Lightning strikes are costly on wind farms. This webinar will discuss the role that lightning detection systems and data can play in mitigating the impact of lightning on your wind farm.

Join this webinar to learn:

• How big a problem is lightning on operating wind farms?
• What can lightning detection do to help prevent damage to wind farms, promote worker safety, and diagnose faults?
• What resources are available for lightning detection and lightning forecasting?

To view the recording click here: http://www.vaisala.com/en/services/training/seminarsandwebinars/2014-Energy-Webinars/Pages/default.aspx

Funded by the European Union, the energy storage project aims to optimize the existing 50 kW flow battery prototype designed by EnStorage** to a 150 kW demonstration module. Under the cooperation agreement, AREVA and Schneider Electric will test the flow battery technology under real conditions. The aim is to deliver a competitive and highly efficient solution for the integration of renewable energies.

AREVA will lead the project, manufacturing, integrating and installing the storage solution while Schneider Electric will design, manufacture and install the complementary power conversion system.

“This latest agreement with AREVA reinforces our commitment to develop safe, reliable, efficient, productive and green energy management solutions,» said Frédéric Abbal, executive vice president of Schneider Electric’s Energy Business. «This storage technology will provide the flexibility and stability needed to facilitate renewable integration.”

Louis-François Durret, AREVA Renewables CEO, agreed, adding: “The energy storage market is fast moving and highly competitive. In order to meet the energy needs of tomorrow AREVA is diversifying its technology portfolio with the flow battery technology and broadening its cooperation agreement with its partner, Schneider Electric.”

In February 2014, AREVA and Schneider Electric signed a strategic partnership agreement to market energy management and storage solutions based on hydrogen production and fuelcell technology with AREVA’s Greenergy Box™.

USEF is a partnership between energy suppliers, network operators, electrical equipment manufacturers, consultancies and ICT companies created to develop specifications and guidelines for the energy market. Together these offerings help facilitate large-scale deployment of smart energy grids throughout the world.

The USEF Foundation* is a spin-off of the Smart Energy Collective, which was founded in 2010 by 21 companies to anticipate changes in the international energy landscape. About a year ago, the Smart Energy Collective participants set out to create a conceptual and universal framework for decentralised energy markets, based on international open standards that can be scaled and reproduced for national and local purposes and operating on a non-profit basis.

In the coming years, USEF will release an international market control mechanism as well as role descriptions for the different actors in a new energy system, from network operators through end consumers. By 2020 the foundation aims to connect 10 million end-users worldwide to USEF-compliant products, services and solutions.

World clean energy investment in the first three quarters of this year was 16% ahead of the same period of 2013, at $175.1bn, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. (Note: this figure excludes RD as well as energy smart technologies asset finance, which is estimated annually.) 

Following are some highlights of the report: 

Clean energy investment in the July-to-September quarter was $55bn, up 12% from the $48.9bn achieved in Q3 2013. The third quarter is generally weaker than the second quarter, as it was this year, with the Q3 total 16% down on a strong $65.2bn in Q2 2014.

The third quarter saw a leap in Chinese solar investment, to a new record of $12.2bn, up from $7.5bn in Q3 2013 and $8bn in Q2 2014. China is building a large number of utility-scale photovoltaic projects linked to its main transmission grid, and Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecasts that its solar installations will total 13-14GW in 2014, nearly a third of the world total.

There were other strong investment figures in Q3 from Japan, at 8.6bn, up 17% from the same quarter in 2013, with solar again the dominant renewable energy source. Other countries showing a bounce in investment in the latest quarter were Canada, France and India, while there were significant projects financed in a number of new markets, including Myanmar and Sri Lanka. 

The goal, according to the Department of Energy, is to reduce the cost of algal biofuels to less than $5 per gasoline gallon equivalent (gge) by 2019. What’s more, this funding supports the development of a bio-economy that can help create green jobs, spur innovation, improve the environment, and achieve national energy security.

Algae biomass can be converted to advanced biofuels that offer promising alternatives to petroleum-based diesel and jet fuels. Additionally, algae¹ can be used to make a range of other valuable bio-products, such as industrial chemicals, bio-based polymers, and proteins. However, barriers related to algae cultivation, harvesting, and conversion to fuels and products need to be overcome to achieve the Department’s target of $3 per gge for advanced algal biofuels by 2030. To accomplish this goal, the Department is investing in applied research and development technologies that achieve higher biomass yields and overall values for the algae. 

The funding will support projects in two topic areas: Topic Area 1 awards (anticipated at 1–3 selections) will range from $5–10 million and focus on the development of algae cultures that, in addition to biofuels, produce valuable bio-products that increase the overall value of the biomass. Topic Area 2 awards (anticipated at 3–7 selections) will range from $0.5–1 million and will focus on the development of crop protection or carbon dioxide utilization technologies to boost biomass productivity in ways that lead to higher yields of algae.

