Desertec Solar Project

With unlimited natural resources and growing interest from Europe's biggest businesses, the Desertec plan for cultivating African and Middle Eastern solar power is gaining steam.

Steam's the thing, as it turns out, that will bring concentrating solar power from desert-based trough-shaped collectors that heat water, which turns turbines, which then feed to long high-voltage direct current (HVDC) lines across the Mediterranean.

The goal is to bring a major energy option to top European energy consumers while stimulating economic growth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

MENA solar resources could, according to the European Commission, fulfill all of Europe's electricity needs with just 0.3% of the sunny region's annual solar radiation.

And by focusing on concentrating solar power (CSP), which is already in use in U.S. states like California and Nevada, Desertec would not be reinventing the wheel, or the panel.

The question of utmost importance, with the world of renewable energy finance still reeling from the credit crunch, is where the money will come from to finance such a massive project...

To that end, international commercial mammoths like Siemens (NYSE:SI) and E.ON (OTC:EONGY) are leading a German consortium that can make Desertec a reality.

For them it's a matter of business sense, getting the jump on other European and global power players while pleasing European governments and the European Commission, all of which are eager for an alternative to Russian natural gas. Not only solar but wind, biomass, and geothermal will all be part of Desertec's Trans-Mediterranean energy mix.

In July, we'll see the first concrete steps by 20 top German companies to get the 400 billion-euro ($561 billion) project up and running. A meeting is set for July 13 in Munich.

You can read more about Desertec's geographic and political basis here on our sister site, Energy and Capital.

Sam Hopkins

Editor's Note: From solar and wind to geothermal and biofuels, Green Chip readers want to know which renewable energy resource will take over where fossil fuels leave off. The answer is...all of the above!

There is no one single solution to today's energy crisis. However, the combination of all viable renewable energy resources, coupled with energy efficiency, conservation and smart grid development will not only lead us to energy independence and a cleaner, more sustainable energy infrastructure — but also to what will soon prove to be the greatest investment opportunity of the 21st Century.

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We Can Solve the Climate Crisis

By Marc Gunther - Marc Gunther I learned two things last week about Sunil Paul, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist with a passion for clean tech. One is that he thinks big. The other is that he is very well-connected in Washington.
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Paul came to D.C. to release a report called the Gigaton Throwdown that, in his words, “redefines what’s possible for clean energy by 2020.” It’s roadmap that demonstrates how we can scale up clean energy to have a major impact in the next decade. Joining him at a news conference to unveil its findings were an all-star group from the Obama administration -- green jobs czar Van Jones (check him out on video, below), White House science advisor John Holdren and assistant secretaries of energy David Sandalow and Cathy Zoi, key players in Steven Chu’s brain trust at DOE.

Paul’s timing was excellent. He released the Gigaton Throwdown the day before the House of Representatives passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act, the most important energy and environmental legislation of our era. While Waxman-Markey is far from perfect, it’s a step towards the ultimate goal: a top-to-bottom transformation of the global economy into one that is sustainable and just. Paul gets this as not many business people do.
Sunil Paul
Working with scientists, entrepreneurs and investors, Paul put together a team to see what it would take to reach “gigaton scale” for nine technologies -- biofuels, building efficiency, concentrated solar power (i.e. solar thermal), construction materials, geothermal, nuclear, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, solar photovoltaics and wind. As the report explains:
"To attain gigaton scale, a single technology must reduce annual emissions of carbon dioxide and equivalent greenhouse gases (CO2e) by at least 1 billion metric tons -- a gigaton -- by 2020. For an electricity generation technology, this is equivalent to an installed capacity of 205 gigawatts (GW) of carbon-free energy (at 100 percent capacity) in 2020."
The report found that eight of the nine technologies -- the exception was plug-in hybrids -- could feasibly reach gigaton scale in a bit more than a decade. Paul’s report is significant, in part, because it reflects the thinking of a many in a hurry -- other studies, particularly the very good McKinsey study on how to avoid climate disaster, look out 20 or 40 years.

“For investors, those time frames just don’t make any sense,” Paul told me. “By 2030 or 2050, we’ll either be retired or dead. So we needed something immediate, so we can be held accountable, so we can see the results in a a time frame that matters for investors and entrepreneurs and business leaders -- 10 years.”

“What we learned is that there are no fundamental barriers to scaling up these technologies to the point where they have massive impact,” he said.

Paul, who is 44, runs Spring Ventures, a cleantech investment firm and led a group called “Cleantech and Green Business for Obama” last year which explains his administration connections. A early employee of AOL, he was the founding CEO of Brightmail, a leading anti-spam software company, which was sold to Symantec for $370 million in 2004.

The report has some academic heavyweights, notably Dan Kammen of Berkeley, behind it, so it is well worth a look. Among other things, it investments required to bring the different technologies to scale. Notice, for example, how building efficiency is a much, much cheaper way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that solar thermal power or nuclear. Here are some highlights:
• Biofuels can achieve gigaton scale for an investment of $383 billion, and enhance energy security by displacing foreign oil imports.

• Building efficiency can achieve gigaton scale for an investment of $61 billion, creating 681 thousand direct new jobs. It’s the lowest cost pathway of the nine in the report.

• Concentrating solar power (CSP) can achieve gigaton scale for an investment of $2.24 trillion. Because it’s ideally suited to remote desert areas, new transmission lines will be needed to get the electricity to cities.

• Construction materials can achieve gigaton scale for an investment of $445 billion, creating 328 thousand direct new jobs. An example: low-carbon cement.

• Geothermal can achieve gigaton scale but technological advances will be needed. The investment required will be $919 million. (If you missed it, check out this great New York Times story on geothermal, and its risks, and the reactions to it that ran last week.)

• Nuclear power, which already displaces 1 gigaton of CO2 equivalents, can add another gigaton2020 for an investment of $1.27 trillion.

• Plug-in electric vehiles cannot achieve gigaton scale by 2020 because it takes too long to replace the existing global fleet of cars. (Every new car starting in 2010 would have to be a PHEV to meet the gigaton goal by 2020.)

• Solar PV can achieve gigaton scale for an investment of $2.1 trillion, creating more than 1.5 million direct jobs. Enough rooftop space exists in the U.S. alone to achieve gigaton scale.

• Wind is on a pathway to exceed gigaton scale and attract $1.38 trillion in investment. Wind could be cost competitive with fossil-fuel generation without subsidy in the next 10 years.

My quick takeaway from the study: Let’s ramp up energy efficiency in a hurry (no surprise there), keep the momentum behind wind (even though capital costs are high, it’s the lowest-cost form of clean energy, at least for now) and push R&D in solar PV, solar thermal and geothermal to drive costs down. And let’s take nuclear energy seriously as a response to climate change.

Below is a video clip of Van Jones, who spoke at the event (and at Brainstorm Green, Fortune’s conference on business and the environment.) It’s an experiment -- I just bought a Flip camera -- and a little jiggly. Guess I need to get a tripod.

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Composites for energy

Advanced Composites Centre for Innovation and Science conference

Advanced composite materials are playing a vital role in improved design and reduced operating costs for renewable energy technologies.  Research presented today [Tuesday 30 June] will highlight how wind, marine and solar power could address these challenges within the renewable energy industry.

The ‘Composites for Energy’ seminar has been organised jointly between Bristol University’s Advanced Composites Centre for Innovation and Science (ACCIS) and the University’s BRITE Futures Institute, a new multidisciplinary research hub dedicated to environmental systems and technologies.  The seminar is part of this year’s annual ACCIS conference. 

Recent studies have suggested that around 5 per cent of the UK’s electricity needs could be supplied by tidal stream devices and unlike tidal barrages, they do not block tidal channels and have none of the associated environmental impacts such as loss of inter-tidal habitats for bird and marine life.  Tidal stream devices capture energy from fast-flowing tidal currents, such as those found in constrained channels around headlands. 

A collaborative project, ‘New Materials and Methods for Energy Efficient Tidal Turbines (NEW-MMEETT),’ involving the University, Aviation Enterprises Ltd (blade manufacturer), Advanced Composites Group Ltd (composites manufacturer) and Materials Engineering Research Laboratory Ltd is developing more fatigue resistant materials and improved design techniques for tidal turbine blades.  This will enable a reduction in the mass of material required for blade manufacture, essential for making such devices more commercially viable, whilst also ensuring required in-service lifetimes can be met with minimum maintenance requirements.

Bristol’s role within the project involves the development of a numerical modelling technique for predicting how damage grows in composite materials under cyclic loading.

Dr Stephen Hallett in ACCIS said: “The outcomes of the NEW-MMEETT project, with respect to both more fatigue resistant materials and improved design techniques, will also have strong potential for application to wind turbine blades.”

Wind turbines are already a well-established technology but further design and manufacturing improvements are essential in helping the industry meet its expected growth targets over the coming years. The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) has predicted that wind energy could provide as much as 13 per cent of global electricity demand in 2020 and as much as 25 per cent in 2030.

Modern wind turbine blades are generally made from a combination of glass and carbon fibre reinforced plastics.  During manufacture, the plastic resin is heated and cooled in a controlled manner so that it bonds with the fibres and sets to form a rigid structure.

The combination of very strong fibres surrounded by a lightweight plastic matrix enables a greater strength to weight ratio than is possible with conventional metallic materials.  By carefully controlling the direction and tension of the fibres, it is also possible to create a bi-stable composite, which can snap between two distinct rigid shapes.

