Milestone solar plant opens in Peoria

Maricopa Solar is comprised of 60 SunCatcherTM dishes and will provide 1.5 megawatts of renewable energy to SRP customers in Greater Phoenix, Arizona.

“Through partnerships such as Maricopa Solar, we will be able to learn a great deal about this emerging solar technology while helping to create green jobs, economic development opportunities and clean energy for SRP and our customers,” said SRP Associate General Manager Richard Hayslip. “The Maricopa Solar project is just one example of SRP's commitment to building a renewable energy portfolio that is beneficial to our environment and customers.”

The innovative and highly-efficient SES SunCatcher is a 25-kilowatt solar power system which uses a 38-foot, mirrored parabolic dish combined with an automatic tracking system to collect and focus the sun's energy onto a Stirling engine to convert the solar thermal energy into grid-quality electricity.

“The SunCatcher represents the next generation of grid-quality solar power technology providing clean, reliable and cost-effective solar power to address global climate change and reduce our planet's carbon emissions,” said Steve Cowman, Stirling Energy Systems CEO.

SunCatcher has a number of advantages including the highest solar-to-grid electric efficiency, zero water use for power production, a modular and scalable design, low capital cost, and minimal land disturbance. SunCatcher was designed and developed in America, through a public-private partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy. The SunCatchers unveiled at Maricopa Solar were manufactured and assembled in North America, mostly in Michigan by automotive suppliers.

High-volume manufacturing of the SunCatcher begins in Summer 2010 and Tessera Solar breaks ground on utility-scale projects late this year in California and Texas. Imperial Valley is a 750 MW project with the first 300MW contracted under a power purchase agreement with San Diego Gas & Electric near El Centro, California; Calico is a 850 MW project with Southern California Edison near Barstow, California; and Western Ranch is a 27 MW project with CPS Energy in West Texas. Manufacturing of SunCatcher components and construction of these projects will create up to 4,000 jobs in the near term, both in the Midwest, where SES's automotive supply chain base originates, and in the Southwest where projects will be developed.

For more information, visit www.stirlingenergy.com, www.tesserasolar.com, www.ntrplc.com and www.srpnet.com.

PHOTOS AND VIDEO ARE AVAILABLE AT www.srpnet.com/maricopasolar.

About Stirling Energy Systems (SES Inc.)

Stirling Energy Systems (SES) is the global supplier of the SunCatcher� solar dish engine system, the latest innovation in modular Concentrating Solar Power (CSP), and next generation of grid-quality, solar-electric power generation. The SES SunCatcherTM combines a mirrored concentrator dish with a high-efficiency Stirling engine to track, collect and convert the sun's thermal energy to grid-quality electricity. The SunCatcherTM technology has significant advantages over other CSP technology including zero water use for power production, minimal impact to the environment, the highest electric efficiency and cost competitiveness. Founded in 1996, the company maintains corporate headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona, and engineering and test site operations at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. NTR owns a controlling stake in SES Inc.

About Tessera Solar

Tessera Solar is the exclusive developer/owner/operator of utility-scale solar power facilities using the SunCatcher� solar power system, manufactured by our sister company Stirling Energy Systems (SES Inc.), headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Tessera Solar North America is headquartered in Houston, Texas, with offices in Scottsdale, Arizona and Berkeley, California. Tessera Solar International is headquartered in London, England. NTR plc is the parent company of Tessera Solar and SES.

About NTR plc

NTR plc, the international renewable energy group, builds and runs green energy and resource-sustaining businesses. Founded in 1978, NTR has evolved from being a developer and operator of infrastructure in Ireland to an international developer and operator of renewable energy (wind, solar and ethanol) and sustainable waste management businesses in the USA, UK, and Ireland. The company employs over 4,100 people.

About Salt River Project (SRP)

Salt River Project is the third-largest public power utility in the country and serves more than 930,000 electric customers through a variety of resources including solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and hydroelectricity. In 2004, SRP's Board of Directors voted to require that 15 percent of the energy generated comes from sustainable resources by 2025. Today, SRP's sustainable portfolio is 6.5 percent of the total power provided to our customers.

For more information, visit www.stirlingenergy.com, www.tesserasolar.com, www.ntrplc.com and www.srpnet.com. ���

Copyright © 2010 Peoria Times.

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Salazar, Abbey Describe Progress of Solar Energy on Public Lands

WASHINGTON, D.C. � Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and the Director of the Bureau of Land Management Bob Abbey testified today on �The deployment of solar technology on the public lands� before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The text of Secretary Salazar�s prepared testimony is below: Chairmen Boxer and Sanders, Ranking Members Inhofe and Bond, and Members of the Committee, I am pleased to appear before you today to discuss deployment of solar technology on the public lands and the Department of the Interior�s role in building a new energy future. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak with you about these important issues. During the first year of his Administration, President Obama has led the United States toward a clean energy future. A primary reason for delivering this change is that the United States cannot afford to fall behind in the energy technologies that will shape this century. We spend hundreds of billions of dollars each year on imported oil � our oil dependence poses risks to our national security. I see many reasons for hope. Renewable energy development is one of President Obama�s highest priorities, and the United States has come far in development of renewable resources this past year under the President�s leadership. As the President mentioned just last week in Ohio, new jobs are being created and many more are coming in the clean energy sector. And I know that America�s abundant natural resources will help us rise to meet the challenges we face. The great promise of solar energy and other renewable resources has led us at the Department of the Interior to change how we do business. For the first time ever, environmentally responsible renewable energy development is a priority at this Department. Until now, our deserts, plains, forests, and oceans have been largely unexplored for their vast clean energy potential. The possibilities are immense, and the opportunities are great. The Department oversees 20 percent of the Nation�s lands and 1.7 billion offshore acres. The Department of Energy�s National Renewable Energy Lab estimates the wind potential off the East Coast of the United States in the Atlantic Ocean to be more than 1,000 gigawatts, greater than our entire national electricity demand. Turbines are already springing up to capture the energy of the wind that blows so hard across the Great Plains. We have huge solar potential in the deserts of the Southwest containing an estimated 2,300 gigawatts of energy capacity, not far from the great cities of Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Phoenix. Geothermal energy opportunities are bubbling up across the country. We have great opportunities to increase hydropower production through improvements in efficiency, by adding power generation units to existing facilities, and through pumped storage. During the past year, we offered new areas for oil and gas development, but instituted reforms to ensure we are offering leases in the right places and in the right way. Importantly, and relevant to today�s hearing, we have also opened the new renewable energy frontier � not just for solar power, but also for wind, geothermal, and hydropower � on America�s lands and waters that will help power our clean energy economy. As we open this new energy frontier, new development and new technology deployment on public lands will help solve key challenges in reliability, storage, and transmission of renewable energy and ultimately could mean lower costs to the private market in meeting energy demands. Solar energy is the most widely available source of energy on earth. There are two ways that solar energy can be converted to electricity. The first, known as �concentrated solar thermal,� uses the sun to heat fluid, producing steam that is used to power an electric generator. This technology generally uses mirrors arranged in an array that concentrates the sun�s rays to heat the fluid, and is often used for large, utility-scale projects. The second system uses photovoltaic cells � what most would identify as solar panels � that are made of special materials that change sunlight directly into electricity. Because of this property, they are available for many different uses, such as powering calculators and lights; small arrays can power a home; and large arrays make up large power plants. New and more efficient generations of these cells are being developed. It is a truly exciting technology that holds much promise. The amount of sun available for the creation of solar energy depends on several variables, including the time of day, time of year, and the location. The Department manages a significant amount of the public land in the southwestern United States, and because of the amount of sunlight that region receives it is an ideal location for the development of solar energy on a utility-level scale. I mentioned that we cannot afford to fall behind. Over the past year, as we have worked to make the President�s vision a reality, there has been much discussion in the media about the development of these technologies in other nations. We have heard that China is now the world leader in the manufacture of solar panels and wind turbines, and it has targeted the development of renewable and low-carbon energy as a priority. A number of European countries, including Spain and Germany, have developed aggressive policies that have led to expanded development of renewable, specifically solar, energy. The Department�s vast land ownership and the breadth of our management responsibilities over those lands has put us in a unique, and important, role with regard to the domestic development and transmission of solar energy. The possibility of capturing the sun�s abundant energy and making it usable as a clean, non-polluting source of power; the potential of American ingenuity to drive more efficient applications; and the promise of additional jobs for the new energy economy are ensuring that we at the Department are moving quickly to responsibly develop this tremendous energy potential on our public lands. Renewable energy was the subject of my first Secretarial Order, back in March 2009. That Order made facilitating the production, development, and delivery of renewable energy, including solar energy, on public lands and the Outer Continental Shelf top priorities at the Department. I have pledged that these goals will be accomplished in a manner that does not ignore, but protects our signature landscapes, natural resources, wildlife, and cultural resources. I believe that actions speak louder than words. We are redoubling our efforts to evaluate existing applications for renewable energy projects, including solar projects. The BLM is currently processing approximately: 128 applications for utility-scale solar projects that involve approximately 77,000 megawatts and 1.2 million acres of public land; 95 geothermal energy drilling applications; 257 applications for wind testing rights-of-way; and 24 applications for wind energy projects. We have opened Renewable Energy Coordination Offices in California, Nevada, Wyoming and Arizona and established teams in six other states�Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon/Washington and Utah�that are charged with expediting the required reviews of ready‐to‐go solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass projects and supporting the prompt permitting of appropriate transmission-related projects on our public lands. We worked with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to develop and enter into a Memorandum of Understanding that resolved jurisdictional concerns that had resulted in the delay of renewable energy projects on the OCS. We have also put in place long-awaited offshore renewable energy rules, creating the first-ever framework for offshore renewable energy development, which we expect to result in the development of significant offshore wind energy potential. We subsequently awarded four exploratory leases for wind energy production on the OCS offshore of New Jersey and Delaware. Finally, just last month I announced that the Minerals Management Service will establish an Atlantic renewable energy regional office this year � this will be the first federal office specifically supporting renewable energy development on the OCS. I have invited the governors of Atlantic coast states that are considering the development of offshore wind energy projects to meet at Interior Headquarters next month to explore how to support and coordinate the development of this new industry. As the Department explores the potential for renewable energy in offshore areas, wind energy production in the Atlantic offers great promise and this meeting will allow us to exchange ideas and chart a coordinated path forward to advance further, appropriate development of the resource. These and other accomplishments are moving us toward increased production and use of renewable energy and our goals of reduced dependence on oil and curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically with regard to solar energy, I have visited solar energy projects in both the East and the West, and met with the employees of innovative clean energy sector companies making necessary components like next-generation thin-film solar photovoltaic modules. We, along with these entrepreneurs, are ensuring that solar development remains at the forefront of the clean, renewable energy frontier. Over the past year we have worked diligently to prioritize the development of renewable energy on our public lands and our offshore waters and, as a result last June I, along with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, announced the identification of 1,000 square miles, 24 tracts of Bureau of Land Management-administered land, in the West as Solar Energy Study Areas. We are fully evaluating these areas for their suitability � from both an environmental and resource perspective � for the large-scale production of electricity from solar energy. And, along with DOE, we are preparing a Solar Energy Development Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, due for public release in late 2010, that provides a landscape-scale plan for siting solar energy projects on our public lands in the Southwest that have been identified as having the best potential for utility-scale solar energy development. The BLM has identified approximately 23 million acres with solar energy potential, including the 24 Solar Energy Study Areas, which are being reviewed as part of this process to evaluate the environmental suitability of solar energy development across the West. The Solar Energy Study Areas alone have the technical potential to generate nearly 100,000 megawatts of solar electricity, enough to power millions of American homes. The public comment period on these solar study areas closed in September 2009, and we are evaluating the comments we received. We believe that landscape-scale planning and zoning for solar projects on our public lands will provide a more efficient process for permitting and siting of this type of development. To further make our goals a reality, we have announced 34 �fast track� renewable energy projects. Fast-track projects are those where the companies involved have made sufficient progress in the environmental review and permitting process that they could potentially be cleared for approval by December 2010, thus making them eligible for economic stimulus funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Fourteen of the 34 fast-tracked projects are solar energy projects. These include several different types of concentrated solar thermal technologies � like solar engine, parabolic trough, and power tower � and photovoltaic cells, and are located in Arizona, California and Nevada. All are currently undergoing detailed environmental impact reviews, and if ultimately approved, some 5,000-6,000 megawatts of new capacity, in California, Arizona, and Nevada, could be permitted for construction by the end of this year. Moreover, our analysis indicates that tens of thousands of jobs could be created in the development of these projects alone. In this same vein, California Governor Schwarzenegger and I announced last fall a Memorandum of Understanding between the State and the Department that will expedite the process of siting, reviewing, approving and permitting renewable energy projects on Department-managed lands in California. Finally, we must recognize that the development of transmission capacity for this new energy production is a crucial element. Developing solar and other renewable energy resources, which are often located in remote areas, will require new transmission capacity to bring this clean energy to the population centers where it is needed. The Department has already identified and designated more than 5,000 miles of transmission corridors on the lands it manages to facilitate the siting and permitting of transmission lines in the right ways and in the right places, and we are processing more than 30 applications for major transmission corridor rights‐of-way on the lands we manage, with 7 applications in Idaho, California and Nevada that could add more than 1,000 miles of new transmission, on the �fast track� to potential permitting this year. The Obama Administration also continues to cut through bureaucratic barriers. In October 2009 the Administration announced that nine federal agencies, including the Department, had signed a Memorandum of Understanding designed to expedite the siting and permitting of electric transmission projects on federal lands. This agreement commits the participating agencies to close coordination and a number of procedures to improve the federal process under existing authorities, including establishing a single point of contact for all required federal authorizations. Renewable energy development presents tremendous opportunity, but meeting the potential of that opportunity requires tremendous work. I am proud of the work already underway at the Department of the Interior, and I look forward to continuing this work as it bears fruit. Thank you. Contact: Frank Quimby (202) 208-6416

