Category: BUSINESS

IRENA launches the Global Atlas pocket. Image credit: IRENA

Businesses and individuals can make use of a free smartphone app to calculate the renewable energy generation potential of a given location.

According to Green Biz, the Global Atlas pocket was launched recently by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and is designed to allow renewable energy “prospectors” and investors to comprehensively research projects before making early investment decisions.

The app draws on data from 1,000 maps provided by 67 governments and 50 data centers, and is designed to provide detailed information on whether a region or site represents a good prospect for renewable energy generation.

Adnan Z. Amin, IRENA’s director-general, said the app will help make it is easier for renewable energy firms to identify viable projects, curbing some costs of development.

“One of the major hurdles to worldwide renewable energy deployment is reaching the needed levels of investment,” he said in a statement. “The Global Atlas pocket brings more investment certainty to renewable energy prospectors and investors. Users can freely access data from geothermal potentials in the Caribbean to solar potentials in the Middle East and anything in between. It is an incredibly powerful tool.”

The app is being targeted at energy firms, governments and community project developers and is available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry 10 smartphones.

Anita Marangoly George, senior director of the World Bank’s Energy and Extractives Global Practice, which supported development of the app, said it could prove particularly attractive to companies in developing countries.

“Through its Energy Sector Management Assistance Program, the World Bank is making data-rich renewable energy resource maps of 12 developing countries available through IRENA’s Global Atlas,” she said. “As renewable resources take on a central role in countries’ energy planning, this information becomes increasingly important to governments, citizens and the private sector.”

The smartphone is an extension of IRENA’s online Global Atlas portal, which allows users to visualize information on renewable energy resources from any computer.

Co-op upgrades EV users to wind power, at no extra cost. Image via windpowerengineering.com

Great River Energy and its participating member cooperatives launched Revolt, a first-of-its kind program that allows members to upgrade the electricity used to fuel their vehicles to wind energy at no additional cost.

According to Windpower Engineering, renewable sources are already part of Great River Energy’s power mix, but the Revolt program provides a more direct connection between wind energy and the electric vehicle driver.

“Our Revolt program allows consumers to further support the use of renewable energy. We are dedicating wind energy to completely cover the electricity that a consumer uses to fuel an electric vehicle for the vehicle’s lifetime,” said David Ranallo, Great River Energy Revolt program manager. “We’re thrilled to offer this innovative program and hope it acts as a spark to ignite awareness around electric vehicles in Minnesota.”

To be eligible for participation in Revolt, a cooperative member must currently own, purchase or lease a plug-in electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle by December 31, 2016. A household can enroll up to four electric vehicles in the program. Standard or off-peak rates still apply for electricity used to fuel the vehicles.

“Electric vehicle owners are already some of the happiest drivers on the planet because they know they’re making a positive impact on the environment,” said Jukka Kukkonen, a plug-in vehicle owner who is a principal in PlugInConnect, a Minnesota consulting firm. “The Revolt program adds an innovative element by powering the vehicles completely from wind energy, which I see only bolstering the satisfaction of owning an electric vehicle.”

In addition to electric vehicle enthusiasts, Revolt is being lauded by leaders of organizations across Minnesota that promote the use of renewable energy.

“There has never been so much innovation going in to producing vehicles that are faster, safer, cleaner, and cheaper and easier to maintain,” said Michael Noble, executive director of Fresh Energy, a nonprofit organization that advocates for acceleration of Minnesota’s transition to a clean energy economy.

“Refueling with renewable electricity is a great vision for Great River Energy to advance and is ready to become more common than fueling with gasoline within the next 20 years.”

“We applaud Great River Energy for giving customers 100 percent renewable wind energy to recharge their electric vehicles. Making sure renewables are generating the ‘juice’ for an electric vehicle is the right way to go and provides a win-win product for their members,” said Beth Soholt, executive director of Wind on the Wires, a nonprofit organization which works to bring wind energy to market.

Tesla’s new solar power battery. Photo credits Patrick T. Fallon/Reuters

Tesla debuted an array of solar power storage systems on Thursday, intended for both homes and businesses. The Powerwall and larger Power Pack systems will allow users to store most of the electricity from their solar panels and use it as needed — at night, on cloudy days, even when the grid goes down.

According to pri.org, the systems will be based on the same lithium-ion battery technology Tesla uses in its cars, packaged in a sleek design with new controls designed specifically for homes and businesses.

It’s not a new idea, or even revolutionary technology, but Musk and Tesla’s investors are making a multi-billion dollar bet that their move into the stationary electricity storage market will be a game changer. The company is building a giant $5 billion battery factory in Nevada, and expects its vast production capacity will bring costs down by 30 percent.

