Thread: Fossil Fuel Alternatives

Nuclear power will add to the diversity of wildlife.

World's largest floating windfarm gets green light in Scotland

The Scottish government has granted consent for the world’s largest floating offshore windfarm to be developed off the coast of Peterhead.

Oil and gas giant Statoil will build a 30MW pilot park consisting of five floating 6MW turbines, which could power nearly 20,000 homes. The project will be the UK’s first ever floating windfarm development, with construction set to start next year.

Statoil’s executive vice president for new energy solutions, Irene Rummelhoff, said: “Floating wind represents a new, significant and increasingly competitive renewable energy source. Statoil’s objective with developing this pilot park is to demonstrate a commercial, utility-scale floating wind solution, to further increase the global market potential.

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Argentina to generate 8% of energy from renewable sources by 2017

Renewable energy is making inroads in Argentina. Last week, after much negotiation, the chamber of deputies approved a new law decreeing that, by 2017, the country must generate 8% of its electricity from wind, solar or small-scale hydro power, among other energy sources. The bill also calls for this percentage to increase to 20% by 2020. Developing these kinds of energy sources is one of the most efficient mitigation methods in the fight against climate change.

The target is ambitious enough, insofar as renewable energy projects will have to scale up considerably. Today barely 1% of Argentina’s energy generation mix is renewable, according to a report from Cammesa in 2014. But experts may see the target as unambitious given the country’s potential.

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GERMANY’S ELECTRICITY WILL BE 33% RENEWABLE IN 2015

On July 25, 2015, Germany obtained 78% of its’ electricity from renewable sources. That was a new record, albeit for a single day. Up until now, the European leader has not produced more than 27% green energy in a year. According to a joint press release from the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden – Württemberg ( ZSW ) and the German Association of Energy and Water Industries ( BDEW ), Germany’s electricity will be 33% Renewable in 2015.

A Preliminary Estimate

Germany is expected to produce around 193 billion kilowatt hours (billion kWh) of electricity from solar, wind and other renewable sources. That’s about one fifth more than the 161 billion kWh, or 27% of gross electricity consumption, in 2014.

Though this is a preliminary estimate, on 31 October 2015 wind energy had already supplied 47% more electricity (63 billion kWh) that during the same time period in 2014.

Though the late autumn weather tends to be unpredictable, Germany’s solar sector has already provided as much electricity during that 10 month period (35 billion kWh) as the whole of 2014.

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Adelaide Airport to Build Largest Airport Rooftop Solar System in Australia

Fly into Adelaide, South Australia, this December and you'll see the largest airport rooftop solar power system being built in Australia.

Adelaide Airport recently announced their plans to build a 1.17 MW solar system on the roof of their short-term car park, making it the largest private-sector solar system in South Australia.

The 8000-square-metre solar system – comprising of 4500 solar panels – will be built by Solgen Energy, and is expected to reduce the airport's energy consumption and carbon emissions by up to 10 percent.

The new system has the capacity to power 300 domestic homes a year and will bring the airport's total rooftop solar capacity to 1.28 MW.

Work on the Adelaide Airport solar system is expected to start in December, and be completed by April 2016.

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10-Fold Energy Density Increase In Solar Thermal Research

Researchers at Oregon State University are experimenting with ways to generate electricity using thermal solar materials. They are working with a process that changes strontium carbonate into strontium oxide and carbon dioxide. The strontium carbonate decomposes, but when the materials recompose they release stored heat.

“In these types of systems, energy efficiency is closely related to use of the highest temperatures possible. The molten salts now being used to store solar thermal energy can only work at about 600 degrees centigrade, and also require large containers and corrosive materials. The compound we’re studying can be used at up to 1,200 degrees, and might be twice as efficient as existing systems. This has the potential for a real breakthrough in energy storage,” explained Nick AuYeung, an assistant professor of chemical engineering in the OSU College of Engineering.

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Watch US Electricity Grid Evolve Before Your Eyes

We talk a lot about the changing shape of the electricity grid, but what does it look like?

It shows, in animated graph form, how the electricity mix has changed in each state of America over the past 15 years.

That is as believeable as Volkswagen/Audi/Skoda/Porsche claims. They were found out cheating by the US. Watch Bloomberg, man.

Originally Posted by S Landreth

On July 25, 2015, Germany obtained 78% of its’ electricity from renewable sources. That was a new record, albeit for a single day. Up until now, the European leader has not produced more than 27% green energy in a year. According to a joint press release from the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden – Württemberg ( ZSW ) and the German Association of Energy and Water Industries ( BDEW ), Germany’s electricity will be 33% Renewable in 2015.

All electricity in Austria's largest state now produced from renewables

Hydroelectric power, wind energy, biomass and solar provide 100% of electricity for 1.65 million people

Austria’s largest state said Thursday that 100 percent of its electricity is now generated using renewable sources of energy.

“We have invested heavily to boost energy efficiency and to expand renewables,” said Erwin Proell, premier of 1.65m-strong Lower Austria.

“Since 2002 we have invested 2.8 billion euros ($3bn) in eco-electricity, from solar parks to renewing (hydroelectric) stations on the Danube,” Proell told a news conference.

The state in northeastern Austria now gets 63% of its electricity from hydroelectric power, 26% from wind energy, nine percent from biomass and two percent from solar.

In Austria as a whole, which voted against nuclear power in a 1978 referendum, 75% comes from renewables and the rest from fossil fuels.

Lower Austria has also created 38,000 “green jobs”, Proell said, which the state aims to increase to 50,000 by 2030.