“Concentrating Solar Thermal Power 2010” Brochure and Agenda Announced

�Concentrating Solar Thermal Power 2010� Brochure and Agenda Announced

Visit http://cstpower-conference.com for further information

2nd Annual Conference set for May 5- 7, 2010 in San Diego

Submitted on 01/29/10, 04:42 PM

Portland, Maine PRWeb, January 28, 2010- IntertechPira announces the brochure and complete agenda for the second annual Concentrating Solar Thermal Power conference, which focuses on the current market and recent trends, the latest issues in planning and plant proposals, regulatory concerns, finance and purchasing requirements and technical developments and materials advancements. The conference will take place from Wednesday, May 5 through Friday, May 7, 2010 at the Hotel Solamar in San Diego, California.



�Concentrating Solar Thermal Power 2010 couldn�t come at a more relevant time as industry experts anticipate that installations will double this year and continue to increase capacity in the near future,� said Christopher Smith, conference producer for IntertechPira. �The industry also faces many challenges including permitting, plant design and construction, reliability, thermal storage, transmission, and funding and financing. This year�s conference will focus on all these issues and more and provide attendees with key information, as well as the opportunity to network with the leaders in the industry.�



The program blends presentations from a government focus, including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the California Energy Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy, with some of the most innovative companies in the industry like SolarReserve, Stirling Energy Systems Inc., BrightSource Energy, Flabeg, Abengoa Solar, ACCIONA Solar Power and eSolar. Covering the entire CSP supply chain, delegates will also hear from ACS Cobra, California BLM, Emerging Energy Research, Fluor, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, Nexant Inc., NV Energy, Orrick, Prudential Capital Group, San Diego Gas & Electric, Sandia National Laboratories, SMUD, Solar Millennium, the Western Governors' Association, Worley Parsons Group and Xcel Energy.



For an additional fee, there will be a pre-conference seminar on Wednesday, May 5 providing �An Overview of CSP: Technology, Systems, SEGS Developments, Current Project Development, and R&D� conducted by David Kearney of Kearney & Associates, Andrew McMahan of Sky Fuel and John White of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies (CEERT).



For more information on Concentrating Solar Thermal Power 2010, visit http://www.cstpower-conference.com or visit the conference LinkedIn page at http://bit.ly/1HWjva or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/CSPsolar.



About IntertechPira

IntertechPira provides events, market research, publications, strategic and technical consulting to niche, emerging and high growth industries. Market coverage includes lighting and displays, alternative energy, home and personal care, industrial biotechnology, performance materials and chemicals. IntertechPira is a division of Pira International.

Broadlands To Lead 10MW Solar Power Project in Rajasthan, India

First utility-scale deployment of new solar collection technology January 28, 2010 – Broadlands Financial Group, LLC, an international owner’s representative and construction controls services firm based in Villanova, PA, has been selected as the Owner’s Representative by India-based Entegra Limited for the construction of Rajasthan Solar One, a 10 megawatt Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant in Rajasthan, India. Entegra has teamed up with the Italian Consortium Solare XXI, consisting of Techint, Archimede Solar Energy, Ronda Reflex and Duplomatic Oleodinamica, to supply their innovative solar collectors capable of utilizing molten salts as an environmentally-friendly and higher efficiency replacement for oil. Rajasthan Solar One will be the first major utility-scale deployment of this new technology.

Broadlands Financial Group will lead the international project team for Rajasthan Solar One, providing a unique system of contract negotiation, design optimization, schedule controls, and open-book accounting which provides project developers, lenders, and equity partners the oversight and industry experience required to deliver large renewable energy projects on time and on budget. The project will consist of a 10MW solar field of parabolic trough mirrors using molten salts as a heat transfer medium as well as providing eight hours of thermal energy storage.

Broadlands Executive Vice President, Bryan Fortay, said Broadlands is quickly becoming the international leader in owner, lender and investor controls and project management in the renewable energy marketplace. “Project owners and lenders see real value in the experience we bring to the table and the strategies we carry out to maximize return on their renewable investment,” Mr. Fortay said.

Broadlands has recently been engaged to provide a variety of project controls, program management and consulting services. Broadlands is providing owner’s representative and program management services on the 10.6 MW photovoltaic PA Solar Park One in Carbon County, PA, supporting the development initiatives of a major governmental entity on a 106MW wind project in the eastern United States and providing a variety of post construction services on a 5 MW concentrating solar tower project in California, to name a few.

“For twenty years we have been implementing development and project controls that ensure the on-time, on-budget delivery of construction projects. Our renewable energy clients are benefiting from our ability to drive project costs down and maximize investment returns and many others are taking notice,” Fortay said. “Now we have a one-of-a-kind opportunity to work with the Entegra team and support Entegra’s investment in solar power.”

Broadlands Financial Group will lead the international project team for Rajasthan Solar One and provide the same program of financial and construction controls that has proven successful on Nevada Solar One, a 64 MW CSP plant currently operating near Boulder City, NV. A unique system of contract negotiation, design optimization, schedule controls, and open-book accounting provides project developers, lenders, and equity partners the oversight and industry experience required to deliver large renewable energy projects on time and on budget.

