May 09, 2008
SUNRGI Develops XCPV System That Produces Solar Power As Cheap As Fossil Fuels
SUNRGI Develops XCPV System That Produces Solar Power As Cheap As Fossil Fuels
SUNRGI is a company which designs and develops solar energy systems, and they presented their latest project at National Energy Marketers Association’s 11th Annual Global Energy Forum in Washington, DC. They created a technology what could produce electricity from solar power as cheap as coal.
The technology is based on XCPV (Xtreme Concentrated Photovoltaics) which amplifies by 1,600 the energy coming from the Sun. This energy is concentrated on very efficient solar cells which will produce the electricity at a cost of 5 cents per kWh.
Craig Goodman, president of the National Energy Marketers Association, was very excited by this technology and he stated that "Solar Power at 5 cents per kWh would be a world-changing breakthrough. It would make solar generation of electricity as affordable as generation from coal, natural gas or other non-renewable sources, without requiring a subsidy".
Posted by Sun at 11:07 PM | Comments (0)
March 31, 2008
2 big projects will amp up solar power in Southland
2 big projects will amp up solar power in Southland
Solar energy is getting a big boost in Southern California with the unveiling of two projects that will be capable of generating a total of 500 megawatts of electricity, enough to serve more than 300,000 homes.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Southern California Edison plan to announce today the country's largest rooftop solar installation project ever proposed by a utility company. And on Wednesday, FPL Energy, the largest operator of solar power in the U.S., said it planned to build and operate a 250-megawatt solar plant in the Mojave Desert.
The projects would help California meet its goal of obtaining 20% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2010. In 2006, about 13% of the retail electricity delivered by Edison and the state's other two big investor-owned utilities came from renewable sources such as sun and wind, according to the California Public Utilities Commission.
Energy experts were struck by the size of the two projects, which would bolster the state's current total of about 965 megawatts of solar power flowing to the electricity grid.
"Five hundred megawatts -- that's substantial," said spokesman George Douglas of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. "Projects of that size begin to show that solar energy can produce electricity on a utility scale, on the kind of scale that we're going to need."
The Edison rooftop project will place photovoltaic cells on 65 million square feet of commercial building roofs in Southern California. The cells will generate as much as 250 megawatts of electricity -- enough to power about 162,500 average homes, based on the utility's estimate that one megawatt would serve about 650 average homes.
Posted by Sun at 04:10 AM | Comments (0)
March 29, 2008
Eco-Millionaires See Boom Times Ahead
Eco-Millionaires See Boom Times Ahead
Mankind's response to climate change will shift how the world gets its energy and is already making "green barons" out of early investors in renewable energy, clean technologies and carbon trading.
Solar Technology
Bruce Khouri, co-founder of Solar Integrated Technologies, based in Los Angeles is one of a number entrepreneurs who are cashing in on the energy revolution and who say there is more money to be made.
At the age of 48, Khouri has made $5 million (NZ$7.3 million) by cashing in shares in the company and still holds an $11 million (NZ$16 million) stake in the company, which makes lightweight solar panels for commercial roofs. He saw the opportunity while running his own industrial roofing firm.
Posted by Sun at 03:20 AM | Comments (0)
March 20, 2008
Enough solar power for 90% of the grid
Ausra: Solar Power Around the Clock, Enough for 90% of U.S. Grid : TreeHugger
Nobody can fault Ausra for lack of ambition. The solar power-plant maker has released a peer-reviewed paper claiming that solar-thermal electricity could power 90% of the US grid, with enough left over for plug-in hybrid cars. "The company estimates that such a changeover would eliminate 40 percent of the country's greenhouse gas emissions with a land footprint of 9,600 square miles, about the size of Vermont".
"How can that be?", you ask. "Isn't solar power only available when the sun shines?"
The way Ausra's technology works is that mobile reflectors concentrate sun light on pipes. Water goes through them and is heated up enough to produce high pressure steam, which then turns a turbine to generate electricity. The twist is that they also store enough hot water to keep going around the clock, or increase production on demand.