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Renewable energy made up half of world's new power plants in 2014: IEA

International Energy Agency says figures are a “clear sign” of a transition from coal to clean energy

Renewable energy accounted for almost half of all new power plants in 2014, representing a “clear sign that an energy transition is underway”, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Green energy is now the second-largest generator of electricity in the world, after coal, and is set to overtake the dirtiest fossil fuel in the early 2030s, said the IEA’s World Energy Outlook 2015 report, published on Tuesday.

“The biggest story is in the case of renewables,” said IEA executive director, Fatih Birol. “It is no longer a niche. Renewable energy has become a mainstream fuel, as of now.” He said 60% of all new investment was going into renewables but warned that the $490bn of fossil fuel subsidies in 2014 meant there was not a “fair competition”.

Amid the energy transition, the IEA said the price of oil, currently under $50 a barrel, was likely to recover only to $80 by 2020 and see modest growth beyond.

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A small town in the northwest corner of the state flips the switch on New Hampshire’s largest solar array.

On a warm November morning about 200 people gathered in the small town of Peterborough, N.H., to officially inaugurate the state’s largest PV solar array. The almost 1-MW project (942kW) was initiated by Borrego Solar, approved by the town by unanimous vote in July 2014, and completed by SunEdison, which purchased the project in 2015.

The energy generated by the array will meet 100 percent of the electricity needs of the town wastewater treatment plant with more to spare. The excess energy will be used to power the town house, the fire department and the library through a group net-metering arrangement recently approved by the New Hampshire public utility commission (PUC).

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Windcrete: Offshore Wind Turbine Technology at a Lower Cost

Researchers Climent Molins and Alexis Campos, of the UPC’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, have developed a model of a floating structure for offshore wind turbines anchored at great sea depths that makes them competitive through cost savings in construction and maintenance.

The prototype, WindCrete, is a cylindrical structure with a large float and a ballast base that makes it self-stabilising. According to the researchers, who belong to the Barcelona School of Civil Engineering, the main innovations of this model compared to similar ones on the market are the seamless, monolithic structure and the use of concrete for its construction.

By using concrete instead of the more expensive steel that has been used previously, the construction cost is reduced by 60%. In addition, concrete is more resistant in the marine environment, so the structure has fewer maintenance requirements and a life of about 50 years. The absence of joints in the platform increases its durability against the effects of wind and sea and avoids the damage that normally appears in transition areas.

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Germany Could Make $2 Billion By Exporting Electricity

The Fraunhofer Institute has found that Germany made about €1.7 billion, or $1.93 billion, in 2014 by selling surplus electricity. In 2015, that amount could reach €2 billion or $2.2 billion. Germany may also achieve a record export surplus of 40 TWh of electricity in 2015. “Over the past years, Germany was able to secure higher prices for its electricity exports than it paid for electricity imports,” explained Fraunhofer professor, Bruno Burger.

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ChargePoint EV network wins prestigious UN climate award

ChargePoint, the world’s largest electric vehicle charging network, has won the United Nations’ Momentum for Change climate award.

The California-based company is one of 16 international firms to receive the award and they will be given at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris next month.

The prestigious UN award is recognition for ChargePoint transforming the transport industry by providing easier access to electric vehicle chargers.

The company operates more than 25,000 charging spots around the world and has partnered with car manufacturers including BMW to develop fast charging corridors along the most heavily populated regions with the most traffic on the east and west coasts of the United States.

Obama’s Solar Power Plan For The California Desert

On Tuesday, the Obama administration released the first phase of a plan that will boost renewable energy in the solar-rich California desert while protecting millions of acres of sensitive land from development.

The land management plan, known as the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP), prescribes which federal and state lands in a 22.5-million-acre area of the California desert will be available for renewable energy development and which will be set aside to preserve the unique and valuable desert ecosystem.

The first phase of the plan, outlined in a final environmental impact statement released Tuesday by Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), provides a 25-year blueprint for the management of 10 million acres of federally-owned public lands from Death Valley to San Diego County, spanning seven counties. Phase two of the plan, which covers non-federal lands, is still under review.

“Using a landscape-level perspective, unprecedented collaboration and extensive public engagement, this phase of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan will facilitate clean energy development, creating new jobs while cutting carbon pollution,” said Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell in announcing the plan. “This strategy provides effective protection and conservation for wildlife, recreation and cultural resources, while encouraging streamlined renewable energy development in the right places.”

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China’s Tongwei Group Plans World’s Biggest Solar-Cell Plant

Tongwei Group Co. is planning to build the world’s biggest plant to make solar cells in China’s southwestern province of Sichuan at a possible cost of about $1 billion.

The facility is expected to have capacity of 5 GW of high-efficiency solar cells annually, according to an e-mailed statement. The company held a ceremony on Wednesday to mark the beginning of construction.

The plant in Shuangliu county will triple Tongwei’s total solar-cell capacity, which is estimated to reach 2.4 GW by the end of this year. The plan underscores Chengdu-based Tongwei’s efforts to expand capacity after agreeing to buy a 10 percent stake in Taiwanese solar-cell producer Gintech Energy Corp. in July.

The factory, which could cost about 20 cents a watt, could be part of a medium-term plan, said Wang Xiaoting, a Hong Kong- based analyst from Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

“The supply glut still exists, so expansion will prompt the smallest companies to quit,” she said.

JA Solar Holdings Co. is expected to have 4 GW of capacity by the end of this year, making it the world’s biggest solar-cell maker, according to BNEF data.

Tongwei said it also plans to build 10 GW of photovoltaic power projects in the next three years to five years.

