Thread: Fossil Fuel Alternatives

Just a note on wind power that's killing off birds by the thousands - the towers burn up and fall over too at an alarming rate.

Small nuke plants are the answer.

122% wind power in Denmark

Renewable electricity records are falling every day. In early October, Germany recently hit a 59 percent renewable peak, Colorado utility Xcel Energy peaked at 60 percent wind at the beginning of the year, and Spain got its top power supply from wind for three months leading into 2013.

But that’s chump change compared with Denmark. According to data from Energinet, the national grid operator, wind power has produced 30 percent of gross power consumption to date in 2013. This includes over 90 hours where wind produced more than all of Denmark’s electricity needs, peaking at 122 percent on October 28, at 2 a.m.

And Denmark has plans to get to 50 percent more wind by 2020, creating even bigger hourly peaks. Energinet predicts the country may hit as many as1,000 hours per year of power surplus.

To champions of renewables, this is validation that a clean energy future is possible and that the transition is already underway. These regions also give insight into what is to come in the U.S., and what needs to change to keep a reliable and affordable power system as clean energy grows.

Making it work: Easy Solutions First

So how can Denmark be 122 percent wind-powered? Where does the extra power go?

Denmark is part of an integrated regional grid with the Scandinavian countries and parts of Germany. They have a constant trade with utilities in the region, especially hydro plants in Norway.

As renewables grow and as Denmark attempts to phase out fossil fuels altogether by 2050, the country is aggressively adopting smart grid technologies, leading Europe in research and demonstration projects on a per-capita basis. The island of Bornholm will be a test bed, with extensive smart grid and renewable energy deployment. Demand response is beginning to grow, though in a different form than in the U.S. Denmark also has big goals for electric cars, and has exempted them from the 180 percent sales tax applied to gas and diesel vehicles.

German born, barcelona-based architect andré broessel has sent us images of his latest development of a spherical glass
solar energy generator. the project uses the advantageous strategy of implementing a ball lens and specific geometrical
structure to improve energy efficiency by 35%. in contrast to its traditional photo-voltaic 'dual-axis' counterparts,
the device incorporates a fully rotational weatherproof natural optical tracking device that is adequate for functioning
on inclined surfaces and curtain walls, empowering any building surface. the new solar generating concept has
capabilities that concentrate diffused daylight or moonlight for a more effective site context application.

spherical glass solar energy generator by rawlemon

Brooklyn Whole Foods Wows With Solar, Wind, EV Chargers, Greenhouse and More

The outside of the newly opened Whole Foods on Brooklyn, NY’s Gowanus Canal contains more examples of renewable energy and efficiency than some companies have throughout their entire operations.

Solar and wind energy work together to completely power two Skypump electric vehicle charging stations and 19 LED streetlights. The Sanya SLSTM streetlights, by New York, NY-based Urban Green Energy (UGE), would remain operational during regional outages because of their natural power sources.

UGE says the streetlights and charging stations both produce more energy than they require, reducing energy consumption at the supermarket.

“Taking advantage of the smart grid regulations available in New York State, UGE’s power systems contribute to the store’s microgrid—feeding energy to the electrical grid and taking only when needed,” the company said in a statement.

A 324-kilowatt (kW) solar array covers much of the parking lot and is expected to offset nearly 30 percent of the 56,000-square-foot building’s electricity use, or 380,400 kW hours from the grid, Earth Techling estimates. Additionally, a 157-kW combined heat and power system can provide heating and chilled water throughout the year and during grid failures.

Whole Foods full expects the store to garner LEED Platinum certification.

“We’re about 60 percent more efficient than any other grocery store in the U.S.,” according to a statement from Whole Foods’ Green Mission Team.” We’re going to be saving about 2.5 million kWh a year, which is equivalent to taking about 360 cars off the road annually.”

Trina Solar to develop 1GW plant and module factory in China - PV-Tech

Chinese tier one PV manufacturer Trina Solar will develop a 1GW ground-mounted solar power plant in Xinjiang, western China.

The company announced on 30 December that it signed an investment framework agreement with the local prefectural government of Turpan.

Still subject to approval, the first two phases of the Xinjiang plant will total 300MW and are scheduled for completion by the end of 2014. Approvals are required from the local government and from the state grid. The entire 1GW plant will take four years to build.

