IKEA investing in wind and solar energy
Ikea assembles renewable energy portfolio SMH 13 Aug 13 Ikea Group, the world’s biggest home-furnishings retailer, plans to buy a wind farm in Ireland from Mainstream Renewable Power Ltd. as part of plans to invest 1.5 billion pounds ($2.5 billion) in wind and solar by 2015.
Mainstream is building the 7.65-megawatt project in Leitrim in northwest Ireland, Dublin-based Mainstream said today in an e-mailed statement. It’s expected to start operating early next year, at which point Ikea will buy the plant, Mainstream said.
“Our investments in renewable energy not only help to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from our operations in Ireland, but also, together with our energy-efficiency efforts, help to control our electricity costs so we can pass any benefits to our customers,” Joanna Yarrow, head of sustainability at Ikea U.K., said in the statement.
Ikea plans to invest 1.5 billion pounds in wind and solar energy to help become energy independent by 2020. It now owns 137 wind turbines, according to the statement. …http://www.smh.com.au/business/carbon-economy/ikea-assembles-renewable-energy-portfolio-20130813-2rt1c.html#ixzz2btrEuNZc
Massachusetts town saves money while leading on renewable energy
A Town Saves Money with Renewable Energy Engineering.com, Tom Lombardo posted on August 11, 2013 Scituate is the first town in Massachusetts to power all of its government services using only renewable energy. All municipal services – including water, sewer, municipal buildings, and streetlights – will soon be powered by the sun and the wind. The town expects to save over $400,000 per year in electricity costs and the best part is that they didn’t have to buy the solar panels or wind turbine.
Too good to be true? Here’s the deal. Private investors purchased and installed the equipment on municipal land, so those companies paid for and own the equipment. In exchange, the town agreed to purchase its electrical power from the owners at a rate that’s about 40% lower than what they’d be paying the utility. These agreements are becoming more common in the residential market, as consumers want to lower their electricity costs but can’t afford a large initial investment. This is the first time I’ve heard of a municipality doing it.
First, Use Less Energy
The first step in saving money on energy is not to generate your own, but to use less. Once you make yourself more efficient, then you consider ways to generate power. Several years ago the town of Scituate formed a committee to investigate clean energy. They sent out requests for proposals (RFPs) on energy efficiency and renewable energy production. After an electric load analysis, they found ways to use less electricity by replacing lighting fixtures, transformers, and other electrical equipment with more efficient models. A heating/cooling energy audit determined that they could also save energy through improvements in insulation, replacing oil-burning furnaces with gas-burning furnaces, etc. They invested almost $6M to upgrade this equipment based on the promise of energy savings over the next eighteen years.
Next, Generate Energy
After improving their efficiency, they hired a consulting firm to do a wind site analysis. In addition to taking wind measurements at various locations over a 12-month period, they also considered logistical factors such as proximity to transmission lines. In spring of 2012, a 1.5 megawatt wind turbine was installed. Over its first year, the turbine generated 3.2 million kWh. At an electric rate of $0.143/kWh – the utility rate in that area – that’s almost half a million dollars worth of energy that the town received; they paid less than $300k for that energy. ……..
Use the Grid for “Virtual Storage”
Through a net-metering agreement with the utility, any excess energy that the town generates is sold to the grid at retail rates. When demand exceeds generating capacity, they buy power from the grid. In effect, the grid is acting as a free storage medium for excess energy…….
Reduce Government Spending and Boost Business
Disregarding the optional purchases to improve energy efficiency, the town of Scituate reduced its electric rate by 40% with virtually no investment on its part. In addition, the projects created jobs, gave a boost to a burgeoning industry, and produced science/technology/engineering/math (STEM) lessons for schools. Will other municipalities follow suit? I hope so. http://www.engineering.com/ElectronicsDesign/ElectronicsDesignArticles/ArticleID/6125/A-Town-Saves-Money-with-Renewable-Energy.aspx
Household solar power now so cheap – subsidies are not needed
solar PV systems are now so cheap they still make sense in countries with high power prices – even those without much sun that are cutting subsidies, such as Germany.
Renewables: A rising power. Ft.com By Pilita Clark, Environment Correspondent, 8 Aug 13
Plunging prices are finally making solar power competitive with conventional sources of energy “..….Until now, the idea that unsubsidised solar power could make enough financial sense to be competitive with conventional electricity has been largely confined to the realms of environmental campaigners and renewable energy advocates.
