Recently, Blackstone confirmed its support in fully financing German’s largest offshore wind power farm: Meerwind. German Regulatory framework has effectively supported the realisation of Meerwind wind turbine projects. Today, it is amidst the world’s most successful renewable program. The government’s visionary program is aimed to replace 25,000 MW of energy provided by Nuclear power plants, by 2022. This is a plant that was released after the serious incident at Japan’s Fukushima Nuclear Station.

80 of Siemens 3.6 MW Wind turbines are going to be placed 23 KM aside to the Island of Helgoland, in German’s North Sea. The offshore wind farm is going to be completed by 2013 and will deliver 288 MW of energy. The wind farm will be able to power roughly 400,000 households, leading to a reduction in CO2 emission by approximately 1 million Tons, on an annual basis. In addition, two thousands direct and indirect jobs will be created in the development of the 100,000 tons of equipment that will be required for the wind farm.

Blackstone has since long been committed to the development of offshore wind farms. In total the company has injected $5 billion into the natural and energy resources sector. These investments spread across four continents. In 2008, the company began to invest in offshore projects in Germany. In the same year, the project Meerwind was initiated and got its permit from Windland; renowned German Wind Power Developers.

With the confirmation of the Meerwind financing, another big offshore wind deal was revealed. Blackstone recently announced the upcoming development of Nördlicher Grund offshore wind farm. The farm will be of a total of 64 wind turbine with a forecasted cost of €1.3 billion. The farm is expected to start construction in 2013 and to be located 100 Kms from the German Coast of the North Sea, with a completion date in 2016.

Source: EV Wind

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Based on, 164 former world scenario assessments and six forms of renewable energy resources – wave, wind, solar, geothermal, biomass and hydro power – were studied by IPCC. A collective report on the findings was drafted for the ruling committees in both government and private divisions to equip them with information about socio-economic and environmental expenses and profits, and the influence on national, regional and global power security.

Not the entire 164 global scenarios illustrate an obvious mitigation in the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, but as noted in the report; the issue of global warning can be solved with an immense improvement in the development of renewable energy.

Environmental and water resource engineering expert, Lama al-Hatow, supports IPCC’s research as the report has countered the over-reliance of most nations on fossil fuels and has also verified the practicability of renewable energies.

Unfortunately, Hatow is rather pessimistic about the market for renewable energy technologies because fossil fuels are comparatively well-financed both nationally and internationally, and renewable energies are falling behind due to their monetary outlays.

As said by Hatow, with insufficient monetary support, it will be problematic when attempting to get third world countries involved in renewable energy development projects, even if they are practical long-term investments. The initial capital expenditures are quite intimidating.

However, the feed-in tariff (FIT) – a government-backed plan to hasten the financing of renewable energy generation by suggesting long-term proposals to renewable energy suppliers – is recommended by Hatow as a possible mean to improve the long-term cost competitiveness of renewable energy. Egypt’s legislative body is considering the implementation of FIT, which is presently adopted in Germany. In addition, Hatow also explains the need to return fossil fuel subsidies, which is seen by him as a complicated political matter.

Hatow’s beliefs are approved by an environmental consultant, Sherif Baha al-Din, who declares the huge startup capital as “a wise long-term investment”. Baha al-Din further enhances his statement by clarifying that the costs will eventually decrease following the progress and commercialization of renewable energy. He encourages his nation to begin applying and expanding the use of such technology as fossil fuel sources are limited.

IPCC’s report highlights a significant discovery that the third world hosts 53 percent of present global renewable power capacity, and will also be the main location for upcoming renewable power expansion.

In an interview issued to the World Resources Institute, analyst Lutz Weischer, who is involved in renewable power policy making, emphasized that developing countries are “acting in their national interests”, with the “national interests” being to focus on electricity access, energy security, economic growth potential and the reduction of health risks associated to fossil fuels.

Baha al-Din disagrees with heavy investments in renewable energy resources when the issue of high energy wastage is yet to be solved. He expresses that judicious, efficient use of energy and the growing establishment of renewable energy as Egypt’s new energy trend should go hand-in-hand via “an integrated, incremental energy policy”.

Source: Almas Ryal Youm

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In collaboration with eight companies Panasonic is building an eco-energy town, which is going to be full-fledge with energy saving technologies. In theory, the houses that are going to be established won’t emit any carbon dioxide. The expected date of completion of the SMART Town is March 2014.