Once approval for the first phase has been given, Trina Solar also plans to construct a module production facility near the plant to supply the project. Trina Solar chairman and chief executive officer Jifan Gao said that the facility would “create jobs and stimulate the growth of the local economy”. Gao also said the company looked forward to “working in close collaboration with the local authorities to satisfy the conditions needed for phase one to commence in the first quarter of 2014.”

According to Gao, when completed the Turpan project will be the largest solar power plant in Xinjiang. “Xinjiang's abundant land and solar resources make Turpan an ideal location for this project,” he said.

By attaching incredibly fine nanotubules to plant cells and drawing the electrons from them, the team has been able to direct the electrons down a wire as electrical current. Testing the strength of the current, they found that it was twice as powerful as electricity gathered from traditional solar cells of the same size.

Houseplants: The solar cells of tomorrow | DVICE

Shimizu, a Japanese architectural and engineering firm, has a solution for the climate crisis: Simply build a band of solar panels 400 kilometers (249 miles) wide (pdf) running all the way around the Moon’s 11,000-kilometer (6,835 mile) equator and beam the carbon-free energy back to Earth in the form of microwaves, which are converted into electricity at ground stations.

But...

Shimizu, which is known for a series of far-fetched “dream projects” including pyramid cities and a space hotel. The company proposes to start building the Luna Ring in 2035.

http://qz.com/152384/japans-plan-to-...t-on-the-moon/

Spain Achieves Renewable Milestone.

Wind power generated 21.1 percent of Spain’s energy (blogger’s note: “energy” is not correct here – “electricity” is accurate) needs in 2013, reported the national energy grid this month, becoming the top source of electrical power in the country, narrowly ahead of nuclear energy at 21 percent.

On Monday, BusinessGreen reported the findings from a study by the Red Eléctrica de España (REE), revealing for “the first time ever, that [wind power] contributed most to the annual electricity demand coverage.”

In total, wind farms were estimated to have generated 53,926GWh of electricity last year, up 12 per cent on 2012. Meanwhile renewable energy sources in total provided 42.4 percent of the country’s electricity, up from 10.5 percent the previous year.

The added renewable energy in the mix in 2013 is predicted to have reduced the greenhouse gas emissions of Spain’s energy sector by 23.1 percent from 2012 levels, according to REE.

“Throughout 2013, the all-time highs of wind power production were exceeded,” the report stated.

“On 6 February, wind power recorded a new maximum of instantaneous power with 17,056MW at 3:49 pm (2.5 per cent up on the previous record registered in April 2012), and that same day the all-time maximum for hourly energy was also exceeded reaching 16,918MWh.

BusinessGreen noted that the fall in greenhouse gas emissions had also been caused by a 2.1 percent decrease in overall power demand. However, the increased weight of renewable energy sources likely played the main role in cutting down emissions.

Besides wind power, solar power generation also saw an increase in PV capacity by 140MW and thermal capacity by 300MW. High levels of rainfall experienced last year also meant hydroelectric power output was 16 percent higher than the historical average, climbing to 32,205GWh.

Meanwhile high emitting energy sources saw a major reduction in power output. Coal-fired plants for instance saw a 27.3 percent decrease in power generation.

If you cover it,.. why not cover it with solar panels?

World's largest solar-powered bridge opens in London

After nearly five years in the making, Network Rail has today cut the ribbon on the world's largest solar-powered bridge at Blackfriars Bridge across the River Thames.

As part of a project with solar installation firm Solarcentury, the roof of the bridge has been covered with 4,400 photovoltaic panels, providing up to half of the energy for London Blackfriars station.

First Capital Connect, which runs Blackfriars, expects the panels to cut the stations' carbon emissions by an estimated 511 tonnes a year, further reducing the carbon footprint of its train routes to the south east of England.

"Electric trains are already the greenest form of public transport - this roof gives our passengers an even more sustainable journey," said David Statham, managing director of First Capital Connect. "The distinctive roof has also turned our station into an iconic landmark visible for miles along the River Thames."

The bridge will also act as a major advertisement for London's efforts to become a sustainable city, with tourists and workers viewing the panels as they enter the capital.

7,500 homes are a lot of homes for just one wind turbine.

