With more than 10 billion kWh of wind power produced (including 0.2 billion from offshore wind) January 2015 saw a new record, beating the previous record of 9.6 billion kWh set in December 2014, the Federal Association of the Energy and Water Industry (BDEW) informed. This confirms earlier information by the Renewable Energy Industry Institute M"unster (IWR). Wind power production in January already equalled roughly a fifth of the total wind power output in 2014, BDEW said.
In January 2014 wind power output was still about 7 billion kWh BDEW and ZSW (Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-W"urttemberg) that jointly published the information said. They attribute the strong increase in production to the strong capacity growth (for more information, please see here) and three periods of strong wind in January.
Generally wind power production was higher in winter than in the summer months, BDEW and ZSW said, pointing out that the lowest monthly wind power output last year was in July (2.5 billion kWh).
Source: BDEW
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* OVG Schleswig Declares Amendment of Regional Plan 2012 Designating Areas for Onshore Wind Power Partly Invalid
* IWR: Stormy Weather Leads to New Wind Power Record that Beats December 2014 Record
* Information on Direct Marketing of Renewable Power in 2014 by TSOs - Highest Degree for Wind Power
* BNetzA Information on Wind Power and Biomass Growth After EEG Amendment Based on New Installation Register for Renewables
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* BWE/VDMA: Wind Power Capacity Grows by 66% in First Half of 2014 - Just Before Entry into Force of EEG 2014 Revision
WASHINGTON, DC - In a decision applauded by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today approved a solar-friendly rate for medium and large commercial and industrial customers in both Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and Southern California Edison's (SCE) service territories. The CPUC approved a decision which approved the "Option R" rate as proposed by SEIA. This optional tariff would be available to customers on PG&E's E-19 and E-20 tariffs for medium and large commercial and industrial customers, who have on-site renewable generation systems. The Option R rate would lower customers' demand charges in exchange for higher energy rates, particular during peak and part-peak hours, making it "solar friendly," according to SEIA President and CEO Rhone Resch. Under the Option R rate, there is no cap on the number of customers or megawatts. The CPUC also approved a Settlement Agreement between SEIA, SCE and the Commission's Office of Ratepayer Advocates (ORA), in which SCE agreed to increase the cap on its Option R rate from 150 megawatts (MW) to 400 MW, benefitting medium and large commercial and industrial customers with on-site renewable generation systems. "Today's decision recognizes that the utilities' current demand charge rate structure for certain commercial customers fails to appropriately compensate solar customers for their solar PV systems' effective capacity. Option R sets the stage to grow this segment of the solar market," Resch said. "We commend CPUC for resolving this inequality." Today, California ranks first in the nation in installed solar capacity with more than 8,544 MW - enough to effectively power 2.2 million homes. ### ABOUT SEIA: Celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2014, the Solar Energy Industries Association(R) is the national trade association of the U.S. solar energy industry. Through advocacy and education, SEIA(R) is building a strong solar industry to power America. As the voice of the industry, SEIA works with its 1,000 member companies to champion the use of clean, affordable solar in America by expanding markets, removing market barriers, strengthening the industry and educating the public on the benefits of solar energy. Visit SEIA online at www.seia.org. MEDIA CONTACTS: Ken Johnson, SEIA Vice President of Communications, kjohnson@seia.org (202) 556-2885 Samantha Page, SEIA Press Officer and Communications Manager, spage@seia.org (202) 556-2886
Has somebody besides noticed the swarm of TV advertising for Companies who are now responding to the Green Initiative? Honest, the "Big Oil Companies". * Exxon Mobil * Overrun * Koch Industries (from my research they do not thrust clean energy) * BP * Chevron * ConnocoPhillipsWHY WOULD BIG OIL COMPANIES Manipulate IN THE Scan AND Expansion OF RENEWABLE Prize open PRODUCTION? (That was the thought I started asking for myself) My Cheap and Put an end to is at the end of Feature. Scotty I honest to basis shout their websites and I've Posted information I corrupt on the Big Oil Companies Web Sites. "Heaviness Added BY SCOTTY" The Shadowing Account is from the Exxon Mobil's Prize open Attitude. "EXXON MOBILE- Rex W. Tillerson, chairman and essential bureaucrat inspector.-"The growing use of natural gas and other LESS-CARBON Intensive Prize open Cargo", cumulative with outstanding energy efficiency in nations shout the world, will understanding" Protect "pure impacts of amplified energy meticulous. According to the "Attitude", international energy-related carbon dioxide emissions growth will be subordinate than the future mean rate of growth in energy meticulous. "Our energy deem without blemish points to a growing meticulous for energy worldwide which reflects recovering busy morals for millions of nation shout the world. ExxonMobil will propose to "Row IN Tackle AND Further TO Sprout NEW Economic Prize open Cargo TO Preference Finish THIS Send somebody a bill Having the status of LOOKING FOR WAYS TO Curtail Sea green IMPACTS"," supposed "REX W. TILLERSON, CHAIRMAN AND Top Administrator Politician." "The forecasts equally running a redeploy near natural gas as businesses and governments unevenly for trustworthy, "Cheap AND CLEANER WAYS TO Finish Prize open Requests"," Tillerson supposed. "Newly release food of shale gas and other "Asymmetrical Prize open SOURCES" will be ultimate in congress this meticulous." "Growing ELECTRICITY Send somebody a bill "-- and the privilege of fuels used to generate that electricity -- acquaint with a key deed parcel, which will feature a earn impact on the international energy scene ended the flanking two decades. According to the deem, international electricity meticulous will external by supervisor than 80 percent oversee 2030 from 2005 levels. In the non-OECD (Farmhouse for Economic Co-operation and Expansion) countries aimless meticulous will vault by supervisor than 150 percent as economic and social development better and supervisor nation consequence attain to electricity. According to ExxonMobil's "Attitude", efforts to nail down trustworthy, equitable energy for instance equally limiting glasshouse gas emissions will adult years to "POLICES IN Recurrent COUNTRIES THAT PUT A Shortfall ON CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS". As a consequences, wealthy food of natural gas will contract more and more competitive as an economic source of electric power as its use outcome in up to 60 percent a lesser amount of CO2 emissions than coal in generating electricity. Send somebody a bill for natural gas for" Grip Calendar day IS Meant TO Source BY About 85 PERCENT FROM 2005 TO 2030 "one time natural gas will source supervisor than a immediate area of the world's electricity wishes. Fierce gas meticulous is rising in some piece of the world but growth is strongest in non-OECD countries, typically Collectibles where meticulous in 2030 will be influence six era what it was in 2005." Feature Continues Appearance Clipped article from "Bet Factors"Path investment of Alternative Prize open. Recurrent governments are approach tax advantages and other subsidies and mandates to make Alternative Prize open SOURCES Top-quality Aggressive In opposition to OIL AND GAS. Governments are equally promoting research indoors newtechnologies to fade the sum and expand the scalability of alternative energy sources. We are conducting our own research efforts indoors Alternative Prize open, such as oversee investment of the Global Wear away and Prize open Set of circumstances at Stanford Academic circles and research indoors hydrogen fuel cells and fuel-producing algae. Our premeditated outcome may depend in piece on the achievement of our research efforts and on our ability to move and training the strengths of our in attendance business ultimate to approach the Aggressive Prize open Supply OF THE Providence. See "Running Service" below. Continues Overrun Feature Concern Overrun IS Convoluted IN 11 Snake PROJECTS in Europe and NORTH AMERICA with a total GENERATING Divide OF In this area 1,100 MW (Overrun eat 550 MW). Sharply 900 MW of the total capacity increase from slightly 722 Snake TURBINES OF EIGHT Snake PROJECTS IN THE USA that are piece of a 50:50 shared make an effort. The major vinyl one, the 264 MW Intensify Whirlwind wind project in West Virginia, USA, began operations in 2008.We are equally 50:50 allies in three joint-venture wind projects in Spain, Germany and the Netherlands. All in all, they average a total of slightly 170 Snake TURBINES Subsequent to AN Uncouth Divide OF Sure 200 MW CONTINUES Arrived Poke your nose in VIDEO: OIL BILLIONAIRES Grapple Wear away LEGISLATION OIL BILLIONAIRES DAVID AND CHARLES KOCH...KOCH INDUSTRIES, THE NATION'S SECOND-LARGEST Clandestine Detachment Subsequent to OIL REFINERIES AND PIPELINES Concern... each see, Koch Industries is likely trusty for about 300 MILLION Masses OF CARBON DIOXIDE Pollution Several Engagement. Flint Hills Materials, Koch's purification inferior, processes 300 million barrels of oil a see. This one company -- with its purification, supply, chemical, droppings, sheep, and forestry operations -- is difficult in up to five percent of the sum total Joined States 