by Curtis Roberts, Renewables Communications Manager, North America

AREVA’s recent agreement with the province of New Brunswick and the utility NB Power reveals an innovative approach to meeting current and future carbon-free energy demand.

As you would expect from AREVA, the agreement includes building a nuclear power plant, in this case, one of AREVA’s mid-sized light water reactor designs. What you may not have expected in the proposal is the generation of carbon-free power from two sources in AREVA’s renewable energy portfolio: offshore wind and forest energy.

You’re not familiar with AREVA’s renewable energy portfolio?

AREVA was the first company to develop and install 5 MW offshore wind turbines specifically designed to operate in the harsh sea conditions. AREVA is the global leader in developing and generating power from biomass energy sources. In solar thermal energy, AREVA’s CLFR technology was recently selected to build the world’s largest solar booster at a plant in Australia.

This marrying of nuclear and renewable carbon-free energy generation into a comprehensive AREVA Clean Energy Park is becoming the wave of the future, and is the third example of AREVA’s concept.

Back in April 2010, AREVA and the Fresno Nuclear Energy Group (FNEG) in California announced a Memorandum of Understanding to build a Clean Energy Park with an AREVA U.S. EPR™ nuclear plant, but also a solar plant to generate energy and power an onsite desalinization facility producing clean agricultural water.

In June 2009, AREVA joined with Duke Energy, USEC, UniStar Nuclear Energy, and the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative (SODI) in an ongoing Clean Energy Park proposal at a Department of Energy site in Ohio combining nuclear with biomass power from regional sustainable forest energy sources.

There’s another benefit with AREVA’s approach: regional economic stimulus. Along with energy, AREVA sees the Clean Energy Park concept as an effective producer of local investment and employment through construction activities, ongoing operations and domestic supply chain development.

As the challenge and demand for carbon-free energy continues to increase, the solution looks less like a single hammer response, and more like the toolbox of customized carbon-free sources in an AREVA Clean Energy Park.

The recent announcement of the proposed ADAGE biopower plant in Mason County, Wash., generated a few questions.

Questions like: What, exactly, is biomass? Will it create jobs for the folks who live here? How will it impact our environment and local infrastructure? What about the air and water?

All good questions … and all answered in detail, along with many others, at these two websites:

biopowerfacts.com and adagebiopower.com/washington

You can also view and download a wide range of reference materials and link to information on academic, government and other organizations’ websites.

After looking over the information, send us your thoughts and sign up to receive emailed updates on the ADAGE Washington site. If we didn’t answer your question, send it to us and we’ll post an update.

A wealth of detailed information and resources about the planned Mason County, Wash., biomass power plant is now available online through the ADAGE Web site. Local citizens, government representatives and interested parties can learn about the power plant’s leading-edge technology, check for upcoming public events, read detailed environmental information, and better understand how the 55 MW power plant will benefit the local community and economy. Viewers can also submit comments through an online form and sign up to receive emailed project updates.

Two members of our ADAGE team sat down for an interview with radio station KMAS 1030 about the proposed Mason County biomass plant in Shelton County, Washington.

Jim Gaston, the Project’s Manager, and Tom DePonty, Director of Public Affairs for ADAGE, explained the project and answered questions about the plant, the woody debris that will be used as fuel and where it will come from, the emissions expected from the boiler, the plant’s expected water use and wastewater needs, whether the roads will handle the expected truck traffic, and how this proposed plant will impact the economy.

Listen to the interview. Learn more about biomass energy at the ADAGE Web site.

“For the sake of our economy, our security, and our environment, America must develop decisive policies that will allow us not only to compete in this clean energy race, but to become the leader in providing clean energy technology to the world.”

-Energy Secretary Steven Chu speaking yesterday at the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development.

For our part, AREVA is already making direct economic investments to build critical clean energy infrastructure in America, including some $250 million in the development of the U.S. EPR™ reactor, AREVA Newport News, Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility, and renewable energy sources like biomass and concentrated solar.

By Tom DePonty, Director of Public Affairs, ADAGE

Is there a 21st Century clean energy opportunity stored in our nation’s forest land? In Mason County, Washington, the answer is, “Yes!”

Welcome to Shelton

We have another idea.

ADAGE LLC, a bioenergy joint venture between AREVA and Duke Energy, would like to take that clean wood residue and convert it into electricity with a modern biomass power plant. The new plant will create more than 750 direct and indirect jobs during construction, 200+ direct and indirect jobs during operation, and 55 megawatts of electricity.

