Dramatic increases in solar for California....
Today’s post: Wednesday, 4-1-2009
Two weeks ago, we posted “How renewable energy can reverse the recession....” on Wednesday, 3-18-2009.
In that post we described how a policy called Feed-in tariffs has incredibly positive effects that create new jobs, produce massive amounts of new renewable energy installations, & actually reduce the cost of the renewable energy by lowering the cost to finance it.
We described how Germany, with solar potential similar to British Columbia, has used it to produce half the world’s installed solar in just 15 years. (Since they also created 300,000 jobs and the United States has so much more solar potential, using the Feed-in Tariff everywhere here has the potential to create up to 6 million jobs here.)
We also note that the financing is so safe for the banks that the Feed-in tariff makes renewable energy financeable even in today’s economic conditions.
In addition, we quote a news story that Gainesville, Florida has begun to use the Feed-in tariff policy and which describes the real economic boom that this has produced there.
The reaction of many people when they really hear all about the Feed-in tariff is, “If it has been so well proven to do all these things, WHY on earth aren’t we already using it?”
There are several reasons. One is the political leaders and their key supporters and voters from their districts have to find out about it. They haven’t yet done so or have not done so in nearly enough numbers.
Then actual legislation has to be passed with the technical details included and which gets the important principles right that have made the Feed-in tariff work in place enough to have the legislation work well once enacted.
Here’s the good news. This looks to be about to happen in California. Such a detailed plan has been created and is called the REESA FIT. (FIT is an acronym for FeedInTariff.)
And, bills based on it will be introduced soon in both houses of the California legislature.
This is incredibly important news because if it is passed and signed into law, the following things all become likely.
California will build enough renewable energy capacity to meet its percentage of renewable energy goals on time.
It will create over 300,000 jobs in California.
And, it will revivify the renewable energy companies in California that have been so slammed lately by lack of normal financing. (Financing FIT projects is about as safe as investing in T Bills; and it pays better.)
But of even greater importance, every state in the United States that has somehow missed what the Feed-in tariff has done for Germany will see that it produces the benefits it provides and does so in this country. As a result, many if not most of them will also adopt it.
So, if you know any leader or politician in California, please pass on this post & our www.RenewableEnergyArrives.blogspot.com URL to them.
And, if you can only pass it on to ONE person, please do that. You never know, that one person may make a key difference it getting the FIT bill enacted in California.
Showing posts with label solar energy news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label solar energy news. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Solar Thermal arrives from Ausra....
Today’s post: Wednesday, 10-29-2008
As I’ve already posted about in this blog before, I was lucky enough to see a presentation made by one of the founding executives of Ausra, a California company that builds solar thermal “farms’ to make electricity from solar heat in hot sunny places.
Ausra’s recent opening of a 5 megawatt solar farm built by Ausra in Bakersfield in Southern California made our local newspapers.
But both stories left out the three most critical facts that explain why this event was so incredibly important. It was so important that California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger was there. But the news stories did NOT say WHY this event was so important.
That’s the subject of today’s post. We list the 3 key reasons this event was so important.
(The quotes below are from Ausra’s Press releases on its website www.ausra.com .)
Here are those 3 points.
1. Solar thermal farms make a 100 % renewable economy a real possibility.
“PALO ALTO, Calif.—March 6, 2008—Ausra Inc., the developer of utility-scale solar thermal power technology, has published a peer-reviewed study showing that over 90 percent of the U.S. electric grid and auto fleet's energy needs could be met by solar thermal power.”
I’ll add that this means that very nearly all the electricity needed to run plug-in hybrids and electric cars can come from this one renewable source.
And, when you add increasing the energy efficiency of our lights and devices that use electricity and the very nearly as large or larger potential of solar photovoltaics in all of the United States, Canada, & Mexico plus any geothermal and hydropower that proves cost effective, this means that 100 % of our electricity use now PLUS robust economic growth throughout North America AND supplying our cars can all be generated from renewable energy.
And, as you can see, solar thermal companies such as Ausra move this possibility from maybe to for sure doable.
The next point clinches that one.
