#dominion power and transmission corporation

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Man Is Located Who Saw Missing Papers,” North Bay Nugget. April 23, 1932. Page 1. ---- Royal Commission on Hydro is Adjourned For Period of Two Weeks ---- SAW PAPERS IN NEW YORK ---- Attempt Made by newspapers to Get Photostat Copies of Fyle --- Toronto, April 23 — (By Canadian Press)— The Toronto Globe today aid its staff correspondent at London, Ont., had located Kenneth McLeod, mentioned yesterday in the Royal Commission enquiry of Hydro, as one who knew the whereabouts of the "missing" John Aird Jr. fyle before it reappeared at the hearing Thursday. 

The newspaper quoted McLeod as saying he had seen the fyle in Buffalo and that he had been asked if any offers of money had been made for it. He declined to say who had possession of the fyle when he saw it last but named a lawyer "Stein" as one who was said to have held it in New York. He said he had also seen it in Toronto.

Commission Adjourns Toronto, April 23 - (By Canadian Tress) -The Royal Commission investigating certain transactions of the Ontario Hydro Power Commission and the payment of $425,000 lo John Aird Jr. by the Beauharnois Power Corporation, has concluded its labors for two weeks. An adjournment was made last night until May 9, owing to pressure of business on Supreme Court Judges at present. Five of them are ill, and Mr Justice J. K. Orde, Commissioner, declared he was unable to continue until that date. 

Meanwhile, counsel concerned are busy digesting a mass of documentary and oral evidence surrounding the various phases of the investigation. The $125,000 payment, the payment of $50,000 to Mr. Aird by the Hydro for his services in connection with Madawaska and the purchase of the Dominion Power and Transmission Company of Hamilton for $22,000,000 by Hydro are being investigated. 

At yesterday’s long session, G. Howard Ferguson, former premier of Ontario, and Canadian High Commissioner to London, concluded his evidence on the stand with a reiterated denial that any of the $125,000 had reached the coffers of the Conservative party and refused to even hazard a guess as to the Identity of the person who would have collected.

[decaffeinatedfirelover]

Dominion Energy quadruples renewable energy and storage in move towards its clean energy goals

 The world is facing a pandemic that is getting worse and is unlike anything we have ever seen before. The Coronavirus pandemic has attacked all nations of the world and sets out monetary stagnation among a few nations. Market volatility has reached new heights as a result of the coronavirus outbreak that has spread across the United States and Europe. The pandemic's current downturn is extremely challenging for the energy industry, affecting electric utilities worldwide. Electric utilities must keep the lights on during the lockdown because people now telecommute from home, hold meetings online, and rely on data and electricity for other tasks, making electricity more important than ever.

Territory Energy

Territory Energy Inc (Domain) is a coordinated energy utility, which offers power, flammable gas and related administrations. It produces, communicates and conveys power; distributes, stores, processes, and transmits gas; and is in charge of LNG import and storage. In 18 states in the eastern and Rocky Mountain regions of the United States, the company serves approximately seven million customers. Five divisions comprise Dominion's business operations: Contracted Generation, Dominion Energy South Carolina, Gas Distribution, Gas Transmission & Storage, and Virginia Dominion Energy Its corporate, service company, and other functions are all included in its Corporate and Other segment. The organization centers around developing and growing electric age and petroleum gas transmission and storage spaces; improving and growing electric transmission and appropriation resources; acquiring nuclear energy; and the upkeep of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

Coronavirus influence

Territory is working vigorously with security as its guiding principle to defend the prosperity of its clients during the pandemic. The company has business continuity plans in place and is taking a number of steps to ensure that its customers receive dependable energy service round-the-clock and to keep its employees safe and healthy. In acknowledgment of Domain Energy's solid history for wellbeing, seven of the organization's gas organizations as of late gotten the American Gas Affiliation's most noteworthy honors for security execution: Dominion Energy Ohio, Dominion Energy Questar Pipeline, Dominion Energy South Carolina, Dominion Energy Transmission Inc., Dominion Energy Utah-Wyoming-Idaho, and Dominion Energy West Virginia are all examples of Dominion Energy.

Dominion announced that all nonpayment-related service disconnections had been suspended. Additionally, it has announced that the Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation will contribute $1 million to Covid-19 relief efforts in the United States. In order to assist the communities that are home to the more than seven million customers that Dominion Energy serves, the company has pledged $250,000 to the American Red Cross and $750,000 to nonprofit organizations.

Dominion reported a Q1 2020 net loss of $270 million, or $0.34 per share, compared to a Q1 2019 net loss of $680 million, or $0.86 per share. Operating earnings for the quarter were $931 million, or $1.09 per share, compared to operating earnings of $873 million, or $1.10 per share, for the same period in 2019. Due to milder than usual weather in its utility service territories, the company estimates that its operating earnings for the first quarter of 2020 were down $0.09 per share. Dominion anticipates operating earnings of $0.75 to $0.85 per share in the second quarter of 2020, compared to operating earnings of $0.77 per share in the second quarter of 2019. The business maintains its operating earnings range of $4.25 to $4.60 per share for 2020.

In the meantime, on May 1, Dominion asked for proposals for up to 250MW of energy storage and up to 1GW of solar and onshore wind generation in the United States. Following the passage of the Virginia Clean Economy Act by the state's General Assembly and state governor Ralph Northam's executive order on climate change, the utility in Virginia increased its use of solar and wind power by four times in its 15-year long-term integrated resource plan (IRP). By 2035, Dominion Energy projects 5.1 gigawatts of offshore wind, 15.9 gigawatts of solar, and 2.7 gigawatts of energy storage. Over the next 15 years, offshore wind, solar, and energy storage development is expected to grow to approximately 24 GW of new renewable energy and storage capacity.

Territory is making fundamental moves up to the transmission framework in Virginia and is leaving on essential ventures on the conveyance framework through its Matrix Change Plan. The organization said that it is zeroing in on the wellbeing and security of its clients and workers and considering these tasks to be an impetus to restarting the economy when fitting. By 2050, the company intends to eliminate all carbon dioxide and methane emissions from its gas infrastructure and power generation operations.

[thetejasamale]

Advanced Energy Storage Systems Market Share- 2022 Future Demand, Prominent Players & Forecast To 2030

The global market for advanced energy storage systems is set to register a strikingly high growth rate during the forecast period (2017-2027), reports Market Research Future (MRFR). Advanced energy storage systems use technologies that convert electricity into energy, store it and then convert it into usable electricity for later use. Basically, the energy storage systems are useful for energy conversion, energy storage, and electricity conversion to consumable power. Simply put, this technology is primarily used to satiate the global appetite for electricity.

Drivers and Restraints

Increasing interest in energy efficiency has gained traction in many industries, such as the automotive industry. Of late, carmakers are switching to electric models from diesel-powered vehicles due to growing concerns about depleting fossil fuels. Car companies are also expanding their infrastructure to enhance their production of electric cars. For instance, in 2018, Mercedes-Benz Energy repurposed a retired coal plant in Germany to manufacture larger number of electric vehicles (EVs) for energy storage purposes.

Apart from this, the increasing investments in renewable sources of energy coupled with various governmental regulations and initiatives supporting the use of renewable energy have augmented the growth of the global AES market to a large extent. For instance, in 2018, the Government of India announced a 10% reduction in Goods and Services Tax (GST) applied on lithium-ion batteries used in electric cars and the raw materials used in manufacture of these batteries. This move will help raise storage capacity and also boost domestic manufacturing in the country.

However, high initial investment cost subject to installation has the potential to deter the ongoing market growth. On the other hand, counteracting this restraining factor is the continuous advancement in technology to develop low-cost system.

Access Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/advanced-energy-storage-systems-market-1099

Key Vendors

The key vendors in the global market are Yuasa Corporation (Japan), Samsung SDI Co. Ltd. (South Korea), Hitachi Limited (Japan), Toshiba Corporation (Japan), ABB Limited (Switzerland), Siemens A.G. (Germany), Alstom (France), Exide Technologies (U.S.), L.G. Chem. Limited (South Korea), Alevo Group S.A. (U.S.), Maxwell Technologies Inc. (U.S.) and others.

Industry Trends

Dominion Energy has planned to develop a smarter, stronger and greener energy grid by 2022, that has 3,000 megawatts of new solar and wind. This system will power around 750,000 homes in Virginia. This is a smart grid technology that is highly energy efficient and is priced on the lower side.

Above is an example of a market trend involving a digital technology that allows two-way communication between the utility and its customers, along with sensing along the transmission lines. A smart grid technology is rapidly gaining momentum across the globe, as it reduces peak demand, subsequently lowering electricity rates.

Market Segmentation

The global advanced energy storage market is segmented based on application and technology.

Automotive Application to emerge as a major segment

The applications of advanced energy storage systems are power, automotive, and others. A combination of technical enhancements in vehicles and reasonable government policies that encourage vehicle efficiency has propelled the application of advanced energy storage systems in automotive industry.

The Battery Sub-segment to Hold the Largest Market Share

Technology-wise, the market is segmented into batteries, flywheels, compressed air storage, thermal, pumped hydro-power and others. Among these, the batteries segment is leading the advanced energy storage systems market, as it is used for electrification of grid. Moreover, gradual advancement of advanced energy storage technology enhances the battery efficiency. Thereby steeling the position of the battery storage system market.

Regional Analysis

The global advanced energy storage market is spread across the regions of the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and the Middle East & Africa.

Asia Pacific to be the leading market for advanced energy storage systems

The Asia-Pacific market is estimated to lead the advanced energy storage market throughout the forecast period due to major manufacturing and infrastructural activities being undertaken in the region. Remarkable growth in the electric vehicles market has also catapulted the growth of the advanced energy storage system market in the region.

The Americas region is subjected to strong market performance on account of high demand for lithium-ion technology within the renewable energy trade. The region also makes high demand for grid-connected solutions which bolsters the market growth in the region. The flourishing automotive industry in the countries such as US and Canada along with sound government policies work in favor of the market growth.

Get a FREE Sample@ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1099

The Europe region has accrued a substantial share of the global market owing to installation of island systems that are basically deployed in regions where the power grid is weak and unreliable. Moreover, the region of Europe also boasts of full support from various government bodies for technological innovations.

The markets in Middle East and Africa are growing steadily but not at the same growth rate as other regions. This is due to some regulatory barriers that do not allow the advanced battery storage system to become a mainstream option for the power sector. However, these barriers are being challenged by accelerated need for power quality, and highly sophisticated technology in the region.

Industry News

Siam GS Battery is preparing to increase its lead-acid battery production to meet growing demand at home and across Southeast Asia. The company is investing around USD 30 million in the expansion. Li-ion batteries offer benefits in terms of energy density and specific energy and are apt for storage of high amount of energy for a long period.

[letslive-hwaiting]

"Manna 🥐🍞🥨🥖🥯

Title: Eyeing Him

I trust that you were blessed by Senior Pastor at His Sunday best yesterday - preaching the true gospel of Jesus Christ that brings hope and grace to a turbulent world.

I watched cable TV news before church online service started and saw a world hit by Covid-19 - lives, jobs and minds lost; global economies, corporations and healthcare systems in turmoil and world leaders scrambling for solutions.

You watch and see these devastating after-effects with your own eyes, a vital organ I’d like to focus on today.

The eyes are organs of a complex system that enables you to see. They help you to process light and dark, to focus, and can send transmissions to your brain. What and how you see determines your mental and positional state, and your physical and spiritual walk.