On Tuesday the world’s largest and most powerful wind turbine swung into gear at the Danish National Test Centre for Large Wind Turbines in Østerild. The prototype V164-8.0 MW wind turbine is 720 feet tall, has 260-foot blades, and can generate 8 megawatts of power — enough to supply electricity for 7,500 average European households or about 3,000 American households.

A joint venture between Vestas and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the turbine is slated to go into production next year and was designed to take advantage of the growing offshore wind industry across Europe.

“We have now completed the production, testing, and installation of the V164-8.0 MW as planned, thanks to the team’s intense effort during a time when Vestas has reduced its investments and lowered fixed costs,” Anders Vedel, Chief Technology Officer for Vestas,said. “We now look forward to evaluating the turbine’s performance on site.”

According to the European Offshore Wind Industry, 418 offshore turbines came online last year, providing 1,567 MW of capacity. That brought the total offshore wind capacity in Europe to 6,562 MW with just over 2,000 turbines, enough to provide 0.7 percent of the EU’s electricity. The European Offshore Wind Industry estimates that by 2020 Europe’s offshore grid should have a capacity of 40 gigawatts and by 2030 it should have 150 gigawatts, enough to provide 14 percent of the EU’s electricity demand.

Britain has the most installed offshore wind capacity with 3.68 gigawtts while Denmark is a distant second with 1.27 gigawatts.

Vestas is Europe’s second leading wind turbine manufacturer, after Siemens, a German company. As of last year Vestas had installed 27 percent of Europe’s offshore wind turbines, or 547, compared to Siemens’ 1,249, or 60 percent.

19-year-old inventor finds way to clean up the world’s oceans in under 5 years time

Now a 19-year-old inventor by the name of Boyan Slat says we can remove nearly 20 billion tons of plastic waste with his concept he calls an ocean cleanup array. It is made from a massive series of floating booms and processing platforms that gradually suck in the floating plastic like a giant funnel.

The angle with how the array is set up allows all of the plastic to go to where the platforms processing centers are floating. At the platform processing area it would separate the naturally occurring life such as plankton an only keep the plastic materials to be recycled.

.................

Not only is Slat’s concept self-powered, it would also be very profitable from the all the recycling, which is estimated in the amount of 500 million dollars (U.S.) per year.

19-year-old inventor finds way to clean up the world

Floating Wind Turbines Coming to Oregon Coast

A demonstration project received approval from the federal government, though Europe is still likely to see the technology first

A demonstration floating offshore wind project in Oregon breezed over another hurdle yesterday, raising hopes that West Coast's first offshore turbines will begin spinning before the end of the decade.

However, the project's developers indicated that this new and potentially transformative technology will likely find a more welcoming market in Europe before it is realized at utility scale in the United States.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management yesterday released a determination of no competitive interest for a 15-square-mile offshore area in Oregon that Seattle-based renewable energy developer Principle Power aims to use as a test bed for its floating offshore wind technology.

Principle Power is planning a 30-megawatt offshore wind farm, called the WindFloat Pacific Project, that would consist of five units tethered 16 nautical miles from Coos Bay, bobbing approximately 1,400 feet above the ocean floor.

The formal announcement was made yesterday in Portland, Ore., by Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, who was joined by Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) and BOEM Director Tommy Beaudreau.

"This is a really exciting and innovative project," Beaudreau said. "It involves a floating technology that has enormous potential on the West Coast, where the shelf drops off steeply, as well as around the world. ... I'm very pleased to be rolling out renewable energy development offshore on the West Coast, as we have been on the East Coast for several years."

more

Sustainable hydrogen for fuel cells with new artificial leaf

Researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are developing a new bionic leaf that can convert energy from sunlight into an energy-dense fuel, imitating the photosynthetic process of plants. We’ve covered the artificial leaf concept before but aside from using a cool new name (bionic leaf sounds much cooler than artificial leaf, right?) the Berkeley project represents a new twist on the technology that could lead to far greater efficiencies.

The Artificial Leaf Concept

Whether you call it an artificial leaf or a bionic leaf, the basic concept is relatively simple. Instead of using a photovoltaic cell to generate electricity directly from sunlight, you deploy a chemical reaction that stores solar energy in the form of hydrogen, which you can then use in a hydrogen fuel cell to generate electricity.