However, as solar panels become more efficient and vastly cheaper, and household power bills keep rising, analysts at some of the world’s largest financial institutions say such a prospect is indeed possible – and likely to cause profound disruption in the energy industry.
“We’re at a point now where demand starts to be driven by cold, hard economics rather than by subsidies and that is a game changer,” says Jason Channell of Citigroup. Continue reading
Big energy utilities move to stomp out home solar power
Renewables: A rising power. Ft.com By Pilita Clark, Environment Correspondent, 8 Aug 13……… “People think solar PV is only possible with subsidies and that is totally wrong,” says Karl Kuhlmann, the chief executive. “We’re happy that the industry is moving into an unsubsidised phase. It makes it simpler, better and totally independent from politicians.”
This is not quite true. The impact of cheap Chinese solar panels on western solar-panel makers has stirred political tensions, with trade rows over the threat of punitive tariffs erupting in the US and Europe…….
The more immediate threat to the nascent unsubsidised solar industry may be closer to home. In the US last month, Arizona’s largest utility, APS, asked regulators to look at imposing fees on people installing new rooftop solar systems to help pay for the cost of a grid they still use “essentially for free”.
“As the number of customers installing solar goes up, it drives rates even higher for non-solar customers, making the problem more difficult to solve,” it said in a statement. Utilities in other US states want similar action, infuriating solar companies.
Another outcry has broken out in Spain, the EU’s third-largest solar market after Germany and Italy, where the government last month also produced a proposal to impose new charges on rooftop solar owners.
“It’s really crazy,” says Mr Jornet. “They want me to pay for the electricity I take from my own solar panels. It’s amazing.”…….
Regulators still have to decide if the utilities will get their way. What does seem certain, however, is that the surge in solar power is changing energy markets in ways we have only begun to understand……http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/a41d86b4-ff9c-11e2-a244-00144feab7de.html#axzz2bb20LPZl
A solar diesel energy hybrid – an economic boon for developing countries
Renewables: A rising power. Ft.com By Pilita Clark, Environment Correspondent, 8 Aug 13 Developing nations: Cheap solar could ‘leapfrog’ subsidies The plummeting cost of solar power systems is driving more than a surge in suburban rooftop panels in Bavaria and Barcelona.
It also promises to provide regular electricity to the 1.2bn people who have no access to it today. Low-cost solar panels could help them leapfrog traditional power grids in the same way parts of the developing world sidestepped fixed-line telecommunications networks and went straight to mobile phones.
An 80 per cent fall in the cost of solar panels since 2008 has opened up new business opportunities for companies such as Germany’s Donauer, which has just developed the D: Hybrid, a system that allows thousands of solar panels to be attached to the diesel generators that are a fixture in industrialising countries with rickety electricity systems. Continue reading
Energy storage available in wind turbines
Wind Turbines Store Energy For Less Breezy Days HUFF POST, 7 Aug 13 “……a new wind turbine that generates more electricity at lower wind speeds, stores some excess energy for sale to the grid later (allowing owners to take advantage of higher prices), and also does a better job of analyzing and predicting the supply of wind energy too. In short, many clean energy advocates are pretty excited about GE’s 1.6-100 and 1.7-100 wind turbines and power management system.
Specifically, here are some of the features that clean tech geeks are getting excited about:
- Improved blade designs resulting in a 47 percent increase in “swept area” (the square feet of the rotor) compared to previous models – meaning a 20-24 percent increase in power.
- More energy harvested at lower wind speeds, resulting in a class-leading capacity factor of 54 percent. (Detail alert: the capacity factor is the actual power output over time, compared as a percentage to the theoretical power output of the turbine if it was producing at its maximum output at all times.)
- A battery storage system that allows wind turbine operators to save excess electricity — either because they are producing more electricity than the grid needs at a given moment, or because they’ll get a better price for it later.
- A sophisticated package of analytics equipment and software, which helps owners predict both when power will be needed and when the wind will be blowing, allowing communication between turbines in what’s been described as “an industrial Internet”.