The town will probably be named Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town (SST) and it will be the world’s greenest town. The great progress with this new town is that it will help people to understand how green technology can be incorporated into new infrastructures. Yet, it is certain that the cost of the project is immense.

The Fujisawa SS Town will be constructed on a site of 47-acre, where a Panasonic factory once stood. It is approximately 50 KM from Tokyo, and the area will accommodate 1,000 modern-energy saving houses.

The energy generating technology will mostly come from solar panels. This energy will then be stored in a ‘lithium-ion storage battery that has been developed by Panasonic’. The battery is according to Panasonic able to store electricity for week consumption. To further save energy a range of ‘eco-or low generating household appliances’ by Panasonic will be installed.

This range of ECO NAVI appliances has very efficient systems. For example, the ECO NAVI refrigerator has special sensors installed on the door to detect light, hours of access, and other indicators to minimize the energy usage of the appliances. The refrigerator, ECO NAVI series is as much as 10 percent more efficient than other similar low-energy refrigerators.

The main goal of the town project is to be 70 percent more efficient than towns of similar size in 1990. This means that the town should emit only 30 percent of carbon dioxide, level emitted by similar sized towns in the 1990.

The architecture of the town is being planned, taking into consideration the actual landscape. Green axis will be installed, such as green parking and even vegetation lines. In addition, to the energy saving appliances, only green cars should be owned by Fujisawa SST residents. The aim is to establish a complete carbon free-town. In such a project, the choice of the car plays a primordial role.

This project is even going further in creating shared car services where a few cars can be used by 10 to 20 households. In addition, electric bicycles will be made available for resident to share in the same way.

Even back-up system will be established in the SMART Town. Taking into consideration the high risk of earthquakes in Japan, public battery storages will be provided in public areas and parks. This will accommodate, for potential damage of the individual household battery.

A ‘Smart Energy Gateway’ will be used to split the energy channels; for example, appliances will be on a separated energy network. Energy used to heating or lighting will be on another network.

It is definitely the right time to establish Fujisawa SST. The recent devastating effects from the Fukushima nuclear plant is putting intense pressure on energy saving. Equally, in the Central of Japan, the Hamaoka plant is going to be shut-down due to safety issues. This will further heighten the need for stable and safe energy supply.

Private firms in Japan have recently been requested to slash energy consumption by 15 percent while households are being requested to use fans instead of air-conditioners.

Naoto Kan, Japan’s Prime Minister did also support the reliance of cleaner sources of energy such as wind and solar power. So Panasonic is going a step further to lead the energy-saving change. This will likely help the company to flourish even further through its intense know how and knowledge in constructing green towns.

Last year, Panasonic did eventually merge with Sanyo, which is another Japanese leading energy company. Now Panasonic is Japan’s second largest electronic company, ranked just after Hitachi Ltd. In addition, the merge of Panasonic with Sanyo promoted the development of the lithium-ion battery, which is going to be used in the SMART Town.

The common impetus of green technology is it energy saving potential. But it’s cost is expensive. The cheapest way to integrate green technology is from start to finish. It is radically expensive to remodel and restructure existing infrastructures. So it is probably, hard to have major cities such as New York, to follow the green wave.

Source: Singularity Hub

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There exists two different types of hybrid cars. There is the plug-in hybrid model where diesel and gasoline engines take over when the battery of the electric engine is finished. The second type of plug-in hybrid work together with the gasoline engine in the sense that the diesel or gasoline engine will charge the electric engine to improve the autonomity of the car.

Unfortunately, due to technical disadvantages the electric engine is currently only appropriate for short distance. However, the conventional engines can help by constantly recharging the electric engines while driving. This will boost the potential distance that the electric engine can cover; it can go up to 450 Km or even more. The best part with electric engines is that they produce no emissions.

The use of electric engines can make the transport sector really green. Let’s say that cars are recharged during the evening with electricity coming from pure sources such as wind energy. ‘More advanced electric vehicles do even generate energy from braking’. This is a source of energy, which is wasted by conventional gasoline or diesel vehicles. This makes electric engines perfect for short and urban distance where lots of braking is done.

http://www.renewablepowernews.com/archives/2216

A new model produced by General Motors is Volt. It has an electric engine which can provide 64 Kms of daily travelling simply by its advanced autonomy. In case the car is used to travel across long distances than the gasoline engine will simply help in charging the battery for the electric engine.

