Revolutionary New Fish Friendly Hydropower

Posted on October 22, 2011 by quest

A revolutionary new turbine technology for hydropower plants is one step closer to its first commercial deployment. The Alden Fish-Friendly Turbine could change the game for hydropower generation in the United States, and it is likely to have significant export potential.

Scientists and engineers at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Alden Laboratories, and their partners have designed a new turbine that reduces fish passage injury and mortality, while effectively maintainingpower production. EPRI recently released the full technical report of prototype testing. Building on over a decade of support from the Energy Department, EPRI and its project partners were recently selected to deploy and test the Alden fish-friendly hydropower turbine over the next three years. EPRI plans to deploy the 10 megawatt Alden Turbine at the Brookfield Renewable Power School Street Project in Cohoes, New York, bringing project’s generation capacity to 48 megawatts.

Hydropower already provides nearly 7 percent of the nation’s electricity, and it holds tremendous potential for expansion. Yet that promise comes with the unique challenge of developing water as a renewable energy resource in a way that minimizes disruption to sensitive ecosystems and mitigates impacts to fish and other aquatic wildlife. Some hydropower projects have created issues for migratory fish, such as blocked passages and turbine-induced mortality. Spilling water or installing bypass technologies can allow fish to pass through unharmed, but they also compromise a significant amount of power production—to the tune of 8,500 MWh per year and at a cost upwards of $700,000 per project. To better address

Online Solar Opportunities

Revenge of the Electric Car LA Screening By REC Solar

Posted on October 19, 2011 by quest

REC Solar, a leading provider of home and commercial solar electric systems in the United States, took a lead in the movement for emissions free driving by announcing their sponsorship of the movie “Revenge of the Electric Car.” On Oct. 13, REC Solar hosted an advanced VIP screening of the feature film in Los Angeles – a week prior to the film’s premier on October 21st. More than 100 luminaries from diverse, but complementary industries including solar, electric vehicle (EV), utilities, government, media and entertainment were in attendance. “Revenge of the Electric Car,” from director Chris Paine who also brought us the 2006 film “Who Killed the Electric Car?,” takes viewers behind the scenes of Nissan, General Motors and Tesla Motors to chronicle key players in the race to create the cleanest vehicle. Filming started in 2007 and didn’t stop until each company’s electric cars were sold to the public. Paine has said, “You can’t kill an idea whose time has come.”

As soon as 2012, nearly 125,000 electric vehicles are expected to roll into traffic. EV enthusiasts, called “Revengers” by film promoters, also embrace solar power with most expressing interest in installing solar systems for their homes, if they have yet to do so.

Revenge of the Electric Car

“The industry is now forecasting one million electric vehicles to be on the road by 2016 which won’t just have an impact on [fossil fuel usage], but also on the environment when used with a solar system. The more solar energy is used with electric vehicles, the cleaner the environment becomes,” said Angiolo Laviziano, co-founder of Mainstream Energy, parent of REC Solar. “It is exciting to see the energy revolution unfolding in front of our eyes.”Other events such as National Plug-in Day are also bringing the electric vehicle center stage. By hosting the showing, REC Solar is calling attention to the ultra-sustainable intersection of solar and EV industries. When EVs are solar-charged, they are essentially “running on sunshine,” reducing greenhouse gases and lessening dependence on fossil fuels for a more secure, sustainable world – while at the same time delivering economic benefits to their drivers.

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Solar Jobs Growing Faster Than Other Employment

Posted on October 17, 2011 by quest

As Solar Power International begins today in Dallas, TX the Solar Foundation released its second annual review of the U.S. solar workforce. The “National Solar Jobs Census 2011: A Review of the U.S. Solar Workforce” found that hiring in the solar workforce is on the rise. More than 100,000 Americans are now employed in the solar industry. “The solar industry has grown into a major economic force with more than 100,000 employees in the United States,” said Andrea Luecke, executive director of The Solar Foundation. “We expect even greater growth in the foreseeable future. But policymakers, workforce training providers, and the industry must work together to continue creating good jobs for skilled workers.” Solar Power International 2011, runs today until October 20, and is expected to attract 24,000 professionals from businesses spanning the entire spectrum of the industry.

California continued to be the national leader in solar employment, with 25,575 workers. Rounding out the top 10 states are Colorado, Arizona, Pennsylvania, New York, Florida, Texas, Oregon, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Colorado, Arizona, Florida, Oregon, New Jersey and Massachusetts showed the strongest growth rates from August 2010.

The Census also found that solar employers expect to increase the number of solar workers by 24 percent, representing nearly 24,000 net new jobs by August 2012. Over the next 12 months, nearly half of solar firms expect to add jobs.”These survey responses merely reflect employers’ best estimates at expected new hiring, but it demonstrates a clear growth pattern for the industry and tremendous optimism by employers in the industry,” said Luecke. “Employers expressed similar optimism last year, but failed to meet their hiring expectations because of stalled legislative initiatives and continued policy uncertainty.”