Senior Pastor preached yesterday on the importance of seeing Jesus. To see Him in the scriptures (Emmaus Road) and to behold Him, instead of just focusing on the storms in the world.

So where do you see Jesus right now in the midst of world chaos?

Ephesians 1:20-22 NKJV

He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He will put all things under His feet.

Jesus, your Redeemer, is right now seated at the Father’s right hand FAR ABOVE every danger, disaster and disease that is name (Covid-19) and even those unnamed that is to come. And the scriptures say He is making intercession for you (Romans 8:34) and will put all things under His feet!

When you see your Saviour as on top and mightier than your issues, it brings hope and your faith arises. Peace will garrison your heart and mind and from your soul will spring forth praises of gratitude unto Him.

That’s a desired place to be in during such times. A rested place that’s the blessed place.

Pastor Prince has taught us it is equally important you see how Daddy God sees you.

Ephesians 2:4-6 NKJV

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

And raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Your God, who is rich in mercy and has great love for you, sees you as His child.

He sees you seated with His Son, whose Finished Work at the Cross gave you His righteousness and that highly-favored seat in the heavenly places far above your every challenge!

SP also shared this yesterday: How you see Jesus is how you will be.

He said Peter could walk on water, just like Jesus, because he kept his eyes focused on the LORD. (Matt 14). He only began to sink when he took his eyes away from the LORD and looked at the storm.

But what if I don’t even have the strength or ability to see?

2 Chronicles 16:9 NKJV

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.

So even if you cannot see, the LORD sees.

His eyes scan to and fro throughout the whole earth, showing Himself as your strength. That’s grace! Hallelujah!

So be encouraged to see and believe right.

Make the best use of your eyes to see Jesus in all the loveliness of His person and the perfection of His Finished Work.

Keep seeing Jesus, who loves you, in the scriptures.

Choose to focus your eyes on the Good News, and not the not-so-good global news.

Keep seeing the LORD watching out for you, to show Himself strong for you. And you will walk far above every bad virus, situation and storm - and see your miracle breakthrough.

He so deserves our praise!

So join me:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in His Wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace.

Eyeing Him,

Dn Pete"

[renewableenergysources]

Chinese conglomerate surges to top spot on global utility-scale solar developer list

This week Wiki-solar released its latest ranking of the top 32 utility-scale solar EPCs. The company ranks the developers by number of projects developed and cumulative capacity brought online.  This year, a new company tops that list.

China’s State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) rose to number one thanks to the 2.2-GWAC project its subsidiary Huanghe Hydropower completed in Qinghai province last year (more on that project, below).

Other notable climbers are NextEra Energy, whose subsidiary Florida Power and Light has commissioned several large projects in its home state; and France’s Engie with new plants in Europe, the Americas and Africa.

“Established energy multinationals are now moving strongly into the solar market,” said Wiki-Solar’s Philip Wolfe, who added that these new entrants are “breaking the monopoly which specialist solar companies like First Solar, juwi and the late SunEdison used to hold a decade ago.”

The world’s largest single solar plant

With a capacity of 2.2 GWAC (3.1 GWP), the new plant in Qinghai’s Gonghe County is the world’s largest single solar installation. Covering over 52 square km, it was built by Huanghe Hydropower in just 10 months and connected in September 2020. The power generated in this remote part of the country is dispatched via 1,500 km of 800-kV transmission lines to Beijing and Shanghai.

The new plant is some 15km west of the Longyangxia project, also developed by SPIC. This was itself the world’s largest project when first commissioned in 2013, taking over from another of their projects – a  200MWP installation from 2011 in Golmud Solar Park (about 500 km further west). SPIC’s reign was interrupted in 2019 when ADWEA’s 938MWAC project was commissioned in Abu Dhabi in 2019.

There are larger multi-phase or multiple owner ‘solar parks’, including Golmud Solar Park and Longyang­xia itself – both of which have been extended over the years to about 3GWAC – and Bhadla in India.

Top plant owners

Some project developers retain ownership of the projects, so many of the companies above appear too in the list of the top plant owners also released this week. (See table below.)

Additionally, other power producers and infrastructure funds buy plants from developers before or after construction. In the US these include Dominion, Global Infrastructure Partners, Con Ed, Duke Energy and D E Shaw Renewables (DESRI) all in the top 15. European investors on the list are France’s Neoen and Sonnedix; and UK-based Actis, Lightsource BP, Foresight and NextEnergy.

“Our lists are compiled from the cumulative AC capacity of operational plants over 4 MWAC”, said Wolfe, “so owners with older subsidy-backed assets will appear lower than they would, if ranked by value. Companies would also show higher figures if measured by MWP and if smaller projects were included.”

from Renewable Energy World https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/solar/chinese-conglomerate-surges-to-top-spot-on-global-utility-scale-solar-developer-list/

[the-breakfast-chub]

Chinese conglomerate surges to top spot on global utility-scale solar developer list

This week Wiki-solar released its latest ranking of the top 32 utility-scale solar EPCs. The company ranks the developers by number of projects developed and cumulative capacity brought online.  This year, a new company tops that list.

China’s State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) rose to number one thanks to the 2.2-GWAC project its subsidiary Huanghe Hydropower completed in Qinghai province last year (more on that project, below).

Other notable climbers are NextEra Energy, whose subsidiary Florida Power and Light has commissioned several large projects in its home state; and France’s Engie with new plants in Europe, the Americas and Africa.

“Established energy multinationals are now moving strongly into the solar market,” said Wiki-Solar’s Philip Wolfe, who added that these new entrants are “breaking the monopoly which specialist solar companies like First Solar, juwi and the late SunEdison used to hold a decade ago.”

The world’s largest single solar plant

With a capacity of 2.2 GWAC (3.1 GWP), the new plant in Qinghai’s Gonghe County is the world’s largest single solar installation. Covering over 52 square km, it was built by Huanghe Hydropower in just 10 months and connected in September 2020. The power generated in this remote part of the country is dispatched via 1,500 km of 800-kV transmission lines to Beijing and Shanghai.

The new plant is some 15km west of the Longyangxia project, also developed by SPIC. This was itself the world’s largest project when first commissioned in 2013, taking over from another of their projects – a  200MWP installation from 2011 in Golmud Solar Park (about 500 km further west). SPIC’s reign was interrupted in 2019 when ADWEA’s 938MWAC project was commissioned in Abu Dhabi in 2019.

There are larger multi-phase or multiple owner ‘solar parks’, including Golmud Solar Park and Longyang­xia itself – both of which have been extended over the years to about 3GWAC – and Bhadla in India.

Top plant owners

Some project developers retain ownership of the projects, so many of the companies above appear too in the list of the top plant owners also released this week. (See table below.)

Additionally, other power producers and infrastructure funds buy plants from developers before or after construction. In the US these include Dominion, Global Infrastructure Partners, Con Ed, Duke Energy and D E Shaw Renewables (DESRI) all in the top 15. European investors on the list are France’s Neoen and Sonnedix; and UK-based Actis, Lightsource BP, Foresight and NextEnergy.

“Our lists are compiled from the cumulative AC capacity of operational plants over 4 MWAC”, said Wolfe, “so owners with older subsidy-backed assets will appear lower than they would, if ranked by value. Companies would also show higher figures if measured by MWP and if smaller projects were included.”

from https://ift.tt/3vDeoBH

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Hydro Probe Resumed Investigating Purchase Of Hamilton Company,” Owen Sound Sun Times. June 9, 1932. Page 1. ---- Probe Purchase of Dominion Power and Transmission Co. ---- BY HYDRO --- No Announcement Findings in Aird Case Made --- (Canadian Press Despatch) TORONTO, June 9. — The Royal Commission enquiry into the affairs of the Ontario Hydro was resumed today by Mr Justice J. F. Orde. 

The enquiry was to pass to that part of the evidence concerning the $21,500,000 purchased in 1930 by the Hydro of the Dominion Power and Transmission Company of Hamilton, Ont. Until this question is disposed of it is understood Mr. Justice Orde will not make any findings on the payments to John Aird, Jr., by the Hydro and Beauharnois Corporation. This was the topic which occupied the attention of the Commission before the adjournment. 

When the enquiry was resumed today, W. N. Tilley, K. C., counsel for the commission fyled bundles of documents bearing on the purchase of the Dominion Power and Transmission Co. properties by the Hydro Commission. These documents included letters, dating back to 1917, records of negotiations appraisals and inventories of the properties made in 1919 and in 1927, estimates of possible earnings and details of 444 betterments and improvements made to the D. P. & T. Co., properties between 1920 and Jan. 1927. 

Geoffrey T. Clarkson, whose firm as been auditors for the Ontario Hydro Power Commission since 1916, was called to the box. He said he first heard of a proposal by the Hydro to purchase the D. P. & Co. properties in 1919 and he was told his firm would be asked to prepare figures. The matter, however, was dropped and he heard nothing more of a purchase plan until March 1928, when he had a general talk with the chairman of the Commission, who stated they were looking into the property with the idea of purchasing it. Later in the same year, F. A. Gaby, chief engineer for the Hydro called on him and said the negotiations were proceeding and that the D. P. & T., Co. wanted par value for their stock, which worked out st about $21,000,000 for the properties. 

His firm, said the witness on instructions from the Hydro, looked into the proposition and reported that the properties were not worth $21,000,000 as they were being operated, but might be worth the price to Hydro if the plant at Decew Falls were converted Into a peak plant. At that time and previously proposals had been devised to build peak steam plants in Toronto and elsewhere to take care of the extra demand for power. Estimates of such extra power costs from steam plants ranged from $20 to $31 per horsepower.

[techsciresearch]

India LNG Market to Grow at a CAGR of over 17% During Forecast Period – TechSci Research

Growing demand from various end user industries such as power, fertilizers, industrial and city gas distribution to drive demand for LNG in India through 2030

According to TechSci Research report, “India LNG Market By Source, By Application, By Region, Competition, Forecast & Opportunities, 2030”, India LNG market is anticipated to grow at double digit growth rate over the next ten years on account of growing investments in setting up of new LNG terminals and cost effectiveness of natural gas over other fuel alternatives.

Oil & gas is one of the eight core sectors of India and LNG finds majority applications in end user industries such as fertilizers, city gas production (CGD) and power. During FY2018-19, consumption of liquefied natural gas in the country was close to 148 MMSCMD. However, domestic natural gas production in India is low, being close to 90 MMSCMD, therefore, over 50% of the natural gas is imported from several countries like Australia, US and Qatar, among others.

Rising concerns pertaining to the use of cleaner energy is one of the major reasons for the increasing consumption of gas. Additionally, on account of development of transmission and distribution infrastructure, the demand is likely to increase further over the coming years. The government is also focusing on the expansion of gas pipeline as of February 2019 pipeline infrastructure stood at 16,200 km and is in plans to be extended to 27,400 km by 2025.

Browse 34 market data Figures and Tables spread through 81 Pages and an in-depth TOC on "India LNG Market"

https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/india-lng-market/4436.html

India LNG market can be segmented based on source, application and region. Based on application, market can be classified into fertilizers, power, city gas distribution, petrochemicals, utilities, and manufacturing, among others. Power is the dominant application segment in the market as it is used for power generation.

Major companies operating in the economy include Petronet LNG Limited, GAIL(India) Limited, Royal Dutch Shell plc, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited, Indian Oil Corporation Limited, H-Energy Private Limited, Total S.A., GSPC LNG Limited,       Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, JSW Infrastructure, Essar Ports Ltd, among others. The companies operating in the market are engaging in long term contracts for the import of gas. For instance, GAIL signed a 20-year contract with Cheniere Energy and Dominion for the import of gas from the United States starting 2017 and 2018 respectively. Recently, Petronet invested $ 2.5 billion for the import of natural gas from the United States for 4 decades.