Individually, each of the developments represented in the Brilliant turbines are a big deal. Collectively, says Andrew Burger of CleanTechnica, they have the potential to be game changing. In an enthusiastic, three-part series on the Brilliant turbines (see alsopart two, and part three), Burger explains why all this really matters to the rest of us – namely that the cost of wind energy has come down by 60 percent in recent years, making it competitive with new coal and natural gas plants. And that’s before you even start calculating all the hidden, but very real economic costs caused by our reliance on fossil fuels…. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/07/wind-turbines-store-energ_n_3715788.html
Solar powered lap-top is not costly
SOL – The Affordable Solar Powered Laptop http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3879 8 Aug 13 SOL can be run entirely on the power of the sun and could make a big difference to education and communications in developing countries.
Developed by Canadian R&D corporation WeWi Telecommunications, Inc.; SOL is a laptop initially aimed at the 1 in 4 people in the world who have little to no access to reliable power.
Able to run 8-10 hours on a full charge, the laptop features an Intel Atom D2500 1.86 GHz Duo Core processor, 2-4 gigabytes of RAM and a 320 gigabyte hard drive; plus a 13.3 inch display, WiFi, 3G/4G modem and a camera. Multiple external ports extend SOL’s capabilities.
Cutting the cost of software to run the laptop has been achieved through the use of the free Ubuntu operating system.
While information on the capacity of the detachable folding solar panels doesn’t appear to be on the SOL web site; according to the FAQ, the battery can be fully recharged in a little over 2 hours.
Far from being a fragile device that wouldn’t survive long in target markets, WeWi claims it was developed with “durable, reinforced materials, complex military industrial design and architecture that are meant to keep the laptop in good shape.”
The standard unit is expected to sell for around USD $350 and a submersible version, approximately USD $400. It will be initially rolled out in Ghana before other markets. While geared towards developing nations; SOL will ultimately be available globally and the company intends developing “adventurer” versions of the laptop with enhanced capabilities.
WeWi Telecommunications, Inc originally launched as a B2B Internet Service Provider and then evolved into a global solutions provider with an advanced research division specializing in security, telecom and innovative energy products.
Read more on the Sol web site.
Reneweable energy raising investment funds
Surge in renewable energy IPOs as investors hunt yields The Age, August 3, 2013 – Wind and solar companies are tapping the stock market for cash at the fastest pace in two years, led by three initial public offerings in London luring investors with dividends that beat returns on government bonds.
The offering was the biggest of three London IPOs this year by renewable companies taking advantage of investors’ thirst for income as the Bank of England keeps interest rates at record lows. Surging share prices have revived stocks as a source of funds, allowing companies that traditionally rely on banks and private equity to tap deeper pools of capital at lower costs.
“There’s really nothing out there that has more predictable cash flows than a solar farm contracted by an investment-grade utility,” said Brandon Blossman, an analyst at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. in Houston. “Everybody likes a yield vehicle that has growth potential.” http://www.theage.com.au/business/carbon-economy/surge-in-renewable-energy-ipos-as-investors-hunt-yields-20130803-2r5t3.html#ixzz2axPOWBq6
Nuclear company switching to renewable energy in USA
EDF exits US nuclear, focuses on renewables, Climate Spectator Reuters 31 Jul, French utility EDF, the world’s biggest operator of nuclear plants, is pulling out of nuclear energy in the United States, bowing to the realities of a market that has been transformed by cheap shale gas.
Several nuclear reactors in the US have been closed or are being shuttered as utilities baulk at the big investments needed to extend their lifetimes now that nuclear power has been so decisively undercut by electricity generated from shale gas.
“The spectacular fall of the price of gas in the US, which was unimaginable a few years ago, has made this form of energy ultra competitive vis a vis all other forms of energy,” EDF Chief Executive Henri Proglio told a news conference.
EDF agreed with its partner Exelon on an exit from their Constellation Energy Nuclear Group (CENG) joint venture, which operates five nuclear plants in the United States with a total capacity of 3.9 gigawatts………
International Energy Agency analyst Dennis Volk said CENG’s eastern US power plants were located in some of the most competitive power markets in the country, with high price competition, growing wind capacity and cheap gas.
“It is simply not easy to invest in nuclear and recover your money there,” Volk said.