The construction and finance professionals at Broadlands Financial Group, LLC have been providing loss controls to owners, lenders, sureties and government agencies for nearly 20 years. An industry-leader within renewable energy, Broadlands is currently representing owners and lenders on nearly one billion dollars of energy projects.

For more information visit: www.broadlandsfinancial.com

Press contact:
Bryan Fortay
BFortay@broadlandsfinancial.com
Direct: +1 (610)660-5120

Issuers of news releases, not Targetwire, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.

Sundrop Fuels Looks To Combine Sun Wood Chips For Gas

Louisville, Colorado, company says it has perfected a solar-energy technology capable of producing 100 million gallons of synthetic gasoline annually from corn stalks and wood chips.

Sundrop Fuels Inc., which has constructed a 60-foot tower rising above a nearly 3,000-mirror solar array near Highway 7 and Interstate 25 in Broomfield, Colorado, already has proven it can generate synthetic gas using the sun’s heat.

Now it wants to raise between $100 million and $150 million to build the world’s first solar-powered biorefinery. That demonstration project could make 7 million to 8 million gallons of gas a year.

“We want to use the sun to make renewable fuel,” said Wayne Simmons, Sundrop’s CEO. “We’re going to convert the sun’s energy into liquid fuel using concentrated solar power to gasify biomass, then convert the biomass into gasoline or diesel.”

The new technology has the potential to revolutionize the biofuels industry, experts say, because it removes one of the long-term cost hurdles to creating fuel from organic waste.

The company blasts organic materials, such as wood chips and straw, with superhigh temperatures gathered from sunshine. The heat tears the material apart on a molecular level, adds the sun’s heat energy in the thermo-chemical reaction, and creates a synthetic gas that can be formed into gasoline or diesel fuel.

“They’re using solar power in conjunction with biomass-to-energy, and really, no one else is doing that,” said Jim Lane, editor of the online Biofuels Digest, a leading biofuels-industry daily newsletter that has 15,000 subscribers.

Sundrop’s solar reactor, near the top of the tower, operates at temperatures of 1,200 to 1,300 degrees Celsius (2,200 to 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit) using the heat reflected from the mirrors.

By comparison, concentrated solar-power plants, which use the sun’s reflected heat to generate steam for electricity, typically operate at around 500 degrees Celsius (more than 900 degrees Fahrenheit), Simmons said.

Biofuels are a growing area of interest because they offer what’s essentially an above-ground oil reservoir that can be located in the United States. When vehicles burn biofuels made from plants, they’re relatively carbon-neutral.

That means there’s little or no net gain in carbon-dioxide emissions from cars using the synthetic fuel, because the CO2 comes from the biomass grown in the last year or so, rather than from fossil fuels formed millions of years ago.

And biofuels can act as a hedge for large oil companies worried about unstable foreign regimes or their ability to find more oil, Lane said.

Sundrop’s reactor can use any kind of biomass, including plants grown specifically for their energy content. The organic biomass material is dropped into the reactor; the high temperatures vaporize it in seconds. The molecules are torn apart and recombined to form a synthetic gas (syngas), made up of hydrogen and carbon—which can be turned into gasoline, diesel, plastics, or chemicals, Simmons said.

Gasification of organic material to make synthetic gas has been done. But traditional gasifiers burn a large percentage of the biomass, or a fossil fuel such as natural gas, to reach operating temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit). Sundrop’s process uses the free sunshine as its fuel source, and—as a plus—picks up some of the sun’s heat energy in the chemical process, he said.

Sopogy wins SmallBiz Success Award for innovation

MEDIA RELEASE

Sopogy, Inc., the world’s first micro-concentrated solar power provider, garnered an award in the Innovation category presented at the Hawaii Business 2010 SmallBiz Success Awards Event at the Hawaii Prince Hotel.

Hawaii Business magazine annually honors outstanding Hawaii-based small businesses for rapid sales growth, a unique product, notable longevity, overcoming an unusual challenge or executing a dramatic turnaround.

Nearly 100 nominations were evaluated by a panel of ten judges consisting of C-level executives from Hawaii small businesses and organizations, as well as Hawaii Business magazine senior writers.

“We are pleased to be recognized for innovative excellence by our peers,” said Darren Kimura, Sopogy President and CEO. “This is another step forward for Sopogy to continue our mission to invent, manufacture and sell the world’s most innovative and affordable solar collectors. The culture of innovation has been instrumental to our company’s growth so we are very proud to receive this honor, but even more importantly, are especially pleased to have a positive impact on our community and the solar industry at whole.”

Sopogy’s award-winning MicroCSP technologies efficiently and cost-effectively generate electricity, steam, solar air conditioning and other thermal energy forms – helping customers achieve their renewable energy goals and faster paybacks for their investment.

Most recently, Sopogy unveiled the first MicroCSP solar thermal plant across 3.8 acres at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii (NELHA) in Kona in December 2009. As the largest solar project in Hawaii, it is aptly named “Holaniku at Keahole Point” which comes from the Hawaiian term for a location that has everything required for self-sufficiency.

Sopogy’s flagship technology, the SopoNovaTM has pioneered the concept of MicroCSP by combining the reliable performance of conventional concentrating parabolic trough technologies with several novel and revolutionary features that include the world’s first 270 degree MicroCSP tracker, integrated stands, automatic operation, and custom controls.

Additional innovations include the recently launched SopoflareTM, designed specifically for rooftop installations with a unique, easy mounting and fastening system and the SopoliteTM, a fully functional mobile lab unit used to collect solar radiation and weather data at any given location and evaluate a project site’s potential.

Locally, Sopogy has been integral in creating green jobs in Hawaii, encouraging the growth of the technology industry in the state, promoting economic diversification, and attracting foreign and mainland investors. Sopogy’s homegrown technology will help Hawaii become independent from foreign oil while having the intelligence here in Hawaii that will make us the beacon for the rest of the world when it comes to clean and green power.

About Sopogy

Sopogy specializes in MicroCSP™ solar technologies that bring the economics of large solar energy systems to the industrial, commercial and utility sectors in a smaller, robust and more cost effective package. Sopogy’s goal is to create solar solutions that improve the quality of life and simplify the solar power business. For more information, visit www.sopogy.com

About Hawaii Business Magazine

Founded in 1955, Hawaii Business is the oldest regional business magazine in America. The magazine covers the state’s major industries: tourism, construction, agriculture and real estate. The SB section, which runs every month, covers Hawaii’s small businesses. Its parent company, PacificBasin Communications, also publishes Honolulu Magazine and Pacific Magazine. For more information, visit www.hawaiibusiness.com

"Concentrating Solar Thermal Power 2010" Brochure and Agenda Announced

2nd Annual Conference set for May 5- 7, 2010 in San Diego

Portland, Maine (PRWEB) January 28, 2010 -- IntertechPira announces the brochure and complete agenda for the second annual Concentrating Solar Thermal Power conference, which focuses on the current market and recent trends, the latest issues in planning and plant proposals, regulatory concerns, finance and purchasing requirements and technical developments and materials advancements. The conference will take place from Wednesday, May 5 through Friday, May 7, 2010 at the Hotel Solamar in San Diego, California.

“Concentrating Solar Thermal Power 2010 couldn’t come at a more relevant time as industry experts anticipate that installations will double this year and continue to increase capacity in the near future,” said Christopher Smith, conference producer for IntertechPira. “The industry also faces many challenges including permitting, plant design and construction, reliability, thermal storage, transmission, and funding and financing. This year’s conference will focus on all these issues and more and provide attendees with key information, as well as the opportunity to network with the leaders in the industry.”

The program blends presentations from a government focus, including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the California Energy Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy, with some of the most innovative companies in the industry like SolarReserve, Stirling Energy Systems Inc., BrightSource Energy, Flabeg, Abengoa Solar, ACCIONA Solar Power and eSolar. Covering the entire CSP supply chain, delegates will also hear from ACS Cobra, California BLM, Emerging Energy Research, Fluor, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, Nexant Inc., NV Energy, Orrick, Prudential Capital Group, San Diego Gas & Electric, Sandia National Laboratories, SMUD, Solar Millennium, the Western Governors' Association, Worley Parsons Group and Xcel Energy.

For an additional fee, there will be a pre-conference seminar on Wednesday, May 5 providing “An Overview of CSP: Technology, Systems, SEGS Developments, Current Project Development, and R&D” conducted by David Kearney of Kearney & Associates, Andrew McMahan of Sky Fuel and John White of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies (CEERT).

For more information on Concentrating Solar Thermal Power 2010, visit http://www.cstpower-conference.com or visit the conference LinkedIn page at http://bit.ly/1HWjva or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/CSPsolar.

About IntertechPira IntertechPira provides events, market research, publications, strategic and technical consulting to niche, emerging and high growth industries. Market coverage includes lighting and displays, alternative energy, home and personal care, industrial biotechnology, performance materials and chemicals. IntertechPira is a division of Pira International.

# # #

Source : PRWeb

DOE investing $12 million to support early stage solar power tech

Washington, D.C., January 29, 2010 — U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory will invest up to $12 million in funding to support the development of early stage solar energy technologies.

The funding, which will include $10 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will benefit four companies and help them advance their technology to full commercial scale.

DOE said the goal of this effort is to help further expand a clean energy economy and make solar energy more cost-competitive with conventional forms of electricity.

