A kelp forest off Mexico’s Pacific coast. A project presented this week at an energy research conference
proposes using tiny robots to farm seaweed for use in biofuels.CreditReinhard Dirscherl/ullstein bild, via Getty ImagesBrad Plumer reports for The New York Times:

Off the coast of California, the idea is that someday tiny robot submarines will drag kelp deep into the ocean at night, to soak up nutrients, then bring the plants back to the surface during the day, to bask in the sunlight.

The goal of this offbeat project? To see if it’s possible to farm vast quantities of seaweed in the open ocean for a new type of carbon-neutral biofuel that might one day power trucks and airplanes. Unlike the corn- and soy-based biofuels used today, kelp-based fuels would not require valuable cropland.

Of course, there are still some kinks to work out. “We first need to show that the kelp doesn’t die when we take it up and down,” said Cindy Wilcox, a co-founder of Marine BioEnergy Inc., which is doing early testing this summer.

Ms. Wilcox’s venture is one of hundreds of long shots being funded by the federal government’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.Created a decade ago, ARPA-E now spends $300 million a year nurturing untested technologies that have the potential — however remote — of solving some of the world’s biggest energy problems, including climate change.

This week at a convention center near Washington, thousands of inventors and entrepreneurs gathered at the annual ARPA-E conference to discuss the obstacles to a cleaner energy future. Researchers funded by the agency also showed off their ideas, which ranged from the merely creative (a system to recycle waste heat in Navy ships) to the utterly wild (concepts for small fusion reactors).

The 24-megawatt Fishermen’s Energy pilot could pick up a tailwind thanks to governor’s ambitious clean-energy agenda

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:


Fishermen’s Energy, a small, pilot offshore wind farm three miles from Atlantic City, may happen after all.

The 24-megawatt project, twice rejected by the Christie administration, could be revived under a bill (A-2485) up for consideration on Thursday in a legislative committee.


The resurgence of the project reflects a renewed commitment to develop offshore wind farms along the Jersey coast, a goal first pronounced in legislation adopted with widespread support and fanfare nearly eight years ago, but left to wither in the wind by the previous governor.


Gov. Phil Murphy has made it a top priority in his clean-energy agenda, establishing a goal of 3,500 megawatts of capacity of offshore wind by 2030. While two developers are working on plans to begin fulfilling that target, their projects are unlikely to be operational until 2023 at the earliest. 


Refocusing on Fishermen’s Energy
That has advocates refocusing on the Fishermen’s Energy proposal, which would be built in much more shallow state waters than the other two projects, intended to be constructed in federal waters up to 20 miles off the coast.


“It’s a ready-to-go project,’’ said Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo (D-Atlantic), the sponsor of the bill, when asked why he is pushing to revive the measure. “It’s a good effort to diversify our energy portfolio.’’


“We have a fully permitted, ready-to-build project,’’ agreed Paul Gallagher, chief operating officer of Fishermen’s Energy. The $210 million project will be slightly smaller than previous versions submitted to the state Board of Public Utilities, consisting of four, six-megawatt turbines, Gallagher said. 


Previously, the BPU rejected the project as too costly to ratepayers, who will help pay for the facility through a subsidy on their electric bills. The Division of Rate Counsel disputed that assessment the last time the project came before the board, but that was when Fishermen’s had a federal grant of roughly $47 million.


The project also is backed by Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), who is sponsoring it in the Senate and trying to include it as part of a comprehensive clean-energy package that props up nuclear power plants and ramps up renewable energy goals in New Jersey.


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New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy today announced plans to turn a hole in the ground, known in New Brunswick as the hub, into a large incubator for scientific and technological research.


Michael Aron has the story for NJTV News.

Fundamental changes to ways electricity and gas will be delivered are in the offing, according to experts

Steve Corneli, principal, Strategies for Clean Energy Innovation

Tom Johnson reports for NJ Spotlight:
With the state pursuing more aggressive clean-energy policies, the energy sector will undergo a major transformation that will require fundamental changes in how and when electricity and gas are delivered.


At least that seemed to be the consensus of experts during a NJ Spotlight roundtable event Friday that focused on modernizing the state’s energy infrastructure, an issue fraught with challenges and not insignificant costs.


It also comes at a time of rapid technological changes and the need to upgrade an aging power grid to cope with integrating cleaner, but intermittent, energy sources into the mix, while facing pressure to make the entire system more resilient, the panelists agreed.


Former Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer, a keynote speaker whose city is now developing a microgrid to deal with future storms after being battered by Hurricane Sandy, stressed the importance of energy resiliency.


“We need to persuade the public that this is an investment that needs to be made,’’ Zimmer said. “Energy resiliency investments will save us in the long run.’’


Her community is one 13 New Jersey municipalities now assessing microgrids, a way of enhancing resiliency and reliability by relying on distributed energy resources, a localized way of providing power.


“We are looking at tremendous changes happening — really a transformation of the industry over the next five, 10, and 15 years,’’ said David Daly, president and chief operating officer for Public Service Electric & Gas, the state’s largest utility.


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