Smart Energy News

Reno, Nev. — The U.S. Renewable Energy Group, a private equity firm, along with two partners, China-based A-Power Energy Generation Systems and American Nevada Group, a real estate development company, on Thursday announced plans to develop a wind turbine production and assembly plant in Nevada that is expected to create about 1,000 “high paying long-term jobs.”

The facility will be about 320,000 square feet with annual production capacity of 1,100 megawatts (MW) of wind energy turbines — enough to power about 330,000 homes. Most of the key wind turbine components will be made by domestic U.S. manufacturers, according to the announcement.

American Nevada will identify potential sites for the facility and develop the project. A-Power intends to finance the site acquisition and the construction and operation of the assembly facility from its own funds.

A-Power is the largest provider of distributed power generation systems in China, focusing on energy efficient and environmentally friendly projects of 25 MW to 400 MW.

US-REG invests in U.S.-based, utility-scale projects in wind, hydro, geothermal, solar, and bioenergy.

US-REG website

A-Power website

Newton, Mass. — General Compression (GC), the Newton-based developer of a compressed-air energy storage system, announced on Tuesday that it has raised over $17 million in its first round of venture capital.

The investment was led by US Renewables Group and included funds from Duke Energy.

GC’s 2 megawatt (MW) compressor/expander absorbs and releases energy from conventional wind farms. When the wind blows hard, wind energy is stored as compressed air in the same types of geologies that store natural gas. When the wind doesn’t blow hard enough, compressed air is released to generate power.

GC said it intends to build and install its first full-scale energy storage unit this year. The company’s units have a nominal size of 2 megawatts and feature a “roundtrip” electrical efficiency in excess of 70%, according to GC.

The company’s storage units consume no fuel and emit no carbon. The technology is intended to increase utility reliance on renewables, eliminate wind power curtailment, and enhance transmission utilization.

GC plans to develop storage units that are integrated with power projects, as well as standalone power storage projects, including a first commercial project in 2011.

General Compression website