Click here for more coverage of solar power

“Expanding the solar power industry in the U.S. can create new jobs, reduce carbon pollution and save consumers money,” Chu said. “By partnering with NREL, these companies will be able to gain from their expertise, accelerate the pace of innovation and help get technologies to market faster.”

Companies awarded under DOE’s Photovoltaic Incubator Program will work with NREL to transition prototype and pre-commercial PV technologies into pilot and full-scale manufacturing.

The anticipated subcontracts, up to $3 million each, will be awarded as 18-month phased subcontracts with payment made upon completion of project milestones.

Through the Recovery Act, the DOE is investing more than $117 million in developing and deploying solar power technologies.

While supporting research and development on photovoltaics and concentrated solar power at the National Laboratories, the DOE is also making significant investments in training solar systems installers, supporting the growth of grid-tied solar photovoltaic systems, and the use of solar energy in U.S. cities.

The partnership projects announced today include:

Santa Clara, California’s Alta Devices, Inc.: Up to $3 million

Alta Devices will focus efforts on developing an innovative high-efficiency (more than 20 percent), low-cost compound-semiconductor photovoltaic module, with market entry expected in 2011.

San Jose, California’s Solar Junction Corp.: Up to $3 million

Solar Junction will develop a manufacturing process to produce a very high efficiency multi-junction cell. These high performing cells will be used by concentrating PV (CPV) manufacturers to produce lower cost CPV systems.

Saratoga, California’s Tetra Sun: Up to $3 million

Tetra Sun will focus efforts on a back surface passivation for high efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells. This effort will result in a high efficiency low-cost C-Si solar cell.

Durham, North Carolina’s Semprius, Inc.: Up to $3 million

Semprius will focus efforts towards a massively parallel, microcell-based CPV receiver. This approach combines the benefits of unique-to-solar manufacturing techniques with the performance and operational benefits of microcell concentrating photovoltaics.

 

Spain's Solar Power Market Meets Morocco

Today, I want to expand on Spain's role in the global renewable energy boom.

You'll remember that last week I detailed the role of Spanish investors and companies in Peru's clean power expansion. As it turns out, Spain is fast becoming the hub of not only a trans-Atlantic but also a trans-Mediterranean green energy economy.

Spain's investment in South America is nothing to sneeze at, and neither are its results. Latin Business Chronicle reports that Spanish lender BBVA (NYSE: BBV) is banking on expansion of its Western Hemisphere operations to keep it growing. The bank upped its income from countries like Colombia, Chile, and even Venezuela, helping to offset weakness back in Spain where the recession has hit construction and other industries hard.

While at home the going is still tough for Spain's #2 bank (and really any bank that isn't boosting earnings by cannibalizing its own recommendations), BBVA's overseas outposts provide a glimmer of hope about future earnings for execs and investors.

For the Spanish renewable energy industry, there's a market much closer to home that we expect to provide megawatts worth of opportunities in the next few years.

I'm talking about Morocco.

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More Energy for the Land of the Moors

Morocco lies just across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain, but it's a world away economically. Spain's economy is over 19 times the size of Morocco's, and because the industrial base is so much stronger on the Iberian Peninsula (also including Portugal), Spain consumes 10 times the amount of power that Morocco does.

The only reason Spain doesn't eat up the same proportion of power as its GDP would suggest is that Morocco's energy intensity (usage per unit of GDP) is highly inefficient.

Despite the current disparities between the two countries — or maybe because of them — in 2010, we will see Morocco take the baton from Spain in solar power generation plans against a backdrop of previous Spanish strength in the sector.

Over the past several years, the Spanish government in Madrid stimulated the global market for solar power modules and components with attractive subsidies. The goal with such incentives is to guarantee residential and commercial solar power customers that they won't hemorrhage money from high-cost installation and panel prices. Instead, feed-in tariff (FIT) plans for solar PV in Spain and Germany, and for wind energy in Denmark, effectively bring clean power technology down to coal or natgas prices.

In 2008, Spain saw solar power capacity jump by 380% over 2007 as the national subsidy quintupled, but at the end of that year Madrid hit the brakes. Spain dialed down its solar subsidy, put a limit on the amount of sun power it would subsidize (500 MW per year), and effectively gave whiplash to worldwide suppliers and module makers like Germany's Q-Cells and China's Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE), who had expected a hungry Spanish solar market for years to come.

So many assumptions came crashing down in late '08, as the credit crisis shocked companies into deep job cuts, investors ran from the market's falling knife, and politicians looked for any tourniquet they could find.

Over a year after the you-know-what hit the solar panel, Morocco, which imports 95% of the energy it uses, is launching a bidding round to start building 500 MW in concentrating solar power.

Moroccan Energy Minister Amina Benkhadra announced that the first bidding round to build and supply the solar plant at Ourzazate will be held in late February, just over a month from now.

That auction could put Spain in the driver's seat as a primary producer rather than a primary consumer.

Empty Land, Full of Promise

One downside of large-scale solar power that its detractors like to point out is just how much land a major array takes up. Yet the desert Southwest of the U.S., Spain's southern desert regions just across from Morocco, and Morocco itself possess vast, virtually uninhabitable areas where solar power plants make sense.

Though Morocco won't get to 500 MW overnight, the country's goal of drawing 38% of its power from five local solar projects will in turn draw money and technology from around the world. Japan — one place where they don't have much land to play with, let alone sun-soaked deserts — is putting up $7.4 million for photovoltaic plant in Morocco. That announcement came along with commitments to up Japanese involvement in water access and rural electrification in Morocco.

Greentech Media reports that Spanish companies Cuantum Solar, Siliken, and Fotowatio are moving into the U.S. market to offset domestic weakness, and we're sure those firms are willing to hop the ferry over to Morocco for new business, too.

Let's not forget that even though Morocco gets lumped in with the Middle East, North Africa is a distinct region with history and potential. At this week's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Francis Beddington of emerging market investment house Insparo Capital told Reuters, "Not investing in Africa is like missing out on Japan and Germany in the 1950s, Southeast Asia in the 1980s and emerging markets in the 1990s."

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Morocco's primary industry is textiles. It won't get anywhere beyond being the European Union's poorest southern neighbor without energy. Spain has the practical and political expertise to get Morocco off the ground and even make it part of the EU's Desertec plan to draw 15% of continental electricity from North Africa by 2050. The grid linkup technology is there (high voltage direct current HVDC), and so is the resource.

You can take a peek at the future in this Desertec map from the Club of Rome:

From Brazil to Japan to Israel, Spain, and Morocco... it's time to tie all these international experiences in together for comprehensive energy development action.

Regards,

Sam Hopkins
International Editor

P.S. From February 3-5, Nick Hodge and I will be at ReTech, the premier technology conference and exhibition in Washington, D.C. There, I'll be focused on the "International Markets and Competition" track, one of six different "courses" over 5,000 attendees will follow to get updates on the state of the global industry.

I'm looking forward to catching up with old company contacts and meeting new ones, as well as getting a clear picture of how different regions and companies are adjusting to tough financial conditions to keep their clean energy progress rolling. You read my report from the ACORE Phase II Renewable Energy Policy Forum direct from Capitol Hill this fall, and I expect the info from ReTech to be just as vital for investors. There are still spots open if you want to attend ReTech. Find out more here.

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.

CSP funding yields 900 MW by 2020

CSP funding yields 900 MW by 2020

27 January 2010

Financing of US$750m for concentrated solar power (CSP) will mobilise an additional US$5bn from other sources and support the deployment of 1 GW of CSP generating capacity.

Financing from the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) was approved late last year, and will involve investing in CSP programmes of five countries in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA): Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia.

The deployment at 11 commercial-scale CSP plants over a five-year timeframe will provide the critical mass of investments necessary to attract significant private sector interest, benefit from economies of scale to reduce cost, result in learning in diverse operating conditions, and manage risk.

The CTF is a multi-donor trust fund to facilitate deployment of low-carbon technologies at scale. It is part of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) implemented jointly by the African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction & Development, Inter-American Development Bank, International Finance Corp and the World Bank.

CSP funding benefits

The investment plan will enable MENA to “contribute the benefit of its unique geography to global climate change mitigation” because no other region has such a favourable combination of physical and market advantages for CSP.

It will support deployment of 1 GW of CSP generation capacity, which amounts to tripling the global capacity of CSP, and will support associated transmission infrastructure as part of the Mediterranean grid enhancement to enable the scale-up of CSP through market integration in the region.

The investment plan will also leverage public and private investments for CSP plants and support MENA countries to achieve their development goals of energy security, industrial growth and diversification, and regional integration.

“This is a most strategic and significant initiative for MENA countries,” says Shamshad Akhtar of the World Bank.

“The initiative would leverage energy diversification, while promoting Euro-Mediterranean integration to the benefit of MENA countries that will be able to exploit one of the major untapped sources of energy. This endeavour is far-reaching with global objectives, implications, and potential impact; it will facilitate faster and greater diffusion of this technology in this region which holds significant potential for CSP.”

Reducing CSP costs

The transformational objective of the CSP investment plan is served by accelerating cost reduction for a technology that could become least-cost globally, and then be replicated in other countries with high GHG emissions.

Expected results

Expected results from the investment plan include the installation of 900 MW of CSP capacity by 2020 and US$4.85bn of co-financing mobilised, including sufficient concessional financing to ensure viability of CSP plants. The cost of typical solar field in per square metre is expected to decline over the life of the programme.