Dr Paul Weaver in ACCIS said: ‘We are currently focused on producing morphing blades, which can rapidly change their aerodynamic profile to best suit the current wind conditions.  This has the potential to significantly relieve unwanted stresses in the blades, increasing their efficiency and helping to prolong their life.  In addition to wind turbine and helicopter rotor blades, morphing composites are also being developed for aircraft wings, reducing the need for mechanically operated control surfaces.’

The Lithiated Nanoparticle Diamond Solar Energy Converter project, based at the University and funded by the energy company, E.ON, plans to exploit solar heat to produce electricity.

The project uses a novel application of commercially available, low cost diamond powder to form Lithium-doped nano-Diamond (LiD) electron emitters. The LiD emitters use solar infra-red radiation to produce thermionic emission in a vacuum valve.  The current and voltage produced by the valve is converted to electrical power that may be fed into the national grid.  Such a device is termed a thermionic converter and has the potential to realise theoretical conversion efficiencies of 66 per cent.

Dr Neil Fox, in the University’s School of Chemistry, said: “We aim to demonstrate a working nanodiamond-based solar energy converter as an alternative technology to conventional photovoltaic solar cells.  The target is to achieve operation below red heat.  If this can be realised, the new thermionic converter technology will have applications in renewable energy generation particularly for Concentrated Solar Power.”

 

Please contact Joanne Fryer for further information.

Further information:

This year’s annual University of Bristol Advanced Composites Centre for Innovation and Science (ACCIS) conference is being held on Tuesday 30 June 2009. During the afternoon there will be a seminar on the theme ‘Composites for Energy’, which will examine some of the current composites research priorities within the renewable energy industry.

A selection of current ACCIS projects addressing these needs will also be presented, covering the wind, marine and solar power sectors. The event has been organised in conjunction with the BRITE (BRIsTol Environmental) Futures Institute, a new multidisciplinary research hub dedicated to environmental systems and technologies.

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World's Most Daring Solar Energy Project Coming to Fruition

Desertec aims to establish 6,500 square miles of renewable thermal solar power plants in the Sahara Desert. (DESERTEC Foundation) The world’s most ambitious renewable energy project ever conceived, the Desertec Project, may soon be underway in North Africa.

Once a pipe dream of European scientists and engineers, the Desertec Project aims to establish 6,500 square miles of renewable thermal solar power plants in the Sahara Desert of North Africa, along with a super-grid of high voltage transmission lines to supply countries in Europe and Africa with electricity.

The project has finally gained the financial support of a consortium of major companies and organizations such as Deutsche Bank AG, Siemens AG, Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation, The Club of Rome, and many others. Its goal is to supply continental Europe with up to 15 percent of its total energy needs.

The cost associated with building the Desertec solar power plants and transmission lines through 2050 is estimated at around 400 billion euros ($560 billion).

A project of such gigantic scope and expense has drummed up both excitement and criticism from experts.

The Desertec Project will bring renewable energy to the mainstream by creating clean, CO2-free and stable energy generated from the sun alone. Leaving fossil fuel behind, Desertec is a great leap in technology, creativity, and engineering.

“The time now is perfect to start this initiative, as climate protection has become an urgent issue and our economies need new impulses,” said Alexander Mohanty, a spokesman from Munich Re, a large German insurance company spearheading this project.

Critics Voice Complaints

But critics say that a project this costly—and using current solar technology that may not have reached maximum efficiency—should be approached with caution.

Swedish energy giant Vattenfall AB, which has extensive operations in Germany, is not supporting this undertaking.

“It costs too much money,” said Vattenfall CEO Lars Josefsson, in a Financial Times interview. “Besides that, the transmission costs are too high. I don’t think it’s realistic.”

“Europe should create its electricity in Europe,” he concluded.

As an alternative, Josefsson believes in building more coal-powered generating plants that have newer CCS technology aimed at lowering CO2 emissions.

Some experts also fear that if such a large portion of European electricity production is outsourced to Africa, it would create a political dependency on North African countries, some of which have unstable political environments.

The creation of centralized solar energy plants in Africa also raises its vulnerability for terrorist attacks. If someone attacks the transmission lines, much of Europe could be without electricity.

Concentrating Solar Power

Solar thermal power plants use the method of harvesting solar energy called concentrating solar power (CSP). It works very similar to burning a paper with the sun’s rays through a magnifying glass. A thermal solar power plant works with the same principle by arranging a set of magnifying glasses and mirrors that produce a very powerful sunbeam. This sunbeam heats up water, turning it into steam that rotates turbines to produce electricity. The electricity is then carried via high-voltage transmission lines to users.

At nighttime, the power generated during the day is stored in special salt-like batteries, which enables the turbines to be running through the night, creating a 24-hour generation system.

The CSP method should not be confused with photovoltaic energy, which doesn’t heat up water, but directly produces electricity and stores it in batteries.

CSP plants are generally cleaner, cheaper, and have lower maintenance costs compared to photovoltaic energy generation. Photovoltaic energy, on the other hand, is not centrally dependent, meaning that panels could be purchased by any individual and placed on a rooftop, allowing greater flexibility.

Smaller CSP projects have already achieved some success. In the Mojave Desert of California, there are a total of 9 solar thermal plants that have been built and used since the 1980s. Spain, India, Mexico, and South Africa are also set to build such plants in the near future.

If the Desertec Project is successful, it would not only benefit Europe, but also North African countries. It would supply them with very cheap energy, create jobs and provide an opportunity to export goods via trade.

“The project is sending a strong signal that investments in renewable energies don’t just make ecological sense, they make economic sense as well,” said a Financial Times report.


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Solar power faces early sunset in Australia

PADDY MANNING June 27, 2009

Page 1 of 3 Single page view

Australian support for the solar industry is faltering just as the technology promises to deliver baseload power.

Recent breakthroughs in concentrating solar power technology allow heat energy to be stored almost indefinitely - in molten salts - and dispatched as needed.

The Andasol parabolic trough solar thermal plant near Guadiz in Spain, developed and operated by German company Solar Millenium (which has an Australasian joint venture with Leighton Contractors), generates 50MW of clean electricity with enough storage to run for 7.5 hours without sun and around the clock in summer.

Spanish company Torresol, in joint venture with giant Middle-Eastern clean energy investor MASDAR - which is sniffing for opportunities in Australia - is developing other solar thermal projects near Seville and Cediz.

And there's plenty more coming with Bloomberg reporting 14000MW of solar thermal power stations are in the pipeline in Spain alone. That's enough clean power to run NSW, according to Matthew Wright, of Melbourne-based advocacy group Beyond Zero Emissions.

In the United States, SolarReserve and a division of giant defence contractor United Technologies plan a series of solar thermal "power towers'' in the Californian desert - generating between 50MW and 300MW each - again using molten salts to store energy and able to run 15 hours without sun.

The US Department of Energy predicts that by 2020 concentrating solar thermal power stations with storage will generate clean electricity at a cost of US3c to US6c per kilowatt hour. That's comparable with the cost of existing (and heavily-subsidised) coal-fired power and way cheaper than if the unknown additional cost of carbon capture and storage (CCS) was factored in.

Even better solar technology is being developed here, at the Australian National University, using super-heated ammonia to store energy. A company called Wizard Power is joint venturing with ANU to commercialise the process.

John Grimes, chief executive of the Australian New Zealand Solar Energy Society, fears a bitter replay of earlier brain drains.

"Australian scientists and research and development are at the leading edge of the world,'' he says. "What we lack is government support to commercialise and capitalise on that research.

"We will be the dumb consumers of the technology that we invented.''

The Australian government has shown this month it is all over the place when it comes to solar energy policy.

On a positive note it surprised many when the May budget allocated $1.35 billion to part-fund construction of up to four solar power stations generating as much as 1000MW each.

Contractor Worley Parsons, which last year put forward its Advanced Solar Technology project backed by major resource companies, is one contender (although its proposal doesn't include energy storage as yet).

Grimes is concerned that, amid continuing uncertainty over the Government's renewable energy target and emissions trading scheme - and in the wake of the financial crisis - it will be difficult to raise the matching private capital needed to get those projects off the ground.

Investor confidence would not be helped by the latest triple-whammy of abrupt decisions. The popular $8000 means-tested solar rebate was unilaterally dumped by environment minister Peter Garrett on June 11, a fortnight ahead of schedule, leaving many suppliers, installers and homeowners in the lurch.

Then it was revealed a replacement scheme, to provide solar credits under the new renewable energy target regime, in what was meant to be a smooth transition from July 1, would not be decided until August. Finally this week Garrett axed the Renewable Remote Power Generation program supporting installation of solar energy in remote areas. Continued…

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Solar firm in financial hot water

A Rockland company that recently was awarded more than $575,000 from the state to help build a solar equipment manufacturing plant owes thousands of dollars to contractors and a former employee, and has a mixed track record in designing solar power systems.

Ascendant Energy Co. was one of 16 recipients this month of a matching fund from the Maine Technology Institute, aimed at start-up companies with innovative concepts that have development potential. It was the fifth and most significant state award for Ascendant. It also was a milestone for the owner and chief executive officer, Christopher Straka, who has been working on ideas to boost the efficiency of solar-generated electricity since 2003.