Download Sample Report  @ https://www.techsciresearch.com/sample-report.aspx?cid=4436 

Customers can also request for 10% free customization on this report.

“On account of growing pollution levels which can be attributed to the high consumption of coal and crude oil, the government is focusing on carbon emissions by doubling the percentage of energy mix to 15% by 2022. Furthermore, in order to fulfil the growing demand for natural gas, government is adopting several policies including 100% FDI in petroleum and natural gas production, which is anticipated to drive the growth of the India LNG market until 2030.” said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global management consulting firm.

“India LNG Market By Source, By Application, By Region, Competition, Forecast & Opportunities, 2030” has analyzed the potential of LNG market across the country, and provides statistics and information on market sizes, shares and trends. The report will suffice in providing the intending clients with cutting-edge market intelligence and help them in taking sound investment decisions. Besides, the report also identifies and analyzes emerging trends along with essential drivers and key challenges faced by India LNG market.

Browse Related Reports

Global Small Scale LNG (SSLNG) Liquefaction Plant Market By Capacity (Up to 0.16 MTPA, 0.17 – 0.33 MTPA, 0.34 – 0.65 MTPA, 0.66 – 1 MTPA) By Region (Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, South America, Middle East & Africa), Forecast & Opportunities, 2024

https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/small-scale-lng-liquefaction-plant-market/3947.html

Global Small Scale LNG Market By Application (Industrial, Transportation, Utilities, Others), By Mode of Supply (Truck, Rail Tanks, Trans-shipment), By Region Opportunities & Forecast, 2012 -2026

https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/global-small-scale-lng-market-by-application-industrial-transportation-utilities-others-by-mode-of-supply-truck-rail-tanks-trans-shipment-by-region-opportunities-forecast/803.html

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[lrmartinjr]

The House of Delegates' Commerce and Labor Committee advanced legislation Tuesday that would direct the State Corporation Commission to view Dominion Virginia Power's pricey plans to bury some of its outage-prone lines in a more favorable light.

The committee also moved forward a controversial bill that would allow utilities to bypass local zoning for certain "associated facilities" of 138 kilovolt transmission lines such as switching stations. Appalachian Power is currently the only utility with such lines, according to the commission.

Senate Bill 1473 by Sen. Richard L. Saslaw, D-Fairfax, comes about a year and a half after the commission rejected the initial phase of a Dominion plan to put about 4,000 miles of lines prone to storm outages underground at a cost to ratepayers of about $6 billion over the life of the new underground lines. The commission later approved a scaled-back pilot version.

______________________________________________ Click on the headline to read the full story. ~ Richmond Times-Dispatch

[biofunmy]

From Former Mental Hospital to Recreational Hub

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Lunatic Asylum admitted its first patient in 1828. Ever since, its impressive brick wards surrounded by nearly 200 acres of leafy lawns and gardens served as landmarks in Columbia, the state’s capital.

Almost 200 years later, and three decades after the last patient was discharged, the old brick buildings and expansive open space are being steadily converted into one of the largest downtown mixed-use real estate projects in the nation, a 181-acre development known as the BullStreet District.

A mile from Columbia’s central business district, and more than twice as large, the BullStreet project reflects the latest trends in designing and building compact urban neighborhoods. The district features an array of modern office, residential, retail, entertainment and recreational spaces.

The history of the hospital, which spans the Civil War and two world wars, and its size and location near the heart of Columbia, also drew political friction about its uses and expense to taxpayers. But public conversation began to subside as each new feature was added to the district.

More than $100 million has been invested to construct an inviting downtown destination that Columbia has never had before. BullStreet is steadily emerging as the civic space that Stephen K. Benjamin, the city’s three-term mayor, envisioned when he persuaded the City Council in 2013 to begin collaborating on the project with the Hughes Development Corporation, a developer based 100 miles away in Greenville.

“I knew what was involved and that it would be a long and arduous public discussion,” Mr. Benjamin said. “Everybody had an opinion about historic renovation. Everybody had an opinion about how much the city should invest.

Despite opposition, Mr. Benjamin said he stuck to his vision. “I saw the opportunity to add 181 acres to the tax roll, and to build a place people wanted to be,” he said. “I saw it as a project meant to be a long-term fit for the people of Columbia.”

Hughes, which gained a national reputation for its work to transform Greenville’s seedy downtown into a showcase of urban revival, was eager to undertake the redevelopment project. BullStreet is one of a number of mixed-use projects around the country, transforming architecturally distinguished 19th century psychiatric institutions into new neighborhoods.

The Victorian Italianate buildings of the former Traverse City State Hospital in northern Michigan were redeveloped in 2010 into a wooded campus called the Village at Grand Traverse Commons, a mix of residences, shops, restaurants, offices and markets. In 2005, the State of Massachusetts sold the 93-acre Foxborough State Hospital for development as a mixed-use district called Chestnut Green.

In 2010, Hughes agreed to pay $18 million for the state-owned hospital buildings and the grounds along one of Columbia’s busiest streets. It negotiated with the city to renovate the historic structures, donated 9 acres at the district’s center for a new minor-league baseball stadium and gained rights to develop 3.3 million square feet of commercial space and more than 3,500 residences.

In turn, the city agreed to share the project’s cost, offering $31 million to help build the $37 million baseball stadium, Segra Park, which opened in 2016 as the home of the Columbia Fireflies, a Class A affiliate of the New York Mets. Columbia, a city of more than 130,000 people, also promised to invest $30 million in roads and other infrastructure, and an estimated $28 million for 1,600 parking spaces in two parking decks.

Construction started in 2015. Along with the stadium, the district has added a $20 million, 108,000-square-foot office building, a $30 million, 196-unit apartment building for seniors, and 28 townhouses. Hughes renovated two smaller structures — a historic bakery building and the 81-year-old hospital morgue — for a high-tech communal work space, a restaurant and offices. Downtown Church, a local Presbyterian congregation, spent $2.5 million to renovate the hospital’s steam energy plant into an 8,000-square-foot venue for events and worship.

Over the next year REI, the recreational equipment retailer, will open a 20,000-square-foot store in the district’s new shopping area along Bull Street. Hughes also anticipates that Clachan Properties, a developer based in Richmond, will gain approval for a $42 million renovation of the 200,000-square-foot Babcock Building that will become 209 apartments. The building’s red cupola and Italianate entrance, constructed in the mid-1880s, are the project’s architectural focal points.

“We have the luxury of beautiful historic structures that give the project a ton of character,” said Robert Hughes III, president of Hughes Development. “It has the charm of the older districts in the Southeast.”

Not everyone has been enthusiastic about the project. The city’s big investment attracted criticism from anti-tax activists. City lawyers cautioned about long-term debt. Hughes and the mayor insisted the district would take a generation to complete, but the pace of construction has been slower than some residents had expected.

When a plan to build a 400,000-square-foot shopping area failed to attract enough retailers in 2017, criticism grew, especially from some city leaders.

“Too often for our own good, Columbians have been sold grandiose visions by both local and outside groups, developers and alliances which have traditionally left the taxpayers holding the bag,” Daniel Rickenmann, a City Council member, wrote in an opinion article in January in The State, Columbia’s daily newspaper.

But work on the development project chugged along. In February, the city said the ballpark attracted more than 300,000 visitors last year and generated more than $450,000 in tax revenue. In March, REI made its announcement.

Former critics have become supporters, including Tameika Isaac Devine, a lawyer and City Council member who voted against the project six years ago. “Honestly, it was going too fast at that point,” Ms. Devine said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of time for the public’s concerns to be addressed.”

But progress on the development, including the opening of the stadium, helped change her opinion. “My family has season tickets for baseball,” she said. “I’m glad I was on the losing end of that vote.”

In addition to maintaining the history of the district, Hughes also sought to modernize some aspects like infrastructure development. The entire parcel is wired for high-speed internet connections. Hughes traded a large plot of land and transmission right-of-way easements to Dominion Energy, which wanted to build a new electrical substation. In return, Dominion agreed to bury the district’s electric power lines.

Hughes is also constructing a $4 million, 20-acre park, which features restoring the natural flow of Smith Branch, a tributary of the Broad River that runs through the site. Before Hughes took ownership of the development, the creek flowed for 1,000 feet above ground, and then disappeared for 1,600 more feet into two mammoth underground concrete pipes the state installed in the 1950s to control flooding.

Joshua Robinson, an engineer and hydrologist from Charleston, designed a restoration plan to clear the first 1,000 feet of debris and rebuild the existing channel. He then constructed 1,600 feet of new channel on the surface, freeing the creek from the pipes. Mr. Robinson did not demolish the old pipes, though. He left them in place and built a concrete weir, a compact dam structure that during storms diverts high flows into the pipes and protects the park from floods.

“The stream is the spine of the park,” said Mr. Robinson, who expects to open the park later this year. Upstream will be the most naturalistic part of the park with native vegetation. Downstream will have manicured fields and walking paths, a two-acre pond, pools and shade trees. “It will be a diverse experience, feel natural, and all in human scale,” he said.

Sahred From Source link Real Estate

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[inerginc]

Facebook and Dominion Energy have announced a partnership on six solar projects in the US states of Virginia and North Carolina.

The virtual power-purchase agreement is set to add up to 350MW of new capacity, which Facebook will use to power data centers and facilities in the two states.

Dominion developed one of the projects which totals 20 MW, and will purchase the five other projects from BayWa r.e. Solar Projects and EDF Renewables.

Facebook has committed to 100 percent renewable energy, and has set a target of the end of 2020. It has reached as much as 51 percent renewable energy for its operations at the end of 2017, and has said it “work(s) to ensure that all of the renewable energy projects we contract for are on the same electrical grid as our data centers.”

Dominion plans to have 3 gigawatts of wind and solar under construction, or complete by 2022.

The two companies are already working on two projects in Surry County, Virginia, which total 240MW, which will also provide power to Facebook’s Virginia data center.

Facebook, for instance, is a member of the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance, which consist of corporations working towards a goal of bringing more than 60 gigawatts of renewable energy online by 2025. 

Whilst this news bodes well for Facebook's position as a clean-energy leader, the social media giant got some not-so-great news in the form of a $39 million bill for new transmission lines to its New Mexico data centre. Here's the story.

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[thoughtfulcupcakesublime]

Following Dominion Energy’s filing with the State Corporation Commission (SCC), the Alliance to Save Carver Road will be protesting in front of the Haymarket Amazon facility tomorrow.

Click here for information about Dominion’s recent SCC filing.

Click here for a full story on the Dominion transmission line situation.

According to a release, the coalition intends to demand that Amazon pay for the 230-kilovolt transmission line project through the area.

“The utility recently announced that it will seek a new route for the power line along Interstate 66 instead of through the historic community, but opponents say they are not letting down their guard and are moving forward with the protest,” stated a release.

The coalition protested last month in front of a Dominion facility in Herndon.

Tomorrow’s protest will take place from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. outside of the Amazon data center facility at 6530 Trading Square.

The post Save Carver Road group to protest at Haymarket Amazon facility tomorrow appeared first on What's Up Prince William.

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[astralfrontier]

A “fusion AU” - a combination of many fictional franchises into a single chronology - based on the theme of biology. Viral infections, nonhuman creatures or half-human hybrids, giant monsters, and more.