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Green News Wall

Largest US Solar Factory Being Built In Colorado

Posted on October 16, 2011 by quest

GE has announced plans to build its new solar panel factory in Aurora, Colorado. When completed, the advanced manufacturing facility will create 355 jobs in Colorado and will be larger than any existing solar panel factory in the country today. GE anticipates the new factory will first start up earlier than expected with the first panels coming off the line in 2012 with commercial availability in 2013. “This is great news for Colorado and further proof that our state is emerging as a center of innovation. GE’s move to Aurora takes advantage of Colorado’s clean energy resources and a collaborative business environment that is committed to helping the company succeed,” said Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. “We look forward to supporting GE as it fosters its technical innovation and research capabilities in Colorado.”

GE will locate the factory in an existing building in Aurora, just east of Denver. This location, which also is in proximity to GE’s existing solar center of excellence, enables an accelerated start-up schedule with production equipment installation beginning in January 2012. At capacity, the new factory will produce enough panels per year to power 80,000 homes and will be larger than 11 football fields. When complete, the new solar factory will highlight a $600 million investment in GE’s solar business. “I am so proud GE is building the largest solar panel factory in the nation right here in the 7th Congressional District of Colorado. This plant will create over 350 jobs and reinforces Colorado’s leading role in renewable energy. This solar technology was originally developed at NREL and further highlights how this world-class lab continues to partner with the private sector to create long-term jobs and bolster our nation’s energy security. Making things here in Colorado and America ensures we will make it in America,” stated U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter.

“Working with our Colorado-based solar team, we were able to achieve record efficiencies in our solar panels in record time,” said Victor Abate, vice president of GE’s Renewable Energy business. “The Colorado location will allow us to deliver our technology roadmap faster and commercialize industry-leading panel efficiencies sooner. We also look forward to continuing to build our relationships with Colorado’s local, state and federal officials who have been extremely helpful as we moved through the site selection process.” “This is terrific news for Aurora, for Colorado and for solar, and it shows the tremendous potential renewable energy holds to create jobs and power our economy,” said U.S. Sen. Mark Udall.

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Hawaii Going Solar With SunPower Solar Farm

Posted on October 13, 2011 by quest

The Hawaii Public Utilities Commission has approved a contract for SunPower to sell energy to Hawaiian Electric Company from a 5-megawatt solar photovoltaic farm planned for Kalaeloa in West Oahu. SunPower Corp. will design, build and operate the facility. Subject to receipt of applicable permits, SunPower plans to begin construction this year and complete the solar farm within five months. It will be located on land leased from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands at Roosevelt Avenue and Boxer Road. “We welcome this approval of our continuing effort to add as much renewable energy as possible to our island grid,” said Robbie Alm, Hawaiian Electric executive vice president. “Hawaii is a national leader in adding solar watts per person to our grids and this project will help reduce our use of imported oil and increase our solar leadership.”

The SunPower agreement represents the first utility-scale solar project on Oahu approved by the PUC. The contract is the outcome of Hawaiian Electric’s request for proposals for renewable energy projects for Oahu issued under the PUC’s competitive bidding framework in 2008. “With SunPower’s high-efficiency technology, Hawaiian Electric will benefit from reliable, cost-effective, guaranteed performance,” said Jim Pape, president of SunPower’s residential and commercial business group. “The solar farm will contribute clean, renewable solar power to Oahu while generating revenue for the important work of the Hawaiian Homelands department on behalf of native Hawaiians.”

SunPower will install high-efficiency SunPower solar panels on a SunPower T0 Tracker system which moves the solar panels to follow the sun during the day. According to SunPower this increases sunlight capture by up to 25 percent over fixed-tilt systems, while significantly reducing land requirements. Based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates, the solar farm will produce enough renewable power to avoid almost 11,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, equivalent to removing 37,600 cars from Hawaii’s roads over the 20-year term of the power purchase agreement.

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Solar Energy Has Massive Potential In The Himalayas

Posted on October 12, 2011 by quest

Mention prime geography for generation of solar energy, and people tend to think of hot deserts. But a new study concludes that some of the world’s coldest landscapes — including the Himalaya Mountains, the Andes, and even Antarctica – could become Saudi Arabias of solar. The research appears in the ACS journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Kotaro Kawajiri and colleagues explain that the potential for generating electricity with renewable solar energy depends heavily on geographic location. Arid and semi-arid areas with plenty of sunshine long have been recognized as good solar sites. However, the scientists point out that, as a result of the limited data available for critical weather-related conditions on a global scale, gaps still exist in knowledge about the best geographical locations for producing solar energy. To expand that knowledge, they used one established technique to estimate global solar energy potential using the data that are available. The technique takes into account the effects of temperature on the output of solar cells. Future work will consider other variables, such as transmission losses and snow fall.

The Himalaya

As expected, they found that many hot regions such as the U.S. desert southwest are ideal locations for solar arrays. However, they also found that many cold regions at high elevations receive a lot of sunlight — so much so that their potential for producing power from the sun is even higher than in some desert areas. Kawajiri and colleagues found, for instance, that the Himalayas, which include Mt. Everest, could be an ideal locale for solar fields that generate electricity for the fast-expanding economy of the People’s Republic of China.