General Motors’ new 2.2 megawatt ground-mounted solar array will be complete by the end of 2014 at its Lordstown Complex. When the last of more than 8,500 solar panels are in place, it will be GM’s largest solar installation in the Western Hemisphere.

The renewable energy produced by the array is enough to power nearly 1.5 percent of the plant and helps avoid the equivalent of 1,993 tons of carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere. That is equivalent to the amount of carbon pulled from the air by 1,634 acres of U.S. forests in one year. 

Learn more at http://www.capsells.com/products/aqua-sun-pillow-tank-800-gallon.html

Aqua Sun pillow style water tanks are a way to safety transport large amounts of water and come in a variety of styles. The color of the tank communicates the intended purpose of the water. For example, blue tanks indicate that the water stored inside is safe for human consumption while grey tanks do not. All tanks meet FDA specifications and come with a 7 year manufacturer’s warranty.

Aqua Sun offers pillow style water tanks from 100 to 5,000 gallons, which come in a variety of colors including black, grey, orange, and blue. They are constructed with heavy-duty vinyl material and weights vary depending on model. Contact us for information and pricing on additional models and sizes.

US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz delivered some good news to the attendees at the SPI 2014 show in Las Vegas this week. During the general session on Day Two, Secretary Moniz announced more than $53 million for 40 innovative research and development projects that aim to drive down the cost of solar energy, tackling key aspects of technology development in order to bring innovative ideas to the market more quickly.

Supporting the development of next generation photovoltaic solar technologies and advanced manufacturing processes, and addressing both hardware and non-hardware “soft” costs of solar installation, these awards support advancements will help reduce the cost of solar energy and make solar electricity more affordable and accessible for all Americans. 

Learn more at Capsells at http://www.capsells.com/products/onion-tank-2000-gallon.html

The self-supporting frameless onion tanks have been designed to meet the most stringent requirements for environmental spill cleanup. Problems with inadequate or unusable supplies of water are eliminated by the use of open top self-supporting portable water tanks. In remote areas the self-supporting tanks are designed for standby water containment, oil spill cleanup or other Haz-Mat spills. In remote areas, the self supporting tank may be filled by pumping water from a natural water source, such as a stream or creek, with a small SOLAR operated pump. As the self supporting tank begins to fill with liquid, its unique design allows it to become self supporting automatically. The self supporting tank does not require any additional supporting framework, assembly, or frame installation.

Contact us for information and pricing on additional models and sizes.

• Features:
• Available in 500 to 20,000 Gallon Sizes
• Choose from Colors: Red, Yellow, Orange, Blue, Black, Green
• Weights Vary Between 50-400 Lbs (depending on model)
• Constructed on Heavy Duty Vinyl Material (PVC)
• Various Coupling Sizes Range From 1 1/2” to 6”
• Includes Compact Storage Bag with 4 Support Rings
• Up to 2000 Gal.
• Smaller models ship UPS, larger sizes via Common Carrier.
• Can Be Ordered in FDA Approved, Artic or XR5 Fabrics.

Swinerton Renewable Energy, a turnkey engineering, procurement and construction and operations and management provider for the utility-scale and distributed PV markets, will standardize its entire solar fleet on Locus Energy’s SolarNOC monitoring platform and PVIQ analytics suite as part of its SOLV™ enterprise solution for optimizing and managing plants. 

Michelle Bachelet, the president of Chile, together with Jean-Paul Luksic, chairman of Antofagasta Minerals SA (“AMSA”) and Mike Garland, CEO of Pattern Energy Group Inc officially opened operations at the 115 MW El Arrayán Wind facility in a grand opening ceremony at the project site, which is located 400 km north of Santiago on the coast of Chile. 

The El Arrayán Wind facility, which completed construction in June, will generate clean, renewable power equal to the needs of approximately 200,000 Chilean homes each year, according to the World Bank. The facility is utilizing 50 Siemens 2.3 MW wind turbines, which Pattern Energy is also using at other wind projects in Canada and the United States. El Arrayán Wind connects to the Sistema Interconectado Central’s 220kV transmission system. The facility is located on approximately 15,320 acres of coastal land on a long-term lease with a single landowner.

Pattern Energy owns 70% of the El Arrayán Wind facility, which it also operates. AMSA owns the remaining 30% minority stake. The project sells approximately 70% of its output to Minera Los Pelambres through a long-term fixed-for-floating hedge. The facility sells its remaining output into the Chilean spot market at the prevailing market price at the time of sale. In addition to its minority interest in the facility, AMSA is the controlling party of Minera Los Pelambres.

«This project is important for our present and future energy needs, President Bachelet said. «El Arrayán is the biggest wind farm in Chile, and we are pleased at what we can achieve when we use the natural resources the earth has to offer. This project is another step toward meeting our energy agenda objectives.» ¹ 

Jean-Paul Luksic, Chairman of Antofagasta Minerals SA, added: “Through this partnership, we have combined our financial and management skills to be part of the solution to one of the major challenges facing our country and the mining industry, which is the generation of clean energy sources.”  

Compared to generation from a coal-fired power plant, the electricity produced annually by El Arrayán Wind will offset more than 300,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent to the annual carbon footprint of an estimated 70,000 Chileans, and will conserve enough water to meet the needs of more than 11,000 Chileans, according to statistics from the International Energy Agency, the World Bank and the US Energy Information Administration.