Prelude (antiquity - 1945)

Since ancient times, certain humans have been immortal. In later centuries, they would learn the reason: an infection by a strain of the "Progenitor virus". Aside from longevity, the virus conveys a healing factor, immense physical health, and silvery eyes. The virus conveys immunity to many diseases - it will immediately infect and neutralize microbes, for example - but does significant damage to the gut flora, leading to significant chronic pain.

Many immortals are angry at their condition: they will live forever, and suffer forever. Some manage to kill themselves, despite their resilience. Others form cults, or are overthrown by fearful mobs. Eventually, several immortals banded together to investigate their condition, and if possible cure it - if that meant death, at least they would know peace. They submitted themselves to investigation by Faraj ben Sālim, the Sicilian-Jewish physician and translator. In 1281, thanks to the ability to dissect and analyze a human body while it still lived and spoke, the group made a breakthrough. Though they do not speak of it, the group found a way to cure their endless pain and live normal lives. They banded together, taking the name Da’ath, or “knowledge” in Hebrew, swearing to become masters of the living world.

In 1718, a member of Da’ath manages to experiment with the Progenitor virus. He infects medicinal leeches with his own blood, which when applied to a human corpse could give it a temporary un-life. His story later forms the basis for Mary Shelley’s story “Frankenstein”.

In 1858, Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace introduce the theory of evolution: genetic descent with modification due to natural selection. Virchow, Schleiden, and Schwann develop the components of cell theory around the same time. The Victorian zeitgeist takes such discoveries in strange and unexpected directions. “Social darwinism”, a term invented in the 1880s, claims that “survival of the fittest” is a suitable template for society, not merely a description of natural selection. The Contagious Diseases Act is passed in 1864 and confines women accused of venereal disease to “lock hospitals”, disproportionately affecting the female working class of Britain. This conflation of morality and biology continues as a theme throughout the Victorian era.

This mixing of science and sociology comes to a head in 1893, when Professor Emmanuel Hildern elaborates his theory of evil as a transmissible plague and proposed, effectively, a vaccination against it. He bases his theory on the discovery of a humanoid but non-human skeleton, which develops tissue when exposed to water. Hildern is eventually locked away in an asylum run by his brother, and no further sign of the skeleton is found after a heavy rainstorm.

According to Darwin’s theory, biological mutations can arise by chance, then spread broadly throughout a population. A radical change to the environment can be sparked by a single surprising event. History sometimes works in a similar fashion, and one particular spark came about because of a king and a writer.

In 1862, King Otto of Greece is forced to abdicate the crown. It is offered to Edward Bulwer-Lytton, the English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician. Bulwer-Lytton is a noted Hellenophile and his books have been well received by the public for years. Along with the offer, Bulwer-Lytton receives a startling secret. Shaken by what he is told, he declines the honor and returns to his work. Four years later, he is elevated to Baron.

In 1871, Bulwer-Lytton writes a fictionalized version of the secret he was told, called “The Coming Race”. This novel features an unnamed narrator who discovers a way into a subterranean world. This inner Earth is populated by a people called the “Vril-ya” with telepathic and parapsychological abilities. Their civilization and powers are attributed to mastery of a mystical substance called “vril”, analogous to electricity in its variety of applications.

The concept of “vril” is seized upon by a number of occult thinkers, including Rudolf Steiner, the literary critic, esoteric writer, and founder of Anthroposophy. Steiner’s thinking separates him from his original comrades in the Theosophical movement, as he is more interested in developing a philosophy that incorporates natural science than following Theosophy’s mystical mindset.

The Wahrheits Gesellschaft, or “Society for Truth”, emerges as an inner circle of the Thule Society in 1911. The Society for Truth’s members have read “The Coming Race” and other sources, and conclude that it is based on a true story. They begin searching for tangible evidence of vril, driven by Steiner’s naturalistic approach.

In 1927, Robert Olmstead visits the New England town of Innsmouth, as part of a search for details of his own family line. He speaks with town drunk Zadok Allen, and learns the secret history of the town. An intelligent non-human species, the “Deep Ones”, live under the sea, and periodically come to shore to breed with human beings. Almost everyone in Innsmouth is now a human-Deep One hybrid. Alarmed by this discovery, Olmstead approaches the Federal authorities with convincing evidence, causing them to send submarines and soldiers to Innsmouth. A general cleanup of the town occurs, driving the Deep Ones further under the sea. Olmstead himself commits suicide shortly thereafter, puzzling most members of his family.

Officials who obtain the corpses of Deep Ones compare them to the 1893 writings of Professor Hildern, and conclude that his “mysterious evil skeleton” was in fact a Deep One. The alarming conclusion is that the creatures must have existed for at least 80,000 years.

Josef Mengele, the infamous Nazi doctor, joins the Nazi Party in 1937, and the Schutzstaffel (SS) a year later. Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS, was a noted esoteric and member of the Thule Society. Himmler’s mystical leanings aren’t of interest to Mengele, but some of the hints uncovered by the Society for Truth and spoken of by the SS high command

such as unusual human genetic potentials - fascinate him. He begins a series of monstrous experiments on prisoners during the war, unhindered by any sort of ethics or morality. He is assisted by other geneticists and scientists, among them Brigid Tenenbaum and Henry Jelliff.

Mengele and Jelliff escape the fall of Nazi Germany in 1945 and move to Paraguay. They continue their research into human cloning. The Battle of Berlin ends May 2, 1945. Only July 9, the day a partial solar eclipse occurs in Berlin, Brigid Tenenbaum finally uncovers evidence of vril in a secret laboratory.

Prophase (1946 - 1961)

Andrew Ryan flees Russia in 1919 as a child. His experiences under the Soviet dominion of his homeland sour him on any sort of socialist or collectivist system. He feels a similar disgust at America’s "New Deal" social programs. As a successful industrialist and capitalist, he envisions a place where his ideals could be fully realized. He plans to create his own city, untouchable by “parasites”.

Following the bombing of Hiroshima, an event that Ryan sees as a perversion of science, he creates blueprints for an underwater city called “Rapture” that will serve as a home for the elite. Construction commences in 1945. On November 5, 1946, Rapture is ready enough to welcome its first citizens. Only the best and brightest receive invitations, regardless of their origin or past history.

Operation Paperclip is started in 1945 by the OSS (the precursors to the CIA), as an effort to acquire Nazi scientific expertise, or at least deprive the Russians of it. Andrew Ryan’s well-known hatred for the Soviet Union, his fluency in Russian, and his ties to the military-industrial complex allow him to be an integral part of Operation Paperclip. This in turn gives him access to the personnel records of many of Germany’s top thinkers. He offers to smuggle them to safety in the United States, but channels several of them not to American shores, but to Rapture.

Brigid Tenenbaum is one such recruit. She spends the next four years researching vril and its applications in Rapture’s laboratories, as well as performing other scientific research. She discovers a gene transfer mechanism in sea slugs that allow them to acquire traits from algae they consume. Using this ability, she creates "ADAM", a viral precursor to the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing process, that allows human beings to be genetically engineered to manipulate vril.

In her diaries, Tenenbaum records secret meetings between strange humanoids and members of Rapture’s leadership. She hints that this contact may have been tied to the discovery of ADAM, and that these beings - the Deep Ones - may enjoy their immortality and ability to reproduce with humans thanks to their use of the proto-ADAM found in the sea slugs. Electron micrographs of viral bacteriophages have been available since 1940, and her diaries include similar micrographs showing samples taken from Deep Ones.

From 1946 to 1952, construction continues on Rapture. In 1951, Ryan’s only law is passed: contact with the surface is forbidden. This law creates a thriving black market under the direction of Frank Fontaine, as the rich and influential citizens of Ryan’s city are accustomed to getting what they want. Fontaine works with his existing contacts on the surface to create an “umbrella corporation” which will act as a front for his smuggling operation.

Tenenbaum’s research requires materials that only Fontaine’s black market pipeline can supply, and the two develop a working relationship. Once ADAM is ready, Tenenbaum uses Fontaine’s influence in the city to manufacture and distribute it.

Tenenbaum lacks the technology to extract and work with DNA directly, making the Elysia chlorotica slugs a vital resource in producing ADAM. By implanting these slugs into a human host, ADAM synthesis can happen fast enough to meet Rapture’s growing demand for designer genetic engineering. The implantation process requires immunosuppressive drugs which only function in conjunction with XX chromosomes in a pre-pubescent individual. The Little Sister’s Orphanage, founded by Fontaine as a place for poor families to send their children, becomes the breeding ground for ADAM production, and the “Little Sisters” themselves are fuel for Rapture’s new habit.

Ryan, realizing the psychological pressures facing the citizens of Rapture (lack of sunlight, close confinement, and so forth), brings in Dr. Sofia Lamb, a brilliant psychologist. However, Dr. Lamb’s altruistic ideals contrast sharply with Ryan’s “parasite” rhetoric, and she begins to persuade the poorer segments of the population to abandon Ryan’s vision of Rapture.

In 1953, Professor Tom Nesbitt is involved in an atomic test in the Arctic. The blast thaws out a cryogenically frozen Rhedosaurus dinosaur, which follows the oceanic current from Baffin Bay to New York City. The beast is killed with a radioactive isotope shot into its neck. Before it dies, much of its blood is shed by attacking soldiers. This blood contains ancient diseases to which modern humans have no resistance.

Tenenbaum sends samples of the brain chemicals produced in the Little Sisters to the surface for analysis in 1955. Dr. Paul Ruth performs the analysis and concludes that the chemicals have great potential. He synthesizes and distributes a drug called Ephemerol based on his findings, marketing it as a safe tranquilizer for pregnant women. Many women begin using it, including Ruth’s own wife, who gives birth in 1956 and 1960.

By 1958, “Plasmids” - the fully realized fruit of Tenenbaum’s integration of vril and human genetics - become commercially available in Rapture. These genetic weapons allowed people to start fires or create lightning, freeze a target, or even move things telekinetically. By 1959, the city has fallen into a civil war, stoked by the competing visions of Andrew Ryan’s twisted idealism, Frank Fontaine’s anything-goes capitalism, and Sofia Lamb’s altruistic excess, and empowered by ADAM and Plasmids.

Andrew Ryan’s mistress Jasmine Jolene becomes pregnant. Since much of Rapture’s critical technology was locked to Ryan’s genetic code, his biological child would have similar levels of access. Realizing the possibilities, Fontaine purchases the embryo from Jolene in 1956. Dr. Yi Suchong and Fontaine accelerate the development of this embryo to maturity, using a biochemical treatment called “Lot 111”. Dr. Suchong implants mental conditioning into this individual, named “Jack”.

In 1959, Joyce Webster finds her husband Paul at a secret science lab in the Louisiana bayou. The facility, funded by Fontaine’s smuggling corporation and doing experiments for Dr. J.S. Steinman, is experimenting with limb regeneration. As a side effect, the test subjects are mutating into alligator-human hybrids. The lab is destroyed in an explosion.

Jack is brought back to Rapture in 1960. Manipulated by Fontaine under the guise of populist hero “Atlas”, Jack kills Andrew Ryan. Dr. Tenenbaum assists Jack in overcoming his mental conditioning, and together the two rescue the remaining Little Sisters in Rapture. Jack confronts and kills Frank Fontaine. Jack, Dr. Tenenbaum, and several of the restored Little Sisters escape from Rapture in a bathysphere.