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India's rooftop PV capacity to hits 525 MW, says Bridge to India

Consultancy firm says landmark was reached in October, adding as much solar capacity in the past 12 months as the three years that preceded it; next 12 months will see slight slowdown, with 455 MW installed.

Indian cleantech market analysts Bridge to India have calculated that 525 MW of rooftop solar PV capacity has been added in the country so far this year, with the sector growing more in the past 12 months than it did in the previous three years.

However, as government subsidies begin to tail off, ushering in a more consumer-driven business model, the pace of installations will fall somewhat, with the next 12 months set to see around 455 MW of new rooftop PV capacity added.

The market overall is expected to grow at a sustained CAGR of 50% until 2020, reaching cumulative capacity of 6.5 GW by that date. Leading the way nationally are the states of Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, where high consumer awareness and favorable commercial tariffs have supported the growth of the sector.

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Philippines confirms 600 renewable energy projects

The Philippines will have over 600 renewable energy projects operational and the government has announced that it will scale its clean energy infrastructure.

The Philippine Department of Energy had approved a total of 616 renewable energy projects as of 31 October this year.

Hydropower is the leading energy source with a total of 344 projects and 7.39 GW capacity having been approved by the agency.

The agency also approved 105 solar power projects totalling 2.55 GW capacity, 65 biomass projects with 255 MW capacity, 52 wind energy projects with 3.35 GW capacity, 46 geothermal projects with 750 MW capacity, and 7 ocean energy projects with 26 MW capacity.

A number of these projects were selected under the feed-in tariff policy announced by the country’s Government.

The policy has received a significant response from project developers who have urged the government to expand the scope of the policy to cover additional capacity.

Apart from the projects approved, the agency is considering a further 272 projects representing just over 5 GW capacity.

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Gogoro to bring electric scooters to European cities

Gogoro, a technology company transforming how energy is distributed and managed in megacities, has announced plans to launch in Europe.

The scooter start-up will bring its two products, the Gogoro Smartscooter EV and the Gogoro Energy Network, to Europe in 2016.

The Gogoro Smartscooter EV is the world’s first high-performance, smart electric two-wheel vehicle with swappable batteries.

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Apple to use 100% solar power in Singapore

Apple will use solar power to cover all of its Singapore operations from next year, as part of its target to use 100 per cent renewable energy globally.

Singapore solar company Sunseap Group will supply the California-based technology giant with energy generated by rooftop solar installations on more than 800 buildings across Singapore (pictured), according to a Sunseap statement on Monday.

The agreement means that Apple will become the first company in Singapore to be 100 per cent powered by renewables, according to the statement.

Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice-president of environment, policy and social initiatives, said: “Climate change is one of the great challenges of our time, and it’s going to take determination and innovation to make the much needed transition to a green economy.”

Queensland windfarm finally cleared after four years of approval processes

Federal environment minister Greg Hunt approves $380m Mount Emerald windfarm, which can provide power for up to 75,000 homes

After four years of delays owing to red tape, construction on Queensland’s largest windfarm could start within a year.

The federal environment minister, Greg Hunt, approved the $380m Mount Emerald farm, in the Atherton Tablelands, on Thursday.

The farm could generate 650,000 megawatt hours of power and service up to 75,000 homes for two decades.

Up to 63 towers could be built on the farm, with 50-metre blades and heights ranging between 80 and 90 metres.

The approval is subject to 35 conditions, including measures to protect the northern quoll, the spectacled flying-fox and the bare-rumped sheathtail bat.

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China aims to quadruple solar installations by 2020

China’s solar power capacity is set to more than quadruple by the end of the decade, national media reported on Tuesday.

By 2020, the National Energy Agency expects installations to reach 150GW, Xinhua revealed. That is up from 35.8GW in June 2015.

Beijing has already upped its target for this year by 30%, Reuters reported, raising concerns about whether the grid can cope. Nearly a tenth of solar power generated in the first six months couldn’t be delivered due to network constraints, the NEA said.

But with the agency promising policies to support power connections, the bullish plans for domestic generation could bring relief to solar panel manufacturers struggling with stock market turmoil and an economic slowdown.

They reinforce a target to deliver 20% of the country’s energy from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030.

Also on Tuesday, Agricultural Bank of China issued almost US$1 billion worth of green bonds, raising funds to tackle air pollution and support renewable energy.

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How Africa's fastest solar power project is lighting up Rwanda

East African plant is completed in less than a year – creating jobs and setting the country on the path to providing half its population with electricity by 2017

“Arise, shine for your light has come,” reads a sign at the entrance to the first major solar power farm in east Africa.

The 8.5 megawatt (MW) power plant in Rwanda is designed so that, from a bird’s-eye view, it resembles the shape of the African continent. “Right now we’re in Somalia,” jokes Twaha Twagirimana, the plant supervisor, during a walkabout of the 17-hectare site.

The plant is also evidence, not only of renewable energy’s increasing affordability, but how nimble it can be. The $23.7m (£15.6m) solar field went from contract signing to construction to connection in just a year, defying sceptics of Africa’s ability to realise projects fast.

The setting is magnificent amid Rwanda’s famed green hills, within view of Lake Mugesera, 60km east of the capital, Kigali. Some 28,360 solar panels sit in neat rows above wild grass where inhabitants include puff adders. Tony Blair and Bono have recently taken the tour.

From dawn till dusk the computer-controlled photovoltaic panels, each 1.9 sq metres, tilt to track the sun from east to west, improving efficiency by 20% compared to stationary panels. The panels are from China while the inverters and transformers are from Germany.

