The GE Brief: July 21, 2021
NEW YORK’S BUDDING HYDROGEN EMPIRE
The Cricket Valley Energy Center (CVEC), in Dover, New York, and GE announced a joint demonstration project that will use a blend of natural gas and 5% green hydrogen by volume as a fuel in a gas turbine. The 1,100-megawatt CEVC plant supplies enough electricity to power the equivalent of a whopping 1 million homes. It aims to eventually operate with 100% green hydrogen, a zero-carbon fuel.
Building toward goal zero: Green H2 endeavors like this one and a state-funded pilot project announced for a Long Island power plant last week point the way toward making possible the substantial cuts in carbon emissions envisioned in New York State’s 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. The plan is the most ambitious by any state, aiming for zero carbon emissions from the electricity sector by 2040.
Read more about Cricket Valley and green H2.
As lawmakers hammer out a bipartisan infrastructure deal in Washington, leaders in the renewable energy sector are ready to get to work. Speaking at the “Future of Alternative Energy” event hosted by the media company Axios last week, GE Renewable Energy CEO Jérôme Pécresse said, for the U.S., the biggest changes to come in energy over the next 10 years will be in two areas: offshore wind and grid modernization.
One turbine at a time: GE will be a major player in both areas. GE Renewable Energy is supplying the powerful Haliade-X offshore wind turbines for the 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts, for example, which is scheduled to begin delivering wind energy in 2023. GE is also expected to play a key role in helping to upgrade and extend the nation’s transmission infrastructure, which Pécresse (pictured above) called the “hidden bottleneck of the energy transition.”
Find out more about the “Future of Alternative Energy” event here.
Imagine a 6-foot-long robot worm emerging from a tunnel it just dug, safely bringing supplies to frontline troops. This is one of the many uses envisioned for the bio-inspired “soft robot” that has now been successfully tested by GE Research, working with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Underminer program.
Dig this: The goal of soft robotics is to give devices many more degrees of freedom in movement than conventional robots. Soft robots have the flexibility to make sharp turns, squeeze through confined spaces and pick up and move all kinds of objects. These designs are often inspired by nature, seeking to mimic structures like octopus tentacles and elephant trunks. Lead engineer Deepak Trivedi (pictured above) and his team took design cues from the physiology of the lowly earthworm — which isn’t quite as lowly as we thought.
Click here to learn more about Underminer.
THE COOLEST THINGS ON EARTH ?
1. Quantum Oncology
Scientists at Kyoto University found that iodine-carrying nanoparticles can destroy cancer cells when exposed to X-rays.
2. Metal Of Distinction
The U.S. Department of Energy created a lithium-metal battery that lasts for 600 cycles — triple the life of previous models.
3. Chip Off The Old Block
Researchers created an artificial neural network that could help design more advanced materials for computer chips and solar cells.
More cool things can be found here.
— QUOTE OF THE DAY —
“We want to build a world that works, and the energy transition for us is a unique opportunity to do that.”
— Jérôme Pécresse, CEO of GE Renewable Energy
Quote: GE Reports. Images: CEVC, GE Renewable Energy, GE Research.