What is the going rate for a kilogram of sunlight?

What is the going rate for a kilogram of sunlight?
27 March 2010


On March 3, the New South Wales government approved a new 2000 megawatt (MW) “baseload” power station, Bayswater B, to be built adjacent to the existing Bayswater power station in the Hunter Valley.

The power station will be built by the private sector and, according to the government, may be fuelled by either natural gas or coal. In reality, it is most likely to burn coal, as the Hunter Valley is home to massive deposits of this cheap, nasty fossil fuel. In an opinion piece published in the Newcastle Herald on March 5, Hunter Business Chamber CEO Peter Shinnick argued: “3-5 [gigawatts of baseload electricity] cannot be provided from renewable sources by 2015 when less than 10 per cent of that is being provided in 2010.” The following article by Socialist Alliance member Zane Alcorn is a response to Shinnick. An abridged version of it appeared in the March 13 Herald. * * * Peter Shinnick argued that, since Australia has a low base of renewable energy, a target of between three and five gigawatts (GW) of renewables by 2015 is unrealistic. This argument is illogical and defeatist. We might as well say that if NSW only had a fleet of 100 buses, it would be impossible to expand that fleet to 1000 by 2015, or that if Newcastle were only shipping 30 million tonnes of coal each year, then it could hardly expand to 150 million tonnes within five years. Buying buses or building coal loaders and associated train lines is absolutely no different to building 24-hour “baseload” concentrating solar thermal plants, wind farms and new transmission infrastructure. Solar thermal and wind generators need mirror systems, towers, gearboxes, nacelles, blades. This manufacturing could be based in the Hunter Valley, using local industrial expertise and creating local jobs. State and federal governments roll out the red carpet for coal companies, providing free rail infrastructure, subsidised fuel and a friendly regulatory framework for mining. The NSW government has not once knocked back an application for a coal mine once a company has been given an exploration licence. Imagine if investors in clean energy technology were similarly treated. All that is required to get renewable energy plants built is the political will. A solid regulatory framework with subsidies such as a feed-in tariff has been proven to stimulate solid private sector investment. Perhaps the more certain way to guarantee a rapid and major roll-out of renewables is for the roll-out to occur as part of a public works project; this way the public also reaps the benefits of the project. This is actually how Australia's entire energy generation network was funded — before neoliberal capitalist economics decided governments were no longer “allowed” to carry out big public works projects. In Spain, the government provides a generous feed-in tariff for utility-scale wind and concentrating solar thermal with storage (CST) plants. As a result, Spain is home to 600MW of 24-hour CST plants and 19,000MW of wind turbines. By 2015, this will have grown to 5000MW of CST and 25,000MW of wind. Modern solar thermal plants in Spain use large vats of inexpensive, non-toxic salts in their molten form to store energy collected in the day. This technology is not new and has been used for decades to transfer large amounts of heat in industrial applications. Stored solar energy can be drawn off the salt to satisfy electricity demand peaks, which also means that this power can be sold at premium rates. Because they store energy as heat, CST plants are also an excellent source of “peaking” power (currently in Australia, gas-fired plants provide this extremely expensive extra power). Using this technology, some plants can already run at full capacity for 7.5 hours after the sun goes down — or can run all night at reduced output, as demand drops. Newer plants in Spain and the US can produce power for 16 hours with no sun. Because of large, inflexible boiler systems, coal plants can’t shed capacity (i.e. “slow down”) in the evening. As a result, they produce vast amounts of wasted energy (and unnecessary carbon emissions). The NSW state electricity company lacks a planning body of its own since it was trimmed and split up for privatisation. So, in 2009, AECOM consultants were hired to explore options for new baseload generation in the state. The AECOM Preliminary Environmental Assessment report into the Bayswater complex, released in July 2009, dismissed solar power as a potential source of baseload energy. By AECOM’s reckoning, sunlight does not have a high enough energy density per kilogram to be competitive with coal, gas or nuclear. This statement defies logic. The fact that light is able to carry energy despite its lack of mass is well known. Just a few hours of research into how solar technology works should have identified this flaw in the report. Of course, the energy density per dollar of fuel leads to a different outcome: while the cost of coal, gas or nuclear can only ever increase, the ongoing fuel costs for solar and wind are zero. They cost nothing, forever. The AECOM report was similarly ignorant of the ability of distributed linked wind farms to provide baseload power capacity if they are located at suitably windy sites and far enough apart. And almost nowhere has more geographic diversity than Australia’s eastern seaboard grid. The people of NSW deserve better than 19th century coal-fired power stations with their cancer-causing soot and climate-changing carbon dioxide. By 2015, NSW could build 6GW of linked wind farms for around $13 billion. Another $7 billion would get us 1GW of baseload solar. This is currently more expensive than coal, but costs would drop quickly. With just another four Bayswater-equivalents worth of solar thermal plants installed globally, the price of concentrating solar thermal will be on par with new coal-fired plants. And far more than this quota is planned or under construction. While CST is currently more expensive upfront than coal or gas, its advantages are huge. There are no fuel costs or greenhouse emissions (the carbon footprint of the plants themselves is paid off in up to six months). Solar thermal uses a tiny amount of water, so there is no need for new dams. Zero-emissions power generation will not be exposed to carbon permits or taxes in years to come. With components for wind and solar thermal plants manufactured locally, the Hunter Valley could remain the power hub of Australia, while contributing to solutions to climate change — rather than contributing more coal. From: Comment & Analysis, Green Left Weekly issue #832 31 March 2010.

