PCCA Journal 4th Quarter 2013 - page 26

PCCA Journal|4
th
Quarter 2013
26
JCM Capital Plans Ontario-
Pennsylvania Transmission Project
J
CM Capital announced that it has closed develop-
ment financing for an underwater high-voltage
direct current (HVDC) transmission project with
Lake Erie Power Corp. that will connect Ontario to
Pennsylvania to help meet the growing demand for electricity
in the region and the PJM grid.
The project, known as the Lake Erie CleanPower Connec-
tor, would bring hydroelectric, wind, solar, natural gas, and
nuclear energy to the PJM grid, which supplies electricity to
13 states and the District of Columbia. The privately funded
project is estimated to cost $1 billion and will generate
significant employment opportunities, including 600 direct
construction jobs and more than 1,200 indirect jobs during a
three-year construction period. Commissioning is targeted by
the end of 2017 and will not require any public investment.
“JCM Capital is excited and proud to be financing and
providing co-development services for this early stage and
high-profile HVDC transmission project between Canada and
the United States,” JCM Capital CFO Martin Ritchie said.
“The new inter-tie will allow Canada to transmit surplus
clean energy power generated via Ontario’s Green Energy Act
to the PJM markets where there is a demand.”
To complete the Lake Erie CleanPower Connector, two
solid, six-inch transmission cables will be placed beneath
Lake Erie, from Nanticoke, Ontario to Erie County, a distance
of approximately 65 miles. There are a dozen similar projects
installed in North America and more than 200 worldwide.
Canadian Solar Begins Building 100
MWac Utility-Scale Solar Power Plant
C
anadian Solar Inc., one of the world’s largest
solar power companies, announced in October
that its subsidiary, Canadian Solar Solutions Inc.,
has begun construction of the 100 MWac Grand
Renewable Solar Project utility-scale solar farm. The project
is Canada’s largest photovoltaic (PV) project and is being fi-
nanced by Connor Clark & Lunn Infrastructure and developed
by Samsung Renewable Energy Inc.
Under the previously announced agreement, the solar
power plant is expected to be fully operational in 2015. This
agreement is expected to generate revenue of approximately
$301.1 million for Canadian Solar, including engineering,
procurement, and construction services, which were awarded
to Canadian Solar by Grand Renewable Solar LP in June.
Power News
Continued from page 25
Study Predicts Growth for DC Distribution Networks
A
ccording to a recent
report from Navigant
Research, the world-
wide market for direct
current (DC) distribu-
tion networks will grow from $2.5 billion
in annual revenue in 2013 to $24.1 bil-
lion in 2025. The market for DC distribu-
tion networks is not a single, cohesive
sector. Rather, it consists of several
disparate opportunities—including data
centers, mobile telecommunications
towers, DC subsystems within grid-
tied commercial buildings, and off-grid
military networks—that revolve around
different market assumptions, dynamics,
and drivers. A growing list of technology
vendors is targeting this space, among
them ABB, Johnson Controls, Intel, and
a cadre of smaller specialists. 
“The most successful segment for
DC distribution networks is low-voltage
(i.e., 24V and 48V) systems for telecom
towers,” said Peter Asmus, principal
research analyst with Navigant Re-
search. “Increasingly, those towers are
becoming anchor loads for networks ex-
panding into village power systems, with
formats that are unique to the develop-
ing world, especially India and Africa.”
One of the primary drivers of this
market, according to the report, is the
expansion of small, distributed energy
sources at the retail distribution level of
power service, including solar PV and
wind turbines below 100 kW in size.
Along with the rapid proliferation of
corresponding new battery technologies
to help firm up these variable renewable
energy generators, this trend has opened
up new possibilities for distributing
power via DC distribution networks, in-
cluding microgrids, nanogrids, and other
alternative network architectures.
The report, “Direct Current Distribu-
tion Networks,” provides a review of key
market and technology trends with DC at
high-, medium-, and low-voltage levels,
along with capacity and vendor revenue
forecasts, broken down by region, for the
following four market segments: DC data
center microgrids, off-grid green tele-
com/village power systems, DC subsys-
tems within commercial buildings, and
small-scale modular systems for the U.S.
Department of Defense’s 600 forward
operating bases and mobile, tactical mi-
crogrids. Key players in the industry are
profiled in detail, and SWOT analyses
are provided for each market segment.
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