In another important step to deliver renewable energy and jobs to Washington state, ADAGE, the biopower joint venture between AREVA and Duke Energy, announced today that it has signed its first long-term biomass fuel supply agreement with Green Diamond Resource Company, who owns and manages timberland in the immediate area.

Through this agreement, a portion of the woody biomass for the ADAGE Mason County facility would come from wood residuals. This material is what remains in the forest after harvest operations, and it will be removed by Green Diamond Forestry ensuring compliance with Washington forest practice regulations and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative Standard.

The proposed Mason County facility would bring 55 megawatts of renewable biomass generation and addition to a $250 million initial investment in Mason County. The project is expected to create more than 400 direct jobs during construction and more than 100 direct jobs during permanent operation and will use state-of-the-art environmental controls to protect public health.

For more information check out the ADAGE website where you can find much more on biomass and how it contributes to clean energy generation.

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.

Mark Flanagan of NEI is highlighting a CFR interview with Duke Energy’s CEO, James E. Rogers, in which he talks about the future of the energy industry – and the importance of nuclear energy not only for our CO2-free energy future, but also for our economy:

But the difference in the jobs is quite different, because if you’re wiping off a solar panel, it’s sort of a minimum wage type of job, [with] much higher compensation for nuclear engineers and nuclear operators. If our goal is to rebuild the middle class, nuclear plays a key role there, particularly if coal is out of the equation.

He also talks about the U.S. regaining its role as the leader in nuclear energy:

People forget that [the United States was] the innovator of nuclear energy. We developed the technologies. And what people have also forgotten is that 20 percent of our electricity comes from nuclear, and that we produce twice the amount of electricity from nuclear than any country in the world. We sit here today, not turning dirt on a single nuclear plant. [. . .] We have a competitive advantage on building nuclear, on building recycling to address the spent fuel, and that would be a great loss of opportunity if we don’t find a way to seize it and rebuild the supply.

Like Mark Flanagan said, we could spend all day highlighting great lines from this interview, but it would probably be better if you just read the interview for yourself.  You should also know that Duke Energy is teaming up with AREVA on the ADAGE joint venture focusing on the biopower sector. ADAGE was recently in the news because JEA, the energy company for Jacksonville, Florida, announced that it plans to power 40,000 homes with power generated from ADAGE’s biomass plants.  We’re proud to be working with Duke Energy and Jim Rogers, who clearly “gets it” when it comes to the future of energy generation in the U.S.

• More posts about ADAGE Biopower
• Official Website for ADAGE Biopower

The Jacksonville Business Journal is reporting (you need a subscription to read the whole article) that JEA (the energy company for Jacksonville, Florida) is planning to buy electricity for 40,000 homes from ADAGE‘s Hamilton County biopower plant.  The plant, operated by ADAGE, a JV between Duke Energy and AREVA, converts woody biomass – debris from forest operations that would otherwise go to waste – into usable, renewable energy.
 
We’re glad that JEA’s going to be working with us.  Customer demand for clean, renewable energy has a big role to play in the debates going on right now over climate change and renewable energy. If the people are asking for more of their energy to be generated by green energy sources like nuclear power, biomass, wind, and solar, it’s easier to get to a cleaner, CO2-free energy future.
 

• ADAGE Biopower Website
• Previous blog posts about ADAGE Biopower

by Katherine Berezowskyj

Jobs and renewable energy were the topics of conversation during a roundtable in Hamilton County, Florida last week. Local officials and residents joined representatives from AREVA and Duke Energy, to talk about the impact that the planned ADAGE biopower facility will have in the area.

AREVA Inc. President Jacques Besnainou speaks to the economic roundtable.

A joint venture between AREVA and Duke Energy, ADAGE is the first partnership in the United States between two major companies to develop new facilities based on biopower─ biomass to electricity. Using local clean wood byproducts and residue as fuel, this planned biopower facility in Hamilton County will create a significant impact on the surrounding communities, producing both clean energy and much-needed jobs.

During the construction and initial operation phases, the facility is expected to create roughly 700 direct and indirect jobs throughout the community. These job estimates provided by Dr. Julie Harrington, an independent economist and Director of Florida State University’s Center for Economic Forecasting and Analysis, also show a $105 million direct impact on the local economy in the first 2.5 years. After full startup, she estimates that it will create 24 direct operation jobs, at least 100 fuel supply jobs, and 150 indirect jobs in the local economy. Representative Leonard Bembry (D-Madison) added that “following the construction period, the facility will provide over $70 million in economic impact every year.”

ADAGE expects to break ground in 2010 on the facility and to have it up and running by as early as mid-2012. When fully operational, the facility will produce 50 Megawatts of renewable energy, enough to power 40,000 homes.

During the roundtable, ADAGE president Reed Wills shared his thoughts about the project saying, “Together, we can create renewable energy for homes and businesses while also creating local jobs─ a win-win for Hamilton County and Florida’s energy future.”

