Category Archives: advanced energy structures

Peak Oil, Transition Towns and Community Energy Systems

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When I saw this I was in “Holy Cow” mode. I mean it covers so much of what CES would like to accomplish. Sadly it is in Britain. So we will just have to soldier on.


http://www.renewableenergyblog.org/2012/09/10/community-power-in-lewes/#more-117

Community Power in Lewes
Posted on September 10, 2012

Ouse Valley Energy Supply Company, or Ovesco as it is commonly known, is a powerful inspiration for enthusiasts of community renewable energy. In August I was given a guided tour of Ovesco projects by Chris Rowland, which you can see here, and then filmed Chris explaining the origins of Ovesco and outlining some of their projects. You can view the second film here.

Standing on a hill above Lewes you can not only see the solar PV installations completed by Ovesco but also arrays of panels inspired by their projects. The local football club, the leisure centre and many local homes, have all followed the example of Ovesco. Other sites are looking to follow and there are also plans for community wind and hydro-electric schemes.

The Ovesco website is a rich source of information and links for community renewable energy projects and is well worth a visit.

Below is an edited version of an article on the OVESCO website.

Power to the people of Lewes

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Go there and read. More tomorrow.
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Wave Power – Let us ride a wave into the next week

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Well this has been a weird week. Last week wasn’t much better. But now that the 2 political Party Conventions are over we can get back to the real world. Every once in awhile I check in with waterworld to see how they are coming along. Eventually we will get a bunch of energy from the sea, but right now these guys are struggling. This is an old article. For Monday I will try to find something newer and if I can’t I will move on.

http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/wave-power-farm-sets-sail/

America’s Premiere Wave Power Farm Sets Sail

Wave energy is among the impressive list of renewable energy resources that is being developed in the United States. New Jersey-based developer, Ocean Power Technologies has launched a project that features the nation’s first commercial wave power farm off the coast of Reedsport, Oregon. Once the project is completed, wave energy will generate power for several hundred homes in Oregon. The wave power farm operates on the wave energy that is created when a float on a buoy flows with the natural up and down movement of the waves.

This action subsequently causes an attached plunger to follow the same kind of ebb and flow movement. The plunger is attached to a hydraulic pump that changes the vertical movement to a circular motion, which drives an electric generator to produce electricity that is sent to shore through submerged cables.

When the initial project is finished, the first $4 million dollar buoy will measure 150 feet tall by 40 feet wide, weighing 200 tons. Nine more of these crafts will be set in motion by the year 2012 for a total cost of $60 million dollars. About four hundred homes will receive electricity from Oregon’s wave power farm by the completion of the project.

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Go there and read. More next week.

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Power From The People – How to community finance alternative energy

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I do not know whether this is the way of the future. It sure claims it is.

http://peakoil.com/publicpolicy/how-to-organize-finance-and-launch-local-energy-projects/

How to Organize, Finance, and Launch Local Energy Projects

Is it possible to “relocalize” energy? This is a critical question that must be addressed if we are to achieve true global resilience.

In our brand new book (September 4, 2012), Power From the People, energy expert Greg Pahl decisively argues that the answer is YES.

Power From the People is the second book in our Community Resilience Guides series, The book illustrates how communities across the country are already generating their own energy at the local level. From citizen-owned wind turbines to co-op biofuel producers to community-wide initiatives combining multiple resources and technologies, Pahl outlines the steps necessary and plan, organize, finance and launch community energy projects.

The book showcases over 25 real-life examples of local energy projects, offering a range of challenges and solutions that can be adapted and reapplied.

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Go there and read. More tomorrow.

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Barack Obama’s Energy Policies – They are great but have left me a bit disappointed

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This election offers a clear choice if you are into the environment and advancing energy policies towards a clean energy future. Barack wants to go to clean energy and Mitt wants to go back to the past. I have been disappointed in some of Barack’s decisions or should I say his administration’s decisions. I was totally unhappy with his decision to back the two nuclear power plants in Georgia. I also thought that the Sylendra loan was totally political. Still his strong backing for Wind and Solar is deeply appreciated. More historic however, he has moved the military towards alternative energy. Like I tell people who are you gonna vote for? The other guy?

http://www.barackobama.com/record/environment?source=primary-nav

  • President Obama has made protecting the environment a priority, moving us toward energy independence, investing in clean energy jobs, and taking steps to improve the quality of our air and water. As of November 2010, the Obama administration’s policies have helped create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the clean energy industry.

  • President Obama enacted the largest expansion of land and water conservation and protected wilderness in a generation. He also created the America’s Great Outdoors initiative to develop a community-led conservation and recreation agenda for the 21st century.

  • President Obama is committed to putting in place an “all-of-the-above strategy” to develop every available source of American energy while making sure we never have to choose between protecting our environment and strengthening our economy.

In his most recent State of the Union address, President Obama reiterated his commitment to lessening America’s dependence on foreign oil and investing in clean energy to protect our environment and create jobs.

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Go there and read. More tomorrow.

