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World’s largest offshore wind farm approved by the UK Government

The world’s biggest wind farm will be built off the coast of Britain after it got the green light on Tuesday. Source.

The Hornsea Project Two offshore wind farm – set to be the largest in the world – received the green light from the U.K. government on Tuesday after it was granted development consent by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary Greg Clark.

According to CNBC, the wind farm will consist of “up to” 300 turbines and will be situated 89 kilometers off the coast of Yorkshire, northeast England. The government added that if built to full capacity, total investment will amount to roughly £6 billion ($7.79 billion).

The project, when finished, could potentially provide as much as 1,800 megawatts of electricity to more than a million homes in the U.K., and generate nearly 2,000 construction jobs and 580 operational and maintenance positions.

“The U.K.’s offshore wind industry has grown at an extraordinary rate over the last few years, and is a fundamental part of our plans to build a clean, affordable, secure energy system,” Clark said in a statement.

“Britain is a global leader in offshore wind, and we’re determined to be one of the leading destinations for investment in renewable energy, which means jobs and economic growth right across the country,” he added.

The project is being developed by SMartWind, which is owned by DONG Energy. In a statement on Tuesday, Denmark-headquartered DONG Energy said it welcomed the decision and would now review the details of the development consent order.

“Hornsea Project Two is a huge potential infrastructure project which could provide enough green energy to power 1.6 million U.K. homes,” Brent Cheshire, U.K. country chairman for DONG Energy, said in a statement.

“A project of this size will help in our efforts to continue reducing the cost of electricity from offshore wind and shows our commitment to investing in the U.K.,” he added.

The U.K. government said it expected that 10 gigawatts of offshore wind would be installed by the end of this decade.

Tesla’s new ‘Master Plan’: Big trucks, solar chargers, ride sharing

Elon Musk delivered the long-awaited plan on the company’s website to explain why the integration of Tesla and SolarCity Corp. is necessary and to show his vision for the two companies. Image source.

Elon Musk unveiled his “master plan” for Tesla Motors Inc., delivering a long-term plan that includes making an integrated solar and battery storage system and building a freight truck and a bus. He even has a plan for a ride-sharing business.

According to IndustryWeek, Musk delivered the long-awaited plan on the company’s website to explain why the integration of Tesla and SolarCity Corp. is necessary and to show his vision for the two companies. He wants to use SolarCity, a rooftop solar panel installer, to generate electricity and charge an expanding range of Tesla models that address personal and public transport as well as cargo shipping.

“There are two other types of electric vehicles needed: heavy-duty trucks and high passenger-density urban transport,” the Tesla chief executive officer said in the blog post. “Both are in the early stages of development and should be ready for unveiling next year.”

Musk reiterated his call for acquiring SolarCity even as he outlined a significant expansion of Tesla’s products and ambitions for ride-sharing. Besides the Tesla Semi truck and the bus, he said the company will continue to pursue autonomy so that Tesla customers will be able to use their cars to “make money for you when you aren’t using it.”

Analysts were skeptical about Tesla’s ability to add more products to its lineup.

“As is typical, Elon Musk has laid out a grandiose plan for the future with no timeframes and few specifics, and no mention of how and when Tesla will be profitable,” Michelle Krebs, an analyst for Autotrader.com Inc., said in a email. “Tesla’s latest Master Plan includes expanding its electric vehicle product line to cover all major segments, when it hasn’t been meeting production targets with the limited product line it has now and in the next couple of years.”

The world’s first “Tesla Town”: solar roofs and Powerwalls

The world’s first ‘Tesla Town’ is coming to Australia. Image source.

It’s been less than 6 months since Australia received its first shipment of the highly anticipated Tesla Powerwalls, but the country’s developers are already gearing up for big changes, announcing plans to build the world’s first Telsa-powered town in Melbourne.

According to D’Marge, the mini-suburb located on the outskirts of Melbourne’s CBD, has been dubbed “YarraBend” after the river that runs through it and will feature brand new houses, all fitted out with a solar roof and built-in Tesla Powerwall.

Hailed as one of the most environmentally sustainable developments in Australia, YarraBend’s 2500 houses will apparently see water use reduced by 43%, landfill contributions reduced by 80%, and will give residents the ability to recharge their electric cars for free.

The homes, designed, developed and built by property group Glenvill, will be made up of a combination of single-family homes, townhouses, and apartments, solar powered and containing energy efficient lighting and appliances.

If you’re interested in jumping on the Tesla bandwagon and minimising your impact on the environment you better be quick with the first 60 homes going on sale this week at prices between $1.48 million and $2.1 million.

Solar energy will be mainstream by 2020, says new report

Analysis predicts the cost of solar cells is to fall dramatically over next five years but the loss of subsidies will be a setback for the technology in Europe. Image source.

