Fans will soon pack MetLife Stadium for Super Bowl XLVII. The National Football League's 2013-2014 season championship game will be held on February 2 at 6:30 PM (Eastern). Following the power outage during last year's Super Bowl, organizers of this year's event are taking extra precautions to avoid disruptions to the East Rutherford, New Jersey stadium's electricity supply. At the same time, organizers are promoting the environmental aspects of the power supply for this year's game.
During Super Bowl XLVII at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, a power outage moments after the beginning of the second half of play caused many of the stadium lights and systems to go dark. Between restoring power supply, rebooting computer systems, and letting stadium lighting cool and return to full power, it took 34 minutes for play to resume. Subsequent investigation revealed that the outage occurred when load-monitoring equipment had opened a breaker after detecting an abnormality in the system.
Organizers hope this year's championship is free from such disruption. MetLife Stadium and the rest of the Meadowlands Sports Complex is served by utility Public Service Electric & Gas Co. or PSE&G. Two power lines feed into the substation serving the complex, and on-site generators add additional capacity. PSE&G has been reported as expecting the game to draw as much as 20 megawatts of power, and the utility, NFL, and stadium owner have collaborated on measures and testing to ensure continuity of service during the big game.
Meanwhile, PSE&G's parent PSEG has partnered with the NFL Environmental Program to source renewable energy for the game. PSEG has agreed to purchase and retire a renewable energy credit, or REC, for every megawatt-hour of electricity used at the stadium, the AFC and NFC team hotels, and Super Bowl in Times
Square. 240 solar RECs are slated to come from PSE&G's nearby 3-megawatt Kearny solar farm, as well as 5,700 additional RECs from the 7.5-megawatt Jersey Atlantic Wind Farm near Atlantic City.
Beyond electricity, event organizers have committed that all the waste oil generated from food production during the game will be processed into biodiesel fuel by Tri-State Biodiesel, and
that all other food waste will be composted.
Presumably, most fans' attention will be focused on the game. Will the organizers' measures prevent power outages in an environmentally friendly manner?
Energy powers society; society's choices shape energy policy. A blog about our energy resources and the choices they present for society.
Showing posts with label PSEG. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PSEG. Show all posts
Connecticut coal-fired power plant air permit issued
Thursday, November 8, 2012
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved a five-year permit for the last coal-fired power plant operating in Connecticut. The plant, PSEG Power LLC's Bridgeport Harbor Generating Station, can generate 529 megawatts of energy by combusting coal and oil.
While the plant has operated since 1961, its permit renewal was questioned for economic and environmental reasons. Across the nation, operators of coal plants have announced plans to close or convert plants to other fuels such as natural gas and biomass. Between the low cost of natural gas - projected to stay low for the foreseeable future - and tighter environmental regulations affecting the electric utility sector, many older and smaller coal-fired power plants are no longer economic to operate. Additionally, environmental activists have targeted coal-burning plants as polluters, and had argued against the Bridgeport Harbor plant's new permit.
Under the federal Clean Air Act, existing major stationary sources (i.e. those capable of emitting 100 tons per year or more of any criteria air pollutant) must obtain a so-called Title V permit every five years. Generally, Title V permits are issued by the state or local air pollution control agency, but EPA has 45 days to review any proposed permit and request changes. In September, Connecticut recommended that EPA renew Bridgeport Harbor's permit. After the 45-day review process, EPA approved the permit's issuance.
What does the Bridgeport Harbor air permit mean? Most directly, it means PSEG may continue to operate its plant for another five years -- if it wants to. According to the Connecticut Post, by mid-summer the plant had only operated 24 days this year. The Bridgeport Harbor plant can provide both baseload power and peaking power needed to satisfy peak consumer demand, but generally the fewer days an asset operates, the harder it is to recover the cost of ownership and operations.
Moreover, coal-fired power plants are declining in the U.S. This is particularly true in New England, a region far from coal mining. Will PSEG hold onto the Bridgeport Harbor station and seek another Title V permit in 2017? For how long will the plant continue to burn coal? Will PSEG or another owner seek to repurpose the plant to burn other fuels?
While the plant has operated since 1961, its permit renewal was questioned for economic and environmental reasons. Across the nation, operators of coal plants have announced plans to close or convert plants to other fuels such as natural gas and biomass. Between the low cost of natural gas - projected to stay low for the foreseeable future - and tighter environmental regulations affecting the electric utility sector, many older and smaller coal-fired power plants are no longer economic to operate. Additionally, environmental activists have targeted coal-burning plants as polluters, and had argued against the Bridgeport Harbor plant's new permit.