Straka's promise to create 40 well-paying jobs during a recession was welcome by state and city officials. The fact that the proposed Rockland factory would be Maine's first large-scale solar manufacturing facility and support the state's long-term goal of energy independence added to the appeal.

QUESTIONS ARISE

But some members of Maine's solar business community, including two former employees, question whether Straka can deliver on his promise, based on his past performance. They worry that the state's fledgling solar industry, which has been whipsawed recently by volatile oil prices, will suffer bad publicity if Straka's venture fails.

In interviews last week with the Maine Sunday Telegram, Straka acknowledged that his company ran into trouble last fall when the economy collapsed. He was forced to lay off workers and stop paying bills, he said.

But Straka also defended past design shortcomings and other misjudgments as typical of research and development in an evolving field. And he said the partnerships and financing he's lining up now will allow him to grow Ascendant and settle his debts.

"I feel badly that things happened the way they did, but I'm not running away from it," Straka said.

Straka formed Ascendant in 2002 after 18 years in computer technology. His impetus was an idea on how to refine the practice of concentrating sunlight to generate electricity and use waste heat to warm water.

After receiving a series of small grants, Straka received a $324,300 development award in 2006 from the Maine Technology Institute to further develop his "solar cogenerator." The concept has since undergone testing at the University of Maine. The concentrator would be one of two products made in Rockland. The other would be a solar-electric, or photovoltatic, panel built without the concentrator.

While conducting research, Straka has been generating revenue by installing conventional solar panels.

Sometimes, he combines research and business.

SYSTEM SHORTCOMINGS

Straka installed a photovoltaic system on an office building at 100 Foden Road in South Portland. The building is owned by East Brown Cow Management, a Portland real estate management company.

The system, which cost $40,000, mates standard photovoltaic panels with reflectors designed to increase power output. It also features a data collection system, so the owner could monitor system performance.

But the monitor didn't function properly, and Straka couldn't fix it. The owner, Tim Soley, wound up hiring ReVision Energy, a Portland solar installer, to evaluate system performance. ReVision found the panels worked to their design capacity, but that the reflectors weren't making any contribution.

That wasn't a complete surprise, Soley said last week. He knew the reflectors were an experiment. Soley said he's most disappointed in not being able to monitor the system, and that – three years later – Straka hasn't finished the job.

Soley hasn't soured on solar, though. He wants to buy more panels and boost output, to take advantage of the existing equipment. If so, he said, ReVision – not Ascendant – likely...

pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | next page >> Copyright 2009 by The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. All rights reserved.

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BP shuts alternative energy HQ

A sign at a BP petrol station is reflected in raindrops in London. Photograph: Luke MacGregor/Reuters

BP has shut down its alternative energy headquarters in London, accepted the resignation of its clean energy boss and imposed budget cuts in moves likely to be seen by environmental critics as further signs of the oil group moving "back to petroleum".

But Tony Hayward, the group's chief executive, said BP remained as committed as ever to exploring new energy sources and the non-oil division would benefit from the extra focus of being brought back in house.

BP Alternative Energy was given its own headquarters in County Hall opposite the Houses of Parliament two years ago and its managing director, Vivienne Cox, oversaw a small division of 80 staff concentrating on wind and solar power.

But the 49-year-old Cox – BP's most senior female executive, who previously ran renewables as part of a larger gas and power division now dismantled by Hayward – is standing down tomorrow.

This comes alongside huge cuts in the alternative energy budget – from $1.4bn (£850m) last year to between $500m and $1bn this year, although spending is still roughly in line with original plans to invest $8bn by 2015.

The move back to BP's corporate headquarters at St James's Square in London's West End made sense, particularly when the group was sitting on spare office space due to earlier cutbacks, said Hayward.

"We are going through a major restructuring and bringing the alternative energy business headquarters into the head office seems a good idea to me.

"It saves money and brings it closer to home ... you could almost see it as a reinforcement [of our commitment to the business]," he said.

Cox was stepping down to spend more time with her children, Hayward added. "I know you would love to make a story out of all this," he said, "but it's quite hard work."

The reason for the departure of Cox is variously said by industry insiders to be caused by frustration over the business being downgraded in importance or because she really does intend to stay at home more with her young children. Cox had already reduced her working week down to three days and had publicly admitted the difficulty of combining different roles.

She will be replaced by another woman, her former deputy Katrina Landis, but the moves will worry those campaigning for more women in business, especially as Linda Cook, Shell's most senior female executive, has recently left her job too.

BP has gradually given up on plans to enter the UK wind industry and concentrated all its turbine activities on the US, where it can win tax breaks and get cheaper and easier access to land.

In April the company closed a range of solar power manufacturing plants in Spain and the US with the loss of 620 jobs and Hayward has publicly questioned whether solar would ever become competitive with fossil fuels, something that goes against the current thinking inside the renewables sector.

Hayward has also moved BP into more controversial oil areas, such as Canada's tar sands, creating an impression that he has given up on the objectives of his predecessor, Lord Browne, to take the company "Beyond Petroleum".

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Solar power faces early sunset in Australia

PADDY MANNING June 26, 2009

Page 1 of 3 Single page view

Australian support for the solar industry is faltering just as the technology promises to deliver baseload power.

Recent breakthroughs in concentrating solar power technology allow heat energy to be stored almost indefinitely - in molten salts - and dispatched as needed.

The Andasol parabolic trough solar thermal plant near Guadiz in Spain, developed and operated by German company Solar Millenium (which has an Australasian joint venture with Leighton Contractors), generates 50MW of clean electricity with enough storage to run for 7.5 hours without sun and around the clock in summer.

Spanish company Torresol, in joint venture with giant Middle-Eastern clean energy investor MASDAR - which is sniffing for opportunities in Australia - is developing other solar thermal projects near Seville and Cediz.

And there's plenty more coming with Bloomberg reporting 14000MW of solar thermal power stations are in the pipeline in Spain alone. That's enough clean power to run NSW, according to Matthew Wright, of Melbourne-based advocacy group Beyond Zero Emissions.

In the United States, SolarReserve and a division of giant defence contractor United Technologies plan a series of solar thermal "power towers'' in the Californian desert - generating between 50MW and 300MW each - again using molten salts to store energy and able to run 15 hours without sun.

The US Department of Energy predicts that by 2020 concentrating solar thermal power stations with storage will generate clean electricity at a cost of US3c to US6c per kilowatt hour. That's comparable with the cost of existing (and heavily-subsidised) coal-fired power and way cheaper than if the unknown additional cost of carbon capture and storage (CCS) was factored in.

Even better solar technology is being developed here, at the Australian National University, using super-heated ammonia to store energy. A company called Wizard Power is joint venturing with ANU to commercialise the process.

John Grimes, chief executive of the Australian New Zealand Solar Energy Society, fears a bitter replay of earlier brain drains.

"Australian scientists and research and development are at the leading edge of the world,'' he says. "What we lack is government support to commercialise and capitalise on that research.

"We will be the dumb consumers of the technology that we invented.''

The Australian government has shown this month it is all over the place when it comes to solar energy policy.

On a positive note it surprised many when the May budget allocated $1.35 billion to part-fund construction of up to four solar power stations generating as much as 1000MW each.

Contractor Worley Parsons, which last year put forward its Advanced Solar Technology project backed by major resource companies, is one contender (although its proposal doesn't include energy storage as yet).

Grimes is concerned that, amid continuing uncertainty over the Government's renewable energy target and emissions trading scheme - and in the wake of the financial crisis - it will be difficult to raise the matching private capital needed to get those projects off the ground.

Investor confidence would not be helped by the latest triple-whammy of abrupt decisions. The popular $8000 means-tested solar rebate was unilaterally dumped by environment minister Peter Garrett on June 11, a fortnight ahead of schedule, leaving many suppliers, installers and homeowners in the lurch.

Then it was revealed a replacement scheme, to provide solar credits under the new renewable energy target regime, in what was meant to be a smooth transition from July 1, would not be decided until August. Finally this week Garrett axed the Renewable Remote Power Generation program supporting installation of solar energy in remote areas. Continued…

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Campaigners fight solar project

In a desert far from the Arabian peninsula, the world�s biggest concentrating solar power (CSP) project has run into unexpected opposition � from environmentalists.Spurred on by pledges of financial support for renewable energy from the US government, electrical utilities in the country�s arid south-west have been acquiring huge tracts of desert on which they hope to harvest sunlight to generate electricity.

It is a development that many environmentalists concerned about climate change applaud. But others are horrified by the damage that such projects could cause to delicate ecosystems.Basin and Range Watch, a group of volunteers dedicated to preserving the deserts of California and Nevada, is one of several environmental organisations campaigning against BrightSource Energy�s US$2 billion (Dh7.34bn) 500 megawatt (MW) solar project on 4,000 acres of public land near Death Valley, in the Mojave Desert.

The Californian firm has already secured a deal to supply 1,300MW of power to the utility Southern California Edison from solar projects it plans to develop in the region.But installing an array of 318,000 parabolic sun-tracking mirrors at its Ivanpah site, near California�s border with Nevada, would involve �extensive grading and removal of existing desert soils, resulting in the potential for increased erosion�, Basin and Range Watch claims.