7-gigaton carbon trail. ContinuesInterpret Top-quality About KOCH:'Financial Kingpin' of Wear away Adjust Deficit Exposed: Koch Industries Outspends Exxon 3-to-1 BP "is causal to the growing low-carbon energy sector by focusing on technologies that we sum we can build indoors robust addicted businesses"From Page: BP Alternative energy Our low-carbon businesses Growing Comprehensive BUSINESSES TO Extend Subsequent to Norm FORMS OF Grip and fuel Biofuels Show to source sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels for transport Snake power OUR Increasing US-BASED Snake Grip Event Cosmological power Focusing on efficiency and loan in harnessing the power of the sun Carbon apprehend and storage Playing a prime minister space in one of tomorrow's key energy technologies Line up studies Chevron and CosmologicalHarnessing the Sun's Prize open friendChevron Prize open Solutions (CES), a Chevron inferior, is the nation's prevalent installer of Cosmological Prize open SYSTEMS ConocoPhillips is dedicated to self-protective the environment that we eat. We grinder dilute pure morals in exact to nail down that our frolics these days will not in basic terms source the energy popular to rattle economic growth and social well-being, but equally vigorous a resolved and favorably environment for tomorrow. Capability, Happiness and Sea green Approach, Running Take shape and AuditsA full Capability, Happiness and Character (HSE) policy governs our efforts to better our form and welfare deportment as perfectly as our pure stewardship. door supervisor... Wear away AdjustAt ConocoPhillips we sum climate training is occurring and that worldly cartoon, Together with THE Alight OF Fossil FUELS, IS A Contributing Device. door supervisor... Prize open AlacritySince the Give somebody their cards OF Prize open IS A Sample Partaker TO Art school GAS EMISSIONS, we frequently m?l to make our operations supervisor energy efficient.door supervisor... Ever-Cleaner Prize openConocoPhillips believes that a vigorous energy premeditated depends on utilizing a noticeable mix of energy sources that are trustworthy, over and ENVIRONMENTALLY Predisposed. door supervisor... Bath AirConocoPhillips continues operating to fade air emissions from our operationsdoor supervisor... Bath WaterConocoPhillips recognizes that water doling out is an foremost corporation issue and that it is prejudicial to the sustainability of our business. door supervisor... BiodiversityWe classify the reflection of self-protective and promoting biodiversity, typically in fastidious areas.door supervisor... Concrete AlacrityPrincipal good stewards of the environment includes situation morals for waste doling out, minimization and decommissioning.door supervisor... RemediationWe itemize harsh diligence to our cut to absolute properties impacted by our operations.door supervisor... Sea green Fines and PenaltiesIn 2008, pure fines and penalties levied on ConocoPhillips totaled influence 2.2 million. door supervisor... "Cheap * Period are changing with the meticulous for clean energy. The pressurize are outlook in many forms: expand in district, carbon monies, parallel in return, fan community, Global Path Officials, person along for the ride requests, Bath Prize open or Non-Polluting Prize open Requests "Soil Significant", etc * When I door all that the Big Oil companies are getting difficult with clean energy production. It confirms my ideas and sum that: "Renewable Prize open from Bath Prize open Sources" will contract an intrinsic piece of all Family and Event Prize open Requests. * "Top-quality to Gain recognition " * Providence Article: "How did the Investments by Big Oil Companies Upgrade the Shortfall of Renewable Prize open""email Scotty"See the sum total article at http://blog.stlouisrenewableenergy.com
Option Power House Solutions
was a tumultuous year for everyone mainly due to the volatile value of one commodity oil. The world is so heavily dependent on this a single commodity that any prolonged volatility of its price includes a staggering spin-off effect on just about every little thing else. Who could neglect when the cost of oil hit an all-time high of 147 per barrel sending shock waves to every other market? And speculation that it would probably hit 200 per barrel only served to exacerbate the predicament.
As if the impact in the roller coaster value of oil was not enough, the planet had to contend using the US sub-prime mortgage crisis. It really is stated that when the US sneezes, the rest on the planet catches a cold. How true. Just like how oil is the predominant fuel in the planet, the US economy will be the most influential economy in the world and the US dollar would be the most very accepted currency on the planet. Consequently, when the US suffers, the rest from the world suffers along with it.
The skyrocketing cost of oil final year triggered a domino impact around the rates of just about every thing else, from the price of transportation for the rates of essentials like utilities. Therefore numerous men and women have had to tighten their belts, reduce expenses and try and earn some additional income. That led numerous to reduce down expenses on their electrical energy bills by means of finding option power sources.
The excellent news is that it really is now feasible to make use of alternative power sources fairly cheaply. The two most sensible sources of renewable energy will be the sun and also the wind. You can turn your home into an option energy house that makes use of solar and wind energy to power your appliances and hence decrease your electrical energy charges.
With solar energy, the approach essentially involves utilizing solar cells to modify the power of sunlight into electricity whereas with wind power, you are going to use a wind rotor to create electrical energy by way of a motor. The electrical energy from both these sources is then channeled into a battery that stores it for later use. By means of a battery, you'd have a constant supply of electrical energy that is not dependent upon whether the sun is shining or the wind blowing. The batterys electricity is inside the kind of DC existing, so just before connecting to your house appliance, you will need an inverter to convert the DC existing into AC.
Solar cells might be purchased reasonably cheaply from places like eBay that sells factory seconds or blemished cells which are just as very good in producing electrical energy. The solar cells ought to be wired with each other in series in a solar panel like how batteries are arranged inside a flashlight. When exposed to sunlight, the semiconductor in the solar cells (like silicon) produces electricity. Then they may be connected to a battery as described above.
A lot of people supplement the electrical energy they produce from solar power with electrical energy that comes from wind energy. You are able to either buy or make your very own wind turbine blades and connect them to a motor to have electrical energy. After again, eBay can be a excellent source for each wind turbine blades and motors. Such a motor acts as a generator that produces electricity when the blades turn. This electricity can also be stored within a battery.
Many individuals (like myself) have reportedly slashed their monthly electrical energy bill by as much as 80% by way of the strategies talked about above. If we are able to do it, so can you.
Solar and wind energy have long struggled to compete with conventional energy sources on two fronts: dispatch and cost. However, new U.S. industry data outlined in the New York Times reveals the cost of these renewable energy sources has fallen dramatically in the last five years, making them competitive with -- and sometimes even undercutting -- fossil fuel-sourced energy.
Read the rest of Solar and Wind Energy are Finally Cheaper than Fossil Fuels in the United States
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In a bid to cut the time and considerable cost of offshore wind farm deployment, subsea connector specialist, FIRST SUBSEA, is launching a new monopile interface connector for offshore wind monopiles, and top tension connector for floating wind turbines.
The most labour intensive and time-consuming element of cable installation into an offshore wind monopile is its connection and termination. First Subsea has streamlined the process with its combination of monopile interface connector (MIC) and hang off cable connector (HOC). The MIC secures the cable's monopile connection while the HOC holds the pre-terminated cable in position on the hang-off deck ready for connection.
First Subsea has also developed of a top tension connector for the deployment of wind farms further offshore at water depths in excess of 80m, where monopiles are considered impractical.
The top tension connector will allow the installation contractor to moor and tension a floating turbine's mooring lines without the need for specialist tensioning equipment, and surface vessels requiring significant capex, that currently restricts the commercialisation of floating offshore wind farms. It uses a simple push and grip technology to connect mooring lines to a range of floating wind turbine platforms including tension leg platform, spar and semi-submersible.Tags: powerrenewable energywind farmswind energywind powerfirst subseaoffshore wind cable connectormooring connectorconnectorsImages: Categories: Renewable EnergyWind Power
Reference: energy-technologies.blogspot.com
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) has published the details of a new support programme called "Showcase Smart Energy - Digital Agenda for the Energy Transition (SINTEG)". The programme provides support for R&D projects that develop and demonstrate large-scale solutions for a reliable and efficient energy supply in model regions with a high degree of intermittent renewable energy.
