Energy News for week ending May 10, 2019

No Sweat | Tourist Season | Just add water

Happy Friday afternoon.

Let’s get to this week’s energy news.

It’s hard to believe with all this wet and cool weather that summer is just around the corner, but when it arrives, the New Haven Register reports, “No Sweat: Connecticut, New England have enough electricity for summer ahead. Officials with an organization that coordinates electric power grid reliability in the Northeast and parts of Canada said Thursday that Connecticut and New England should have an adequate power supply for this summer. Part of the reason for the adequate supply, according to officials with New York City-based Northeast Power Coordinating Council, is demand for electricity during peak periods continues to decline. The organization’s forecast for overall demand for electricity in New England has decreased by about 600 megawatts from last year’s forecast, to 103,548 megawatts…The NPCC’s forecast for this summer took into account the impending shutdown of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Massachusetts, he said…The loss of Pilgrim’s 680-megawatt generation capacity is being offset by a 1,185-megawatt increase in new power-producing assets in New England, said Phil Fedora, assistant vice president for reliability services at NPCC. Among the generation increases is the new natural gas-fired power plant New Jersey-based PSEG is building on the site of the old Bridgeport Harbor generation station.”

Speaking of summer and tourist season, from Recharge News we have, “First US offshore wind farm ‘boosts local tourism.’ Researchers at the University of Rhode Island (URI) found tourism has increased on Block Island since five turbines began operating off its coast in 2016, confounding concerns over offshore wind among some in coastal communities. After analysing AirBnB rental data from roughly two years before and one year after the pioneering US array entered commercial operation, they found results for the rental market to be almost entirely positive for the peak July-August summer months.”

For a new technology focus, we bring you an AP story in the New York Post, “Salt could be the future of renewable energy. Amid the hum and heat of Berlin’s Reuter thermal power station stands a shining contraption that looks out of place in the decades-old machine hall. Its silver pipes and vats contain a substance that Vattenfall, the plant’s operator, says could become a key ingredient for a fossil fuel-free future. The energy company, together with a Swedish start-up, is testing the use of salt — though not quite the common table variety — to store heat, which accounts for more than half the power consumed in Germany. If it works well, the system could help solve a problem posed by renewable energy sources like wind and solar the world over: they are unreliable, meaning they sometimes generate too much, and sometimes too little power…Vattenfall and Swedish start-up SaltX have been taking advantage of a simple chemical reaction that occurs when quicklime becomes wet: the salt-like grains soak up the water, becoming calcium hydroxide and releasing large amounts of heat in the process. By removing the water again — a process not dissimilar to baking — the substance turns back into calcium oxide. The process essentially mirrors how batteries work, except that instead of electricity, the system stores heat. SaltX says it has also patented a way of covering the quicklime with tiny particles — known as a nano-coating — to prevent it from lumping together after several heating and cooling cycles. Roeglin says the process can absorb ten times more energy than water, which is currently used for power-to-heat facilities. And unlike tanks of hot water, which slowly cool down over time, the system can retain the chemically-trapped energy for far longer. Need heat? Just add water.”

There are many more stories below. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Natural Gas/Oil/Pipeline/Drilling

Senators renew push to ban offshore drilling off New England, Boston Herald

Longmeadow residents to vote on proposed Tennessee Gas pipeline on May 14, WWLP

Columbia Gas settles on road repairs, Eagle-Tribune

Renewables/Climate Change/RGGI, etc.

One million species face extinction, U.N. report says. And humans will suffer as a result., Washington Post

Crowd oil not crude oil, Nature Communications

We’ll soon know the exact air pollution from every power plant in the world. That’s huge., VOX.com

Salt could be the future of renewable energy, (AP) New York Post

New York to phase out coal by 2020 through strict emissions regulations, Utility Dive

How to Switch to Renewable, Sustainable Energy in Connecticut, NBC Connecticut