Herbicides would be sprayed to keep weeds down, and waste from the project would contain �mercury, lead, cadmium, copper, and other substances hazardous to human and environmental health�.�In other words, this will be an industrial site, not a green project,� the group says.An even bigger worry to the opponents of such developments is that they would slurp up scarce supplies of groundwater from aquifers beneath the desert, threatening the water supply tapped by some deep-rooted desert plants and used for irrigation by local farmers growing fruit and vegetables.

Unlike photovoltaic solar projects, which turn sunlight directly into electricity, CSP harnesses the sun�s rays to boil water, producing steam to drive turbines. The steam must then be condensed back into liquid for re-use in the plant�s boiler, usually with the help of additional water for cooling.Other concerns are that roads and construction activity would disrupt habitats for desert animals, including endangered species such as desert tortoises.

Then there is the threat of dust storms resulting from damage to biotic crusts, the sensitive networks of algae, bacteria and lichens that can be destroyed simply by walking on them.�They don�t extend more than a few millimetres below the surface. Just by being there, they hold the dirt and silt in place,� says Darren Sandquist, a biologist at California State University in Fullerton.�It�s certainly going to damage some of the ecology,� he says of the power projects.

�I think that�s a trade-off we have to accept. It�s part of becoming less reliant on oil, and more on solar and wind power.�In Abu Dhabi, officials at Masdar, the Government�s renewable energy company, have also been pondering this trade-off as the company proceeds with plans to develop the emirate�s first CSP project, the 100MW Shams 1 power plant scheduled for start-up in 2011.Ziad Tassabehji, the company�s director of utilities and asset management, says Masdar favours dry cooling, which uses up to 25 times less water than standard wet cooling designs.

That is not an easy engineering proposition in the scorching Arabian Desert, but efficient new technology for drawing air through cooling towers is already in use at some large thermal power plants.Masdar is working with the UAE�s Environment Agency to ensure minimal disruption to the ecosystem, and it will not be spraying herbicides. Instead it plans to grow grass beneath the reflectors, which will be watered when the mirrors are cleaned.

As for dust storms, Abu Dhabi�s sand is very fine, and the compacting process during the site�s development can create a thicker surface crust, Mr Tassabehji says.tcarlisle@thenational.ae

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Study shows green energy jobs growing at 2.5 times higher rate

The number of jobs in America's emerging green energy grew at a rate two and a half times faster than jobs overall between 1998 and 2007, according to a report released last week by the Pew Charitable Trust.

Nationwide by 2007 the study reported 68,200 businesses across all 50 states and the District of clumbia accounted for 770,000 jobs in the green energy industry. By comparison, jobs in the fossil fuel sector -- utilities, coal mining, oil and gas extraction -- comprised about 1.27 million jobs in 2007.

While it still accounts for only one-half percent of overall jobs, the Pew study found clean energy jobs grew at a national rate of 9.1 percent during that nine-year period, compared to 3.7 percent for traditional jobs.

Southern Nevada is described as the "Saudi Arabia of renewable energy" with its abundant sunshine. The report only covers projects already operational. Three dozen companies have applied for permits on public rights-of-way to build concentrated solar power plants in Nye County alone.

In Nevada, the Pew Chariable Trust estimates there were 3,641 green energy jobs in 511 businesses in 2007. Green energy companies had venture capital funds of $19.8 million. There were 71 patents issued in Nevada over the nine-year period studied in the report.

Examples of green energy companies operating in Nevada include Ormat Nevada, a company which operates geothermal power plants, which was a successful bidder for geothermal leases in Big Smoky Valley in northernmost Nye County back in 2007. Geothermal energy is the major source of renewable energy in Nevada. Another example cited in the study was the Power Efficiency Corp. of Las Vegas, which develops energy-efficient electric motors.

The clean energy industry had a job growth rate of 28.8 percent in Nevada from 1998 to 2007, compared to the overall job growth rate in Nevada of 26.5 percent, the study reports. But the report stated only 0.28 percent of Nevada's 1.28 million jobs were clean jobs.

The institute study noted the promising industry is poised to expand significantly, driven by increasing consumer demand, venture capital infusions and federal and state policy reforms.

The American Recovery and Revinvestment Act includes nearly $85 billion in direct spending and tax incentives for green enery and transportation related programs. Twenty-three states have adopted regional initiatives to reduce global warming pollution from power plants, 46 states offer tax incentives to encourage renewable energy and energy efficiency, the Pew Institute reported.

The definition of clean energy includes jobs in five categories: clean energy production, energy efficiency, environmentally friendly production, conservation and pollution mitigation and training and support.

Almost three-quarters of the green energy jobs in Nevada are in the category of conservation and pollution mitigation, the study reported, only 6.2 percent in producing clean energy. Nationwide 65 percent of the jobs were in conservation and pollution mitigation.

Companies in Nevada involved in producing clean energy include Acciona Energy, operators of Nevada Solar One, a 64-megawatt, solar thermal power plant in Eldorado Valley near Boulder City. Sempra Energy plans to add a solar field that will increase power generation at its plant in Eldorado Valley from 10 megawatts to 48 megawatts. Nellis Air Force Base has an array of solar panels generating 14 megawatts.

The jobs are as diverse as engineers, plumbers, administrative assistants, construction workers, machine setters, marketing consultants, teachers and others, the study reported.

"We hope this report will inform and guide our nation's leaders as they seek to expand our emerging clean energy economy," the report states signed by Susan Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States and Joshua Reichert, managing director of the Pew Environment Group.

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Solar power faces early sunset in Australia

PADDY MANNING June 27, 2009

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Australian support for the solar industry is faltering just as the technology promises to deliver baseload power.

Recent breakthroughs in concentrating solar power technology allow heat energy to be stored almost indefinitely - in molten salts - and dispatched as needed.

The Andasol parabolic trough solar thermal plant near Guadiz in Spain, developed and operated by German company Solar Millenium (which has an Australasian joint venture with Leighton Contractors), generates 50MW of clean electricity with enough storage to run for 7.5 hours without sun and around the clock in summer.

Spanish company Torresol, in joint venture with giant Middle-Eastern clean energy investor MASDAR - which is sniffing for opportunities in Australia - is developing other solar thermal projects near Seville and Cediz.

And there's plenty more coming with Bloomberg reporting 14000MW of solar thermal power stations are in the pipeline in Spain alone. That's enough clean power to run NSW, according to Matthew Wright, of Melbourne-based advocacy group Beyond Zero Emissions.

In the United States, SolarReserve and a division of giant defence contractor United Technologies plan a series of solar thermal "power towers'' in the Californian desert - generating between 50MW and 300MW each - again using molten salts to store energy and able to run 15 hours without sun.

The US Department of Energy predicts that by 2020 concentrating solar thermal power stations with storage will generate clean electricity at a cost of US3c to US6c per kilowatt hour. That's comparable with the cost of existing (and heavily-subsidised) coal-fired power and way cheaper than if the unknown additional cost of carbon capture and storage (CCS) was factored in.

Even better solar technology is being developed here, at the Australian National University, using super-heated ammonia to store energy. A company called Wizard Power is joint venturing with ANU to commercialise the process.

John Grimes, chief executive of the Australian New Zealand Solar Energy Society, fears a bitter replay of earlier brain drains.

"Australian scientists and research and development are at the leading edge of the world,'' he says. "What we lack is government support to commercialise and capitalise on that research.

"We will be the dumb consumers of the technology that we invented.''

The Australian government has shown this month it is all over the place when it comes to solar energy policy.

On a positive note it surprised many when the May budget allocated $1.35 billion to part-fund construction of up to four solar power stations generating as much as 1000MW each.

Contractor Worley Parsons, which last year put forward its Advanced Solar Technology project backed by major resource companies, is one contender (although its proposal doesn't include energy storage as yet).

Grimes is concerned that, amid continuing uncertainty over the Government's renewable energy target and emissions trading scheme - and in the wake of the financial crisis - it will be difficult to raise the matching private capital needed to get those projects off the ground.

Investor confidence would not be helped by the latest triple-whammy of abrupt decisions. The popular $8000 means-tested solar rebate was unilaterally dumped by environment minister Peter Garrett on June 11, a fortnight ahead of schedule, leaving many suppliers, installers and homeowners in the lurch.

Then it was revealed a replacement scheme, to provide solar credits under the new renewable energy target regime, in what was meant to be a smooth transition from July 1, would not be decided until August. Finally this week Garrett axed the Renewable Remote Power Generation program supporting installation of solar energy in remote areas. Continued…

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Eureka Solar Tower Tests Receiver in Andalusia

Abengoa Solar's first high-temperature power tower, Eureka, was unveiled June 19 by Martín Soler Márquez, director of Innovation, Science, and Enterprise for the Andalusian Regional Government. This power tower is intended to test, on an experimental basis, a new type of receiver that will achieve the higher temperatures needed for higher-efficiency thermodynamic power cycles. It is the only plant featuring these characteristics in operation in Andalusia and Europe. The aim of this new technology is to increase plant performance, thereby reducing both generating costs and the area of the solar field.

This experimental plant occupies a 16,000-square-foot portion of the Solúcar Platform and uses 35 heliostats and a 164-foot tower that houses the experimental superheating receiver. The power output capacity of the experimental plant is approximately 2 MW. The plant includes a thermal energy storage system supplying power supply to the grid for short periods when there is no sunlight.