One of these Little Sisters is adopted by the Trevor family, George and Jessica. They name their child “Lisa”.

Metaphase (1961 - 1975)

Rapture couldn’t keep its secrets forever. The First Biological Warfare Command, alias “Blackwatch”, is established in 1962 by DARPA and the Department of the Army. The program’s mandate is to secure America against biological attack, but its leadership goes further: they want to create new viral agents as weapons of war.

Dr. Tenenbaum was one of Andrew Ryan’s Operation Paperclip recruits, under the alias “Anna Zimmerman”. Blackwatch’s agents track her down after her escape from Rapture, and manage to wrest some of the secrets of ADAM from her. She refuses to work with them, and is killed by government assassins. Blackwatch begins tracking down Jack and the escaped Little Sisters, whose bodies have been significantly altered by their exposure to ADAM.

In 1963, Blackwatch begins “Carnival I”: the introduction of a new "Redlight" virus into chimpanzees. Redlight is derived from the “Lot 111” treatment obtained from Tenenbaum, adapted into viral form. The effects are immediate and positive: enhanced intelligence, strength, and other physical features.

By 1964, Blackwatch is ready to test the effects of the Redlight virus on humans. The create an artificial town in Idaho, called “Hope”, and round up a genetically diverse population to inhabit the place. The official story is that Hope is meant to test self-sufficient towns in the event of a nuclear war. On June 11, 461 subjects are infected with Redlight, told only that they are receiving routine immunization shots. Unlike chimpanzee subjects, no immediate mutations or physical changes were observed. 27 children, dubbed “Hope Children”, were born to the infectees in 1965. Their life expectancy was typically 3 years or less.

Blackwatch also sponsors the creation of a facility for studying Redlight. This facility is buried underground near Flatrock, NV, and dubbed “Wildfire”. A series of protocols are put in place to keep Wildfire safe, and if necessary to sterilize it with an atomic bomb. The laboratory is equipped with every conceivable scientific tool for studying microbial and viral lifeforms.

Frank Fontaine’s investment in ADAM was richly rewarded. His Umbrella Corporation has become independently wealthy thanks to pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, bioweapons, and genetic engineering. Lord Oswald E. Spencer, one of the virologists and independently wealthy to begin with, publicly becomes president of Umbrella. In 1966, he, Dr. James Marcus, and Brandon Bailey make a breakthrough in unlocking the double-stranded RNA virus they called "Progenitor".

Lord Spencer has a mansion in the Arklay Mountains designed and built in 1967 as a place where research can take place away from official scrutiny and Blackwatch’s prying eyes. Spencer also leads an expedition to the city of Ndipaya people, during which his colleague Sir Edward Ashford dies due to viral exposure. To cover their tracks in Africa, the Umbrella team releases an artificial and rapidly-spreading virus into the ancient Ndipaya ruins. Blackwatch officers General Ford and Major General McClintock use a fuel bomb to destroy the infected area, assigning the name “Motaba” to the viral agent they found.

Spencer’s real reason for creating the mansion is to get access to George Trevor’s daughter Lisa, and her unique "Little Sister" physiology. Spencer does away with George, then forcibly administers the Progenitor virus to Lisa and her mother Jessica on November 10, 1967. When Jessica shows no interesting effects, Umbrella kills her. Lisa, however, survives the process and is horribly altered. Umbrella extracts a modified virus, the “G-virus”, from Lisa’s body.

In 1968, Dr. Marcus are officially brought on board by Umbrella to push Progenitor research forward. Spencer hope to use Progenitor’s unique infective and mutative properties as a substitute for ADAM, and as a tool to achieve godhood.

By 1968, almost all the “Hope Children” were dead. The exception was a child of a former Little Sister, now going by the name Elizabeth Greene. Redlight turned Greene’s body into a virus factory, and their infections turned the other residents of Hope into a hive mind with one purpose: defend and obey Greene.

Alexander Ashford, son of deceased Lord Edward, begins construction of a secret base in Antarctica to perform further viral research. This work is completed in 1968.

In 1969, Blackwatch initiates “Operation Altruistic”: the forced purification of the Carnival II experiment site in Hope, ID. They capture or destroy all of the infected citizens, take possession of the bodies of the Hope Children, and recover Elizabeth Greene and her child (dubbed “Pariah”).

The Hope infectees controlled by Greene come in several varieties. One, of a highly mobile and intelligent type dubbed a “Runner” by Blackwatch, escapes the Hope military cordon. It flees, crossing 1400 miles to reach Piedmont, AZ (mistakenly labeled “Two Bluff” in Blackwatch records). Robert Cross, then a captain in Blackwatch, tracks the creature there, thankfully with minimal casualties along the way. He is able to destroy it, but not able to prevent the resulting infection of Piedmont’s residents. Everyone except two people - the town drunk and an infant child - subsequently dies. Blackwatch sterilizes the town with a thermobaric weapon.

Blackwatch takes its Carnival II samples and dispatches government scientists to Wildfire to study mutated microbes that survived the Hope experiment, under the code name “Andromeda”. After several tense days, including the near obliteration of the facility by its inbuilt nuclear weapon, the researchers discover that Andromeda itself has mutated into a benign form. To maintain operational security, none of the researchers are told the true origin of the microbe: instead, they are informed that it came down as part of a crashed military satellite.

In 1970, Anna Hart is born. In reality, she is a clone of Brigid Tenenbaum, alias “Anna Zimmerman”. Blackwatch has produced several other clones, and fostered them into families identical to Tenenbaum’s. Over the next several years, the clones receive trace amounts of ADAM harvested from Tenenbaum herself. Blackwatch hopes that ADAM’s memory-transferring properties will awaken Tenenbaum’s memories and genius in the clones.

Blackwatch creates a front company, the Rossum Corporation, to invest in medical technologies and research that will validate the presence of emergent memories in their Anna clones. To that end, Rossum purchases the rights to magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, after it’s invented by Paul C. Lauterbur in September 1971. The corporation gradually dissociates itself from Blackwatch to pursue the ambitions of one of its executives, Clyde Randolph.

In 1970, Andy McGee and Vicky Tomlinson meet in college. The next year, the two are married and expecting their first child, Charlene. They met as test subjects for a hallucinogen called “Lot 6”. Like Ephemerol, Lot 6 is derived from Rapture “Plasmid” biotechnology and the mutated Little Sister physiology, but processed and concentrated. The drug in their systems endows both of them with psychic abilities, and finds its way into the brain of their unborn child Charlie. Charlie herself is born in 1973.

The National Institute of Mental Health receives samples of Redlight for further experimentation. They apply the virus to a collection of rats and mice. Unbeknownst to the researchers, the rodents acquire enhanced intelligence (and perhaps other special abilities), and engineer their own escape from the NIMH facility in 1971.

Blackwatch manages to extract a sample of the viral infection Elizabeth Greene used to control her fellow citizens in Hope. Although the infection doesn’t create a hive mind, it does induce gradual insanity. This virus, code named “Trixie”, is transported by airplane in

The plane crashes near Evans City, PA, and pollutes the local water supply. The townsfolk are quickly driven insane by the infection, while Blackwatch soldiers under the command of Colonel Peckem move in to clean up, contain, or sterilize the city.

Anaphase (1975 - 2009)

Biology itself is now officially a threat to mankind. High-ranking government officials, senior corporate officers, and experienced biologists all consider the problem in their own way, and with their own people. Their conclusions fall into two camps. Either humans need to be improved, or people need to escape being human.

John Hammond founds International Genetics Incorporated, or "InGen", in 1975. Born in 1913, he has a string of successes already behind him, but he is unable to conquer his real enemy: aging and death.

In 1975, rebel scientist Eddie Jessup experiments with a South American hallucinogen which, in combination with sensory deprivation, causes him to physically revert to a pre-human state. The hallucinogen is derived from a plant called the Sonnentreppe , or “Stairway to the Sun”, and also grows in West Africa. The plant is a natural producer of the Progenitor virus, and Jessup’s physical transfiguration is linked to his deeply repressed religious mania.

Dr. Raymond F. McMullen founds GenTek on November 1, 1976. He receives funding from the government’s Blackwatch organization. The company’s purpose is to experiment on the Redlight virus, and to study the research subject Elizabeth Greene.

Also in 1976, aging Nazi hunter Ezra Liebermann receives information that Nazi scientist Josef Mengele has cloned Adolf Hitler 94 times. He is attempting to recreate the Fuhrer’s mental state in the clones by carefully shaping their upbringing, culminating in the killing of their adoptive fathers. Rather than using Jelliff’s more careful approach, Mengele is determined to achieve quick results before he himself dies. Liebermann is able to track and confront Mengele, and in cooperation with another Nazi hunter, David Bennett, uncovers and dismantles the cloning operation.

Dr. James Marcus, working under Lord Spencer and the Umbrella Corporation, successfully engineers the Progenitor virus into the "t-virus" on September 19, 1977, using Eddie Jessup’s research as a basis for understanding its transformative properties. Marcus further experiments with infecting leeches in 1978, but later concludes that humans would be better guinea pigs. The t-virus is a multi-use biological weapon: it can kill and transform a population into ravenous zombie-like creatures, while one in ten million people have the correct genetic potential to mutate into monstrous living weapons called "tyrants". A t-virus victim’s mental state influences the mutation, and only humans have sufficiently controllable mental states.

The Umbrella research team responsible for the t-virus work to understand how the anomalous development of extra mass occurs in the bodies of infectees. They conclude that the mysterious “vril” is responsible for the observed effects, and dub the products of the t-virus (and similar life forms) as “VRIL” - Viral/Retroviral Intron Lifeforms. The first VRIL creations - the zombie and a creature dubbed the “Hunter” - show promise as a subset of VRILs called BOWs - Bio Organic Weapons.

Blackwatch’s Department of Scientific Intelligence, also known as "The Shop", kills Vicky Tomlinson in 1980. They pursue her family, Andy McGee and his daughter Charlie, who has developed powerful pyrokinetic powers. The pair are captured and separated, with members of the Shop unsuccessfully attempting to gain Charlie’s trust. The Shop’s senior man and much of the upper echelon is killed by Charlie herself, who also blows up several of its buildings in the process.

In 1979, Dr. Hal Raglan’s Somafree Institute of Psychoplasmics demonstrates a revolutionary method of treating patients with psychological issues. Dr. Raglan’s method depends on an infusion of modified ADAM, which doesn’t require infusions of EVE but can have unintended side effects. His star patient, Nola Carveth, begins spontaneously manifesting her frustrations as deformed dwarfish apparitions who kill the objects her frustrations. Eventually Nola’s husband convinces Dr. Raglan of the danger of his approach, and the institute is closed. Dr. Raglan and Nola die, but her daughter Candice (now showing signs of the psychoplasmic condition) escapes.

In 1981, members of Mengele’s cloning project join InGen as research scientists. Hammond is interested in their human cloning work, but they inform him that tremendous amounts of capital will be required to create a clone that will retain his personality, not merely resemble him. Hammond begins work on a radical idea: cloning dinosaurs and stocking a park with them as live exhibits. He believes that this will raise enough capital to fund his immortality research. InGen is able to successfully clone a dinosaur by 1984, and a velociraptor in

The children born after exposure to Ephemerol steadily reach adulthood. All of them exhibit telepathic powers, but also suffer from sensory overload, mental noise, and other side effects of uncontrolled mind-reading. Dr. Ruth dubs them “Scanners”, since they are able to scan or make mental contact with other minds, even with computers. Dr. Ruth’s employer ConSec is interested in the security applications of the Scanner power. When telepathic terrorist Darryl Revok disrupts a 1981 ConSec Scanner demonstration by killing the presenter, Dr. Ruth recruits Cameron Vale, another Scanner with powerful latent abilities, to track down and terminate Revok. In their final conflict, Revok kills Vale’s body, but Vale transmits his mind into Revok, overwriting his personality.

