Advanced microbial engineering company Amyris has expanded an existing technology collaboration agreement with Total for production of renewable diesel and jet fuel. Total agreed to provide $30 million during the third quarter of 2012. Additional funding will be released by Total in mid 2013 and 2014. Total reaffirms its commitment of $82 million in funding over the next three years exclusively for the development and commercialization of Biofene, Amyris’s renewable farnesene.
FortisBC has selected Itron’s smart grid system to support the utility’s Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project. The project, pending approval from the British Columbia Utilities Commission, includes 115,000 Itron advanced meters operated over a multi-application IPv6 communication network based on Cisco’s GridBlocks architecture. In addition, FortisBC will install Itron’s meter data management and data presentment software. The contract is worth about $21 million and installation is expected to be complete by the end of 2015.
NORESCO and the US Department of Veterans Affairs will implement a $15 million energy savings performance contract for facility upgrades in the greater Los Angeles area. The project will improve energy infrastructure at three facilities that are part of the VA’s Desert Pacific Healthcare network. During its first year, the project is expected to produce nearly $1 million in energy savings for the VA. NORESCO guarantees energy reductions of more than $24 million over the life of the performance contract, with no upfront capital investment.
The Dawson Public Power District in Nebraska has selected the Landis+Gyr Gridstream RF network for advanced metering and grid automation applications. The utility plans to deploy Gridstream advanced meters to all of its residential and commercial accounts over the next two years. DPPD will deploy the E350 FOCUS AX-SD meter with integrated service switch and ZigBee communications for residential accounts, and E330 FOCUS AX Polyphase and E-650 S4e meters for commercial applications. The utility serves about 23,000 electric meters and maintains 5,740 miles of power lines in south central Nebraska, along the Platte River Valley.
Industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation has signed a $2.2 million United States Bureau of Reclamation contract to replace critical electrical components at the Trinity, Judge Francis Carr and Spring Creek hydroelectric power plants in Shasta County, Calif. The three hydroelectric facilities are responsible for generating and transferring electricity when California’s Central Valley Project reaches peak demand. Eaton will replace of the facilities’ switchgear, upgrade the electrical controls and cabling and provide temporary electrical equipment to support the plants’ critical loads during the installation.
