PG&E Orders 1,300 MW of BrightSource's Solar Thermal Plants

BrightSource Energy Inc. and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced negotiations for a record 1,310 MW of BrightSource's solar thermal power plants.

BrightSource's power plants use mirrors that reflect the sun to a central tower. This causes the central tower to gain temperature which is used to generate steam. The steam is then fed to a steam turbine to generate electricity.

The first solar power plant will be located in Ivanpah, California and has a capacity of 110 MW. This plant will be online in 2012, the other seven project will be built as quickly as permitting and infrastructure allow.

Eventually, the seven plants will produce 3,666 gigawatt-hours of energy each year, equal to the annual consumption of about 530,000 average homes.

Source: Renewable Energy World
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Phoenix Builds 5-MW Solar PV Plant for Utility

A 5.8 megawatt (MW) photovoltaic (PV) power plant is being built by Phoenic solar. The plant was requested by Enovos Group in Kenn. Construction already commenced and is due to be finished by July 2009.

The annual energy production of the plant is expected to be 5.8 million kilowatt-hours of energy. The planning and construction of the project was Phoenix Solar's responsibility while the project development of the ground mounted power plant was carried out by Bürgerservice Trier.

Source: Renewable Energy World
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A Solar Rooftop for Toyota Prius

Toyota, the Japanese auto giant, unveiled the third generation of its hybrid car the "Prius". The new model is 12 percent cheaper than the previous model and is sold for 21,580 dollars. It has a fuel efficiency of 38.0 kilometres per litre (50 miles per gallon) making it one of the world's most efficient cars. But what makes this model special is that solar modules can be installed on its roof as an additional feature.

The roof will contain 36 15x15 cm solar cells which will be supplied by Kyocera Corporation. These modules will supply an output power of 56 watts to the Prius' ventilation system. Kyocera says its solar modules have an efficiency of 16.5%.

The ventilation system is used to moderate the temperature of the car when its parked during day time. Finally, the solar panel roof will cost an additional $2,076 on the car's base price.

Source: Renewable Energy World
Physorg.com
PcMag
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World’s largest solar-powered stadium

Toyo Ito Architects from Japan designed the world's first stadium powered by solar energy in Taiwan. The stadium was built for the World Games in July this year. The stadium has a capacity of 55,000 spectators and had a cost of $150 million. When the stadium its being used, the solar array can be used to power 80% of the surrounding neighborhood.

The roof area is 14,155 square meter and is covered with 8,844 solar panels. These panels can generate up to 1.14 GWh of electricity per year.

Hopefully other stadiums around the world would follow Taiwan's lead. These stadiums can be turned into green power plants and generate revenue during the off season.

Source: Solar Feeds
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New 1 MW PV Plant by Siemens in Italy

Siemens Energy completed a 1 MW ground mounted PV plant for an Italian bottled water company called Ferrarelle S.p.A. costing approximately 5 million euros.

Siemens installed 4554 multicrystalline solar panels, 3 Siemens Sinvertsolar 340 kVA inverters, a Geafol 20 kV transformer, civil works, support structures, the entire cabling and the grid connection. The plant covers 16,000 m² and was connected to the grid at the end of December last year.

Source: Renewable energy world
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Turkey Orders 33 MW from Vestas

Vestas, the danish wind turbine company, got an order to supply 33 megawatts of wind turbines for a project in Turkey. Vestas has to deliver, transport and install 11 of its V90-3.0 MW wind turbine in addition to a five-year service and availability agreement. Delivery of the turbines is supposed to begin the second half of 2009 and the project is scheduled to be completed in early 2010.


The turbines will be constructed in the Mersin province, in southern Turkey on the Mediterranean coast. The estimated annual production of electric energy will be approximately 95 gigawatt-hours.

So far Vestas has installed 70 turbines in Turkey having a capacity of around 170 MW.

Source: Renewable Energy World
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JCPenney Going Solar

A 2 MW (megawatts) solar power system has been installed on fine JCPenney stores in New Jersey. The system was installed by Integrys Energy Services Inc., and Sunpower Corp. This is a step towards fullfilling JCPenney's commintement of installing 3.7 MW of solar power systems on its stores in California and New Jersey.


Each system in New Jersey is owned and operated by Integrys Energy Services Inc. under a SunPower Access power purchase agreement.

JCPenney is also doing some work on each of its stores to increase energy efficiency. The solar power system is expected to cover 25 percent of the energy demand of each store.

Source: Renewable Energy World
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White Owl Buys 1.7 MW Solar PV Project in Spain

White Owl Capital AG (WOC), has bought a 1.7-megawatt solar photovoltaic (PV project in Spain. The plant started operation is September 2008. It is located about 350 kilometers southwest of Mardrid near the village Castuera. The plant contains 7,680 multicrystalline modules which where supplied by IBC Solar. An executive of White Owl Capital AG said that his company is thinking of buying more solar parks having a capacity of 80 MW and above. Read More......