Under the federal Clean Air Act, existing major stationary sources (i.e. those capable of emitting 100 tons per year or more of any criteria air pollutant) must obtain a so-called Title V permit every five years. Generally, Title V permits are issued by the state or local air pollution control agency, but EPA has 45 days to review any proposed permit and request changes. In September, Connecticut recommended that EPA renew Bridgeport Harbor's permit. After the 45-day review process, EPA approved the permit's issuance.
What does the Bridgeport Harbor air permit mean? Most directly, it means PSEG may continue to operate its plant for another five years -- if it wants to. According to the Connecticut Post, by mid-summer the plant had only operated 24 days this year. The Bridgeport Harbor plant can provide both baseload power and peaking power needed to satisfy peak consumer demand, but generally the fewer days an asset operates, the harder it is to recover the cost of ownership and operations.
Moreover, coal-fired power plants are declining in the U.S. This is particularly true in New England, a region far from coal mining. Will PSEG hold onto the Bridgeport Harbor station and seek another Title V permit in 2017? For how long will the plant continue to burn coal? Will PSEG or another owner seek to repurpose the plant to burn other fuels?
National Park Service OKs transmission line on park lands
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
The National Park Service has given its final approval to a proposed high-voltage electric transmission line that would cross public lands in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, including the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, the Middle Delaware National Scenic and Recreational River as well as the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.
The 500 kilovolt transmission line, known as the Susquehanna-Roseland line, has been proposed by utilities PPL Electric Utilities and Public Service Electric and Gas Co. It would run 145 miles from Susquehanna, Pennsylvania to Roseland, New Jersey. Mid-Atlantic electric grid operator PJM, Inc. and national electric reliability organization NERC had called for the line to protect the grid's reliability by preventing existing power lines from facing overloaded conditions. The line also received a fast-track review by federal agencies under the auspices of the Interagency Rapid Response Team for Transmission, a group formed to coordinate on an expedited review of transmission projects designed to increase grid reliability, integrate new renewable energy, and cut consumer costs.
While the line's route largely followed existing rights-of-way, environmentalists and park activists challenged the National Park Service's approval of expansions to the rights-of-way through these national parklands. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities' approval of the project was also challenged, on the grounds that the state board failed to give adequate consideration to non-transmission alternatives that could have met consumer demand, such as programs promoting demand response and energy efficiency. That case remains pending.
On Monday, the National Park Service issued its record of decision approving the line (31-page PDF). As a condition of approval, the NPS required the developing utilities to contribute at least $56 million to a
fund to mitigate the line's impacts on federal lands by purchasing or otherwise conserving land for public use, compensating for impacts to wetlands affected by the line, and funding cultural and historic preservation in the affected parks.
In a Facebook post issued yesterday, the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club vowed to challenge the NPS's approval of the line in court. PPL and PSE&G plan to place the line in service by June 2015.
The 500 kilovolt transmission line, known as the Susquehanna-Roseland line, has been proposed by utilities PPL Electric Utilities and Public Service Electric and Gas Co. It would run 145 miles from Susquehanna, Pennsylvania to Roseland, New Jersey. Mid-Atlantic electric grid operator PJM, Inc. and national electric reliability organization NERC had called for the line to protect the grid's reliability by preventing existing power lines from facing overloaded conditions. The line also received a fast-track review by federal agencies under the auspices of the Interagency Rapid Response Team for Transmission, a group formed to coordinate on an expedited review of transmission projects designed to increase grid reliability, integrate new renewable energy, and cut consumer costs.
While the line's route largely followed existing rights-of-way, environmentalists and park activists challenged the National Park Service's approval of expansions to the rights-of-way through these national parklands. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities' approval of the project was also challenged, on the grounds that the state board failed to give adequate consideration to non-transmission alternatives that could have met consumer demand, such as programs promoting demand response and energy efficiency. That case remains pending.
On Monday, the National Park Service issued its record of decision approving the line (31-page PDF). As a condition of approval, the NPS required the developing utilities to contribute at least $56 million to a
fund to mitigate the line's impacts on federal lands by purchasing or otherwise conserving land for public use, compensating for impacts to wetlands affected by the line, and funding cultural and historic preservation in the affected parks.
In a Facebook post issued yesterday, the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club vowed to challenge the NPS's approval of the line in court. PPL and PSE&G plan to place the line in service by June 2015.
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