With a well-recognized and well-respected brand, Tesla likely has an edge in the market and a big opportunity to cash in on the growth of solar power, improvements in battery technology and the fact that few competitors have paid much attention to design and usability.

But Musk has made it clear that his ambitions go beyond the success of his businesses. In announcing the Powerwall and Power Pack systems, Tesla’s CEO said his company’s goal is to “fundamentally change the way the world uses energy on an extreme scale,” away from fossil fuels and to cleaner renewables like wind and solar.

Whether the company’s ambitions will be met, of course, remains to be seen. But some observers also have high hopes.

“When I read about it, I thought, ‘OK, let’s put one in my house,’” says Richard Hirsh, who teaches the history of science and technology at Virginia Tech. “I currently have a gasoline powered generator as a back-up unit because, where I live, we have had some power problems. But that’s always a pain. … I’d love to have a battery that will provide power when we don’t have it.”

Hirsh says physicists and battery makers have made incremental improvements in battery technology since the early 1800s, when Allesandro Volta of Italty first figured out how to make what we would today consider a battery. “A good, cheap, economical and efficient battery has been the Holy Grail for battery makers,” Hirsh says.

As to whether the company can deliver a commercially viable system for storing green power, Hirsch says he’s “hopeful that Tesla has come up with this — but only time will tell.”

Nyngan solar farm. Source: Reneweconomy

The Nyngan solar plant in western New South Wales began generating power into the National Electricity Market, with the first of the 25MW completed to date feeding into the Australia’s main grid.

According to Reneweconomy, far 350,000 solar PV panels have been installed by First Solar, with four times that much to be completed in the coming the months to take its nominated capacity to 102MW.

It is the first of two plants being built by AGL Energy, with the 53MW Broken Hill plant also under construction.

Nyngan is the first solar plant to be visible on the Australian Energy Market Operator’s market, as this graph provided by NEM Watch shows.

It is thought that there are several dozen large scale solar projects in planning mode – ranging from several MWs to “mega projects such as a 2GW plan for western Queensland, but most are on hold because of uncertainty about there renewable energy target.

The Nyngan and Broken Hill projects are being supported by funding under the government’s now defunct solar flagships program, with the funds now managed by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. The only other large solar plants being constructed are in the ACT, under the territory’s solar auction process.

AGL’s head of merchant energy, Anthony Fowler, said this is a significant milestone for Australia’s largest utility-scale solar PV plant.

“First generation represents a great achievement for all the project stakeholders. It has required close coordination between local electricity distributor Essential Energy, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), project partner First Solar and AGL to facilitiate this successful milestone,” Mr Fowler said.

The NSW Government, which contributed $64.9 million towards the $290 million plant, said it was strongly committed to the transition to renewable energy through projects such as this.

NSW Environment minister Rob Stokes said there are an estimated 13,000 jobs supported by renewable energy in NSW, mostly in regional areas. “The development of projects in regional NSW has the potential to provide traditional farming communities with alternative income streams that are not rainfall dependent,” Stokes said.

Jack Curtis, First Solar’s Asia-Pacific regional manager said the first generation at Nyngan represents an important milestone, especially as it relates to the broader power sector’s adoption of utility-scale solar as a meaningful contributor to Australia’s generation mix.

ARENA CEO Ivor Frischknecht congratulated AGL on the achievement and said the project is paving the way for more large-scale solar plants to be built in Australia.

“AGL’s solar project will help bring down the cost of similar plants, making them more competitive. In addition to creating jobs, boosting skills and contributing to local communities, the development of utility-scale solar is vital to a diverse energy future,” Frischknecht said.

It is thought that there are several dozen large scale solar projects in planning mode – ranging from several MWs to “mega projects such as a 2GW plan for western Queensland, but most are on hold because of uncertainty about there renewable energy targe.

PHOTO: Solar panels will be floated at the wastewater facility at Jamestown similar to a current project in France.

An Australian-first floating solar power plant it may be operational in South Australia by early April, with construction about to begin.

According to ABC News, the plant will float on a wastewater treatment facility in Jamestown in the state’s mid north.

Felicia Whiting of Infratech Industries said the plant was designed so that much of the construction could be carried out offsite and slotted together at the facility.

“We should see some plant on the site within about two weeks,” Ms Whiting said.

She also explained that as the solar panels were floating they would be kept cool by the water mass, making them about 57 per cent more efficient than land-based solar panels.

“It prevents water evaporation up to 90 per cent of the surface area covered, and for dry states and dry climates that’s a big water saving measure,” Ms Whiting said.