Air CSP Tower in Germany

Concentrating solar power (CSP) is considered to have the best potential to supply solar power on utility scale basis. CSP plants had been build as early as the 1970s, but new technological developments are causing CSP to be considered as an effective solution to generate renewable power.

Kraftanlagen Munchen, a construction company, finished constructing a new 1.5 MW (Mega Watt) experimental solar thermal plant in December 2008. This new plant is unique because it's the world's first solar thermal plant that uses air, instead of oil or molten salf, as the medium for heat transport.


Previously, molten salt and oil were used because of their high specific heat capacity. This helps in having low volume flow rates and low pumping losses while the liquid is being circulated to heat up.

The downfall of using liquid medium is that the concetrated solar radiation (500 to 1000 suns) is in the air and that to heat the liquid the heat must pass through a wall. This causes loses in the heat exchange process thus lowering the efficieny of this method.

The new method used by the Jülich power tower takes advantage of the volumetric effect. Ambient air is sucked through a blackened porous structure on which the solar radiation is focused. This causes the air's temperature to rise, the hot air is fed to a heat recovery steam cycle (used for the exhaust heat of gas turbines in combined cycle plants). The heat recovery steam cycle generate steam which drives the steam turbine and generate electricity.

At night exhaust gases from gas turbines can be used to feed hot air to the heat recovery steam cycle and keep the system operation 24 hours per day. Also, heat storage could be used to drive the plant at night.

"The Jülich plant features a storage system consisting of honeycomb-type ceramic blocks, through which air passes in one direction for charging, and in the other for discharging. As the discharged air has the same temperature as when charging, no energy is lost, making the system highly efficient."

Source: Renewable Energy World
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60-MW Manufacturing Plant Bought by Prism Solar

A 6.5 acres manufacturing site in New York state has been purchased by Prism Solar Technologies Inc. The site containg a 93,000 square-foot manufacturing building and is located in Highland, New York. The deal cost US $3.75 million.


Prism Solar Technologies expects the facility to produce 60 megawatts (MW) of solar modules annually for the U.S. market and 1000 MW of HPC film for sale to other solar module manufacturers.

"The new plant contains glass handling and glass cleaning equipment, a compete machine shop, specialty optical equipment, 30,000 square-feet of clean-rooms, a wet lab, facility-wide security and building management systems. Prism intends to create over two hundred jobs in the first few years or operations at the plant and up to 400over five years."

Source: Renewable Energy World
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New 30 MW Solar Power Plant in Austin, Texas

Austin Energy, a municipal electric utility in Austin, Texas, has selected Gemini Solar Development Company LLC to construct a 30-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic solar power plant.

The power plant will be located 25 miles east of Austin. It will occupy approximately 300 acres of city-owned land. The total system capacity is around 30 MW, and it is scheduled to be operational by the end of 2010. Suntech's solar panels will be installed in the 30-MW plant.


The ownership and operation of the plant is left to Gemini Solar. The electricity generated by Gemini will be bought by Austin Energy under a 25 year non-escalating power purchase agreement.

Source: Renewable Energy World

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Solyndra Receives a US $535M DOE Loan

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, has given it first loan guarantee to Solyndra Inc. This loan will be used by the company, known for its cylindrical solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, to expand its solar panel manufacturing capacity in California.


Dr. Chris Gronet Solyndra's CEO and founder said that the loan will help Solyndra to achieve the economies of scale needed to deliver solar electricity at prices that are competitive with utility rates. This will in turn help create new jobs and at the same time mitigate global warming.

Solyndra will use the loan to start construction of its new fabricating plant (Fab 2). Once competed the plant will deliver PV panels having a total generating capacity of 500 megawatts each year.

Fab 2 is expected to produce solar panels sufficient to generate up to 15 gigawatts of renewable energy over its life span. This will help avoid the emission of 300 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.

The company said that the construction of this complex will employ approximately 3,000 people and that the operation of the facility will create over 1,000 jobs. Solyndra and DOE will finalize the transaction by completing paperwork and making sure that the company meets all requirements for the loan.

Source: Renewable Energy World


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Solar Installed Capacity Up 17% in 2008-Report

An annual report released by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) shows that in 2008 the total U.S. installed solar power increased 17% to 8,775 megawatts (MW).
The report indicates that the solar industry has achieved a record growth for the third year in a row. In 2008, 1,265 MW of solar power was installed.

This includes 342 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV), 139 MWTh (thermal equivalent) of solar water heating, 762 MWTh of pool heating and an estimated 21 MW of solar space heating and cooling.

The report also states that no new concestrating solar power (CSP) plants had been built in 2008. But plans to build 6 gigawatts (GW) of CSP plants are in the pipline. California’s Mojave Desert, Arizona and Florida are some places where these plants are supposed to be constructed.

States that led in grid-tied PV installation were California (178.6 MW), New Jersey (22.5 MW), Colorado (21.6 MW), Nevada (13.9) and Hawaii (11.3 MW).

For solar water heating systems, Hawaii led states, installing 37% of the total U.S. systems in 2008, followed by Florida (20%), California (7%), Colorado (5%) and Arizona (5%).

