Category: Energy Market

The Army plans to install microgrids in Afghanistan

To reduce its energy the Army plans to install microgrids in Afghanistan.

The Army said earlier this week that they will deploy a system designed to use fuel more efficiency and pave the way solar and wind power in the field.

Now, the Army uses diesel generators to power its bases which have a significant financial and military cost as fuel convoys are often targets for attack.

The Army plans to save fuel with the new microgrids.

The microgrid bases will be formed from four generators able to produce one megawatt.

The microgrids will include controls to integrate power generated from solar panels and storage systems.

“They’re being designed so that a soldier can just hook them up any way and plug things in and not have to worry about doing prior analysis of how the power grid should be laid out or what load should be placed where,” said Chris Wildman, the Hybrid Intelligent Power program lead, in a statement.

The strategy of U.S Army is to minimize the amount money spent on fuel, using solar panels for diesel generators and portable solar panels for soldiers on patrol.

SolAir – a new hybrid wind/solar power generator

This new invention named SolAir is a small wind turbine combined with solar panels.

Each device has three rotating blades, a 64 radius, and weighs approximately 60 lbs.

A solar panel 40 square inches in size is integrated into the micro wind turbines.

These SolAir’s are getting quite popular in San Diego, because they can generate power in winds anywhere from 6 mph to 60 mph.

SolAirs are often installed along the roof line of residential or commercial buildings, but they can be used in a variety of locations.

SolAir product is ideal for many parts of the country because the small wind feature combined with solar panels allows for electricity generation on sunny days with little wind or windy days with/without sun.

State incentives and federal income tax credits can reportedly cover up to 50-70% of the total cost of the micro clean energy system.

SolAir ha a quick process of install and once installed you start saving money on your electric bill.

The world most efficient EV

The T.27 city car, designed by Prof. Gordon Murray is claimed to be the world’s most efficient electric car.

Also, Gordon Murray had designed McLaren F1.

He has been working on this project since a long time, and finally it has come out into the open.

Prof. Gordon Murray dreamed to make an electrically driven car ever since he unveiled McLaren F1 and he work on this project over the past three years.

The T.27 has a size that can easily fit into a single parking space.

It can accommodate three people inside, including the driver and has a massive upwards-swinging door.

The electric midget is a product of real innovation with a fully integrated electric motor, control system and battery design.

The vehicle isn’t a super car, because it has a top speed of 60mph; however the little vehicle leaves behind Mitsubishi’s i-Miev and the electric Smart Car with its efficiency.

It is 36% and 29% more efficient than i-Miev and Smart car respectively.

The vehicle can reach 100 miles on its charge and possesses a 33-horsepower electric motor charged by lithium-ion batteries.

The little T.27, it got tested under the strict Euro-NCAP safety standards and has been given” First Class” recognition.

A new type of solar cells who can harness energy from infrared spectrum

A new solar cell has been designed by researchers at the University of Toronto.

This solar cell can be useful in creating cost effective thin coatings capable of efficiently converting solar power into electricity.

The solar cell is based on colloidal quantum dots.

In search for an efficient infrastructure that would harness the potential of the sun’s visible as well as infrared spectrum, the researchers have been successful in designing a device.

“The device is a stack of two light-absorbing layers — one tuned to capture the sun’s visible rays, the other engineered to harvest the half of the sun’s power that lies in the infrared,” said lead author Dr. Xihua Wang.

The CQD solar cells are made of nanoscale materials that can readily be tuned to respond to specific wavelengths of the visible and invisible spectrum.

This new devices can function with higher efficiency when compared to the conventional solar cells.

These solar cells can in principle reach up to 42 per cent efficiencies, while the best single-junction solar cells are constrained to a maximum of 31 per cent efficiency.

The solar cells that are packed into consumer goods or those that adorn roof tops have an average efficiency of 14-18 percent.

Solar powered ATM

If you thought banknotes will be the greenest thing of an ATM, you were wrong.

Expert Group, Inc. announced that it will deploy In Miami the first solar-powered ATM.

The ATMs will be installed throughout Miami in high traffic outdoor areas, said Robert Rico, Chairmen of Expert Financing, Inc.

The ATMs will use solar energy because they are powered by solar panels installed on the top of the ATM.

Part of the collected energy is stored in the power controller for the ATM’s night operation.

The company plans to set up about a 100 of these green ATM machines in Miami soon.

1 Million Solar Water Heaters in Africa by 2015

A major green initiative will take place in Africa.

Eskom, the South African utility has announced a plan to install 1 million solar water heaters by 2015 and for many they will be free, because Eskom will offer free 110 liter capacity solar water heaters to the families who use paraffin heaters that cause air pollution.