According to Rafael Osuna, general manger of the company, "this marks the beginning of the next experimental phase for this high-potential solar power tower technology, which could lead to an important step forward in our goals of generating clean electricity at competitive prices. Our significant investment in research and development has made this groundbreaking concentrating solar power technology a reality."

Abengoa Solar now has three solar power towers in operation, two for commercial use and this experimental tower.

The new plant is part of the Solúcar Platform, a solar thermal and photovoltaic solar installation complex scheduled for completion in 2013. Thanks to its 300-megawatt power output, the plant will supply clean electricity to 153,000 households and eliminate the emission of 185,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year, reaching a total of 4 million tons over the course of its useful life.

The Solúcar Platform also features a research and development area that is building several demonstration plants for new technologies. This makes the platform the only place in the world with installations employing practically every type of solar technology available, whether in commercial use or under demonstration.

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Weekly Investor Round Up

Numerous big news items this week:

The Obama Administration announced $8 billion in loans to Ford (NYSE: F), Nissan (7201.T) and Tesla Motors to build and update factories for the production of next-generation, efficient vehicles. Ford received the lion's share of $5.9 billion to transform factories across Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio to produce 13 more fuel efficient models. Nissan North America, Inc. received $1.6 billion to retool their Smyrna, Tennessee factory to build all-electric vehicles and to build an advanced battery manufacturing facility in conjunction with NEC Corp (NIPNF.PK). And Tesla Motors will get $465 million to manufacture electric drive trains and electric vehicles in California.

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) unvelied a beta version web application--called Hohm--that is meant to be integrated with residential smart meters and rival the PowerMeter application unveiled by Google (Nasdaq:GOOG) in February. When linked to smart meter data, the application would allow homeowners to monitor energy usage and would also provide recommendations for reducing energy. Microsoft has teamed with utilities Puget Sound Energy, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Seattle City Light and Xcel Energy (NYSE: XEL), as well as smart meter companies Itron Inc. (Nasdaq: ITRI) and Landis+Gyr.

Twenty major German companies are banding together on an ambitious solar power project in the deserts of north Africa that could cost as much as EUR 400 billion. The group is expected to meet in Munich on July 13 to form an agreement to pursue concentrating solar power (CSP), capable of providing up to 15% of Europe's electricity. According to a report in the Guardian, participating companies include Siemens (NYSE: SI), Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB), RWE (RWE.DE) and E.ON (EON.L).

GE Energy Financial Services--the lending arm of General Electric (NYSE: GE)--said it has $4 billion to spend on renewable and conventional energy projects, but that the company is waiting to learn how the U.S. government will disperse $48 billion in approved loan guarantees. Tim Howell who heads the energy business group of the financial services told Reuters that in the current environment no one's going to get approval for financing.

Japan's Nikkei business daily reported that Japanese oil distributor Showa Shell Sekyu KK (5002.T) and Saudi Aramco Oil Co. plan to collaborate on small-scale solar power projects in Saudi Arabia next year. Saudi Aramco is the state-owned oil company, and the plan is to build photovoltaic plants of 1 to 2 megawatts (MW) in areas where there is no grid-supplied power. If the projects are successful the two companies may form a joint venture to pursue similar projects in other areas of the Middle East as well as Latin America and Southeast Asia.

The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) and Gazprom Marketing and Trading Limited have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop and implement greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction projects on a global basis. Gazprom Marketing & Trading Ltd. is a UK registered subsidiary of Russian energy giant Gazprom (GAZP.RTS). Gazprom is the largest Russian company and is the biggest extractor of natural gas in the world. The companies plan to work together to identify projects that could cumulatively reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions through the implementation of Dow technologies and other cooperative efforts.

GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Limited (3800.HK), an integrated green energy company in China, announced that it will acquire 100% equity interest in Jiangsu Zhongneng Polysilicon Technology Development Co., Ltd. The company is one of China's leading suppliers of polysilicon and wafers for use in the solar industry. The cash and equity deal is reportedly worth the equivalent of US$3.4 billion.

HelioSphera (formally known as Next Solar) officially inaugurated its production plant in Tripoli, Greece. The plant will produce up to 60 MW of thin-film photovoltaic panels, using Oerlikon Solar's Micromorph technology. The plant is said to be the largest of its type in Europe and construction costs of EUR 185 million investment were subsidized by the Greek government.

Tessera Solar and San Antonio municipal power compay CPS Energy signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to develop a 27-MW solar project in West Texas. The project will employ more than a 1,000 of the SunCatcherTM concentrating solar systems manufactured by Tessera Solar's sister company, Stirling Energy Systems. This is the first project in Texas for Tessera Solar and adds to 1,500 MW worth of projects in California's Imperial Valley and the Mojave Desert.

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New Solar Power Plants May Threaten Scarce Desert Water Resources

This piece first appeared in the Washington Post on June 7, 2009.

Congress's rush to embrace solar power is having some unintended consequences. It will turn over a large chunk of federal land to private energy companies, and it may involve withdrawing billions of gallons of water from sensitive desert habitat.

By 2015, Congress wants the Interior and Energy Departments to place, on federal land, renewable energy projects that can generate at least 10,000 megawatts of electricity. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 has set off a frantic land grab as solar and wind energy companies rush to obtain permits for projects in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.

As of mid-March, the Bureau of Land Management had received 158 applications for permits for solar power plants, covering more than one million acres of land -- an area larger than Rhode Island. Most of the proposed plants are located near the border of Arizona, California and Nevada. This area of the Mojave Desert seems perfect for solar power; it's hot and flat and vast. What the Mojave Desert doesn't have is water.

Most people think of solar power as the flat panels on a neighbor's roof that are used to heat water. This photovoltaic system directly converts the sun's waves into electricity. But so far, it's not commercially feasible. The power is costly and there's no juice at night, but utilities want cheap power 24/7. On the plus side, photovoltaic solar uses almost no water.

In contrast, most large solar power projects use a system called concentrating solar power, or CSP, that heats a fluid that boils water to turn a turbine. CSP, just like any thermal power plant, produces waste heat as a byproduct. In most cases, cooling towers release the heat to the atmosphere through evaporation, a process that uses gobs of water. In fact, CSP uses four times as much water as a natural gas plant and twice as much as a coal or nuclear plant. ad_icon

It is possible to use an air-cooled system, but CSP plants in the Mojave Desert face an obvious problem: It's hot outside, which makes air cooling inefficient. According to a 2007 DOE report, dry-cooled CSP plants take up more space, cost almost 10 percent more to build and generate 5 percent less electricity. Given that solar power is competing with low-cost natural gas and coal-fired plants, power companies would naturally prefer to use wet-cooling systems.

To date, only a few CSP plants have been permitted on federal land, but that will change soon. The Obama administration is now evaluating the impact of solar power development, a process that may be completed next year. The National Park Service, which is concerned about the impact of wet-cooled plants on endangered species in southern Nevada, wants the federal government to deny permits for water-cooled plants. Air-cooling would cut the water use by 80 to 90 percent.

The Park Service is right. As the process moves forward, the administration should insist that CSP plants embrace air-cooling. There is no reason to permit hundreds of new groundwater wells to be drilled in the Mojave Desert. It doesn't have the water.

If solar companies want to use wet-cooling towers, they can purchase land and water rights from the private sector. Over the last year, Arizona Public Service Company, the state's largest electric utility, has partnered with solar power companies to build two large-scale CSP projects on private land. The land, more than six square miles, has been used to grow alfalfa and cotton. These wet-cooled plants will use less water than the farms are already using.

This reallocation of water -- from farming to power generation -- offers a lesson for the country as a whole. As the United States confronts inevitable water shortages, we need to insist that power companies, developers and others who need water offset the impact of their new uses by persuading existing water customers to use less. That's a lot smarter than trying to squeeze water from the stones of the Mojave.

              

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The 'Gigaton Throwdown' and the Big Hairy Audacious Question

By Joel Makower - Joel Makower Some of my favorite questions begin with the same four words: "What would it take..." What follows those four words can be just about anything, as in: What would it take to ... make solar energy as cheap and efficient as fossil fuel-based electricity?... routinely build zero-waste factories?... recycle 90 percent of the waste in my city within five years?... make organic foods cost-competitive with conventional ones? ... make airplanes operate on electric power? ... create zero-energy low-income housing? And so on.

Such big, hairy audacious questions get past the ideal to the real, looking at the specific changes in technologies, policies, capital flows and cultural norms that would be required to achieve a goal.

Sunil Paul has asked one such audacious question -- and answered it, too. His Gigaton Throwdown report, released today, asks: What would it take to aggressively scale up clean energy to have a major impact on job growth, energy independence and climate change over the next 10 years? Specifically, the report examines what it would take "to reach gigaton scale for nine technologies currently attractive to investors."
To attain gigaton scale, a single technology must reduce annual emissions of carbon dioxide and equivalent greenhouse gases (CO2e) by at least 1 billion metric tons -- a gigaton -- by 2020. For an electricity generation technology, this is equivalent to an installed capacity of 205 gigawatts (GW) of carbon-free energy (at 100 percent capacity factor) in 2020.
The good news, the study concludes:
Eight of the nine technologies that we analyzed are capable of aggressive scale-up to avoid at least 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (CO2e) reductions by 2020. Of these nine, there are seven -- building efficiency, concentrated solar power, construction materials, nuclear, biofuels, solar photovoltaics and wind -- that are ready to scale up aggressively today. One, geothermal, can scale up fully after an intense period of research, development, and deployment of pilot plants for new engineered geothermal systems. Combined, these eight technologies can meet over 50 percent of new global energy demand with reliable, clean, low-carbon energy and would avoid over 8 gigatons of CO2e reductions globally.
The bad news: Annual investment in these technologies must grow more than threefold in the next 10 years to make good on climate stabilization goals.