Posted by Sun at 10:24 PM | Comments (0)
February 14, 2008
Sandia, Stirling Energy Systems set new world record for solar-to-grid conversion efficiency
Sandia, Stirling Energy Systems set new world record for solar-to-grid conversion efficiency
On a perfect New Mexico winter day — with the sky almost 10 percent brighter than usual — Sandia National Laboratories and Stirling Energy Systems (SES) set a new solar-to-grid system conversion efficiency record by achieving a 31.25 percent net efficiency rate. The old 1984 record of 29.4 percent was toppled Jan. 31 on SES’s "Serial #3" solar dish Stirling system at Sandia's National Solar Thermal Test Facility.
The conversion efficiency is calculated by measuring the net energy delivered to the grid and dividing it by the solar energy hitting the dish mirrors. Auxiliary loads, such as water pumps, computers and tracking motors, are accounted for in the net power measurement.
"Gaining two whole points of conversion efficiency in this type of system is phenomenal," says Bruce Osborn, SES president and CEO. "This is a significant advancement that takes our dish engine systems well beyond the capacities of any other solar dish collectors and one step closer to commercializing an affordable system."
Serial #3 was erected in May 2005 as part of a prototype six-dish model power plant at the Solar Thermal Test Facility that produces up to 150 kilowatts (kW) of grid-ready electrical power during the day. Each dish unit consists of 82 mirrors formed in a dish shape to focus the light to an intense beam.
The solar dish generates electricity by focusing the sun’s rays onto a receiver, which transmits the heat energy to a Stirling engine. The engine is a sealed system filled with hydrogen. As the gas heats and cools, its pressure rises and falls. The change in pressure drives the pistons inside the engine, producing mechanical power, which in turn drives a generator and makes electricity.
Lead Sandia project engineer Chuck Andraka says that several technical advancements to the systems made jointly by SES and Sandia led to the record-breaking solar-to-grid conversion efficiency. SES owns the dishes and all the hardware. Sandia provides technical and analytical support to SES in a relationship that dates back more than 10 years.
Sandia is a National Nuclear Security Administration laboratory.
Andraka says the first and probably most important advancement was improved optics. The Stirling dishes are made with a low iron glass with a silver backing that make them highly reflective —focusing as much as 94 percent of the incident sunlight to the engine package, where prior efforts reflected about 91 percent. The mirror facets, patented by Sandia and Paneltec Corp. of Lafayette, Colo., are highly accurate and have minimal imperfections in shape.
Both improvements allow for the loss-control aperture to be reduced to seven inches in diameter — meaning light is highly concentrated as it enters the receiver.
Other advancements to the solar dish-engine system that helped Sandia and SES beat the energy conversion record were a new, more effective radiator that also costs less to build and a new high-efficiency generator.
While all the enhancements led to a better system, one aspect made it happen on a beautiful New Mexico winter day — the weather.
"It was a 'perfect storm' of sorts," Andraka says. “We set the record on Jan. 31, a very cold and extremely bright day, a day eight percent brighter than normal."
The temperature, which hovered around freezing, allowed the cold portion of the engine to operate at about 23 degrees C, and the brightness means more energy was produced while most parasitic loads and losses are constant. The test ran for two and a half hours, and a 60-minute running average was used to evaluate the power and efficiency data, in order to eliminate transient effects. During the testing phase, the system produced 26.75 kW net electrical power.
Posted by Sun at 07:21 PM | Comments (0)
February 11, 2008
esolar
Breakthrough: Concentrated Solar Power All Over Southwest US | SolveClimate.com
You are looking at a picture of the solar power plant now being developed all over the American southwest by a company called eSolar. Notice: no smokestacks; no coal chutes; no rail lines stretching to the horizon for coal trains to approach. It's a beautiful sight.