That sunlight-to-hydrogen chain means you can store solar energy indefinitely, potentially in huge quantities, so think of it as a kind of battery and you’re on the right track. The fuel cell connection means that the intermittent nature of solar energy is not an issue, and neither is its resistance to mobility.

As for how you get there, you drop a photoelectrochemical cell in a bucket of water and let it go to work stripping out the hydrogen.

That’s a much more sustainable way to produce hydrogen than the current standard, which involves a good deal of fossil energy. With Toyota, GM and other auto manufacturers poised to deliver hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to the mass market, the race is on to develop solar powered hydrogen production at scale.

The Berkeley Lab Bionic Leaf
The trick behind the photoelectrochemical cell is to find the right combination of materials that give you a cost-effective reaction, otherwise your bionic leaf is going to sit in the lab and amuse visitors forever.

We’ve been following one solution, an actual leaf-sized artificial leaf that is being developed with a focus on low cost materials to serve households in underserved communities. The absolute efficiency of the cell is not as important as the overall cost, since in this market electricity consumption is almost negligible (in the latest development, the artificial leaf has been tweaked to function effectively in impure water).

The Berkeley team is also taking cost into consideration while moving along a tack that is focused on revving up the performance of the photocathode at the molecular level (the cathode is the part of the cell that generates an electrical current).

The team has been focusing on a hybrid photocathode of gallium phosphide (a semiconductor that absorbs visible light), and cobaloxime, a hydrogen-producing catalyst.

Both materials are relatively abundant and inexpensive compared to conventional precious metal catalysts like platinum.

So far, so good. The team just published its latest analysis of the photocathode in the journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics under the title “Energetics and efficiency analysis of a cobaloxime-modified semiconductor under simulated air mass 1.5 illumination,” which demonstrated that almost 90 percent of the electrons generated by the hybrid material were stored in the target hydrogen molecules.

The team has also found that the ability of the gallium phosphide to absorb solar energy is far outstripping the ability of the cobaloxime to catalyse a reaction. The result is that only 1.5 percent of the photons that hit the surface get converted into a photocurrent.

So, the search is on for a faster and more efficient catalyst.

little more here: Promising news for solar fuels from Berkeley Lab researchers at JCAP | e! Science News

Blue Is The New Green: How Oceans Could Power The Future

In February, a natural gas power plant along the Central California coast closed after operating for more than 50 years, thus ending an era that saw the surrounding community of Morro Bay grow up around it. In an unlikely partnership, the shuttering may also help usher in a new era of energy generation — this one reliant on power from the waves that undulate through the bay before crashing up against the nearby shoreline.

The antiquated Morro Bay plant is part of a pattern of seaside plants closing due to a combination of stricter environmental regulations coupled with California’s requirement that 33 percent of electricity in the state come from renewable sources by 2020. Two companies have filed preliminary permits with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to test wave energy projects off the coast of Morro Bay, a town of about 10,000 people north of Los Angeles. Both projects would use the defunct plant as a much-needed transmission hub to push energy to the grid and from there to consumers throughout the region.

“If we aren’t able to use Morro Bay, there are other shore-based power plants shutting down along the coastline,” said Paul Grist, president and chairman of Archon Energy, one of the companies applying for a FERC permit. “They can’t meet the Renewable Portfolio Standard and they suck in and spew out millions of gallons of water.”

Dynegy, the owner of the power plant, is the other company that applied for a FERC permit. A Houston-based utility company with around 13,000 megawatts (MW) of nationwide power generation capacity, their February 6 application with FERC came several months after Archon’s. If their project tests successfully and goes on to get the two dozen or so licenses and permits that would be needed, it would eventually generate 650 MW of power and cost more than $1 billion to build.

“Dynegy filed their permit many months after we did,” Grist said. “Our goal was to use that transmission corridor to the coast and Dynegy basically followed. Their application is further towards land than ours. I’ve talked with them and we’re going to try to work together and help each other out as much as we can.”

snip

“There’s a lot of technology happening in wave energy conversion,” Grist said. “Wave energy will be coming of age in the immediate future.”

