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Decentralised solar energy a boon for local companies

“We’re recommending it to everyone,” ….. “We’ve certainly got our money’s worth.”

Many local companies laud effects of renewable energy efforts By Marc Munroe DionHerald News Staff Reporter 22 May 11, FALL RIVER — It’s been 15 months since linen manufacturer Matouk, 925 Airport Road, installed about 200 solar panels atop its building, which houses the company’s offices, manufacturing space and factory store.

Matouk Controller Peter Brust said it’s been a good deal for the company. Continue reading →

May 23, 2011 Posted by | decentralised, USA | Leave a comment

A good business move for Japan – from nuclear to solar?

new solutions for solar power installation in Japan’s relatively small geographic areas. “The [irradiated] agricultural land near the Fukushima power plant is no longer usable, so why don’t we convert that into solar plants?” …alculation from Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology: “Rice produced on one hectare of land yields a yearly revenue of 1.58 million yen, while a solar plant on the same surface would generate a revenue of 7.5 million yen.”

Why Japan’s Shift Away from Nuclear Is Good for Business,  TIME,  By Lucy Birmingham / Tokyo Wednesday, May 18, 2011 “…….New legislation is expected to help diversify the nation’s energy portfolio. A new feed-in tariff (FIT) will oblige utility companies to buy all the power generated through renewable sources connected to a grid, at fixed, premium rates. Continue reading →

May 19, 2011 Posted by | decentralised, Japan | 1 Comment

Success with small scale solar energy and feed-in tariffs

“It might not seem like a lot if you look at one unit, but it’s like looking at ants,” ….. “If you look at one at a time, they seem tiny, but they build up into a large population.”

Green energy from city skylines, nwi.com, 15 May 11, While large wind and solar farms catch grief from nearby residents, engineers and designers have created ways to incorporate renewable energy systems into city skylines, including Chicago’s.

Across the United States, renewable energy developers are supplementing energy grids more discreetly, more affordably and on an urban-friendly scale. Continue reading →

May 16, 2011 Posted by | decentralised, USA | Leave a comment

Japan could, and should, move from nuclear power to renewables

Iida and ISEP researchers estimate that Chubu Electric can provide 30.59 million kilowatts without nuclear power, enough to cover this summer’s projected demand of 26.37 million kilowatts.

This can be done by operating all of its thermal power plants and buying surplus electricity from large manufacturers in the Chubu region, who run their own power stations, they say.

 Renewable’s time is now, expert says, Goal should be 100% reliance on alternative energy by 2050, Japan Times, By ERIKO ARITA, May 14, 2011Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s request that Chubu Electric Power Co. shut down the Hamaoka nuclear power plant was valuable, though he should have reached this decision much sooner after the Fukushima crisis, according to an expert on nuclear and renewable energy. “Kan’s decision was late, compared with that of German Chancellor (Angela) Merkel,” Tetsunari Iida, executive director of the Tokyo-based nonprofit organization Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies, said this week in an interview. Continue reading →

May 15, 2011 Posted by | Japan, renewable | Leave a comment

Renewable energy making good business sense for Germany

Merkel’s big bet is that environmental technology will be one of Germany’s most important sources of income. Already, the country’s share in the green-tech world market is 16 percent, which means billions of Euros in business. Renewable energy has generated 300,000 ‘green collar’ new jobs in the past decade, Röttgen says. Big companies like Siemens and Bosch are determined to become “green multinationals.” Thousands of small- and medium-sized technology companies see green technology as an important part of their business and investment strategy.

How Angela Merkel became Germany’s unlikely green energy champion  Christian Schwägerl for Yale Environment 360, guardian uk   9 May 2011  Germany is in a good starting position,…. Since the 1990s, the Renewable Energy Sources Act has paved the way for billions of Euros flowing to consumers and investors for green power projects. The law guarantees that each kilowatt hour of green electricity is fed into the grid and bought at a favorable statutory rate by operators. The rate varies between green energy sources, but is considerably higher than normal electricity prices. Continue reading →

May 10, 2011 Posted by | Germany, renewable | 1 Comment

IPCC to discuss big world report on Renewable Energy

By far the most comprehensive UN assessment of the status and potential for the clean energy sector, the report weighs 164 separate development scenarios……

The report says there is virtually unlimited technical potential for renewables, with much of it coming from solar energy.

Renewables major part of 2050 world energy, Sydney Morning Herald, Marlowe Hood, May 7, 2011 Renewable power from the Sun, wind, water and biomass can and should generate a major portion of the planet’s energy supply by 2050, a leaked draft of a United Nations report says. Continue reading →

May 9, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, renewable | Leave a comment

Potential of renewable energy to outstrip global need – UN report

“Scenarios are largely consistent in indicating widespread growth in renewable energy deployment around the globe,” 

UN Renewables ‘Bible’ Says Clean Energy Can Outstrip Demand, Bloomberg, By Alex Morales – May 4, 2011  Wind and solar power are among six renewable energy options that have the potential to outstrip total world energy needs and may grow as much as 20-fold over the next four decades, a draft United Nations report said. Continue reading →

May 5, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, renewable | Leave a comment

New Zealand joins International Renewable Energy Agency

NZ becomes member of energy agency, NewsTalk ZB, 2/05/2011 , New Zealand has become a full member of the International Renewable Energy Agency, which is dedicated to the rapid development of renewable energy worldwide.

Acting energy minister Hekia Parata says we’re one of the leading countries in the area, with 74% of our electricity last year coming from renewable sources.