Posted by Sun at 01:42 PM | Comments (0)
January 12, 2008
Ausra plans Las Vegas solar factory
Ausra plans Las Vegas solar factory - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:
Solar technology developer Ausra Inc. said Thursday it is building a factory in the Nevada desert that will turn out equipment for large-scale solar thermal farms.
Palo Alto-based Ausra said the Las Vegas facility will create the components used by solar facilities in the sunny Southwest, including a farm Ausra wants to build in San Luis Obispo County.
In November, Ausra said it inked a deal with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. for 177 megawatts of solar power from the San Luis Obispo plant, which it said should begin producing by 2010.
Ausra's power plants drive steam turbines with sunshine. Locally manufactured solar concentrators made of steel and glass focus sunlight to boil water, generating high-pressure steam that drives conventional turbine generators. New thermal energy storage systems using pressurized water and low cost materials will provide for on-demand generation day and night.
Earlier this year the company received more than $40 million in its first round of funding from Khosla Ventures and from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which both have offices in Menlo Park.
Posted by Sun at 09:06 PM | Comments (0)
January 07, 2008
A solar Grand Plan
A Solar Grand Plan: Scientific American
# A massive switch from coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear power plants to solar power plants could supply 69 percent of the U.S.’s electricity and 35 percent of its total energy by 2050.
# A vast area of photovoltaic cells would have to be erected in the Southwest. Excess daytime energy would be stored as compressed air in underground caverns to be tapped during nighttime hours.
# Large solar concentrator power plants would be built as well.
# A new direct-current power transmission backbone would deliver solar electricity across the country.
Posted by Sun at 08:55 AM | Comments (0)
November 25, 2007
Solar Hydrogen House
The First Ever Solar Hydrogen House | Got2BeGreen
A civil engineer, Mike Strizki, lives in and constructed the first ever solar hydrogen house that runs completely from “homemade energy”. By using solar panels, hydrogen fuel cells, storage tanks and an electrolyzer, he’s able to convert electricity generated from renewable sources into hydrogen.
Sunny days produce more than enough electricity to power his house so the excess is then used to power the electrolyzer to transform a tank of water into the base elements: oxygen and hydrogen. This amazing setup provides year around power to his home, yielding an utility bill of zero.
The oxygen is released into the atmosphere while the hydrogen is stored in ten 1,000 gallon propane tanks on his property. When the solar panels collect less energy during the winter months, the hydrogen is piped to an air conditioner size fuel cell located outside his garage to create the electricity.
Posted by Sun at 03:47 AM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2007
Solar power edges towards boom time
Solar power edges towards boom time | Environment | Reuters
Solar power could be the world's number one electricity source by the end of the century, but until now its role has been negligible as producers wait for price parity with fossil fuels, industry leaders say.
Once the choice only of idealists who put the environment before economics, production of solar panels will double both next year and in 2009, according to U.S. investment bank Jefferies Group Inc, driven by government support especially in Germany and Japan.
Similar support in Spain, Italy and Greece is now driving growth in southern Europe as governments turn to the sun as a weapon both against climate change and energy dependence.
Posted by Sun at 10:48 PM | Comments (0)
October 11, 2007
Brockton, MA Adopts Solar Initiative
Brockton, Massachusetts Adopts Solar Initiatives (TreeHugger)
About a half hour south of Boston is the city of Brockton, Mass. with just under 100,000 residents. Once known as an industrial hub and dependent on manufacturing, the city has recently gone through some tough times with the economy. But here in New England, it is now a leader and a huge education tool.
Last month, the largest solar array of all six states went online in Brockton and by the end of the year it will produce more solar energy than any other city or town in Massachusetts. Built on the site of a former coal gasification plant, the new facility is expected to produce enough electricity to power 71 homes.
The solar panels were built locally by SCHOTT Solar of Billerica, Mass. which manufactures the largest solar panels in the country. Because of this, 80% of the project’s funds stayed within the state. But that’s not the only solar project that is putting Brockton on the map right now.