Wave and tidal power are both hydrokinetic sources of energy. Wave power harnesses the energy of surface waves through a number of different mechanisms, many still in early stages of development. Currently the primary method involves floating buoys the size of lighthouses that are moored to the ocean floor. In another example, a group of researchers at UC-Berkeley have developed what they call a “seafloor carpet” that absorbs the impact of ocean waves much as muddy seabeds do.

Tidal power uses the flow of ocean currents, tides or inland waterways to capture the potential energy between high and low tides as they occur every 12 hours. “The rotation of the earth creates wind on the ocean surface that forms waves, while the gravitational pull of the moon creates coastal tides and currents,” the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) explains.

As the search for new forms of clean, sustainable energy persists, the global potential of wave and tidal power represents an untested but immensely promising frontier. Oceans cover 70 percent of the Earth’s surface — and they do so densely. Ocean current resources are about 800 times denser than wind currents, according to NREL, meaning a 12-mph marine current generates the equivalent amount of force as a 110-mph wind gust. With more than half of all Americans living near the coastline, wave and tidal power is also appealing for its proximity to electricity demand centers, whereas the many of the best wind and solar sites are hundreds of miles from population hubs.

A 2012 report prepared by RE Vision Consulting for the Department of Energy found that the theoretical ocean wave energy resource potential in the U.S. is more than 50 percent of the annual domestic demand of the entire country. The World Energy Council has estimated that approximately 2 terawatts — 2 million megawatts or double current world electricity production — could be produced from the oceans via wave power.

snip

While oceans may cover more than two-thirds of the planet, wave and tidal power require concentrated energy locations with strong currents or consistently large waves. This limits the opportunities to a tiny percentage of the ocean, according to Fraenkel. So on top of technological advances and economic favorability, siting, natural resources availability, and transmission access must all align for a successful wave or tidal power project. Even so, Fraenkel views the challenges as not only worth overcoming, but necessary to overcome.

“The oceans contain a huge amount of energy so logic dictates that we need to learn to extract energy where possible bearing in mind that future use of fossil fuel is going to be inhibited both by the effects of pollution induced climate change and by resource depletion,” he said. “So my message is that although extracting energy from the oceans is more difficult and perhaps less successful so far than some people might have wished, it has been shown to be possible and will no doubt become increasingly important in future.”

much more in the link above

Nice to read the Department of Defense planning ahead and at no cost to US tax payers,…

Department Of Defense Undertakes Largest Solar Project To Date

The U.S. Army announced plans on Monday to begin construction on the Department of Defense’s largest solar array on a military installation. Groundbreaking for the 20-megawatt project will take place on April 25, with commercial operations slated to begin late this year. It will provide about a quarter of the annual electricity use for Fort Huachuca in southeast Arizona.

“The project establishes a new path for an innovative partnering opportunity among the U.S. Army, other federal agencies, private industry and the utility provider,” said Richard Kidd, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for energy and sustainability. “I applaud the significant efforts and teamwork to bring this project to fruition — and set the example for other large scale renewable energy opportunities.”

The project is being installed under a purchase power agreement in which the solar installer, in this case Tucson Electric Power, pays for installation, operation, and maintenance and then pays down costs and generates revenue through sales of electricity. The project is an example of public-private industry collaboration in which no taxpayer dollars will be spent. The installation, design, engineering and construction of the project will be overseen by E.ON, a multinational investor-owned energy supplier.

The U.S. Army is committed to sustainable energy practices for a number of reasons, not least of which is the acknowledgement of climate change as a threat to geopolitical order and a national security threat multiplier.

I recently watched Who Killed the Electric Care? and highly recommend it.

It's a shame.

Originally Posted by barbaro

I recently watched Who Killed the Electric Care?

Never heard of electric care.

Originally Posted by Takeovers

Pumped storage hydropower.

Pumped-storage hydropower | Statkraft

related,......

Spanish island to be fully powered by wind, water

The smallest and least known of Spain's Canary Islands, El Hierro, is making a splash by becoming the first island in the world fully energy self-sufficient through combined water and wind power.

A wind farm opening at the end of June will turn into electricity the gusts that rake the steep cliffs and green mountains of the volcanic island off the Atlantic coast of Africa.

Its five turbines installed at the northeastern tip of El Hierro near the capital Valverde will have a total output of 11.5 megawatts—more than enough power to meet the demand of the island's roughly 10,000 residents and its energy-hungry water desalination plants.