Greek Environment, Energy and Climate Change Ministry announces € 5.5 billion ...

Both the announcement and the presence of the financing schemes from the EU and Goal III (download PDF to right) confirm the Greek government’s  resolve to embark on a course of green development as a way of getting over current financial and fiscal crisis.

According to the Ministry’s announcement, the bulk of these subsidies will be used to promote “green development, biodiversity as well as energy efficiency” with the main goal of utilising all available external funding. The pumping of money into supporting Greece’s green economy plan is indeed important. It signifies a break with past practices of environmental indifference, and could turn into an opportunity for Greece to fully utilise its domestic energy sources toward opening new markets and becoming an important green energy player.

The country has unique potential to develop renewable technologies such as Concentrated Solar Power (CSP). Greece, which is currently a net importer of electrical energy, could soon become an exporter of clean renewable energy. For instance Italy, one of Greece’s neighbours, has already expressed its interest in importing renewable energy due its projected inability to achieve its binding targets for 2020 to which it committed. 

What’s more, by using this opportunity Greece could develop technological know-how that could later be exported, through Greek investments, to countries of the Balkans and North Africa. Such investments are facilitated by the Mediterranean Solar Plan.

Greece could also utilise a combination of the NER300 funding scheme and subsidies offered under this plan to fund a CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) project. Greece’s decision to move forward with the construction of two new unabated lignite-fired power plant units in Ptolemaida and Florina does not adhere to the Ministry’s declaration for green development. Measures have to be taken to radically curb emissions from these new units and the technology to achieve this is available.

Greece has to use every opportunity to build CCS know-how now so that it does not have to acquire it expensively in the future.

The opportunity for Greece to develop its green credentials and become energy self-sufficient in a carbon-free manner is there. What is needed is a strategic plan and the political will to acknowledge existing potential. The commitment of the Ministry to make use of all available funding on green development is a promising step forward.  

WHY COAL IS THE BEST OPTION FOR SOUTH AFRICA

An NNN-BuaNews Special Report by Pravin Gordhan *

CAPE TOWN, March 29 (NNN-BUANEWS) — Today, the South African economy is two-thirds larger than it was in 1994, when Nelson Mandela took office as the country’s first democratically elected president.

With this growth has come strong new demand for electricity. Millions of previously marginalized South Africans are now on the grid. Unfortunately, as in other major emerging economies, supply has not kept pace.

Reserve margins are increasingly tight — too tight for an energy-intensive economy such as South Africa’s, whose mines and factories rely on steady supplies of competitively priced power.

South Africa has weathered the global downturn better than many richer countries, but the majority of our people remain poor and unemployment stands at an unacceptable 24 per cent.

In order to sustain the growth rates we need to create jobs, we have no choice but to build new generating capacity — relying on what, for now, remains our most abundant and affordable energy source: coal.

Because this is not the most auspicious time for our energy utility, Eskom, to be looking to finance a 50 billion USD capital programme, we are approaching sources of funding we have hitherto left untapped, including the World Bank, the African Development Bank (AfDB)and the European Investment Bank (EIB).