The International Energy Agency has identified CSP as a key of the energy technology revolution because it can make the largest contributions to reducing GHG emissions. But CSP “has higher costs and risks than current technologies,” says the CTF background document. “It is only through technology learning as a result of marketplace deployment that these costs are reduced and the product adapted to the market.”

“The greater the scale of such deployment, the earlier such technologies will be commercialised; therefore, international collaboration is required to accelerate the global deployment of technologies such as CSP through targeted schemes that provide positive incentives for their adoption at scale,” it explains.

“As much as 87% of the cost of electricity produced by a solar thermal plant is related to the initial capital investment and installation cost; therefore, a CSP plant costing US$4,000/kW operating at capacity factors of 22-24% can be four times as expensive as combined cycle gas turbine plants.”
 

 

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Energy infrastructure • Policy, investment and markets • Solar electricity

 

Masdar investments grow

Masdar plans to conclude a number of venture capital deals this year and will expand its solar power and wind energy business over the next decade to become a major player in clean energy, its executives say.The Abu Dhabi clean energy company expects to make several of these investments in the UAE to help the Federal Government achieve the national goal of generating 7 per cent of total power output from renewable energy by 2020, or 1,500 megawatts, enough power for nearly 2 million homes.

The firm, which is wholly owned by Mubadala Development, the strategic investment arm of the Abu Dhabi Government, closed a US$265 million (Dh972.5m) clean technology fund last week with global banks and technology firms. The manager of the Masdar Clean Tech Fund, Alex O�Cinneide, said the company was seeking to make �medium-sized� investments in start-ups that were well managed.�We�re definitely interested in investing in the region,� he said. �I think we will look at probably making approximately five to six investments this year. That would be good for us.�

Masdar�s renewable energy division has spent the past six months mapping its 10-year investment programme in renewable energy, said Frank Wouters, the associate director of Masdar Power.�It is a relatively bold plan,� he said. �We want to grow and become a substantial worldwide player in several fields. For now, we have chosen solar and wind as the focus.�Masdar Power was not considering investing in tidal-energy projects or bio-energy, although it would closely follow the study of micro-algae at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, he said.

Observers said that in the four years since the company was founded, Masdar had become one of the most high-profile investors in renewable energy.�Masdar is a heavyweight investor in the sector – active in wind and solar in its own right, in both manufacturing and project development, and in venture capital and private equity finance for the clean-energy sector,� said Angus McCrone, the chief editor of Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Masdar�s clean-energy fund was already one of the biggest new investors in late-stage clean-energy companies, and he estimated it would grow two or threefold.Masdar�s focus on solar power rests with two technologies, photovoltaic panels and concentrated solar power, or CSP, which uses sunlight concentrated by mirrors to boil water and produce steam for driving turbines. The firm is expected to open a 100mw CSP plant in Madinat Zayed next year. The plant could be scaled up significantly in the future.

While the potential for wind power in the UAE was limited, Masdar would pursue projects in Al Gharbia region and in Fujairah amounting to less than 100mw, Mr Wouters said.Some of Masdar�s biggest investments in renewable energy have been in Spain, where the government has created a �feed-in tariff� that guarantees solar power producers long-term contracts to sell their electricity to the national grid. But the US remained an attractive target, Mr Wouters said.

�It�s one of the best countries; they have a lot of land, a lot of sun and wind and, of course, growing demand,� he said.But he also cautioned that the US was a complicated market with different laws across states and hundreds of regulatory bodies that deal with electrical codes. �In that respect, you have to look at it in a different shade.�igale@thenational.ae

Senate Dems Build Case to Include Clean Energy, Solar in Jobs Bill

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Obama appeared at Lorain County Community College in Ohio on Friday to urge Congress to pass legislation that includes incentives for training in clean energy such as making solar panels and windmill blades. Obama watched formerly laid-off workers weld and shape components for wind turbines as they work toward a certificate or associate's degree.

"I'm calling on Congress to pass a jobs bill to put more Americans to work building off our Recovery Act; put more Americans back to work rebuilding roads and railways; provide tax breaks to small businesses for hiring people; offer families incentives to make their homes more energy-efficient, saving them money while creating jobs," Obama said.

"That's why we enacted initiatives that are beginning to give rise to a clean energy economy. That's part of what's going on in this community college. If we hadn't done anything with the Recovery Act, talk to the people who are building wind turbines and solar panels. They would have told you their industry was about to collapse because credit had completely frozen," Obama added.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of the Green Jobs and New Economy Subcommittee, has been a leading voice on the need for more incentives for renewable energy and energy efficiency, and successfully added several provisions in last year's stimulus bill for training and education for these "green jobs."

But Sanders has said that the investment was only "a good start," especially in the solar energy industry.

"The solar cell was invented in the United States. Unfortunately, however, we now import almost half our solar panels, while countries like Germany and Spain get more energy from solar energy than we do," Sanders said in November. "There is potential for huge job gains as we manufacture and install photovoltaic panels and solar hot-water systems and construct solar thermal plants in the Southwest."

Sanders said he is planning to reintroduce legislation soon that will provide incentives for buying solar panels and the companies that produce them with a goal to achieve 10 million solar rooftops in the United States in 10 years.

Thursday's hearing will include three leading U.S. solar companies that can help make that happen and are already competing in overseas markets. Vermont-based GroSolar, which distributes and installs solar equipment, has expanded across the United States and helped represent U.S. solar interests at last year's climate talks in Copenhagen.

Tempe, Ariz.-based First Solar is the world's largest manufacturer of solar cells with a capacity of producing about 1 gigawatts of solar panels, which is helping to lower the cost of solar technology. The cost of solar energy is still high compared with wind or fossil fuels and is a major barrier to the widespread use of solar generation. First Solar has also provided financing and solar panels for large projects in Germany and is working on projects in France and China.

Meanwhile, Pasadena, Calif.-based eSolar is pushing forward on a different type of solar power that does not rely on silicon-based panels but instead a series of mirrors to concentrate the sun's rays into one area to boil water to create steam to turn turbines and create electricity. The company already has a 5 megawatt project in Southern California and this month negotiated a $5 billion deal with Chinese utilities to bring its "concentrating solar power plant" (CSP) technology to China. The company will provide the technology for facilities with a capacity totaling 2,000 megawatts.

Despite the headway some U.S. solar companies are making in the solar manufacturing and technology market, China has recently come to dominate the industry. Tax incentives could aid U.S. manufacturing companies to compete with China, whose solar manufacturing sector now provides a majority of the world's solar components.

Zero carbon heat and power

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Zero carbon heat and power

Neil Crumpton, a member of the Bath-based Claverton Energy Group of energy experts and practitioners, and also Friends of the Earth Cymru’s energy campaigner, has produced a draft zero carbon, non-nuclear scenario to 2050 and beyond intended to initiate feedback and debate in the Claverton Energy Group. It aims to identify the low-carbon energy generating and supply infrastructure needed to build a resilient, demand-responsive UK energy system. It relies heavily on renewables, urban heat grids, possibly suburban hydrogen networks, and carbon capture and storage (CCS) during the four decades of transition.

It is very ambitious. Renewables would supply about 200TWh/y by 2020, scaling up to over 1,100 TWh/y by 2050. Offshore windfarms, at least 10 miles from any coast occupying some 20,000 sq.km, would supply ~ 550 TWh/y, about half his estimated 2050 final energy demand. But the real innovation starts on the heat side, with much use of Combined Heat and Power plants and large heat pumps feeding industrial users and town/ city heat grids. Up to 15 GWe of industrial Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants would supply industrial clusters, while 15 GWe or more of urban Combined Heat Pump and Power (CHP&P) schemes (typically 0.5-100MW) would distribute reject heat from fast-response ‘aero-derivative’ gas turbines, and large heat pumps.

They would feed heat grids, with up to 5 GWe of ‘initiator’ CHP&P schemes, progressively linked up to form wider district and eventually town-wide and city-wide heat grids over the next 15-20 years. Large-scale heat pump installations would deliver renewable heat from air and ground- and from solar thermal and geothermal sources.

Even more innovatively, large thermal stores (accumulators), up to traditional gasometer-scale, would optimise the system. Peaking renewable electricity, particularly from marine technologies, would primarily be stored as heat at electricity ‘regenerator’ sites comprising a mix of technologies like molten salt stores and 10 GWe or more of steam turbines, electrolysers and hydrogen fuel cells and compressed air. Chemicals and fuel synthesis could also feature and connection to the heat grids would greatly aid conversion and regeneration efficiency and heat demand response.

Crumpton says ‘such an energy storage and electricity regeneration capability would be a significant aid to delivering the UK’s large but highly variable renewable energy resources, particularly wind energy, to consumers as and when demanded’.

Initially the energy input for the heat grids would be mostly from gas, but all the gas-fired industrial CHP and urban CHP&P capacity would be progressively converted to hydrogen, piped in from coal and biomass CCS gasifiers. There could also be a direct solar heat input to local heat stores, and possibly also some from geothermal sources. Low-pressure hydrogen might also be supplied to the 9.5 million sub-urban homes via the existing (upgraded) gas network to power 10-30 GWe of mCHP boilers (possibly fuel cell) and domestic heat pumps.

All large emitters would be fitted with Carbon Capture by 2025. CCS fitted gasifiers co-fired with 15+ % biomass or imported solar synthetic fuels would then provide ‘carbon -negative’ baseload to the extent climate protection policy required. The 10GW of CCGTs already consented would operate until about 2040, then be retained for occasional duty during prolonged winter anti-cyclones.

