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14 декабря, 2021
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Category Archives: alternative energy
Canada’s $7 Billion Hydro-Dam Project Wins Environmental Approval
“Today is only one decision and it’s with respect to the environmental assessment,” Environment Minister Mary Polack told journalists in Victoria today, adding that a final investment decision will come before the end of the year.
The dam would be the third on the Peace River which the province began developing for its hydro-power resources half a century ago. The project would have about 1,100 megawatts of low-carbon electricity capacity, enough for 450,000 homes, as the province gears up to exploit natural gas reserves in the same area to export them to Asia.
BC Hydro expects the project to add C$3.2 billion to the provincial economy and last for a century, it said on its website.
Some local aboriginal groups oppose the dam because it would destroy habitat along the Peace River Valley.
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg
Lead image: Hydropower via Shutterstock
PJM outlines plan to reshape demand response to meet D.C. court order
Laying out a potential path forward in the wake of a May federal court decision that struck down FERC rules on demand response in wholesale power markets, PJM Interconnection LLC released a proposal late Tuesday that would shift to load-serving utilities the…
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Top US Companies Increasingly Turning to Solar Energy
What do Walmart, Costco and Apple have in common besides selling cell phones and computers? These iconic brands, and many others like them, are all investing big in solar energy.
Today, 129 million Americans – more than 40 percent of our nation’s entire population – live within 20 miles of a solar-powered business. And that number has doubled since 2012.
Reflective of the growing popularity and increasing growth of solar nationwide, many of America’s leading Fortune 100 companies continue to significantly ramp up their use of clean solar energy, according to the 3rd annual Solar Means Business report, which was released today by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).
These forward-looking companies are helping to create thousands of American jobs, boost the U.S. economy and improve our environment. The 1,110 commercial solar systems currently in operation are generating enough clean electricity to prevent 549,296 metric tons of damaging carbon emissions from being released into our air. That’s the equivalent of saving nearly 62 million gallons of gasoline.
The comprehensive new report, which identifies major commercial solar projects and ranks top corporate solar users, shows Walmart at the top of the list for the third year in a row with 105 megawatts (MW) installed at 254 locations.
Rounding out the Top 25 companies utilizing solar are Kohl’s, Costco, Apple, IKEA, Macy’s, Johnson Johnson, Target, McGraw Hill, Staples, Campbell’s Soup, U.S. Foods, Bed Bath Beyond, Kaiser Permanente, Volkswagen, Walgreens, Safeway, FedEx, Intel, L’Oreal, General Motors, Toys “R” Us, Verizon, White Rose Foods, Toyota and ATT.
Combined, these blue chip companies have deployed 569 MW of solar capacity at 1,100 locations – a 28 percent increase over a year ago and a 103 percent increase since 2012, when the first report was released. Representing a “Who’s Who” of the corporate world, these companies are playing an increasingly important role in the development, expansion and promotion of solar nationwide, while also reducing their operating expenses, benefiting customers and shareholders alike.
Today, IKEA leads all companies in the percentage of their facilities that are solar powered, with nearly 9 out of 10 stores now utilizing clean, reliable and affordable solar energy. General Motors is next in line at 43 percent.
According to the report, the “growing adoption of solar by the commercial sector is predominantly the result of consistent price declines. The average price of a completed commercial PV project in Q2 2014 has dropped by 14 percent year over year and 45 percent since 2012. As solar prices continue to fall, more businesses in more states turn to solar to cut operating costs.”
For American companies, solar makes sense. It saves money for customers and shareholders, while helping to reduce pollution and protect our environment. In business, that’s known as a doorbuster deal!
Dropped by DOE, cellulosic ethanol firm gets hand from big Chinese firm
After the Energy Department pulled the plug on a $40 million grant for its cellulosic ethanol plant earlier this year, BlueFire Renewables Inc. turned to China and Wednesday said it has signed a new master engineering, procurement and construction contract…
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Action in India: Government Announces 15-GW Solar Power Purchase Program
Solar energy action in India just got more exciting. The federal government of India announced the largest of its National Solar Mission (NSM) programmes to date — 15,000 MW over the next five years.