The plant’s construction has created 350 local jobs and increased Rwanda’s generation capacity by 6%, powering more than 15,000 homes. All this is crucial in an economy that, 21 years after the genocide, is expanding fast and aims to give half its population access to electricity by 2017.

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Las Vegas Going Green in Deal to Run City With Only Clean Power

Las Vegas is going green. The city is planning to run municipal buildings, fire stations, parks, streetlights and other facilities exclusively with clean power, under a deal announced Tuesday with the Berkshire Hathaway Inc.-owned utility NV Energy Inc. The agreement doesn’t cover the famously bright casinos on the Las Vegas Strip.

The city’s shift is a sign that renewable energy is becoming competitive with electricity generated from fossil fuels. It comes less than a week before an international conference aimed at completing a global pact on reducing greenhouse-gas productions begins in Paris.

“We will become the first city of our size in the nation to achieve 100 percent renewable energy for city operations,” Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said in a statement.

NV Energy already provides some clean power to Las Vegas, and that will be boosted with energy from a 100 MW solar farm under development in nearby Boulder City. The proposal requires the approval of the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada and the Las Vegas City Council.

The city of Las Vegas had a population of almost 614,000, according to a 2014 estimate from the U.S. Census. That’s considerably more than the 50,000 residents who live in Georgetown, Texas, which in March said it would power itself entirely with renewable energy.

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Most of Britain's major cities pledge to run on green energy by 2050

Leaders of more than 50 Labour-run councils sign pledge to eradicate carbon emissions ahead of Paris climate talks

Most of Britain’s major cities will be run entirely on green energy by 2050, after the leaders of more than 50 Labour-run councils made pledges to eradicate carbon emissions in their areas.

In a highly significant move, council leaders in Edinburgh, Manchester, Newcastle, Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham, Glasgow and many others signed up to the promise ahead of the crucial international climate talks that will take place next month in Paris. Labour said this would cut the UK’s carbon footprint by 10%.

The pledge, coordinated by Lisa Nandy, the shadow energy and climate change secretary, will mean green transport, an end to gas heating and a programme of mass insulation of homes in cities across the UK.

Costa Rica boasts 99% renewable energy in 2015

Almost all of Costa Rica's electricity came from renewable sources this year, making it one of a few countries in the world to eschew fossil fuels in energy generation, the state electricity agency said Friday.

The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) said in a statement it achieved "99 percent renewable electricity generation" this year.

It also said for 285 days this year the country managed to power its grid on 100 percent renewable sources.

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Iceland already runs on 100 percent renewable energy. Most of it comes from geothermal sources, but researchers have been working on ways to harness the incredibly powerful winds in the region as well. Traditional wind turbines would spin out of control in the high winds common to the small country, but one bright inventor realized that an entirely different type of wind turbine could withstand the winds. In fact, IceWind’s CW1000 wind turbine may be even better than its skinny counterparts.

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Buildings & Energy Efficiency Award Winner

This private house was designed to have very low energy usage and is constructed using an exceptionally well insulated masonry and concrete structure, triple glazed windows, air source heat pump and is carefully orientated to make the most of the solar gains and to maximise the electricity generating roof panels.

The house has now been occupied for 2 years and the energy cost for heating, lighting, hot water and cooking was less than £15 per year for this period.

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Gamesa installs its first G114-2.0 MW in Thailand

Gamesa has installed its first G114-2.0 MW in Asia-Pacific, in the Subplu1 wind farm in Thailand.

This project, which was announced in July 2015, is Gamesa first project breakthrough in the Thai market, the company said.

Gamesa signed an agreement with Chinese developer PowerChina ZhongNan for the supply of 30 of its G114-2.0 MW turbines at three wind farms. The wind turbines are scheduled for commissioning in 2016 and Gamesa will maintain all these facilities for the next 10 years.

The wind turbines are scheduled for commissioning in 2016 and Gamesa will maintain all these facilities for the next 10 years.

According to Gamesa, the G114-2.0 MWs, with tower height of 125m, are among the highest turbines in Southeast Asian region.

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Australian Firm to Build Floating Solar Farm in California

A large-scale floating solar panel array road tested in the South Australian Outback is set to soak up the Californian sunshine.

The City of Holtville has signed an agreement with Aussie company Infratech to manufacture the 1 MW floating solar system including 3576 panels, 276 rafts and 12 treatment pumps.

It will float on the surface and power a new water treatment plant to be used for the town’s drinking water supply and irrigation.

The system will also significantly reduce evaporation and decrease the reliance on chemicals, such as chlorine, to treat the water.

The photosynthesis process that creates blue-green algae will be limited by the shade provided by the panels, which will also keep the water cool and further raise its quality.

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Just for fun: Jay Leno's Garage (2015) - Season 1 - Episode 8 - The Cars of Tomorrow

Japan begins work on 'world's largest' floating solar farm

The Japanese electronics multinational Kyocera has begun work on what it says will be the world’s biggest floating solar farm.

The power plant is being built on a reservoir in Japan’s Chiba prefecture and is anticipated to supply enough electricity for nearly 5,000 households when it is completed in early 2018.

Space-starved Japan has already seen several floating solar farms built as part of the country’s drive to exploit more renewable energy in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster. The shutdown of nuclear plants has seen Japan increasingly reliant on fossil fuel imports that have hit its emissions-cutting ambitions.

The Yamakura dam power plant will see more than 50,000 solar photovoltaic panels cover a 180,000 m sq area, but compared to other land-based plants it is relatively small. At 13.7MW when finished, it would not make the top 100 of the world’s largest solar photovoltaic farms.