In a different part of the city, Johnson Square Builders of Brockton is constructing New England’s first solar powered condo complex. By the end of the year, each of the 26 townhouses will include rooftop solar panels, built by Evergreen Solar of Marlborough, Mass, that will be designed to provide 70-100% of each unit’s electrical needs.
The complex will be energy efficient and will also include underground tanks that will store 40,000 gallons of rainwater. Builders and developers of the 1,100 square foot units are hoping for LEED platinum certification.
Posted by Sun at 01:45 AM | Comments (0)
September 28, 2007
PG&E Solar Projects
FPL and PG&E team with Ausra on solar projects�|�Tech&Sci�|�Science�|�Reuters.com
Two of the nation's biggest power companies are teaming up with a solar start-up to create one of the world's largest solar power projects, which they say could make electricity at a competitive price.
PG&E Corp, FPL Corp and solar thermal power generator Ausra Inc unveiled plans on Thursday for utility-scale solar plants which they claim will produce electricity at a price comparable with conventional fossil-fuel power plants.
The announcement represents the commitment among the three companies to build 2,000 megawatts of solar thermal plants in several states, starting in California where PG&E is based, and Florida, where FPL has its headquarters. It was made at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, former President Bill Clinton's annual philanthropic meeting.
The overall project of at least $5 billion will be able to generate enough power for almost 1 million homes.
Developing large-scale thermal solar power plants is seen as a major step in cutting costs for renewable power and making it an economically viable alternative to coal-fired power, even without government subsidies
Posted by Sun at 04:08 AM | Comments (0)
Storing Solar power efficiently
Technology Review: Storing Solar Power Efficiently
Solar proponents love to boast that just a few hundred square kilometers' worth of photovoltaic solar panels installed in Southwestern deserts could power the United States. Their schemes come with a caveat, of course: without backup power plants or expensive investments in giant batteries, flywheels, or other energy-storage systems, this solar-power supply would fluctuate wildly with each passing cloud (not to mention with the sun's daily rise and fall and seasonal ebbs and flows). Solar-power startup Ausra, based in Palo Alto, thinks it has the solution: solar-thermal-power plants that turn sunlight into steam and efficiently store heat for cloudy days.
"Fossil-fuel proponents often say that solar can't do the job, that solar can't run at night, solar can't run the economy," says David Mills, Ausra's founder and chairman. "That's true if you don't have storage." He says that solar-thermal plants are the solution because storing heat is much easier than storing electricity. Mills estimates that, thanks to that advantage, solar-thermal plants capable of storing 16 hours' worth of heat could provide more than 90 percent of current U.S. power demand at prices competitive with coal and natural gas. "There's almost no limit to how much you can put into the grid," he says.
Major utilities are buying the idea. In July, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) signed a 25-year deal with Ausra competitor Solel Solar Systems of Beit Shemesh, Israel, to buy power from a 553-megawatt solar-thermal plant that Solel is developing in California's Mojave Desert. The plant will supply 400,000 homes in northern and central California when it is completed in 2011. Florida Power & Light, meanwhile, hired Solel to upgrade the 1980s-era solar-thermal plants it operates in the Mojave.
Ausra, meanwhile, is negotiating with PG&E to supply power from a 175-megawatt plant that it plans to build in California, for which it secured $40 million in venture financing this month.
What distinguishes Ausra's design is its relative simplicity. In conventional solar-thermal plants such as Solel's, a long trough of parabolic mirrors focuses sunlight on a tube filled with a heat-transfer fluid, often some sort of oil or brine. The fluid, in turn, produces steam to drive a turbine and produce electricity. Ausra's solar collectors employ mass-produced and thus cheaper flat mirrors, and they focus light onto tubes filled with water, thus directly producing steam. Ausra's collectors produce less power, but that power costs less to produce.
One megawatt's worth of Ausra's solar collectors has been producing steam in New South Wales, Australia, since 2004; the steam is fed into the turbines of a primarily coal-fired power plant. The final piece of the system--a proprietary heat-energy-storage system--should be ready by 2009.