Focus on renewables in US
Proglio said EDF would now focus on renewable energy in the United States. EDF employs 860 people in US solar and wind, and since 2010 its generating capacity has doubled to 2.3 gigawatts. It manages another 7 gigawatts for other companies……… http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2013/7/31/renewable-energy/edf-exits-us-nuclear-focuses-renewables
Electricity utilities: some fight, others join – the solar energy revolution
China’s $323 billion renewable energy program
China outlines renewable energy splurge July 30, 2013 http://www.smh.com.au/business/carbon-economy/china-outlines-renewable-energy-splurge-20130730-2qx92.html#ixzz2amhMZ8XK
China may invest another 2.3 trillion yuan in key energy- aving and emission-reducing projects, Xie Zhenhua, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, said Tuesday at a conference in Beijing. China stands by its pledge to cut carbon emissions per unit of economic output by as much as 45 per cent before 2020 from 2005 levels, he said.
The increased reliance on renewable sources of energy fits with efforts by China, the world’s biggest carbon emitter, to help mitigate the effects of pollution blanketing its major cities. Along with renewables investments, the environment ministry is considering stricter controls on vehicle and industry pollution.
The government aims to have 100 gigawatts of wind-power installed capacity and more than 35 gigawatts of solar power by 2015, Xie reiterated today. China’s targets have encouraged companies including China Petrochemical Corp., also known as Sinopec Group, to strengthen their commitment to protect the environment.
Sinopec Monday said it will invest 22.9 billion yuan on an environmental protection plan.
China asked seven cities and provinces last year to put in place regional caps and pilot programs for trading emission rights.
The country will gradually expand the regions falling under its carbon trading pilot program starting from 2015 in order to explore the potential for a national system, Xie said.
Renewable energy with Liquid Metal Batteries
Liquid Metal Batteries Would Make Renewable Energy Viable Engineering.com Tom Spendlove on July 26, 2013 Electricity demand has to be in constant balance with electricity supplied – this is the large scale problem Donald Sadoway wants to solve in this TED Talk. The constraints of this problem are immense. A solution would need to generate incredibly high power, have a long service life and come at a very low cost.
Energy storage is the solution. Giant batteries could address the problem of intermittency that prevents wind and solar from contributing to the grid like a coal burning power plant.
Donald Sadoway: The missing link to renewable energy
Sadoway knows that battery science is straightforward and that the first battery was simple. Alessandro Volta’s invention in the early 1800s only required two electrodes, metals of different compositions, and an electrolyte. ….
Through research at MIT, the battery designs evolved from a shot glass-sized cell storing 1 Watt-hour to a saucer-sized cell storing 200 Watt-hours. Sadoway started his own company to produce larger batteries that will stack to fill a forty foot shipping container.
These large scale batteries would contain 2 MegaWatt-hours, enough energy to meet the daily needs of two hundred American homes.
Wind energy- California’s quiet achiever
Wind, the ‘workhorse’ of renewable energy Oakland Press, July 26, 2013 By Dana Hull The San Jose Mercury News When it comes to renewable energy, Californians hear a lot about solar power. Massive solar power plants are under construction in the desert and will soon be online. Solar panels adorn the roofs of a growing number of homes and commercial buildings. PG&E alone has 90,000 solar customers. Gov. Jerry Brown recently spoke at Intersolar, the solar trade show that met in San Francisco this month, and the state’s solar industry lobby is increasingly influential.
100,000 solar panels installed by UK supermarket chain
UK Supermarket Chain Installs 100,000th Solar Panel by Energy Matters, 26 July 13 Sainsbury’s says it has now installed 100,000 solar panels, representing 22MW capacity across 210 of its UK stores.
Enough to cover 35 football pitches; the company says the modules will reduce its carbon impact by an estimated 9,785 tonnes per year.
The company has also extended its renewable energy efforts to other technologies, including solar hot water and ground source heat pumps. A recently installed heat pump at its Crayford store supplies 30 per cent of that supermarket’s energy requirements…..http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3859
Big buildings with Solar Skins are on the way
Switched on: solar cladding takes off SMH July 24, 2013 From stadiums in Brazil to a bank headquarters in Britain, architects led by Norman Foster are integrating solar cells into the skin of buildings, helping the market for the technology triple within two years. Continue reading
1 This Month
petition to oppose the rapid increase of space-military industry threatening Jeju Island and the region.
[Petition by April 19th (KST)] Stop the joint military-Hanwha Systems-Jeju Provincial Government Sea Launch!
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
of the week–London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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