Category: Market News

Boeing goes green with solar panels

Boeing has entered a partnership with South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) to provide 100% renewable energy at the production site for the Boeing 787 airplane.

Airplane makers, Boeing, have decided to go green with 100% renewable energy!

20% of this energy will be generated from thin-film solar laminate panels owned, installed and maintained by SCE&G.

The installation will be located on the roof of the facility and it’ll be the sixth largest of its kind in the United States.

Boeing 787 will be designed to consume less fuel and produce fewer emissions.

The solar installation will provide up to 2.6 megawatts of electrical power for the facility, enough to light up 250 average homes.

The site will also have point-of-use containers as well as recycling centers.

Rightly placed turbines may increase efficiency

Properly placed wind turbines can generate more energy.

South Australia’s University of Adelaide computer science research succeeded to understand where best these wind turbines may be placed to increase wind power.

Senior lecturer Dr Frank Neumann from the School of Computer Science has developed a step-by-step approach called “evolutionary algorithms”.

Dr Neumann has come to the University of Adelaide this year from Germany where he worked at the Max Planck Institute and now is working on wind turbine placement optimization in collaboration with researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“Renewable energy is playing an increasing role in the supply of energy worldwide and will help mitigate climate change,” says Dr Neumann.

Factors that will influence this development are size of land, wake effects, wind as a whole, wind turbines – their aerodynamics and the resulting complexities of the same.

According to Dr Neumann current approaches to solving this placement optimization can only deal with a small number of turbines.

China’s goal is 50 GW of solar power by 2020

China, the world’s largest polluter will make more investments in renewable energy.

China has some of the globe’s worst air and water quality but has an economy growing.

China doubled its target for solar power capacity to 50 gigawatts for 2020 because his power requirement is one of the highest in the world.

China vast experience in building solar panels will help her in building the necessary infrastructure for its own solar power needs.

Beijing has ordered safety inspections of the country’s nuclear plants and “temporarily” suspended approval of new and proposed projects following the disasters in Japan, but has said it will continue to develop the technology.

China hopes its installed solar power capacity will reach 10 gigawatts by 2015 and 50 gigawatts by the end of the decade.

Green Home made by Victoria University students

The architecture students designed a home, located at the Wellington waterfront which  packs 28 solar panels, 48 water-collecting tubes on the roof for a solar-powered hot water system, triple glazing and wool insulation.

This house cost 500.000$ to be built.

“We had what must have been two-and-a-half thousand people through, even though the weather was pretty blustery and cold.
The line was stretching back about 30 or 40 metres, and [on Saturday] even though it was pouring with rain, we still had up to 60 people inside the house at a time” said Nick Officer one of the architecture students behind the project.

Now this eco-house is in Frank Kitts Park till May 24 after which it will be dismantled, packed up and moved to Washington DC.

You can decreases electricity bills and pollutes less by charging EVs at night

How you can do this?

Researchers said that lower electricity rates aren’t the only reason to charge your electric car at night and they come with a theory that finds the fact that using electricity to charge your car at night pollutes a lot less.

Here’s how it happens.

According to this theory less ozone is emitted during nighttime charging. In the chemical reaction between hydrocarbons & nitrogen oxides will result lighter quantities of the byproduct in the air, because of the lack of sunlight.

Sunlight is the the main catalyst behind this reaction.

Yet the night seems to be the best time to recharge electric vehicles, less pollution and lower bills.


Mannvit acquires shares in GTN Latin America in Chile

Mannvit, a leading geothermal energy consulting company, becomes a shareholder in GTN Latin America, founded by Fundación Chile and GTN from Germany, to service the Chilean geothermal market.
Mannvit’s acquisition of shares in GTN Latin America (“GTN LA”) is a part  of the company’s strategic international growth plan and one that will provide needed geothermal industry expertise to Chile and the region as a whole. The acquisition of shares also allows Mannvit to expand its service offerings in renewable energy to South and Central America countries, while helping to pave the way for this growing industry in Chile. With over four decades of experience, the Iceland-based Mannvit has participated in development and construction of projects producing over 1000 MW in geothermal power and heating, adding to GTN LA’s capacity. GTN LA is a company founded by Fundacion Chile and GTN of Germany. The company offers innovative solutions for the direct use of geothermal energy.  Recent Chilean projects include geothermal heating and cooling systems.
“GTN LA’s range of services increases with the entrance of Mannvit, at a time when we can see a definite increase in the development of geothermal energy in Chile,” says Marcela Angulo, Head of Energy and Climate Change at Fundación Chile. “The services they offer is quite distinguished, and integrates decades-long experience in utilizing geothermal energy. For the Chilean market, we foresee the need to utilize their geothermal expertise for direct heat, electricity production and combined heat and power applications, all done with a strong emphasis on the sustainability of the geothermal resource, which we are confident will contribute to a greater acceptance of geothermal energy by communities and the general public,” she added.  Mannvit’s Deputy CEO, Runolfur Maack added, “We see a tremendous potential for geothermal energy in Chile and by becoming a part of GTN LA, Mannvit can contribute to the development of this growing industry in Chile and in South America”, adding that “because Mannvit offers technical services ranging from exploration and engineering of power plants to project management in every phase of geothermal projects, we can service the entire geothermal market”.
Geothermal energy has recently emerged as one of the best options to supply Chile’s growing economy with locally-sourced energy. Geothermal energy is clean, renewable energy that has proven itself to be highly competitive with traditional sources of power.  Further, geothermal is a proven technology with a high capacity factor and minimal impacts to the environment and neighboring communities.
Source: www.renewableenergy.com