And this is not your grandfather’s biomass plant. The proposed modern facility is the difference between an old four-cylinder clunker and a new hybrid vehicle. This plant brings together the best available technology at every step of the process, from John Deere’s new low-impact bundler and the facility’s high efficiency boiler to the advanced emission controls and the water conservation processes.

For example, this power plant will produce some of the lowest emission rates of any biomass project in the U.S. and is equipped with a real-time continuous emissions monitoring system (CEMs) to ensure the plant operates well within all state and federal air quality standards.

Another benefit is the need for sustainable forest management to provide fuel for the plant. The proposed plant only runs on clean wood biomass collected after forestry operations thin or harvest the mature trees. The Washington State University Biomass Inventory estimates 2.4 million green tons of clean woody biomass are produced each year in Mason County and nearby Grays Harbor County. The ADAGE biomass plant would convert 600,000 green tons per year of this material into electricity.

So what was once an unused resource, I now see as an opportunity for Mason County to be a leader in the renewable energy industry, while protecting public health and creating jobs through modern clean energy processes.

I enjoyed speaking with the residents that attended our two Open Houses in Shelton, Wash., earlier this month and look forward to continuing the conversation and working together on this project. Comment here on the blog or send an email to info@adagebiopower.com.

This speech has been getting noticed ever since literally the moment it occurred, being tweeted and covered by various press…but the TED folks just put the video up.

Here is a key quote (with bolding being from us):

“So let’s look at this fourth factor — this is going to be a key one — and this is the amount of CO2 put out per each unit of energy. And so the question is, can you actually get that to zero? If you burn coal, no. If you burn natural gas, no. Almost every way we make electricity today, except for the emerging renewables and nuclear, puts out CO2. And so, what we’re going to have to do at a global scale, is create a new system. And so, we need energy miracles.

Now, when I use the term miracle, I don’t mean something that’s impossible. The microprocessor is a miracle. The personal computer is a miracle. The internet and it’s services are a miracle. So, the people here have participated in the creation of many miracles.”

Think you know a lot about clean energy? Challenge yourself and try for
the top score on AREVA’s Clean Energy Quiz.
read more…

By Katherine Berezowskyj

There was a very big announcement for renewable energy today out of Washington State. ADAGE LLC, a biopower joint venture between AREVA and Duke Energy, and John Deere announced the formation as part of the biomass power process. This alliance will bring innovative technology and sustainable methods to enhance fuel supply for the renewable woody biomass power projects.

John Deere Bundler

read more…

AREVA Biomass Facility

AREVA Biomass Facility

AREVA Biomass Facility

AREVA Biomass Facility

AREVA Biomass Facility

AREVA Biomass Facility

AREVA Biomass Facility

AREVA Biomass Facility

AREVA Biomass Facility

By Katherine Berezowskyj

By Katherine Berezowskyj

AREVA Biomass Facility

What does a recipe for sugar, rice and eucalyptus make?  Not a new culinary dish, but several hundred megawatts of reliable, affordable renewable energy.  In fact, sugar cane bagasse (stalks, husks, etc.), rice husks, and eucalyptus branches and leaves are all used in biomass facilities to produce clean, sustainable energy.

And AREVA has just been awarded three contacts for biomass facilities that use these materials to produce power in Brazil and Thailand.

Through its subsidiary Koblitz, AREVA has signed a contract for the construction of 11 turnkey biomass plants for Brazil.  These plants, which will use eucalyptus, will have a total output capacity of 380 megawatts and is expected to take about four years to build.  Also in Brazil, AREVA will retrofit the power generation unit which uses materials from a sugar mill in the Alagoas state.  The upgraded unit will generate 50 megawatts of electricity.

In Thailand, AREVA has won a contract to build two turnkey 10 megawatt biomass plants that will be fueled by rice husks.

AREVA has built over 100 units across the globe and is planning to bring this technology and expertise to America.  AREVA is currently working as part of a joint-venture with Duke Energy to build biomass facilities across the United States.  The joint-venture, ADAGE, already has two biomass facilities under development in Florida.  Each of these facilities will produce 700 direct and indirect jobs and enough energy to power 40,000 homes.

The development of this renewable energy source continues to grow.  Bloomberg reported last week that ADAGE “plan(s) to pick U.S. locations for at least three biomass-fueled plants in the next six months to meet demand for energy from renewable sources.”

The press release—AREVA Awarded Contracts in Brazil and Thailand—here.

For more information on ADAGE, and to keep up with the latest news, check out the site.