2. The Ausra founding executive I heard speak explained that unlike solar photovoltaic produced electricity that is only most available at certain times of day, because the recapture of energy from the solar heated media is or approaches 96 %, solar thermal power can provide electric power about 16 hours a day.
I’ll also add that since the band of appropriate parts of North America in the Southwest United States and Northern Mexico goes from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, that means by installing solar thermal farms in each part of this region that spans three time zones and adding the appropriate transmission lines, solar thermal farms can approach supplying electricity 18 to 19 hours a day.
3. We already are using about twice our planet’s capacity to remove CO2 by our current burning of fossil fuels. And the scientists who have studied this extensively say that unless we completely turn to sources of electricity and energy that do NOT burn fossil fuels in the next 10 to perhaps 25 years, the human race and its economy may become very burned toast. Worse, the scientists say the process likely will then be irreversible.
It’s totally definite that it borders on the irresponsible to do things that increase our use of oil and coal for energy. Yet that process is still continuing in both the United States and China.
The thing that’s exciting about solar thermal power is that its potential is so huge and so realizable, adding solar thermal to the mix provides us with a viable alternative. We CAN power robust economic growth AND wean our economy away from petroleum and coal.
Even better, despite the Ausra solar thermal farm that just opened in Bakersfield being over twice as large as the Applied Materials installation that we posted about as showing the very large potential of solar parking lots, the 5 megawatt Bakersfield solar farm is only about a 35th of the 177 megawatt solar farm that Ausra will launch soon.
When you realize that it’s completely possible to open 1000 solar farms THAT size, you begin to see the real potential of solar thermal.
“In November 2007, Ausra and California utility Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced a power purchase agreement for the 177-megawatt power plant in central California. When completed, Ausra's Carrizo facility will generate enough electricity to power more than 120,000 homes.”
X* X* X* X* X*
Here are the press releases of interest on Ausra’s website.:
“10.23.2008 Solar Power Company Ausra Launches First Solar Thermal Plant in California in Nearly 20 Years
10.01.2008 Ausra Secures $60.6 Million in Funding
06.30.2008 Ausra Opens First U.S. Solar Thermal Power Factory
03.06.2008 Study: Solar Thermal Power Could Supply Over 90 percent of U.S. Grid Plus Auto Fleet”
There are several other press releases listed that you might find of interest.
Today’s post: Wednesday, 10-29-2008
As I’ve already posted about in this blog before, I was lucky enough to see a presentation made by one of the founding executives of Ausra, a California company that builds solar thermal “farms’ to make electricity from solar heat in hot sunny places.
Ausra’s recent opening of a 5 megawatt solar farm built by Ausra in Bakersfield in Southern California made our local newspapers.
But both stories left out the three most critical facts that explain why this event was so incredibly important. It was so important that California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger was there. But the news stories did NOT say WHY this event was so important.
That’s the subject of today’s post. We list the 3 key reasons this event was so important.
(The quotes below are from Ausra’s Press releases on its website www.ausra.com .)
Here are those 3 points.
1. Solar thermal farms make a 100 % renewable economy a real possibility.
“PALO ALTO, Calif.—March 6, 2008—Ausra Inc., the developer of utility-scale solar thermal power technology, has published a peer-reviewed study showing that over 90 percent of the U.S. electric grid and auto fleet's energy needs could be met by solar thermal power.”
I’ll add that this means that very nearly all the electricity needed to run plug-in hybrids and electric cars can come from this one renewable source.
And, when you add increasing the energy efficiency of our lights and devices that use electricity and the very nearly as large or larger potential of solar photovoltaics in all of the United States, Canada, & Mexico plus any geothermal and hydropower that proves cost effective, this means that 100 % of our electricity use now PLUS robust economic growth throughout North America AND supplying our cars can all be generated from renewable energy.
And, as you can see, solar thermal companies such as Ausra move this possibility from maybe to for sure doable.
The next point clinches that one.
2. The Ausra founding executive I heard speak explained that unlike solar photovoltaic produced electricity that is only most available at certain times of day, because the recapture of energy from the solar heated media is or approaches 96 %, solar thermal power can provide electric power about 16 hours a day.
