Eideard

Solar power is a clean energy source. But in this arid part of northwest India it can also be a dusty one.

Every five days or so, in a marriage of low and high tech, field hands with long-handled dust mops wipe down each of the 36,000 solar panels at a 63-acre installation operated by Azure Power. The site is one of the biggest examples of India’s ambitious plan to use solar energy to help modernize its notoriously underpowered national electricity grid, and reduce its dependence on coal-fired power plants.

Azure Power has a contract to provide solar-generated electricity to a state-government electric utility. Inderpreet Wadhwa, Azure’s chief executive, predicted that within a few years solar power would be competitive in price with India’s conventionally generated electricity…

Two years ago, Indian policy makers said that by the year 2020 they would drastically increase the nation’s use of solar power from virtually nothing to 20,000 megawatts — enough electricity to power the equivalent of 20 million modern American homes. Many analysts said it could not be done. But, now the doubters are taking back their words.

Dozens of developers like Azure, because of aggressive government subsidies and a large drop in the global price of solar panels, are covering India’s northwestern plains — including this village of 2,000 people — with gleaming solar panels. So far, India uses only about 140 megawatts, including 10 megawatts used by the Azure installation, which can provide enough power to serve a town of 50,000 people, according to the company. But analysts say that the national 20,000 megawatt goal is achievable and that India could reach those numbers even a few years before 2020.

“Prices came down and suddenly things were possible that didn’t seem possible,” said Tobias Engelmeier, managing director of Bridge to India, a research and consulting firm based in New Delhi. Chinese manufacturers like Suntech Power and Yingli Green Energy helped drive the drop in solar panel costs. The firms increased production of the panels and cut costs this year by about 30 percent to 40 percent, to less than $1 a watt.

Developers of solar farms in India, however, have shown a preference for the more advanced, so-called thin-film solar cells offered by suppliers in the United States, Taiwan and Europe. The leading American provider to India is First Solar, based in Tempe, Ariz.

India does not have a large solar manufacturing industry, but is trying to develop one and China is showing a new interest in India’s growing demand. China’s Suntech Power sold the panels used at the Azure installation, which opened in June.

RTFA. Lots if info. I chuckle when folks writing articles like this include notes about government subsidies being necessary. I don’t recall a major power plant built anywhere in the world – coal-fired, nuclear, nat gas, whatever – in decades without government support. It ain’t exactly the kind of construction project done on spec.

For the second year in a row, Tokai University can lay claim to the winner’s laurels in the 2011 Veolia World Solar Challenge, a sun-powered race challenge in Australia that winds over 1,800 miles between Darwin and Adelaide using only 5 kWh of on-board energy and the rest beamed in directly from the sun. As the race’s website says, “These are arguably the most efficient electric vehicles.”

According to the provisional results…seven teams managed to go the entire 2,998 kilometer but Tokai came out on top because their average speed – 91.54 kilometers an hour – was faster than any other finisher. The Tokai’s final time was 32 hours and 45 minutes. The fact that only seven teams finished out of a starting list of 37 shows that this is not an easy race, and this year was particularly difficult thanks to brush fires (set by arsonists) along the route.

Bravo!

We have kin who have worked their butts off for similar competitions in North America – and especially appreciate the effort not only by the designers and teams; but, everyone who works to produce the competition.

It started with such a simple concept: A solar light bulb that charges up during the day and lights the night when the sun sets. Inventor Steve Katsaros perfected his design in June 2010, and four days later he had a patent in hand.

“It wasn’t until after we created it that we asked ourselves, ‘How do we market this,’” Katsaros says. “And we learned that the largest market was the developing world.”

As Katsaros began researching markets in developing countries, he began to realize that his solar light bulb could potentially make a huge impact on the 1.4 billion people around the world who don’t have access to an electrical grid. Many use fuel lamps that burn kerosene, which is costly, dirty and can also be unhealthy.

He dubbed his company Nokero — short for “No Kerosene” — and set out to get his bulbs into as many hands a possible in the developing world…

Katsaros sells “business in a box” kits that entrepreneurs in Kenya and Tanzania can sell to villages at a profit…144 bulbs along with displays and fliers. Would-be entrepreneurs can go village-to-village selling the bulbs and establishing a network of customers.

In the future, Katsaros hope to use this budding network to distribute new solar products to further help people who live away from the power grid.

Being a for-profit company also allows Katsaros to keep working on new ideas without being tempted to move to a high paying corporate job.

“Yeah, we could cash out at some point, but there’s really no reason for that,” he says. “We have a healthy company, we have good people working, and we’re improving the lives of a lot of people already. We’re happy.”