Solar power is reaching maturity as a global energy source, with solar power systems for both residential and utilities in line to reach grid parity by 2020, at which point the cost of electricity generated by the sun will be the same as that from other sources, according to new research from industry analysts Frost & Sullivan.

“Pro-solar incentives and the recently made pledges at the COP 21 summit will ensure that the market for solar [photovoltaic cells] continues to grow exponentially over the next five years,” said Frost & Sullivan energy and environment research analyst Pritil Gunjan.

Raw material suppliers, solar cell manufacturers, solar module manufacturers, and equipment suppliers and installers are all positioned to benefit, says the report.

According to Science Business, the growth will happen mainly in China, India and Japan, which together will account for more than 80 per cent of all solar installations planned over the next five years.

It will be a less prosperous period for Europe’s solar industry which, “will suffer a setback due to withdrawal of subsidies and incentives,” the analysis says.

Huge overcapacity, coupled with a fall in the price of solar components, will see European suppliers struggling to turn a profit.

By contrast, solar panel manufactures will see strong growth in North America, largely thanks to the extension of investment tax credit eligibility for solar generators until 2019.

Solar panel revenues stood at $113.75 billion in 2015 and will grow to $179.13 billion in 2020.

Mercedes Benz set to launch home battery storage in Australia

Tesla’s Home Battery gets competition from Mercedes-Benz. Image source.

Mercedes Benz Australia plans to unveil the home battery storage offering at its Melbourne headquarters in Mulgrave, along with an on-site four-car charging station, made up of the lithium-ion battery packs and solar panels.

The plan is for the company to sell the batteries to customers as a package with rooftop solar – the cost per 2.5kWh battery unit has not yet been released – through an as-yet unnamed “electricity retailer” partner.

According to Mercedes Benz German parent company, Daimler, up to eight 2.5kWh modules can be combined to make a capacity of up to 20kWh, allowing solar households to “buffer surplus… power with virtually no losses,” and increase their self-consumption to as much as 65 per cent.

The batteries have been available on the German market – where they are also sold as packages with solar by a network of sales partners – since April of this year, and according to the website have generated “tremendous interest” and numerous orders.

The move into the Australian residential energy storage market, says Mercedes head of corporate communications David McCarthy, is a natural progression, and goes hand in hand with the roll-out of electric cars: Mercedes is releasing three new plug-in hybrid EV models in Australia in July.

It also puts Mercedes into direct competition with fellow prestige EV maker, Tesla, whose 7kWh Powerwall battery was released to much fanfare in Australia in December last year.

“The future says this is one of the directions that people are going to want to go in,” McCarthy told One Step Off The Grid on Wednesday. “It’s not enough to charge your car… people who are buying a plug-in hybrid want to know where the energy is coming from and have the ability to generate the energy and store it.”

In terms of demand for the Mercedes home battery, McCarthy said that the level of interest being shown in Australia indicated they might move a few hundred a year, but that it was “unchartered territory”, so difficult to predict.

As for EV demand, McCarthy concedes that numbers are still small in Australia, and will take a while yet to build, but that stationary storage will help move this along.

“It will take a while… for EVS to sell in greater numbers,’ McCarthy told One Step. “Incentives are only one of the issues …and where the power comes from that charges the cars is another – and this is our solution to that problem.

“A customer who wants to buy a package (EV, battery and solar) can do so,” McCarthy said. “Depending on how much you want [in kWh] it’ll be enough to charge your car, or run your house too, or even feed back into the grid. So it depends what level you want to go to.”

IRENA: Solar energy boosts food production and fights poverty

“Solar sharing”= agriculture and sunshine brings new prosperity to farmers around the world. Image source.

A new paper from IRENA, launched at InterSolar Europe in Munich, highlights the way solar technology is being used to power food production and empower communities to escape poverty.

Solar Pumping for Irrigation: Improving livelihoods and sustainability, details how solar technology is being used to improve farming efficiency and agricultural output, highlighting successful examples from across Africa and Asia.

A growing need for change

According to the United Nations, more than 40% of the world’s population makes a living in the agriculture sector — many of whom live in poverty. Socio-economic development is strongly linked to agricultural productivity, and as climate change continues to disrupt rainfall patterns, developing irrigation is becoming a vital tool to combat poverty. Given that only 5% of sub-Saharan African farmland irrigated, and that the continent is home to one of the fastest growing populations on the planet, the need to produce more food and energy is becoming critical.

Some countries are now exploring solar-based solutions (e.g. water pumps powered by solar panels), which provide reliable, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable energy for decentralized irrigation services. These solutions are even cost-competitive with diesel powered pumps in many cases.

For example, Solar Pumping for Irrigation highlights a case in India, where diesel-powered water pumps on salt-pan farms were replaced with solar-powered pumps. The change resulted in a life-changing 161% increase in annual monetary savings for the farmers, in addition to reduced air pollution and CO2 emissions.