But our application for a 3.75 billion USD World Bank loan faces stiff opposition. A strong body of opinion holds that multilateral development banks should be discouraged from funding coal-burning power projects with carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change. We share this concern but, after careful consideration, have concluded that the course we have chosen is the only responsible way forward.

The bulk of the loan, or just over 3.0 billion USD, will go toward the construction of a 4,800-megawatt (MW) power station at Medupi in South Africa’s Limpopo province. This plant, the first of its kind in Africa, will use some of the most efficient, lowest-emission coal-fired technology available.

The rest of the loan, 745 million USD, will be invested in wind and concentrated solar power projects, each generating 100 MW, and in various efficiency improvements.

South Africa takes climate change and the need to reduce fossil fuel emissions extremely seriously.

Working with Brazil, India and China, we helped to craft the compromise that saved December’s United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen from ending in deadlock.

In thanks, Senator John Kerry (Democrat-Massachussetts), chairman of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called us and our partners “the four horsemen of a climate change solution”.

At home, we are taking concrete action that will push our carbon emissions 34 per cent lower in 2020 than they would have been otherwise and 43 per cent lower in 2025, with net reductions kicking in 10 years after that.

We are using every tool at our disposal — legislative, regulatory and fiscal — to promote clean and renewable energy and manage demand.

If there were any other way to meet our power needs as quickly or as affordably as our present circumstances demand, or on the required scale, we would obviously prefer technologies — wind, solar, hydropower, nuclear — that leave little or no carbon footprint.

But we do not have that luxury if we are to meet our obligations both to our own people and to our broader region whose economic prospects are closely tied to our own. South Africa generates more than 60 per cent of all electricity produced in sub-Saharan Africa.

Tight supplies are not just a problem for us. Our neighbours — Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe — all rely on Eskom for their electricity. They face the same growth constraints that we do. Their factories and businesses, hospitals and schools, and their ability to provide basic services all depend on Eskom-generated power.

A question that has to be faced is whether stunting growth prospects in our region will in any way serve the goal we all share of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions over the long term.

Whatever paths we take toward that goal, whether shifting to renewables and nuclear or finding ways to keep harmful gases out of the atmosphere once created, the journey will inevitably be costly, requiring massive investments in technology, research and re-engineering the ways in which we live and do business. It will also require a true spirit of consensus and collaboration.

Neither of these requirements will be well served by hampering the transitional measures that developing countries like ours need to take to get themselves on sustainable growth tracks and generate the resources they need to play their part in preserving our planet.
– NNN-BUANEWS

* Editors Note: Pravin Gordhan is the Minister of Finance of South Africa

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Alcoa and National Renewable Energy Lab Testing Concentrating Solar Power System

Mar 24, 2010 (Close-Up Media via COMTEX) --

Alcoa announced that it is jointly testing a solar technology with the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), with the goal of making Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technology competitive in the United States by lowering its cost to generate energy.

NREL and Alcoa reported they recently installed a new Alcoa-designed Concentrating Solar Power parabolic trough at NREL's test facility in Golden, Colorado. The series of tests will measure the 20-foot by 46-foot collector's efficiency to generate energy and evaluate its structural performance.

"NREL is looking forward to performing outdoor efficiency tests on the new parabolic trough collector developed by Alcoa," said Dr. Chuck Kutscher, Manager, NREL Thermal Systems Group. "We are encouraged to see this U.S.-based manufacturer entering the Concentrating Solar Power market through the financial support of the U.S. Department of Energy's Funding Opportunity Announcement Program."

Currently, commercial Concentrating Solar Power systems installed to date use glass mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto receivers that collect the solar energy and convert it to heat. This thermal energy can then be used to produce utility scale electricity via a steam turbine.

Instead of glass mirrors, the new Alcoa solution uses aluminum mirrors, which are more durable and environmentally-friendly than fragile glass-based mirrors. The Alcoa design solution enables high-volume manufacturing techniques to lower installation costs, plus its monolithic structure enables a simple "drop-in-place" collector for installation. The Alcoa design includes sheet, extrusions and fasteners.

The new Alcoa CSP design leverages high volume manufacturing and assembly approaches utilized in the aerospace and automotive markets as well as the company's materials and technology leadership to lower the cost of CSP trough systems.