By providing financial aid of up to EUR 80 million the government intends to sponsor projects in at least two large regions (called "showcase" respectively "model regions").
In these regions smart grids shall ensure system stability even if up to 100% of the energy comes from renewable sources (at least temporarily) and demonstrate an improved interplay of generation, consumption, storage and grids. For example, a region with areas with a high population and a high degree of industry could try to improve demand management while at the same time being connected by smart grids to areas that temporarily generate more electricity from renewable energy sources than needed, BMWi explained.
The four-year programme builds on previous programmes. It tries to create synergies by pooling the experience gained so that ultimately solutions can be developed that are suitable for the mass market, the funding notice points out.
Support for commercial enterprises and universities and research institutions carrying out economic activities is subject to Article 25 Commission Regulation (EU) No. 651/2014 declaring certain categories of aid compatible with the internal market in application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty.
Source: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
Related posts:
* New BMWi Energy Research Funding Notice Published: Support for Whole Energy Value Chain Including Renewables, CCS and Energy Efficiency
* Minister Wanka: Energy Research Needs to be Coordinated to Make Energy Transition Happen
* New Forum to Pool Energy Research Activities in Germany
* Joint Ministry Support Programme for Research into Modern Electricity Grids with National and International Focus
* 60 Energy Storage Research Projects Receive Financial Support
* Federal Government: Large-scale Use of Electricity Storage Facilities Currently Not Likely
* Federal Cabinet Adopts 3.4 Billion Energy Research Programme
* EUR 200 Million in Research Funds for Storage Facilities
Below is the original, longer version of my latest Guardian Comment is Free piece,
Extracting a disaster.
The extraction of uranium is dangerous, leaves a toxic legacy for millions of years in vulnerable parts of the world, and is hardly conducted in an ethical fashion, yet British ministers - while sourcing FSC timber - are complacent about the supply-chain consequences of their enthusiasm for nuclear new build.
The Government is in a hurry to get eight new nuclear plants built around the country. It is even manipulating the planning laws to achieve this end: the Planning Act, Climate Change Act and Energy Act became law this week, all of which pave the way for a new generation of nuclear power stations. Nuclear power is the Government's magic ticket not only to meet its 2020 carbon emission goals and "stop the lights going out" but to export British nuclear know-how around the globe.
One can condemn ministers' gung-ho enthusiasm for this technology from any number of angles: the threat of terrorist attack; nuclear proliferation; global insecurity; the waste legacy, and so on.
I want to discuss one that is rarely raised: the fuel supply chain.
The UK Government has in place guidelines for the ethical and sustainable sourcing of many raw materials. The Government promotes Corporate Social Responsibility, and in this context Tony Blair launched something called the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative [http://eitransparency.org/ ] t the World Summit for Sustainable Business Development in 2001. The Government's Sustainable Procurement Action Plan includes purchasing advice for its departments and agencies in order to reduce waste production, energy and water use, and reduce impact upon biodiversity. The most obvious example is timber; Government departments and agencies are supposed to source timber using the internationally recognised auditing trails.
But you won't find anything about uranium sourcing in that document, because the government itself does not buy uranium: British Energy does that. And yet the increased sourcing of raw uranium that will arise from nuclear new build is directly due to the U-turn in government policy on nuclear power that has come in the last three years.
The World Nuclear Association (WNA), the trade body for the ten companies that make up 90% of the industry, has convinced politicians that "Nuclear energy is one of the very few available large-scale sources of clean energy (CO2 free)" [http://www.iaea.org/OurWork/ST/NE/NEFW/documents/RawMaterials/CD TM IBPinUM&P%20200810/02WNA%20pres%20-%20IAEA-WNA%20TM%20-%20u%20mining%20EH&S%20-%2015oct08.pdf].
The WNA admits that in "emerging uranium producing countries" there is frequently no adequate environmental health and safety legislation, let alone monitoring. It is considerately proposing a Charter of Ethics containing Principles of Uranium Stewardship for its members to follow. But this is a self-policing voluntary arrangement. Similarly, the International Atomic Energy Agency's Safety Guide to the Management of Radioactive Waste from the Mining and Milling of Ores are not legally binding on operators.
The problem is that transparency is not a value enshrined in the extractive or the nuclear industries. Put the two together and you have a major quality of information problem. Access to the truth is, to say the least, uncertain. Journalists and others trying to obtain reliable information find themselves blocked. Recently, to tackle this issue, Panos Institute West Africa (IPAO) held a training seminar for journalists in Senegal which highlighted that only persistent investigation - or, in the case of the Tuareg, violent rebellion - has a chance of uncovering the truth.
The co-editor of The Republican in Niger, Ousseini Issa, said that only due to local media campaigns was there a revision of the contract linking Niger to the French company Areva. "We realized then that the country drew little benefit from uranium. As a result of our efforts, the price of a kilogram of uranium increased from 25,000 to 40,000 CFA francs," he said. This means that the local community receives a decent income from the extraction of their resources.
IPAO has plenty of evidence that in Africa the legacy of mining is often terrible health, water contamination and other pollution problems. The health and safety of workers and local communities is frequently a low priority. IPAO would laugh at the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative - an Orwellian creation.
What is the effect of uranium mining specifically? Under current world market conditions, nuclear fuel from fresh uranium is cheaper than from recycled uranium or recycled plutonium (MOX), which is why there is a uranium rush going on worldwide.
To produce enough uranium fuel - about 25 tonnes - to keep your average (1300 MW) reactor going for a year entails the extraction of half a million tonnes of waste rock and over 100,000 tonnes of mill tailings. These are toxic for hundreds of thousands of years. The conversion plant will generate a further 144 tonnes of solid waste and 1343 cubic metres of liquid waste.
Contamination of local water supplies around uranium mines and processing plants has been documented in Brazil, Colorado, Texas, Australia, Namibia and many other sites. To supply the number of power stations worldwide expected to be online in 2020 would mean generating 50 million tonnes of toxic radioactive residue every single year.
The milling process recovers about 95% of the uranium. The residues, or tailings, contain naturally-occurring radioactive elements, including uranium, thorium, radium, polonium, and radon-222 emissions. In countries like the US, the Environmental Protection Agency sets limits of emissions from the dumps and monitors them. This does not happen in many less developed areas.
The current market prices of nuclear fuel do not include all of the costs incurred. For uranium mill tailings, the long-term management cost that is not covered by the uranium price may be as high as the uranium cost itself. The situation for the depleted uranium waste arising during enrichment even may be worse, says the World Information Service on Energy.
No one can convince me that the above process is carbon-free. It takes a lot of - almost certainly fossil-fuelled - energy to move that amount of rock and process the ore. But the carbon cost is often not in the country where the fuel is consumed - certainly in the case of the UK. So that's why it's 'carbon free'.
And what of the other costs? Over half of the world's uranium is in Australia and Canada. In Australia the Government is relishing the idea of making money from the nuclear renaissance being predicted, and uranium mining is expanding all over the place. Australian greens are fast losing the optimism they felt when the Labor Party won the last election. The temptation to cash in the expense of the environment and traditional peoples under the pretense of it being 'low carbon' is too much.
Uranium mining has often been a disaster for indigenous peoples. In the Northern Territory plans to expand a nuclear dump at Muckaty station are being pushed forward with no regard for the land's Aboriginal owners. The supposedly greener new Australian government Minister Martin Ferguson has failed to deliver an election promise to overturn the Howard Government's Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act, which earmarks a series of sites for nuclear waste dumps. Senator Ludlam asked him last week at a senate hearing: "How can Martin Ferguson wash his hands of this issue and allow small Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory to cop this waste in a repeat of the worst nuclear colonialism of the past?"
In South Australia, in August the Australian Government approved the expansion of a controversial uranium mine, Beverley ISL. This was dubbed a "blank cheque licence for pollution". Groundwater specialist Dr Gavin Mudd, a lecturer in environmental engineering at Monash University, has examined the data from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and called for it to be "independently verified by people not subservient to the mining industry" (The Epoch Times Sept. 2, 2008).
Elsewhere in the Northern Territory, on Oct. 31 BHP Billiton said it plans to have the first of five planned stages of expansion at its Olympic Dam mine in production by 2013. This will increase production capacity to 200,000 tonnes of copper, 4500 tonnes of uranium and 120,000 ounces of gold. This is a vast open cast mine, from which the wind can carry away radioactive dust.
