Wouldn’t it be great to have a grid-tied inverter that could still make power when the grid goes down, without having to invest in a battery backup solution?

It’s no longer a pipe dream; it’s the Sunny Boy TL-US with Secure Power Supply! This webinar will take a deeper look at the groundbreaking Secure Power Supply feature and discuss how it works, how to install the components and how to position this inverter with your customers.

Join us for this informative and fun one-hour class, which includes a live demonstration of the Secure Power Supply in action.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

9:00am PST

Duration: Approximately 1 hour 15 minutes

Cost: FREE

Royal DSM, the global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences Company, recently inaugurated its Solar Technologies Demonstration Center at its DSM Engineering Plastics facility in Pune, India. This state-of-the-art solar technology center has been built to demonstrate and showcase the performance of DSM’s innovations in solar technology and will also reduce the plant’s CO₂ footprint by using the renewable energy generated by the solar plant to meet 25% of the site’s electricity needs.

Technology for solar energy will play a central role in a more renewable energy balance of the future – a role that will become even more critical and valuable as the technology becomes more efficient and competitive. DSM aims to help enable the penetration of solar energy by focusing on the development and commercialization of technologies and materials solutions¹ that increase the efficiency and yield of solar modules, thereby increasing the energy generation and reducing the cost of solar electricity. 

“Our newly commissioned solar energy plant in Pune is the first of our demonstration facilities to showcase our technologies to customers and stakeholders around the world,” said Oscar Goddijn, vice president, DSM Advanced Surfaces.  

REFERENCES

1. KhepriCoat®, an anti-reflective coating developed by DSM Advanced Surfaces, significantly increases the efficiency of solar panels by enabling more light to enter a solar device.

Biogas has now been fed into the Swedish transmission gas grid for the very first time. The Jordberga biogas plant, located outside Trelleborg, is the first in Sweden to use the grid for the distribution of gas.

This is a milestone for the transmission system operator Swedegas in the move towards increasing the proportion of biogas in the system. The companies behind the biogas plant are Swedish Biogas International, E.ON Gas, Skånska Biobränslebolaget and Nordic Sugar. Customers include the public transport company Skånetrafiken, which will use the biogas as fuel for its buses.

«This is an historic step towards sustainable readjustment,” said Lars Gustafsson, CEO of Swedegas. “The linking up of Jordberga is green news for Sweden, making biogas even more of a driving force in the switch to a carbon-neutral society.»

Together with partners in seven countries in Europe, Swedegas has signed the Green Gas Commitment, which aims to have a 100% carbon-neutral gas supply by 2050. For Swedegas, this undertaking means that the gas in the Swedish grid will be 100% renewable.

The distribution of biogas in the grid is a result of effective collaboration within the Skåne Region. It increases the potential to achieve regional targets for climate-smart energy and provides vehicles and industry with improved conditions for switching to more renewable fuel sources.

Large-scale biogas production is crucial, for example, if the transport sector is to be assured of sufficient volumes of biogas to reduce its climate impact. The fact that gas can be transported in efficient, eco-friendly pipelines is essential if production is to be profitable.

Swedegas states that investment in large-scale production plants and infrastructure is necessary. «Through our investments we are helping Sweden to achieve the target of a fossil-free vehicle fleet by 2030,” Gustafsson added. “The fact that the biogas can be distributed in the grid is crucial to future investment initiatives.»

A superior choice: Introducing the new Sunny Boy 240-US, the most reliable micro inverter on the market.

Communication you can depend on and unbeatable quality, all backed by SMA, make the Sunny Boy 240-US micro inverter the best choice for installations with complex roofs and partial shading. This live webinar will walk you through the Sunny Boy 240-US installation process and focus on the heart of this micro inverter system, the Sunny Multigate. 

Thursday, July 24, 2014

9:00am PST

Duration: Approximately 1 hour 30 minutes

Cost: FREE

The scope of work for Voith Hydro includes the design, supply and installation of seven new hydroelectric vertical propeller turbine generator units. When completed, Keeyask will be the fourth largest generating station in the province of Manitoba, providing approximately 695 megawatts of capacity and producing an average of 4,400 gigawatt hours of renewable hydroelectricity each year. The first unit is scheduled to be in service in 2019.

“Voith is very proud to be a part of this exciting new hydropower development,” said Bill Malus, president and CEO for Voith Hydro Canada. “We are especially proud to be associated with a project that is being developed collaboratively between a utility and four First Nations to provide long-term energy supply to present and future generations.”