Anna Hart, one of the clones of Brigid Tenenbaum, learns of her existence as a clone in 1982 with the aid of Michaela Dupont, who is secretly also a clone. They confront Henry Jelliff, using Michaela’s knowledge of the cloning process in trade for the safety of the Anna clones.

Cloning the body is not enough to ensure immortality. One’s consciousness must also find its way into a new host. In 1984, the Rossum Corporation uses their existing position as number one seller of MRI machines to acquire mental maps of people around the world. They have a number of Scanners on the payroll, including Cameron Vale (now in the body of Darryl Revok), and offer psycho-suppressive drug treatments to keep them docile and sane. The Scanners, in turn, aid Rossum’s engineers in understanding how to imprint a human mind onto a brain. Rossum develops a combination of magnetic and chemical processes that lead to the first “Active”: a human body whose brain is a blank slate, ready to be programmed with a stored mind.

A chemical leak from Umbrella’s New York City laboratory occurs in

Some of their mutagenic viral samples infect a small group of turtles in the city sewers, causing significant physiological and mental changes. They encounter a similarly mutated rat, a survivor of the NIMH experiments, who has gained intelligence and martial arts skills over the last decade. The new humanoid-hybrid animals are sought after by Umbrella for their potential as weapons. They are hunted by Umbrella foot soldiers, or “the Foot” - half-alive humans infected by a variant t-virus, good for fighting but not much else.

Over the next several years, Rossum employs down-on-their-luck individuals to function as Actives. The Actives are assigned to "Dollhouses", scattered around the world in highly secretive locations, and deployed on engagements for high-paying clients. They receive synthetic personalities and skills to match the engagement’s requirements. Rossum’s eventual goal is the development of personal immortality through mind imprinting, and the Dollhouse is a way of building up a base of well-heeled clients and researching the necessary science.

Clyde Randolph is betrayed by one of his business partners at Rossum, and killed, in 1992. His conscious mind is transferred into “the Attic”, a virtual reality simulation hosted by the Rossum mainframe.

In the early 90s, Anna Hart is visited by a mysterious man who only calls himself “Jack”. He tells her the story of Brigid Tenenbaum, the woman from whom she was cloned. He leaves a package of information for her to read, and a word of advice: “don’t just obey. Choose for yourself.” Now an adult, Anna has her legal name changed to Anna Zimmerman, and begins the search for the Little Sisters of Rapture. Her search quickly leads her to Blackwatch itself, the sponsors of the cloning program which produced her. With the aid of Professor Bruckner, an expert in cloning who was also aware of Mengele’s attempt to reproduce Adolf Hitler via cloning, Anna resolves to rescue the surviving Little Sisters. Her records show that many of them have fallen into Blackwatch’s hands and are being used as experimental subjects.

InGen demonstrates Jurassic Park to a private team of scientists and investors in 1993. Due to sabotage of the park by InGen head programmer Dennis Nedry, several dinosaurs escape their enclosures and run rampant across the park. Nedry has been hired by InGen’s rival to deliver dinosaur DNA specimens, but he is killed by the very dinosaurs he released before he can leave the island. Despite these serious problems, John Hammond remains determined to make the park a reality. Seeing the pleasure that dinosaurs gave to visitors, including his own grandchildren, he loses interest in immortality research and plans to focus entirely on the Park.

By 1995, Lisa Trevor has been exhausted of her potential to spawn bio-weapons. Umbrella, having lost several personnel to her grief-driven berserk rages, orders her termination. The effects of Umbrella’s treatment on her have reawakened and enhanced her Little Sister durability, making her immune to almost any sort of attack. She is left for dead, but is in reality in a sort of suspended animation.

The Motaba virus reappears in Zaire in 1995, motivating USAMRIID (United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases) virologists, other scientists, and members of the military to deal with it. Colonel Sam Daniels and others manage to avert the destruction of Cedar Creek, CA. In the process, Col. Daniels’ analysis of Motaba reveals its ties to the Umbrella Corporation, prompting him to look further into the company’s history. He confronts Brigadier General Billy Ford, who investigated the original outbreak and helped cover up Umbrella’s involvement.

In 1998, both Raccoon City and the Umbrella base in the Antarctic both suffer t-virus outbreaks. The Raccoon City incident is investigated by members of STARS - a program sponsored by Blackwatch to train law enforcement personnel in detecting and combating “bio-crimes” - who discover the Arklay Mountains mansion of Lord Spencer, and are set upon by bio-organic weapons created by the t-virus. Raccoon City and the Antarctic base are both eventually destroyed by nuclear devices to contain the outbreak, and some of the STARS personnel do survive.

During the Raccoon City incident, Anna Zimmerman - who has joined STARS under an assumed identity - finds and rescues Lisa Trevor in the Spencer mansion. While Lisa is horrifically mutated and has been driven to near total madness by her experiences, Anna’s resemblance to her long-lost “mother” Brigid Tenenbaum transfers Lisa’s yearning for her mother into loyalty to Anna. The two escape Raccoon City’s destruction together.

In the mid-90’s, the ancient conspiracy Da’ath sponsors Operation Manticore, a program to genetically engineer controllable super-soldiers. They obtain DNA samples from the New York turtle hybrids’ blood, which Umbrella managed to secure during its battles with them. With this as a foundation, Manticore begins work on human-animal hybrids for use as soldiers.

In 1999, in an attempt to treat Alzheimer’s disease, sharks are genetically engineered to serve as donors for a vital protein. As a result, the animals become super-intelligent. They escape their underwater cages and kill several members of the science team, but are killed themselves. Unbeknownst to the team, the program is a cover for Manticore. From their perspective, they’ve gained valuable data on human intelligence in a non-human body.

Manticore succeeds in creating the first of their “X5” series human-animal chimeras in 2000.

Type S influenza, also known as the “Reaper virus”, breaks out in Scotland in 2008. After a fruitless search for the cure, the entire country is quarantined.

On March 11, 2008, a weaponized form of rabies is released in an apartment building. The CDC establishes a quarantine. Reporter Angela Videl’s footage is recovered from the scene, but there are no survivors and the entire building is isolated and purged. Unknown to the public at large, the virus was engineered by Da’ath. Dr. Peter Farragut of the CDC is instrumental in preventing the spread of the disease and performing an analysis of the virus itself.

Telophase (2009 - 2038)

Geneticists Clive Nicoli and Elsa Kast work on a series of transgenic human-animal hybrids in 2009. Their work is sponsored by a company called NERD (Nucleic Exchange Research and Development), a front for the secretive Operation Manticore. Their most successful creation is a being called Dren, who is intelligent but inhuman in its behavior. A series of tragedies and deaths close the program, but Manticore privately considers the work a success.

In 2009, Alex J. Mercer wakes up in a Gentek morgue in Manhattan, as the Blacklight virus overwhelms the city. With assistance from his sister Dana, he opposes Blackwatch and the USMC to find pathologist Dr. Bradley Ragland (half-brother to Dr. Hal Ragland). Ragland assists Alex in confronting Elizabeth Greene. In the process, Alex comes to understand that the real Mercer is now dead, having spitefully released Blacklight into the population upon his death, and that “Alex” is a sentient entity constructed by the Blacklight virus itself.

Blackwatch’s General Randall is prepared to execute the Wildfire protocol, obliterating Manhattan with a nuclear weapon to contain the virus. Realizing that an electromagnetic pulse is enough to defeat the virus in its current form, Alex takes off with the weapon aboard a helicopter. The bomb itself doesn’t physically damage Manhattan, but the EMP successfully purges the infection.

The cost is staggering. The EMP pulse has wiped out the major data centers of the East Coast, and the resulting power surge across a faulty and antiquated electrical grid does tremendous damage to the North American electronic infrastructure. This outcome, called “the Pulse”, is attributed by the military to terrorist action.

Among other effects, the Pulse also wipes out the delicate imprinting tech being used by Rossum and its Dollhouses - perhaps for the best.

The Pulse paves the way for the Balkanization and fragmentation of the United States as a single political entity. Autonomous regions, indepence-minded microstates, corporate franchises, and even organized crime groups eclipse the previous Federal government in power.

In 2009, several X5 super-soldiers escape a Manticore facility located in Guilette, WY. They disappear into the offline darkness of America.

In 2010, United Nations negotiator Edward Douglas crash-lands near an island in the Java sea. He discovers the island is inhabited by a former neurosurgeon named Montgomery, a geneticist named Dr. Moreau, and Moreau’s daughter Aissa. Douglas gradually discovers that Moreau was responsible for experiments in animal-human hybridization on the Manticore project. He now rules as a mad god-king over the hybrids of the island, including Aissa herself. Douglas’s arrival unbalances the fragile tension of the island, leading to a general uprising and the deaths of Moreau, Montgomery, Aissa, and several of the hybrids. Douglas himself is able to escape and report his story.

Over the next several years, corporations rise in power and influence, without the restraint of government regulation. Although the largest and oldest corporations have been ruined by the Pulse, their human resources retain their skills. Meanwhile, the government consolidates and privatizes.

In 2013, con artist Sarah Manning observes the suicide of a woman who looks exactly like her. Taking advantage of the situation to steal the woman’s identity, Sarah eventually discovers she is one of several clones and that Neolution, a secret corporate conspiracy headed by Aldous Leekie, has an interest in her and her fellow clones.

In 2014, Dr. Alan Farragut and his team of CDC researchers fly to the Arctic BioSystems research facility. Their goal is to contain and study the Narvik virus, which has similarities to rabies, and was worked on by Alan’s brother Peter. Peter came to ABS’s attention after his work with the engineered rabies outbreak in 2008. The ABS facility is quickly overrun by zombie-like “vectors”, who are infected with the virus and compelled to spread it to the uninfected. ABS’s parent company, the Ilaria Corporation sends senior executive Constance Sutton to contain the situation.

In reality, Ilaria is a front for the ancient conspiracy of immortals called Da’ath, with the virus a key element in their plans. Narvik infectees will not attack Da’ath immortals, but will actively try to infect other people, making it an imperfect but viable tool for world conquest. The crisis ends with several members of Da’ath “killed” - unable to move, but still somehow alive - and the ABS lab destroyed, along with all samples of Narvik.

By 2015, the changing geopolitical climate makes big-budget funding from defense departments unlikely. Many companies, such as InGen and Gentek, leverage their in-house expertise in cloning and biotech in more public ways. Companies like RePet offer a cloned copy of family pets, and human organ cloning is a commercial business. Human clones are still technically illegal, under “Sixth Day” laws, and corporations (publicly) honor this restriction. Behind the scenes, Neolution continues to both promote and hinder human cloning research to further their agenda of reinventing human evolution.

Helicopter pilot Adam Gibson encounters billionaire Michael Drucker of Replacement Technologies, whose company employs former Rossum employees and Neolution members. Drucker intends to create a cabal of immortals, whose minds can be copied from body to body. Gibson finds himself cloned, and works with his clone to take down Drucker and reveal the plot.

