EnergyBiz - November/December 2007 - (Page 10)

» FInAnCIAL FRont clearing the Air Shutting down dirty diESEl by Jill EgbErt oN July 18, IN oaklaNd, CalIf., a 900-foot cargo ship was cold ironed for the first time using a special mobile generator powered by LNG. The APL China is one of a fleet of cargo ships owned and operated by American President Lines that is moving goods between the United States and Asia. Cold ironing allows ships to shut down their dirty diesel generators. The term cold ironing comes from the fact that engines go cold when they are off. Without some other form of power, ships would also go dark. Wittmar Engineering and Construction of Signal Hill, Calif., near Long Beach, is behind the idea of the shorebased mobile LNG generator. Wittmar is familiar with ship emissions because the company is near the dual ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. Together the two ports make up the largest port complex in the United States and have been identified as a significant source of pollution from ships, trains, trucks and cargo handling equipment. The greatest percentage of port pollution comes from ships and it is estimated that at-berth ship emissions make up about 28 percent of all port emissions. For many years, environNewsFlash mentalists, neighborhood Coal Plant groups and air regulators setbaCks have been trying to reduce Three dozen coal power emissions from ships. And plants projects have while cold ironing provides been delayed and at significant reductions, least 16 have been the traditional method of scrapped. rising costs of construction along connecting ships to the with growing concerns power grid is an expensive about global warming and lengthy process. Local are blamed, according power must be extended to an Associated Press to the dock, ships must report. The projects would be modified to take U.S. have generated enough standard power and a power electricity to meet the connection system must be needs of an estimated established. Cost estima20 million homes. eight projects cancelled tions to build this permanent since May would have infrastructure range from generated a total of $9 million to $10 million. 7,000 megawatts. The Wittmar system is construction of an much less expensive, at a estimated 32,000 megawatts of rough cost of $2.5 million, generation has been and can be implemented delayed, according to quickly. And the Wittmar federal figures. generator is more than just coal units generate about half of all mobile. Wittmar designed electricity in this country, and built the patented Dual but they are a major Frequency, Multi-Voltage source of greenhouse power generator to accomgases blamed for global modate both U.S. and warming. (GUEST OPINION) The first-ever mobile LnG cold ironing test was recently conducted with the aPL china at the Port of Oakland. PG&e supplied the LnG equipment and technical expertise. PHoto courtEsy of Pg&E foreign-flagged ships, which require different voltages and frequencies, and packaged it all up in a 40-foot shipping container on wheels. The system can be shared by multiple users and does not require capital infrastructure improvements like traditional cold ironing. For more than 30 years, Pacific Gas & Electric has been working to reduce peak power demands through energy conservation, energy efficiency, time-of-use-rates and demand response programs. Shore-based stored energy, such as Wittmar’s mobile LNG system, complements PG&E’s approach to energy efficiency through avoiding the addition of several megawatts of demand on the power grid. The California Air Resources Board is currently working on regulations to control diesel emissions from port sources and has its sights on auxiliary ship generators. Larger vessels and cruise ships may require grid connections, but for the vast majority of container, general bulk cargo, auto carriers, oil tankers and refrigerated ships, emissions targets can be met with the Wittmar system. Unlike grid-based systems that can take as many as 10 years to implement, the Wittmar system can be up and running in a matter of months with little to no modifications to the ship. Ship owners, generally opposed to regulations, have been open to the Wittmar solution because it is cost effective and significantly reduces emissions. According to Wittmar, sulphur oxides and particulate matter are virtually eliminated, nitrogen oxides are reduced by 89 percent, and carbon dioxide is reduced by 50 percent. Jill Egbert is manager of Pacific Gas & Electric Company’s Clean Air Transportation group. 10 E n E rgyB i z November/December 2007 http://www.energycentral.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EnergyBiz - November/December 2007

EnergyBiz - November/December 2007 Contents Continental Grid Vision Needed Readers’ Views and Opinions Next for National Grid Clearing the Air The Need for Nuclear Energy Trade Status Report The Innovators California On The Leading Edge FERC Sparks Change Getting Coal Right Leadership in Times of Turmoil Innovation Delivers Return A Tale of Two IPOs LNGs Bright Prospects Generation Techologies The Age of Superconductors Leaders with Vision Get Ready for Plug-in Hybrids Betting on Batteries Cost of Decarbonizing Nuclear Helmsman – A chat with Dale Klein, Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Global Energy Snapshot; Low-Income Energy Help; IT Spending Robust; The Greening of State Regulators; Generating Support Simplifying Offshore Wind Regs Chasing Construction Costs Energy Agency Sets New Course Deregulation Means Higher Rates Go-To Staffer Nightmare in Manhatten

EnergyBiz - November/December 2007

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