Consumers had sought to amend its long-running agreement with National Energy of Lincoln in northeast Michigan, proposing early termination of a previous amendment that had extended the PPA
for the plant’s 18 MW of electricity to 2027. The latest proposed amendment would have resulted in closure of the plant on May 31, 2024.

In June 2023 Consumers applied for a similar early termination of a PPA with Cogeneration Michigan Associates Limited Partnership’s Cadillac Plant. The new exit date would also be May 31, 2024, from July 2028.

In both cases, Consumers Energy had argued the early terminations provide several benefits, such as “an
expected reduction in cost, which will be passed on to PSCR [power supply cost recovery] customers…”.

But commissioners raised concerns about these claimed potential savings since Consumers “would turn to volatile electricity markets to replace some of the energy output and capacity lost with the shutdown of the plants.”

“The Commission found relying on unpredictable markets for replacement supply outside of a comprehensive Integrated Resource Planning process in this manner entailed an unacceptable level of risk,” MPSC said in a statement.

Consumers had proposed replacing the capacity from the Lincoln biomass plant with a 33.6 MW solar facility and the Cadillac Plant with a 67 MW solar facility. However, the utility had itself noted in testimony that given their non-dispatchable profiles, the two solar facilities would not be able to replace all the electric capacity from the biomass plants without supplemental electricity purchases.

Commissioners said that was concerning given the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO) has warned of tightening supplies.

Regulators greenlight solar and storage projects

The Commission also approved several renewable energy and storage projects called for in the long-range integrated resource plans of two Michigan electric utilities.

Commissioners approved DTE Energy’s application to construct a 220 MW/800 MWh lithium-ion battery storage facility at the site of the former Trenton Channel coal-fired plant in Wayne County. The battery storage project is expected to cost $460 million.

The application to build the battery facility was approved the same day DTE demolished two smokestacks at Trenton Channel.

Retired in 2022, the plant was originally built to address the needs of an expanding economy post World War I and was the fourth major power plant Detroit Edison put into operation during the 1920’s. The coal-fired plant began operating in 1924.

The plant had six turbine generators with 13 coal-fired boilers. The sixth and last turbine generator arrived by 1929. At that time, Trenton Channel was the largest project Detroit Edison had undertaken. At one point, with the expansion of the plant in 1950, the facility generated 1,060 MW of energy.

At its retirement, Trenton Channel generated 535 MW.

Beyond the actions related to the Trenton Channel site, MPSC on Friday approved Consumers Energy’s application for approval of a PPA between the utility and Freshwater Solar Project, a 300 MW solar facility in Montcalm County, with a total lifetime cost of $715.7 million.

The 253 MW project was one of several selected as part of a competitive procurement process for “firm renewable” generation on Oʻahu. The proposed repowering of the Waiau facility will be the largest generation project in Hawaiian Electric’s 132-year history, it said.

At approximately 42 MW, each combustion turbine is smaller and more efficient than the oil-fired steam boiler it will replace, the utility said. Initially, the CTs will use biodiesel and could potentially use renewable gas or hydrogen in the future.

Hawaiian Electric said the new additions are intended to be available all the time, flexible to meet the needs of a grid powered by solar and wind.

Waiau Units 3 and 4, aged 76 and 73 years respectively and scheduled to be retired in 2024, will be the first units to be replaced with the new technology over the next several years with an expected in-service date of 2029.

The other four units, which came into service between 1959 and 1968, will be replaced in phases with all units expected to be online by 2033.

The project still requires final approval by the state’s Public Utilities Commission. Details on the price of the project and estimated cost to customers will be made available when the company files its application for approval. Because maintenance and repair costs for the older units will be removed, and because the new units are meant to be more efficient and will run less frequently, savings are expected over 30 years compared to the cost of continuing to run and repair the aging units.

In 2013, Hawaiian Electric announced plans to deactivate 226 MW of oil-fired power generation, to be replaced by renewable energy sources – including two generators at Oahu’s Waiau Power Plant. In 2019, the company put out its desire for close to 900 MW of new renewable energy resources.

B&W said its BrightLoop technology is a chemical looping technology that can produce hydrogen from nearly any feedstock, including solid fuels such as waste wood and other types of biomass. The company said its process also produces an isolated CO2 stream for capture, use or sequestration, as well as nitrogen that can be combined with hydrogen to create ammonia.

Babcock & Wilcox also said it reached an agreement for General Hydrogen, a CGI Gases subsidiary, to purchase hydrogen from the facility. General Hydrogen would purchase and transport off-site up to 15 tons of hydrogen per day, according to the terms of the agreement.

CGI Gases would purchase and transport compressed carbon dioxide (CO2) captured during the process.

Joe Buckler, B&W Senior Vice President of Clean Energy, said the hydrogen could be used in power production, industrial processes or as transportation fuel.

When the project is complete, the 75 MW TES Filer City Station plant would use biomass to generate power and be equipped with B&W’s SolveBright post-combustion CO2 scrubbing process. The process would remove CO2 for sequestration or utilization.

The project is partially funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Babcock & Wilcox will manage construction and mechanical scope of the study and commercial phase.