The Gigaton Throwdown project began two years ago, when Paul -- part of a wave of successful tech entrepreneurs who found their way to cleantech after the one-two punch of 9/11 and the dot-com bust -- heard a friend say, "You know, you clean technology guys could make a bunch of money and not make that big of a difference." As Paul told me recently, "It struck me that, 'Wow, he's right. Many of these technologies could increase by a factor of 10 and I'd do well, but it just would not make that big a difference.' That essentially started a quest on my part to find out what does it take to really make a difference."

A big part of the challenge was creating a framework: How do you think about a problem of this magnitude? The notion of gigatons, says Paul, "made a lot of sense because one gigaton per year is enough to make a major difference by 2020. We chose an amount that matters and we chose a time frame that's relevant to entrepreneurs and investors."

Paul engaged dozens of people -- the mailing list of people connected to the project listed more than 130 names, including venture capitalists, academics, entrepreneurs, lawyers, policy makers, nonprofit leaders and corporate types from utilities, energy companies, Wall Street investment houses, engineering firms and others. A group of post-docs at the University of Michigan and Stanford, and faculty at Drexel and Berkeley did a lot of the heavy lifting.

Their report (download - PDF) looks at nine "pathways" that could achieve gigaton scale. One of the pathways, wind power, was found to be already growing fast enough to achieve gigaton scale.
The wind industry has been growing at an annual rate of 28 percent over the last decade and will soon reach 100 gigawatts (GW) of installed capacity globally. At currently projected growth rates, it will exceed half a terawatt (TW) of installed capacity by 2020 and deliver close to 2 gigatons of CO2e reductions. Efficiency technologies, solar, biofuels and nuclear all offer solutions that have been tested and deployed and can scale more rapidly than the current projections. These are not laboratory curiosities. They are active technologies that are supplying power in multiple markets. With sound policy support, they will do much more.
Meanwhile, another technology, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), was seen to face "severe challenges to achieving massive scale in the near-term."
To reach the gigaton target, the [auto] industry would need an estimated 300 million PHEVs on the road in 2020. This is equivalent to the total number of new cars to be added to the fleet worldwide in the next 10 years. While perhaps technically feasible, the disruption to current operations, the junking of existing vehicles, and the sheer amount of capital needed for this transition make this pathway infeasible by 2020 in our estimation. We do not include PHEVs in our gigaton projections.
What would it take for technologies reach gigaton scale? In a word: policies. At least, that's the principal conclusion of the Gigaton Throwdown report. And that makes sense, to a point. The Obama administration and Congress -- not to mention their counterparts in other countries -- are focusing on energy and climate issues like never before. This is a time for policy makers to step up with the right kinds of laws and incentives at a scale sufficient to make a difference. The report urges a range of policy prescriptions: long-term stable carbon pricing, loan guarantees, tax credits, government purchasing, renewable energy standards, fuel standards, efficiency standards and more -- a lengthy list that has long comprised the wish list of the clean-energy community.

But it's not all about government -- and it's not even all about money. The markets for clean technology involve a coordinated effort in three principal areas: technology, policy and capital. Each of these plays a role in scaling technologies, clean or otherwise, and each of these "levers" must be pulled in proper sequence so as to create sustained, orderly markets that can exist without subsidies. Oh, and education, too -- lots of it, to encourage legislators, business executives, investors and voters about these critical needs.

"We sort of already get the technology pieces of it," Paul responded when I pointed this out. "And we know there is a lot of capital sitting on the sidelines that is ready to invest given the right kind of long-term opportunity." What's needed now, he says, is political leadership and action.

"The single most important action to direct this flow of capital is stable policy that establishes a meaningful price on carbon," he explained. "This will encourage investment across the clean energy sector and allow capital to flow to the most cost-effective technologies."

There's no shortage of capital needed: The eight technologies at gigaton scale represent an investment opportunity of over $5 trillion dollars over the next 10 years, according to the report. At this scale, says Paul, clean energy -- including efficiency improvements -- would meet close to two-thirds of the new global capacity requirements in 2020.

I'm not able to quibble with such figures -- or the overall strategy, for that matter. In fact, despite some skepticism about the approach, I like the overall vision. Thinking in gigatons should become the new metric for considering technologies, policies and investments. Paul says that at least two companies -- Serious Materials, a green buildings materials start-up based in Silicon Valley, and Novozymes, a Danish company focusing on biofuels and other "bioinnovations" -- have already started doing so, with others to follow. Paul says his own investment firm, Spring Ventures, is doing likewise.

If that's the case -- if "gigaton-scale" becomes a lens through which innovators and policymakers view their work -- the considerable efforts of Paul and his colleagues will represent a valuable contribution to moving clean energy technology forward to achieve the scale and speed it deserves.

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Next generation solar power could replace fossil fuels says WRI

News 25th June 2009 : London

Next generation solar power could replace fossil fuels says WRI

Concentrating solar thermal (CST) power has the potential to provide power on the margin of the demand curve, as well as replacing coal at the core of the power mix in the US, according to a report by the World Resources Institute (WRI.)

CST uses reflective material to concentrate the sun's rays to power steam turbines or engines. When combined with thermal storage CST can generate electricity on demand by storing heat in a transfer fluid like water, oil or molten salt and enabling a plant to produce power under cloud cover and after the sun has set, according to the report.

It can also be integrated with other kinds of backup power. "We are seeing hybrid systems deployed which involve adding CST technology to the natural gas combined cycle plants so you end up with a hybrid plant which uses solar when the sun is out and uses natural gas when it isn't. This results in a huge emissions reduction compared to a coal is plant of the same size," says Britt Staley associate at WRI and lead author of the report.

CST replaces lifetime fuel payments with upfront capital in its cost structure but the upfront investment is significant and is increased further by adding thermal storage. However, costs are expected to decline as new capacity comes online because of the low operating costs. "It also enables companies to make back those costs, as CST plants with storage can produce power at 6pm when power is most expensive and can compete with natural gas peakers on the grid," says Staley.

CST has been disadvantaged by high commodity prices as plants require large volumes of glass, cement, and steel and future price trends have a significant impact on the cost of power and its competitiveness with coal. The report says that key areas of cost improvement will come through research and development (R&D) and Federal and state policy support will also help bring down costs over time.

The most generous incentives at present are provided through Spain's feed-in tariff. "Particularly in the US we have the solar resources for CST but to really take full advantage of that potential we will need new infrastructure to get that power from where solar resources are good, to where urban centres of demand are," says Staley. "In the near term, deploying CST will be like building any other power project, you have to figure out where and how you are going to connect to the grid," she says.

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Corrected: GE's finance arm lining up green power deals

NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Electric's Energy Financial Services is working on thousands of megawatts of U.S. renewable energy projects, but is not likely to move forward until the government sets rules for its grants and loans to the sector, an executive in the company's energy business said on Tuesday.

Funding for new clean energy projects largely dried up last year because of the crisis in the financial markets, prompting the Obama Administration to expand government spending to support renewable power sources.

The industry has been awaiting new rules from the Department of Energy on implementation of its grant program, designed to allow companies to tap into funds intended for tax credits, and on how it will release more than $48 billion in loan guarantees.

Those government measures will change how developers of wind, solar, geothermal and hydropower projects finance their construction, which in turn will determine returns for investors such as GE's EFS.

"In this environment, no one's going to get (financing) approval to do anything now," Tim Howell, commercial leader of EFS' power and renewable energy business, told Reuters in an interview.

EFS has $4 billion to spend on new energy projects, including renewables and conventional power plants, such as gas-fired generation, he said.

The company will be able to move more quickly with its equity investments than banks using debt financing for projects, he said. Debt financing typically takes at least two months to put in place.

Still, with the turbulence in the financial markets, Howell said there was not likely to be a flood of new renewable projects announced once the government's rules were released.

"I don't think that there is the capacity in debt or equity markets to just turn this on like a spigot," he said.

In April, EFS invested more than $200 million with Noble Environmental Power for 330 megawatts of wind power in New York state and has said it was considering buying into a 300 MW wind farm in British Columbia, Canada with Plutonic Power Corp, with whom it has also partnered for hydropower projects.

Wind power, which made up more than 40 percent of the new electricity generation built in the United States last year, remains the most competitive renewable energy versus conventional power sources, Howell said, but photovoltaic solar power costs were dropping fast and closing the gap with wind power.

"We'd love to do more solar, but it's tough because there aren't that many deals of scale," he said.

Still, EFS has linked up with solar power maker SunPower Corp for a 2.2 MW project that put solar panels on a California jail and two wastewater treatment plants under a deal in which SunPower sold the electricity output through long-term power purchase agreements.

EFS is also wary of concentrated solar power plants, which focus sunlight with mirrors to produce heat used to run a conventional electricity turbine. 