Alcoa is a developer of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum and alumina. The company works primarily for the aerospace, automotive, packaging, building and construction, commercial transportation, consumer electronics and industrial markets.

((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))

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Siemens' receivers contracted by Spain

Published on General news  |  March 29, 2010, 13:36

Siemens will supply solar thermal receivers to Spain for a new solar thermal power plant
Siemens Energy announced it has received an order to supply solar thermal receivers to Spain for a new solar thermal power plant. The contractor is a consortium between ABANTIA and COMSA EMTE, which will act as EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) to develop a concentrating solar thermal power plant (CSP) in Les Borges Blanques in the province of Lleida in Northeastern Spain.

Avi Brenmiller, CEO of Siemens Concentrated Solar Power stated: "This is the first major solar power component purchase in Spain subsequent to the release of the most recent Royal Decree. Siemens is in a position to offer highly efficient solar receiver and system solutions, such as solar fields or power blocks, as well as complete plant solutions for parabolic trough power plants. Our objective is to address the project-specific needs of our customers in the most flexible way."

Siemens’ solar receivers UVAC will be employed in the solar field of the power plant expected to be fully operational in 2012

Siemens expects the market for solar thermal power do grow with annual double-digit growth rates until 2020, reaching over EUR 20 billion volume. The company in interested in regions like North Africa, South Africa, Middle East, Australia, India, Spain and the U.S.

A new investment was announced by Siemens in Israel, for expansion of capacity for the production of solar thermal components, creating over 150 new green jobs. Brenmiller continued: "This expansion of production capacity in Israel will enable us to meet the increasing demand for solar thermal components."

Siemens has successfully installed over 150,000 UVACs in power plants in commercial operation in Spain and the United States. The UVAC has high-tech coatings which absorb the maximum possible solar energy.  It reduces costs of a solar thermal power plant due to the extremely high solar absorption and reduced heat loss (emissivity). Digg this   Slashdot   Del.icio.us   StumbleUpon   Yahoo MyWeb   Google Bookmarks   Twitter   Facebook

Gary Breton is eSolar's new SVP of Operations

Gary Breton is eSolar�s new SVP of Operations Published on General news  |  March 28, 2010, 21:08

Gary Breton�s 20 years experience in the field of global operations recommends him as key player in the eSolar team
eSolar announced that it Gary J. Breton was named senior vice president of operations. Breton has over 20 years experience in executing global expansion and improving the operational profitability of leading semiconductor companies. He was in charge of financial operations for Aurora Semiconductor and led sourcing efficiency initiatives at Cypress Semiconductor before joining eSolar, and previous to that, was senior vice president at Amkor Technologies

John Van Scoter, eSolar's CEO stated:  "To realize our vision of making solar power competitive with fossil fuels, eSolar is drawing on the legacy of seasoned industries. eSolar will benefit from Gary's expertise in reducing operational and equipment costs, while driving international growth."

Gary Breton said: "I look forward to applying my skill set to the dynamic concentrated solar power industry. My ability to reduce costs and improve processes in the semiconductor industry is well-suited for helping to drive eSolar's technology model and business strategy."

Breton has an MBA and BS in Management from the University of La Salle. He has led teams in creating and implementing effective solutions involved with overall financial growth, government interaction, operations, and customer relationships in foreign markets. Digg this   Slashdot   Del.icio.us   StumbleUpon   Yahoo MyWeb   Google Bookmarks   Twitter   Facebook

We Are Thisclose to Affordable Concentrating Solar Power – And More Green Jobs ...

Pittsburgh-based Alcoa and the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory have partnered up to take us another step closer to low cost solar power.  The lab is hosting a test run of Alcoa’s new concentrating solar power technology, which was designed to be competitive in the U.S. energy market partly due to a low cost, energy efficient process.  It could also result in more green jobs in manufacturing – if the company takes advantage of opportunities in the U.S.

Conventional solar technology relies on glass mirrors, and glass is not Alcoa’s area of expertise.  That would be aluminum, one of the world’s most inexpensive and abundant metals.  In addition to its other advantages Alcoa notes that aluminum can be “infinitely recycled” (nicely put!), which is something to think about for future sustainability because at this rate the world will soon be awash in solar panels.