I’ll also add that since the band of appropriate parts of North America in the Southwest United States and Northern Mexico goes from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, that means by installing solar thermal farms in each part of this region that spans three time zones and adding the appropriate transmission lines, solar thermal farms can approach supplying electricity 18 to 19 hours a day.
3. We already are using about twice our planet’s capacity to remove CO2 by our current burning of fossil fuels. And the scientists who have studied this extensively say that unless we completely turn to sources of electricity and energy that do NOT burn fossil fuels in the next 10 to perhaps 25 years, the human race and its economy may become very burned toast. Worse, the scientists say the process likely will then be irreversible.
It’s totally definite that it borders on the irresponsible to do things that increase our use of oil and coal for energy. Yet that process is still continuing in both the United States and China.
The thing that’s exciting about solar thermal power is that its potential is so huge and so realizable, adding solar thermal to the mix provides us with a viable alternative. We CAN power robust economic growth AND wean our economy away from petroleum and coal.
Even better, despite the Ausra solar thermal farm that just opened in Bakersfield being over twice as large as the Applied Materials installation that we posted about as showing the very large potential of solar parking lots, the 5 megawatt Bakersfield solar farm is only about a 35th of the 177 megawatt solar farm that Ausra will launch soon.
When you realize that it’s completely possible to open 1000 solar farms THAT size, you begin to see the real potential of solar thermal.
“In November 2007, Ausra and California utility Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced a power purchase agreement for the 177-megawatt power plant in central California. When completed, Ausra's Carrizo facility will generate enough electricity to power more than 120,000 homes.”
X* X* X* X* X*
Here are the press releases of interest on Ausra’s website.:
“10.23.2008 Solar Power Company Ausra Launches First Solar Thermal Plant in California in Nearly 20 Years
10.01.2008 Ausra Secures $60.6 Million in Funding
06.30.2008 Ausra Opens First U.S. Solar Thermal Power Factory
03.06.2008 Study: Solar Thermal Power Could Supply Over 90 percent of U.S. Grid Plus Auto Fleet”
There are several other press releases listed that you might find of interest.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Two new breakthroughs for solar power....
Today’s post: Wednesday, 10-22-2008
Here’s a story I found online by searching all news for “solar energy” on Yahoo news last Monday. (I’d also seen a different story earlier than that about this breakthrough.)
“New solar cell material achieves almost 100% efficiency,
could solve world-wide energy problems “
“TG Daily - Oct 20 12:01 PM Trendwatch By Rick C. Hodgin Monday, October 20, 2008 13:32 Columbus (OH) -
Researchers at Ohio State University have accidentally discovered a new solar cell material capable of absorbing all of the sun's visible light energy. The material is comprised of a hybrid of plastics, molybdenum and titanium.”
The story is technical but goes on to explain that in solar photovoltaic cells, the sun’s light knocks some electrons loose that are available to be harvested as electricity and that are available for that purpose a very short time.
Someone at Ohio State found or realized that there might be a way to make more electrons available for a longer period of time in some kind of solar cell material. The researchers there then developed a material that does knock more electrons loose; but of even more importance it makes them available to be harvested over 7 million times longer than before. This material that they found by doing research on materials on a supercomputer apparently absorbs light from all the spectrum of light instead of just part of it and then delivers nearly 100 % of the energy absorbed as generated electricity.
It has yet to be found if this material can be made at low enough cost to be cost competitive with current technology. And, if they have made progress on solving this problem or on developing technology to do so, it wasn’t mentioned in the article.
Also, given the huge size of the potential uses of such efficient solar panels, the availability of the molybdenum and titanium used in such huge quantities at reasonable cost may be a constraint.
That said, there will be applications right away where high electricity generation from such photovoltaic panels in a limited area for the panels will be valuable.
For example, a company that wants or needs to generate all the electricity it needs onsite, may be able by using solar photovoltaic panels with this technology and installing them both on the roofs and over the parking lots for their company, they may be able to do so while this is not possible today.
And, as with the first material for incandescent light filaments led to new ones, it may be that there are less expensive ways to generate this effect and which will be discovered.
2. Mankind now has two important problems.
One is that we use electricity 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Solar light and the electricity we can harvest from it are available only during the day and the amount of light solar panels receive during the day varies with the time of day and the weather.
