DOE Awards $7.5 Million for Nex- Gen Wind Turbines
Yesterday U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced that six projects have been selected to receive nearly $7.5 million over two years to advance next-generation designs for wind turbine drivetrains. Drivetrains, which include a turbine's gearbox and generator, are at the heart of the turbine and are responsible for producing electricity from the rotation of the blades. The selected projects selected will also help promote and accelerate the deployment of offshore wind turbines.
Some of the projects are early stage R&D projects which will focus on reliability or may redesign drivetrains to eliminate certain components altogether. Other projects will focus on increasing the amount of energy produced by turbines, or designs that minimize the use of rare earth materials.
The awards will be issued through DOE's Wind and Water Power Program, which funds research, testing, development and deployment of innovative wind energy technologies.
Each project listed in the table below will receive up to $700,000 to conduct technology cost and readiness assessments during the 6-month Phase I. Some of the projects will be selected for Phase II and each Phase II project could receive up to an additional $2 million over 18 months.
|
Project |
Town, State |
Technology |
|
|
1. |
Advanced Magnet Lab |
Palm Bay, Florida |
A superconducting direct-drive generator for large wind turbines |
|
2. |
Boulder Wind Power |
Boulder, Colorado |
Magnet-based direct-drive generator to validate performance and reliability of large utility-scale turbine. Has offshore applications |
|
3. |
Clipper Windpower |
Carpinteria, California |
Drivetrain design that enables increased serviceability over conventional gearboxes |
|
4. |
Dehlsen Associates |
Santa Barbara, California |
Drivetrain configuration that eliminates gearboxes, power electronics, transformers, and rare earth materials |
|
5. |
GE Global Research |
Niskayuna, New York |
10 MW direct-drive generator using low-temperature superconductivity technology that reduces the risk of fluid leakage. |
|
6. |
NREL |
Golden, Colorado |
Hybrid design that uses a single-stage gearbox and non-permanent magnet generator that reduces the need for rare earth materials |
Mitsubishi Alleges that General Electric, Co. Is Engaging in Anti-Competitive Behavior in the Variable Speed Wind Turbine Market
From our colleagues Beverly Pearman and Jeremy Sacks:
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and Mitsubishi Power Systems Americas, Inc. v. General Electric Company
On May 20, 2010, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (“MHI”) and Mitsubishi Power Systems Americas, Inc. (“MPSA”) (collectively “Mitsubishi”) filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas contending that General Electric Company (“GE”) is engaged in a scheme to monopolize the sale of variable speed wind turbines in the United States in violation of state and federal statutes. They seek a compensatory damages award in excess of $100 million, an award of treble damages, punitive damages, and a permanent injunction prohibiting further litigation by GE for infringement of specified patents that GE claims to own. Mitsubishi’s claims are brought pursuant to Section 2 of the Sherman Act, Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, and a state law claim of tortious interference with contractual and prospective business relationships.
MPSA engages in the development, manufacture, and distribution of variable speed wind turbines and related components. It is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Americas, Inc. (“MHIA”), which itself is a wholly-owned subsidiary of co-plaintiff MHI. MHI is a Japanese corporation that designs, manufactures, and distributes variable speed wind turbines and related components. These plaintiffs allege that GE has engaged in a scheme to exclude Mitsubishi from the United States market for variable speed turbines and to intimidate other manufacturers, particularly foreign-based variable speed wind turbine makers. Mitsubishi alleges that GE’s scheme has four components: (1) attempts to pressure Mitsubishi into entering extremely costly and disadvantageous license agreements; (2) serial patent infringement litigation that Mitsubishi claims is a sham; (3) alleged fraudulent conduct by GE before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”); and (4) a publicity campaign by GE that is interfering with Mitsubishi’s business relationships and that Mitsubishi alleges has created a false and misleading impression that Mitsubishi’s wind turbines infringed upon GE’s patents.
This dispute dates back to June 2005 when GE began sending notices to Mitsubishi claiming that GE had valid and enforceable patents upon which Mitsubishi infringed by its variable speed wind turbines. According to the complaint, Mitsubishi repeatedly denied these claims and asked GE for more information about the patents at issue.
In February 2008, GE filed a complaint at the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”) against Mitsubishi alleging infringement of three patents. Then, in September 2009, GE filed a complaint in US District Court for the Southern District of Texas against Mitsubishi for patent infringement for the same three patents. In January 2010, the ITC terminated its investigation with a final determination of no violation by Mitsubishi, which also resolved the federal court litigation. In February 2010, GE filed a new complaint in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas against Mitsubishi for patent infringement involving two other patents.