“It prevents the outbreak of blue-green algae by keeping the surface water cool, which is for treated wastewater an issue in water quality.

“By preventing photosynthesis, the energy from the sun goes into the panel rather than into the water.”

Jamestown solar farm to showcase technology

Infratech has developed floating solar power plants in countries such as France and South Korea, but the company had seen them as test sites for the new and improved model planned for South Australia.

“The plants that we had operating overseas were really behind the meter and not at the utility level and certainly didn’t have some of the sophistication,” Ms Whiting said.

The South Australian plant was expected to produce not only enough energy to power its co-located wastewater treatment facility, but have excess power flow-on to the township of Jamestown.

“The water treatment plants are heavy uses of power for the actual water treatments and pumping,” Ms Whiting said.

“Quite sustainably, with no additional use of land, we can use the water surface to power the water treatment facility.

“In addition to that, because we’re so efficient, we’re able to export power to the township.”

Ms Whiting said that once operational, the plant would become Infratech’s showpiece for export around the world.

“We’ve invested our whole research and development program in this technology over the past two years in South Australia,” she said.

“We have other councils waiting to have a look at this and see how it might be adapted to a water basin or a community wastewater management scheme.

“We are using Australian engineering and it’s an Australian supply chain – that will be taken internationally.”

Google is preparing to conduct test flights of its solar-powered internet drones in the next few months

Google is working on Project Titan programme, which aims to provide internet services with solar-powered drones to four billion people in rural and remote areas who have no internet access.

Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Google senior vice-president Sundar Pichai said the lightweight drones will hover over certain areas, and serve as remote satellites to provide web connectivity.

While Project Titan is designed to focus on specific, narrower areas, Google’s Project Loon covers greater regions using balloons, which will act as floating cell towers.

“Google is working on Project Titan programme, which aims to provide internet services to four billion people in rural and remote areas who have no internet access.”

According to Aerospace Technology, Google has been seeking to strengthen its capabilities in the aerospace segment, and leverage the expertise to expand web access to isolated parts of the world.

In line with these plans, the company acquired Skybox Imaging and Titan Aerospace in 2014.

Titan Aerospace is working on solar-powered internet drones, which can fly at an altitude of 65,000ft for up to five years, and offer data speeds of up to one gigabit a second.

Google is also working on Project Wing to develop drones that could be used for goods deliveries.

Earlier this year, the company participated in SpaceX’s $1bn financing round and acquired a stake of less than 10% with Fidelity Investments.

Cook Medical to build one of the largest PERC solar installations

Cook Medical partnered with Positronic Solar and WINAICO to build one of the largest PERC solar installations in Asia Pacific – 99.90kW

According to a press release, world leading medical device manufacturer, Cook Medical, has taken one giant leap to reduce its carbon footprint and power bill, by installing a 706 square metre field of solar panels on its roof in Brisbane. The installation is the largest of its kind in Asia Pacific, utilising advanced solar panel technology called PERC (passivated emitter- rear contact).

“We have a roof and lots of sun, so harnessing solar power was an obvious solution to reduce costs for us and the environment. The investment was significant, but even so we expect our solar panels will pay for themselves within 15 years,” Barry Thomas, Cook Medical Vice President and Managing Director of Cook Medical Australia said. “Using alternative energy to power manufacturing still isn’t mainstream, but given the benefits it’s completely logical. We’ve chosen an extremely efficient technology, and the panels are now offsetting on average 30 per cent of the power we use each day.”

The installation of the panels was finished in January, and was carried out by local company, Positronic Solar, who recommended and installed the custom-design. John Inglis, Director of Positronic Solar was impressed by Cook Medical’s commitment to alternative energy. “When we put in our proposal we were very honest about what was achievable and the best technology for Cook Medical’s solar panels. They appreciated our straightforward approach, and chose an effective solution to offset a significant majority of their power use,” said Mr Inglis. “The design utilises Schneider-Electric inverters and WINAICO high efficiency PERC 280 W monocrystalline modules – some of the most advanced technology available. The panels are not only efficient even in low light, but also perform very well at high temperatures – which is of course very important here in Queensland.”

Cook Medical

Cook Medical Australia was established in 1979 and has grown to a headcount of over 500 people at their headquarters in Eight Mile Plains where its headquarters are based.

Founded in 1963, Cook Medical pioneered many of the medical devices now commonly used to perform minimally invasive medical procedures throughout the body. Today, the company integrates medical devices, drugs and biologic grafts to enhance patient safety and improve clinical outcomes. Since its inception, Cook has operated as a family-held private corporation.

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