Second, we are using up the reserves of fresh water in some areas of the world and in others, there is now less rainfall than before, likely because of global warming. These things are jeopardizing our supply of drinking water and water to grow our food crops.
MIT researchers may have found a solution to both these problems, particularly when combined with the first breakthrough described above. They have worked out a way to use solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. By then storing the hydrogen and oxygen and running them through a very efficient fuel cell when you want or need electricity when the sun is not shining or you are getting less sunshine, you can make solar photovoltaic generated electricity available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
And, it may be possible to also use this same technology to desalt sea water to provide a new supply of fresh water for drinking and for crops. (The bonus is that when you turn the hydrogen and oxygen into fresh water, you get to re-harvest the energy as electricity.)
The constraints on using this technology to store solar photovoltaic generated electricity are in making the overall process cost effective, in particular by making the fuel cells to retrieve the electricity at reasonable costs. That may well require technology we do not have yet.
But these two breakthroughs are of particular interest and potential value. So I wanted to use this blog to get the word out that they exist.
Today’s post: Wednesday, 10-22-2008
Here’s a story I found online by searching all news for “solar energy” on Yahoo news last Monday. (I’d also seen a different story earlier than that about this breakthrough.)
“New solar cell material achieves almost 100% efficiency,
could solve world-wide energy problems “
“TG Daily - Oct 20 12:01 PM Trendwatch By Rick C. Hodgin Monday, October 20, 2008 13:32 Columbus (OH) -
Researchers at Ohio State University have accidentally discovered a new solar cell material capable of absorbing all of the sun's visible light energy. The material is comprised of a hybrid of plastics, molybdenum and titanium.”
The story is technical but goes on to explain that in solar photovoltaic cells, the sun’s light knocks some electrons loose that are available to be harvested as electricity and that are available for that purpose a very short time.
Someone at Ohio State found or realized that there might be a way to make more electrons available for a longer period of time in some kind of solar cell material. The researchers there then developed a material that does knock more electrons loose; but of even more importance it makes them available to be harvested over 7 million times longer than before. This material that they found by doing research on materials on a supercomputer apparently absorbs light from all the spectrum of light instead of just part of it and then delivers nearly 100 % of the energy absorbed as generated electricity.
It has yet to be found if this material can be made at low enough cost to be cost competitive with current technology. And, if they have made progress on solving this problem or on developing technology to do so, it wasn’t mentioned in the article.
Also, given the huge size of the potential uses of such efficient solar panels, the availability of the molybdenum and titanium used in such huge quantities at reasonable cost may be a constraint.
That said, there will be applications right away where high electricity generation from such photovoltaic panels in a limited area for the panels will be valuable.
For example, a company that wants or needs to generate all the electricity it needs onsite, may be able by using solar photovoltaic panels with this technology and installing them both on the roofs and over the parking lots for their company, they may be able to do so while this is not possible today.
And, as with the first material for incandescent light filaments led to new ones, it may be that there are less expensive ways to generate this effect and which will be discovered.
2. Mankind now has two important problems.
One is that we use electricity 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Solar light and the electricity we can harvest from it are available only during the day and the amount of light solar panels receive during the day varies with the time of day and the weather.
Second, we are using up the reserves of fresh water in some areas of the world and in others, there is now less rainfall than before, likely because of global warming. These things are jeopardizing our supply of drinking water and water to grow our food crops.
MIT researchers may have found a solution to both these problems, particularly when combined with the first breakthrough described above. They have worked out a way to use solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. By then storing the hydrogen and oxygen and running them through a very efficient fuel cell when you want or need electricity when the sun is not shining or you are getting less sunshine, you can make solar photovoltaic generated electricity available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
And, it may be possible to also use this same technology to desalt sea water to provide a new supply of fresh water for drinking and for crops. (The bonus is that when you turn the hydrogen and oxygen into fresh water, you get to re-harvest the energy as electricity.)
The constraints on using this technology to store solar photovoltaic generated electricity are in making the overall process cost effective, in particular by making the fuel cells to retrieve the electricity at reasonable costs. That may well require technology we do not have yet.
But these two breakthroughs are of particular interest and potential value. So I wanted to use this blog to get the word out that they exist.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)