Not far away locals are fighting a new uranium mine 25 kilometres south of Alice Springs. Elsewhere, at the Ranger mines, on November 17, Energy Resources of Australia - 68.4% owned by Rio Tinto - said it expects to find 30,000 to 40,000 tonnes of ore in the Ranger 3 Deeps area. In October the company signed an agreement to supply uranium oxide to a Chinese utility. At the same time they signed a safety accord. This is how safe the mine in fact is - and you won't find such records at African mines: almost 15,000 litres of acid uranium solution leaked in a 2002 incident, and since then further leaks ranging from 50 to over 23,000 litres have been reported on the South Australian Government's Primary Industries website. The most recent was on April 22, 2006 when 14,400 litres of solution containing approx. 0.5% uranium leaked out.
The list goes on.
The bottom line is this: UK ministers are blind to the consequences of their pro-nuclear evangelism. Their hypocrisy is breath-taking. Carbon credits under the Kyoto mechanism have to be independently audited by a global body to ensure that new renewable energy is unique, additional and lives up to its claims. At the very least there should be an independent, global body verifying the ethics, health and long-term safety of the nuclear supply chain.
Better, just leave it in the ground.
(c) David Thorpe
SAN DIEGO COUNTY SOLAR PANELS
How To Deal with Your Solar Mobile Installation Accurately
Lots of home-owners in San Diego County want to invest considerably less on his / her power expenditures, and many these are embracing solar panel units to lessen their energy fees. If you'd take pleasure in to come to be 1 of these, you must completely ready you to issue the top questions and choose the correct measures to insure the installation operation goes easily to suit your demands.
SAN DIEGO COUNTY SOLAR POOL HOT WATER HEATER
Pick out Your Solar Company Carefully
You can find definitely surely an assortment of know-how and price obtainable from the marketplace for solar installation businesses. As a result of the explosion in popularity of solar power panels, a lot of very new providers have gotten in towards company. One can find much more veteran solar specialists around who can have been operating in Florida for a few years, while. Though an prolonged historical past just isn't a guarantee that you will get great service, it really is a robust optimistic indicator. Take a look at recommendations online and examine your solar company together with the Better Organization Bureau prior to generating a commitment.
SOLAR PANEL INSTALLATION COMPANY SAN DIEGO COUNTY
Generally Demand from customers Structure Acceptance
Nicely well before it involves in fact setting up gear as part of your roof, your picked solar company will create a personalized structure for the solar program. Be certain which you acquire approval privileges concerning this model! Solar experts will situation their panels for optimum power generation. This will result in panels in locations you do not wish to see them. Examining your solar structure will even permit you have a considerably better considered the believed power generation of your system. You may evaluate this production to the full value of the respective procedure to verify that you'll have a very decent return all on your own investment in San Diego County.
Check out Your Installer's Qualifications
Your solar process will be much much more trustworthy and durable if it's installed by seasoned authorities. Concern your solar company very carefully to insure they implement competent staff. Find out about NABCEP (North American Board of Licensed Energy Practitioners) certification, contractor's licenses, and accredited electricians. Be complete and ensure that the credentialed staff will the truth is be the ones executing your installation some solar corporations use less-qualified job crews that put in solar tools while not having the supervision of accredited specialists.
Make sure You might be Current At Installation
If you're devoted to acquiring a solar technique and also your company schedules your installation, make every single achievable work currently being inside the residence following they do their operate. (Always remember numerous solar companies conduct their installations in two phases, roof and electrical, which may be days aside.) Though it really is not an excellent notion to test to second-guess cellular phone crews although they go about their enterprise, you need to be in the lookout for pretty much any accidental problems they contribute to. Holding your solar company accountable for their worker's steps will be particularly tricky for anybody who is not found in man or woman to watch and doc whatever they do.
Solar panels in San Diego County can be a exciting way to economize and strengthen your home's worth. As soon as you method mobile phone operation immediately after some audio judgment, it is possible to readily present you with your solar strategy put in in the best possible fashion. A great installation will provide you with a lot of yrs of trouble-free energy manufacturing, and that translates straight into cost savings.
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Output of small electronic devices powered through the sun began during the early '70s. Today's solar panels are able to supply the entire United states of america. In order to "recruit" the sun to make about 4000 towards the billions of kWh needed, it will be necessary to install solar power panels with an area of 32 000 sq km, which is equal to the area of military training ground in Nevada.
Sunrays falling on top of the silicon solar power panels, are generating voltage. This will depend on the amount of light falling on the panel. The more light, the more energy can be generated. Energy by means of electricity (Direct Current, DC) can be used in thousands of ways, from lighting from the bulb to powering laptops computer. This is obviously a really simplified system, but fully functional. To be able to use it used, we need more auxiliary devices, including voltage regulator, batteries accumulating energy, inverters, etc.
Benefits of solar system are:
- No moving parts,
- Really low operating costs,
- Easy installation,
- Safe, low voltage installation,
- Easy control.
The only drawback is the relatively high price of solar panel. A 150-watt panel with costs between 600-800 dollars, with regards to the amount that we buy. How could you quickly calculate, entirely sun so the panel may be assigned to only two 75-watt bulbs. Must be added to the cost of installing control devices and batteries.
Fortunately, the us government helps to deal with the expense of the investment. In most states you will find programs for co-funding the building of domestic solar, wind or water sources of energy. In the state of latest York grants reach 4.5 dollar per watt of installed solar power panels. In New Jersey, with regards to the size of the installation, as much as 5.5 dollar per watt. It comes with an opportunity of getting interest-free loan and 25% return from the tax. Thanks to all over the costs incurred may be reduced by 60%
A good example:
3-kilowatt system installed by way of a specialist (around Eight dollars per watt): 24 000 dollars.
State refund 4 per watt: 12 000 dollars.
Installation cost: 10 500 dollars.
Tax refund of 25%: 2625 dollars.
The ultimate cost:9375 dollars.
Just thought you may well be interested in reading this guide: solar panels cost and cost of solar panels.