In 2016, freelance journalist/intel-operative Hiro Protagonist encounters Snow Crash, a virus/drug/religion being promulgated by industrialist L. Bob Rife. Rife’s purely fiber-optic communication network survived the Pulse, and as a result he now controls American Internet traffic. Rife has acquired a “metavirus”, able to affect the human mind, and has repackaged it under the name “Snow Crash”. Hiro, his skateboard courier partner Y.T., and their allies stop Rife from distributing Snow Crash widely and manage to shut down the distribution network.

By 2017, the leadership of Blackwatch and the Umbrella Corporation are systematically eliminated, or simply disappear. Careful observers attribute this to a team of highly skilled and uniquely powered individuals: a stern old man who mixes heavy firearms and elemental powers, a STARS-trained genius gunslinger/geneticist, a humanoid virus who can consume and assimilate memories, a multi-ethnic hacker/swordsman, an aggressive pyrokinetic, and a woman who can summon negative emotions into an ectoplasmic reality or shape it into humanoid minions. They uncover the machinations of the Wahrheits Gesellschaft, or "Society for Truth", still operating behind the scenes and guiding vril-empowered virus research, and manage to overthrow the Society’s key members.

In 2019, X5 super-soldier “Max” works for a bicycle courier service in Seattle, called Jam Pony. She comes to learn more about the Manticore program, and works to rescue other X5s from Manticore’s custody.

While Replacement Technologies was exposed by Adam Gibson, other companies quietly acquire its assets and human resources. Merrick Biotech establishes several facilities where clones of famous or wealthy individuals are force-grown and prepared as physical or mental backups should their originals become sick or die. The clones themselves are told that the outside world is intensely contaminated, but that there is a lottery system allowing a few of them to visit a safe haven. While they are mental duplicates of their originals thanks to Dollhouse technology, they are also engineered to be more docile and controllable. Clones Richard, Lena, Lincoln Six Echo, and Jordan Two Delta overcome their programming through curiosity, escape from the confinement zones in 2019, and learn the truth about their situation.

By 2020, several prominent individuals have passed away or disappeared. Jack has passed away from old age, accompanied at his last moments by nearly every surviving Little Sister. Most of them have thankfully lived ordinary lives, and the last thing Jack sees is their grateful smiles. Alex Mercer encounters his genetic complement, Elizabeth Greene’s psychopathic child Pariah, and both perish. As a result, the last samples of the Blacklight virus are now eradicated.

In 2022, a meteorite strikes Tokyo, Japan. The Da’ath conspiracy discovers it, and uncovers an extraterrestrial viral element. Through analysis, they discover that the Progenitor virus and the alien sample show distinct signs of common ancestry. The history of super-viruses on Earth may in fact start in outer space. Da’ath begins work on this new sample.

On December 24, 2029, the meteorite is discovered by a trio of children. One of the children, Mana, is found by the secret Da’ath lab stationed nearby. Finding that the child is already ill with an untreatable form of cancer, she is injected with a modified version of their current viral agent as a test - their reasoning is that her life is over anyway. She escapes, becoming Patient Zero of what will later be called the "Apocalypse Virus".

Apocalypse is the second attempt by Da’ath to engineer a worldwide system of control through a viral mechanism. It incorporates the “hive mind” element of Redlight - Mana is able to control the actions of infectees - and provides both a ready supply of vril and a means to manipulate it. The subjects retain their intelligence, but can still be kept docile and controllable.

Apocalypse spreads wildly throughout Japan, in an event that will be called “Lost Christmas”. The rest of the world hurriedly works to isolate Japan. What’s left of the United Nations organizes GHQ - Genomic Headquarters - to deal with the outbreak, find a cure, and contain the spread of the virus at all costs.

In 2035, the Reaper virus is confirmed in London. A military team is sent to Scotland by GHQ to recover data on a possible cure, after satellite imagery discovers signs of survivors. The team, led by Major Eden Sinclair, finds only survivors with a natural immunity, who have regressed into cannibalistic barbarity, adopting medieval weapons and customs.

Division (2039 - forward)

By 2039, blood and DNA tests had become mandatory for several of the "doomsday" viruses or genetic abnormalities that had threatened mankind. When a broad-spectrum immunity factor was discovered in human DNA, the law went one step further. Babies would be engineered with the immunity factor, no exceptions. Automated testing would become routine.

Many - later, most - families opted to go further. If a child could be made resistant to disease, could the genetic engineers go further, making those children smarter, stronger, or better as well? The mechanics of genetics were well understood. Germline engineering became the new normal. A generation of “designer babies” came to dominate the world. George Glenn, astronaut and later the man who will be known as the first “Coordinator”, is born in 2039.

In 2039, Shu Ouma is an ordinary high school student in Japan. GHQ has locked the country down. Patrols are everywhere, ready to drag away any Apocalypse infectees. The infection is easy to spot: the virus literally transforms parts of the body into a strange crystal, in reality solidified vril. Shu encounters Inori Yuzuriha, who introduces him to the anti-GHQ resistance cell “Funeral Parlor” and its leader, Gai Tsutsugami.

Through a series of events, Shu obtains the Void Genome - a modification of the Apocalypse Virus capable of extracting solidified vril from a person and transforming it into a tool or weapon appropriate to the donor’s personality. These creations of vril are called “Voids”. The Void Genome creates a specialized gland in the right arm of the user, and loss of the arm means the user is unable to conjure Voids. In addition, the destruction of a person’s Void leads to a fatal and near-instantaneous transfiguration into solidified vril.

With Funeral Parlor’s help, Shu fights back against GHQ. The organization responds with even more force, finally partitioning Tokyo completely and isolating all residents. After much struggle, betrayal, and heartache, Shu and his friends manage to purge the Apocalypse Virus itself from Japan. GHQ eventually relents and releases Japan from their control. Shu and his allies retreat into obscurity, but not before confronting Da’ath and their “envoy” Yuu, who have attempted to use the Void Genome to take over the world.

In the next 20 to 30 years, disease is all but eradicated. Society is a fearsome police state, closely scrutinizing people and their health. Any corporation dealing with genetic engineering is strictly monitored, to prevent another apocalyptic virus or biological monstrosity. The high level of tension leads to several wars: the Pan-Asian war, the Third Gulf war, and others. While traditional bioweapons are considered verboten, genetically engineered super-soldiers are created and deployed in these conflicts. During peacetime, society struggles to re-integrate its living weapons.

By 2053, animal-human hybrids and genetically engineered humans are a fact of life. Edward Douglas’s report on Dr. Moreau’s activities has led to a long-standing fear and mistrust of any such creatures, and half-human “Moreaus” and engineered “frankensteins” are second-class citizens at best. Private detective and tiger-human hybrid Nohar Rajasthan is hired to investigate the death of a conservative anti-moreau politician, which leads him to uncovering evidence of Da’ath. Nohar only learns hints: Da’ath seems interested in pushing humanity away from a mechanistic technology and toward a biotech-driven future, one that they can control with their mastery of biology.

Humanity turns to space to satisfy its need for natural resources, as the exhausted Earth has suffered. Nation struggles against nation, even as the “Cosmic Calendar” is inaugurated in 2055 in an attempt to bring a fragmented world back together. Many older Moreaus are re-activated as soldiers, and second-generation Moreaus are offered full citizenship in exchange for military service in the new conflict.

Artificially created Frankensteins, such as the Nexus-6 Replicants created by the Tyrell Corporation, are extensively used in space, both as workers and soldiers in the ongoing conflicts. Some escape to Earth, only to be hunted by specially trained police units called “Blade Runners”. One such group manages to get to Earth, then kill the head of the Tyrell corporation, noted geneticist Eldon Tyrell. Meanwhile, the Rossum Corporation continues to use its “Active” technology in the creation of cloned humanoid automatons called “Universal Robots”, who can be mentally programmed for highly skilled and specialized tasks.

Nuclear weapons are deployed on the front lines of central Asia, in the Kashmir region, in 2056. The wholesale destruction of Kashmir’s industrial facilities reduces much of the fighting to hand-to-hand or close-quarters combat, where the Moreaus’ natural talents give them a decisive edge.

Biological weapons are unleashed around the world as well, killing even civilian populations or threatening them with organ failure. Companies like GeneCo emerge, providing synthetic organs to the sick for a profit. Organ “repo men” exist, who will reclaim such organs - and coincidentally harvest the other organs of a defaulting client who dies during “reclamation” - if the client doesn’t keep up their payments.

The formal end of the “Reconstruction War” is in 2064, or C.E. 9 in the new calendar. The construction of the Lunar city, Copernicus, begins the next year, and is completed in 2067 (C.E. 11).

Unlike earlier wars in the century, the Reconstruction War is generally seen as ending well for all involved. The public has been familiar with Moreaus for a generation, and their heroic feats and victories in battle shift attitudes positively toward genetic engineering.

By 2070, designer babies are the default condition for the developed world. The population is divided into “valids” (those with engineered DNA and no handicaps) and “invalids” (those born naturally). The Gattaca Aerospace Corporation begins planning a mission to the Jovian moon of Titan. Vincent Freeman, an “in-valid”, has dreamed of space flight since he was a child. He obtains the aid of Jerome Morrow, a “valid” with excellent genetics who was crippled in an accident, to pass himself off as a genetically acceptable “valid”.

Vincent is successful in getting aboard the Titan mission, and serves under senior astronaut George Glenn. Scientists studying L. Bob Rife’s "metavirus", and the Apocalypse Virus meteor responsible for Lost Christmas, have traced both to the Jovian system. The Gattaca vessel, named “Tsiolkovsky” after the Soviet rocket scientist, will spend seven years exploring Jupiter. Their hope is to establish whether or not extraterrestrial life - even a virus - really exists.

Before leaving, Glenn makes an impassioned speech to the world’s population, asking that genetically engineered people become "Coordinators" rather than controllers, guiding mankind rather than ruling it, and urging a more egalitarian society. Unfortunately, his message is not received as intended, and societal friction arises between the “valid” and “in-valid” factions. “In-valids” claim a new name for themselves: “Naturals”. In 2072, the bioterrorist group Blue Cosmos launches attacks against hospitals performing genetic enhancement on unborn children.

In 2084, the Tsiolkovsky returns from Jupiter with “Evidence 01”, the first known extraterrestrial fossil.

The first permanent L5 space colonies, called PLANTs and shaped like extended hourglasses, become ready for population. Due to the demands of living in space full-time, only Coordinators - now the accepted term for all genetically-engineered humans - are accepted aboard. The PLANTs become a nexus for scientific progress and artistic accomplishment due to the presence of so many “improved” humans. The next year, anti-Coordinator terrorism is aimed at PLANT inhabitants who come to Earth, driving a wedge between the space-dwelling Coordinators and the planet-bound Naturals.

On February 5 of C.E. 70 (2125 AD), a joint peace conference being held at the lunar city Copernicus is struck by a terrorist attack, wiping out the entire United Nations’s leadership. War breaks out between Earth and the Plants on February 11.

The Treaty of Junius in C.E. 73 marks the end of hostilities, but fails all of its major political objectives. A second war soon breaks out, which includes nuclear strikes and other weapons from both sides. After much heartbreak and sacrifice, including the deaths of senior leaders on both sides, a ceasefire is announced in C.E. 74.

Blue Cosmos releases a final apocalyptic bioweapon attack that spreads across the world, but ironically fails to contaminate the PLANT population. Earth’s remaining human population is nearly obliterated as a result. Lacus Clyne, then leader of the PLANTs, announces that a plan to reboot the devastated Earth’s biosphere. Corrupted soil must be purified; radiation must be purged. The effort will take centuries. In the meantime, many Coordinators leave Earth orbit, in an effort to colonize the Jovian system.