In this phase of the NSM, part 1 of tranche 1 will consist of 1,000 MW. The government will buy power from a maximum of 20 developers, and each project size is limited to 50 MW. Each developer can bid for up to five projects with a total of 250 MW.
The latest initiative has the following key takeaways:
- Economies of scale will bring down the cost of solar power in India
- Smaller players faced with financial challenges will be phased out
- Large international developers and investors will enter India’s solar power sector
The first tranche will consist of projects available at a single solar power park. They will be developed by a joint venture of different federal and state governments in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh state. However, the draft guidelines issued by the Ministry of New And Renewable Energy (MNRE) are a little confusing. On one hand, it implies that transmission facilities are to be arranged by the developers themselves. On the other, it says the projects must be constructed at the specified park. The park concept is not complete, especially if the developers have to arrange the transmission facilities independently for each project. Nevertheless, it does reduce the risks associated with project development in India considerably.
Lead image: India flag via Shutterstock
New device captures heat from exhaust to generate power
A company founded to market innovative technology developed at the Energy Department’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory last week unveiled a device that can capture heat from exhaust pipes or stacks and use it to generate electricity. Alphabet…
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SunEdison in Talks for $2 Billion Polysilicon Plant in China
The decision is the latest sign of recovery in the solar industry after a capacity glut depressed prices and margins for manufacturers worldwide. GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd. of China and Wacker Chemie AG in Germany, two of the biggest makers of polysilicon, are expanding production of the commodity that sells for $20.96 a kilogram.
The plant will have a capacity of about 20,000 to 30,000 metric tons a year with ultra-fluid-bed-reactor technology, Chatila said. SunEdison, based in St. Peters, Missouri, currently has polysilicon capacity of 17,000 tons and is also considering a plant in Saudi Arabia, Chatila said.
The company also signed an agreement yesterday with JIC Capital, the fund management unit of China Jianyin Investment Ltd., to set up a new energy fund with a total investment of $220 million. The fund will invest to build about 1 gigawatt of solar power plants in China over three years.
“Initially, we’ll start utility-scale,” and projects may include rooftop solar projects in the future, Chatila said.
More Than Manufacturing
SunEdison intends to broaden itself beyond manufacturing into building and operating power plants, Chatila said. SunEdison, he said, will “bring a great reputation for a great project that makes money for investors all the time” and “use the most advanced technique to reduce costs more than any other people.”
“China will build the most power infrastructure in the next 20 years,” Chatila said. “What’s limiting companies like us in getting into China is getting project financing, and now that’s available.”
Last month, the company filed forms that may allow it to establish a yieldco alongside its existing TerraForm Power Inc. That entity would pay dividends from revenue coming from operating power plants.
The move would offer SunEdison exposure to assets in Asia and Africa for the first time, adding to yieldcos now operating in the U.S. and Europe.
In June, the company said it will jointly develop 1.7 gigawatts of solar power projects in China with Chinese solar wafer manufacturer Huantai Group over the next five years. Construction may not start this year, Chatila said.
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg
Lead image: Solar panels via Shutterstock
IRS review of new solar tariff concept could hurt rooftop
The Internal Revenue Service is reviewing the tax implications of a new “value of solar” tariff concept amid concerns by some solar advocacy groups that the fresh regulatory approach—which is being considered by some states as an alternative…
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New Software Modeling Tool a Boon for Wind Industry
Wind energy is blowing away skeptics — it’s so close to achieving cost parity with fossil fuels that just a little extra efficiency is all that is likely needed to push it into the mainstream and past the Energy Department’s goal of 20 percent wind energy by 2030.
That extra efficiency may be realized with the help of a software tool built by the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). It’s called Simulator for Wind Farm Applications (SOWFA), and it can calculate how undulating ground, whipping blades, surface temperatures, and other variables alter the air flow and energy production at wind farms.