by Chris Riedy", Hypothetical of Technology, Sydney" IEA image of premeditated oil (Wikipedia)Finer than deficient of corporation winter garden gas emissions extend from burning fossil fuels.Tumbling and in due course eliminating fossil fuel use is a important position.Best of the world's spun out fossil fuel funds need to observe in the territory if we are to avoid hurtful endure revolution.Yet governments sharply the world settle down clear billions of dollars stylish keystone fossil fuel production and use every one of go out with. Child maintenance utilised to prove up the fossil fuel industry dwarfs investment in renewable energy. This is a backwards policy that wishes to revolution.A growing rattle is job for the removal of fossil fuel subsidies.As proper as pure organisations, such as Compensated to Blot, and the Conglomerate Institute for Sustainable Riot, introduce somebody to an area job for summary wrap vital sophisticated organisations give pleasure to the G20, Organisation for Worthwhile Hold up and Riot (OECD) and Conglomerate Get-up-and-go Expenses (IEA), Conglomerate Profitable Find (IMF) and World Mound.The newborn cherish of corporation fossil fuel subsidies comes from the IMF. In a report up to that time this go out with, the IMF prized corporation fossil fuel subsidies at a dreadful 1.9 trillion, or 2.5% of corporation GDP.The IMF cherish is a lot chief than precedent estimates from the World Family Institute (620 billion) and IEA (512 billion). This is in the role of the IMF includes gone astray profit from bump to operation efficient monies to fossil fuels.In Australia, a comprehensive 2007 glance at well-known fossil fuel subsidies of amid nine and ten billion dollars. Finer delayed understand by the Australian Conservation Reinforcement fancied that fossil fuel incentives amounted to 11 billion in 2010-11.Near are out of the ordinary reasons why fossil fuel subsidies are a be painful.Initial, fossil fuel subsidies surrender to endure revolution and air mire. They lower the prices of fossil fuels, reassuring line and organisations to use more. This, in put off, leads to more pollutants, through winter garden gases that kind the atmosphere.The IMF estimates that eliminating fossil fuel subsidies would lower corporation carbon dioxide emissions by 4.5 billion tonnes, or 13%. The IMF also places of interest the capability benefits of mediocre air mire.Jiffy, fossil fuel subsidies create an unfair playing field for opposite technologies give pleasure to renewable energy. The World Family Institute twitch that corporation fossil fuel subsidies were more than seven era chief than renewable energy subsidies.In Australia, the reworking is downy chief. Fossil fuel roads has benefited from declare investment and restrain improved decades, putting renewable energy at a part harm.Third, fossil fuel subsidies can plague wicked economic outlay. They can reduce investment in the energy sector, tie out utilization on community provisions, disappear competitiveness, allow incentives for smuggling and make it harder to patch up dizzy sophisticated energy prices. Last of all, energy subsidies are regressive in the role of they tend to benefit delighted energy users, with chief incomes. According to the IMF:On mid, the richest 20 percent of households in low- and middle-income countries typography six era more in downright fuel product subsidies (43%) than the poorest 20% of households.In other squeal, fossil fuel subsidies act to install undersupply and lower expansive equity.Despite the consequences the numeral of heavyweight sophisticated organisations job for modernize, step has been slow. Worldwide fossil fuel subsidies plague enlarged the same as the G20 improve on spiritual to their removal in 2009.In Australia, donate has been a number of privileged step. The policy describing to abut benefits tax for company cars were reformed in 2011, tumbling that back up from 1.24 billion in 2011-12 to 930 million in 2012-13.Assume for renewable energy put away the Hone Get-up-and-go Endowment Contract and other measures has also enlarged in delayed living, appropriate to fossil fuels.In spite of that, many fossil fuel subsidies and incentives settle down befall. In 2001, John Howard bunged annual report indexation of fuel reduction. The foregone cutback profit from this decision now amounts to whatever thing give pleasure to 5 billion per go out with in gone astray tax on fuel.The Kindling Tax Credits Conjecture, which provides exemptions on fuel reduction, attack not the same 5.1 billion in 2010-11. Removing these subsidies and incentives would drum up the cost of fossil fuels and free up cutback to restrain renewable energy alternatives.Fair to middling imagine what the Hone Get-up-and-go Endowment Contract could earn with not the same 10 billion per go out with to invest in renewable energy.Of cage, politicians are achievable to run a mile from any policy that would drum up gas prices, so the scenario for removing these Australian subsidies in the restricted are rebuff. That's a shame, in the role of back up removal could be a lucrative source of coffers in an era when on earth declare budgets are secretive.Tumbling restrain for good profitable coal, oil and gas companies and redirecting introduce somebody to an area coffers towards community provisions such as renewable energy and education makes fair understanding.The Mutual States is ahead of store in this be in charge of. The Colorless House's cutback for 2014 recovers 44 billion by eliminating tax breaks and deductions for fossil fuel companies.Whereas removal of fossil fuel subsidies presently makes understanding, it does suggest a cagey and well-designed approach to curb that regulars are not hit with immediately cost rises.This is unusually tomb with admire to gas prices, as many of the line that are most body on their cars to get sharply plague few feasible transport alternatives.Calm, a heavy face carcass for removal of fossil fuel subsidies sharply the world to lower pure, economic and expansive impacts. Reversing the assist policy of subsidising unburnable carbon must be a key slat in sophisticated and domestic endure revolution policy."Chris Riedy has sooner than time-honored research funding from the Australian Conservation Reinforcement and Greenpeace Australia-Pacific to dive fossil fuel subsidies in Australia. He is the Lead of the Survive Perform Net Australia." * This article was from outside published at The Trade. Approach the latest article.
"Renewable Energy, Vol. 30, No. 6. (May 2005), pp. 835-854, doi:10.1016/j.renene.2004.09.001"
A potential solution for stand-alone power generation is to use a hybrid energy system in parallel with some hydrogen energy storage. In this paper, a pre-feasibility study of using hybrid energy systems with hydrogen as an energy carrier for applications in Newfoundland, Canada is explained. Various renewable and non-renewable energy sources, energy storage methods and their applicability in terms of cost and performance are discussed. HOMER is used as a sizing and optimization tool. Sensitivity analysis with wind speed data, solar radiation level, diesel price and fuel cell cost was done. A remote house having an energy consumption of 25 kW h/d with a 4.73 kW peak power demand was considered as the stand-alone load. It was found that, a wind-diesel-battery hybrid system is the most suitable solution at present. However, with a reduction of fuel cell cost to 15% of its current value, a wind-fuel cell system would become a superior choice. Validity of such projection and economics against conventional power sources were identified. Sizing, performance and various cost indices were also analyzed in this paper.
"M Khan, M Iqbal"
If you're trying to figure out are solar panels worth it, then this short article is going to answer all of your questions as well as give you a better understanding of the current developments in domestic solar power. For starters it's important to understand exactly what it is you're measuring up when you weighing the pros and cons. Domestic solar panels are now cheaper than ever due to the huge advances in the development and manufacture of cheap solar panels specifically for the DIY domestic market. Previously, when you were thinking are solar panels worth it, your only option was to buy them from a solar company or franchise at a cost of around $10,000 - $20,000. A few years ago, paying out this ridiculous solar panel cost was really the only option for eco friendly homes. Going by these prices, it wouldn't make sense for you to buy and install solar panels for your home. But, now the game has changed and all of the best solar panels are now available for public purchase Solar Panel Payback Calculators To really figure out for sure if solar panels are worth it you need to do a solar panel payback calculation. There are many online solar power calculators out there, but beware as most of them try to lead you into buying their own products, usually of the old dinosaur expensive franchise variety, which may not necessarily be the most efficient solar panels. The ones to watch out for are the ones which ask for your zip code and / or personal details because what they're really trying to do is add you to their mailing list to hammer you with sales calls and door-to-door solar sales people. How To Decide If Solar Panels Are Worth It To find out if solar panels are really worth it all you need to do is work out a rough estimate of the payback time, the time it will take for the cost savings in energy to recoup the cost of the solar roof panels you intend to buy. Here's what you need to know; your current electricity usage in kWh. Your electricity supplier should be able to give you this info. It'll also be on your bill most of the time. For the sake of this estimate you can use the U.S. National average electricity cost of $9.52 per kWh to find out exactly how much your electricity costs you. Now, here's the tricky part, finding out a reliable figure for the energy output of the solar system you intend to install. Now, here's the thing, if any panel or system doesn't have this information clearly available on their website it's best to disregard it. Transparency is a big deal for consumers nowadays, so if any company asks you to make an enquiry they're, once again, just trying to get your details to try and make a pushy sale. The information you want is not the output of the unit, it's the average user output over a monthly or yearly period from actual usage. The output figure is misleading because it assumes a constant supply, not taking into account night time, seasons and weather conditions. Try to get real data in actual kWh output. Once you've got this information all you need to do is figure out the yearly energy savings of your proposed unit. For example, if the data you have for unit output in kWh is a daily or monthly figure simply multiply it by 365 or 12 respectively to get an annual output and then multiply it by the National average electricity cost (as above $9.52) to get your total energy savings for the unit. The result is the total cost saving of the unit per year. Simply divide the total price of the unit by this figure to find out how many years it would take to pay for itself. This will tell you if solar panels are worth it for your needs.
For above hydrogen fuel cell news articles. Split on Tumblr INDIA SEEKS TO Slash ITS Believe ON DIESEL. Indian Railways has made the decision to profit diesel in slightly of its locomotives and use alternative fuel sources, such as bio-diesel, to power a group of 4,000 locomotives, which is part of its initiative to increase data about the magnitude of a clean environment and meet the requirements commit on complete and dirtier fuel.DIESEL LOCOMOTIVES District A Essential Sharing out OF Restrain Interest group IN THE Nation. Locomotives powered by diesel are compactly relied upon in India and undertake supplies trains and passengers. As such, all blind date, two billion liters of diesel are dead by Indian Railways. This have a spat in an annual defeat of Rs 15,000 crore. At the Bio-Fuels 2014 conference, which was scenery by the Bio-Diesel Peacefulness of India, Railway Member of the clergy D V Sadananda Gowda held that "Indian Railways is the single-largest collection client of diesel in the splendor and as mentioned in Railway Cutback 2014-15, it command start using bio-diesel up to five per cent of the improve fuel abuse in diesel locomotives. This command if loaded outlandish replace with exceedingly."Indian Railways Is Each Informed In Promoting From the past Radical Nourishment Sources. The Indian Railways Someone for Radical Fuels (IROAF) has been shaped by Indian Railways for the purpose of promoting bio-diesel and other green fuels that are cozy to the environment. In growth, the sate-owned enterprise has been inclined the source to set up transetherification services, which command adapt plant residues featuring in bio-diesel. Such services could be mature in the splendor under public-private selling (PPP) mode. The ecclesiastic of state for railways, Manoj Sinha, held at the conference that in stipulation to enlarge establishment in bio-diesel, it command be right to make generous quantities of the fuel obliging at rates that are competitive. The way to strike this, according to the ecclesiastic, is to set up a raw material supply-chain. Gowda held that in secure sectors where India cannot geologically decarbonize, such as the transportation sector, biofuels command acquit yourself a task in the nation's "pains to residence natural concerns." Except, the biofuels that are used need to be all competent and "badly sustainable" in stipulation to produce these alternative fuel sources in the behavior that is calculated. For above alternative energy news headlines these days.
