,000 customers had enrolled by the end of the year. In aggregate, they will purchase more than 28 million kWh of wind-generated electricity annually. The environmental benefit is the same as planting about two million trees or not driving 25 million miles.
    
  • PECO WIND has become one of the largest and fastest growing green power programs in the country, according to DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The customer enrollments place PECO WIND among the top 10 utility green energy programs when compared with NREL’s 2004 ranking of similar programs. Announcement of a new list is expected during the spring of 2005.
    
  • PECO WIND, the first wind energy product offered by a utility in Pennsylvania, is available to PECO’s residential and business customers in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Philadelphia and York counties. Customers may elect to purchase wind energy either for their entire electric load or in increments of 100-kWh blocks up to 100 percent of their total load. For more information or to sign up, please call 1.866.WIND.321 or visit www.pecowind.com.
    
• ComEd’s renewable energy portfolio
  
  
  • ComEd purchases electricity generated from landfill methane gas at 22 sites across northern Illinois and wind energy from the 51 MW Mendota Hills project and the 54 MW Crescent Ridge project. In 2004, Chicago passed the 1-MW milestone for installed photovoltaic systems with the completion of the Exelon Pavilions in Millennium Park that integrates photovoltaic into the building’s exterior walls – a first-of-its-kind system.
    
  • ComEd’s achievements in developing renewable energy resources continued to earn honors in 2004. ComEd received the Solar Electric Power Association’s Business Achievement Award, and ComEd also received an Illinois Governor’s Pollution Prevention Award for Continuous Improvement.
    
  • By the end of 2004, Chicago had more than 50 photovoltaic installations, totaling 1.2 MW. They include systems on ComEd’s Chicago South facility, several universities, affordable single-family housing units and the new Cook County Domestic Violence Court House – at 110 kW, the largest single system in the city to date. The Chicago solar systems represent 86 percent of the solar electric output in ComEd’s service territory and 71 percent of the total solar electric output in Illinois, contributing significantly to the state’s ranking in the top five.
    
  • For more on ComEd’s photovoltaic installations, click here.
    
• Exelon’s Wind Generation Portfolio
  
  
  • Exelon Generation has long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with four wind generation projects in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, providing a total wind capacity of 153 MW. The installed capacity associated with these contracts easily makes Exelon the largest wholesale wind marketer east of the Mississippi.
    
  • The original rationale for Generation entering into its PPAs several years ago was the belief that the primary demand for wind would be to supply renewable energy credits to competitive retail suppliers and, with the approval of a wind block rider, through PECO. As the market developed, however, retail choice has not been a growing market. Instead, we discovered a demand for wind energy among large institutions such as universities and government agencies.
    
  • And now the market has again shifted with increased focus on compliance demand associated with RPS laws in Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. New RPS requirements are considered in other states in the future. Consequently, we see a tightening of renewable supply and demand in PJM Interconnection by 2006-2007. Our marketing and sales strategy will accordingly shift somewhat to compliance demand. To expand our renewable portfolio, we will pursue additional generation projects in PJM.
    
• Emissions performance that beats industry averages
  
  
  • Generating electricity with fossil fuels produces a variety of air emissions and greenhouse gases. Exelon Generation’s air emissions per unit of energy produced are very low compared to the industry across all major emissions, as measured against the year 2002 U.S. electric utility average (EUA).
    
  • Nuclear generation constitutes the majority of our generating capacity and is the main driver behind Exelon’s low emission rates, as this technology relies on nuclear fission rather than combustion of fossil fuels as its primary source of energy to generate electric power. Other contributions come from Exelon Power’s non-emitting Conowingo Hydroelectric Station, additional generating capacity achieved from Exelon’s nuclear and hydroelectric uprate and efficiency programs and a continuation in 2004 of industry-leading capacity factors at Exelon’s nuclear units.
    
• Eddystone optimization project reducing pollution and improving cash flow
  
  
  • For many years, Eddystone unit 2’s deteriorating performance on collection of dry ash resulted in significantly increased air emissions, load limitations and high costs for wet ash processing. In 2003, Eddystone unit 2 began replacing or upgrading its electrostatic precipitators (ESP) at an expected cost of $10–20 million. Rather than accepting this cost, the project team conducted a detailed study of the possible root causes of poor ESP performance. The team members mapped the fuel utilization process from coal delivery to flue gas leaving the stack, collecting and analyzing more than 10,000 data points.
    
