Tag Archives: Power Production

Scientists Adding Color to Solar Panels

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See on Scoop.it – Green Building Design – Architecture & Engineering

If you have noticed the design and layout of solar panels around, you would have thought a minute or two about its aesthetics. Though not too bad, the dark

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>The Institute is developing a SIS (semiconductor-insulator-semiconductor) variety solar panel. The package consists of a silicon substrate which absorbs light and converts it into electricity.[…]

The change in color does not make solar cells less efficient. The cell’s working is also not affected by the thickness of the conductive oxide layer. The SIS cell has the same simulated efficiency of around 20%.

The technology might later on use a type of inkjet printing that deposits the oxide layer with more flexibility, which would allow complex designs too. With this, solar cells could turn out to be part of beautiful architectural designs in future.<

See on www.greenpacks.org

The 21st century data center: You’re doing it wrong | ZDNet

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Outdated designs are keeping data centers from reaching their full potential.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>One example of this are data centers that use raised floors for cooling. Many IT pundits have discredited this method of cooling as wasteful, including Schneider Electric’s territory manager for the Federal government and the ACT, Olaf Moon.

[…]

Cappuccio notes that engineering firms that are consulted to build data centers know about the newer and more efficient ways to do things. But rather than try something new, they prefer the stock standard cookie-cutter approach to creating data centers because it’s fast and easy, he said.

[…]

“I’ve seen a lot of data centers being built that are too big,” says Cappuccio. “We’re finding people with data centers that are three to four years old when they realise they have far too much space, and are still providing air conditioning to those areas. So they begin to shrink them, putting up walls, bringing down the ceiling so they don’t air condition the extra space.”

See on www.zdnet.com

The Amazing Energy Race

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The United States is falling behind. To catch up, we need to reorder our priorities, find cleaner and smarter fuels and develop new technologies.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>“In reducing coal’s historic dominance, the president is formalizing a market trend that was already taking shape,” remarked Andy Karsner, who was an assistant secretary of energy in the last Bush administration. His bigger message, though, was “no matter where you find yourself on the political spectrum, it’s useful for the nation to discuss, debate and consider a strategy for climate change. The consequences of inaction are potentially greater than all the other noise out there.”<

See on www.nytimes.com

Solar Energy and Community Projects

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What does it take to cook up a community solar project? A dash of crowdfunding, a pinch of grassroots outreach, and a generous helping of persistence. That’s the word from San Francisco nonprofits RE-volv and Everybody Solar.

See on theenergycollective.com

Energy Storage Systems for Solar and Wind Power Integration Will Total Nearly 22 Gigawatts of Installed Capacity from 2013 to 2023

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June 26, 2013 More than 1,300 gigawatts (GW) of wind and solar power generation capacity are expected to come online in the next 10 years, creating an unprecedented amount of instability on the gri…

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>“Several of the major markets for renewables, including Germany, Japan, and the United States, have enacted rules or legislation encouraging the adoption of energy storage systems for the purpose of integrating variable energy sources onto the grid,” says Anissa Dehamna, senior research analyst with Navigant Research.  “These market incentives come in various forms, including outright subsidies for ESS adoption, reforms that change how variable generation is compensated, and adjustments to connection requirements for variable power plants.”

In particular, changes to the compensation arrangements for variable power generation will have significant influence on the market for ESSs for solar and wind.  Compensation mechanisms have changed drastically over the past 10 years, according to the report, and many compensation schemes have grandfather clauses—meaning that older wind and solar systems have much different compensation rates and structures than newer systems coming online.<

See on www.navigantresearch.com

Standard Solar to pioneer PV micro-grid system in Maryland – PV-Tech

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The number one source for in-depth and up-to-the-minute news, technical articles, blogs and reviews on the international solar PV supply chain.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>[…] Standard Solar chief executive Tony Clifford said: “Widespread implementation of grid-connected energy storage systems is key to solar PV becoming a mainstream energy supplier.

“As one of the nation’s first commercial micro-grids, this project can truly be a game changer for PV. Not only does it provide backup power to Konterra, it also supports grid integrity and allows for participation in ancillary markets for electricity.” […]

See on www.pv-tech.org

Research and Markets: Global and Chinese Power Energy Storage Battery – 2013 Report – WSJ.com

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DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 28, 2013–

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/nblmtd/2013_deep) has announced the addition of the “2013 Deep Research Report on Global

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>The report begins by defining the industry giving details on classification, application, industry chain, structure industry overview, international market analysis, China domestic market, Global market analysis, macroeconomic environment, economic situation analysis and influence, industry policy and plan, product specification, manufacturing process, and product cost structure.

The report then gives statistics on 21 key manufacturers including information on capacity, production, cost, price, profit, production value gross margin, products, customers, application, capacity, market position, company contact information and other company related information. […]

In the end, this report gives a SWOT analysis and discusses a 400MWh/year investment feasibility analysis project and investment return analysis and also gives related research conclusions and a development trend analysis of Chinese and Global Power Energy Storage Battery industry.<

See on online.wsj.com

Utilities fear what they cannot control with community solar – PV-Tech

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Utilities love solar. Or at least they love utility-scale solar, i.e. installations they can own or control through power purchase agreements.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

>”People like solar and the utility can play a really useful role in bringing solar into a community. But you do have to deal with some issues in terms of how to take advantage of the tax incentives. That can really change the cost of the programme. To take advantage of the tax code, the system has to be located on your property.

[…]

“We’ve seen some prices as low as 5c-6c per kWh once the tax depreciation and tax advantages have been taken by an entity that has that tax appetite. For those who are subscribing this is a resource for the future and many years out that would be a hedge.”

Ultimately, one of the biggest appeals of community solar is the value proposition and that does not always come down to the cheapest rate: communities want power sourced as locally as possible. Green pricing failed to gain mass appeal 10 years ago because consumers were being sold ‘clean power’ generated by wind two states away.<

See on www.pv-tech.org

Wind turbines to power Scotland’s railways

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A Scottish railway operating company has been given the green light to install two wind turbines at a West Lothian railway depot. They are expected to produce 14,000kWh of electricity …

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

A Scottish railway operating company has been given the green light to install two wind turbines at a West Lothian railway depot.

They are expected to produce 14,000kWh of electricity – enough to power a small station like Greenfaulds, Cumbernauld in Scotland – and save almost eight tonnes of carbon emissions every year. ScotRail also expects to save around £4,500 in energy bills per year, which it plans to reinvest in more renewable energy schemes on Scotland’s railways.

See on www.energylivenews.com

China Invests Billions in International Renewable Energy Projects

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