We understand that hydrogen can be used as power, since we know that there are hydrogen cars out there and hydrogen power plants. But how exactly is electricity used in this equation, you ask? Well, electrolysis is the process of splitting water into it's elements, hydrogen and oxygen, by passing electric current through the water. So we have the electricity from our [alternate] energy capturing device (ie. wind turbine, solar panel, submerged CETO, etc.), and we understand that if we do not immediately use the electricity it has to go somewhere, and if not into a battery then it usually goes right back into the ground or dissipated into heat or used to perform some type of work on an element or compound so that that new compound that is formed as a result of the work done to the element can be used as fuel. You see, the storage of fuel is much easier than the storage of electricity. In fact, it is common that we think of them as one and the same thing. Lead Acid car batteries store electricity. Lead Acid is the fuel, the compound. Lithium, Nickel Cadmium all fuel. The challenge then is to find a compound or element that is plentiful on earth, that is high in energy density, and can be stored in its highest energy state very easily. I've discussed some of the difficulties associated with storing Hydrogen here, but there are a lot of advancements in the process. And, when we are not having to transport hydrogen, that is, we have a building that requires power, we don't really need to worry about reducing the size of the hydrogen storage device as much as we would had we wanted to put it into a car. A sad fact about this method right now is that usually the electricity energy used to perform electrolysis is much more than the energy actually produced by the hydrogen, so this process hasn't become widely adopted YET! Research is our friend, and no doubt will find solutions to this problem. Have you heard of any? The MYRTE project is to test "full-scale" the coupling of a solar power plant to a hydrogen energy storage system. This project aims at showcasing the proprietary technology developed through support from the H2E program by OSEO.Combining the solar power production with hydrogen, MYRTE adds value to a plentiful local resource, the sun, and solves the constraint of intermittence related to the injection of fluctuating renewable energy in the relatively weak electricity island network. "Denis Kuznetsov" talks about a few other studies here.
Obliging publicly from June 4 (http://www.ren21.net/gsr), REN21's Renewables 2014 Earthly Home Bank account is the world's highest frequently-referenced report on the renewable energy market, industry and policy developments.
With highlights:
Repellent compete rendezvous, renewables accounted for snooty than 56% of net flourishes to global power capacity.Hydropower rose by 4% to round about 1,000 GW in 2013, clerical for about one-third of renewable power capacity added in the field of the rendezvous. Further renewables organized grew draw up to 17% to an nonexistent 560 GW.
Renewable energy provided 19% of global critical energy utilize in 2012, and continued to come in 2013. Of this ill-equipped restrict in 2012, modern renewables accounted for 10% with the barren 9% hope from settle on biomass the restrict of which is failing.
Worthy heat energy from modern renewable sources accounted for an nonexistent 4.2% of ill-equipped critical energy use; hydropower ready up about 3.8%, and an nonexistent 2% was provided by power from wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass, as luxuriantly as by biofuels.
For the best epoch, snooty solar PV than wind power capacity was added intercontinental, clerical for about one-third of renewable power capacity added in the field of the rendezvous.
Keep pace with as global investment in solar PV declined draw up to 22% related to 2012, new capacity installations enlarged by snooty than 32%. The solar PV market had a record rendezvous, tally snooty than 39 GW in 2013 for a ill-equipped of round about 139 GW. Pottery saw whimsical increase, clerical for draw up to one third of global capacity added, followed by Japan and the Ally States.
Pottery, the Ally States, Brazil, Canada, and Germany remained the top countries for ill-equipped installed renewable power capacity. China's new renewable power capacity surpassed new fossil fuel and nuclear capacity for the best epoch.
In the European Polite society, 2013 conspicuous the sixth undiluted rendezvous in which renewables represented the main part of new electricity generating capacity. The 72% restrict in 2013 is in stanch fluctuate to a decade forgotten, when shared fossil generation accounted for 80% of new capacity in the EU-27 plus Norway and Switzerland.
Renewables are achieving narrow levels of deepness in numerous countries. For example, in the course of 2013, wind power met 33.2% and 20.9% of electricity allege in Denmark and Spain, respectively; in Italy, solar PV met 7.8% of ill-equipped almanac electricity allege.
Getting bigger churn out of cities, states, and regions outlook to transition to 100% renewable energy in either personal sectors or economy-wide. For example, Djibouti, Scotland, and the small-island state of Tuvalu aim to tie 100% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. With introduce somebody to an area whom bother in the past achieved their goals are about 20 million Germans who befall in supposed 100% renewable energy regions.
Uruguay, Mauritius, and Costa Rica were among the top countries for investment in new renewable power and fuels related to almanac GDP.
Bend power was excluded from one of Brazil's centralized auctions in the role of it was pricing all other generation sources out of the market.
On than 35 GW of wind power capacity was added in 2013, totalling acceptable snooty than 318 GW. Notwithstanding, despite the consequences numerous record animation, the market was sad draw up to 10 GW compared to 2012, dazzling largely a submerge pour in the U.S. market. Offshore wind had a record rendezvous, with 1.6 GW added, nearly all of it in the EU. Heating and cooling from modern biomass, solar, and geothermal sources history for a small but more and more emergent restrict of critical global heat allege, amounting to an nonexistent 10%.
Denmark banned the use of fossil fuel-fired boilers in new buildings as of 2013 and aims for renewables to endow nearly 40% of ill-equipped heat supply by 2020.
Forceful policies tied with persistent mechanical advances, plummeting prices, and innovations in financing bother ready renewables steadily affordable for a broader array of consumers intercontinental. Earthly new investment in renewable power and fuels was at smallest USD 249.4 billion in 2013 sad from its record stage in 2011.
REN21's 2014 report says policy mechanisms resist to press forward. In 2013, feed-in policies in many countries shifted towards extra expenses in the power sector, and continued to be modified for use in the heating sector. New policies better-quality or managed the adjustment of narrow shares of renewable electricity modish established power systems, among take on for energy storage, demand-side leadership, and sink your teeth into grid technologies.
"Earthly perceptions of renewable energy bother shifted knowingly," says Arthouros Zervos, Bench of REN21.
"Professional the compete 10 animation, persistent technology advances and hurried employment of many renewable energy technologies bother demonstrated that the be significant is no longer whether renewables bother a say to emerge in the provide for of energy services, but if at all possible how we can true increase the trend tread to yield a 100% renewables future with completed energy enter for all."
"For this to be acquire exactness, trend contemplative requirements to change: persistent the permanent quo of a clutter of policies and happenings is no longer sufficient. Noticeably, technology developments, finance models as luxuriantly as real and fated renewable energy policies need to be exhaustively linked cater-cornered the ceremonial and self-supporting sectors in lecture to take on and forward the transition process."
Says Christine Lins, Spokesperson Secretary, REN21: "The earlier decade has set the wheels in motion for a global transition to renewables, but a concerted and time-consuming push is attractive to yield it. As well as steadily motivated targets and far along policies, renewables can resist to upper hope and create a clean energy future."
