RNG NEWS
DTE Biomass Dedicates RenewableEenergy facility in N.C.
By DTE Biomass Energy, PRNewswire.
DTE Biomass Energy today celebrated the completion of its 9.6-megawatt landfill gas-to-energy project at the Uwharrie Environmental Landfill in Mt. Gilead.
DTE Biomass Energy last month started operating the facility at the landfill, which is owned and operated by Republic Services of North Carolina. Landfill gas at the site is used to generate renewable energy which is subsequently sold to Duke Energy Progress. The Uwharrie facility will more than double DTE Biomass' generation capacity in North Carolina, where it already operates six renewable energy projects.
Representatives from DTE Biomass Energy, Republic Services and Duke Energy Progress gathered to recognize their partnership that has resulted in enough renewable energy to power more than 6,000 North Carolina homes.
California to Propose $200/tonne LCFS Price Cap
By Bill Peters, Argus Media
California Air Resources Board (ARB) staffers intend to propose capping Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) credit prices at $200/metric tonne using a credit clearance mechanism.
ARB is proposing the credit price ceiling along with several tentative possible slopes for the LCFS's targets from 2016-2020. The proposals were disclosed in a staff presentation released yesterday ahead of an ARB workshop on 27 October.
At $200/t, the LCFS would add about 6¢/USG to the cost of unblended gasoline and diesel in 2020, when the program reaches carbon intensity reductions of 10pc from 2010 levels. At current allowances prices, California's greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program will add 9.66¢/USG to the price of gasoline and 12.35¢/USG to the price of diesel when those fuels come under the cap in January.
LCFS credits have traded at around $25/t this week as the program remains well-oversupplied because it is frozen at a 1pc reduction target under a court order. LCFS prices hit a high of $85/t last fall before tumbling to their current levels in the first quarter of this year.
Under a credit clearance mechanism, ARB would allow covered entities to roll over unfilled compliance obligations from one year to the next if they can show that there are insufficient credits available in the market. The $200/t price cap would be adjusted upward for inflation annually subsequent to 2016.
ARB would determine whether regulated parties lack sufficient credits to cover the deficits they generated selling gasoline and diesel into California. If there are parties that need more credits, the state would issue a call for any excess credits in the LCFS program to be pledged into a state-facilitated sale. Regulated parties with excess deficits would be required to buy their share of those credits at or around the price ceiling.
ARB is also proposing that carried-over deficits would be subject to an interest rate of 3pc, so an entity that carried over 1,000t would be responsible for 1,030t the next year.
LCFS compliance is determined by the generation of credits or deficits, depending on whether a fuel sold in California beats or exceeds each year's carbon intensity target.
One reason ARB staff prefers the credit-clearance approach over other cost-containment methods, such as an alternative compliance payment, is that it would not result in the state receiving money from regulated parties. ARB is being sued over the use of auctions for its cap-and-trade program on the grounds it is an illegal tax under the state constitution.
ARB says it is also concerned that it would need legislative authorization to direct the funds to low-carbon fuel providers.
2015 Chevy Impala to Run on Biogas
By Callum Newcombe, TheAutoFuture.com
Chevrolet has announced that they are set to include biogas tanks as an option on their existing 2014 Impala model. Two versions will be available: the base LS and the upper-tier LT.
Though they haven’t released any official details on either models, the base LS version is set to be “almost exactly the same” as the existing LS model.
In 2015, the Impala will have the option of a 7.8 gallon carbon neutral gas tank...
CRS Report on the Production Tax Credit
By David Burton, JDSupra.com.
On October 2, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) published an overview of the production tax credit (PTC). The report is available here. It contains a helpful summary of the history of the PTC and an insightful discussion of the PTC and the alternative minimum tax.
The report’s only shortcoming as discussed below is not applying a particularly critical eye to either a cited study regarding tax incentives for renewables from the National Academy of Sciences that employed a questionable methodology or to President Obama’s proposal to replace the investment tax credit (ITC) for solar and other technologies with the PTC.
ACORE Report: Monitize U.S. Energy Security
By Joanna Schroeder, DomesticFuel.com.
The American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) has released a new report, “Monetizing Energy Security,” that outlines liabilities fostered by the natural dependence of the Department of Defense (DOD) on energy resources. The paper proposes the DOD should consider the actual, total cost of energy it takes to achieve energy security and assign a dollar value.
“As the largest, most technologically advanced, and geographically dispersed military in the world, DOD has sought to develop a more comprehensive energy strategy to reduce liability on limited energy resources,” said Lesley Hunter, ACORE’s lead researcher and the paper’s editor. “We believe, and our research backs this up, that there’s significant room for improvement in cost-accounting of DOD’s present energy strategy, and that renewable energy and microgrid technologies can add real value in the push for energy security.”
Landfill Gas to Energy: Republic Services uses methane to power 1600 homes
By News10.net.
Methane is a normal by-product of decomposition in landfills. At Republic Services' Forward landfill in Eastern San Joaquin County, they have harnessed the methane and converted it into power. Republic Services, in cooperation with Ameresco, the largest renewable energy firm in the country, have constructed a 4.3 megawatt twin-turbine power plant next to the Austin Road landfill that runs on the methane pulled out of the nearby landfill. The generated power is sent to the PG&E grid and then to Silicon Valley Power, where it is used to supply 1600 homes in Santa Clara.
Watchdog Sues EPA over Renewable Fuel Mandate (RVOs)
By Laura Barron-Lopez, The Hill.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a lawsuit on Wednesday over the agency’s response to a Freedom of Information Act request for records relating to the mandate, which sets the amount of biofuels refiners must blend into the nation’s fuel supply.
“Is the EPA slow-walking its release of these documents because it does not want the public to learn how political the RFS [Renewable Fuel Standard] has become? The RFS should be based on sound energy policy, not politics. CREW’s lawsuit will shed light on what really went on at the EPA,” Sloan added.
Nanoparticle Technology Triples the Production of Biogas
By Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Phys.org.
Researchers of the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence, and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) have developed the new BiogàsPlus, a technology which allows increasing the production of biogas by 200% with a controlled introduction of iron oxide nanoparticles to the process of organic waste treatment.
VERMONT UTILITIES COULD LOSE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN ENERGY CREDITS
By John Herrick, Vermont Digger.
The Legislature next session will decide whether electric utilities should be required to sell renewable energy to customers, rekindling a debate over the price Vermont consumers will pay to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The creation of a renewable portfolio standard would establish by law how much electricity generated from wind, solar and other renewable resources utilities must be sold to customers.
Under the state’s current voluntary goal, utilities are allowed to sell renewable power credits out of state to reduce electric rates.
Bi-Fuel Impala Runs On Compostable Waste
By Diego Rosenberg, GM Authority.
The 2015 Chevrolet Impala is now available in a bi-fuel configuration that can run on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) or conventional gasoline fuel. But it gets more interesting than that, as the Bi-fuel Impala can also run on sewage, beer, and food scraps.
Cleveland, OH-based Quasar Energy Group has developed a method to convert organic waste into a renewable energy source known as biogas, which is the raw mixture of gases given off by the breakdown of organic materials kept in an environment lacking in oxygen. Methane gas is the resulting product, which is then processed to remove all carbon dioxide and impurities to make Renewable Natural Gas (RNG). When compressed, RNG is a direct replacement for CNG.