Posted by Sun at 03:53 AM | Comments (0)
September 23, 2007
Future Looks Bright for Large Scale Solar Farms
Slashdot | Future Looks Bright for Large Scale Solar Farms
"The economist reports that Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems that capture and focus the sun's rays to heat a working fluid and drive a turbine, are making a comeback. Although the world's largest solar farm was built over twenty years ago, until recently no new plants have been built. Now with the combination of federal energy credits, the enactment of renewable energy standards in many states, and public antipathy to coal fired power plant, the first such plant to be built in decades started providing 64 megawatts of electricity to Las Vegas this summer. Electricity from the Nevada plant costs an estimated 17 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), but projections suggest that CSP power could fall to below ten cents per kWh as the technology improves. Coal power costs just 2-3 cents per kWh but that will likely rise if regulation eventually factors in the environmental costs of the carbon coal produces."
Posted by Sun at 04:04 PM | Comments (0)
September 10, 2007
Solar thermal technology, which uses heat to generate electricity, is on its comeback tour.
Solar thermal plants go back to the future | CNET News.com
"We're talking about the U.S. producing its electricity and electricity for vehicles entirely within its borders. The implications for this are enormous," said David Mills, Ausra's founder and chief scientific officer who spent several years doing the basic research for the company's technology.
Solar thermal
Ausra's plants are made up of hundreds of glass-covered metal "collectors" that concentrate sunlight on a tube filled with water. The water becomes steam which turns a conventional steam turbine.
High-pressure water storage tanks allow the company's solar thermal power plants to keep several hours' worth of electricity on tap, addressing one of the biggest hurdles of large-scale renewable energy, according to company executives.
Posted by Sun at 11:08 PM | Comments (0)
August 29, 2007
Algiera's Solar Oasis
Solar industry could rise in the Sahara - Green Machines - MSNBC.com
ALGIERS, Algeria - It’s a vision that has long enticed energy planners: solar panels stretching out over vast swaths of the Sahara desert, soaking up sun to generate clean, green power.
Now Algeria, aware that its oil and gas riches will one day run dry, is gearing up to tap its sunshine on an industrial scale for itself and even Europe.
Work on its first plant began late last month at Hassi R’mel, 260 miles south of Algiers, the capital. The plant will be a hybrid, using both sun and natural gas to generate 150 megawatts. Of that, 25 megawatts will come from giant parabolic mirrors stretching over nearly 2 million square feet — roughly 45 football fields.
Posted by Sun at 03:15 AM | Comments (0)
July 20, 2007
BP solar expansion
Solar production capacity is expanding at the BP Solar-owned Frederick MD, USA plant. Ground breaking has taken place on a "$97 million expansion project that will further bolster the facility's output of solar energy products...Already the largest fully integrated solar plant in North America, the plan is to nearly double the current casting and sizing capacity to approximately 150 MW and will create approximately 70 new jobs."
"Exactly nine months ago, the company announced it would invest $70 million in the project. That figure has now been increased to $97 million, which will allow for space to further enlarge its manufacturing capacity to 400+ MW in its casting, sizing, and wafering processes. Construction is slated for completion by the end of 2009."
BP Solar announced that it will implement LEED(TM) design components such as energy efficient lighting, cooling and heating, plus a roof garden and extensive water recycling measures. And, that it will "contribute $100,000 to the Maryland Solar Schools program. Administered by the Solar Schools Foundation, the program assists schools in the installation of solar electric systems, provides curriculum guidance, technical assistance, and can provide limited grants to help defray the high upfront cost of solar."
Posted by Sun at 12:24 PM | Comments (0)
July 07, 2007
Solar energy in space to power India
India is working intensely on having a solar power generation station in space to meet the nation’s ever growing energy requirements. The “hyperplane,” which needs to transport the infrastructure into space, will make a demonstrative flight at the 2008 end.
