Consulting-Specifying Engineer - October 2008 - (Page 14)

In The News ASHRAE proposes changes to standards, guidelines SHRAE is soliciting input on nearly three dozen changes to its standards. In addition, the ASHRAE is asking members to sound off on a proposal to withdraw a standard focused on cleaning.The standards open for review include 15 (refrigerant safety), 34 (classification of refrigerants), 55 (thermal comfort), 90.1 (energy efficiency), 62.1 (ventilation), 62.2 (residential ventilation), and 135 (BACnet), and one guideline. ASHRAE also is proposing withdrawal of Standard 52.1-1992, Gravimetric and Dust-Spot Procedures for Testing Air-Cleaning Devices Used in General Ventilation for Removing Particulate Matter. The most crucial features of the standard (regarding dust-holding capacity and arrestance) have been folded into Standard 52.2-2008, Method of Testing General Ventilation Air Cleaning Devices for Removal Efficiency by Particle Size, making the other standard all but redundant. A Energy company shifts focus to wind power onsulting Engineers Group (CEG), Farmington, Minn., provides electrical utilities with design/build services on high-tech transmission and distribution systems. Five years ago, CEG began working in earnest on growing its involvement in the burgeoning wind power market. According to vice president and senior project engineer Vince Granquist, the move has paid off in no small way. “It is far and away our biggest area of growth,” said Granquist. “At this point, it is probably over 75% of the company’s focus.” The new concentration started when Granquist noticed Carleton College, a nearby liberal arts school, had begun plans on a wind turbine. A key aspect of a wind farm centers on the designing and installation of collection systems, including cable. CEG uses hundreds of thousands of feet of 35 kV underground cables to connect turbines to each other and back to the substation. Granquist estimates a typical 100-MW wind farm uses approximately $1 million worth of underground cable, about an eighth of the total electrical work bill. C Solar plants burning through records ngineers across the globe have spent the past few months topping each other in building sizable solar-power facilities, each one larger than the next. The surge started when authorities in Las Vegas announced plans to put up what would have been the world’s largest thin-film solar photovoltaic (PV) plant, a 10-MW facility outside city limits. Around the same time, plans started for a 25-MW solar PV plant in Florida, this time using conventional solar panels. Since those two facilities were announced, however, six different agencies announced plans for solar power systems huge enough to leave the Sin City and Sunshine State facilities in the dust: •Haldia, West Bengal: 250-MW integrated solar power facility •Mojave Desert, Calif.: three solar-thermal power plants, outputting a total of 500 MW •San Luis Obispo County, Calif.: 550-MW thin-film, 250-MW conventional solar •Las Vegas: three interconnected solar-thermal plants, with total capacity of 1,200 MW •Gujarat, India: 5-GW solar plant (technology not yet disclosed). In addition to those plants, General Motors has announced plans to install the world’s largest rooftop solar array at its Zaragoza, Spain, assembly plant. While nowhere near the magnitude of the other plans, its size is still significant,—it consists of 85,000 panels stretching across 2 million sq ft of rooftop space, for an output of 12 MW. E 14 Consulting-Specifying Engineer • OCTOBER 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Consulting-Specifying Engineer - October 2008

Consulting-Specifying Engineer - October 2008 Contents Viewpoint Letters News M/E Roundtable Cities Under One Roof Eight Design Tips for Integration Is 'Green' Really New? Down the Drain Product of the Year Awards Codes & Standards Case Study New Products Equipment Lifecycles Advertiser Index Green Space

Consulting-Specifying Engineer - October 2008

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