Projects
Rio Bravo
NAPG’s Rio Bravo operations, located in California, began operation in 1989 and have been owned, operated and managed by NAPG since 1992. All four units utilize circulating fluidized bed boiler technology. These are:
Rio Bravo Rocklin, 25 MW biomass, recycling wood waste into electricity, Sacramento, California
Rio Bravo Fresno, 25 MW biomass, recycling wood waste into electricity, Fresno, California
Biomass fuels include urban and agricultural wood waste such as fruit pits and orchard trimmings, forest waste like small trees and undergrowth, and urban wood waste such as building scraps and pallets. In California, over two million tons of waste are diverted from landfills each year. This results in greenhouse gas reductions, reduced land filling and forest fire prevention and control. Major overhauls at each facility completed in 2008 have extended their useful life and qualified each facility for extended Production Tax Credits. Each facility currently is under contract to Pacific Gas & Electric Company through 2020.
Rio Bravo Poso, 40 MW combined heat and power (CHP) facility, currently using fossil fuel before converting to biomass for electricity generation and enhanced oil production, Bakersfield, California
Rio Bravo Jasmin, 40 MW combined heat and power (CHP) facility, currently utilizing fossil fuel before converting to biomass for electricity generation and enhanced oil production, Bakersfield, California
Poso and Jasmin were originally designed and permitted to solely burn coal, but NAPG successfully modified the facilities and permits to allow the use of multiple sources and types of petroleum coke, a by-product of California gasoline refining operations and now biomass, allowing each to meet California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard. Each is under long-term contract: Jasmin with Southern California Edison and Poso with PG & E.
Expansion. Each of the Rio Bravo facilities has sufficient infrastructure and physical space to expand its operations through the introduction of other forms of energy production, including solar and gas-fired electric power generation. Development efforts for each are underway. (See Rio Solar below)
Past Operations. Past NAPG California projects include Blue Lake, a 12 MW biomass facility, Chinese Station, a 20 MW biomass facility and San Joaquin, a 50 MW gas turbine.
Two Elk Energy Park
NAPG is developing the Two Elk Energy Park in the Powder River Basin. The Energy Park is a planned series of renewable and other electric power generation, carbon capture, sequestration and other facilities.
The initial Energy Park development, Two Elk Unit #1, is located within an 880-acre site immediately adjacent to the top three mines in the United States, together supplying over 20 percent of U.S. coal production. Unit #1 is fully permitted and under construction. Unit #1 is designed to alternatively dispose of waste by recycling the waste into approximately 300 MW of electricity. Fuel for Unit #1 is planned to consist of biomass, collected from throughout North America and transported to the site in the over 15,000 empty trains returning to this particular site annually. As a result, Unit #1 has been pre-certified by the California Energy Commission as meeting California’s Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard. Unit #1 will be incorporated into the PacifiCorp transmission system as a network resource capable of providing electricity to retail customers throughout PacifiCorp system and subsequently tied to the PacifiCorp Gateway Project, a WECC electric transmission infrastructure expansion project.
Two Elk Unit #1 is a state-of-the-art facility designed to operate efficiently over a range of fuel qualities and ash contents, from a low of 5,499 BTU/lb to as much as 8,800 BTU/lb. Unit #1 contains all the emission controls required to meet current environmental standards, including control of mercury.
The Energy Park at this time also consists of a planned and fully permitted combined heat and power facility, producing thermal energy and approximately 80 megawatts of electricity utilizing gas from adjacent coal seams. Gas and wind turbines, biomass, solar, geothermal and other energy resources are planned to be added on site and throughout the Energy Park on an ongoing basis during the course of development on lands to which fee title is held or rights have been secured.
Rio Solar
Using the sun’s energy to create electricity either through photovoltaic or through solar thermal technology offers an exciting opportunity. NAPG is unique in its land holdings in the west across where it has begun the development of solar energy centers. NAPG’s initial Rio Solar projects, #1 - #3, at 20 MW each are planned as expansions to existing California operations and pre-certified by the California Energy Commission as meeting the California Renewable Energy Portfolio. NAPG will continue to explore technological advancements in the field and creatively explore the use of solar technology both as stand-alone generation as well as in collaboration with other forms of electric generation.
WindRose
NAPG’s WindRose subsidiary was formed to create, own and operate commercial-scale wind projects, principally in the western and mid-western portions of North America. WindRose currently is acquiring rights and gathering data to support installation of wind turbines on land through which NAPG-related interconnection and transmission lines will pass.
Targeting over 200,000 acres of wind rights/land ownership by 2011, NAPG’s focus is in those areas where new wind turbine installations will have ability to access planned transmission expansion. Present efforts include Wyoming, eastern Colorado and Montana, and the Dakotas. NAPG’s WindRose projects #1 - #14 at 150 MW each are pre-certified by the California Energy Commission as meeting the California Renewable Portfolio Standard.
Wind energy provides an opportunity for NAPG to invest in the ranching, farming and other rural communities in which it does business.