Mitsubishi claims that GE does not have valid patent claims but instead is using the litigation to keep Mitsubishi out of the United States market for variable speed wind turbines. It further claims that GE’s publicity campaign regarding the patent cases is intended to pressure Mitsubishi’s customers from engaging in business with Mitsubishi and that GE has hindered competition by intimidating others in the market into entering licensing agreements with GE. Mitsubishi refused to enter any such agreements with GE.
Mitsubishi has not sold a variable speed wind turbine in the United States since GE filed its complaint with the ITC in 2008. Before that time, Mitsubishi had sales of approximately $2 billion per year of variable speed turbines in the United States. Because Mitsubishi just recently filed its complaint, GE has not yet filed any response. Mitsubishi’s claims have implications for other competitors of GE as well as purchasers of these turbines. According to Mitsubishi, GE’s anticompetitive conduct has injured competition in the United States market for the sale of variable speed wind turbines and has deprived purchasers of these turbines of a free and competitive market for this product. In light of the long-term history of litigation between these parties, we expect GE will vigorously defend against Mitsubishi’s claims. We will monitor this case and post information about significant developments.
DOE to Invest $6 Million in Midsize Wind Turbine Technology Development
DOE today announced that it will provide up to $6 million over 2 years for the development, testing, and commercialization of domestically manufactured, midsize wind turbines (i.e. nameplate capacity of between 100 kilowatts and 1 megawatt). DOE anticipates making up to four grants under this competitive solicitation and is looking to support U.S. turbine manufacturers and supply chain vendors.
Midsize turbines are used on site at schools, farms, factories, and other private and public facilities, alleviating the pressure on transmission lines. However, the midsize turbine market has not kept pace with the market for large, utility-scale turbines (larger than 1 megawatt ) or for small turbines (under 100 kilowatts) because few manufacturers build that size of turbine and unhealthy project economics.
For more details, please view the Funding Opportunity Announcement.
Show Me The Money: $2.3 Billion for Clean-Tech Manufacturing Jobs
January 8, 2010: today President Obama announced the award of $2.3 billion in American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (“ARRA”) Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credits for tens of thousands of clean energy jobs on 183 clean energy manufacturing projects across the 43 states. United States, including the domestic manufacture of wind turbine and solar panels. The tax credits will support job creation in the domestic clean tech manufacturing industry and are a step towards meeting the President's goal of doubling the US’ use of renewable energy in the next three years.
Show me the Money: Webinar Explaining the Wind Turbine Drivetrain FOA
About a month ago we issued an alert regarding a $45 million funding opportunity announcement ("FOA") for the development of a wind turbine drivetrain testing facility (alert available here).
Today, the Department of Energy ("DOE") announced that they are hosting a webinar regarding this FOA. The webinar will be held July 30, 2009 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern. Through this webinar, DOE will provide a brief overview of the FOA and will participate in a question and answer period. However, all questions must be submitted in advance (by July 27, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern) to windDynamometer@go.doe.gov
To attend this webinar, register in advance by clicking here.
U.S. Wind Industry Breaks Records in 2008, Gets a Boost From Secretary Chu
Today, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that 28 new wind energy projects will receive up to $13.8 million in funding for wind turbine research and testing and transmission analysis, planning, and assessments. Most of the $13.8 million comes from Recovery Act funds. Recognizing the struggles that Americans are facing in the current economic climate, Secretary Chu noted that the Recovery Act funds are intended to rebuild the fundamentals of the economy, in part by “spur[ring] a revolution in clean energy technologies.” Chu added that wind energy is a “critical factor” in achieving President Obama’s clean energy and job growth goals.
Secretary Chu’s funding announcement was coupled with the release of the Department of Energy’s 2008 Wind Technologies Market Report. As detailed in the report, the U.S. wind industry continues to reach impressive milestones. For the fourth year in a row, the U.S. boasted the fastest-growing wind power market. Also for the fourth consecutive year, wind power was the second largest new resource added to the electrical grid, contributing 42 percent of all new U.S. electrical generating capacity in 2008. As a result of increased demand for wind, the share of domestically manufactured wind turbine components increased dramatically in the last three years, with about 50 percent of these components now being manufactured in the U.S. In 2008, approximately 8,400 new domestic manufacturing jobs were added in the wind sector. Given these statistics, it is no wonder that cultivating a strong domestic wind industry is one of the keys to meeting the Obama Administration’s clean energy and economic recovery goals.