General Motors estimates that the cost of driving a Volt with the use of battery energy will only cost about two cents of a euro in comparison to 12 cents of a euro for a typical gasoline vehicle. The cost difference is gigantic. A typical driver who covers 60 kms a day or 22,000 km per annum will save 2,200 € every year. This could help to pay for the additional cost associated with the battery of the car. In other words, driving a Volt is six times cheaper than a conventional vehicle per km.

On average, the cars that are sold in Europe – 2006 – consume roughly 6.5 liters for every 100 kms covered. On the other hand, a plug-in hybrid vehicle can drive 50 kms with electricity, and the remaining 50 would be covered with around 2.5 liters.

A daily trip is usually less than 60km. Using hybrid vehicles could generate remarkable changes in terms of cost. For short distance recharging could be done at parking. This means that fossil fuel wouldn’t be needed when travelling in urban regions.

Electric or hybrid vehicles are definitely cost-efficient. The car is cost-efficient and doesn’t generate emissions while driving on the electric engine.

Source: EV Wind

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For wind energy, generated in the North Sea or regional wind, solar, and bio-gas power plants to reach consumers, there is a long transmission line required. In this journey, lots of energy is lost. Nevertheless, new electronic components are providing a solution.

Electricity flows very similarly to cars and trucks that travel on the highway – it stops at substations and moves on parallel to how cars stop at traffic lights. In other words, the electric network is controlled alike to traffic lights. For energy to reach a city centre it has to pass through a numerous substations (points), so that low voltage can be supplied to household appliances. The highly advanced electricity network allows almost any kind of electrical devices to be wired on.

All this is only possible as long as there is a consistent source of energy supply. For renewable energy, the big challenge has always and still is reliability in supply.

The power and transport networks will continue to advance. In the near future, electro-mobility will be added as electricity vehicles are at the vertex of introduction. So the power grid will soon have to accommodate storage points where batteries can be charged.

Professor Lothar Frey, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Systems and Device Technology IISB in Erlangen says that the use of renewable energy will grow in the future to contribute to the energy supply of most households.

The large Desertec Project is expected to generate a mass of solar thermal power in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. This energy supply of the future will be catapulted to Europe via high-voltage cables that will be lined above and below sea-level. There is clearly a need for modern cabling system able to adapt to the future energy mix. The new components must be able to provide reliable power to consumers with only a minimum loss of energy.

At IISB, power electronics experts are already working on this. They are developing components with innovative technology that will deal with the conversion of electrical energy.

When energy is to be transmitted over 500 Kms on land or undersea-level then direct current will be sent through cables. This will minimize the loss of energy to only 7 percent in comparison to a fluctuation loss topping at 40 percent. However, a conversion station would be required to change the high voltage direct current to alternative current (DC to AC) so that consumers can connect household appliances.

Dipl.-Ing. Markus Billmann from the IISB, says that they are collaborating with Siemens Energy to invent these innovative high-power switches. These switches will be necessary to integrate direct voltage into the contemporary power grid and thus quintessential for projects like Desertec. These new switches have to be consistent, and appropriate to match the need of large projects in the future.

To realise this technology, low-cost semiconductor cells are used to switch high-voltage direct-current transmission (HVDCT), previously this material couldn’t be used to switch HVDCT. Moreover, converter stations need to be built at the end of each HVDCT system. These converters will be using interruptible devices having higher switching frequencies. This renders the system smaller and easier to monitor.

The most alarming obstacle is to avoid the semiconductor cells to be damaged. A converter station is constituted of nearly 5,000 modules with interlinked series. There is a high risk with this system, if ever several modules fail at once, they might affect nearby modules and create a chain reaction. This could damage the whole station. A solution has already been found to this problem. Billmann says that the cooperation with Siemens is helping to create new-tailored components and materials, which will minimise the loss of energy in a safe and sound manner.

Main Source: Fraunhoger and Physorg

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This novel training center will strengthen ARI’s actually over-burdened operations to a single centralised location as well as provide for extra training capacity in order to meet the considerable growth in the industry demand and throughput for entirely trained renewable energy service technicians within the sector of wind energy in addition to other renewable and industrial markets.

Moreover, ARI is planning to considerably expand its ENSA North America subsidiary all across the United States and Canada plus to deploy other mobile training facilities, other than hiring and training technical trainers. In accordance to Mark Jones, the VP Business Development for ENSA, with the considerable growth in the demand of their customers, supplementary capital expenditures in equipment and specialists who are highly trained are needed so as to meet the very technical on-site services that their customers need.