Mike Garland, CEO of Pattern Energy, described Chile as «a great market» because of the President’s strong support for renewable energy policies, the country’s strong, stable economy and excellent natural wind resources, which can supply domestic energy to the country. «We are also especially pleased to be here with our strong partner AMSA, which is demonstrating to the world that a global mining company can be a leader in clean, domestic energy.”

Approximately 200 jobs were created during construction of the El Arrayán Wind facility. In addition, 15 ongoing permanent positions were created. The project was constructed by Skanska Chile SA, a subsidiary of Skanska AB and one of the leading wind-focused construction firms in Chile.

REFERENCES

1. Chile’s goal is to have 45% of its energy come from clean energy resources by 2025, according to President Michelle Bachelet.  

AWEA WINDPOWER 2015 Conference Exhibition is the wind industry’s premier North American event with wind energy professionals from all over the world, gathering in one place. It’s the most effective way for attendees to expand their knowledge base and business network. AWEA welcomes your unique educational contributions.

Contact AWEA for more information on abstract submissions.

Vestas has received an order from EDF Energies Nouvelles for 29 V100-2.0 MW turbines¹ for a wind power project in Poland. The order includes foundation works, supply, installation and commissioning of the  turbines, along with a VestasOnline® Business SCADA solution and a two-year service agreement.

The wind power plant, one of the largest in the north-western part of Poland, will be installed in the province of Lubuskie near Rzepin. The wind turbine delivery is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2015, with commissioning expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2015. This project is a part of the Frame Agreement signed between EDF EN and Vestas for Europe and the USA in 2011. 

To date, Vestas has delivered about 540 wind turbines in Poland, totalling more than 1,100 MW.  

1. The V100-1.8/2.0 MW turbines allow our customers to increase productivity by opening up low- and medium-wind sites previously regarded as non-viable. To maximise power output at such locations, the wind turbines’ 100 m rotor gains more from the available wind – starting as low as 3 m/s.

Scatec Solar, the integrated independent solar power producer, has signed a partnership agreement with Norfund, the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries, to jointly invest in solar power projects to be developed in all countries within Norfund’s mandate. Under the terms of the deal, Scatec Solar will hold 70 per cent of the joint investment company, with Norfund holding the remaining 30 per cent. Investments will be made on a consensus basis in projects which meet the required return on capital employed.

Scatec Solar and Norfund have been partners in the realisation of four solar PV projects in Africa totaling 200 MW (three in South Africa and one in Rwanda). The partnership will provide a framework for collaborative project development, and joint investment and under the agreement Norfund and Scatec Solar will jointly realise projects in all countries within Norfund’s mandate. 

«We enter the partnership with Norfund with great expectations,» said Raymond Carlsen, CEO of Scatec Solar. «Our common objective is to contribute to the increased implementation of renewable energy in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the project- to-project cooperation we have had so far has proved very successful. With the combined efforts of our two companies, we expect to realize more projects and a faster execution of each.»

Norfund has extensive experience from successful investments in developing countries and will provide long- term capital, an extensive network in the Sub-Sahara regions as well as experience and competence from investing in this region. Meanwhile, Scatec Solar — with its proven track record in the execution and management of solar PV projects — will provide world-class solar PV competence, project development and executions skills. 

«We are very pleased with the cooperation we have had with Scatec Solar in the realisation of four solar power plants, and this new agreement provides a solid foundation for more such projects in the future,» said Norfund CEO Kjell Roland. «Norfund needs strong industrial partners like Scatec Solar in order to contribute to a sustainable development in poor countries. Our objective is to increase our investments and this type of long-term cooperation is a prerequisite for us to do so in a good and effective way.»

Westborough, Mass.-based NEC Energy Solutions has been awarded a contract to supply a 2.5MW, 3.9MWh GSS™ ¹ to one of the largest electric utilities in the United States. As a key part of a distributed energy storage integration program, the GSS, or Grid Storage Solution, will be used to support analysis of the value streams that energy storage can provide to utilities, ratepayers, and other involved parties.

The program will explore how energy storage can support distribution circuits in the utility’s diverse service territory. During the program, the GSS will not only be used to limit loading of the line under dynamic load scenarios, but also be capable of providing voltage regulation. In addition, the deployment of this GSS aligns with the utility’s requirement to procure energy storage as set forth by the California Public Utility Commission’s energy storage mandate.

«When we learned that this customer needed an energy storage solution to support everything from voltage regulation and renewable integration to distribution line support, we knew we had what they needed,» said Bud Collins, CEO of NEC Energy Solutions. «This project gives us a strong start with our first official grid storage award since we became NEC Energy Solutions in May, and there are more on the horizon.»

For this project, NEC Energy Solutions will supply a building-based LD (Long Duration) type GSS, which will be located in a distribution circuit in California. To support the LD GSS, NEC Energy Solutions will provide a purpose-built facility to house the storage solution. The custom building will be designed by NEC Energy Solutions to maximise the value of the battery configuration by not only hosting the LD GSS, but also integrating the solution with client power delivery systems.

REFERENCES

1. The LD GSS, which utilizes lithium ion cell technology, is a flexible modular energy storage platform which can be packaged in standardized 20-foot, 40-foot, and 53-foot long containers, or installed in either pre-existing or custom-built buildings to fit the available space. This flexibility allows installation almost anywhere and provides energy storage with a superior combination of service life, power output, safety and reliability, according to NEC Energy Solutions.