RTFA. Lots of background, detail. Katsaros is bright enough to have discovered the principles best exemplified in the States by the Rocky Mountain Institute, e.g., you can be the most altruistic person/collective in the world; but, the easiest way to lead people down more economic and ecologically-friendly streets is to allow them to make money – or save money.

China, the world’s largest solar panel exporter, is likely to boast 10 gigawatts of solar power capacity by 2015 from the current 1 gW, doubling its existing target amid rising doubts about the safety of nuclear power.

The country may double its target for solar power capacity to 10 gW in 2015 from the 5 gW originally planned the China Securities Journal reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources…

Meanwhile, China consolidated its position as the No 1 country in clean-energy investment in 2010, with $54.4 billion flowing into the sector, up 39 percent from the 2009 level, according to a report by the US-based Pew Charitable Trusts, an independent, non-profit organization. In 2009, China overtook the United States as the No 1 nation for installed clean-energy capacity…

China’s installation of less than 1 gW of solar energy capacity demonstrates that most of its production is for the export market. In contrast, 17 gW of wind energy was installed in China in 2010, helping the nation move quickly toward its 2020 target for installing 150 gW of wind energy, the report said…

“The new target could be a relief for China’s overcapacity photovoltaic (PV) industry,” said Li Shengman, an industry analyst at China Investment Consulting. The export-dependant industry will see the domestic market expanding, Li said…

China is home to the world’s top solar makers, including Suntech Power Holdings Ltd and Trina Solar Ltd all of whom have focused on the overseas markets while expecting a domestic market take-off.

It doesn’t especially matter to the manufacturers whether they’re selling to the government of China or to national-level builders of sun-farms in other lands. Product is going out the door.

What this disaster in Japan caused me to reflect upon is a comparison of all costs associated with electricity production from the two methods: solar vs. nuclear. And that, I discovered, gives an economic edge to solar of almost 30%.

An ambitious project that aims to turn arid desert land into a green oasis took a step closer to becoming reality last week when an agreement was signed on the rights to develop a pilot system in Jordan. The Sahara Forest Project’s (SFP) first facility will be located on a 2,000,000 square meter plot of land in Aqaba, a coastal town in the south of Jordan where it will be a test bed for the use of a combination of technologies designed to enable the production of fresh water, food and renewable energy in hot, arid regions.

The partners behind the Sahara Forest Project are Bill Watts of Max Fordham Consulting Engineers, Seawater Greenhouse, Exploration Architecture and the Bellona Foundation, an international environmental NGO based in Norway, who have been working on the idea since 2009.

In 2009, after first studies showed that the concept was feasible and economically viable, the project was presented internationally at the December 2009 UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, where it was well received. In June, 2010, Jordan’s King Abdullah II saw a project presentation during a visit to Norway and was impressed enough to say he was ready to facilitate its implementation in Jordan.

The main pillars of the project are saltwater greenhouses, concentrated solar energy, and cultivation of traditional crops along with energy crops such as algae, which all come together in one location to solve a whole range of environmental problems…

The project envisions three separate stages of development. In depth studies will be carried out throughout 2011, construction of a Demonstration Center is slated to start in 2012, and commercial-scale development is set to start in 2015.

RTFA for details. I wish them success.

The UK-built Zephyr solar-powered plane has smashed the endurance record for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

The craft took off from the US Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona at 1440 BST (0640 local time) last Friday and is still in the air. Its non-stop operation, day and night, means it has now gone five times longer than the official mark recognised by the world air sports federation.

The plane has been developed by the defence and research company Qinetiq. Its project manager, Jon Saltmarsh, said Zephyr would be brought down once it had flown non-stop for a fortnight.

“Zephyr is basically the first ‘eternal aircraft’,” he told BBC News…

The military will want to use them as reconnaissance and communications platforms. Civilian and scientific programmes will equip them with small payloads for Earth observation duties.

Their unique selling point is their persistence over a location. Low-Earth orbiting satellites come and go in a swift pass overhead, and the bigger drones now operated by the military still need to return to base at regular intervals for refuelling.

But as Zephyr has now proved, solar UAVs can be left in the sky.

Their solar cells drive propellers during the day and top up their batteries to maintain the craft through the dark hours of night. An autopilot keeps them circling over the same spot.

RTFA. Lots of detail, interesting details.

The most cynical will be expected to focus in military and police use of the technology. Which is a shame. If that’s all you can think of – we probably should have given up on cameras and binoculars.