Karl W. Miller has been appointed as ARI Chairman of the Board of Directors for the running of the investment banking/advisors selection committee. He is also responsible for arranging the timing and structure of the needed capital for supporting the Company’s expansion plans.

Mr. Miller’s office is found in Wilmington, North Carolina. Mr. Miller will moreover be responsible for managing the site evaluation on the East Coast of the United States to possible build a supplementary training facility to balance the Tehachapi renewable energy training center in addition to support the re-training and transition of the United States personnel to the sector of renewable energy.

The Founder/CEO, Dave Schulgen stated that they are aggressively executing on their business plan. They are expecting to mover very expeditiously going into the first quarter of the year 2011 on financing and building of their Tehachapi training facility.

Source: Yahoo Finance

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Apparently, energy demands are correlated to the level of economic activities. During the last year, the level of economic activities declined and so did energy consumption. Concurrently, progress in technology is offering more efficient vehicles and appliances reducing the energy demand for the future even more. This is what A.J. Simon, an LLNL energy system analyst responsible for the energy flow chart at the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration said. The outcome of technologic progress and economic hurdles was a general decrease in demand for energy.

From 2008 to 2009 the U.S energy demand decreased from 99.2 quadrillion BTUs to 94.6 quadrillion BTUs (quad). Moreover, BTU stands for British thermal unit, and it is a common measure of energy equivalent to 1.055 kilojoules.

The energy demand decreased across all layers of society from commercial, industrial, residential to transport.

However, one source that contributed an increasing part of American’s energy demand was wind power. Energy provided by wind energy rose from .51 quads, in 2008 to .70 quads in 2009. Most of the wind energy is directly used to produce electricity and did thus significantly help to decrease the production of electricity from coal.

According to Simon, the rise of renewable energies is vital for the economy. During 2010, there is a dozen of wind projects spurring in the pipeline. So the wind arena is likely to show positive figures for this year as well.

Simon says that electricity production previously represented by coal has been falling due to three main reasons being increased use of wind energy, lower electricity demand as well as a shift from coal to natural gas.

In 2009, the amount of energy produced by nuclear plants remained relatively stagnant to 2008. There were no major changes, or new plants established in the nation in 2009.

Moreover, out of the 94.6 quadrillion BTUs utilised merely 39.97 was due to energy services. The energy services include lighting and machinery. Simon claims that it is difficult to estimate the real fuel consumption utilized to produce this amount of energy.

One of a country’s energy efficient measures is the ratio of the total amount of energy to energy services.

Simon predicts that reports specifying facts about carbon emissions will be in the same trend. A decrease in the use of coal, petroleum and natural gas should be associated with a lower diffusion of greenhouse gases. In other words, as people are doing less work, less fuel are burnt and the equally less pollution is released.

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has been helping the Energy Information Administration’s U.S energy body to have accurate and visual data for three decades. It has been operating since it was established in the 1970s.

Source: E-Sciencenews, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

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In the process of transforming national transport toward electric cars, a small country such as Iceland might be the first. A conference on electric cars is going to be held in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. Reykjavik has a total population of 200,000 individuals, which represents 60 percent of the country’s population.

Roughly, 75 percent of Iceland’s population lives within a proximity of 37 miles of Reykjavik. The rural areas are linked with a road of 840-mile. Practically, 15 fast-electric-charging stations would be enough to provide power to electric vehicles. It is already known that “80 percent of Iceland’s energy” is generated from renewable energies such as hydropower and geothermal energy. It is only the transport sector which uses fossil fuel and energy supply.

In 2003 Shell opened a commercial hydrogen pumping station as they intended to change Iceland into a hydrogen-based energy economy. There are already a few hydrogen-burning Priuses driving in Iceland. Unfortunately, the production of hydrogen cars is not done in mass quantities, so the hydrogen dream is currently being delayed to a targeted date in 2015.

Solar Century Says Jobs Installing Panels in U.K. Rise 75% After Incentive (Bloomberg)

According to Solar Century Holding Ltd, the employment market for solar power jobs has risen by 75 percent as the government is providing incentives for photovoltaic panels. The number of employees working for Solar Century (and its associates) has increased from 200 to 350 since the turn of the year. However, they expect that the total workforce will reach 500 by 2011.

Employment is being created in semi-skilled and skilled electrical and roofing jobs.