Solar-pumps and other solar technologies are proven to positively affect the lives of both men and women. For example, the installation of three solar-powered drip-irrigation systems in the Kalale district of northern Benin helped a co-operative of 35-45 women free themselves from four hours of labor a day. The increased time and more reliable income from the irrigation system helps the women to feed, educate, and provide medical care for their families.

Adopting a ‘Nexus Approach’

Water, energy, and food are intimately interlinked. Within this nexus, actions taken in any areas affects the others. In Solar Pumping for Irrigation, IRENA calls for a holistic approach with regards to policy, which recommends to:

foster innovation and flexibility when delivering solar pumping solutions;
take into account target groups and the long-term sustainability of markets when considering financial instruments to support solar pumping;
focus on after-sales support and capacity building: providing support for regular operation and maintenance;
package energy and water-efficient solutions in water-stressed areas;
assess the direct and indirect impacts on water resources;
monitor performance and gather data;
consider the influence of availability and cost of energy on the choice of crops grown;
and adopt an integrated approach to programme design: solar pumps can also bring electricity to poorly connected communities and contribute to the achievement of multiple Sustainable Development Goals.

IRENA: Solar energy boosts food production and fights poverty

“Solar sharing”= agriculture and sunshine brings new prosperity to farmers around the world. Image source.

A new paper from IRENA, launched at InterSolar Europe in Munich, highlights the way solar technology is being used to power food production and empower communities to escape poverty.

A growing need for change

Adopting a ‘Nexus Approach’

foster innovation and flexibility when delivering solar pumping solutions;
take into account target groups and the long-term sustainability of markets when considering financial instruments to support solar pumping;
focus on after-sales support and capacity building: providing support for regular operation and maintenance;
package energy and water-efficient solutions in water-stressed areas;
assess the direct and indirect impacts on water resources;
monitor performance and gather data;
consider the influence of availability and cost of energy on the choice of crops grown;
and adopt an integrated approach to programme design: solar pumps can also bring electricity to poorly connected communities and contribute to the achievement of multiple Sustainable Development Goals.

Researchers accidentally make batteries last 400 times longer

The gel surrounding the gold nanowires with manganese oxide coating protects from corrosion, allowing the battery to last 400 times more cycles. Image: Rajen Dutta /University of California Irvine

Smartphones, tablets, and most other electronics rely on rechargeable batteries, but after a few thousand uses the batteries start to lose their ability to hold a charge. The batteries of today are mainly lithium, and over time that lithium corrodes inside the battery.

Instead of lithium, researchers at UC Irvine have used gold nanowires to store electricity, and have found that their system is able to far outlast traditional lithium battery construction. The Irvine team’s system cycled through 200,000 recharges without significant corrosion or decline.

However, they don’t exactly know why. The original idea of the experiment was to make a solid-state battery: one that uses an electrolyte gel, rather than liquid, to help hold charge. Liquid batteries, like the common lithium variety, are extremely combustible and sensitive to temperature. The Irvine team was experimenting by substituting a much thicker gel.

“We started to cycle the devices, and then realized that they weren’t going to die,” said Reginald Penner, a lead author of the paper. “We don’t understand the mechanism of that yet.”

Although you may have never cracked one open (we hope), most of the batteries in your gadgets contain liquid. Liquid is used in part because its conductivity allows flexible and partial charging and discharging. Finding highly conductive electrolyte gels has proven difficult.

According to Popular Science, the Irvine battery technology uses a gold nanowire, no thicker than a bacterium, coated in manganese oxide and then protected by a layer of electrolyte gel. The gel interacts with the metal oxide coating to prevent corrosion. The longer the wire, the more surface area, and the more charge it can hold. Other researchers have been experimenting with nanowires for years, but the introduction of the protective gel separates UC Irvine’s work from other research.

“[The gel] does more than just hold the wire together. It actually seems to make the metal oxide softer and more fracture-resistant. It increases the fracture toughness of this metal oxide that is doing the charge storage,” Penner said.

While the technology promises consumer electronics that last 400 times longer, this initial test platform isn’t a true battery. Batteries have an anode, which allows electricity into the system, and a cathode, which outputs electricity. Instead of having both, the researchers linked together two cathodes that alternate charging each other. The continuous cycling from cathode to cathode makes a perfect system to test repeated recharging.

Penner says that it’s like pouring water back and forth between two cups. After a few hundred transfers from one cup to the other, some water will usually spill out, leaving less “charge.” That’s a normal battery. Penner’s system transferred the “water” between the “cups” 200,000 times, only losing about 5 percent.

Even though minuscule amounts of gold are being used in this experiment, that would still make these batteries be expensive to manufacture. Penner suggests that a more common metal, like nickel, could replace the gold if the technology catches on.