>> Interested in solar power? See if group discounts are available in your city

Alcoa and Concentrating Solar Power

Alcoa’s design is based on a parabolic trough, which generates energy more efficiently by concentrating the sun’s rays.  It replaces glass with reflective aluminum mirrors, which according to Alcoa lend themselves to more economical, high-volume production.  Alcoa’s design includes thermal storage, enabling the system to store power and draw it at night or during overcast daylight.  The system can be used to run a steam turbine and generate electricity up to utility scale.

Low Cost Solar Power

Alcoa is on track with several emerging trends that are helping to lower the cost of solar power, which includes designing systems that minimize shipping and installation costs for the customer.  A second trend is the development of  low-cost materials for solar panels which are not as efficient as new high tech innovations but are potentially more affordable.  Third is to leverage the expertise and resources of existing industries, specifically aerospace and auto manufacturing, to enable high-efficiency solar panel manufacturing that helps reduce costs through volume of scale.  The SunCatcher concentrating solar dish recently tested at Sandia National Laboratories is another example of this trend, using a familiar stamped metal manufacturing process (hello, green jobs in the Rust Belt!).  The use of non-toxic materials in solar panels is another big trend that can help reduce lifecycle costs including manufacturing and eventual disposal or recycling.

On Beyond Low Cost Solar Power

Solar power with a relatively low rate of efficiency could also compete with fossil fuels by piggybacking with buildings or operations on a particular site.  One rapidly growing example is the use of solar panels that are integrated into building elements such as walls, windows or roofs, a trend that has caught attention in the affordable housing  field.   One company is even developing a system that combines concentrating solar energy with the potential for aquaculture.

Image:  Sunlight by Pink Sherbert Photography on flickr.com.

Poll shows mandate for utility-scale solar amidst challenges

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As more power providers invest in utility-scale concentrating solar power (CSP) and solar photovoltaic (PV) plants across the U.S., some citizens and activist groups have cited environmental and sustainability concerns for certain projects. In order to test public opinion, it was evaluated in a recent poll released last week by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Gotham Research Group indicating that utility-scale projects on public lands that have not been designated as preserves possess a mandate of approval among Americans. In general, numerous polls conducted over the last year show high levels of public support for green energy policies as opposed to issues such as health care, which has waned in recent months.

The researchers in this poll surveyed 500 random U.S. adults over 18 years old and found that 75 percent of those surveyed support large solar projects. Moreover, 40 percent state that they strongly support such projects. According to the survey, that support spans across all demographics and political parties, based on polling conducted from February 24 through February 26 with a margin of error of +/- 4.4 percent.

Amid the favorable opinion for utility-scale solar, there are still many challenges facing the industry such as: temporary tax credits, new lobbyist regulations, slow permitting processes, regulatory overlap among state and federal agencies, water and land-rights disputes, transmission connectivity and financing. Over the last year, some environmental groups have raised concerns about the sustainability and environmental impact of solar thermal and solar PV plants located in forested areas, leading to critical delays and in some cases eliminating 2010 construction starts required for stimulus tax credits. CSP requires ample water resources and many plants, especially in drought-riddled remote desert areas of Arizona, where performance and cost-benefit merits are enhanced, require extensive transmission line construction across state or federal land, which may affect wildlife patterns as well.

Nonetheless, the SEIA estimates that more than 200 megawatts (MW) of utility-scale solar PV and CSP projects will come online in 2010, creating tens of thousands of jobs. In comparison, this would be a 129 percent increase over last year, which led to five plants totaling 58 MW being connected to the nation’s power grid. Furthermore, the SEIA has stated that there are more than 100 more projects that have been announced, mostly in the Southwest in places such as Arizona, which represent 17,000 MW. SEIA's president Rhone Resch believes that these projects could create 100,000 direct and indirect domestic temporary and permanent jobs.

In opposition to the opinion or marketing of some in the industry, there is no magic bullet for solar technology, and a portfolio of solar power generation products will be required in conjunction with a portfolio of clean energy sources to meet renewable energy portfolio standards for states. As diversified as the landscape is across the U.S. -that also offers advantages and disadvantages for centralized and decentralized PV versus CSP options. Furthermore, subsets of technologies will remain in demand over the long haul driven by specific application and performance requirements, as in the case of flexible solar panels for building integrated PV such as solar shingles versus utility-scale solar farms.

