Hybrid

General Electric (GE) and Rosemead, CA-based Southern California Edison Co. (SCE) on Monday unveiled what they said is the world’s first battery-natural gas turbine hybrid system at an SCE electric generation site in the Los Angeles area. It marked the first of two units GE will provide the Edison International utility this year.

The outlook for natural gas has never been brighter, but in many areas — including North America, Europe and the entire southern hemisphere — using solar energy to generate electricity could become cost-competitive or even gain a cost advantage over gas-fired generation by 2025, according to a report by Boston-based Lux Research.

Researchers at theSwiss Federal Institute of TechnologyZurichhave developed a hybrid engine powered mostly by natural gas that could get the equivalent of 80 miles per gallon. The ultra-efficient engine, powered by a combination of natural gas and diesel, would achieve that lofty number when combined with a battery and electric motor, according toMIT Technology Review. The researchers said their hybrid engine would be more efficient and would have lower emissions than gasoline or diesel engines. The technology would add an estimated $8,000 to the cost of conventional gasoline vehicles, they said.

A hybrid natural gas and solar power generation project has been recommended for approval by the California Energy Commission. The proposed decision by a two-commissioner review committee found no significant environmental impacts from the City of Palmdale’s proposal to transform a 377-acre industrial site in the northern end of Los Angeles County for a 570 MW gas-fired combined cycle plant with adjacent solar thermal collectors providing 10% of the facility’s peak power output. Assuming the full CEC approves the three-year-old proposal, the city then needs to find a developer and a long-term contract for the plant’s output before construction can start. It is slated to begin commercial operations in summer 2013.

The day of the commercially viable natural gas-powered vehicle (NGV) may be on the horizon: Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. (TMS) will display a compressed natural gas (CNG) Camry Hybrid concept vehicle at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November, the company said.

The day of the commercially viable natural gas-powered vehicle (NGV) may be on the horizon: Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. (TMS) will display a compressed natural gas (CNG) Camry Hybrid concept vehicle at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November, the company said.

Calling it a potential “game changer,” a hybrid “microhole” coiled tubing rig used on 25 test wells has penetrated a particularly dense Niobrara natural gas chalk formation along the Kansas-Colorado border, the Department of Energy (DOE) said last week. The DOE said the rig delivering 25-35% in cost savings per well and about 1 Tcf of shallow gas that otherwise would have been bypassed by conventional drilling.

A hybrid “microhole” coiled tubing rig used on 25 test wells has penetrated a particularly dense Niobrara natural gas chalk formation along the Kansas-Colorado border, delivering 25-35% in cost savings per well and about 1 Tcf of shallow gas that otherwise would have been bypassed by conventional drilling, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced Tuesday.

Houston-based Oil & Gas Asset Clearinghouse sold more than $94 million in properties at a hybrid auction earlier this month. The Clearinghouse sold 302 lots in its Selective Offering for an average price of more than $310,000/lot. The auction also eclipsed a previous auction record of $57 million. According to CEO Ken Olive, the three largest sellers — Exxon Mobil, PXP (formerly Plains Exploration & Production) and States LP — had more than a 97% close ratio on their minimum bid properties, which were offered subject to a reserve price requirement. A total of 503 bidders registered for the two-day event, with 153 Internet bidders. About 21% of the lots offered were purchased for nearly $17 million by Internet bidders. Of the 102 lots offered subject to receiving a minimum acceptable bid, 85 were closed. A total of 24 lots sold for more than $1 million. For details on the sale, visit the web site at www.ogclearinghouse.com.