The Filer City plant is jointly owned by NorthStar Clean Energy and Houston, Texas-based Tondu Corp.

The electricity generated at the plant is sold to Consumers Energy, and the steam is sold to the Packaging Corporation of America facility adjacent to the site.

The plant generates steam with two non-reheat Foster Wheeler traveling grate spreader stoker boilers. Pollutants are removed from the flue gas stream using two flue gas dry scrubbers and two baghouses.

TES Filer City Station began commercial operation in 1990.

Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) was awarded a contract to study its carbon capture solution at a waste coal and biomass plant currently under development.

The carbon-negative plant being developed by Consol Energy would run on waste coal and biomass, with the potential for demonstration in 5–10 years and commercialization by 2030. Consol is evaluating carbon capture technologies as part of National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)’s 21st Century Power Plants initiative.

The proposed plant would have four pressurized fluid bed boiler combustors, each with CO2 emission capture targets of approximately 781,000 metric tons per year. B&W’s post-combustion SolveBright scrubbing system absorbs CO2 directly from the plant’s flue gas using a regenerable solvent that is then recycled for re-use.

This project will also include Honeywell’s advanced solvent carbon capture process technology, B&W said in a release. This point source CO2 removal technology can be retrofitted within existing plants or included as part of a new installation.

Worley Group is serving as lead contractor to Consol Energy and is coordinating the technology evaluation.

Xcel Energy, provider of electricity and natural gas services to nearly 6 million customers in eight Western and Midwestern states, has committed to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from its natural gas business by 2050.

The announcement Monday comes nearly three years after the utility pledged to deliver 100% carbon-free electricity to customers by 2050, with an interim target of reducing emissions by 80% by 2030.

Xcel will now accelerate plans to reduce methane emissions by, in part, purchasing natural gas only from suppliers with "certified low emissions" and continuing to improve its gas delivery system. The company will also expand customer programs for the adoption of electric appliances and low-carbon gas alternatives.

“Earlier this year, Colorado released our roadmap for 100% clean electricity generation by 2040, cleaner air, and bold climate action,” said Colorado Gov. Jared Polis. “This exciting new commitment by Xcel Energy represents a major step forward that will support Colorado in achieving our state’s climate goals and illustrates how Colorado is encouraging the innovation and collaboration needed to foster a clean economy. Xcel Energy’s aggressive, forward looking plans for clean energy are welcomed news."

Xcel will also launch a series of pilot programs to test renewable natural gas, smart electric water heaters, and air source heat pumps with customers, as well as testing hydrogen production and hydrogen blending in its natural gas system.

A study by the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University advocated for investments in the U.S. natural gas pipeline system to support the eventual shift from natural gas to cleaner, low-to-no carbon fuels. Not for several more decades will zero-carbon fuels be ready to replace natural gas as the backbone of the energy mix, the authors wrote, and pipeline upgrades can support the transportation of hydrogen and biogas.

RMI commended Xcel's desire to expand its net-zero target to its natural gas business.

"RMI supports Xcel Energy’s desire to reduce its methane intensity by sourcing certified natural gas from transparent, independent certification programs such as MiQ, and carefully monitoring methane emissions in its distribution system. RMI will continue to work with regulators to ensure that utilities can appropriately recover costs for delivering gas with a lower climate impact to their consumers," Lara Owens, manager of climate intelligence at RMI, said in a statement.

Xcel expects the net-zero targets to reduce nearly 80 million tons of carbon by 2030.

Gravity-based energy storage provider Energy Vault has landed a deal with DG Fuels for 1.6 GWh of energy storage to support sustainable aviation fuel projects.

The gravity storage systems will be deployed at DG Fuels projects in Louisiana, British Columbia, and Ohio, providing green electricity in conjunction with solar to match demand load of green hydrogen production. The renewable power will be used to power HydrogenPro water electrolysis for both hydrogen and oxygen feedstock production.

The deal is expected to generate $520 million in revenue, Energy Vault said. The first of the three projects is expected to commence in mid-2022.

“We are proud to collaborate with DG Fuels and its partners to economically enable 24/7 renewable power, supporting DG Fuels to execute against their plans to efficiently deliver green fuel to the aviation industry," Energy Vault CEO Robert Piconi said. "Our energy storage systems are designed to maximize the use of local materials and stimulate local job creation, thus amplifying the sustainability benefits of DG Fuels’ deployment plans. These projects will play a critical role in reducing our reliance on fossil-based fuels while further advancing our country’s decarbonization goals.”

Read more: Energy Vault valued at $1.1 billion after merger

Energy Vault's energy storage systems use gravity to store and release renewable energy on demand, giving grid-scale reliability to clean energy sources in place of fossil fuels.

Energy Vault's special purpose acquisition merger with Novus Capital Corporation II in September valued the company at $1.1 billion. The company said at the time that it had eight executed agreements and letters of intent for 1.2 GWh of energy storage capacity, with deployments planned for later this year in the U.S., before rolling out in Europe, the Middle East, and Australia in 2022.

Energy Vault storage systems have a technical life of 35 years.

