Tag Archives: Renewable Energy

German village delivers great green energy blueprint

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Nations as diverse as North Korea and the United States have sent personnel to a tiny village in the east of Germany in a bid to understand its successful energy transformation.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

…Feldheim is powered by a mix of 43 wind turbines, a woodchip-fired heating plant and a biogas plant that uses cattle and pig slurry as well as maize silage.

Local energy costs of 16.6 euro cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) are just a little more than half of the 27-30 cents Germans pay on average …

Feldheim’s rates are not far off those in Poland, which generates nearly all its electricity from carbon-intensive coal-fired plants.  Households there paid on average 14 cents per kWh in 2012, while those in the Czech Republic, which relies on nuclear for about a third of its power generation, paid about 15 cents per kWh.

DT:  Current electricity pricing in Canada is 6.3 to 11.8 cents/kWh (US$) & United States is 8 to 17 cents/kWh (US$) ~ wiki

See on www.businessspectator.com.au

Novel Active Energy Material Combines Solar Energy Generation and Power Storage

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Premier Global – DayStar Technologies, Inc. Premier Global Holdings announced that it has demonstrated an active energy material that is the first to combine solar energy generation and power storage into one cell at the molecular level.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

Laboratory tests validated energy storage capacity exceeding 26 hours, zero degradation and a road map for significantly longer storage times with additional optimization. It is believed that this is the first time sunlight has been captured and simultaneously stored in a highly efficient, low-cost format.

This technology was developed at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and addresses the natural intermittency associated with sun and cloud cover thereby making solar power available anytime day or night. The home is only one application as the technology naturally lends itself as a built-in solution for anyone who uses electricity — including those 1.6 billion without electricity in the remote regions of China, India and Africa.

Source: http://www.daystartech.com

See on www.azom.com

Revolutionary Green Energy Storage Technology Issued Australian Patent

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Texzon Utilities announces 4th patent for Invention that stores AC power as real AC power, making it the first and only AC battery.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

“This technology is a game-changer. The ability of the RPM to clean (get rid of all harmonics), magnify power, and store energy as a traveling electro-magnetic wave enables it to react instantaneously as a continuous “elastic reservoir,” which is an innovative and timely solution for Smart Grids,” said General Mike Miller, CEO of Texzon.

About James Corum, Inventor:
Dr. Corum was cited as a “National Treasure” by The Office of the US Secretary of Defense for his work on the DARPA National Panel of Radar Experts on Ultra-Wideband Radar and Phenomenology. His electromagnetic research has been recognized by prestigious scientific organizations and professional societies around the world.

See on www.prweb.com

Imagining the Supergrid: HVDC Loops for High Penetration of Renewable Energy | The Energy Collective

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The piecemeal way that the grid is being reinforced today is not compatible with a future supergrid incorporating renewable energy sources. This post examines an alternative layout for new HVDC connections for a future supergrid.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

The case for a supergrid is very sensibly made by several organizations, …

GW must be transmitted thousands of km) so that the aggregate reliability of wind and solar are greatly improved, because generators in different weather regions can share capacity.

Since weather systems are typically ~ 2500 km (~1500 miles) across, the supergrid does not begin to fulfill its potential until it is quite large, after many billions of dollars have been invested.

This factor is very much holding up practical movement towards a supergrid, and what we are currently getting instead is a patchwork of transmission upgrades that are economically inefficient point-to-point connections that will not later fit in as components of a future supergrid. …

See on theenergycollective.com

Waste Heat to Energy Firm to Buy Landfill for $9m – Waste Management World

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Largo, Florida based GDT Tek, a specialist in the use of the use of the Organic Rankin Cycle principal to generate electricity has entered into an agreement in principal to purchase 100% of a landfill gas to energy company.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

According to the company its system has been proven through a long-term five year installation at a San Jose, California landfill, where waste heat captured from the generator’s engine exhaust and cooling systems is used to generate electricity which is then sold to the grid.

“This acquisition once completed will allow GDT Tek to install our Phoenix units at the landfill location and increase revenue by up to 20%,” explained Bo Linton, President of GDT Tek.

See on www.waste-management-world.com

Altairnano Lithium Titanate Energy Storage System Commissioned at Vestas Wind Farm

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Altair Nanotechnologies, Inc. has commissioned a 1.2 megawatt ALTI-ESS lithium-titanate battery system at a Danish wind farm supplied by Vestas Wind Systems A/S , a global leader in wind power. The demonstration …

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

For Altairnano, entering Vestas’ demonstration program is an opportunity to spotlight its energy storage solutions and demonstrate the ALTI-ESS’s superior power, cycle life, and system performance. Altairnano recognizes the global importance of renewable energy and the value that advanced energy storage can supply to companies like Vestas.

“Lithium titanate-based energy storage can contribute significantly to the integration of wind power, especially in the area of power system stabilization,” said Alexander Lee, chief executive officer of Altairnano. “We are confident that our work with Vestas will further validate the benefits of energy storage for wind power operators and utilities.”

See on finance.yahoo.com

The Most Important Man in Energy Storage? Try Archimedes – Forbes

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A growing number of energy storage start-ups are promoting the idea that the most economical, most expedient ways to store power revolves around harnessing the four elements of the ancient world: earth, air, water and fire.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

Energy Cache, for instance, is developing a system that resembles a ski lift for gravel. Gravel is ferried uphill during the day by a series of buckets, and then dropped during peak power hours. The system essentially provides the drop in elevation nature left out.

An Energy Cache system could be erected at a large number of abandoned mining sites, where there is plenty of gravel and an existing grid connection,  […] Along with the physics, the company is analyzing algorithms to ensure smooth power deliver on demand for the power grid. …

See on www.forbes.com

Biofuels Suffering from High Corn Prices and Dropping Demand | The Energy Collective

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Nearly 10 percent of the nation’s ethanol plants have stopped production over the past year, the drought having pushed commodity prices so high that ethanol has become too expensive to produce.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

The other half of this is falling demand for gasoline — a result of both the recession, and a renewed policy push for electric and hybrid vehicles and tougher fuel economy standards. […]

Globally, the combined effect of U.S. and European biofuel policy has been a massive divergence of corn crops into biofuel production, which in turn drove up the price of corn and contributed to global food insecurity. […]

Cellulosic biofuels, by relying on crops that don’t double as food, could provide a solution. But whether they can be widely commercialized without requiring high levels of water and land use remains an open question.

See on theenergycollective.com

Next-gen biofuels making slow, slow, slow progress in 2013

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Companies that are still looking to produce biofuels from plant waste (and not corn) are making slow, but steady progress on milestones in 2013.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

According to Bloomberg’s energy research arm New Energy Finance, ethanol made from plant waste could cost the same to produce as corn-based ethanol by 2016. Currently cellulosic ethanol costs 94 cents a liter to produce, or about 40 percent more than ethanol made from corn, says Bloomberg.

See on gigaom.com

Breakthrough in energy storage

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Engineers have developed a redox flow battery that reaches stack power up to 25 kW with a cell size of 0.5 square meters – eight times larger than the previous A4-sized systems.

Duane Tilden‘s insight:

A new design has allowed them to produce stacks up to 0.5 square meters in size. This is eight times larger than the cells in previous systems, and results in power up to 25 kW. The prototype has an efficiency of up to 80 percent, and can take a load of up to 500 amps of current.

See on www.pacetoday.com.au