 Recent accomplishments  

1. Four algae projects that were announced for funding last year have started work in California, Hawaii, and New Mexico. These projects each are receiving from $1.5 million to $5 million from the Energy Department and are aimed at boosting the productivity of algae as a way to reduce cost. Funding allowed the selection of an additional project in July — Hawaii-based Cellana, Inc.’s algae feedstock production system. These projects will receiving funding through to 2016 and are helping BETO reach its 2018 yield goal of 2,500 gallons of algal feedstock.
2. In June, Neste Oil — the world’s largest producer of renewable diesel — agreed to purchase algae crude oil from Renewable Algal Energy, LLC, a microalgae products company that received Energy Department funding. RAE first proved the viability of its algal oil harvesting and extraction technologies with Energy Department funds, which helped the company to secure the off-take agreement with Neste Oil. This means RAE has its first customer, which is big step towards commercialization for its algal biofuels.
3. The Cornell Consortium, which received Energy Department funding starting in 2010, has made significant progress to improve algal productivity in designing a commercial-scale upstream algae cultivation and harvesting process. This year, the Cornell Consortium reached the Bioenergy Technologies Office’s milestone of improvement in algal productivity, increasing yield to 1,500 gallons of algal feedstock per acre per year.
4. The National Alliance of Advanced Biofuels and Bio-products released its close-out report, which details a combination of research advancements that together have the potential to reduce the cost of algae-based biofuels to $7.50 per gallon gasoline equivalent. These advancements include discovery and improvement of strains of algae that grow more quickly and have high lipid content, designing a higher-efficiency filtration system for harvesting algae from open pond systems, and developing a hydrothermal liquefaction conversion process.
5. Two reports from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, funded by the Energy Department, helped work toward the goals to reduce costs by clarifying what the greatest challenges are, using detailed modeled design scenarios. These design scenarios are the whole algae hydrothermal liquefaction technology pathway and the algal lipid extraction and upgrading technology pathway. While the focus of the reports was on the process improvements of the conversion pathways, analyses showed that cultivating algae accounts for the highest portion of the cost. Cultivation costs can be reduced by improving biomass yield (also a focus of the new funding opportunity). 

1. Algae are an attractive biofuel feedstock because they grow fast, absorb carbon dioxide, and can utilize waste resources, such as municipal waste water. Algae store energy from sunlight and can then be converted to advanced hydrocarbon fuel and used as a direct replacement for petroleum fuel. However, the current costs associated with producing, handling, and converting algal oil to fuel can make a gallon of algal biofuel very expensive.

Join us for an informative hour on SMA’s new Warranty and Service offerings.

SMA is the only inverter manufacturer that offers a true bumper-to-bumper warranty for its inverters. Our flexible service offering gives you peace of mind to back up the superior reliability and excellent quality of SMA products. If you have questions about installation, commissioning, monitoring or ongoing maintenance we will be here to support you.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

9:00am PST

Duration: Approximately 1 hour

Cost: FREE

Renewable electricity projects will compete for £300 million in support this autumn – an increase of £95 million from the indicative budget published in July. The funding for Contracts for Difference, which provide long-term certainty for investors, are a cornerstone of the Government’s reforms to the electricity markets, designed to drive investment in a new generation of clean, secure electricity supplies.

Low-carbon electricity projects will compete at auction for the contracts, which will deliver new capacity much more cheaply than through the previous arrangements, resulting in lower bills. It’s estimated that the reforms to the electricity markets will mean that average annual household electricity bills are around £41 lower over the period 2014 to 2030 than decarbonising without these changes.

• Established technologies, such as onshore wind and solar, will compete for up to £65 million in support, reflecting the fact that these technologies are already more competitive.
• Less-established technologies, such as offshore wind and marine, will share in up to £235 million, demonstrating the Government’s commitment to helping these technologies become as competitive as the more established low carbon generation sources.

The projected spend of the budget remains within the Levy Control Framework, which caps the costs to consumers of government energy policies.

«We are transforming the UK’s energy sector, dealing with a legacy of underinvestment to build a new generation of clean, secure power supplies that reduce our reliance on volatile foreign markets,” said Ed Davey, Energy and Climate Change Secretary. “Average annual investment in renewables has doubled since 2010 – with a record breaking £8 billion worth in 2013. By making projects compete for support, we’re making sure that consumers get the best possible deal as well as a secure and clean power sector.”
 

The budgets for next year’s auction will be confirmed in 2015, but £50 million more has already been indicated for established technologies, with significant further funding potentially available to fund further projects, including renewables and Carbon Capture and Storage, by 2020-21.

The Government is able to increase the CFD budget because the latest estimates of the overall costs of other policies, in particular the Renewables Obligation, are lower than expected. This will help to ensure that there is enough funding available to encourage competition in the auction. Some money has also been held back to manage the risk of overspending from other policies and for future auctions.
 

The Government also confirmed that the Renewables Obligation will close to new large-scale solar above 5MW from 1 April 2015. As the sector grows and becomes increasingly competitive, the Government is ensuring that billpayers are seeing the benefits.

There will be a grace period to protect projects that had made significant financial commitments by 13 May, when the consultation on the change began. We will consult on an additional grace period to protect projects on track to commission before 1 April 2015 against the risk of missing the RO closure date due to delays in getting connected to the grid.