Although other islands around the world are powered by solar or wind energy, experts say El Hierro is the first to secure a constant supply of electricity by combining wind and water power and with no connection to any outside electricity network.

Surplus power from the wind turbines will be used to pump fresh water from a reservoir near the harbour to a larger one at volcanic crater located about 700 metres (2,300 feet) above sea level.

When there is little or no wind, the water will be channelled down to the lower reservoir through turbines to generate electricity in turn.

"This system guarantees us a supply of electricity," said the director of the Gorona del Viento wind power plant, Juan Manuel Quintero who is supervising final tests before the plant starts functioning in a few weeks.

The plant will account for 50 percent of the island's electricity demand when it is officially inaugurated at the end of June, a figure that will rise to 100 percent over the following months.

The scheme will cut carbon dioxide emissions by 18,700 tonnes per year and eliminate the island's annual consumption of 40,000 barrels of oil.

El Hierro will maintain its fuel oil power station as a back up, just in case.


more in the link above

as I understand the costs of solar panels continue to fall

World’s Largest Solar Array Set to Crank Out 290 Megawatts of Sunshine Power

Agua Caliente, the largest photovoltaic solar power facility in the world, was completed last week in Arizona.

The plant comprises more than five million solar panels that span the equivalent of two Central Parks in the desert between Yuma and Phoenix. It generates 290 megawatts of power—enough electricity to fuel 230,000 homes in neighboring California at peak capacity. The Agua Caliente Solar Project represents a significant advance in the technology compared with just four years ago, when the largest solar facility in the U.S. generated only 20 megawatts. “Solar has completely arrived as a competitive energy resource,” says Peter Davidson, executive director of the Loan Programs Office at the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE).

The project, which cost a total of $1.8 billion to construct, received a million-dollar loan from the DoE as a part of its “SunShot” initiative (so-named in the spirit of president John F. Kennedy’s “moon shot” program). SunShot provides guaranteed loans to unproved ventures in solar power in the hopes of promoting innovation and making the technology more cost-effective. Although Agua Caliente (owned by U.S. energy giant NRG Energy and partner MidAmerican Solar) is now the largest photovoltaic solar facility in the world, it probably will not hold that distinction for long. Other massive solar panel facilities, such as Antelope Valley Solar Ranch One in California’s Mojave Desert, are rapidly springing up across the Southwest. “This series of large plants that are being built really mark the transition from the technology being something experimental to real energy on the grid,” agrees Robert Margolis, a senior analyst at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Solar power currently accounts for 1 percent of U.S. energy production, but it is the fastest-growing sector of the energy landscape. Margolis says that Agua Caliente proves that investing in solar power on a large scale is an effective way to make it more viable in the current market.

The energy contained in just one hour of sunlight could power the world for a year, if only it could be harnessed. Traditional solar panels made from silicon—the gold standard of semiconducting material—are expensive, however, particularly in comparison with cheap but dirty coal and natural gas. Agua Caliente, which is operated and maintained for NRG by Tempe, Ariz.–based First Solar, uses newer, thin-film panels that that absorb the same amount of sunlight with a fraction of the material, boosting the array’s efficiency.

NRG has a deal with utility company Pacific Gas & Electric to sell them the energy generated by the plant for 25 years. California law mandates that utilities get 33 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

The massive scale of facilities like Agua Caliente enables energy companies to buy the construction materials in bulk, which reduces costs. But there are downsides to this arrangement. The sheer magnitude of such complexes makes them difficult to maintain, and some environmental groups argue that the immense structures displace local wildlife. Many California legislators therefore prefer small-scale plants that can be built closer to the places they supply.

And as with traditional solar power plants, there is still the issue of what to do when the sky is overcast. One of the most interesting things about Agua Caliente, says John Karam, senior director of asset management at NRG Solar (an NRG subsidiary), is how it deals with cloudy days. There are extra panels built into the site, so “when the plant is partially covered by clouds, the control system can actually call upon the portion of the panels that is not impacted” and recruit the extras there to make up the difference.

