Advanced Energy Perspectives

On November 30, 2015, 12 months after its official deadline to propose the RFS levels for 2014 (that’s right, 2014), EPA released the final annual percent standards for 2014, 2015, and 2016, and for the 2017 Biodiesel volume.

For 2014, EPA played it safe, matching the annual percent standards with the actual consumption of biofuels in transportation fuel, heating oil, and jet fuel in the contiguous United States and Hawaii. EPA increased slightly the total mandate from 9.2% to 10.1% of U.S. fuel consumption in the next two years. Under the new mandate, there are separate carve-outs for advanced biofuels, which include biomass-based diesel (biodiesel or renewable diesel produced from vegetable oils or animal fats) and cellulosic fuels (biofuel including biogas that is produced from plant matter), and a general pool that can be fulfilled with other biofuels including grain-based ethanol (defined as starch-based ethanol).

Flexible Alternating Current Transmissions Systems (FACTS) include technologies that increase transmission system efficiency, maintain power quality, and respond quickly to disruptions to maintain reliability of the bulk power system. FACTS can be used to manipulate the conditions on transmission lines to keep AC power in balance by maintaining voltage stability, keeping current and voltage “in sync,” and dampening distortions. Transmission operators have always had to perform these functions, but in the past they used devices that relied on mechanical switches that performed more slowly, less efficiently, and less reliably.