The lab’s future work will entail actually building batteries with this technology, and further investigating why the process works.

World’s largest coal supplier to build one of world’s largest solar power plants

SolarReserve is building one of the world’s largest solar thermal power plants. Image source.

SolarReserve has signed an agreement with the Shenhua Group of China to build one of the world’s largest solar thermal 24-hour a day power plants. This contract is part of the 13th Plan of Five-year National Development by China that outlines installing 10,000MW of Concentrated Solar Power.

According to electrek.co, SolarReserve’s technology is unique in the solar power industry because it offers electricity from the sun at night. The Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Plant in Nevada is SolarReserve’s largest power plant and offers 10 hours of full-load energy storage, making it the world’s first utility-scale facility to feature advanced molten salt power tower energy storage capabilities.

More importantly though, with China now emitting close to 30% of the world’s CO2 emissions, China’s total coal use is falling – by 3.7% in 2015 and 2.9% in 2014 (it is a controversial claim in some corners). Just one month ago China made an emergency ruling:

“The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the National Energy Administration (NEA) have ordered a halt to construction of coal-fired plants in 13 provinces where capacity is already in surplus, including major coal producers such as Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, and Shaanxi. A further 15 provinces will be required to delay construction of already-approved plants.”

This ruling probably has something to do to The China Central Television Headquarters in Beijing constantly being hidden with smog and an estimated 1.2 to 2 million deaths a year from air pollution. It also has to do with China pledging to be a player in the Paris Climate Agreement.

Energy Minister, Piyush Goyal, said in a recent press conference, “I think a new coal plant would give you costlier power than a solar plant. Of course, there are challenges of 24/7 power. We accept all of that – but we have been able to come up with a solar-based long-term vision that is not subsidy based.” Yesterday, from Dubai, we see an 800MW Solar PV plant being bid at $.0299/kWh – this price is very similar to the cheapest coal-based electricity in the world. Is coal starting to lose steam as the most prominent source of energy for the earth as a result of competitive pricing from Solar Power?

From the press release on SolarReserve’s website:

“SolarReserve, LLC, a leading global developer of utility-scale solar power projects with proprietary advanced solar thermal energy storage technology, and Shenhua Group Corporation, Ltd., a key state-owned enterprise in the People’s Republic of China, announced the companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to build 1,000 megawatts of solar thermal projects in China. SolarReserve’s solar storage technology solves the intermittency issues experienced with other renewable energy sources, enabling the delivery of 100% renewable baseload and dispatchable power with operational capabilities comparable to traditional fossil-fired and nuclear electricity generation methods.”

Alta Devices achieves 31.6% solar energy efficiency record

Alta Devices solar cells. Image source.

With its most recent solar efficiency record of 31.6%, Alta Devices continues to achieve solar efficiencies that are substantially higher than all other commercially available solar technologies.

According to Business Wire, this breakthrough, combined with its unique thinness and flexibility, redefines how solar technology can be used. In particular, Alta’s solar technology is of great interest in the UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) market. The increased power-to-weight ratio of Alta’s technology enables dramatically different possibilities for an aircraft using this technology versus any of the other solar power options.

As an example, on a typical HALE (high altitude long endurance) UAV aircraft, Alta’s solar material requires less than half of the surface area and weighs one-fourth as much while providing the same amount of power as competing thin film technologies. These savings open UAV designers to a variety of alternative design options. Additional batteries can be installed on the vehicle, providing longer operational life spans and flight times than originally considered. Alternatively, payload functionality can be tailored for higher speed or longer distance wireless communications. Either of these design optimizations translate into a considerable increase in economic value to the aircraft operator.

Our goal has always been to enable solar power to be useful in configurations and applications that have never before been possible,” said Rich Kapusta, Alta Devices Chief Marketing Officer. “The UAV application is an important example of how this happens.”

Alta Devices also provides solar technology for a variety of other applications including wearable devices and the Internet of Things (IoT) in order to eliminate the need for battery replacement or recharging.

31.6% efficiency certified by the NREL

Solar efficiency is measured and certified by the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). According to NREL’s testing, Alta Devices’ new dual-junction solar cell is the world’s most efficient 1-sun cell at 31.6% efficiency. This is the seventh overall solar efficiency record that Alta Devices has set since 2010.

Alta has achieved this breakthrough by modifying its basic “single-junction” gallium arsenide (GaAs) material. The company’s dual junction technology builds on the basic GaAs approach but implements a second junction (or layer) with Indium Gallium Phosphide (InGaP). Because InGaP uses high-energy photons more efficiently, the new dual-junction cell generates more electricity from the same amount of light than a single-junction device. With this breakthrough, Alta currently holds both the dual-junction and single-junction records at 31.6% and 28.8%, respectively.