“The systems are getting smarter,” NREL’s Margolis notes. “One of the next frontiers in research and development is integrating very large quantities of solar into the system by having smarter controls, and also improving the ability to forecast when clouds will come and what the behavior of the system will be so that utilities can prepare.”

Consumers won’t notice much of a difference right away, as utility companies typically draw from a wide array of energy sources, DoE’s Davidson says. “Its like pouring water into a pool: It all gets blended in and then patched out.”

But as solar power becomes cheaper, Davidson predicts that utilities will pass those savings on to consumers. And as the technological advancements emerging from megaplants like Agua Caliente become more widely available, individual solar power adopters may eventually see savings as well.

A company is raising crowd-sourced funds to turn the U.S.'s roads into giant energy farms.
Image: Solar Roadways


According to their Indigogo page, a company called Solar Roadways want to cover every highway in the U.S. in thick LED-lit glass solar panels.
There are around 30,000 square kilometres of roads in the U.S., so if their plan is successful, the energy-generating potential is huge - in fact, is every paved surface was covered with their solar panels, they would produce more energy than the U.S. consumes.
Solar Roadways' hexagonal solar panels can generate enough power to light the road, melt ice and snow, and send leftover energy to cities.
The was first presented in 2010, but now the founders Scott and Julie Brusaw have actually set up a working prototype in a parking lot outside their lab in Idaho. And it works
The tempered glass panels not only generate energy sustainable, they also offer a superior road surface to traditional materials - they're around 1.5cm thick and withstand fully-loaded tricks and even 113,000kg trucks driving over them.
And although they're glass, the surface isn't slippery and won't ever get iced-over as it's self-heating. It will also be able to show road markings and send up-to-date traffic messages to drivers through the inbuilt LED lights, and won't ever get potholes.
Even cooler, if rest stops or parking lots were paved with the solar panels, they could offer charging stations for electric cars. In the future, the Brusaw's think electric car users might even be able to charge the cars directly through the road as they drive - which means they'll never have to stop.
So what the hell are the downsides?
Well, the system would require a trench down one side of the road to hold power cables, Engadget reports. But this isn't necessarily a bad thing as it could also be used to store cables for a future high-speed data network.
And because each panel is wired, it makes repairs extremely easy. When one panel becomes faulty, the others around it let a repair person know their location.
Perhaps the main downside is that the project is expensive. The company is currently trying to raise $1 million to do more testing and refine their current product, as well as paving some smaller roads and parking lots. They'd need a lot more money if they wanted to pave the entire U.S. road system.
But when you compare that to the price of relying on fossil fuels, maybe it's not that steep.

How about if they combined this system with piezoelectric pressure plates and doubled the energy output.

SolarJet - Making fuel from solar heat, water and CO2.

The german space agency DLR has tested a demonstrator in cooperaton with partners to produce fuel using solar heat. Metal oxide is heated with solar energy using mirrors to reach 2000°C. Water and CO2 are then injected producing synthesis gas. This gas is then reformed to fuel using the Fischer Tropsch process.

A link to a pdf describing the process.

http://www.dlr.de/dlr/Portaldata/1/R...LISH_final.pdf

A link to a german language DLR website that has a flash animation of the process. The animation has no sound.

DLR Portal - Nachrichten - SOLAR-JET: Forschergruppe stellt erstmals alternatives Kerosin aus Sonnenlicht, Wasser und CO2 her



The Fischer Tropsch process.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer...ropsch_process

This process was developed in the 1920ies in germany and was used for fuel production during the second world war when not enough crude oil was available.

Iron-Chromium Flow Battery Aims to Replace Gas Plants




The four round structures pictured above may look like grain silos but they're actually giant flow batteries. They're part of a demonstration plant going online this week, and proponents say it could represent the future of long-duration energy storage on the electric grid.
Startup EnerVault will unveil tomorrow what it says is the largest iron-chromium flow battery ever made. Installed in Turlock, Calif., the four-hour, 250-kilowatt battery will be charged by a solar array and power an irrigation system. The project was funded by about US $5 million from Department of Energy through the stimulus program and the California Energy Commission.
If this technology demonstration performs well, it will be a step towards much larger flow batteries that could replace natural gas plants or provide round-the-clock power from wind and solar farms.

..............................

Iron-Chromium Flow Battery Aims to Replace Gas Plants - IEEE Spectrum