The PLANT repopulation plan involved the creation of a vast forest (to leech poison from the soil) and the engineering of giant insect guardians (to reboot the animal-plant biosphere). The Alliance-PLANT wars are remembered a millennium later as “the Seven Days of Fire” by human survivors on Earth, and the forest becomes known as the “Sea of Corruption” for the poisonous miasma found there. The human population has formed kingdoms such as Torumekia and the Dorok Empire, echoing the return to Medieval form once seen in Scotland during the Reaper outbreak. Such kingdoms live in uneasy alliances with each other, as well as struggling to survive the spreading Sea of Corruption itself.

During this time, Nausicaa, princess of the Valley of Wind and daughter of its king Jhil, forms a strange bond with the insect life. She functions as both scientist and mediator, studying the forest and searching for ways for humans and the forest to co-exist. During this time, she encounters Princess Kushana of Torumekia, Asbel of Pejite, and other national leaders, and tries to convince them - with varying levels of success - that cooperation is better than war for ensuring human survival. She penetrates to the heart of the forest, learning of the ancient humans’ plan to reboot the Earth at the cost of the lives of those now on the planet.

Faced with the choice of allowing ancient humanity to return to the planet of their birth, or saving the lives of those now living there, Nausicaa disables the computer which manages the reclamation program and would have otherwise sent a signal into space when the plan was complete. The Sea of Corruption will continue to spread, eventually unifying into a single functional entity.

Human beings are now forced to live within the forest, adapting to it and adapting it in turn to their own needs. In effect, humanity is now a virus with the world as its host. Only time will tell if its presence is beneficial or not.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“‘Tried To Get All I Could’ Aird Admits,” Toronto Star. May 16, 1932. Page 1. --- Bought New Cars When Paid by Hydro and Beauharnois --- ‘REASONABLE FEE’ --- Understood He Was Negotiating on Hydro Behalf, Witness Testifies --- John Aird, Jr., told W. N. Tilley, K.C., before Mr. Justice Orde sitting at Osgoode Hall as royal commissioner to investigate payment payment of $50,000 to Aird by the Ontario Hydro Commission in July, 1929, that on each day when he received the big cheques he bought a new car.

Mr. Tilley: ‘Do you always celebrate receiving a big cheque by buying a new car?’

Mr. Aird: ‘It looks like it.’ ‘Did you turn one of them in or have you kept them both as mementoes?’ I have them both.’

Fred H. Roberts, barrister, again took the stand to-day to explain that he and Paul Reize had nothing to do with the Southampton Hydro controversy or ‘by election’ as he to-day termed it.

‘We had nothing to do with Foshay at any time and had no interest in the Southampton by-election except as an item of news,’ he said.

[caseinpoints]

Dominion to add more solar to portfolio

The carbon footprint for a typical Dominion Virginia Power customer would shrink by as much as 25% over the next eight years under a plan the company presented in May. When added to reductions already made by Dominion, carbon emissions to meet the energy needs of a typical residential customer would fall by up to 46% between 2007 and 2027.

The main drivers of these improvements are a significant drop in the subsidized cost of utility-scale universal solar power, the ability to support the variable output of solar and wind with highly efficient natural gas generation, and Virginia’s two nuclear power stations. This combination is expected to provide the lowest cost and best environmental performance while maintaining around-the-clock reliability.

The company said it anticipates future national and state energy policy to include limitations on greenhouse gas emissions in some form. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) imposed sweeping reductions in power station carbon emissions in August 2015 through its Clean Power Plan. That plan is now under federal court review and President Trump has ordered the EPA to review the rule and to begin the process of revising or rescinding it. Nonetheless, the federal government remains under a legal requirement to address carbon as a regulated pollutant. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt has said these rules should be “enforced and respected,” thus creating great uncertainty about the future of environmental regulations and how they will impact power plants.

At the state level, the Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board is currently considering a petition on carbon limitations. Also, a taskforce set up by Governor McAuliffe is developing proposals to reduce carbon emission in Virginia, regardless of what happens with federal Clean Power Plan rules.

“For the first time, the subsidized costs of utility-scale universal solar power are expected to be low enough to make it a component of future generation additions at reasonable cost to our customers,” Paul Koonce, CEO of Dominion Generation Group, said in announcing the company’s annual Integrated Resource Plan.

“This plan also highlights the vital roles of natural gas and nuclear generation. Gas-fired generation is clean, dependable and provides balance to the variable energy flows from solar and wind. Nuclear, with its 24/7 operations and no-carbon emissions, provides a solid base for a low-carbon future.

“We believe this balance of solar, natural gas and nuclear hits the sweet spot in terms of cost, environmental performance and reliability for our customers.”

Koonce noted that Dominion already has made significant investments in solar and other renewables primarily through agreements with specific customers.

And, the company has lowered carbon emissions in recent years through a number of other measures. It has converted four coal-fired power stations to natural gas or renewable biomass; built highly efficient natural gas power stations in Virginia to reduce imports of electricity from higher-carbon sources outside the state; encouraged energy conservation; and increased efficiency of its existing stations to produce more energy with the same amount of fuel. The company’s newest coal-fired station, the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center, can use biomass for up to 20% of its fuel.

Today’s announcement came at the time of the filing of the company’s annual “Integrated Resource Plan,” a long-term energy forecast required by state law. The IRP is a planning document based on current information and projections regarding energy markets, regulatory requirements and other major factors. While the document represents the company’s current plan for meeting the future energy needs of its customers, it is not a commitment to build or to request regulatory approval for any particular project.

The document examines options to meet the electricity needs of customers over a 15-year “planning period,” while also considering a longer 25-year study period. The document was filed simultaneously with the North Carolina Utilities Commission. In light of current uncertainty around the future of federal and state regulatory policies, the study models different regulatory scenarios.

As it has in recent years, the 2017 plan includes potential alternatives based on different assumptions about future carbon regulations and other factors. This year’s report outlines eight alternatives.

At least 5,200 megawatts of new solar generation could be added under each alternative during the 25-year study period. Solar eventually could generate electricity at maximum output to serve more than 1.3 million homes when there is sufficient sunlight.

Together with the company’s North Anna and Surry nuclear facilities, over a third of Dominion’s Virginia service territory could be powered with carbon-free electricity by 2032. Most of the rest of the demand would be served by low-emitting, low-cost natural gas, a critical partner to solar, given the variable nature of solar energy and the around-the-clock capability of natural gas.

The Virginia General Assembly earlier this year adopted legislation that supports the company’s plans to seek a second federal relicensing for the reactors at North Anna and Surry. Surry’s reactors are licensed until 2032 and 2033, respectively, and North Anna’s are licensed until 2038, and 2040. Together, they have a generating capacity of 3,349 megawatts.

“Widespread solar use—both utility-scale universal solar and private systems—will require a modern energy grid, upgraded from the one-directional grid system that has worked so well to deliver power to generations of customers,” said Robert M. Blue, president and CEO of Dominion Virginia Power. “When the variable nature of solar becomes a major factor on the grid, it must become a flexible, two-way network, so we can deliver energy seamlessly to everyone. Having a robust energy grid is absolutely vital and will become even more important in the future.”

In addition to advancing renewable energy, grid modernization also will help strengthen the grid against cyber or physical attacks, provide more control and information for customers, and will improve our ability to restore power promptly after outages.

Increased adoption of solar energy will require extensive upgrades to the energy grid—the network of large transmission lines and smaller distribution lines that carry electricity to homes and businesses—as utility-scale universal solar, smaller private solar, and other distributed energy resources present new operational challenges and opportunities. For this reason, the company’s long-range forecast discusses the need to modernize the energy grid to create a more dynamic system better equipped to respond to both cost-effective utility-scale universal solar facilities and the expected increase in smaller, widely dispersed solar generation.

Additionally, modernization will ultimately be able to provide customers with more information on their energy consumption and new opportunities to manage their usage. In Virginia and across the country, today’s energy grid is primarily a one-way system that delivers electricity from power stations to homes and businesses. Today’s plan sets a course for the two-way system of the future.

The 2017 plan advances the company’s current solar commitments. In February 2015, Dominion committed to developing 400 megawatts of utility-scale universal solar generation in Virginia and placing them in service by 2020. The company’s current solar investment in Virginia has already nearly met this commitment and approaches $1 billion, with a dozen new solar projects being built, enough to power 100,000 homes.

“Dominion will continue moving toward cleaner power sources with lower emissions, whether the Clean Power Plan lives or dies,” Koonce said. “Our customers want more renewable energy, and changing economics make the transition to renewable resources easier, with the ‘installed cost’ of solar having dropped 50 percent over the past four years. This makes variable solar an economically viable source of power when complemented by cleaner-burning natural gas and nuclear power, which maintain production of reliable electricity when the sun is not shining. This is why natural gas infrastructure—including the Atlantic Coast Pipeline—is such an important part of a comprehensive energy strategy.”

Major common elements through the 15-year planning period of 2018-2032 include:

By 2022, the addition of at least 990 megawatts of solar capacity owned by third-party generators in northeastern North Carolina and Virginia under long-term contracts;

At least 3,200 megawatts of new solar capacity by 2032 (enough to power more than 800,000 homes at maximum output), and at least 5,200 megawatts by 2042 (enough to power 1.3 million homes at maximum output);

Bringing Greensville County Power Station into service by 2019. Greensville will be one of the largest and most environmentally friendly power stations of its kind anywhere in the world, governed by the country’s most stringent air permit limiting CO2 emissions, according to Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality. (Construction is expected to be complete in late 2018.);

Addition of approximately 1,374 megawatts of new natural gas-powered combustion turbine units by 2032;

Re-licensing of the four nuclear units that have provided Virginia reliable, carbon-free energy since the 1970s;

Development of the 12-megawatt Virginia Offshore Wind Technology Advancement Project, testing two wind turbines off the coast of Virginia Beach, as early as 2021; and

Implementation of “demand-side management” programs that are forecasted to reduce the annual energy consumption of Dominion Virginia Power customers by over 1,200 gigawatt-hours by 2032.

All of the alternative plans, except for one plan required by the State Corporation Commission, assume the future will include some carbon restrictions resulting in the potential closures of certain fossil-fueled generating plants.

The IRP references the potential retirements of the oil-fired unit in Yorktown and two coal-fired units in Chesterfield by 2022. Two of the alternatives reference the potential retirements of the Clover and Mecklenburg coal-fired stations in 2025.

News item from Dominion

Solar Power World

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“To Resume Hydro Probe Wednesday,” Ottawa Citizen. April 18, 1932. Page 1. ---- Royal Commission Will Also Probe Payment of $125,000 to John Aird Jr.  ---- Canadian Press Despatch. TORONTO, April 18 - The royal commission investigating into certain affairs of the Ontario Hydro Electric Power Commission will probably resume tomorrow, Justice J. F. Orde, commissioner, said today. The investigation was adjourned after a one-day sitting when Mr. Justice W. E. Middleton, then commissioner, was taken ill. Since that time Mr. Justice Middleton has returned his commission and the new commissioner appointed. 

Originally, the Investigation covered the purchase of the Dominion Power Transmission, Limited. Hamilton, for $22.000,000 by the Hydro Commission and the payment of $50.000 to John Aird Jr. by Hydra for his part in the Madawaska purchase. Friday night, however, the government, through Hon. W. H. Price, attorney general, announced the payment of $125,000 to Mr. Aird by the Beauharnois Power Corporation would also be investigated.