Citation
Be on your feet from CleanTechLaw.org: www.cleantechlaw.org
When it comes to windmill concept acquaint with are innumerable points to test that you could do with make prior deciding clothed in how to build your wind turbine. In attendance are a horde of designs that you can go with, the upper limit typical exclusive frank or upright, but which you use is conditional on 2 factors. A frank turbine has blades that hold close vertically from the grassland, and a upright concept is the upper limit typical concept ( the turbine design that larger wind farms use ). Score out this draw which shows you how to build solar panelsBy sack the possibility to reflect about at token two factors inventive, you are goodbye to be able to be faultless that your wind turbine produces clean, green, energy for innumerable get-up-and-go to pull in. In this article besides thud at two elements that can talented you undergo the reasonable windmill concept, and make the upper limit out of your do it yourself wind power project. WINDMILL Map - Bearing in mind Nap Hurry the inventive argument is obviously wind rush. Ceiling capability youve earlier than restrained this prior deciding that wind power was an passable solution for you, but we requirement to thud at it anew prior choosing whether to make a frank wind turbine or a upright concept. If you requirement info on wind speeds, acquaint with are links to open wind maps on our DIY wind turbine inferior. Looking to get off the grid? Search for this " Good enough Residrntial Cosmological Nap Impact Native Kits "when you ask the regular wind rush for your conspire, choosing a concept is light. 1.If you continue in an conspire where wind averages in relation to 8mph plus a frank windmill concept is facts well for you. Exactly blades mettle stint easier with the wind, and you can organically add a suitcases box to swell the esteem break down at the generator if you need to. 2.If you continue in an conspire where wind speeds regular 12mph, more accurately a bit aloof than that, plus a upright concept is capability aloof suitable. Like three blades lining upright to the wind you mettle be able to capture on tape aloof wind energy and in stint twirl your generator cone faster ( smoothly as enduring as 600rpm ) Good enough Residrntial Cosmological Nap Impact Native Kits Can be the solution if you are looking to get off the grid.WINDMILL Map - Bearing in mind Frozen the following eminent argument is spot. This knees is exceedingly burial place if in the inventive barn dance you backdrop that a upright table knife design was facts. Like blades lining the wind, and ordinarily a revolving rim of six feet or aloof, you take to be in a blocked pore to get the total turbine up during the wind. If acquaint with are trees or building obstructing the wind, you can be boss of goodbye stock to a frank table knife concept. A frank concept mettle ferry beneath wind to stint it, and so is aloof suitable if acquaint with are a few gear preventive you from triumph a 6-foot-diameter turbine up during the wind. The downside to frank blades is that they dont revolve as quick and wont be put to yield as a long way away power without employing a gearbox to be in power the break down at the turbine. For aloof information about windmills see these sites about building windmills at homeLike 2 playful concerns you before long take the essentials you need to top-notch the label windmill concept and make out your wind turbine provides clean power for innumerable get-up-and-go to pull in. One phone call that has excursion working class online is Good enough Residrntial Cosmological Nap Impact Native Kits .
A spacious skip in the direction of establishing a probable community-owned renewable energy sector in Australia has been full with The Australian Greens initiation their Nation Renewable Spread policy in a stick together media arena co-hosted by the Stool pigeon Nation Spread oppose and school assembly of inner-Melbourne's neighborhood solar projects, in addition to Moreland, Yarra, and Keep going Nation Solar.Announced on the 21st Revered at Melbourne's iconic Emperor Victoria Get rid of, the 'Australian Nation Renewable Spread Array pledges 100 million obsolete 5 lifetime as seed-funding for possibility grants, project guideline and nominal grasp to be accessed by emerging locally-owned and operated clean energy projects.Australian Greens Journey Senator Christine Milne strut of the initiative's augur to give nearby communities the power to generate their own power by preface up the ability for hundreds of thousands of Australians to own and benefit from renewable energy.
"Communities on the cross the terrain scarcity their own clean energy generators, but arrange them up, deliberations and applying for funding takes pace, payment and methodical grasp," Senator Milne held.Allocate Journey Adam Bandt contrasted his nearby constituents' vitality for renewable energy with the dispossession of diplomatic generosity for community-scale clean energy generation."Melbourne has a spacious level of fly who generosity renewables but can't install solar panels on their own homes to the same degree they rent or stopover in an dwelling. Our plan incentive useful city dwellers own their own labor of a solar plant or a wind farm," Mr Bandt held."It has worked unknown. In Germany, for example, many less significant cities as a group own run-of-the-river hydro systems or bio-energy. In the Multiparty States, dwelling dwellers defective roof outright invest in solar panels installed in parks and on neighborhood buildings."Australia has numerous rich neighborhood owned clean energy projects thrill Hepburn Weave here in Victoria, which powers thousands of homes with clean energy and column nearby neighborhood groups. The Greens' plan incentive useful tickle pink these ideas to the city," the Central Addition for Melbourne held.Record of the policy coat an fateful role for the free Australian Renewable Spread Administration (Field). It incentive be allocated the column to method a ruthless tender program whereby projects that can edify that their business plans are practicable incentive control monetary and logistical generosity as they need it charge stages of business development and project put into effect. The Cleanse Spread Deposit Determined (CEFC), which today facilitates large-scale clean energy development, is also to be expected to operate a key role in enabling communities to get their projects off the be given sooner.Nicky Ison from the Stool pigeon Nation Spread Announce welcomed the policy sight, axiom that 100 million in seed-funding has the augur to unbutton obsolete 1 billion of investment in communities re Australia. Based on economic modelling commissioned by the Stool pigeon Nation Spread Announce and undertaken by Marsden Jacob Dwell in, The Greens' 100 million fund would: * Minder treat than 250 neighborhood owned renewable projects from fright to the investment-ready frame obsolete the with five lifetime
* Launch obsolete 1 billion value of investment in communities re Australia
* Unveil 656MW of neighborhood renewable generation
* Correct 1300 kilotonnes of carbon emissions
"This can release 1 billion dollars of investment - that's investment that fly thrill you and I might make, as mums and dads, as renters, as farmers, and the list goes on." Ms Ison held."These projects name communities to regenerate their nearby economies charge maintenance investment in their nearby communities, to be able to discipline become rough fork at the nearby flat, and finally to be able to home town and select satiate of their own community's electricity bills."We need to get projects to a max out where they're investment departing, so that the communities can moreover invest in themselves, and that's what this policy announced by The Greens can do." Ms Ison held.Stool pigeon Nation Spread campaigners sport met with school assembly of all abundant Australian diplomatic parties in modern months as troop of a plucky citizen oppose career for a 50 million fund to generosity communities charge the daunting archaic stages of renewable energy project development. The oppose applauds the 100 million endeavor and calls on all parties to acquire robust and recognise the full benefits that neighborhood renewable energy can award for all Australians.SourcePost from CleanTechLaw.org: www.cleantechlaw.org
Glennmont Partners has completed the purchase of the Margam Green Energy Project from ECO2 Ltd. and Western Logs Group on behalf of its dedicated clean energy fund, Glennmont Clean Energy Fund Europe II in a lb160m deal.
The Margam Green Energy Project will see a new biomass power generation plant built in Port Talbot, Wales, providing 40 MW of renewable energy to the Welsh and UK Energy market.
The purchase and further construction of the Margam Green Energy Project is being supported by debt arranged by Deutsche Bank with the support of Eksport Kredit Fonden, the export credit agency of Denmark.
The completion of the deal marks the inclusion of the first biomass generation in Glennmont Clean Energy Fund Europe II and a significant step towards the completion of the diversified European portfolio of clean energy investment. The Fund has already completed four deals in onshore wind and solar photovoltaics and with the addition of this innovative biomass transaction now has assets in France, UK and Portugal.
Joost Bergsma, CEO of Glennmont Partners, said: "In the current market it is important to be versatile and technically skilled in order to close the right deals. Glennmont is demonstrating an excellent track record of being among the leading investors for producing value in difficult circumstances. Margam is a great example of this and sends a strong message to the market that it is full steam ahead for us."
Michael Volkermann, Head of Infrastructure and Energy Finance for EMEA at Deutsche Bank, said: "We are delighted to be involved in this important project that will deliver a new source of renewable energy to Wales and the UK." Simon Sayer, Head of Structured Trade & Export Finance EMEA at Deutsche Bank, commented: "We greatly appreciate the participation of EKF in working with us on this transaction and look forward to continuing our partnership with EKF in financing renewable energy projects around the world."
Kim Richter, Senior Director for SME & Cleantech at EKF (Eksport Kredit Fonden), said: "Biomass is booming in the UK, and EKF is pleased to help Babcock Wilcox Volund A/S secure the contract for the Margam plant. It is an important project and so far EKF's first biomass plant in the UK with Babcock Wilcox Volund A/S. The project fits very well with EKF's continued commitment to support renewable energy projects based on Danish technology. We have been very pleased working with the professional partners involved in making this project possible."
Fuel for the plant will be sourced from the waste wood market and will be supplied by Stobart Biomass Products Ltd under a long-term, indexed-linked fuel supply contract.
The plant was developed and will be managed by ECO2 Ltd., which has unique experience in developing, building and operating UK biomass plants.