By joining this organisation, Ms Parata says, we have the opportunity to contribute to international efforts to increase the deployment of renewable energy technologies and drive down their costs… http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=195799

May 2, 2011 Posted by | New Zealand, renewable | Leave a comment

USA’s leading 10 solar energy States

The Top 10 Solar States, New York Times, By MIREYA NAVARRO April 29, 2011, New Jersey is the nation’s second largest solar market behind California thanks to the state government’s commitment to increase the amount of electricity derived from renewable energy sources over the next decade.

But where are the other leaders in solar energy?

Here, courtesy of the Solar Energy Industries Association, is a Top 10 list for cumulative installed solar capacity in the United States.

1. California: 47 percent with 971 megawatts

2. New Jersey: 14 percent with 293 MW

3. Colorado: 5 percent with 108 MW

4. Arizona: 5 percent with 101 MW

5. Nevada: 5 percent with 97 MW

6. Florida: 4 percent with 73 MW

7. New York: 3 percent with 54 MW

8. Pennsylvania: 3 percent with 54 MW

9. New Mexico: 2 percent with 45 MW

10. North Carolina: 2 percent with 42 MW

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/29/the-top-10-solar-states/?partner=rss&emc=rss

April 30, 2011 Posted by | renewable, USA | 1 Comment

Washington region gets new Renewable Energy Economic Development Alliance

Renewable Energy Economic Development Alliance Formed In Washington North American Windpower  28 April 2011, The Port of Walla Walla and the Southeast Washington Economic Development Association have formed a partnership aimed at promoting the region’s renewable energy resources in the five counties (Asotin, Columbia, Garfield, Walla Walla and Whitman) represented by the two organizations. Continue reading →

April 29, 2011 Posted by | renewable, USA | Leave a comment

Decentralised renewable energy – the way of the future

 small and medium scale solar power has the potential to become the Internet of distributed electricity generation – a network resilient to a single point of failure; whether caused by natural disasters or attack by hostile parties.

Centralised Vs. Decentralised Solar Power Renewable Energy News, by Energy Matters, 28 April11,  As the U.S. begins a major push to become the leading player in the global solar revolution, the topic of sprawling solar farms built away from communities vs. small and medium scale solar arrays utilising rooftops and smaller parcels of already developed or degraded land is becoming an increasingly important issue. Continue reading →

April 28, 2011 Posted by | decentralised, USA | Leave a comment

The power of community decentralised renewable energy

Reach Clean Energy Goals Faster and Cheaper With Community Power, Renewable Energy World, By John Farrell , 25 April 2011 Reaching our renewable energy goals can be met cost-effectively, more quickly, and with greater economics benefits if Californians focus on decentralized renewable energy.

That’s the powerful conclusion in the recently released report, Community Power: Decentralized Renewable Energy in California, and the lessons are applicable in every state across America. These lessons are attracting attention, as large-scale desert solar projects and new transmission lines meet stiff resistance from an increasingly broad-based opposition. The cost-competitiveness of renewable energy is not news to anyone familiar with the industry, but Weinrub shows that for the most prominent decentralized renewable energy source – solar power – decentralized production from photovoltaics (PV) has better economics than centralized solar thermal power plants.  His research is reinforced by data from the California Solar Initiative that shows that large majority of decentralized solar PV’s economies of scale are captured by projects as small as 10 kilowatts.  Research from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance shows that wind economies of scale are similarly limited for larger wind projects.

Weinrub also shows that California has plenty of decentralized renewable energy potential – with rooftop solar alone – to meet its ambitious renewable energy target (33% by 2020).  As he notes, the actual potential far exceeds the necessary amount required to meet the state standard:…. http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/blog/post/2011/04/reach-clean-energy-goals-faster-and-cheaper-with-community-power

April 26, 2011 Posted by | decentralised, USA | Leave a comment

Wind power in Texas – faster and cheaper than nuclear

rapid growth in the alternative energy field is rapidly chipping away at nuclear power, helped along by new grid and energy storage technologies. This triple threat is undermining the foundational reason for investing in nuclear power, which is (or should be) to get the most abundant and reliable energy bang for the buck.

Wind Power beats Nuclear Power in Texas, Clean Technica, Tina Casey, 21 April 11, Texas has more wind power than it can use, and that partly explains why NRG Energy, Inc. has backed out of a plan to build two new nuclear reactors in the state. To be clear, the stated motivation for the decision was the nuclear disaster resulting from last month’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which among other things has affected the regulatory landscape here in the U.S. Continue reading →

April 22, 2011 Posted by | renewable, USA | Leave a comment

Solar field instead of nuclear plant, in Italy

Italy’s Last Reactor Town Goes Solar in Fight Against Nuclear , by Alessandra Migliaccio and Flavia RotondiApril 18 (Bloomberg) — Montalto di Castro, the town where Italy’s last nuclear plant was built before a two-decade ban, is fighting against a return to atomic power and staking its future on solar energy by hosting Europe’s largest photovoltaic park. Continue reading →

April 18, 2011 Posted by | Italy, renewable | Leave a comment

In-depth analysis of the Global Investment in Renewable Energy.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/5bcf5b/global_investment

Research and Markets: Global Investment in Renewable Energy , | Business Wire, 11 April 11, The world’s hunger for energy and power is growing at a rapid pace. However, conventional fuels such as natural gas and coal only have a limited supply to provide for our insatiable demand for energy. So what happens when these conventional sources of energy run out? The world is going to become more and more dependent on renewable energy resources. Therefore, foreseeing this near future event, governments around the world are already developing and investing in renewable energy sources. Continue reading →

April 13, 2011 Posted by | 2 WORLD, business and costs, renewable | Leave a comment

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