A total of 42 states and the District of Columbia now have net metering rules allowing owners of solar energy systems to sell excess electricity back to the grid. However, these rules differ from state to state and a unified national policy is necessary, SEIA said.

The U.S. solar industry in 2008 increased domestic PV manufacturing capacity by 65% to 685 MW of capacity.

Source: SustainableBussiness
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Construction Starts on Two 50-MW CSP Plants

Grupo Ibereolica agreed with Inveravante to construct and operate two CSP(Concentrated Solar Power) solar thermal power plants in Seville and Badajoz, Spain. Constructing the plants will begin immediately. The two facilities employ parabolic trough technology and will each have an installed capacity of 50 megawatts each.

The plants will cost around €600 million. Salt storage and biomass hybridisation technology could be incorporated to increase production during the night. During the construction phase of the project an estimated 1,000 jobs will be created. When construction is finished 50 jobs will be needed to maintain the plants.

Source: Renewable Energy World
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Vatican Installs Large PV Solar System

The smallest country in the world is going green!!! A new PV(photo voltaic) solar system containing 2,400 panels was installed on one of the state's main buildings “Nervi Hall”. The system will generate approximately 300 kilowatt hours of clean energy a year.


This system will help the Vatican cut is Carbon Dioxide emission by about 225 tonnes a year, saving the equivalent of 80 tonnes of oil annually.

This isn't the first time the Vatican tried to become a carbon neutral state. Last year trees were planted in a national park in Hungry to offset its carbon-dioxide emissions.

Source: Telegragh
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New Wind Power Record in Spain

At 5 A.M. on November 24th, wind power provided by spanish wind farms reached 9,253 megawatts out of a total demand of 21,264 megawatts. This accounts to around 43% of the total power demand at that time. This was caused by the heavy winds and rain that hit Spain at that time.

The previous record of 40.8 percent was set in March, also during a stormy day.

Wind power generated a maximum of 10,263 megawatts in Spain shortly after noon on Monday, compared to the production record of 10,880 megawatts set in April.

Source: AFP and TreeHugger
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Graves Producing Power !!

Santa Coloma de Gramenet, a small city near Barcelona, Spain, is using space atop mausoleums to generate solar power. The system has 462 PV panels and its output power is supplied to the local energy grid. This output can serve the annual energy demand of 60 homes.

Santa Coloma has a population of 124,000 living in four square kilometers (1.5 square miles) making the cemetery the only open space capable of generating solar energy.

The system's installation cost was 720,000 euros ($900,000) and it'll keep about 62 tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere annually.


The town hopes to install more panels to triple the output of the project. The town has 3 other solar systems operating but this one is by far the biggest.

Source: AP
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World’s Largest Thin-Film Solar Roof Comes Online

In Germany the largest thin-film solar roof has just came online. The roof has 11,000 thin-film solar modules from First Solar, with a total capacity of 837 kW, covering the roof of a Riedel Recycling facility in Moers, Germany.

The installation process required just three months despite pitches of 36.55 and 75 degrees and heights of up to 30 meters.

“Thin-film modules are a good choice at our latitudes”, managing director Ludger Riedel continues “because they also deliver good yields despite weaker solar radiation.”

Source: Solar buzz
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Solyndra: New Cylindrical Solar Panels

Solyndra, a 3 year old company, is producing unconventional solar panels. Instead of the old flat panels, Solyndra came up with new cylindrical panels. These panels collect sunlight more efficiently across a broader range of angles and catch light reflected off the roof itself.


To build these solar panels, Solyndra uses thin film solar cells. Thin film solar cells aren't as efficient as silicon cells but they cost less to manufacture. Very small amount of CIGS, copper indium gallium diselenide, is deposited in ultra thin layers along the surface of glass or metal. VP of business development Kelly Truman said that their process uses just a bit more than a micron of copper indium gallium diselenide, or CIGS.

On the roofs of Solyndra's office buildings, the first modules have been installed.
The solar tubes look like reverse fluorescent light bulbs. These tubes are not bolted to the roof because they are less susceptible to wind damage than traditional flat solar panels.

Source: Smart Solutions

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First Solar Panels for your Home

First Solar Inc. announced on Wednesday that it will start supplying solar panels for households. Up to this point First Solar supplied panels for huge solar power plants in Europe and Asia. First Solar currently have plants in Germany, Ohio and Malaysia. First Solar will sell SolarCity Corp., a residential-installation company, enough panels for 25,000 homes in the next five years.

SolarCity sells residential solar power systems through a 15-year "no money down" lease program. However, if a home-owner chooses to pay a $1,000 down payment, the lease payment and utility bill will cost him less than his/her old utility bill.

The high first payment to install a solar system has been the biggest obstacle facing residential solar power. But with First Solar's low cost panels, prices will go down.

First Solar's panels are cheaper to produce than traditional solar panels. However, the panels are less efficient thus requiring more roof space compared with more expensive silicon panels.

Source: The Arizona Republic
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