There would also be HVDC links to Europe, including Norwegian hydro and pumped storage schemes, which would help optimise the system to high marine renewable variability, and open the option of delivering net imports of around 10% of final energy from Saharan wind and concentrated solar power schemes.

The complete system, with molten salt heat stores at regeneration sites, would comprise some 50 GW of firm electricity generation, plus peaking plant, suburban mCHP, and inter-connectors. He says the system’s firm generation and storage capacity would be designed to supply ‘smart’ demand even during a deep winter anti-cyclone lasting days. And he says that ‘Depending on the availability of sustainable bio-sources and transport sector emissions, the UK could be net zero carbon by 2040’.

It is of course all very speculative, although the use of large heat pumps is not novel- The Hague has a 2.7 MW (ammonia) seawater community heating scheme and Stockholm has a total of 420 MW (multiple 30 MW units) of heat / cold pumps feeding its district heating / cooling grid. Crumpton says ‘The large heat pumps would harness heat from sources which 11 million urban domestic heat pumps could not do, including large solar thermal arrays and geothermal’.

Using coal still might worry some environmentalists, but there would be CCS and he says it would be used in minimal amounts by 2050. Generating and piping hydrogen is also a novel idea - but there are now some pilot schemes in the UK. And piping heat is much more common- on the continent.

Installing that, and the rest of the system, would though involve a lot of new infrastructure, but he claims that ‘strategic siting the gasifiers would combine locations with good transport access for coal and biomass (dock-sides, railheads, collieries), together with hydrogen pipeline routes to CHP schemes, and CO2 pipelines to geological storage sites under the North Sea or Liverpool Bay’. And similarly ‘regeneration schemes should be sited adjacent to industrial clusters, refineries, and existing chemical sites with hydrogen, CO2 and heat grid pipeline access’. In addition, ‘coastal locations with direct HVDC connection from marine renewables would minimise need for new cross-country transmission lines’.

So disruption would be reduced. Nevertheless, building the heat grids (polypropylene pipes) would involve some short-term local disruption to pavements and roads during the pipe/conduit laying. But he says it would ‘provide low-carbon energy infrastructure for the children of today and future generations’.

The draft scenario is outlined in more detail in the current issue of Renew (183): http://www.natta-renew.org

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Posted by Dave Elliott on January 25, 2010 1:23 PM

Stirling Energy, Tessera Unveil SunCatcher Solar Power System

Stirling Energy, Tessera Unveil SunCatcher Solar Power System Published: 25-Jan-2010 Stirling Energy Systems (SES) and Tessera Solar have unveiled SunCatcher solar power systems to select government officials, customer utilities and state leadership at the SES model plant at Sandia national laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The company said that the modular concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) SunCatcher system uses precision mirrors attached to a parabolic dish to concentrate the sun's energy onto a stirling engine. Each dish has capacity of up to 25,000W and has been certified by Sandia national laboratories having highest sun-to-grid energy conversion.

In addition, the modifications are built on proven designs, optimizing the SunCatcher for manufacturing, reduced operations and maintenance costs, and ease of maintenance.

The SunCatcher dish structure incorporates a weight reduction of nearly 5,000 pounds in its steel structure by leveraging a combination of SES's structural analysis and Sandia's optical analysis capabilities. The reflective mirror facets are produced using automotive techniques enabling production. The engines represent a 60% reduction in parts count and improvement in serviceability.

Steve Cowman, CEO of Stirling Energy Systems, said: “The new production design of the SunCatcher represents more than a decade of innovative engineering and validation testing making it ready for commercialization.

“By utilizing the automotive supply chain to manufacture the SunCatcher, we’re leveraging the talents of an industry that has refined high-volume production through an assembly line process. More than 90% of the SunCatcher components will be manufactured in north America.”

The company claims that SunCatcher minimizes both cost and land use and has environmental advantages such as: lowering the water usage of any thermal electric generating technology, minimal grading and trenching requirements, no excavation for foundations, no greenhouse gas emissions with converting sunlight into electricity.

The solar dish stirling technology will be deployed to develop two of the solar generating projects in Southern California with San Diego Gas & Electric in the Imperial Valley and Southern California Edison in the Mojave desert, in addition to the project with CPS Energy in west Texas.

Bob Lukefahr, CEO of Tessera Solar North America, said: “As we prepare for full-scale production and deployment of the SunCatcher in 2010, we’re currently planning the construction of a commercial-scale reference plant later this year and actively building our project pipeline across the Southwest. Our projects will break ground next year, with the goal of producing 1,000 MW by the end of 2012.”

Torresol Energy Secures US$760 Million Project Finance for Concentrated Solar ...

Torresol Energy has secured a US$760 million loan for the development of its Value 1 and Value 2 concentrated solar power (CSP) plants in Andaluc�a, Spain. Torresol Energy is a joint venture company between Masdar, a subsidiary of the Mubadala Development Company, and Sener, an international multidiscipline engineering company. The total investment is estimated to be US$1 billion for the two plants.

The construction of the two 50 MW CSP plans started in March 2009 and is proceeding simultaneously. The plants feature molten salt thermal storage capacity technology developed by Sener. By incorporating this innovative storage technology, both the solar CSP plants will be able to generate power continuously including during poor sunlight as well as during night. Solar power generation is intermittent and this storage technology overcomes the problem.

Torresol Energy is currently constructing three CSP plants including Value 1, Value 2 and 17-MW Gemasolar Central Tower Plant, which is capable of generating 110 GWh per year, representing a total investment of $1.4 billion by the company during the past 12 months. The construction of the Gemasolar Central Tower Plant, for which finance was secured in November 2008, is progressing as per schedule.

Enrique Sendagorta, Chairman of Torresol Energy, said that the company is pleased with this vital financial support for Value 1 and Value 2, which will enable the company to proceed with its plans. He added that Value 1 and Value 2 is capable of producing 340 GWh per year, which is equivalent to providing clean energy to about 80,000 homes while reducing 90,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per annum. He commented that the CSP plants will be contributing to region�s power supply in a significant way and the plants ability to provide power during poor sunlight and at night is an important feature.

During the two-year construction period, the plants will provide direct employment to about 3,200 people, and after completion, a further 150 jobs for specialized professionals to operate the plants. The employment opportunities created, provides additional benefits for the people of Spain.

Source: www.torresolenergy.com

Published Date: 25/1/2010

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How Many Solar Panels To Power Australia?

How Many Solar Panels To Power Australia?

Supporters of solar power often wonder how many solar panels it would take to power Australia and if grouped together, how much land would they occupy?
 
We can estimate the land coverage needed thanks to a project from the Land Generator Initiative.
 
In the accompanying image, the yellow box on the map of Australia shows the solar panel coverage required to provide all Australia's energy needs in 2030 - that's for everything - electricity, transport; replacing any other energy source traditionally used for the application in question.
 
The image is from a global map from the Land Generator Initiative whose calculations were based on the US Department of Energy's figures of projected world consumption of energy in all of its forms (including traditionally consumed from generation via fossil fuels such as oil and coal.) as projected in 2030 - a staggering 199,721 terawatt hours.
 
It's a big area; however LGI says we could reduce that amount by 5% � 25% by adding in other renewable energy sources such as wind power, wave energy and existing hydroelectric. New hydroelectric facilities are not considered as an option as their establishment wreaks havoc upon the environment by flooding valleys and altering river flows downstream. By using concentrating solar power technologies, the amount of land required would be far less again and existing rooftop space utilised for solar power generation would further greatly reduce the amount of land set aside for such an initiative.
 
LGI also points out that the overall area of the US interstate highway system, which was constructed in just 35 years, is 94,000 square kilometres, or 20% of the overall required solar panel coverage area for the world. Given the USA also consumes about 20% of the world�s energy, what it has in highway infrastructure already in terms of land area is enough to power the nation if an equivalent amount was used for solar panels.
 
Source: Land Generator Initiative
 

 

Tessera Solar and Stirling Energy Systems unveil world's first commercial ...

Tessera Solar and Stirling Energy Systems unveil world's first commercial-scale SunCatcher plant 24 de enero de 2010

"The opening of Maricopa Solar is a significant milestone for our companies and for the solar industry," said Bob Lukefahr, Tessera Solar North America CEO.

Only four months after breaking ground, Tessera Solar and Stirling Energy Systems (SES) showcased the highly anticipated Maricopa Solar power plant at a special event for key partners, stakeholders and media. Maricopa Solar is the first commercial project for the SunCatcher™ concentrating solar power (CSP) technology designed and manufactured by SES. Joining in the celebration were Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and officials from SRP, local and state government, the U.S. Department of Energy, Sandia National Laboratories, utility customers, suppliers and NTR plc, Tessera Solar and SES's majority shareholder.

"Maricopa Solar represents a genuine breakthrough in solar energy and demonstrates that Dish Stirling solar power is now ready for commercial deployment in the US and around the world. With this milestone now behind us we look forward to breaking ground on our initial 1,500 megawatts of projects in California and Texas later this year."

Maricopa Solar is comprised of 60 SunCatcher dishes and will provide 1.5 megawatts of renewable energy to SRP customers in Greater Phoenix, Arizona.

"Through partnerships such as Maricopa Solar, we will be able to learn a great deal about this emerging solar technology while helping to create green jobs, economic development opportunities and clean energy for SRP and our customers, said SRP Associate General Manager Richard Hayslip. "The Maricopa Solar project is just one example of SRP's commitment to building a renewable energy portfolio that is beneficial to our environment and customers."