“India’s hypersonic air and space transport activity are now sharp focussed on energy production through space solar power by having solar power stations in orbit. The era of expendable launch vehicles should end and reusable launch vehicles (RLV) are needed”, Defence Research and Development Organisation’s chief controller, R&D, Mr VK Saraswath said.
On how best the scientific community and industry will meet this challenge will be the focus on the two-day conference on hypersonic technology for trans-atmospheric air and space transportation, which will be inaugurated by President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam on Friday.
Mr Saraswath said RLVs are needed to make this mission cost effective. The hypersonic technology demonstrator vehicle (HTDV) is basically a fast transport vehicle into space. DRDO is making the HTDV, while Isro is making the RLV. Interestingly, the scram jets needed for these vehicles to work are currently being tested in Hyderabad.
Former chairman of Bharat Dynamic Ltd Mr Gopalaswamy, who made pioneering work in this field, is widely regarded as a “missionary” for solar energy. “The era of conventional fuels is ending. The sun’s intensity in space is nearly twice what we feel here on the Earth’s surface. On Earth, there is sunlight fit for power generation for six to eight hours a day. In space, it’s 24 hours. We need to have our own solar power station in orbit,” he said.
“Even if one per cent of our nation’s land area is utilised for solar energy, we could have nearly 1,000 giga watts of electric power. Consider this as the projected demand in 2030 is 400 GW and the current consumption is 120 GW,” he said to drive home the need to have solar power station in space. He also gave a possible collaboration scenario. For instance India, Brazil and South Africa have very good relations. They could collaborate on the technologies, infrastructure and expertise.
Posted by Sun at 04:30 AM | Comments (1)
June 15, 2007
Satellite mini sun hoarders
Last month, a man at a bar introduced himself as "Coyote," and told me he was working on the Pentagon's plans to build a string of satellites that beamed solar rays down to Earth.
Solar_sat My first thought was to call my wife, the psychiatrist.
I resisted, however. And I was glad I did. Turned out the guy was an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, "Coyote" was his call sign, and he was very serious and (mostly) sane.
The government -- especially NASA -- has, for decades, toyed with the idea of collecting sunshine, and shooting it to power everything from lunar bases to the terrestrial grid. The space agency just backed a conference at MIT last month on this very subject. But two problems always arose: the collecting "rectennas" would have to be massive (10 square kilometers, in one estimate), and the costs could soar even higher.
Now, the Defense Department is going to see if it can come up with ways to overcome these not-inconsiderable obstacles. Pentagon "officials have decided to examine this concept now because the military is growing increasingly dependent on fossil fuels -- a dependency that is causing the United States to rely on unreliable sources of energy, pay higher prices and face operational insecurities linked to the logistical burden of delivering oil on the battlefield," Inside Defense says.
Posted by Sun at 03:36 PM | Comments (0)
June 10, 2007
Africa's Biggest Solar Plant Unveiled
Africa's Biggest Solar Plant Unveiled (TreeHugger)
Africa's biggest solar powered plant has been unveiled in Rwanda, which the Government claim can produce 250 kilowatts. The plant will increase Rwanda's electricity capacity to 50 megawatts.
Energy State Minister, Albert Butare, spoke to Reuters, "This new installation does not only increase the generation capacity but is also one of the cleanest energy sources. It is the biggest such project in Africa. There is no comparison on record."
It's not yet enough for the rapidly developing country though; 100 megawatts are needed to meet the soaring demand for power. Regular blackouts have caused many to resort to expensive and dirty diesel generators. The story is the same throughout the developing world, the demand for power, transport and goods is increasing rapidly. Many fear that this will cause a huge surge in global emissions in the near future, and that a solution is urgently needed.
As countries like Rwanda build a developed infrastructure it is vital that they start as they mean to go on, and use sustainable energy sources. Unfortunately though, cost is very often a higher priority than emissions. This is understandable, as energy is important in such regions to provide a better way of life.