Even for families that do not qualify for free electricity, Eskom offers rebates of up to 120% of the heater cost.

The use of solar heaters will make sense in this sunshine abundant nation.

Until now, Eskom has installed 30.000 free solar water heaters in just one township, and rebates offered to many wealthier families also.

The solar water heater consists of a water tank and a set of evacuated glass tubes that are solar collectors.

On clear sunny days, the water temperature can reach 55 degrees Celsius or higher.

South Africa is emitting 50% of the entire continent’s greenhouse gas emissions; this explains the large number of solar installations.

Another part of the country’s efforts is an ambitious plan to build a huge 5GW solar thermal power plant that could single-handedly provide 10% of the nation’s electricity needs.

The first 1GW is expected to feed into the grid in 2012.

Solar thermal market is decreasing

A new report has been released focusing on two renewable energy technologies: solar thermal energy for hot domestic water heating and concentrating solar power (CSP) for electricity generation.

The EurObserv’ER Solar Thermal Barometer shows different fortunes for the two solar thermal technologies.

It seems the recession threw black spots over the European solar thermal market throughout 2010.

For the second year running, new installations for hot water production and space heating (collectors) decreased.

According to the EurObserv’ER survey the newly-assigned surface area was 3.8 million square meters in 2010, down from 4.2 million square meters in 2009 and 4.6 million square meters in 2008.

Total EU solar thermal collectors at the end of 2010 was 25 135.6 MWth.

Five EU countries, mostly Mediterranean, intend to develop the sector.

According to experts the solar thermal market will pick up again in 2011 because the European markets have recovered maybe except the Spanish market.

The key to future growth will be driven by future conventional energy price trends.

The first hybrid electric aircraft by Siemens

At the 2011 Paris Air Show, Siemens presented the first serial hybrid electric aircraft.

This is a partnership project among Siemens, aircraft manufacturer Diamond Aircraft Industries, and aerospace giant EADS.

The DA36 E-Star is consists of two-seater and uses a serial hybrid electric drive train in which a main engine is powered alternately by a gasoline-powered generator and batteries.

The aircraft has a 70-kilowatt Siemens engine and use additional EADS batteries during takeoff and ascent.

The plane’s range is limited by the number of batteries and the amount of fuel it can carry.

The public debut was at the 2011 Paris Air Show but its actual aerial debut was on June 8 in Vienna.

Corsica started to become attractive for the solar sector

Corsica, the fourth largest Mediterranean island enjoys a high degree of autonomy.

This island has a high solar radiation levels, between 1,750 and 1,900 kWh/m2, they are the highest in all of Europe.

Local authorities have a strong influence on the licensing of solar parks.

The island offers feed-in tariffs comparable to the French overseas departments and territories.

In France is a rule that wind or solar parks cannot feed in more than 30% of the electricity consumed in the region where they are installed.

The rule is applied to all systems with a capacity of more than 3kW.

Corsica is for most part mountainous and covered with forests, which makes it difficult to find suitable locations for solar parks.

One success story comes from White Owl Capital AG based in Berlin, Germany.

The company, which has specialized on renewable energy investments, and recently obtained licenses for the construction of two solar power plants with a total annual capacity of 5 MW.

The projects will incorporate 21.800 polycrystalline modules supplies by Trina Solar and be built on a surface of 11 hectares.

One of the first solar companies that became active in Corsica is juwi Solar.

In 2009 the company starts the construction of a new solar park on the island.

With a nominal capacity of 7, 7 MW the system was built on a surface of more than 30 hectares.

The solar plant that can generate solar power even at night

The world’s first solar power station that generates electricity at night is Gemasolar Power Plant near Seville in southern Spain which consists of an incredible 2,650 solar panels spread across 185 hectares of rural land.

The mirrors – known as heliostats – focus 95 per cent of the sun’s radiation onto a giant receiver at the centre of the plant.

This ingeniously and rather scrupulously conceived £260million ($425 million) power station is actually collaborative effort by Abu Dhabi energy company Masdar and a branch of Spanish engineering firm SENER called Torresol Energy.

Heat of up to 900C is used to warm molten salt tanks, which create steam to power the £260million station’s turbines.

But, unlike all other solar power stations, the heat stored in these tanks can be released for up to 15 hours overnight, or during periods without sunlight.

The sunny weather of southern Spain rather sustains the solar energy during most of the yearly mornings which allows the plant to generate clean and green electricity at an estimated 270 days per year, 3 times more than other renewable solar projects.

It is expected to produce 110 GWh/year – enough to power 25,000 homes in the Andalucia region.