The innovative and highly-efficient SES SunCatcher is a 25-kilowatt solar power system which uses a 38-foot, mirrored parabolic dish combined with an automatic tracking system to collect and focus the sun's energy onto a Stirling engine to convert the solar thermal energy into grid-quality electricity.

"The SunCatcher represents the next generation of grid-quality solar power technology providing clean, reliable and cost-effective solar power to address global climate change and reduce our planet's carbon emissions," said Steve Cowman, Stirling Energy Systems CEO.

SunCatcher has a number of advantages including the highest solar-to-grid electric efficiency, zero water use for power production, a modular and scalable design, low capital cost, and minimal land disturbance. SunCatcher was designed and developed in America, through a public-private partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy. The SunCatchers unveiled at Maricopa Solar were manufactured and assembled in North America, mostly in Michigan by automotive suppliers.

High-volume manufacturing of the SunCatcher begins in Summer 2010 and Tessera Solar breaks ground on utility-scale projects late this year in California and Texas. Imperial Valley is a 750 MW project with the first 300MW contracted under a power purchase agreement with San Diego Gas & Electric near El Centro, California; Calico is a 850 MW project with Southern California Edison near Barstow, California; and Western Ranch is a 27 MW project with CPS Energy in West Texas. Manufacturing of SunCatcher components and construction of these projects will create up to 4,000 jobs in the near term, both in the Midwest, where SES's automotive supply chain base originates, and in the Southwest where projects will be developed.
About SRP

SRP is the third-largest public power utility in the country and serves more than 930,000 electric customers through a variety of resources including solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and hydroelectricity. In 2004, SRP's Board of Directors voted to require that 15 percent of the energy generated comes from sustainable resources by 2025. Today, SRP's sustainable portfolio is 6.5 percent of the total power provided to our customers.


Stirling Energy Systems (SES Inc.) is the global supplier of the SunCatcher solar dish engine system, the latest innovation in modular Concentrating Solar Power (CSP), and next generation of grid-quality, solar-electric power generation. The SES SunCatcherTM combines a mirrored concentrator dish with a high-efficiency Stirling engine to track, collect and convert the sun's thermal energy to grid-quality electricity. The SunCatcher technology has significant advantages over other CSP technology including zero water use for power production, minimal impact to the environment, the highest electric efficiency and cost competitiveness. Founded in 1996, the company maintains corporate headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona, and engineering and test site operations at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. NTR owns a controlling stake in SES Inc.

Tessera Solar is the exclusive developer/owner/operator of utility-scale solar power facilities using the SunCatcher solar power system, manufactured by our sister company Stirling Energy Systems (SES Inc.), headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Tessera Solar North America is headquartered in Houston, Texas, with offices in Scottsdale, Arizona and Berkeley, California. Tessera Solar International is headquartered in London, England. NTR plc is the parent company of Tessera Solar and SES.

NTR plc, the international renewable energy group, builds and runs green energy and resource-sustaining businesses. Founded in 1978, NTR has evolved from being a developer and operator of infrastructure in Ireland to an international developer and operator of renewable energy (wind power, solar and ethanol) and sustainable waste management businesses in the USA, UK, and Ireland. The company employs over 4,100 people.

www.stirlingenergy.com

www.tesserasolar.com

www.ntrplc.com 

www.srpnet.com

Lasers to beam energy to Earth from space

While harvesting solar energy in space has been discussed by scientists for more than 30 years, engineers at EADS Astrium, Europe's largest space company, now believe the technology is available to allow them to start building a working prototype.

They hope to have a small demonstrator of a full sized space-based power station, capable of beaming back 10-20kW of power, ready for launch in the next five years.

Using a network of these solar power stations it would be possible to provide energy on demand 24 hours a day – something that is not possible with solar power on the planet's surface which can only produce energy during the hours of sunlight.

"There is a global need for increased energy generation that does not have an environmental impact," explained Matthew Perren, head of innovation at Astrium's headquarters in Paris.

"The real advantage of space solar power is that it can provide power on demand as we can essentially point the laser beam where ever we like on the earth below the orbit.

"Looking to the future we envisage large power stations in space that are capable of transmitting energy to any point in the planet on demand."

Space-based solar power, although more expensive than using solar panels on Earth, is attractive because of its capability to provide a clean, inexhaustible power supply around the clock.

Much of the power of the sun is filtered out by the Earth's atmosphere while clouds and the inability to produce power at night have all limited the use of solar power as an energy source.

In space, however, the sun's rays are far more powerful and even with a relatively inefficient conversion process, could still produce large amounts of power. Most importantly, satellites can be positioned so they are exposed to sunlight for far longer than sites on Earth.

The space power stations would be launched into a geostationary orbit, which means they remain above the same point above the planet, around 22,300 miles above the surface.

With solar panels more than 50 metres across, they would be able to gather large amounts of energy from the sun which would then be converted into a infrared laser beam to be transmitted back to Earth.

One of the key uses of the technology could be to power a new generation of large electric vehicles such as cargo ships and tankers. The satellites could be made to move the laser beam to track the ships as they move across the ocean, providing a constant energy supply.

Scientists at Astrium have already begun work on developing the technology needed to turn a laser beam into movable source of electricity. They have managed to use lasers in the laboratory to power toy cars.

Astrium hopes to work with international space agencies, governments and power companies to develop a network of space based power stations that will eventually be capable of supplying enough energy to power hundreds of thousands of homes.

But it is not the only firm working in the field. In September Japan announced a $21 billion plan to send solar panel equipped satellite into space that could beam enough power back to Earth to supply 300,000 homes.

California has also made a deal with a company called Solaren to design satellites that would beam power back down from solar powered satellites.

But Astrium claims that its approach of using infrared lasers will make the system safer than other proposals which have suggested using microwaves to transmit the energy. If misdirected, microwaves could cause widespread damage, effectively cooking anything in their path.

Such schemes are reminiscent of far fetched plots in James Bond movies such as Die Another Day, where villain Gustav Graves builds a space based laser that he can control as a weapon, and Diamonds are Forever, where Ernst Stavro Blofeld attempts to hold the world to ransom with a laser in space.

Astrium, however, insist that the infrared laser, which is typically used in laser guidance systems for the military, will be safe. As it is beyond the visible spectrum of the human eye, it would also not be harmful to eyesight should anyone look into the beam.

Mr Perren said: "We are concentrating on developing something that is safe. While the laser beam will have some heat in it, we intend for it to be safe for people to walk through unaffected.

"Much of the technology we need has already been tried and tested in existing satellites and spacecraft, but there are technical difficulties that still need to be overcome such as improving the efficiency of converting the energy and increasing the power of the laser we can build.

"It is important to remember that we are not looking to take the place of power stations on Earth, but to provide another piece of the puzzle in finding alternative energy sources."

High-Tech Energy "Oasis" to Bloom in the Desert?

A renewable-energy "oasis" slated to be built in 2010 may serve as a proving ground for new technologies designed to bring green living to the desert.

The planned research center is part of the Sahara Forest Project—but that doesn't mean it'll be built in Africa. Sahara means "desert" in Arabic, and the center is meant to be a small-scale version of massive green complexes that project managers hope to build in deserts around the globe.

(See pictures of the planned Sahara Forest Project reseach center.)

Experts are now examining arid sites in Australia, the U.S., the Middle East, and Africa that could support the test facility.

"The Sahara Forest Project is a holistic approach for creation of local jobs, food, water, and energy, utilizing relatively simple solutions mimicking design and principles from nature," said Frederic Hauge, founder and president of the Norwegian environmental nonprofit the Bellona Foundation.

For instance, special greenhouses would use hot desert air and seawater make fresh water for growing crops, solar energy would be collected to generate power, and algae pools would offer a renewable and easily transportable fuel supply.

In addition, planting trees near the complex would trap atmospheric greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide while restoring any natural forest cover that has been lost to drought and timber harvesting.

(Related: "Africa-wide 'Great Green Wall' to Halt Sahara's Spread?")

"From my perspective as an environmentalist, this could be a game changer in how we produce biomass for food and energy, and how we're going to provide fresh water for the future," Hauge said. "I've never been so engaged and fascinated as I am now."

But not all experts are as enthusiastic about the project.

In terms of the reforestation plans, "trying to grow trees in the Sahara desert is not the most appropriate approach," said Patrick Gonzalez, a forest ecologist at the University of California, Berkeley's Center for Forestry. After all, even though it was literally green in the past, the Sahara was never heavily forested. (See an interactive Sahara map.)

"I can imagine that this scheme and type of technology in limited cases might work in certain areas like Dubai, where they're used to making palm-shaped islands and 160-story-tall buildings," Gonzalez said.

If the goal is restoring a desert's natural ecosystem, however, "it would be more effective, but less flashy, to work with local people on community-based natural-resource management."

From Mirage to Reality

The Bellona Foundation's Hauge counters that replanting trees—even in a desert—is an uncontroversial measure for stopping desertification and combating climate change.

In fact, tree-planting is one of the strategies that the foundation and its partners have carefully studied as part of their efforts to make the Sahara Forest Project more than a mirage.

The project's members are conducting feasibility studies in several countries, the initial results of which were presented in December 2009 at the Copenhagen climate conference.

And the testing center slated for imminent construction should provide even more data on how well the project's suite of green technologies might work in real life.

So-called seawater greenhouses, for example, are basic and cheap, making them a cornerstone of the project.

