26 October 2012

WA's Mid West to host new solar-thermal power project

WA's Mid West to host new solar-thermal power project

Beautiful!

Things are beginning to happen out West, finally. Unfortunately this is again just a supplementary installation, there is no real attempt to finally get away from fossil fuels and their dedicated role of being the main supplier of stationary energy.
This project has only been granted - as I believe - because it is located on the fringe of the SWIS, the power grid in the South West of WA, where the reach of the "central" coal power production is weakening.

Nevertheless, this comparatively small 1.5 megawatt grid-connected concentrated thermal power station near Morawa is a great move and it can only be hoped that we will see many more of these distributed across the country. Decentralising power generation addresses power distribution loss as a side effect, and should something happen on the technical side shutting down one plant, neighbouring plants can better chip in.

Please visit the Science Network WA to read the full article!

25 October 2012

Researchers Create 'Nanoflowers' for Energy Storage, Solar Cells

Solar Daily: Researchers Create 'Nanoflowers' for Energy Storage, Solar Cells



Researchers from North Carolina State University have created flower-like structures out of germanium sulfide (GeS) - a semiconductor material - that have extremely thin petals with an enormous surface area.
The GeS "nanoflowers" have petals only 20-30 nanometers thick, and provide a large surface area in a small amount of space.

The GeS flower holds promise for next-generation energy storage devices and solar cells.

Read the full article

22 October 2012

Printing Solar Panels in the Backyard

Imagine this occurring on a large scale!




Check out this 4 minute video, it is just fascinating what can be achieved if you put your mind to work on it!

Germany's Renewable Energy Transition

Why a fully renewable energy system is ‘climate-friendly, reliable and affordable’


Green Chip Stocks summarise on their blog a number of arguments why the transition to 100% renewable energy makes sense. They also list a few quotes from high ranking officials of very large energy corporations, with a view on nuclear energy, e.g.:
Jeff Immelt, Chief Executive of GE – one of the world’s largest suppliers of nuclear power equipment – stated that nuclear power has become “really hard” to justify in comparison to other energy generation options.
On monetary aspects we can find a statement made by the very conservative, and traditionally fossil fuel minded International Energy Agency, who have ...:
... said that every dollar invested now in clean energy will save $3 in fossil fuel costs in the future.
 And then there are the operators of power grids who usually claim that renewable energy sources, due to their intermittent nature, would be destabilising the power grids and therefore could never deliver 100% of the power demand:
When wind turbines and solar plants are geographically widespread, to the extent that Germany’s transition entails, their output becomes far more constant and even easier for the grid to accommodate.
Read the full article

17 October 2012

CEC - Yallourn Power Station downsize shows Renewable Energy Target is working

The Clean Energy Council about the Renewable Energy Target in Australia

This is not what supporters of fossil fuels like to hear, for all others it is great news: Renewable Energy Sources are not only supplementing but indeed starting to replace coal fired power plants.

Read the full story on the Clean Energy Council's website

09 October 2012

Giant solar farm to officially open - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Giant solar farm to officially open - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)


The doors to Australia's largest solar power farm, located in Mid-West Western Australia, will officially open this week.
All 150,000 of the farm's solar panels have been installed at the site in Greenough, south of Geraldton.

You can't find it on Google maps or other tools yet, so here's a map provided by the project on their website:


Producing electricity when it is needed most, during the day, the solar photovoltaic (PV) farm will displace 20,000 tonnes per year of greenhouse gas emissions, which is the equivalent of taking 4000 cars off the road.
150,000 solar PV panels installed (looking west)
Greenough River Solar Farm with its 10 MWp capacity is the first stage of a 40 MW solar farm that the joint venture hopes to install at this site.

Not much happening on TV news about this though. not in King Coal Country!

Top Solar Power Countries (Per Capita, Per GDP, Per TWh of Electricity Produced, & in Total) - CleanTechnica

Top Solar Power Countries (Per Capita, Per GDP, Per TWh of Electricity Produced, & in Total) - CleanTechnica

We still have a long way to go but we're getting there, slowly but surely.
Per capita we are already way ahead of the US, ranking 9th vs. 22nd. And for new installations per capita it looks even better!


Silevo starts commercial production of 21% efficient hybrid PV modules

Silevo starts commercial production of 21% efficient hybrid PV modules

Silevo, Inc. is bringing a new type of silicon-based photovoltaic to the market that the company is calling a hybrid PV cell. The Triex design integrates a standard silicon wafer with other, active layers to produce a more efficient PV module, which the company says is more than 21 percent efficient.
Read the complete story including the one on Silevo Inc.