St. Louis renews its status as a world energy nerve center

[Arch City]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

coal, ethanol, wind, hydro, solar, fracking, natural gas, steam, burrito power! ill take all of those at the moment, especially if they are domestically produced. at least we have a fairly diverse list of fuel sources.

I agree.

[DonMendigo]

Originally Posted by Arch City

This makes SunEdison one of the world's largest, if not the largest, renewable energy developers.

Woah woah woah, This isn't even remotely accurate.

From Sun Edison's website: "Maintain a global portfolio of 3.6 GW of pipeline projects" I assume that is solar and may not even be installed yet. FirstWind has just over 1GW of wind installed and isn't even one of the top 15 wind developers in the Americas. It is a fairly large developer on a national level (in the US) it's pretty small globally. There are single wind farms larger than FirstWind's total holdings.

Most of the major global renewables players are in Europe and China. Guodian in China has at least 16GW installed of just wind right now. Iberdrola out of Spain has over 13GW of wind installed globally. Nextera, the largest wind developer in the US, has 10GW of wind.

And that's just wind (which is what I know). There are hydroelectric dams over 10GW in China and South America. Brazil's Eletrobras has over 25GW of hydro itself and is building over 18GW more right now. That statement about SunEdison is just wildly inaccurate.

[DonMendigo]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

coal, ethanol, wind, hydro, solar, fracking, natural gas, steam, burrito power! ill take all of those at the moment, especially if they are domestically produced. at least we have a fairly diverse list of fuel sources. china rely's on coal for nearly 70 percent of its electricity output. and all the crap blows due east!

China is just pretty much building every type of generation capacity that it can. It's the world's largest wind market. It's the world's largest solar market. It has built the world's largest hydro dam. With economic growth slowing, it will be pulling back from coal.

There's confusion around the discussion of US energy independence. This is a discussion that should just be about our crippling addiction to gasoline. Energy resources for electricity generation are essentially completed domestically produced in the US. US electricity demand is and has been essentially independent of the need for imports. Right now, we have so much natural gas produced domestically that we're going to be exporting it.

[pdxtex]

^^^^your gasoline comment is a good point. its easy to mix up the issues when we are discussing energy. weaning ourselves off of petroleum regardless of source should be the ultimate goal. im all for electric vehicles but i dont think the market is too impressed with the all to common 80 mile range. i iknow ford and nissan are stepping things up a bit however. in the meantime, were trading one fossil fuel for another, oil for electricity partially produced by coal. i dont know the finer points of solar power but it seems expensive and the output/input ratio still isnt the best. wind power seems like the better solution, lots of open space, lots of prairie wind. its got some nimbyism to overcome and is a bird graveyard in some peoples minds.....shrug....

[DonMendigo]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

^^^^your gasoline comment is a good point. its easy to mix up the issues when we are discussing energy. weaning ourselves off of petroleum regardless of source should be the ultimate goal. im all for electric vehicles but i dont think the market is too impressed with the all to common 80 mile range. i iknow ford and nissan are stepping things up a bit however. in the meantime, were trading one fossil fuel for another, oil for electricity partially produced by coal. i dont know the finer points of solar power but it seems expensive and the output/input ratio still isnt the best. wind power seems like the better solution, lots of open space, lots of prairie wind. its got some nimbyism to overcome and is a bird graveyard in some peoples minds.....shrug....

The main issue with wind power right now is building out interstate transmission connecting the wind-rich Plains with demand centers east. Wind power is already cheaper than nuclear and new coal plants. The ability to harvest the wind in the central corridor of the US could make wind's price at level with cheap fracked natural gas even incorporating the cost of the new transmission. The current maligned wind tax credit incentive available in the US is no longer necessary for many wind sites and a phase out of it for new projects would be beneficial for all sides.

There is also an intriguing possibility of synergy between electric cars and wind power. The wind resource is typically more abundant at night, which coincides with low electricity demand making the price of wind power generation quite cheap. Electric cars charged over night would be able to take advantage of this. Furthermore, with a smart grid, these cars could serve essentially as batteries, storing cheap power overnight. The actual electricity charging cars overnight would be mostly from wind and nuclear (which are difficult to ramp down).

Besides that, coal is fairly rapidly being replaced in the US's power mix. Just a few years ago it accounted for well over 50% of generation. Now it's falling below 40% as it's being replaced by natural gas and wind.

[Arch City]

What happened? After nearly four years of being in the City Discussions forum, why was this moved?

There was no notification or anything as to why. That's great management and respect by a (the) moderator(s).

Was there a purging or cleanup from the City Discussions forum or what?

[Arch City]

Originally Posted by Arch City
This makes SunEdison one of the world's largest, if not the largest, renewable energy developers.

Originally Posted by DonMendigo Woah woah woah, This isn't even remotely accurate.

SunEdison itself and energy-related newspapers said SunEdison was now, "ONE of the world's largest, if not the largest, renewable energy developers."

So that means if it isn't the largest, it is ONE of the world's largest.

The statement was from the Energy Collective - not me.