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Solar And Coal – You would not think they go together

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I say this is a stretch. It is just the coal companies to throw a little sop to what “green” means. You judge for yourself.

http://www.earthtechling.com/2010/07/hybrid-solar-coal-plant-being-tested-in-colorado/

Hybrid Solar Coal Plant Being Tested In Colorado

by

As much as we all want coal as an energy source to go away completely, we also know it will take the government and private sector sometime (too long in our opinion) to fully move to clean energy sources. In the meanwhile, methods need to be developed which can minimize the impact of fossil fuel usage on the environment. One such pilot project is going on near Grand Junction, Colorado, at Xcel Energy’s Cameo Generating Station using a unique solar-coal hybrid design.

Xcel Energy said it has connected a parabolic-trough solar technology system developed by Abengoa Solar to its coal power plant. This system concentrates solar energy to provide heat for producing supplemental steam for electric power production, which Xcel Energy feels will help lower the usage of coal as an energy source at this facility while also testing the commercial viability of concentrating solar power thermal integration and lowering carbon dioxide emissions.

This project is believed to be the world’s first known demonstration of the hybrid solar-coal approach using the parabolic-trough solar approach. It is part of a larger program by Xcel Energy to test promising new technologies with potential to lower greenhouse gas emissions and result in other environmental improvements. The company said this program allows it the opportunity to test these technologies and evaluate their cost, reliability and environmental performance at a demonstration scale before determining whether they should be deployed more widely

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Go there and judge for yourself. More next week.

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Solar Power In New Mexico – What better of a place to set up shop

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Yes I know about the fire at the Chevron Plant in the Bay area and what that adds to the idea that the oil and gas industry is purposely taking gasoline processing capacity offline as demand for gasoline falls to keep prices high. But solar is so much more peaceful and zen like.

This type of progress is just stunning. We are on the way to becoming a renewable country. Now if the rest of the world will follow suit.

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S2296947.shtml

New Mexico’s largest solar plant opens in Carlsbad

Posted at: 09/22/2011 6:10 PM | Updated at: 09/22/2011 6:16 PM
By: Joe Bartels, KOB Eyewitness News 4

Carlsbad officials unveiled the largest solar power project in New Mexico on Thursday.

Three of the five solar power plants in Southeast New Mexico went online, feeding enough electricity over the next 20 years to power almost 200,000 homes.

Eddy and Lea counties added the additional energy source to their already impressive portfolio.

“We have, of course, nuclear, we have bio fuels being produced down here, a vibrant oil and gas industry that’s doing fantastic and now we have solar,” said John Waters of Eddy County Economic Development.

The 100 acres of photovoltaic panels will track the sun’s movement in the sky for the next 20 to 30 years.

It’s all part of a plan to create clean, renewable energy and jobs.

“What we have is a facility that employed people for a significant amount of time, and will continue to do so over the next 20 to 30 years,” said Robert Reichenberger, Sun Edison spokesperson. “These panels and this facility are expected to last that long so we will continue to need people on the jobsite to monitor the project.”

Out of the three power plants online, two of them are in Jal and one is in Carlsbad.

The two offline – in Eunice and Monument – are expected to be generating power by the end of 2011.

“It shows we’re ahead of the rest of the state in this type of energy production and we like to think of ourselves in Southeastern New Mexico, particularly Eddy County as being a major contributor to the energy industries across the country,” said Waters.

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Go there and watch the video. More tomorrow.

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Solar Power Plants In China – They are beating us like a broken drum

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Because of the power of the coal industry and the oil industry, China is so far out in front of American that it is not even funny. It so pitiful that we let all of this happen under George Bush’s watch. He built the biggest wind farms in Texas and then dropped the ball at the Federal level. We never may actually be able to catch up.

http://www.sungrowpower.com/sungrow-english/product.php?page=6&menu=1&cate=1&case=1&item=16

Project name: Shilin 10 MW Model PV Power Plant Project of Yunnan Provincial Power Investment Co., Ltd.
Location: Shilin, Yunnan
Installation capacity: 4MW
Model: SG500KTL
Brief introduction: On May 25th, 2010, Kunming Shilin solar energy PV grid connected experimental model power plant with a designed installation capacity ranking the first in Asia had the first-stage project connect the grid officially. The model power plant has a gross installation capacity of 166 MW, which is invested and developed by Huaneng Group and Yunnan Provincial Power Investment Co., Ltd. Large grid connected inverters of Sungrow series independently developed by Sungrow Power Supply Co, Ltd have been used in this grid connection. These inverters have reached international advanced level in terms of reliability, conversion efficiency, power quality and other technical indexes and could satisfy the latest demand of State Grid. They have passed Golden Sun, CE, KEMA and other product certifications and have been successfully applied in many large PV power projects including Shanghai Expo, Dunhuang franchise bidding 20MW model power plant, Ningxia Sun Mountain, Ningxia Shizuishan, etc.
20 MW project in this grid connection uses large grid connected inverters of Sungrow series independently developed by Sungrow Power Supply Co, Ltd. These inverters have reached international advanced level in terms of reliability, conversion efficiency, power quality and other technical indexes and could satisfy the latest demand of State Grid. They have passed Golden Sun, CE, KEMA and other product certifications and have been successfully applied in many large PV power projects including Shanghai Expo, Dunhuang franchise bidding 20MW model power plant, Ningxia Sun Mountain, Ningxia Shizuishan, etc.