Japan hopes to turn the wildest fantasies of science fiction into reality today with a “space yacht” that will draw on the power of the sun to take it to Venus and, perhaps, far beyond.

A Mitsubishi H-2A rocket carrying Ikaros (an acronym for Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation of the Sun) is set to blast off from Tanegashima island in south-west Japan at 6.44am local time. [Launch has been weather-delayed approximately to this Friday, 21st May] If it is successful, Ikaros will be carried through deep space at high speed with the help of a 20-metre sail, propelled by the pressure from solar particles.

The flexible membrane sail, which at 32.5 micrometers is about half the thickness of a human hair, is covered with thin-film solar panels that will create a hybrid of electricity and pressure, according to Jaxa, the Japanese space exploration agency…

“This will be the world’s first solar-powered sail craft employing both photon propulsion and thin-film solar power generation during its interplanetary cruise,” Jaxa said on its website…

After passing Venus, Ikaros is expected to continue its voyage for three years towards the far side of the sun, although contact is likely to be lost after a year.

Rock on – Ikaros! Safe journey.

I haven’t any special axe to grind for Democrats, New Mexico flavor or any other. But, just as I’ve tried to point out the benefits of Obama’s stimulus program in my neck of the prairie, I have to point out one more project brought to New Mexico by Governor Bill – that provides jobs, clean energy, another chunk of change to the landscape.

Something the conservative Dems and Republicans that clutter the halls of state government barely think about.

The NM plant will be 14 times larger than the largest existing plant in the USA

Spanish renewable energy company GA-Solar plans to build a 300-megawatt solar photovoltaic generating plant in eastern New Mexico.

The plant, to be located on 2,500 acres in Guadalupe County, will have enough installed capacity to power 50,000 homes, making it one of the largest PV solar projects in the world.

GA-Solar’s parent firm, Corporación Gestamp, will invest $1 billion to develop the project, which will take up to four years to construct. The company will employ 300 during construction, and will have 75 full-time employees once the plant is completed, said GA-Solar and Corporación Gestamp CEO Jon Riberas in a news release…

The project could attract a lot of investment from suppliers in the construction, solar and manufacturing industries. Among other things, Corporación Gestamp plans to source the racking equipment for the plant from local manufacturers, said New Mexico Economic Development Secretary Fred Mondragón…

Gov. Bill Richardson said the project reflects New Mexico’s leadership role in solar energy development.

Just another announcement for Governor Bill – while Roundhouse conservative beancounters grumble and plan to cut education and raise taxes on food.

Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation in Congress on Monday to protect a million acres of the Mojave Desert in California by scuttling some 13 big solar plants and wind farms planned for the region.

But before the bill to create two new Mojave national monuments has even had its first hearing, the California Democrat has largely achieved her aim. Regardless of the legislation’s fate, her opposition means that few if any power plants are likely to be built in the monument area, a complication in California’s effort to achieve its aggressive goals for renewable energy.

A few of the rationales about environment are perfectly reasonable. But, understand from the git-go, this is about not “spoiling” the view for those who pass by – then return home to the Bay Area or L.A..

Developers of the projects have already postponed several proposals or abandoned them entirely. The California agency charged with planning a renewable energy transmission grid has rerouted proposed power lines to avoid the monument.

Look at the photo above. There already are power lines crossing the area. Why not new ones?

Read the rest of this entry »

Google is operating a data center in Belgium without chillers (which augment cool air to help keep the data center at the right temperature and use a lot of electricity), according to Rich Miller over at Data Center Knowledge. However, what’s most noteworthy about this is that Google appears to have the means to automatically shift its data center operations from the chiller-less data center if the temperatures get too high for the gear. The ability to automatically and seamlessly shift data center operations and tasks is a key element in building out data centers that can operate on renewable energy or merely more efficiently. Miller calls it a “follow-the-moon” strategy because a company with a larger number of data centers could shift computing around the globe so processes are completed at night when the temperature is lower and cooling costs are cheaper…

I wrote about a similar scenario last July, only I said data center operators would follow the sun with their workloads so they could use a renewable energy like solar power to provide electricity for their operations. When the sun sets, or on cloudy days, the workload moves to where another power source is available. Regardless, moving data center operations isn’t an easy process, and it requires a lot of bandwidth between the data centers. As Google masters this, expect other companies to follow suit, not merely because they can save on power, but because it makes cloud computing much more reliable in that when one data center experiences a failure, a cloud provider can redistribute operations around the globe.

Interesting concept. Maybe this also explains all the Dark Fibre Google bought up a few years back?

Back in the day, Microsoft did a study that showed this was impossible. Was that then? Or was it Microsoft?