In the UK, water company United Utilities started work last year on a floating solar farm on a Greater Manchester reservoir, which will be Europe’s largest once complete. Kyocera said it was turning to water because of a scarcity of land for utility-scale solar in Japan.

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By 2030, Renewables Will Be The World’s Primary Power Source

The IEA notes, “With 60 cents of every dollar invested in new power plants to 2040 spent on renewable energy technologies, global renewables-based electricity generation increases by some 8,300 TeraWatt-hours (more than half of the increase in total generation).” That increase is “equivalent to the output of all of today’s fossil-fuel generation plants in China, the United States and the European Union combined.” It represents new investment of some $7 trillion in renewables over the next quarter century.

Significantly, this remarkable projection about the future of electricity is simply what the IEA believes is now going to happen given the pledges made in Paris by the world’s leading countries to rapidly expand renewable energy investment while restraining and, in many cases, reducing carbon pollution from fossil fuels through 2030. This is IEA’s “central scenario,” and in it the planet still warms 2.7°C by 2100 and more after that.

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Enormous blades could lead to more offshore energy in US

A new design for gigantic blades longer than two football fields could help bring offshore 50-megawatt (MW) wind turbines to the United States and the world.

Sandia National Laboratories' research on the extreme-scale Segmented Ultralight Morphing Rotor (SUMR) is funded by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy program. The challenge: Design a low-cost offshore 50-MW turbine requiring a rotor blade more than 650 feet (200 meters) long, two and a half times longer than any existing wind blade.

The team is led by the University of Virginia and includes Sandia and researchers from the University of Illinois, the University of Colorado, the Colorado School of Mines and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Corporate advisory partners include Dominion Resources, General Electric Co., Siemens AG and Vestas Wind Systems.

"Exascale turbines take advantage of economies of scale," said Todd Griffith, lead blade designer on the project and technical lead for Sandia's Offshore Wind Energy Program.

Sandia's previous work on 13-MW systems uses 100-meter blades (328 feet) on which the initial SUMR designs are based. While a 50-MW horizontal wind turbine is well beyond the size of any current design, studies show that load alignment can dramatically reduce peak stresses and fatigue on the rotor blades. This reduces costs and allows construction of blades big enough for a 50-MW system.

Sandia’s 100-meter blade is the basis for the Segmented Ultralight Morphing Rotor (SUMR), a new low-cost offshore 50-MW wind turbine. At dangerous wind speeds, the blades are stowed and aligned with the wind direction, reducing the risk of damage. At lower wind speeds, the blades spread out more to maximize energy production.

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Philippines is top wind energy producer in Asean

THE Philippines is now the largest and fastest-growing producer of electricity from wind power among the 10 countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), former senator Juan Miguel Zubiri said over the weekend.

"Our wind farms now have an aggregate installed capacity of almost 400 megawatts (MW) -- far more than our neighbors -- and we expect this number to quadruple to 1,600 MWs in two to three years," said Zubiri, who authored the Renewable Energy Law of 2008.

Proximity to a coastline and elevation make the country very rich in wind resources, according to Zubiri.

"We have plenty of potential wind farms because we are a mountainous archipelago. Our many islands provide us an extensive coastline with good elevation," he said.

Citing a study by the US National Energy Laboratory, Zubiri said the Philippines has "some 10,000 square kilometers of land areas with good-to-excellent wind resources."

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New record-breaking year for Danish wind power

2015 was another record-breaking year for Danish wind turbines. Overall, the wind turbines generated what corresponds to 42 per cent of the total Danish electricity consumption – the highest figure ever, and the highest proportion for any country. In 2014, the figure was 39 per cent – also a world record.

France to pave 1,000km of road with solar panels

Ségolène Royal, France’s minister of ecology and energy, has said that the government intends to pave 1,000km of road with photovoltaic panels in the next five years, supplying power to millions of people.

According to France’s Agency of Environment and Energy Management, 4m of solarised road is enough to supply one household’s electricity needs, apart from heating, and one kilometre will light a settlement with 5,000 inhabitants.

So the maximum effect of the programme, if successful, could be to furnish 5 million people with electricity, or about 8% of the French population.

The solarising of France’s roads involves glueing 7mm-thick strips to the surface of the carriageway. The basic technology for this has already been developed by Bouygues subsidiary Colas.

The company’s Wattway panels (pictured above), which took five years to develop, were unveiled in October.

Wattway cells collect solar energy using a thin film of polycrystalline silicon, but are resistant to the passage of heavy goods vehicles and offer sufficient traction to prevent skids.

Ms Royal has proposed to pay for improvements in France’s transport infrastructure by raising taxes on petrol, which she said was “natural” given the falling cost of oil.

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World's first zero-carbon city: Masdar in pictures

Masdar City, which is being constructed near Abu Dhabi, will rely entirely on solar energy and other renewable energy sources, and hopes to become the first zero-carbon, zero-waste city

A masterplan of Masdar City. It is being built by the Abu Dhabi Future Energy company, a subsidiary of Mubadala Development, with the majority of seed capital provided by the government of Abu Dhabi.

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Canada's First Geothermal Plant Is Being Built in the Oil Industry's Backyard

At the end of last year, on a leased property two hours southeast of Regina, Saskatchewan, Deep Earth Energy Corp. began preparations for Canada’s first geothermal power plant.

Unlike other renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, geothermal energy runs 24/7, and isn’t subject to seasonal variations as with hydroelectric. And according to CanGEA, the Canadian Geothermal Energy Association, Canada has enough geothermal potential to supply at least 5% of its electricity via geothermal. So why is this only Canada’s first plant?