The Keeyask Generating Station is being developed by the Keeyask Hydropower Limited Partnership, a venture between Manitoba Hydro and four Manitoba First Nations: Tataskweyak Cree Nation, War Lake First Nation, York Factory First Nation, and Fox Lake Cree Nation.

Canada is one of the largest producers of hydropower in the world. The installed capacity amounts to 73 GW, and its share of the country’s total electricity supply is almost 65%.

UK-based renewable technology specialist, VG Energy and Spanish medium-scale wind turbine manufacturer Norvento have agreed the sale of seven nED100 100kW turbines for a portfolio of sites under development in Scotland. This sale will provide a strong momentum to VG Energy as it becomes Norvento’s first Scottish nED100 Agent. (VG Energy also becomes the first nED operations and maintenance subcontractor to cover the North of the UK.)

Under the terms of the sales deal, Norvento will supply a total of seven nED100 units starting in Q4 2014 and continuing into 2015. The turbines will form an integral proportion of VG’s own development pipeline. Furthermore, and within the Agency Agreement, VG will showcase nED100 as a key part of its product portfolio. 

Once installed, the turbines will be serviced and maintained by VG Energy.

Think you already know the Sunny WebBox?

Sure, it can handle system monitoring, remote diagnosis, free data storage and visualization of medium- to large-scale solar power plants. But this high-performance communication hub is better than ever with improved features and easier installation into new or existing plants. Come join us for a live webinar and demonstration to see what this little gray box can now do.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

9:00am PST

Duration: Approximately 1 hour 30 minutes

Cost: FREE

Solar photovoltaic technology is poised to play a substantial role in fulfilling the need for increased power generation capacity across the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region. That’s according to the latest NPD Solarbuzz Emerging PV Markets Report: Latin America Caribbean, which shows the total PV project pipeline is growing throughout the region.
 
The LAC market now exceeds 22 GW of projects across all phases of development. Over the next five years, approximately 9 GW of projects will be installed; 1 GW of projects are already under construction, and 5 GW of projects have received approval to proceed and could begin construction soon.

“Solar PV is now starting to emerge as a preferred energy technology for Latin American and Caribbean countries,” Market Barker, senior analyst at NPD Solarbuzz, explained. “The region has high electricity prices and it also benefits from strong solar irradiation, which makes it a good candidate for solar PV deployment. As a result, experienced global solar PV developers are seeing the strong solar PV growth potential in the region.”

Previously the LAC region was confined to small-scale and off-grid solar PV applications, including rural electrification. However, today solar PV is being targeted to address large-scale utility power project requirements, primarily in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. Many of these projects are being developed by experienced international firms, including leading US-based companies First Solar, SunPower and SunEdison, and European developers Mainstream, Enel, and Solaria, which increases the likelihood that these projects will ultimately be executed.

“Many countries across the LAC region have the potential to develop into major solar PV markets in the future,” Barker noted. “While project pipelines vary by country, there is a strong contribution from early-stage developments that have yet to finalize supply deals or find end-users to purchase the generated electricity, which presents both risks and opportunities for industry players.”

REFERENCES
1. Emerging PV Markets Report: Latin America and Caribbean.

UC Davis, SunPower building ‘largest solar power system’ in University of California system

Schmack Biogas wins 5 MW contract to supply Isle of Wight with biomethane

Scottish Government approves new wind farm in South Lanarkshire
 

The Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on 26 September to mark the successful start-up of the operation of its new Omnivore^TM biogas production system. The equipment was supplied by Anaergia, Inc., and is funded in part by the California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research program.

Though Anaergia has provided high solids digestion technologies to meet the needs of customers in Europe, the Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority retrofit is its first such system in North America.

“Our goal is to demonstrate that we can operate our existing infrastructure more efficiently,” said Logan Olds, general manager of the Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority. “With recuperative thickening, or even with traditional digesters, the ability to co-digest an additional waste stream can bring added value to the facility — whether it be through minimizing tipping fees or by producing power from the additional methane that is generated as a result of the decomposition.”

The start-up of the Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority Omnivore project is significant to the California Energy Commission and to Anaergia, because it demonstrates how wastewater treatment plants can increase digester loading and biogas production using existing infrastructure.¹ The innovation includes Anaergia’s high solids mixers and recuperative thickener, which change an ordinary digester into a high-solids Omnivore^TM digester. The Omnivore^TM retrofit enables the authority to triple the digester’s solids content and biogas production rate. The Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority will convert the additional biogas into electricity to meet part of the wastewater treatment facility’s electrical demand.