[DonMendigo]

Originally Posted by Arch City

SunEdison itself and energy-related newspapers said SunEdison was now, "ONE of the world's largest, if not the largest, renewable energy developers."

So that means if it isn't the largest, it is ONE of the world's largest.

The statement was from the Energy Collective - not me.

Yeah, and my point is that it isn't remotely one of the world's largest. I'm not calling you out, just saying that the news outlet or the SunEdison CEO is wildly off base by making that statement.

[Evergrey]

a blow to StL's status as 'world energy nerve center':

http://www.stltoday.com/business/loc...63f8e614a.html

St. Louis loses a corporate headquarters as Patriot Coal leaves for West Virginia

January 09, 2015 11:30 pm • By Jacob Barker


Patriot Coal announced Friday it has moved its corporate headquarters from Creve Coeur to West Virginia.

After the Dec. 31 closure of its last two mines in western Kentucky, Patriot became a purely Appalachian miner on Jan 1. Its new headquarters, in Scott Depot, W.Va., about 20 miles west of Charleston, W.Va., is much closer to its eight remaining mines, all located in that state.

While St. Louisans may cringe at the thought of another corporate headquarters leaving the region, the job impact is small. Patriot’s office at Olive Boulevard just west of Interstate 270 employed about 40 people, said company spokeswoman Janine Orf. It leased its offices in Westview Place from Duke Realty.

The move also comes as a company only a year out of bankruptcy trims costs in one of the coal industry’s longest and most severe downturns.

“The move from St. Louis will accomplish dual objectives of reducing administrative costs and positioning the corporate headquarters in closer proximity to our mining operations and customers,” Patriot President and CEO Bennett Hatfield said in a statement. “The transition of corporate office functions began in November and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2015.”

...

[Justin_Chicago]

St. Louis and SunEdison are betting on renewable energy. I would not count a coal company shutting down mines as a big loss. Strategically, it makes sense for Patriot Coal to move to West Virginia since that is where most of their mines are located. Smart move.

[Centropolis]

i never understood why there were these coal mining HQs in st. louis, to be honest. i guess because of the old illinois mines and the fact that it's more or less between the appalachians and the western coal belt?

[DeBaliviere]

Patriot Coal was a spinoff of Peabody, likely a way for Peabody to dump under-performing assets and potential liabilities. I'm kind of surprised it's lasted as long as it has.

[Arch City]

Originally Posted by Evergrey

a blow to StL's status as 'world energy nerve center':

LOL! Patriot Coal's relocation to West Virginia certainly isn't a major blow to the St. Louis energy economy. Not at all.

It made sense for Patriot Coal to move to West Virginia considering that it is where its remaining mines are located.

St. Louis, for now anyway, still has four big coal firms. And two of the three largest coal firms in the world in Peabody and Arch Coal.



While it certainly isn't Houston, minus Patriot Coal, St. Louis still has 12 energy-related companies on national stock exchanges. Seven of them are F500/F1000 firms.

The LaClede Group (Missouri Gas (KC), Alagasco (Birmingham) and LaClede Gas (STL)) and Ameren (Missouri and Illinois) are also among the largest utilities in the country. And Emerson is a $24.5-billion firm.



Plus, there are many regional, billing/admin, USA/North American offices in the region, also major infrastructure assets/sites of many international energy firms located in the region. Below are just a few.

[Arch City]

Originally Posted by Centropolis

i never understood why there were these coal mining HQs in st. louis, to be honest. i guess because of the old illinois mines and the fact that it's more or less between the appalachians and the western coal belt?

The Illinois Coal Basin is right next to St. Louis. All of the remaining Big Four coal companies mine in the Illinois Coal Basin, which is why they have HQs in St. Louis.

Peabody actually started in Chicago in the late 1800's, but moved to St. Louis in 1955 (or so) after a merger with Sinclair Coal Company.

[Arch City]

See Who's Who In Energy 2014-15

[DonMendigo]

Originally Posted by Arch City

See Who's Who In Energy 2014-15

That is quite an uneven list that really ignores several prominent power technologies

[Arch City]

Mississippi Lime parent acquires Pittsburgh environmental services company
Jun 15, 2015, 2:49pm CDT Updated Jun 15, 2015, 2:56pm CDT
Brian Feldt
St. Louis Business Journal

HBM Holdings, one of St. Louis’ largest privately held companies with an estimated $500 million in 2014 revenue, has acquired Breen Energy Solutions, a Carnegie, Pennsylvania-based environmental services company.

Terms of the deal, which closed June 1, weren’t disclosed.

HBM is the parent company of Mississippi Lime and two other companies, Delavau and Tru-Flex.

Mike DeCola, chairman, CEO and president said Breen will report directly to Mississippi Lime President and CEO Bill Ayers, who will also now serve as Breen’s CEO.

Ayers didn’t immediately return a phone call for comment.

Breen has developed technology that helps coal-fired power plants manage their emissions. “Environmental remediation and treatment is a good space to be in and we have some interest and expertise in the industry as well,” DeCola said.

DeCola said he believes HBM can help Breen expand into international markets, where demand for coal-fired power plants are more in demand.

Source