  • The findings confirmed that dust loading leaving the ESPs was extremely high but also showed that, surprisingly, the ash collection issues were mostly due to two interrelated causes far upstream in the process. Flue gas flow was found to be 50 percent over design, and nearly 3 percent of all coal was being sent up the stack as particulate emissions. The team reframed the project to fix these root causes at a cost of less than half of the original concept. Benefits include reduced air pollution, substantial fuel savings, decreased capital and maintenance costs and additional revenue from fully utilizing the unit’s capacity. Together, these benefits increased the unit’s cash flow by more than $2 million annually.
    
  • The project installation was completed in May 2004 with zero lost-time accidents. On September 13, 2004, the project team received Exelon’s first-ever Chairman’s Environmental Award for Environmental Performance Improvement and Operational Excellence.
    
• Financing clean energy in Pennsylvania
  
  
  • The Sustainable Development Fund (SDF)(www.trfund.com/sdf) finances Pennsylvania companies and projects that involve renewable energy, advanced clean energy and energy efficiency technologies. Funded by PECO settlement agreements, SDF is managed by The Reinvestment Fund, a regional nonprofit based in Philadelphia. In addition to providing the environmental benefits of clean energy, SDF helps PECO diversify its power generation options.
    
  • In 2004, SDF approved $4.25 million in production incentives for two wind projects that will add 50 MW of generating capacity in 2005. The incentives are expected to leverage approximately $60 million in private investment. SDF also provided $4.7 million in lease financing in 2003 and 2004 for four energy conservation projects and leveraged $2.8 million from private banks for purchasing participation in these transactions. In 2004, SDF’s Pennsylvania Advanced Industrial Technology (PA-AIT) Fund invested $670,000 in three early-stage renewable and clean energy companies. The SDF solar photovoltaic grant program grew to 83 systems and 308 kW of capacity, including PECO’s eight solar affordable housing units in Philadelphia. SDF also approved a new round of television and radio spots to encourage support for the PECO WIND product.

IBM

• IBM and several other companies are partnering with World Resources Institute (WRI) to build markets for renewable energy. Convened in 2000, WRI’s Green Power Market Development Group seeks to develop corporate markets for 1,000 MW of new, cost-competitive green power by 2010.
  
  
• IBM met approximately 1.3 percent of its energy consumption needs with renewable energy sources including wind, solar photovoltaics, and biomass in 2002.
  
  
  

Intel

• Intel buys about 14 million kWh of PGE Clean Wind power annually, enough to meet the needs of almost 1,300 average homes in the utility’s service territory. Intel Corporation is Oregon's largest retail renewable power user and one of the largest in the West.

Interface Inc.

• Interface facilities use on-site power generation from photovoltaic arrays at its Interface Flooring Systems manufacturing facility in Georgia and the Bentley Prince Street manufacturing facility located in City of Industry, California.

• Interface and several other companies are partnering with World Resources Institute (WRI) to build markets for renewable energy. Convened in 2000, WRI’s Green Power Market Development Group seeks to develop corporate markets for 1,000 MWh of new, cost-competitive green power by 2010.

• In 2004, Interface purchased 12,810 MWh of Green-e certified RECs for its facilities in the United States. Through its membership in the Green Power Market Development Group, Interface has purchased RECs derived from wind and biomass resources for three of its major business units. Interface Fabrics Group signed a 5-year contract in 2003 to purchase 12,500 MWh of RECs (2,500 MWh/yr) through 2007. Interface Flooring Systems’ contracts involve the purchase of 30,000 MWh between 2003 and 2008. Their most recent purchases enabled them to offset 100% of the electricity needed to produce products in Troup County, Georgia. Bentley Prince Street has contracted to purchase 32,370 MWh of RECs between 2003 and 2008. This commitment, combined with the renewable energy that they already purchase from the grid, and a small amount of renewable energy from the on-site photovoltaic array enables them to achieve 100% renewable electricity for their plant in City of Industry, CA.

• In 2004, 11% of Interface’s global energy usage was renewable energy through the purchase of Green-e certified RECs, renewable energy from the grid and on-site generation.

• Interface Flooring Systems is a charter partner in the EPA’s Green Power Partnership, a voluntary program aimed at boosting the market for power alternatives that reduce the environmental and health risks of conventional electricity generation.

• Interface Fabrics uses biomass from waste wood chips to supply 59 percent of its total energy needs in its Guilford, Maine manufacturing facility.

• Interface Flooring Systems has contracted with the City of LaGrange, Georgia to use landfill gas to replace up to 20 percent of its natural gas usage at the LaGrange manufacturing facility.