The country’s abundance of other energy sources—such as oil and coal in Alberta, nuclear power in Ontario, and hydroelectric in Quebec and British Columbia—certainly haven’t helped. And investors have been understandably wary of betting millions on an industry with notoriously slow startup times and few viable sites.

In other words, it would seem that the risk hasn’t been worth the reward.

But Deep Earth Energy thinks it has found a winning combination of relatively low cost, location and, most importantly, a proven power resource. The company is taking advantage of existing oil industry data to skip the high cost of exploration, and is using new drilling technology that the company claims is earthquake-safe. It also helps that the Saskatchewan site is in a populated area where the locals are no strangers to energy development, and access roads already exist.

If successful, the company’s planned 5 MW pilot plant will produce enough energy to serve around 5,000 homes.

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Uganda's Kiira Motors unveils 'Africa's first solar bus'

A solar-powered bus described by its Ugandan makers as the first in Africa has been driven in public.

Kiira Motors' Kayoola prototype electric bus was shown off at a stadium in Uganda's capital, Kampala.

One of its two batteries can be charged by solar panels on the roof which increases the vehicle's 80km (50 mile) range.

The makers now hope to attract partners to help manufacture the bus for the mass market.

He also hopes that it will generate employment, predicting that by 2018, more than 7,000 people could be directly and indirectly employed in the making of the Kayoola.

But backing from international companies, which make vehicle parts, is essential for the project to take off.

The vision is that by 2039 the company will be able to manufacture all the parts and assemble the vehicle in Uganda.

The 35-seat bus is intended for urban areas rather than inter-city use because of the restrictions on how far it can travel.

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Solaria Solar Windows Accepted By US GSA Green Proving Ground Program

After tests at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s (LBNL) FLEXLAB, Solaria BIPV (building integrated photovoltaics) solar windows have been accepted into the US GSA Green Proving Ground (GPG) program.

Solaria BIPV windows will be installed in a commercial pilot project in Kansas City, Missouri this year to demonstrate their viability as an aesthetic, energy generating solution. The test site slated for this pilot is a federal building in the city.

“We believe that the path to [net] zero starts by eliminating energy waste, then increasing the intelligence of buildings through smart, responsive, people-friendly operating controls and finally introducing renewables for micro generation,” said Stephen Selkowitz, senior advisor for building science, LBNL.

The goal of the GSA’s GPG program is twofold. First, it enables new technologies to quickly become proven commercial products by absorbing the risk and performing rigorous testing and validation. Second, it provides incentives for building owners to become early adopters of innovative technologies that might help them achieve their energy saving goals.

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Europe’s Biggest Floating Solar PV Array Now Being Installed In London

What will be the biggest floating solar photovoltaic (PV) array in Europe once completed -- a 6.3 megawatt (MW) array on the Queen Elizabeth II reservoir in London -- is now under construction.

The developer -- Lightsource Renewable Energy -- has revealed that the project will be composed of 23,000 solar PV panels and will generate enough electricity to provide for the need of around 1800 local households once finished.

Ennoviga Solar is handling the construction of the project -- which is expected to make use of 61,000 floats and 177 anchors. Construction is occurring to the west of the city, near Walton-on-Thames.

Saves money on curtains/blinds too.

Originally Posted by chassamui

Saves money on curtains/blinds too.

I especially like this one. You can place those types of windows on the south side of the house (Florida/Northern Hemisphere) and not worry about Hurricanes (because most people will cover their windows for strong storms) ripping off the solar panels you have on the roof. Or better yet, if you live in an apartment (and no rooftop to place panels on) and you have south-facing windows you might one day have these windows in your place.

Solaria PowerView™ (Building Solutions) - Architectural Glass that allows uniform view while generating solar power.

1. Economics:
Typical project paybacks of less than three years and low incremental project cost

2. Energy Efficiency:
Integration with latest coating and IGU technologies to achieve low SHGC and U-Value

3. Energy Generation:
Leverages c-Si PV cells for high power density and durability

4. Design Flexibility and Custom Configurations:
Size, glass type dimensions and coatings, Vt, daylignting, glare control and voltage

5. Durability and Reliability:
Designed to meet 25 years of PV performance

6. Sustainability:
Eligibility for LEED point in energy efficiency savings, daylighting, renewable generation and innovation

7. Bird Safe:
Patterned to mitigate bird collisions

Solar mirrors... to steam... to turbine
Molten salt as storage for night delivery

Real solar POWER, solar panels are quite inefficient in comparison

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS10_solar_power_plant

This one is making progress, less wear, no noise, safe for birds...

The Future of Wind Turbines? No Blades | WIRED

Now that solar/wind/tidal electrical generation systems are starting to produce really usable energy/power results, which way is it all gonna go?

I'll put my $1 bet on solar/HHO (hydrogen/oxygen) combinations for 1st past the post in viable renewable, non-polluting (nuclear or otherwise), energy systems to be taken up globally within 50 years from today.

Originally Posted by ENT

Now that solar/wind/tidal electrical generation systems are starting to produce really usable energy/power results, which way is it all gonna go?

I'll put my $1 bet on solar/HHO (hydrogen/oxygen) combinations for 1st past the post in viable renewable, non-polluting (nuclear or otherwise), energy systems to be taken up globally within 50 years from today.

Encouraging.
Perhaps, even less time [35 yrs?] is possible.


Yet, a much more subliminal encroachment still holds us captive.
The ideals of mindless and overt consumption - regardless of the wondrous alternative and sustaining energy possibilities.
And then consider the time-honoured tradition [and acceptance] of control by the same old parties...

We still aren't getting it - a collectives and individuals.