Strategic initiatives for best practices in large-scale utility and community-scale solar development will be studied in joint partnerships between the U.S., China and India, the new National Renewable Energy Lab Strategic Energy Analysis Institute, U.S. Department of Energy and by renewable energy information agencies, which will be the topic of an upcoming article. 

For more info: In order to anonymously receive FREE email alerts on future green technology and business articles, please subscribe on my homepage and/or follow me on Twitter. If one is interested in a consultation on this or another green business topic, please click on the "Request a Consultation with this Author" link located toward the bottom of this GLG network site.

Morocco Goes Solar - $9 billion Green energy project by 2020

  
Morocco is planning to use the latest solar energy technology to build a large solar energy project. Estimated at a cost of $9 billion, the project is expected to produce 38% of the country’s power by the year 2020.

Moroccan officials stress that the country possesses a number of clear advantages that should ensure that the project's ambitious goals are achieved, including 5 kWh per square metre per day of solar radiation and 3,000 hours of sunshine per year.

The benefits of tapping sunlight for power are multiple: not only will turning to this “green” form of energy enable the country to reduce its dependence on foreign supplies of energy for its essential needs, but it will also assist in preserving the environment and help foster economic development and diversification.

The project consists of five power generation sites to produce 2000 MW of electricity, with a combined surface area of 10,000 hectares, in Ouarzazate, Ain Bni Mathar, Foum Al Oued, Boujdour and Sebkhat Tah.

"This is a bold but realistic project. We will guarantee all the technical and financial resources to make it succeed," the country’s Energy Minister Amina Benkhadra said when the project was officially launched at a high-level ceremony in Morocco last November.

The minister stressed that foreign energy operators would be involved in the project.

"We look for the most sophisticated technology available in the world to use for this project."

The first station is expected to become operational by 2015. For the project, Morocco is mobilising multiple financing sources and partners, from private and public sectors, as well as from the international community.

Ali Fassi Fihri, the Chairman of ONE, Morocco's power utility, said the project would make the country a pioneer in renewable energy generation. "The project would add in terms of power generation the equivalent of the current electricity consumption of the country's commercial capital Casablanca," Fihri added.

“This project will help Morocco reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 3.7 million tonnes of CO2. This will help us play our role in mitigation of climate change," stressed Said Mouline, the director of Morocco’s Centre for Renewable Energy Development.

"Clean energy projects such as this will create many new jobs in the areas selected for the solar plants as well as boost the country's scientific expertise in the field of solar energy," Mouline added.

Morocco is the only North African country with no oil production of its own and eager to develop renewable energy sources to cut its oil and gas imports.

Among potential partners, Morocco has already secured agreement with the World Bank, the European Commission, and Germany. During a visit to Berlin in January, the Chief Executive of the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy Mustapha Bakkoury held talks with officials from Germany’s development bank KfW about investing in the pioneering project.

At the same time, European firms, both private and public, are considering hundreds of billions worth of solar energy projects in North Africa, including Morocco - with a transmission network linked to Europe under the Mediterranean - to supply electricity to Europe, as part of the EU commitment to reduce GHG.

The Desertec Initiative, a coalition of 13 energy and technology companies, has held talks with Morocco over the possibility of constructing Desertec’s first renewable energy project in the country.

The Desertec Initiative was launched in 2009 with the intention of bringing together firms with experience in power generation, to build a series of concentrated solar power (CSP), photovoltaic (PV) and wind projects in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Morocco is joined by many other Arab countries, for example Algeria, Qatar, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, in launching ambitious solar energy generation plans. Several countries have shown great interest in similar projects or have announced their intention to build solar plants soon.

Furthermore, many countries in the region, such as Jordan, Syria and Tunisia, are encouraging domestic solar heating systems, providing loans and incentives. Some Arab countries are also now investing in the manufacture of solar panels.

Morocco already has several renewable energy projects in operation. For example, a windmill farm near the northern city of Tangiers produces 140MW of electricity and another near Tarfaya on the southwestern coast of the country is scheduled begin working in 2011 to produce 300MW.

Solar panels are also now bringing electricity to some of the country’s more remote rural areas where many traditionally built houses have never had access to electricity before. This is largely because they are located too far away from utility poles of the National Electricity Company in Morocco. It was previously seen as unprofitable to connect the remote areas to the power network. However, the electricity company has started to install solar panels in these country homes.