However, with the climate in Rwanda as it is, it is perfect for solar power. The government has said that it hopes to install similar solar plants, especially in rural areas where there is little chance of grid connection in the near future.
"It is reliable and very cheap to maintain," Butare said. As well as solar though, Rwanda will attempt to harness the large methane reserves found under Lake Kivu, which straddles Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. A pilot project is already underway, which should produce four megawatts.
Posted by Sun at 03:38 PM | Comments (0)
Nevada Solar One Online!
Nevada Solar One, the largest solar thermal power plant built in 16 years, has gone online, and is now providing power to Nevada's electrical grid. Nevada Solar One, the first concentrating solar power plant in Nevada went on line on Saturday.
Covering 250 acres of desert in the El Dorado Valley near Boulder City, this 64 megawatt concentrating solar plant is the largest solar electric power plant to be built globally in the past 14 years and the third largest solar power plant in the world.
Nevada Solar One uses trough-shaped mirrors to focus the sun's energy onto receiver tubes that carry oil. The hot oil will be used to boil water into steam, which will drive a turbine and generator to produce power.
According to Schott, which is providing 19,300 receiver tubes for the plant, its new efficient receiver tube design will heat the oil to more than 750 degrees Fahrenheit.
Acciona Energia, a Spanish renewable energy company, is investing US$262 million in the plant.
More solar thermal plants could be coming to Nevada. In February 2006, International Automated Systems, Inc. signed a $150 million contract on to install a 100 megawatt power plant for Solar Renewable Energy-1 LLC of Nevada.
The company has developed an innovative technology based on thin acrylic Fresnel lenses that focus sunlight onto receiver tubes, and it intends to combine that technology with a bladeless turbine driven by steam passing through rocket nozzles.
Posted by Sun at 03:21 PM | Comments (0)
May 03, 2007
We WANT Alternative Energy!
Venture Capital Rushes Into Alternative Energy - New York Times
Money is flowing into alternative energy companies so fast that “the warning signs of a bubble are appearing,” according to a report on investment in clean technology by a New York research firm, Lux Research.
Matthew M. Nordan, president of Lux, said that the amount of venture capital put into clean energy investments last year was $1.5 billion, up 141 percent from the $623 million of 2005, and that in the same period, initial public offerings by companies in this sector rose to $4.1 billion, from $1.6 billion in 2005.
The initial public offerings were primarily in companies involved in solar power or biofuels, according to the report, to be released today.
The investment is driven by fear that the peak of oil production is approaching, he said, and by the possibility of new taxes or other restraints in an effort to curb global warming gases, principally the carbon dioxide that is given off by burning fossil fuels.
Money is “sitting on the shelf” waiting to be invested, and investors are now chasing entrepreneurs, he said, rather than the other way around.
Posted by Sun at 07:20 PM | Comments (0)
May 01, 2007
Ontario goes Solar
TheStar.com - Business - Ontario goes solar
The Ontario government has given approval for a California company to construct a massive solar "farm" near Sarnia that will blanket an area larger than all three Toronto islands with hundreds of thousands of sun-soaking panels.
It will be the largest solar power station in North America and among the most expansive in the world to use photovoltaic cells that produce electricity when exposed to sunlight. Once complete, the 40-megawatt Sarnia project will be able to supply enough emission-free electricity to power between 10,000 and 15,000 homes on sunny days.
"This is certainly the most exciting thing I've ever worked on," said Peter Carrie of OptiSolar Farms Canada Inc., a subsidiary of Hayward, Calif.-based OptiSolar Inc. "We want to take solar mainstream."
The Ontario Power Authority has agreed to purchase the electricity under a 20-year contract that will see the clean power go into the provincial grid. An official announcement is expected today from the energy ministry.
The current world record-holder is the 12-megawatt Erlasee solar park in Germany, though another 40-megawatt park is under construction in the same region. On Monday, the largest U.S. project was announced: A 15-megawatt solar PV system to be built at an air force base in Nevada.
Posted by Sun at 06:56 PM | Comments (0)