After consulting the industry, the eligibility criteria have been amended so that they are better aligned with the practicalities of solar project development processes. The UK Government is also changing the way it supports rooftop-mounted solar power, in line with the Solar Strategy. This includes changes to the Feed-in Tariff Scheme (FiTs), with a new degression band for solar installations over 50KW, which will help to protect existing levels of financial support for this type of rooftop-mounted solar, as well as consulting on changes that would enable businesses and other organisations to take their panels and FiTs with them when they move premises.

This is the second tranche of Ballard methanol-fueled systems ordered for Digicel, which will make it 25 fuel cell systems deployed at critical sites around Jamaica. The original systems have been successfully operating in Digicel’s network for more than two years.

PPA is responsible for deployment as well as ongoing servicing and fueling of the fuel cell systems in Digicel’s Jamaica network. Digicel has over 14 million customers across its 32 markets in the Caribbean, Central America, and Asia-Pacific regions.

Rooftop installations

The majority of these newly ordered backup power systems will be sited at rooftop base station locations. ElectraGen-ME systems are particularly well suited for rooftop deployment because of their small footprint, quiet operation, light weight, and very low emissions.

‘There are inherent challenges with incumbent backup power technologies on rooftops,’ says Larry Stapleton, VP of sales at Ballard. ‘Our methanol-fueled systems offer a practical solution to address those challenges and deliver meaningful value to telecom operators globally.’

Caribbean (un)reliability

When these 13 additional systems are deployed, Ballard will have 161 ElectraGen-ME methanol-fueled systems operating in the Caribbean – in Puerto Rico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, St Lucia, Turks Caicos, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Montserrat, as well as Trinidad and Tobago.

This region is particularly susceptible to power disruptions due to extreme weather conditions, including hurricanes. As a result, telecom networks are vulnerable to frequent grid outages which impact continuity of service to subscribers. This reality puts a priority on the need for extended duration backup power solutions.

Ballard’s ElectraGen-ME methanol-fueled systems provide extended runtime backup power with a high degree of reliability, long product life, and minimal preventive maintenance requirements. The system includes a reformer that converts the HydroPlus™ methanol-water liquid fuel mixture into hydrogen gas to power the fuel cell.

Case studies in East Timor and Denmark

Meanwhile, Ballard has released two case studies that demonstrate the benefits of ElectraGen telecom backup power solutions in very different geographies.

For example, the ElectraGen-ME methanol-fueled fuel cell system is providing extended duration backup power, as well as continuous power, as part of a new wireless communications network in East Timor. Challenges faced with this deployment include a hot tropical climate, jungle-covered terrain, and a lack of road infrastructure in many sites.

The ElectraGen-H2 direct hydrogen fuel cell backup power systems have also been successfully operating at approximately 120 base station sites as part of the Danish Tetra (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) SINE emergency radio network. These systems have proven reliable for more than five years, with an estimated 4000 startups.

Following funding of £230 000 (US$370 000) from the Technology Strategy Board innovation agency, scientists and engineers at the Energy Lancaster research centre will help improve Ceres Power’s understanding of the materials used to manufacture its low-cost Steel Cell technology.

Insights into fuel cell design

‘We will be working with Ceres Power over the next three years to help them to gain new insight into their innovative fuel cell design,’ says Dr Richard Dawson, engineering lecturer at Lancaster University.

‘This technology has significant potential to change the way power is distributed, bringing greater efficiency to fuel use, which has obvious environmental benefits, but also helping to reduce bills for homes and businesses.’

Dawson has also been working with AFC Energy, on research and testing to help AFC better understand how alkaline fuel cells operate using different hydrogen feedstocks.

Boosting the team

The new TSB funding will also help to pay for a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) research associate from Lancaster University to be based with Ceres Power working on the technology. As Ceres commercialises its technology for a variety of market applications, this enhanced understanding will help to inform next-generation designs.

‘Working with Lancaster’s experts will help us develop greater insight into the materials and processes we use to manufacture our Steel Cells,’ says Dr Mark Selby, technology director at Ceres Power.

‘The TSB programme is also a great way to develop the engineering talent of the future, which is important for advancing industries like fuel cells.’

Ceres Power is recruiting strongly for several roles alongside the KTP collaboration to support its own and customer programmes, with various positions advertised on its website.

Fuel cell manufacturing innovation

Ceres Power was recently awarded TSB funding to scale up its Steel Cell production in response to growing market opportunities, by combining its existing manufacturing capability with high-speed photovoltaic manufacturing processes developed by DEK Solar.

Located at Somerton Door in southern Somerset, the solar farm is sited over 42 acres of which more than two-thirds of the allocated land area will remain open grassland, suitable for grazing small livestock like sheep. ET Solar serves as the exclusive EPC service provider and solar module supplier.

The solar farm is expected to connect to the grid in mid-November, 2014.

Earlier this year, Lightsource Renewable Energy was tapped to design two solar farms in North West Essex. Those projects will provide clean energy for more than 4,700 homes.