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Hybrid Thermal Plant Provides Constant Power

By Zaher Karp - Matter Network

Since its inception, solar technology development has existed primarily as either photovoltaic, with many small units or residences or commercial buildings, or as large-scale solar thermal.

A new kind of solar facility, the first hybrid solar thermal plant, is being developed by AORA-- more importantly, one that can be easily deployed and efficiently run.

The AORA (formerly EDIG Solar) hybrid solar power station will be up and running as of today, with enough capacity to power 70 homes continuously -- through the night and cloud cover. Thirty heliostats will track and reflect the sun towards the nearly hundred-foot tall turbine tower, where the concentrated sunlight heats compressed air, which then drives a gas turbine.

Small-scale solar thermal technology was the company's goal-the Kibbutz Samar station in southern Israel will produce 100 kW of on-demand power and 170 kW of thermal power. Using the gas turbine improves space and energy efficiency, requiring fewer mirrors, saving space when alternatives are taken from the larger standard steam turbine.

I spoke with Yuval Susskin, Chief Operations Officer at AORA, who holds not only hopeful plans for future collaboration with Jordan, who "has the sun and the land" appropriate for solar development, but also who has plans for global expansion.

AORA's goal was to bring solar thermal technology down to a small, community-sized scale that could be quickly and less expensively erected. "There is a chasm in the industry-- between massive solar thermal [arrays] in the desert and small photovoltaic in the home because there is nothing that satisfies community-sized scale solar," Susskin said."No one is working on providing solar power to nearby homes."

But why solar thermal and not PV?

"Solar thermal is a great technology for sunny areas, while PV can be more efficient in cloudy climates with indirect sunlight. When PV panels heat up, they lose efficiency, but in places like England, Japan or Germany, they [flourish]."

The system provided three unique advantages, according to Susskind-the first being that the engine is hybrid, "The customer is guaranteed electricity." Secondly, as the unit is modular (any number of 100kW base units), projects are allowed flexibility to scale up or down -"It's not like old solar, which can be huge; you can shut one unit down and maintain the others for power, depending on demand."

Finally, the hybridity guarantees electricity, but more importantly, can take advantage of any fuel-"These engines can run on any alternative fuel, on diesel, crude oil, natural gas or even green fuels like biofuel and biodiesel," Susskind emphasized. The hybrid system allows use in locations with limited advanced fuel access, like Africa, so that the system could be powered at night by the local fuel supply, whatever it may be.

The hybrid plant could also be used to "smarten" up electrical grids.

The company has already completed a pilot unit in Nanjing, China, which differed architecturally from the tower. Haim Dotan, an architectural firm that is also building the Israel Pavilion for the World 2010 Expo, designed the tower; but what's the story behind the unique "tulip" shape?

"The design is very smooth, and the reason for that is our desert facility happens to be located in one of the world's busiest bird migratory routes, so we wanted to build it in such a way that birds wouldn't be able to land on the tower," Susskind said. The tower is held up by guide wires to allow for a thinner structure to minimize shadow, and therefore, energy losses.

The yellow color was also inspired by a nearby air force training facility, as it had to be bright enough for aircrafts performing low flying exercises."

Several groups are arriving today to sign initial letters of intent to start new projects, from Spain, Chile and Australia, according to AORA. "In Australia, the major issue is distance," said Susskind-transporting electricity over vast distances means expensive power lines, and because of this small to medium sized communities are running off inefficient, polluting diesel generators.

"These [communities] are in the middle of the outback, the [solar hybrid plant] would be perfect-park it in a field and you could supply accessible solar energy to nearby areas," he added.

This sustainable effort, the first successful implementation of its kind, will pave the way for new solar efforts. Creating hybrid technologies that take advantage of existing fuels while building on their efficiency is the key to infrastructure stability and compatibility.

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Guardian to Showcase New Solar Glass Products at Concentrated ...

Guardian will feature its EcoGuard Solar Boost-LP, laminated parabolic mirrors for concentrating solar power (CSP) applications, which provides best-in-class solar reflectivity, concentrating efficiency and durability. Samples of the company’s monolithic parabolic mirrors will also be shown, as well as its float, pattern and coated solar glass products.

More than 450 energy experts from across the United States will be meeting at the U.S. forum for CSP, on the heels of a similar session last month in the Middle East. The Summit provides industry professionals the very latest information on regulation, financing, permitting, risk mitigation and transmission, to thermal storage, cost reduction and cutting-edge technologies.

Guardian’s EcoGuard Solar Boost-LP averages more than 94.5 percent solar reflectivity at AM 1.5 (ISO 9050). Similar to a car windshield, two layers of glass are laminated together with a PVB interlayer. A mirrored surface is contained within the laminate on the backside of the forward glass. The thin front glass results in a shorter transmission path and industry benchmark reflectivity performance.   Guardian has years of experience in developing systems and efficiencies in such manufacturing processes.

EcoGuard Solar Boost-LP has also been extensively field tested for proven durability and validated using numerous accelerated test protocols. The combined glass and PVB layers provide superior rigidity and durability compared to traditional monolithic glass systems. The laminated construction also results in optimum damping, wind resistance and reduction of subsequent field component damage.

"As a leading glass manufacturer, our goal is to optimize the energy investment of our customers," said Scott Thomsen, Guardian group vice president and chief technology officer. "At forums like this, the solar industry players come together to drive technology forward and meet the challenges of achieving new efficiencies.”

A global manufacturer of high-quality glass for more than 75 years, Guardian has diverse product and technology pipelines that consistently generate high-performance glass products for a wide range of industries. A stable, privately-held company with an international solar asset base, Guardian is well positioned to provide the solar market with superior solutions that address current and future market needs.

For more information, please visit www.Guardian.com.

About Guardian Industries Corp.:

Guardian is a diversified global manufacturing company headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, with leading positions in float glass, fabricated glass products, fiberglass insulation and other building materials for commercial, residential and automotive markets. Through its Science & Technology Center, Guardian is at the forefront of innovation, including development of high-performance glass coatings and other advanced products. Guardian, its subsidiaries and affiliates employ 18,000 people and operate facilities throughout North America, Europe, South America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Visit www.guardian.com.

EcoGuard is a registered trademark of Guardian Industries Corp. June 25th, 2009 Source: Guardian Industries Corp.   Printer friendly version  Send to a Friend Add a Comment You have to be registered in order to add your comment. If you already have an account, please sign-in to comment. Latest news

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High-altitude winds: The greatest source of concentrated energy on ...

At any moment, the winds in high-altitude jet streams hold roughly 100 times more energy than all the electricity being consumed on Earth, according to a study by Stanford environmental and climate scientists Cristina Archer and Ken Caldeira.

To capture that energy, designers are dreaming up models of wind-turbine kites that fly so high, cruising airliners would have to steer around them. The tethered kites would float high enough for powerful jet streams to flow through their turbines more than 10 times faster than winds would flow near the ground.

The spinning rotors of the kite turbines would convert the wind’s kinetic energy to electricity and send it back down the wire 30,000 feet to a distribution grid.

Harnessing these high-flying currents could open up an effectively unlimited source of electricity, the researchers say. Kites may have the potential to be cost competitive, Caldeira said, and the study shows that the wind resource is huge and relatively reliable.

The researchers reached this conclusion by analyzing 27 years of data from the National Center for Environmental Prediction and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. By studying the distribution of wind power in the atmosphere, by location and time, they found that winds at altitudes around 32,000 feet have the highest wind power density. “The wind power density tells you how much wind energy would flow through a wind turbine,” Caldeira said.

The researchers used the data to compile the first global survey of high-altitude wind energy. Archer is an assistant professor at Stanford University and California State University-Chico and Caldeira is an associate professor at Stanford and a researcher at the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Their findings were published in the journal Energies last month.

High-altitude winds hold a huge energy potential waiting to be harnessed. “If you tapped into 1 percent of the power in high-altitude winds, that would be enough to continuously power all civilization,” Caldeira said. In comparison, similar solar cells would cover roughly 100 times more area than a high-altitude wind turbine, he said.

Archer and Caldeira found the highest wind densities over Japan, eastern China, the eastern coast of the United States, southern Australia and northeastern Africa. Included in the analysis were assessments of wind energy above the world’s five largest cities: Tokyo, New York, São Paulo, Seoul and Mexico City. “New York … has the highest average high-altitude wind power density of any U.S. city,” Archer said.

Tokyo and Seoul also have high wind power density because they are both affected by the East Asian jet stream. Mexico City and São Paulo are located at tropical latitudes, so they are rarely affected by the polar and sub-tropical jet streams. As a result they have lower wind power densities than the other three cities.

In order to capture the energy in these jet streams, manufacturers are developing a variety of kite turbines that convert kinetic energy in wind to electricity. Manufacturer Sky WindPower designed a model consisting of a single tethered kite of four connected turbines, each with spinning rotors. The kite transfers the electricity back to a hub on the ground through its tether.

Another model, being developed by Kite Gen, looks like a rotating carousel, based on the ground, with several kites tethered to it. Each kite’s flight pattern is controlled from the ground to capture the most wind, and as the kites circle in the air, they catch the wind and tug on their tethers. The tension triggers a pulley system that converts the energy of motion to electricity.

Though sky-high currents offer huge potential, kite fliers face the challenge of a fluctuating wind. “While the winds at high altitude are much more consistent than the winds at the surface, they’re still not consistent enough,” Caldeira said. For example, if you flew a kite turbine in your backyard to power a house, at some times the wind would blow and at other times, it wouldn’t, he said. As a result, there would be gaps in the flow of electricity.