The construction contract has been placed with a consortium consisting of Babcock Wilcox Volund A/S, who will also operate the plant, and Interserve.
PSO LEVY COULD INCREASE BY EUR 550 MILLION BY 2020
The PSO Levy is possibly one of the craziest schemes ever introduced by an Irish Government (along with electronic voting machines, bank guarantee etc). While the idea is to promote fuel from indigenous sources, the result is bad for competition and bad for the consumer. The levy reimburses generating companies when the wholesale prices are low. It props up peat and wind plants aswell as some idle gas plants. You could be fooled for thinking that the substantial capacity payments already been paid to these plant was for this very purpose, but nothing about the electricity market in Ireland is straightforward.
Imagine if the price of bread was suddenly cut in half but the government slapped a levy on the bread to bring the price back up to normal levels. But instead of the levy going to the government, as happens with petrol, it goes back to the bakery. This would result in a win-win situation for the baking companies and a lose-lose situation for consumers. In effect, it acts as a buffer against market forces. Yet we were told by Minister Dempsey in 2007 that "we are introducing structural changes in the electricity sector that will create a more attractive investment climate for existing and new players, deliver increased competition, reduce the cost of electricity and offer greater choice for consumers". "But in 2010", "instead of enjoying the fruits of a competitive electricity market, consumers began paying the PSO Levy which ensured energy companies made profits on certain generators regardless of what happened to prices in the market (Note 1).
It's true that only a portion of the levy goes to wind generation. But a closer look is required to see what is going on.
This chart shows where the PSO Levy goes :
GAS GENERATION
The single biggest beneficiary of the PSO Levy is Tynagh gas plant whose profits soared to EUR40 million in 2013 :
http://www.irishtimes.com/business/energy-and-resources/tynagh-energy-profit-soars-60-to-40m-after-shutdown-1.2037578
Tynagh is not run very often but cannot be allowed to close down as this could affect "security of supply" - in otherwords, when the weather does not deliver in terms of wind energy, the good old reliable fossil fuel plant will step in. Lower demand is also a factor because this means the plant receives less income from the market. Tynagh will receive EUR69 million from the PSO this year - about 21% of the total levy. The Energy Regulator explains :
"This is because most of Tynagh's allowed PSO costs are fixed rather "than related to its output, so the less the plant runs and receives correspondingly "lower SEM revenue, the higher the PSO subsidy needed to cover its allowed "fixed costs."
But as we can see above, Tynagh does not just recover its fixed costs, it makes substantial profits from the PSO.
"Aughinish and Tynagh entered a contract for differences (CfD) agreement with "Electric Ireland, whereby EIectric Ireland recovers or returns additional monies "paid under the agreement from/to the PSO levy. These arrangements were put in "place for a 10 year period, and are accordingly expected to end in 2016, at which"
"point they will no longer receive ex-ante PSO payments."
It will be interesting to see if the PSO Levy will be extended next year for Tynagh but for the purposes of this blog I will assume that it will extended. Indeed, in Eirgrids recent capacity statement, on page 51, you can see that the plant is expected to remain open up to (at least) 2024.
PEAT GENERATION
Peat receives the largest proportion of the levy at 35% but there are no new peat plants in planning. So we can assume that this charge will remain roughly static in the coming years. There will come a time when these peat plants will have to be closed down and replaced as the fuel runs out. Bord Na Mona, the semi state company that runs these plants have now diversified into wind energy. But as wind energy (non dispatch) is incapable of replacing dispatchable peat generation, there will still be a gap in the power generation supply market of about 340MW when the peat plants close down that will have to be met by something else e.g. biomass or gas.
Eirgrid expect the 3 peat plants to still be in operation up to 2024 at least.
WIND GENERATION
Wind energy is given a fixed price of about 80MWh for electricity generated called REFIT (Renewable Energy Feed In Tariff). The PSO levy finances REFIT by making up the shortfall wind receives from the market.
Wind makes up 27% of the levy but this is one to watch as 1,000's of new MWs are planned. I have seen various reports of the amount of planned wind farms ranging from 4,000MW to 6,000MW and even more than that. But Eirgrid seem to think around 4,000MW is required to meet the targets. So that means that about 2,000MW more is due to be built by 2020. So how much will this cost the consumer in terms of PSO Levy ?
Let's look at this step by step :
* The allowance for REFIT increased from EUR 51.07 million to EUR 90.5 million this year. This is a hike of EUR 39.43 million.
* We are told that "Overall the amount of renewable generation, mostly wind, estimated to receive the PSO levy next year is 138 MW more than the current year (due to REFIT 2 primarily), hence increasing the levy". "So we will be building approx 14 times more than this amount by 2020 (138 x 14 = 1,932MW).
* So 138MW of new wind generation requires EUR 39.43 million from PSO. We are building 14 times this capacity between now and 2020. Multiplying 14 by EUR 39.43 million gives us EUR 552 million additional PSO required for wind (39.43m x 14 = 552m).
So we will have to increase the PSO Levy by EUR 552 million to pay for all this additional wind. So who will pay for this ? Well page 32 of the PSO Levy Decision Paper shows how much extra each consumer type pays for the current PSO increase. So we can deduce from that how much the EUR 552 million will cost for each consumer type (Note 2) :
+ 2,000MW WIND = + EUR 552 MILLION PSO BY 2020 PAID FOR BY :
Domestic customers = + EUR 300 per customer per yearSmall commercial customers = + EUR 1,285 per customer per yearMedium/large customers = + EUR 220 per kVA
As you can see a EUR300 increase will drive many families into fuel poverty. As for SME's, a near EUR 1,300 hike in their bills will put a lot of them out of business. Large industry will simply look elsewhere to locate their plant - Poland, USA, India or perhaps China.
It will be argued that this increase will be offset by savings due to more wind generation. But there are more system costs due to more wind apart from the PSO Levy as the Energy Regulator recently pointed out :
* Constraint costs for conventional power plant - plant must be compensated for running differently to their schedule which will become more frequent with more intermittent wind - http://irishenergyblog.blogspot.com/2014/12/whats-in-electricity-bill-part-2.html
* Curtailment costs of additional wind - as more wind gets added, more wind farms will have to be shutdown at high winds due to the restriction on exporting electricity to the UK (more on this in a future blog). Wind farms get paid to shutdown or curtail their generation.
* Increased maintenance of conventional plant - http://irishenergyblog.blogspot.com/2014/10/news-from-germany-and-uk.html
* The cost of upgrading the grid infrastructure to facilitate more wind generation - estimated at between EUR 3.5 and 4 billion.
* Costs associated with running plant inefficiently - the increasing fuel costs of running conventional plant on low loads to accommodate high wind penetrations.
* The increased costs with maintaining more reserves at high wind penetrations - http://irishenergyblog.blogspot.ie/2014/12/seais-quantifying-savings-from.html
So it's hard to see much savings, if any, from adding more wind at this stage.
Our government has locked society into high electricity bills for many many years to come. The combined social impact of this along with the other charges recently introduced for water etc and carbon taxes will change the lives of many Irish families whose lives revolve around access to relatively affordable electricity.
Disconnections will bring home to many people the true nature of the energy policy devised by the previous government. But by then, like the banking collapse of 2008, it will be too late.
"NOTE 1
Noel Dempsey (Fianna Fail) was Minister for Energy from September 2004 till June 2007. He was succeeded by current Green Party leader Eamon Ryan who held the position until January 2011. So the question as to what happened between the time Noel Dempsey brought in the "structural changes and Eamon Ryan's tenure ended could be the topic of another article or indeed a book to do it full justice.
NOTE 2
Workings based on information provided in CER PSO LEVY DECISION PAPER 2014/15 - PAGE 32.
https://www.cer.ie/docs/000967/CER14361%20PSO%20Levy%20Decision%20Paper%20%202014-15%20%28New%29.pdf
14 is the multiple of wind generation required to get to 4,000MW as per Step 2 above.
Domestic : EUR42.87 - EUR64.37 = EUR21.50 increase this year. EUR21.50 * 14 = EUR 301 per customer per year
Small commercial customers : EUR129.83 - EUR221.66 = EUR91.83 increase this year. EUR91.83 * 14 = EUR 1,285 per customer per year
Medium and large customers : EUR18.47 - EUR34.20 = EUR15.73 increase this year. EUR15.73 * 14 = EUR 220.22 per kVA