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Go there and check the whole site out. More tomorrow.

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Even In Botswana They Like Solar – Though this one is smaller than the first proposal

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About 2 years earlier there is evidence in the literature that the Botswana government let bids for a 200 megawatt facility. So why this one is for a little over a meg., I got no idea. And there are no pretty pictures either.

http://www.botswanaguardian.co.bw/newsdetails.php?nid=3400&cat=BG%20News

Category Name BG News
News Name Solar plant boosts relations with Japan
Author BY LETTY MASUNGA
Date 17-02-2012

BG correspondent The P85 million 1.3MW Photovoltaic Power station in Phakalane will not only serve to diversify the country’s energy sources but also boost the country’s economic relations with Japan. The Japan-sponsored clean energy plant is expected to be complete in September this year. The plant is part of government’s investment in the energy sector. Speaking during a progress tour of the Power Station on Wednesday, Mineral and Water Affairs minister, Ponatshego Kedikilwe said: “This arrangement will not only boost our economic relations with Japan but will be beneficial in the diversification of energy sources,” as it will lessen the pressures of rampant energy shortage. Phillimon Dhafana, the Manager of the Planning and Projects in Rural business unit from Botswana Power Corporation, explained that the power plant would generate uncultivated solar power. Dhafana told the Botswana Guardian that, “our country experiences plenty of heat that these power plant will harness and convert to solar energy that will benefit the whole country.”

Dhafana said the difference between Morupule power station and this new project is that the solar power plant produces clean energy while the Morupule plant emits coal gases, which destroy the greenhouse. The power station is expected to be complete in September.

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More next week.

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Solar Powered Fruits And Vegetables – Two facilities in a row, that is amazing

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Yep, it is true. This company has an incredible commitment to the environment or is it cheap power. Maybe it is both. Who cares? Lets hope it spreads.

http://www.pv-magazine.com/services/press-releases/details/beitrag/usa–34-mw-conergy-plants-for-largest-carrot-producer-worldwide_100007946/#axzz22Ox7OYNk

USA: 3.4 MW Conergy plants for largest carrot producer worldwide

31. July 2012 | By:  Conergy

Conergy is achieving additional successes in global solar growth markets. In the USA, the system supplier secured two major orders for three power plants with a first phase total capacity of 3.4 megawatts for the world’s largest carrot producer Grimmway Enterprises Inc.

Additional plants totaling 2.3 megawatts may follow at other Grimmway facilities in the future. In 2010, Conergy already helped Grimmway to produce ‘greener carrots’ by installing a 230 kilowatt plant in Arvin, California. At 3.4 megawatts, the new order is 14 times the size of the first Conergy power plant on the Grimmway farm.

30% of the power demand of the Grimmway farms covered by Conergy power plants

By the end of 2012, Conergy will have completed construction of the first three solar power plants with a total capacity of 3.4 megawatts on three carrot plantations in the Californian Central Valley, in Malaga, Bakersfield and Lamont. In a second phase, two other solar energy plants with a total capacity of 2.3 megawatts may follow at other Grimmway facilities. The 4,760 Conergy PM modules at the three power plants will be producing millions of kilowatt hours of clean power every year. This will allow the company to reduce its electricity costs, and it will cover 30% of the power demand at its carrot farms, including its 100% organic farm. In addition, the power plants will prevent the emission of more than 2,700 tonnes of damaging CO2. This makes for ‘greener carrots’ in two ways: through purely organic growing methods and through clean energy generation.

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Go there and read. More tomorrow

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Finally A Solar Facility In New Jersey – Well the plant is in New Jersey

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The actual facility will be in Jordan but the panels, in the beginning, are made in New Jersey. Once their factory is up and running then America loses out. Now if America just got as serious about solar power plants as the folks in the middle east. Kind of ironic don’t you think?

http://www.solardaily.com/reports/Gigawatt_Scale_PV_Power_Project_Initiated_In_Jordan_999.html

Gigawatt-Scale PV Power Project Initiated In Jordan

by Staff Writers
Amman, Jordan (SPX) Dec 08, 2008

The Al-Husseini Group and Amelio Solar have announced a joint venture to bring large-scale photovoltaic energy production capacity to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in cooperation with the government and the national utility.

The joint venture has launched a multi-year project to construct a one-gigawatt (1GW) photovoltaic power generation plant in Jordan, including an integrated two hundred megawatt (200MW) thin-film photovoltaic module factory that will serve as a dedicated, low-cost source of Amelio Solar thin-film photovoltaic modules to supply the power plant.

The joint venture first will deploy and operate a factory in Jordan to produce thin-film amorphous silicon, CIGS (copper-indium-gallium-diselenide) and related hybrid photovoltaic modules using a manufacturing platform created and installed by Amelio Solar.

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Go there and read. More tomorrow.

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