Ontario Power Generation

• Ontario Power Generation plans to quadruple its green energy supply and invest $50 million in developing renewable energy projects based on wind, solar, small hydroelectric, and biomass by 2005.

PG&E

• PG&E Corporation’s utility in California delivered approximately 7.5 million MWh (10.6 percent of retail electricity sales) from renewable resources in 2002.
  

Rio Tinto

• Kennecott Energy Company (a Rio Tinto subsidiary) is a member of a consortium that is proposing to enter into an agreement with the U.S. DOE on FutureGen. FutureGen is a $1 billion project that may lead to the world’s first nearly emission-free hydrogen and electricity production plant from coal, while capturing and disposing of CO₂ in geologic formations.
  
  
• Rio Tinto’s energy product group invests in a number of commercial enterprises and collaborative programs to develop and commercialize new technologies aimed at improving the environmental performance of coal. This includes Pegasus Technologies, a company that uses neural networks to optimize the operation of coal-fired electricity generators, minimizing their fuel requirements and reducing the emission of major pollutants.
  
  
  

Royal Dutch/Shell

• Royal Dutch/Shell’s Shell Renewables was established to pursue commercial opportunities in solar, wind, and other renewable energy technologies. By 2007, the Group expects to invest $500 million to $1 billion, subject to ongoing economic review, in further developing these business areas. The key objective for the solar business is to grow in line with the market, which is currently growing at around 25 percent a year. In the wind business, Shell is focusing on developing and operating wind farms, and selling "green" electricity.
  
  
• Royal Dutch/Shell purchased an equity stake in Iogen Energy Corporation in 2002, a world-leading bioethanol technology company. The investment will enable the Canadian-based company to develop more rapidly the world's first commercial-scale biomass to ethanol plant. Iogen utilizes existing agricultural residues such as wheat, oat, and barley straw in its bioethanol process.

SC Johnson

• SC Johnson broke ground for its Landfill Gas Green Energies initiative in April 2003, installing a turbine that produces electricity and steam through cogeneration for its largest manufacturing plant, Waxdale, in southeastern Wisconsin.
  
  
• SC Johnson has refined technology to enable cleaner mixtures of landfill gas and natural gas to fuel boilers. This provides over a third of its Waxdale plant’s steam energy needs. The company has also installed a 3.2 MW turbine and generator to burn waste methane gas that would otherwise be flared into the atmosphere. SC Johnson burns the methane gas instead of fossil fuels, such as natural gas or coal, to generate electricity and steam for the site’s operations, providing about 50 percent of the facility’s electricity and 20 percent of its process steam. Through this system, the company expects to reduce Waxdale’s emissions of CO₂ and other GHGs by 47 percent and cut fossil fuel energy use nearly in half by 2005.
  
  

TransAlta

• TransAlta is expanding its portfolio of renewable energy through its investment in Vision Quest WindElectric, Canada’s leading developer of wind power. With TransAlta’s investments, Vision Quest has expanded its wind energy portfolio by 400 percent, and expects to continue to grow.
  
  
• TransAlta has invested approximately $5 million to build a full-scale demonstration facility for its new clean coal technology. Partnering with two levels of government, equipment providers, and other energy companies, TransAlta hopes to complete the facility by 2010. The technology could reduce the GHG emissions of typical coal plants by up to 80 percent.
  
  
• TransAlta is the first in Calgary to service its corporate headquarters through wind-generated electricity. TransAlta also signed a 10-year contract with Vision Quest to supply about eight million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.
  
  

United Technologies

• Pratt & Whitney Specialty Materials & Services (SMS) is a new business redefining entire industries by applying its technologies in unique ways. SMS can now bring significant cost savings to myriad operations with minimal impact on the environment. Waterjet systems, convergent spray technologies and ash cleaning systems are just a few of the innovative ways SMS is saving customers time and money.
  
• The SHOCKSystem™ solution is being introduced to the domestic coal-fired power generation industry. The SHOCKSystem™ is a combustion-based product that lowers the consumption necessities of coal while still allowing equivalent generation capacity for electricity. Once installed and operational, it lowers fuel consumption requirements while increasing overall boiler efficiency by removing ash and slag deposits that accumulate on boiler tubes. This transaction increases the heat transfer absorption capabilities, thus less heat is lost during the entire power generation cycle.
  
• ElectroCore^TM is a new, advanced power plant emissions control system under development that will control a variety of pollutants from coal-, wood- and other solid fuel-fired boilers, ushering in a new way to control multiple pollutants in power plants and manufacturing facilities.