Hot desert air going into a greenhouse is first cooled and humidified by seawater. This humid air nourishes crops growing inside the greenhouse, then passes through an evaporator, where sun-heated seawater flows. When the now warm humid air meets a series of tubes containing cool seawater, fresh water condenses as droplets on the outsides of the tubes and can be collected.

The process mimics a natural process: Sun-heated seawater evaporates, cools to form clouds, and then falls as precipitation.

Only 10 to 15 percent of the humid air gets condensed into fresh water. The rest flows outside to water surrounding trees, so that the "greenhouse will create a large area around it that will be become green," according to Hauge.

The center will also test the use of concentrated solar power, which uses mirrors to focus sunlight on water pipes and boilers. The concentrated light creates superheated steam inside the pipes that can power conventional steam turbines, generating electricity.

Any power not used to run the complex can be sent to local communities.

Likewise, biomass-based fuel from the center's photobioreactors would be easy to export, Hauge said.

The ponds would cultivate algae through photosynthesis in open, shallow saltwater pools. The algae's fatty oils could then be harvested as energy-rich biofuel.

Lab-grown algae have been shown to generate up to 30 times more oil per acre than other plants used to make biofuels, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. And farming algae in pools doesn't take up valuable agricultural land, Hauge said.

(Related: "Five Last-Ditch Schemes to Avert Warming Disaster.")

Local People Key to Success

Hauge said he has gotten "fantastic response" from some governments, and he hopes to build the first full-scale facility within the next couple years.

UC Berkeley's Gonzales noted that in Africa, at least, there are already programs across the continent that are battling green issues in the desert by giving local people rights to existing natural resources.

Such programs have proven effective at sustainable-resource management and ecosystem restoration—without complex technological fixes.

The Sahara Forest Project's Hauge agrees that local community involvement is key, noting that the project would rely on local people to maintain the complexes.

"Working in developing countries, you need technology that is easy for local people" to operate, he said. "We are very aware of how this is approached from the local communities."

Tech Park's Solar Zone lands its first factory

(Use arrows above to view more photos) ADVERTISEMENT
The role of the 45-acre, $32 million plant is to commercially demonstrate the company’s proprietary thermal storage system and show its ability to improve the efficiency of a facility by 50 percent. It has worked on this technology for the last five years.

The plant will generate power with a concentrator design, meaning it will use mirrors to concentrate the sun’s rays to heat parabolic troughs with oil in them. The new technology allows for increased production after the sun goes down due to the ability to store the heated material.

“We are excited about demonstrating how our thermal storage system, with scale up cost efficiencies, can make solar power more reliable and cost competitive with fossil fuel energy,” said Joseph Bell Jr., president of Bell Independent Power Corp. “By storing the heated oil, you can release it later, after the sun has gone down to create energy when the customer needs it.”

Construction of the plant is expected to begin in late spring or early summer, depending on the permitting process. The construction of the solar plant will create 75 jobs and the facility will require seven full-time employees for operation. The plant will have the capacity to power 1,500 typical Tucson homes and will begin supplying power to Tucson homes in 2011.

Tucson Electric Power has asked the Arizona Corporation Commission to approve its plan to purchase power from the plant over a 20-year period. It expects to receive the approval this quarter.

“We’re happy to support the development of this remarkable renewable energy resource right here in Tucson,” said Paul Bonavia, chairman, president and CEO of TEP and its parent company UniSource Energy. “The innovative storage technology built into this plant should provide us with clean, green renewable power in the late afternoon hours when our customers’ energy usage typically reaches its peak.”

Tucson City Councilwoman Shirley Scott, whose ward includes the Tech Park, said, “We have so many different kinds of technology here and I really would love to see more come and for Tucson to become a proving ground of sorts for new solar technology. You can put all these different technologies under the same conditions and find out which really technology works well.”

Bell’s concentrated solar plant is the first major project announced in Southern Arizona since the state approved an incentive program giving tax breaks that are tied to job creation for renewable-energy equipment factories that expand or locate in Arizona.

Joe Snell, president and CEO of TREO said this new plant on top of the incentives really “put us in the game to aggressively continue solar business development in Southern Arizona.”

Contact reporter Joe Pangburn at jpangburn@azbiz.com or (520) 295-4259.
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The Valle 1 and Valle 2 solar power projects are part of investments totalling ...

One of this year’s first major solar power projects that aims to test an advanced technology for generating electricity after sundown has secured a $760 million loan.

Torresol Energy’s 100-megawatt concentrating solar power plant to be built in Andalucia, Spain in March will test new technologies, including one which would enable it to continue providing electricity over seven hours after the sun has set.

Named the Valle 1 and Valle 2 solar thermal plants, they will use molten salt to store heat for generating steam that drives turbines to generate electricity.

Torresol did not name the lender, but last year it was among the applicants for a 330 million euro ($466.49 million) loan from the European Investment Bank for the same project.

Torresol said the two solar projects, each producing 50 MW, will create 3,200 new jobs in its two years of construction. Total costs will reach $1 billion.

Valle 1 and Valle 2 will produce enough electricity for 80,000 homes, while discarding 90,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions yearly.

Over the years, C.S.P. technologies have strived to operate longer while relying only on solar power. But C.S.P. technologies such as those that use parabolic troughs still produce about a fifth of their electricity from fossil fuels.

“A significant feature of these plants will be their ability to produce electricity at night and at times of poor sunlight, which is obviously an important consideration for consumers who require and demand uninterrupted electricity supplies,” Torresol chairman Enrique Sendagorta said.

Torresol is a joint venture between Masdar, which is planning to build a 100 percent renewable energy-powered city in the United Arab Emirates, and Sener, a Spanish engineering company which developed the molten salt to be used in the plant.

The Valle 1 and Valle 2 solar power projects are part of investments totalling $1.4 billion across three C.S.P. projects in one year, Torresol said.

The Gemasolar Central Tower Plant, a 17-MW project under construction in Seville, was financed by the European Investment Bank.

-   Eric Dorente

Three Bright New Ideas in Biofuels, Solar and Wind Power

The cleantech industry is a constant source of new ideas, for generating energy and for saving it. Many (or most) of these ideas never go anywhere, though. I try to pick out the ones that seem most likely to succeed; the easiest way to do so is look out for new venture capital fundings and pilot projects.

January is proving an especially fertile month, at least for announcements. The three latest companies that look interesting are split across three sectors: FloDesign Wind makes a new type of wind turbine, Joule Biotechnologies is a biofuel startup, and Solar Fusion Power, as you will have guessed, generates solar power with an unusual design.

I’ve split the three up below to give more detail on each; if that’s not enough, the links in each section have even more.

FloDesign Wind
FloDesign hasn’t been in hiding; the company previously won a technology competition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for its alternate wind turbine design, which departs from the traditional “prop” design of a wind turbine with something that looks a lot more like a jet engine.

The short explanation of how it works is that air going through the turbine’s rotor and over its cowl joins to cause a “pulling” effect on the air behind it, spinning the blades more quickly than they would otherwise move. The resulting design is a bit odd-looking, as you can see at right, but the basic idea is well proven. Pop over to Youtube to watch FloDesign’s video on their technology.

But there are quite a few variations on the prop design, most of which turn out to be less practical based on factors like the amount of material or wind speed required for their use. How to pick through the pile? Unless you’re an expert in gas flow dynamics, it’s difficult to make objective measurements.

That’s a long-winded way of saying that FloDesign should get some attention, because some folks with fairly good judgment are busy throwing money its way. FloDesign won a $8.3 million grant from the the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program, and more recently, announced a $34.5 million investment from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a Silicon Valley venture firm with a sterling reputation.

Joule Biotechnologies
This one won’t sound too odd at first. Joule plans on putting a microorganism in a pool with nutrients, focusing sunlight on it, and harvesting the resulting oil to use as fuel. Not much different from a greenhouse or plant solarium, right?

It is odd, though, in part because the microorganism isn’t one provided by nature; Joule says it’s a designer product. The sunlight it’s receiving is also more than the usual dosage, having been concentrated by the enclosing panels in each modular unit. Want more fuel? Just add more units.

Algal biofuel producers haven’t had much luck with enclosed systems; they tend to be too expensive. But if Joule can up the output of the system by concentrating sunlight, it might prove efficient enough to survive. It’s planning to build a pilot plant in Texas that will start operating within a few months.

Solar Fusion Power
It has nothing to do with actual fusion, but at least the name is catchy. Solar Fusion Power is a variation, several steps removed, on the now-familiar concept of solar thermal energy, which focuses sunlight with mirrors onto enclosed water, which boils and drives a generator.

One of the advantages of solar thermal, beyond its low cost per watt of energy produced, is the simplicity of most systems. That could be the point on which Solar Fusion falls short. The company’s design centers around a “flower” with mirrored petals. The petals bounce sunlight up onto a central lens. This is not small, delicate machine, by the way; a single unit would cover 50 square meters.

After this double-bounce, the sunlight enters an enclosed chamber full of (extremely hot) liquid calcium. The light raises the temperature enough that the calcium can fuse with a stream of hydrogen, which produces energy. Later, the calcium will let go of the hydrogen molecule, producing more energy and allowing the reaction to be repeated. The result: 50 percent of the initial sunlight’s energy is captured, more than just about any solar system can use.

Still, to my ear, this all sounds a bit too convoluted to work well, or cheaply. But an Australian company called EMC Solar has invested, and the company plans to run a pilot project in Perth, so it’s worth keeping an eye on.

Chris Morrison, a reporter on energy, renewables and climate change, is the former lead cleantech writer for VentureBeat. Follow him on Twitter.