• More information on the ADAGE Economic Roundtable

From left: Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy; Jean-Pierre Benque, President of EDF North America; Anne Lauvergeon, CEO of AREVA; Ted Strickland, Governor of Ohio; and Randy Runyon, SODI Director

by Katherine Berezowskyj

It couldn’t have been said better: “Investing in new nuclear power plants, which produce electricity 24 hours a day and seven days a week, can be a major growth engine for our economy,” while also being an energy source that is “tailor-made for addressing climate change.” This came from Jim Rogers, the CEO and President of Duke Energy, in an editorial yesterday in the Wall Street Journal. Rogers spoke about how the United States is not leading the charge in developing green energy technology, but he made the point “we are still the world’s largest operator of commercial nuclear power. We have 104 licensed commercial nuclear reactors—generating about 20% of our electricity and more than 70% of all carbon-free electricity.”

Of these 104 nuclear reactors, Duke Energy has seven, and they are planning to build three more. One of these three includes a reactor proposed as part of the recent announcement of the first U.S. Clean Energy Park Project for Ohio. The park is an alliance between key players—Duke Energy, AREVA, Unistar Nuclear Energy, USEC Inc., and Sothern Ohio Diversification Initiative—in which they will look at the Department of Energy site in Portsmouth, Ohio as a potential location for a new nuclear power plant. As part of the development, the project will focus on the deployment of Generation III + reactors on the site, which will include an evaluation of AREVA’s US EPR™ technology.

The construction and operation a new nuclear power plant, like the one under consideration for the Clean Energy Park in Ohio, creates thousands of jobs during construction and hundreds during operation. This is exactly what Rogers points out, “Our private-sector expertise and interest in new nuclear plants is causing regional energy hubs to sprout up, creating thousands of well-paying jobs.” One of these hubs is Charlotte, N.C., where Duke Energy has its headquarters. You will also find 600 AREVA employees here, and during this next year, our numbers will be growing throughout the United States as we are hiring another 600 people. And the economic benefit of nuclear energy does not stop there, as he refers to how “each year the average nuclear plant generates approximately $430 million in sales of goods and services in the local community and nearly $40 million in total labor income.”

While nuclear energy is the most reliable form of CO2-free energy, Rogers concludes that “We must also invest in and expand our use of wind, solar, and other new renewable energy technologies,” which includes a key partnership in renewable energy between Duke Energy and AREVA. This joint venture, ADAGE, is currently working to develop 50 megawatt biopower plants that will use clean wood waste as fuel to produce electricity. They recently announced the first proposed site for their biomass plant in Hamilton County, Florida.

Be sure to check out of the rest of Jim Rogers’s editorial “Why Nuclear Power is Part of Our Future” here.

AREVA's Anne Lauvergeon, Duke Energy's Jim Rogers, and former President Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative

ADAGE LLC, a joint venture between AREVA SA and Duke Energy Company, just announced the proposed site of its first U.S. biopower plant in Hamilton County, Florida, during the annual Forest Landowners Association conference. The site, the first in a series of 50 megawatt biopower plants that ADAGE plans to develop in the United States, will use clean wood waste as fuel to produce electricity.

Not only are the ADAGE biopower plants an emerging source of renewable energy within the United States, but the Hamilton County biopower facility will also help to fuel the economy through the creation of approximately 400 jobs during construction, including 125 facility and fuel-related jobs during operation.

ADAGE has already met several key project milestones, including securing rights to the 215-acre site in Hamilton County and submitting applications for state environmental permits. ADAGE has also begun exclusive negotiations with JEA, an electric utility from the Jacksonville area, for the potential purchase of energy from the biopower plant and with The Langdale Company for the supply of wood waste to be used for the project.

While there are still several steps that need to be taken before construction work can begin, once completed, the ADAGE facility will provide clean reliable electricity to around 40,000 households in Florida. That power will be carbon-neutral, and will help meet important sustainability goals.

Stay tuned for more exciting site announcements as ADAGE continues to bring sustainable energy to the United States. Which lucky state will be next?

by Jarret Adams

But it is not all about nuclear energy. AREVA also believes in the power of renewables to create significant numbers of green jobs, and we are working to expand our business in this sector.

Specifically, AREVA has partnered with Duke Energy to form ADAGE, which is focused on developing advanced biopower (biomass to electricity) plants in the United States. These facilities too will produce significant numbers of green jobs. Each facility will create 400 jobs during construction and about 100 jobs during operation. The goal of ADAGE is to build 10-12 new plants over the next six years—this means thousands of new jobs to say nothing of the additional green power they will produce.

In February, ADAGE signed a preliminary agreement with Energy Northwest to develop biopower plants in the states of Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon. The goal is to market the facilities to the 24 member companies of Energy Northwest with the hope of building one or more in the four-state region.