Astenik Solar Announces Exclusive Partnership with Largest Solar Parts Manufacturer in China

Astenik Solar is pleased to announce an exciting partnership with Hangzhou First PV Material Co., the largest solar parts manufacturer in China, and a recognized global leader in providing superior quality PV materials for the solar industry.
The partnership recognizes Astenik Solar’s commitment to providing its clients with innovative solar products that have been developed after rigorous R&D and have achieved certification compliance.
“Our company is honoured to have been chosen as Hangzhou First PV Material Co.’s exclusive Canadian distributor,” said Marcus Lou, President of Astenik Solar. “This relationship will ensure that our customers have immediate access to the highest quality solar PV materials at affordable prices.”
Hangzhou First PV Material Co. was founded in 1994, and today, the company continues its rapid growth with three plants in China and a fourth under construction. Hangzhou First currently dominates 40% of the global solar EVA Film market with sales revenue of 6.6 GW in 2010. Over 600 panel manufacturers worldwide rely on Hangzhou for their solar product requirements.
“Entering the Canadian market is a natural extension of our global growth strategy,” said Mr. Lin JianHua, president of Hangzhou First PV Material Co. “Choosing the right distributor who is as committed to quality and service as our company is of critical importance. Astenik Solar is an excellent choice to be our valued partner, and we look forward to working together to provide the Canadian solar market with superior PV materials.”
Hangzhou First PV Material Co. received its UL, ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and QHSAS 18001 certifications which recognize the company’s commitment to excellence.
For its EVA film production capacity alone, Hangzhou is forecasting a doubling of its capacity over the next two years with 100 automated produced lines and 2000 workers by 2013.
Source: www.renewableenergy.com

Blue Sky Energy Unveils Universal Communication Module

Blue Sky Energy, Inc., a leading manufacturer of photovoltaic (PV) battery charge controllers introduces the Universal Communication Module (UCM) for its Solar BoostTM family of Maximum Power Point Tracking solar charge controllers. Blue Sky Energy’s IPN network based charge controllers coordinate their activities and share resources over the proprietary IPN network. The new UCM provides is a full featured communication bridge or gateway between IPN network based charge controllers and external system, including remote access over the Internet.
According to Melanie Cullen, V.P. of Operations and Marketing, “We are excited to bring the UCM’s web enabled capability to the charge controller market place. The UCM is compatible with all of Blue Sky Energy’s IPN compatible charge controllers and provides multiple standard communication interfaces including RS-485 Modbus, Ethernet based Modbus/IP, FTP data upload, and a built in web site server. Unlike other web enabled products the UCM’s built in web site server allows remote access to all charge controller data and setup parameters over the Internet without a subscription. If an IPN-ProRemote display is present on the IPN network it’s full featured battery system monitoring functionality and associated setup become available as well. The UCM also provides 128 days of data logging of key performance parameters which may be downloaded from the UCM’s web site.”
Source: www.renewableenergyworld.com

Solar steam generation power plant opens in Spain

Concentrated solar power plants use lenses or mirrors to heat fluid – such as synthetic oil – which in turn is used to generate high-pressure steam to drive a conventional turbine. A new experimental solar steam generation power plant that opened last week in southern Spain is aiming to improve on the efficiency of existing systems by using water as the direct working fluid and incorporating novel methods for storing the energy, so it can be dispensed even on cloudy days or at night.
The pilot plant is located in the municipality of Carboneras, and is the result of a collaboration between the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, or DLR) and Spanish utility company Endesa. It was officially put into use on March 31st.
The water in the receiver tubes is kept at a pressure of up to 120 bar (1740 psi), which results in the creation of superheated 500C (932F) steam. That higher temperature allows the whole process to work more efficiently, bringing down the cost of solar thermal power generation and making it a more viable option.
Heat gathered by the plant can be stored in both sensible and latent forms, for use in creating energy when the sun isn’t brightly shining. In the sensible heat system, heat from the steam is absorbed by a concrete storage system, so it can later be released to create more steam and drive the turbine. In the latent heat system, the steam is used to heat salt, which absorbs energy when it reaches a temperature of 305C (581F) and changes from a solid to a liquid state. When the salt cools back down below 305 degrees and reverts to its solid form, that energy is released.

Source: www.gizmag.com

Dutch Company to Invest in Bulgarian Solar Power Park

Dutch company Infinity Energy Holding AG will invest EUR 50 M in a solar power installation near the Bulgarian town of Devnya, near the Black Sea city of Varna.The announcement was made by the Chair of the Management Board of the company, Tjalling Halbertsma, after a meeting with the governor of the Varna district, Dancho Simeonov.
At present, the company is building the first part of the installation, which is expected to have a power of 5 MW. It has to be completed by the end of the year. In Bulgarian, Infinity energy Holding AG has contacts and is working with the company Solarpro. In Halbertsma’s words, the construction of the second part of the solar park, which will have a power of 10 MW, will begin after the Bulgarian Parliament adopts the law which defines the rates for sale of electricity from solar installations.
He also said that his company is interested in building wind farms in Bulgaria as well
The interest in Renewable Energy and in specific PV has been steadily growing for a number of years in the Balkan region. This region will continue to develop, and present opportunities for local and international businesses. A strong will to become less depended on fossil fuels is driving the market development.
Source: www.renewableenergyworld.com