“We are pleased to be partnering with Rob and the Energy Vault team to deploy their innovative energy storage system which best meets our needs for reliable, cost effective, safe and sustainable energy storage," said DG Fuels CEO Michael Darcy. "Energy Vault’s system will play a critical role within our technology and vendor ecosystem to efficiently deliver SAF to the transportation industry.”

California-based Ways2H Inc. and Caribbean energy and ecological firm VALECOM are signed a letter of intent to transform as much as 9,000 tons of commercial waste into hydrogen. The project will focus on H2 production for power generation on Martinique.

The island nation uses about 3,000 tons of plastic films to protect its bananas for export. WAYS2H will initially process 24 tons of commercial waste, including the plastic and furniture, per day. The conversion will take in another eight tons per day once the infrastructure is fully operational at the end of the expected 18-month construction timetable.

“This modular and multi-flow project in Martinique will set up one or more of WAYS2H’s waste-to-energy units and we intent to replicate it in other Caribbean nations,” Dominique Regis, VALECOM CEO, said in a statement.

Ways2H and its shareholder and technology partner, Japan Blue Energy, Co., developed their patented thermochemical process that converts waste at a high temperature into high-quality fuel-grade hydrogen. No partial oxidation of the feedstock takes place and the high temperature and syngas composition leave optimal conditions for the water-gas-shift reaction to obtain a hydrogen-rich syngas, from which hydrogen is separated and purified to fuel grade, the company says. 

Char produced as a byproduct is collected and used as fuel with the remaining tail-gas to generate the energy needed for the thermochemical conversion of the waste feedstock, thus self-supplying the energy needed. When paired with carbon capture and storage or utilization, Ways2H’s renewable hydrogen is carbon-negative, which means it removes carbon from the atmosphere.

“What we’re seeing in Martinique is not unique to what we’re seeing across the world: local, often rural, economies that are struggling to manage increasingly diverse waste streams, heightened energy costs and job losses,” said Ways2H CEO Jean-Louis Kindler. “As we approach COP26, we see our work here, and in our projects around the world, as a critical Under embargo until September 28, 2021 at 7 a.m. ET blueprint for circular economy creation and we thank our partners like VALECOM as we work towards this mutual goal.”

The hydrogen conversion and production plant will be located near the island’s landfill (aerial photo above).

Waste-to-H2 sites are currently underway in Japan, France and Scotland and the U.S., Ways2H noted. The company is a joint venture with Japan Blue Energy and U.S.-based Clean Energy Enterprises.

B&W Renewables was awarded the $35 million-plus contract by ESANI A/S, Greenland’s national waste management company. The facilities will be built near the cities of Nuuk and Sisimiut and provide district heating for residents and businesses.

Utilizing waste from existing landfills and convert it to energy reduce net methane emissions by a considerable degree. Climate experts say that methane is multiple times more harmful as a greenhouse gas than carbon emissions, according to reports.

“Waste-to-energy technologies are some of the most effective solutions for combatting climate change by reducing methane emissions from landfills and can be combined with carbon capture technologies to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Jimmy Morgan, B&W Chief Operating Officer. “Using B&W Renewable’s proven waste-to-energy and environmental technologies, operators can generate clean energy while reducing the amount of trash in landfills, protecting the air and water from emissions and runoff, and fighting climate change. B&W Renewable’s technology also provides a fully sustainable solution, now and in the future, to process municipal waste while helping to protect Greenland’s pristine and fragile arctic environment.”

Waste-to-energy projects will be part of the content offered at POWERGEN this January

B&W Renewable’s project scope includes supplying advanced Vølund DynaGrate combustion grates as well as boilers, waste feeding systems, a Vølund DynaDischarger ash extractor, GMAB flu gas cleaning systems and advanced control and monitoring systems.

The company also will install and commission the facilities. The waste-to-energy plants are scheduled for completion in 2023 and 2024.

B&W has participated in more than 100 waste-to-energy power projects worldwide. Many of those have been in Scandinavia, which is evidence of island nations concerned about land scarcity and costs for dumps, not to mention the environmental impacts.

In the U.S., the federal Energy Information Administration estimated that only about 12 percent of the nearly 300 million tons of municipal solid waste produced in the U.S. was burned in WTE plants. In 2019, 67 U.S. power plants generated about 13 billion kWh of electricity from burning nearly 25 million tons of combustible solid waste, according to the EIA.

Finnish owner UPM-Kymmene chose Siemens Energy to guide the power project aspects of the biorefinery currently under construction in Leuna. The plant will convert 100 percent wood into bio-based mono-ethylene glycol, mono-propylene glycol and renewable functional fillers.

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These products can help reduce the carbon footprint of end-products such as PET bottles and packaging materials.

“We look forward to helping UPM reduce the world’s reliance on chemicals produced from fossil fuels as we move toward creating a more sustainable world,” said Jennifer Hooper, Senior Vice President, Industrial Applications Solutions for Siemens Energy.

Siemen Energy’s duties on the power project aspect include mill-wide medium and low-voltage power distribution system, drive and motor control systems, automation, and digital twinning of the entire plant.

The biorefinery is scheduled for start-up in late 2022. When fully operational, it will have a total annual capacity of 220,000 tons.