The Feed-in Tariffs introduced in April has already boosted solar installation to a total of 4.6 megawatts. It is more than what was installed in 2009.
Japan’s biggest solar maker, Sharp Corp announced that it will increase its product of solar cells by 100 percent in the U.K

Climate Change: How Extreme Heat May Affect Your Food (Times)

Recently, 15 states were under the imminent menace of high temperature. One of the hottest temperatures was recorded in U.S during June according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In June the average temperature was roughly 1.3 degree Fahrenheit above the norm of the 20th century. In New York, record figures were administrated showing June as the hottest month. The consequence was that the city had it highest electric bill, as air conditioners ran 24-hours.

Vestas Climbs as Largest Turbine Maker Wins Australian Wind Farm Contract (Bloomberg)

The largest wind power project in Australia was won by Vestas Wind Systems A/S. It is currently the largest wind-turbine maker. The approval of the project gave the company a steady rise on the Copenhagen trading.

The supply order helped Vestas to raise 5.1 percent. The order confirmed the supply of a total of 140 new wind turbines of their latest V112-3.0 megawatt model. It is going to be installed at the Macarthur Wind Farm located close to Victoria town of Hawkesdale in 2011-2013. The wind park will be constructed by Meridian Energy Ltd and AGL Energy Ltd.
The Vestas V112 model will be the first one of its kind installed in Australia. This turbine works effectively both on at sea and on land. The model has a very high capacity. The recent launch of the V112 is delighting the company as its order book is steadily rising. For this year, the company has already booked a total expansion capacity of 8,000 to 9,000 MWs.

Source: Our Planet Today

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This colossal wind farm is expected to provide renewable energy to the national grid by the first or second quarter of 2011. This will certainly remain the largest wind farm, in the region for some time.

In the recent years, Europe has been expanding wind energy much faster than the US. However, the United States is finally starting to recuperate with renewable energy projects. Currently, there is a wind farm in the Lake Erie fresh waters as well as the Cape Cod wind farm. The supplementation to Alta Wind Energy Center in California is definitely ensuring that the nation is becoming a big player in the wind farm game. Terra-Gen Power will be using 190 wind turbines of V90-3.0 MW.

Moreover, there are five contracts that are being developed by Southern California Edison since 2006 and this has supported an addition of 25% of wind energy capacity.

Jim Pagano who is the CEO of Terra Gen says that this project will fully broaden the base of renewable energy produced in California; it will also support the nation’s aim to become energy independent. He also noted that this will represent a stimulus for the economy to grow and steam towards its green-energy targets. In direct terms, the project will create 1,500 domestic construction, manufacturing, maintenance and operation jobs while adding above $600 million to the home economy.

This is certainly a proof that the green economy is emerging and therefore, decreasing our strong dependence on oil as the economy recovers.

Source: Inhabitat, Terra-gene Power and Engadget

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Germany has been one of the very first countries to have invested in this sector. It is now a world leader in this field, particularly in wind energy. Germany is able to generate around 28 percent of the global wind power; as such it is at present well ahead of the United States, Spain as well as India. Moreover Germany remains at the top in other areas as well, like hydroelectric and geothermal power, energy, automated wood pellet heating systems in addition to producing bioethanol for motor vehicles.

This is not all, Germany is considered as being the world leader when it concerns the development of energy-saving products like gas condensing boilers, fuel-saving engines, new materials for insulating homes and buildings. In order to boost the efficiency of energy modern information technologies, also known as green IT, can be made use of. As based on the Kyoto Protocol, the majority of the industrialized countries need to keep on increasing the share of renewable energies in their primary energy consumption mix. They are committed to increase it up to 5 percent over the subsequent five years. As a result there is a great demand of German technologies and products in this area around the world.

Germany is continuing to heavily invest in the research of renewable energy so as to ensure as well as build on its lead in this field. Furthermore, the Federal Research Ministry has even considerably increased its funding. It supports innovative projects under a novel programme that is known as the Basic Research Energy 2020+”. The fields that are given priority under this programme are:

• Boosting the efficiency in the production, conversion, storage, use and transport of energy
• technologies that will be required for the next generation of renewable energies
• the underground storage of the gas carbon dioxide, a vital greenhouse gas
• fusion technologies
• nuclear safety

The various universities in Germany are also placing much emphasis on alternative energies in addition to how to make efficient use of energy. This can be seen in the programmes of Kassel University’s, “Regenerative Energies and Energy Efficiency”, as well as in that of the Oldenburg University’s “Renewable Energy”. Both of these master’s programmes provide, young people in particular, a presently unique chance to obtain expertise that is much in demand on an international basis.

Source: Germany & Africa