IBM Uses Machine Learning to Boost Solar for Dept of Energy
While other solar forecasting systems take more narrow location and timeframe views, whats different about the IBM approach is that we incorporate a great number of weather and solar energy prediction models. We then blend those using historical data as a function of weather situation, forecast horizon and location to create what we call a supermodel.
The future of solar Feed-in Tariffs in the UK
Were extremely close to reaching the point at which renewable electricity costs as little to generate as electricity from fossil fuels, so its imperative that we dont take a backward step.
Hillary Clinton is calling for a 700% increase in solar power. Is that realistic?
Brad Plumer for VOX: In the coming months, Hillary Clinton's campaign is planning to release a series of proposals for dealing with global warming. Her first installment is out Sunday evening, and it calls for a large increase in renewable power.
Specifically, she's proposing to boost the amount of wind, solar, and other renewables so that they provide 33 percent of America's electricity by 2027 — enough to power every home in the country.
Part of her plan would involve accelerating the recent rapid growth of solar installations nationwide. In her proposal, Clinton calls for US solar power to grow 700 percent from current levels.
That sounds like an impossibly large number, but it's not implausible on its face. US solar capacity grew 418 percent between 2010 and 2014 (because it was starting from a small base). So 700 percent growth by 2027 is at least within the realm of possibility. But it would require additional policy changes — and clean energy prices would have to keep dropping. Cont'd...
The Nature Conservancy Installs Bird Safe Wind Power
The Nature Conservancy has completed its first phase of installation of SheerWind's INVELOX funnel-based wind power technology. Because Palmyra is home to a national wildlife refuge and more than a million nesting seabirds, conventional wind turbines were not an option due to the risk of bird strikes. What's more, the low wind speeds on the island would provide little to no energy production with traditional turbines.
The Conservancy turned to the Minnesota firm SheerWind to design the system resembling an hourglass turned on its side. Extending 83 feet horizontally with a big wind scoop at one end, an exhaust on the other, a Venturi section in the middle increases wind speed potentially three to six times. Nets over the intake and enclosed blades keep it bird friendly. The first phase of the installation includes a single turbine inside the Venturi, allowing for two additional to be installed in the near future.
The first phase of the INVELOX project is successfully charging batteries at night and on cloudy days to supplement the photovoltaic system also installed on Palmyra.
Geothermal Heating and Cooling
Geothermal heat pumps are ideal for use in buildings looking to reduce consumption to net zero.
A Proven Approach To The Challenge Of Building A Leak-proof Array
The current suggested guideline by the NRCA (National Roofing Contractor Association) for the installation of a PV system on a steep slope asphalt shingle roof as far as the flashing of the PV system stanchions, shows the metal flange to be applied underneath the roofing paper.
Acquisition announced for solar power supplier Vivint Solar
On July 20, SunEdison, the world's biggest renewable energy development firm, along with TerraForm Power, an owner and operator of clean energy power plants, announced the acquisition of Vivint Solar, a major supplier of residential solar systems in the U.S.
The merger will be worth approximately $2.2 billion in cash as the two major solar companies acquire the residential solar firm. Additionally, SunEdison has agreed to enter a power purchase agreement with TerraForm Power. Roughly 523 megawatts of solar power will be installed by Vivint Solar by the end of 2015, which will now all be moved over to SunEdison.
Through the $922 million power agreement, TerraForm Power will install the solar panels for residential solar protections through a "10-year average levered cash-on-cash yield of 9.5 percent," the release stated. Also, TerraForm Power will obtain future small commercial solar and completed residential projects from SunEdison's Residential and Small Commercial business unit. Cont'd...
Leveraging Simple Solar Installations for Optimized Land Use
Featuring the Cap-Rack™ System by DCE Solar
New Material to Increase Solar Cell Efficiency
A team of researchers has come up with a solar cell that produces fuel rather than electricity. A material called gallium phosphide enables the solar cell to produce clean fuel hydrogen gas from liquid water.
To connect an existing silicon solar cell to a battery that splits the water may well be an efficient solution; but it is very expensive.
So, researchers were streamlining their search to a semi-conductor material that is able to both convert sunlight into an electrical charge and split water.
The team found gallium phosphide (GaP), a compound of gallium and phosphide, useful in this respect.
GaP has good electrical properties but the drawback is that it cannot easily absorb light when it is a large flat surface as used in GaP solar cells, said the study thatappeared in Nature Communications.
The researchers overcame this by making a grid of very small GaP nanowires, measuring five hundred nanometres (a millionth of a millimetre) long and ninety nanometres thick.
"That makes these kinds of cells potentially a great deal cheaper," said lead author Erik Bakkers from Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands. Cont'd...
President Obama's Low-Income Solar Initiative
There have been enough successful low-income solar pilot programs at the state and federal level that it is now possible to launch a larger initiative with confidence that it can succeed.
Renewable energy boom will mean vastly cheaper electricity
By Lucas Mearian, ComputerWorld: Renewable energy, combined with prolific battery storage, will soon result in vastly cheaper electricity -- and solar power that's less expensive than what fossil fuel-based power plants can produce.
Additionally, solar power with lithium-ion and flow-battery storage systems will make the combination of renewable energy so inexpensive that it will surpass nuclear power and obviate the need for futuristic power sources such as fusion.
That was consensus view from a several keynote speeches delivered at the Intersolar Conference in San Francisco this week.
Eicke Weber, director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, said that in sun-rich countries, the cost of solar power is already below 5 cents per kilowatt and it will continue to plummet as battery storage systems become more prolific and less expensive. Cont'd...
Intersolar 2015 Tradeshow Report
AltEnergyMag.com has once again partnered with Intersolar to bring all the industry news and exciting new products to help our readers make sense of this key tradeshow. Here we have compiled a list of some product releases from this years show.
Intersolar 2015 - Special News Report
News and Product Announcements from InterSolar North America 2015
New at Intersolar - Single-axis Tracking System for Utility-Scale Solar
The use of a tracking system for a utility-scale project not only reduces LCOE, but also provides more usable power by broadening the power production curve to provide a smoother flow of energy from dawn to dusk.
Modeling Microinverters and DC Power Optimizers in PVWatts
PVWatts performs simplified PV system performance calculations using information about the arrays geographic location, orientation, and a set of user-input loss factors
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