Archer and Caldeira suggest a large-scale electrical grid to transfer excess energy to areas that have more demand than production. “Winds are always blowing somewhere, so if you had a large enough electrical transmission grid you could transmit the electricity from where it is blowing to where it isn’t blowing,” Caldeira said.

Making batteries large enough to supplement the wind fluctuations seems improbable, and backup generators would be expensive, Caldeira explained.

Another minor hurdle may be interference from airplanes. Manufacturers such as Sky WindPower and Kite Gen say that air traffic is not a huge problem. Kite users would simply need to obtain flight restrictions above their air space, just as nuclear power plants and refineries do. Sky WindPower also suggests that kites be flown in areas that are rural but not too far from the urban spots that the researchers identified as high-flow.

Wind kites are not yet in use, but manufacturers predict that the cost of high-altitude wind power will range from 2 to 4 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Christine Blackman is a science-writing intern at the Stanford News Service.

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GE's finance arm lining up green power deals

NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Electric's Energy Financial Services is working on thousands of megawatts of renewable energy projects, but is not likely to move forward until the U.S. government decides on rules for new grants, an executive in the company's energy business said on Tuesday.

Funding for new clean energy projects largely dried up last year because of the crisis in the financial markets, and the industry has been awaiting new rules from the Department of Energy on how it will release more than $48 billion in loan guarantees put in place by the Obama administration.

Those loan guarantees will change how developers of wind, solar, geothermal and hydropower projects finance their construction, which in turn will determine returns for investors such as GE's EFS.

"In this environment, no one's going to get (financing) approval to do anything now," Tim Howell, head of EFS' power and renewable energy business, told Reuters in an interview.

EFS has $4 billion to spend on new energy projects, including renewables and conventional power plants, such as gas-fired generation, he said.

The company will be able to move more quickly with its equity investments than banks using debt financing for projects, he said. Debt financing typically takes at least two months to put in place.

Still, with the turbulence in the financial markets, Howell said there was not likely to be a flood of new renewable projects announced once the government's rules were released.

"I don't think that there is the capacity in debt or equity markets to just turn this on like a spigot," he said.

In April, EFS invested more than $200 million with Noble Environmental Power for 330 megawatts of wind power in New York state and has said it was considering buying into a 300 MW wind farm in British Columbia, Canada with Plutonic Power Corp, with whom it has also partnered for hydropower projects.

Wind power, which made up more than 40 percent of the new electricity generation built in the United States last year, remains the most competitive renewable energy versus conventional power sources, Howell said, but photovoltaic solar power costs were dropping fast and closing the gap with wind power.

"We'd love to do more solar, but it's tough because there aren't that many deals of scale," he said.

Most of the biggest U.S. solar projects have been financed by regulated utilities who have strong balance sheets they can leverage.

Still, EFS has linked up with solar power maker SunPower Corp for a 2.2 MW project that put solar panels on a California jail and two wastewater treatment plants under a deal in which SunPower sold the electricity output through long-term power purchase agreements.

EFS is also wary of concentrated solar power plants, which focus sunlight with mirrors to produce heat used to run a conventional electricity turbine.

"Concentrated solar is having a tough time getting out the starting blocks," he said, largely because of the complexity of the financing needed to fund the projects.

(Reporting by Matt Daily; editing by Carol Bishopric)

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EMCORE Corporation Signs Solar Power Agreement With PNM

ALBUQUERQUE, NM -- 06/23/09 -- EMCORE Corporation (NASDAQ: EMKR), a leading provider of compound semiconductor-based components and systems for the fiber optic and solar power markets, today announced a formal agreement with PNM of New Mexico to participate in PNM's large distributed generation (DG) solar power program. This 20-year agreement with EMCORE consists of 114 kilowatts of solar power produced onsite at EMCORE's corporate headquarters in Albuquerque, N.M.

The power is generated by EMCORE's 2nd and 3rd generation concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) systems installed next to its headquarters' facility in Albuquerque, NM. The power is fed to EMCORE's buildings through a PNM-approved REC meter. Although over one-megawatt EMCORE's CPV systems have been deployed across seven sites throughout the world, this is the first DG application.

"This is a significant milestone in advancing solar power applications for both EMCORE and PNM. The DG program allows power to be generated close to the point of use and distributed without requiring a comprehensive transmission infrastructure," said Christopher Larocca, EMCORE's Chief Operating Officer. "EMCORE's CPV systems are ideally suited for such applications because of their cost competitiveness and high energy conversion efficiency. Our industry leading 30%+ CPV modules generate highest levels of power per square meter. We look forward to pursuing additional distributed generation programs with PNM as well as other utility companies."

"We are very pleased to have EMCORE Corporation as the first participant in the PNM distributed generation solar power program," said Sue Fullen, Vice President of Marketing and Customer Service of PNM. "Our large solar program announced earlier this year is just one of the many ways we are working to provide more environmentally friendly, renewable sources of electricity into our overall energy portfolio."

A commemoration event has been scheduled for 10:00am Mountain Time, June 25, 2009 at EMCORE's Albuquerque headquarters with PNM and local government officials attending. To participate in the event, please visit the registration page on the EMCORE web site at: http://www.emcore.com/rsvp/.

About PNM:

PNM, a wholly owned subsidiary of PNM Resources (NYSE: PNM), is New Mexico's largest electricity provider and serves about 497,000 electricity customers statewide and also sells electricity on the wholesale market. PNM is based in Albuquerque, NM.

About EMCORE:

EMCORE Corporation is a leading provider of compound semiconductor-based components and subsystems for the broadband, fiber optic, satellite and terrestrial solar power markets. EMCORE's Fiber Optics unit offers optical components, subsystems and systems that enable the transmission of video, voice and data over high-capacity fiber optic cables for high-speed data and telecommunications, cable television (CATV) and fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) networks. EMCORE's Solar Power unit provides solar products for satellite and terrestrial applications. For satellite applications, EMCORE offers high-efficiency compound semiconductor-based gallium arsenide (GaAs) solar cells, covered interconnect cells and fully integrated solar panels. For terrestrial applications, EMCORE offers concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) systems for utility scale solar applications as well as offering its high-efficiency GaAs solar cells and CPV components for use in solar power concentrator systems. For specific information about our company, our products or the markets we serve, please visit our website at www.emcore.com.

Forward-looking statements:

The information provided herein may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, any statement or implication that the certificate purchase agreement described will run for its full term. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that, if realized, could materially impair the Company's results of operations, business, and financial condition. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, (a) the earlier termination of the certificate purchase agreement by PNM which is permitted by the terms of that agreement, and (b) factors discussed from time to time in reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and EMCORE does not assume any obligation to update the reasons why actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.

Contact: EMCORE Corporation Silvia M. Gentile Executive Offices (505) 323-3417 Email Contact TTC Group Victor Allgeier (646) 290-6400 Email Contact

Copyright © 2008 Market Wire. All rights reserved.

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Abengoa Solar inaugurates second-generation solar tower

Abengoa Solar inaugurates second-generation solar tower Tuesday, Jun 23, 2009 Abengoa Solar’s first high-temperature power tower, Eureka, was unveiled today by Martín Soler Márquez, Director of Innovation, Science and Enterprise for the Andalusian Regional Government.

This power tower is intended to test, the only plant featuring these characteristics in operation in Andalusia and Europe, on an experimental basis, a new type of receiver that will achieve the higher temperatures needed for higher-efficiency thermodynamic power cycles. The aim of this new technology is to increase plant performance, thereby reducing both generating costs and the area of the solar field.

This experimental plant occupies a 16,000-squarefoot portion of the Solúcar Platform and uses 35 heliostats and a 164-foot tower which houses the experimental superheating receiver. The power output capacity of the experimental plant is approximately 2MW. The plant includes a thermal energy storage system supplying power supply to the grid for short periods when there is no sunlight.

According to Rafael Osuna, General Manger Abengoa Solar New Technologies, “this marks the beginning of the next experimental phase for this high-potential solar power tower technology which could lead to an important step forward in our goals of generating clean electricity at competitive prices. Our significant investment in research and development has made this groundbreaking concentrating solar power technology a reality”.

Abengoa Solar now has three solar power towers in operation, two for commercial use and this experimental tower.

The new plant is part of the Solúcar Platform, a solar thermal and photovoltaic solar installation complex scheduled for completion in 2013. Thanks to its 300-megawatt power output, the plant will supply clean electricity to 153,000 households and eliminate the emission of 185,000 tons of CO2 per year, reaching a total of four million tons over the course of its useful life.

The Solúcar Platform also features a research and development area that is building several demonstration plants for new technologies. This makes the platform the only place in the world with installations employing practically every type of solar technology available, whether in commercial use or under demonstration.

Abengoa Solar focuses its activity on the development and application of technology for generating electrical power with the sun.

Abengoa is a technology company that applies innovative solutions for sustainability in the infrastructure, environmental, and energy sectors. The company is listed on the Spanish stock exchange and is present in more than seventy countries, where it operates through its five Business Units: Solar, Bioenergy, Environmental Services, Information Technologies, and Industrial Engineering and Construction. For more information, visit www.abengoasolar.com.

 

Source: Abengoa Solar

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