Want to boost wind and solar power? Bring them together
Ben Jervey for GreenBiz: What’s keeping solar and wind power from fully taking over the electric grid? For starters, the sun only shines during the day. Wind blows intermittently, is seasonally variable, and is not always blowing when the energy is needed.
But what if solar and wind work together? "Wind resource tends to complement solar resource," said Sarah Kurtz of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. "Here in Colorado, for instance, the windiest time is during the winter and spring months. In winter, we don’t have as much sunshine, but we tend to get more wind and stronger wind."
A handful of enterprising renewable energy developers are exploring how solar and wind might better work together, developing hybrid solar-wind projects to take advantage of the power-generating strengths of each — with the two technologies in tandem serving as a better replacement for climate-warming fossil fuels than either could be alone. Cont'd...
BREAKING: Tesla, SolarCity merger approved with 85% shareholder support
Utility Dive: More than 85% of Tesla's unaffiliated shareholders voted in favor of the $2.6 billion deal with SolarCity, which will allow the companies to move forward with an integrated solar roof and battery storage offering. Cont'd...
Economics Trumps Policy: Even President Trump Cannot Stop the Renewable Energy Juggernaut
The renewable and energy efficiency industries have created over 2.5 million jobs in the United States. Solar now employs more Americans than than oil, natural gas and coal combined. The nations fastest growing occupation is, believe it or not, the wind turbine technician; which is still projected to grow 108% in the next 7 years.
Renewed Interest from Traditional Investors in Renewable Energy
Renewables have now reached such a critical mass, utilities can no longer ignore them as a way to augment their capabilities in producing power cheaper, smarter, better. At this point, the tide has turned for utilities and there is no going back.
Solar Power Turns Water and Carbon Dioxide Into Fuel
Seeker: Finish researchers are building a demonstration power plant that would use solar-generated electricity, water and carbon dioxide extracted from the atmosphere to create gas and liquid fuels.
The Lappeenranta University of Technology and VTT Technical Research Centre are working together on the SOLETAIR project, which is being built on the university campus and is scheduled for completion in 2017. Germany's Karlsruhe Institute of Technology also is a player in the project. The project involves several different innovations. VTT will design equipment that will capture CO2 from the air and store it, while Lappeenranta researchers will build a device to produce hydrogen from water via electrolysis. Karlsruhe has developed a a microstructured, chemical reactor to convert the hydrogen produced from solar power together with carbon dioxide into liquid fuels, according to a press release. The reactor will be built by INERATEC, a spinoff company created by Karlsruhe. Cont'd...
Using Nanotechnology to Improve the Efficiency of Solar Cells
Nanostructure-based coating technology provides increased energy efficiency while minimizing costs.
PPE count on Lufft weather sensors for PV Monitoring
The number of metrics measured by the Luffts weather stations in combination with the high accuracy of the sensors gives our customers the ability to forecast short-term and long-term generation capabilities of their site with a high degree of confidence.
Solar Power Meets Electric Vehicle Atop a VW Microbus
Brett Belan, Apparent Energy for MotherEarth News: The time is here for solar power to make its way to our vehicles. The state-of-the-art panels pose no weight limitation. At 6 pounds per 150 watts, thin flexible solar panels will weigh 600 pounds but give you 15 kilowatts! This is enough to directly drive from the sun.
However, the surface area is a limitation, because that much solar would require 10 feet around the vehicle on all sides. The solution, ironically, is a mechanical engineering question of how to accordion-style fold these panels to conveniently open them for charging while the vehicle is at a standstill. Cont'd...
Solar power proponents hopeful Trump sees benefit of growing industry
Ivan Penn and Rob Nikolewski for The LA Times: Longtime solar executive Barry Cinnamon got up Wednesday wondering what a Donald Trump administration will mean for his industry.
“I woke up this morning and walked to my car and took a picture of the sun coming up, and it did indeed come up,” said Cinnamon, president of Cinnamon Solar, one of the highest-profile solar companies in Silicon Valley.
Candidate Trump said a lot of things that heartened conventional oil and natural gas producers and worried the renewable energy business, which is growing fast but is still a tiny part of the energy landscape. Cont'd...
The State of the Solar Energy Market in New England
New England has been one of the most receptive regions in the US to renewable energy, and continues to adopt a number of different alternative energy sources.
Addressing Energy Poverty Globally and Profitably. Powerstorm ESS
The technology we are developing, called zeroXess, will provide electricity, lighting and Internet connectivity to rural, off-grid, underdeveloped areas throughout the world.
Environmental Concerns and Siting Requirements for Small Ground Mount Solar Projects
This paper will identify and explain the environmental concerns and siting requirements for small ground mount solar PV projects within the FIT 3 and EASR frameworks, discuss the discrepancies, interpretations, and provide a path forward towards successful project execution.
India Focuses on Safety as Country Rapidly Expands Solar Capacity
When new mandatory regulations for photovoltaic products go into effect, manufacturers will have to fast-track compliance.
Batteries That Make Use of Solar Power, Even in the Dark
Stanley Reed for the NY Times: A new cash crop has sprung up on Nicholas Beatty’s enchanting farm near here. Rows of gray solar panels range over about 25 acres, turning sunlight into electricity, as dog-size muntjac deer hop by.
The panels themselves, trouble-free money earners that feed into the electric grid, are no longer unusual on farms in Britain or other countries. What’s new in Mr. Beatty’s field is a hulking 40-foot-long shipping container.
Stacked inside, in what look like drawers, are about 200 lithium-ion cells that make up a battery large enough to store a substantial portion of the electricity the solar farm puts out.
The battery and its software give Mr. Beatty an advantage over other solar panel farmers. Power prices in Britain and elsewhere rise and fall, sometimes strikingly, during the day and over the year, depending on the supply and demand. Cont'd...
Case Study: Solar Cube - Solar Tracking Solution
The client indicated a large number of high quality; 2 axis solar arrays built on rural and farm properties that were starting to fail.
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Solar Power - Featured Product
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