In the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) Insight Center, NREL Senior Engineer Pat Moriarty, left, and NREL Senior Engineer Paul Fleming review velocity (blue) and turbulence (yellow) in a simulation of the Lillgrund Wind Farm in Denmark. The researchers have written the open-source software tool Simulator for Wind Farm Applications (SOWFA), which can calculate how undulating ground, whipping blades, surface temperatures, and other variables alter the air flow and energy production at wind farms. Photo by Dennis Schroeder, NREL
SOWFA’s key innovation is that it simulates an extensive range of scales—from regional weather patterns down to the space between turbines and all the way to the movement of electrons. It gives a complete picture of an active plant, showing how controlling each turbine can influence the direction of the wakes, and detecting the effect on downwind turbines. And it helps researchers understand how local atmospheric conditions affect local wind around the wind farm.
SOWFA is the first tool that enables developers to improve the performance of not only one wind turbine, but the entire wind farm. And because it is an open-source «community» software platform available for free to academics, investors, wind developers, and manufacturers, users have the support of an online forum where they can discuss problems and solutions with other SOWFA users.
One application of SOWFA is the simulation and design of coordinated control of individual turbines in order to maximize plant-wide output. Using these controllers, upstream turbines can yaw their rotors to redirect their wakes away from downstream turbines, substantially improving power capture. Wake losses at wind farms can reduce total power production by 10%. If SOWFA can be used to design controllers that cut those losses in half, that’s a huge benefit. If employed at wind farms across the country and the world, the additional revenue could add up to billions of dollars.
SOWFA Simulates Wake Effect for Turbines Downwind
NREL Senior Engineer Pat Moriarty, left, explains a wind turbine model at the ESIF Insight Center to Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, right, during a tour for the dedication of the ESIF last year. Photo by Dennis Schroeder, NREL
Across the Great Plains and at many spots offshore, if you see one wind turbine, you’re likely to see a dozen or a hundred. A wind farm provides economies of scale—contract with a farmer or win a permit for offshore wind, and it makes sense to erect multiple turbines all tied to a single system.
However, those rows of giant turbines can be problematic. As the turbine’s blades are turned by the wind, they also disrupt the wind, causing a wake similar to a calm spot behind a tree or building. If that wake heads straight for the next turbine downstream—maybe 800 meters away—its churn will mean weaker wind and less power produced by that second turbine.
But SOWFA shows turbine manufacturers, wind farm developers, or investors how a yaw can impart a thrust that curves that wake around the downwind turbine. «Wake, from a power perspective, is lower-energy wind,» said NREL Senior Engineer Paul Fleming, one of the engineers using SOWFA in his research. «If you can move away that deficit of energy, you will have faster winds and more overall production at the wind farm.»
«In the past, wind farms have relied on dissipation to control that energy loss—they just move the turbines farther away from each other,» said NREL Senior Engineer Pat Moriarty, a leader of the SOWFA team. «Now, we can control it in a different way. And there are other ways to achieve more control.»
SOWFA was created to model all the different variables at a wind farm—the topography, the air, surface and air temperatures, even the effects of the turbines themselves. Other models have looked at pieces of the whole, but now that the wind industry is maturing and the cost margins are decreasing, it’s increasingly important to model the whole system and maximize energy production.
Turbines and Central Controller Talk to Each Other
NREL Senior Engineer Paul Fleming, left, and NREL Senior Engineer Pat Moriarty review wind farm data in SOWFA. SOWFA can simulate and design coordinated control of individual turbines in order to maximize plant-wide output. Photo by Dennis Schroeder, NREL
Desertec consortium disbands, but will continue as service firm
Five years after launching its vision to build utility-scale wind and solar projects in the North African and Middle Eastern deserts, the Desertec Industrial Initiative’s 17 corporate shareholders decided to call it quits at a meeting in Rome Monday…
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