Contract Wins: First Solar, Kyocera, Alstom, Constellation

First Solar won a contract to build four solar power plants in New Mexico totaling 20 megawatts of generating capacity for PNM Resources.  The solar plants could be in service by the end of 2013, depending on project approval by the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission. The four projects, which together will generate enough clean energy to power up to 7,000 average New Mexico homes, are expected to create up to 450 construction jobs at peak, First Solar said. The new solar projects are in addition to five projects totaling 22 MW that First Solar completed for PNM in 2011.

Kyocera Corp. subsidiary Kyocera Solar Corp., will provide 30 MW of solar modules, about 135,000 units in all, for a utility-scale solar power plant in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido, Japan. The project will be designed and constructed by Yonden Engineering Co., and operated by Eurus Energy Group’s renewable energy generation subsidiary. Construction is scheduled to start in October and operations to start in March 2014.

Separately, Kyocera is participating in an international smart grid demonstration project in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The project, a collaboration between New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization of Japan, New Mexico state government, the Los Alamos Department of Public Utilities and the Los Alamos National Laboratory, aims to promote energy conservation and broader use of renewable energy.

Alstom has signed an agreement with Rolls-Royce to buy tidal stream turbine manufacturer Tidal Generation. The acquisition, the terms of which were not disclosed, is expected to be completed within the next few months, Alstom said. TGL designs and makes turbines, which capture and convert the energy of tidal streams to generate electrical power. The acquisition will complement Alstom’s ongoing research and development on ocean energies.

Ohio University selected Constellation for a $28 million water and energy efficiency project covering 72 buildings at the main campus. Constellation signed a guaranteed energy performance contract for more than $38 million in water and energy cost savings over a 15-year period. Ohio University expects to conserve an estimated 9 million gallons of water and avoid the creation of 50,145 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually over the life of the contract.

Mortensen Construction is handling the expansion of the Chambers Creek Regional Wastewater Facility in Pierce County, Wash., to increase its production of digested methane gas. The expansion will add two anaerobic digesters and new digester gas-fueled steam boilers to heat the plant, substantially reducing the reliance on external energy sources. The energy produced at Chambers Creek will be used to heat the plant year round and create 40 dry tons of fertilizer a week.

UTC Power installed a PureCell combined heat and power fuel cell system at  Eastern Connecticut State University’s science building. The system produces 400 kilowatts of continuous electric power while generating usable by-product heat. The project was funded by a federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant through the Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority.

PanTerra Energy, which designs, builds and installs geothermal heat pump systems for homes, businesses and municipalities, is the first company in the US to receive a Public Utilities Commission registration. The PUC designation is the first step in allowing PanTerra to apply for a permit to act as a sole utility, leasing and selling direct access to a geothermal loop field without additional third party involvement.

A subsidiary of Foster Wheeler has been awarded a contract by SCS Proyectos for the design and supply of two heat recovery steam generators to be installed in a cogeneration power plant for the Tereftalatos Mexicanos project in Cosoleacaque, Veracruz, Mexico.