Originally Posted by Takeovers

Originally Posted by ENT

I'll put my $1 bet on solar/HHO (hydrogen/oxygen) combinations

I have thought like that for 40 years. Recently I came to the conclusion that producing methane = LNG is more advantageous overall for transport and storage. It feeds into existing infrastructure and can serve as raw material for the chemical industry too.

I'd agree but for the pollution methane burning produces.

It's an obvious cheap fuel source, but the NOX by-product on burning it?

Originally Posted by ENT

I'd agree but for the pollution methane burning produces.
It's an obvious cheap fuel source, but the NOX by-product on burning it?

Whatever you burn with air will produce NOX. Methane, hydrogen just the same. Hydrogen potentially more when the combustion is hotter.

Methane is cheap as natural gas but it will still produce CO2, as it is a fossil fuel. Just less than burning coal so an intermediate step using LNG is better than continuing to burn coal.

Methane from renewable ressources is carbon neutral just like hydrogen gas. The difference in favor of methane is easier storage, transport and use. Using hydrogen requires a whole new infrastructure and is very hard to store and transport. That's why I see an advantage in switching to a methane based economy over switching to a hydrogen based economy.

Interesting, thanks.

There have been proposals with organic solar cells. They all had the disadvantage that they don't last long enough to be worth deploying. This proposal uses the organic properties of living cells that reproduce themselves, solving the longevity problem.

This is scientific research, not near practical application. It's hard to get funding to make the next step. Someone like Bill Gates who can fund it and might do it without mainly economic motivation might help making that step.

Liquid solar energy

When recently asked which superpower he would give himself, Bill Gates said he’d change the world with cleaner, cheaper energy. If it’s a dorky ability to have, and not quite a superpower, it’s also an undeniably provident answer. The Microsoft founder is now publicly hashing out what this vision might look like — at his most speculative, we’ll borrow the best parts of gasoline and the best parts of solar energy to create a fuel source that’s altogether plant-like.
On Tuesday, Gates chatted with Marketplace’s David Brancaccio, about this idea that solar energy could one day be harnessed as liquid fuel:

Gates: Well, liquids, like gasoline, are magical. The energy density is over 10 times the best battery. And it sits there in a tank, the tanks are very inexpensive. You want twice as much energy, you buy a bigger tank. If you want to move it around, you put it in a truck or send it through a pipeline. It’s actually the best energy store we have today, is gasoline. If we can turn the sun into gasoline, it automatically is available all the time and it uses the infrastructure that’s already there.

Brancaccio: It’s gonna take some research, Bill. We’re not there yet.

Gates: No that one, we’re at the very early stage. It’s not even ready for private companies. But it’s very doable. Nature through photosynthesis does this, and we just want to do it in a more efficient way.

Gates is right about two things here: Stealing photosynthesis’ notebook looks like a great way to get closer to a solar-powered gasoline equivalent. And liquid fuel is pretty great — there’s a reason the automotive world picked gas 100 years ago when choosing between batteries and liquid. Liquid fuel was more efficient to store and cheaper to use — principles which locked in gasoline’s dominance over batteries — and still holds true today when comparing alternative energy sources.
“Liquid fuel has a lot of bang for its buck,” says Daniel Nocera, a renewable energy expert at Harvard University, to Inverse. In his opinion, where Gates might want to sharpen his statement is on just how far we are from liquid solar fuel: We may be closer than Bill Gates thinks.
Nocera knows quite a bit about liquid solar fuel, having invented what he calls an artificial leaf, which uses a catalyst to harness solar energy and split water into hydrogen and oxygen. If you feed the hydrogen to a genetically engineered organism — one that breathes in the hydrogen and breathes in carbon dioxide, Nocera says, you’ve created artificial photosynthesis.
In 2015, Nocera and his colleagues announced in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that they’d engineered the bacterium Ralstonia eutropha to bridge that very gap between leaf and photosynthesis, producing isopropanol — a liquid fuel.

To hear Nocera tell it, a few years of bioengeering research is beating nature at its 2.6-billion-year-old game: The best-growing plants store solar energy at 1 percent efficiency, and the scientists’ recent work — so new it’s not yet published — indicates they’ve achieved 10 times that. “We’re blowing the doors off of photosynthesis,” Nocera says.
But just because it can be done with bacteria in a lab doesn’t mean we’ll be loading up our Honda Civics with bionic isopropanol tomorrow:
“A lot of the research is moving forward — it is all feasible,” Nocera says.
What gets complicated is when you make the translation to technology and investors get involved. There are some things, Nocera points out, science can’t solve.
Perhaps that’s where Gates — or someone like him, with the real-life superpowers of being a billionaire business magnate — will succeed.

Global coal and gas investment falls to less than half that in clean energy

Record year for renewables also sees financial investment by developing countries overtake that of the developed world in 2015, research shows

Global investment in coal and gas-fired power generation plants fell to less than half that in renewable energy generation last year, in a record year for clean energy.

It was the first time that renewable energy made up a majority of all the new electricity generation capacity under construction around the world, and the first year in which the financial investment by developing countries in renewables outstripped that of the developed world.

Catherine Mitchell, professor of energy policy at the University of Exeter, said the developments were “extremely significant” and showed a new trend. She said: “We are looking at serious sums of money being invested in clean energy, with the dirtiest forms of fossil fuels the losers. This is the direction of travel that we need to see to have a chance of escaping the worst impacts of climate change.”

About $286bn (£200bn) was invested globally in renewable energy last year, more than the previous peak of $278bn reached in 2011, according to research published on Thursday by the UN Environment Programme (Unep). The figures exclude investment in large hydroelectric plants but include solar, onshore and offshore wind and biomass.

