Honda R&D Co. will begin construction in April of 2009 on a cellulosic ethanol research facility in Japan. Located in the Kazusa Akademia Park in Kisarazu, Chiba, the 1,050-sm laboratory will produce biofuels from non-food feedstocks. The building will house research, development, and testing facilities. Completion is expected by November of 2009.
The University of California, Berkeley dedicated the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) headquarters on February 27, 2009. Located in the seven-story, 141,000-gsf Sutardja Dai Hall, the facility features the Marvell Nanofabrication Laboratory which contains two 15,000-sf cleanrooms. The multidisciplinary building houses research laboratories, offices, distance learning classrooms, conference rooms, and a 149-seat auditorium.
Idaho National Laboratory dedicated the $17 million Center for Advanced Energy Studies in Idaho Falls on February 20, 2009. Located on the banks of the Snake River on the campus of Idaho State University, the 55,000-sf facility was created in partnership with the state of Idaho and its three public research universities. When fully occupied, the building will house nearly 160 people including graduate students, researchers from INL and academic institutions, and private industry partners.
The University of Colorado at Boulder is planning to construct the $40 million Aerospace and Energy Systems Building. The facility will house research clusters for earth sciences, sensing, space science and technology, and unmanned aircraft system design and fabrication. The Aerospace and Energy Systems Building will support collaboration with government and industry partners including Ball Aerospace Systems and Lockheed Martin.
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte is planning to construct the $76 million Energy Production and Infrastructure Center (EPIC) on the Charlotte Research Institute campus. Designed by Narmour Wright Creech Architects, the 200,000-sf collaborative teaching and research facility will house the departments of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Electrical Engineering. Groundbreaking is expected in late summer of 2009 with completion slated for 2011.
The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) announced in January of 2008 that five electric utilities in the United States and Canada have joined EPRI to host studies of the impacts of retrofitting advanced amine-based post-combustion carbon dioxide capture technology to existing coal-fired power plants. In addition to the five host site companies, 15 other companies and organizations, including six from Canada and one from Australia, have joined the project.
American Municipal Power-Ohio (AMP-Ohio) has selected Bechtel Power Corporation to construct a $3.25 billion coal-fired power plant in Meigs County, Ohio. Construction will begin in 2009 and reach completion within five years. The plant will feature Powerspan emission control technologies to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide, mercury, carbon dioxide, and particulate matter.
AREVA is partnering with Northrop Grumman to build a $360 million nuclear reactor component manufacturing plant in Newport News, Va. The 300,000-sf Project Larkspur will be located on the campus of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding with access to the James River for transportation of the steam generators, reactor vessels, and pressurizers the plant will produce. The manufacturing and engineering facility will support 540 employees. AREVA is headquartered in Paris, France.
German wind turbine maker Nordex will build a $100 million manufacturing plant in Jonesboro, Ark. Sited on 187 acres in the Craighead Technology Park, the facility will support 700 employees and will manufacture all wind turbine components except the tower. The project will be supported by training programs at Arkansas State University. The plant will be operational by January of 2010, with a second construction phase reaching completion in 2012.
Syracuse University’s $35.6 million Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems is slated for completion in summer of 2009. The five-story, 55,000-sf facility will support research, development, and job creation in the fields of indoor environmental quality, renewable energy, and water resource management. The Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems is created in partnership with Clarkson University, Cornell University, SUNY-ESF Center for Sustainable and Clean Energy, and state and industry partners.
Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas will locate its new 500,000-sf headquarters in Portland, Ore. LEED Platinum sustainable design certification will be sought for the $250 million facility. Vestas will also open an R&D facility in Boston to develop generators, converters, and control technologies for next-generation wind turbines.
United Solar Ovonic began construction in fall of 2008 on a $220 million solar cell manufacturing facility in Battle Creek, Mich. Located in the Fort Custer Industrial Park, the 265,000-sf building is slated for completion by year-end 2009. United Solar Ovonic is a subsidiary of photovoltaics developer Energy Conversion Devices of Detroit.
The University of Central Florida dedicated the $850,000 Siemens Energy Center in Orlando in October of 2008. Created in partnership with Siemens Power Generation, the 10,900-sf laboratory will provide collaborative research space for UCF and Siemens to develop sustainable power generation technologies. Construction on the facility began in January of 2008.
The University of Illinois dedicated the newly renovated and expanded Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory (MNTL) in Urbana-Champaign on September 4, 2008. The $18 million project created additional laboratory, classroom, research, and meeting facilities. The expansion will support research for the National Science Foundation-funded Center for Compound Semiconductor Microelectronics. The MNTL houses research laboratories for micro and nanoelectronics, nanophotonics and optoelectronics, nanomedicine and bionanotechnology, MEMS/NEMS, and integrated systems research.
DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol is partnering with the University of Tennessee Research Foundation to build a cellulosic ethanol R&D facility and pilot-scale biorefinery in Vonore, Tenn. Developing the commercial package for DDCE’s cellulosic ethanol technology, the plant includes a process development unit (PDU). Sited in the Niles Ferry Industrial Park, the facility will utilize corn stover and switchgrass, two non-food biomass feedstocks, to produce 250,000 gallons of cellulosic ethanol annually.
