South America – Solar Magazine

The Energy sell-off in Brazil postponed for November

energy seill off was postponed for a moth

The A-3 auction in Brazil has been postponed for a month

The renewable energy sell-off A-3 is programmed for November 18. The event is a premiere for the solar energy, for which is the first edition.. The auction was supposed to happen on the 25th of October.

The A-3 energy sell-off, the first sell-off in Brazil in the regulated market, that has been available to solar projects, was postponed for a month from the initial date set last July by the government. Still, this is the only modification announced by the government in Brazil, in the past week. This sell-off is announced to be opened to numerous technologies. The projects which win a prize in this competition need to function in 20116.

A number of companies have entered their solar project for the A-3 sell-off, in the past week. An example is renewable energy developer Bioenergy that as the local media reports, presented nine PV projects summing up 171 MW.

People also expect that solar photovoltaic applications will be a part of a different energy auction, the A5, which is to take place in December. The projects which will succeed there in the A-5, need to be functional in a 5 years period. Until now it was not announced if solar energy projects are allowed in this sell-off.

Until today, there has been no official announcement for a specific sell-off for solar energy, although there were signs from the government in that past showing that this is possible.

Roxana MORARU

A new South African PV project has Google’s $ 10m investment

Richard Needham, the Google director, announced that his company invested ZAR103 million, meaning US$10 million in the Jasper Project. The search engine giant believes that the African country can become a renewable energy driver for the entire continent.

Google’s director for energy and sustainability believes that there are points to take into account when analyzing PV investments. It can have an economic sense or it can attract other investments that will “bolster the growth of the renewable energy industry and move the world closer to a clean energy future”, in the director’s terms.

The failure of the Google’s investments is almost never revealed but Bloomberg did not failed to announce that the giant is one of the equity investors in the african PV project together with SolarReserve, a U.S project developer, development partner Kensani Capital Investments; Intikon Energy; the state-owned Development Bank of Southern Africa; non-profit organization P.E.A.C.E.; and state pension fund Public Investment Group.

The search engine giant never fails to announce its investments in renewable energy so Reuters says that the company funded $94 million of photovoltaic projects in California and launched a $280 million financing package with SolarCity for residential solar installations among with acquiring a 49% stake in a German solar project in 2011.

Roxana Moraru

Solar panels help the growth of coral reefs

Just like the rest of the environment around us the world’s coral reefs are in trouble, because of climate change and habitat destruction.

The researchers found a solution- to use electrified artificial reefs instead, called Biorocks.

Biorock start off as a Rebar skeleton structure or electrically-conductive wire mesh, called a Coral Ark, which it’s partially sunken or anchored into the seafloor with a solar panel floating on the surface above it, which provides a steady electrical current.

The electricity collected by the solar panels results in accretion coating the Ark with a natural concrete material very similar to that of clam shells.

With this, the structures can grow indefinitely—at a rate of 5cm annually—as precipitated materials add to the structure’s rigidity and will even repair themselves if damaged.

When these structures will solidify on the seafloor and will start more closely resemble natural reefs, they will begin to provide the same benefits of natural reefs which means a greater resistance to the incoming wave actions reduces the energy with which each wave hits the beach, allowing more suspended sand particles to be dropped on the beach.

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