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Love solar power but got no rooftop? "Shared solar" is coming for you.

To date, solar power has mostly been available to utilities (as big power plants) or individual home and business owners (as rooftop panels).

Left out has been ... well, everyone else, those of us who are not utility executives and do not have the money, wherewithal, or suitable rooftops to install solar ourselves. That's a lot of people who love solar power but have no way to get directly involved in it.

Happily, that situation is rapidly changing, thanks to the growth of shared solar. Shared solar refers to small-scale solar installations that multiple individuals co-own, or that divide their power output among multiple "subscribed" individuals. It's a way for all those non-rooftop folks to directly support clean energy, while also supporting local jobs and economic development.

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After 115 Years, Scotland Is Coal-Free

After some 115 years, Scotland has burned its last lump of coal for electricity.

The Longannet power station, the last and largest coal-fired power plant in Scotland, ceased operations Thursday. What once was the largest coal plant in Europe shut down after 46 years before the eyes of workers and journalists, who gathered in the main control room.

“Ok, here we go,” said one worker moments before pressing a bright red button that stopped the coal-fired turbines that generated electricity for a quarter of Scottish homes.

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China Plans 22% Boost for Wind Power Capacity After Record 2015

China plans to increase total wind power capacity by 22 percent in 2016, underscoring the government’s effort to develop clean energy at about the same pace as last year’s record installations.

The nation plans to develop 30.83 gigawatts of wind power this year, the National Energy Administration said in a statement on its website on Monday. It added 33 gigawatts in 2015, triple France’s entire capacity of the clean resource, according to data from NEA.

Developers rushed to deliver projects last year before tariffs paid for clean energy were reduced, and the support levels on offer this year are generous enough to keep drawing in investment.

"The target is very high" for 2016, said Shi Yan, a Shanghai-based analyst at UOB Kayhian Investment Co. "New projects will be in regions with little idling capacity, offering good profitability for developers."

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Tesla Unveils Model 3, Its Most Important Electric Car Yet

Tesla shows off its $35,000 sedan for the masses.

Electric car manufacturer Tesla unveiled its latest electric car Thursday night — the hotly anticipated, lower-cost Model 3 sedan.

The much-hyped public presentation of the mid-sized sedan at Tesla’s design studio was a historic moment for both the electric car industry and for Elon Musk’s Tesla.

The Model 3, Tesla’s fourth production car, is the first one that’s aimed at the masses, with a starting price of $35,000. For Tesla, considered the Apple of the automotive industry, the Model 3 has the potential to be its iPhone — a sexy, mass-market, consumer-priced machine that changes the game.

If the car becomes as popular and successful as Musk hopes, Tesla stands to become a major consumer brand that helps shepherd the all-electric car era into the mainstream. Musk said at Thursday night’s event that 115,000 Model 3s had been ordered in the previous 24 hours.

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Australia adds 100MW of rooftop solar in first two months of 2016

Australia has added 100MW of rooftop solar in the first two months of 2016, as Victoria overtakes NSW to be the second biggest market in the country.

The 55MW added in February still represented a fall from year ago figures, with Queensland – the biggest market in Australia over the last few years – falling nearly 20 per cent, according to data supplied by Green Energy Markets.

This is despite the aim by the state Labor government to accelerate the installation of rooftop solar and more than double the number of homes with rooftop solar to one million by 2020.

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New Research Posits Ocean Currents As Reliable Source Of Clean Energy

New research has proposed a design for a submerged marine turbine that could harness ocean currents as a potential renewable energy resource.

Researchers from the Quantum Wave Microscopy Unit at Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have published their proposition in the journal Renewable Energy. The researchers specifically proposed a submerged marine turbine that could harness the energy of the Kuroshio Current, a north-flowing ocean current on the west side of the North Pacific Ocean, up against Japan’s own east coast. The Kuroshio Current is similar to the more well-known Gulf Stream current that runs around the top side of the Atlantic Ocean, and could provide consistent electricity much like fossil fuels have done.

The newly proposed design could see a submerged marine turbine operate in the middle layer of the Kuroshio Current, 100 metres below the surface, where the waters of the current flow steadily and relatively calmly, even during the violent storms and typhoons that make their home in the region.

Originally Posted by S Landreth

If the car becomes as popular and successful as Musk hopes, Tesla stands to become a major consumer brand that helps shepherd the all-electric car era into the mainstream. Musk said at Thursday night’s event that 115,000 Model 3s had been ordered in the previous 24 hours.

That's before Elon Musk announced that Model 3 will do 60 miles/h (~100km/h) in 6 seconds. He said they don't build slow cars.

Originally Posted by Takeovers

Originally Posted by S Landreth

If the car becomes as popular and successful as Musk hopes, Tesla stands to become a major consumer brand that helps shepherd the all-electric car era into the mainstream. Musk said at Thursday night’s event that 115,000 Model 3s had been ordered in the previous 24 hours.

That's before Elon Musk announced that Model 3 will do 60 miles/h (~100km/h) in 6 seconds. He said they don't build slow cars.

First 36 hours - 253,000 at an estimated retail value of $10.6 billion

Tesla Motors Inc said orders for its new Model 3 electric sedan topped 253,000 in the first 36 hours — a fast start for the company’s first mass-market vehicle, which may not begin to reach customers for another 18 months or more.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk tweeted on Friday that the Model 3, which is slated to go into production in late 2017, will sell at an average price of $42,000, including the price of options and additional features, which would give the initial flurry of orders an estimated retail value of $10.6 billion.