Adopting solar energy and investing in attempts to develop other renewable options brings with it additional benefits in that it helps enhance a country’s image as environmentally friendly.

As Morocco’s Finance Minister Salaheddine Mezouar has said, "The project sends a very clear message in the current situation, which is dominated by the need to face up to the challenges of climate change." The minister added that "Morocco is determined to protect the environment in all its future projects."

Global Arab Network

Sources: MEED, Magharebia, Sustainable Energy bulletin
The report will appear in the latest issue of Arab-British Business, the fortnightly bulletin of the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce.

Solar Euromed signed an agreement for a 2 GW Solar

Solar Euromed signed an agreement for a 2 GW Solar in Sudan 29 de marzo de 2010

Solar Euromed announced that it has entered into an agreement with Sudan for the development, construction and operation of a 2000 MW Solar Power Plants Program that will be implemented over the next decade.

Solar Euromed, a French pioneering company in Concentrating Solar Power (CSP), announced that it has entered into an exclusive agreement with the Ministry of Energy and Mining of the Republic of Sudan for the development, construction and operation of a 2000 MW Solar Power Plants Program that will be implemented over the next decade.

The first two projects of respectively 100 MW and 150 MW are expected to enter in operations by 2013/2014. With an opportunity to provide affordable power and water supply to several affected Sudanese regions, including the Darfur region, both projects will contribute to the stabilization and the development of the Sudanese population.

Using the Sun as a free raw material, structures made out of metal and glass, and completely greenhouse gas emission-free, Concentrated Solar Power is a sustainable and environmentally-friendly solution to produce a clean and renewable energy. The latest forecast of the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that this technology will experience a very steep growth in the coming years to reach up to 11% of the world total electricity installed capacity by 2050.

“The Solar Program in Sudan may well become a new world-class model by integrating renewable energy resources in the surrounding land while producing dispatchable electricity and water. And it could easily be extended to countries with similar climates. We expect that it will provide a mean of meeting the urgent demand for food in the region by creating suitable land for agricultural production. Going beyond the necessary humanitarian assistance, it offers Sudanese people a sustainable solution to contribute to their own development.” commented Dr Omer Mohammed Kheir, Secretary General of the Ministry of Energy and Mining of the Republic of Sudan.

Solar Euromed, a French leader in Concentrated Solar Power, developer of the Alba Nova program located in the heart of the Corsica island in France, is a CSP technology provider and an integrated developer of Concentrated Solar Power plants thanks to an extensive experience in managing the lifecycle of power plant and solar energy technology and equipments.

Omene Energy signs 500 megawatt wind farm with Sudan

The first wind power generation is planned in mid 2011, to be installed along the Coast of the Red Sea in phases of 100 MW each. The construction is part of an ambitious expansion plan by the NEC, which will reach 17,000 MW in 2030 from 1000 MW in 2007. Wind energy has considerable resources in Sudan. Experience in wind energy in Sudan was started since 1950s, where 250 small wind turbines had been installed in El Gezira.


www.solareuromed.com

www.omeneholdings.com/index.php

Alcoa lowers solar power costs with special coated mirrors

Alcoa Inc. said Thursday that it has developed an aluminum-based, solar power generation system � designed, built and tested in its Upper Burrell technical center � that produces energy cheaper than solar power systems using glass mirrors.

Based on tests conducted at Alcoa Technical Center, the solar power system using the specially coated aluminum mirrors lowers the cost of generating electricity by more than 20 percent over conventional systems that use silvered glass mirrors, said Eric F. Winter, director of Alcoa's development laboratories.

The concentrated solar power system was shipped in January from Alcoa Technical Center to Colorado after Alcoa worked for about two years on designing, constructing and testing it, Winter said. About 50 people worked on the project since it began in early 2008, with a core group of about a dozen workers.

Alcoa, which has its corporate center on Pittsburgh's North Shore, developed the system in conjunction with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., where the system is undergoing "validation tests" to determine its efficiency and structural performance. The Department of Energy gave Alcoa a $2.1 million grant to develop the project.

Test results are expected to be available this spring, and the system then would enter its next level of large-scale testing, Alcoa said.

It might take two to three years of testing before the system can be commercialized, Alcoa spokeswoman Judy Chestnutt said.

Alcoa's concentrating solar power parabolic trough consists of two aluminum mirrors, 20 feet high and 46 feet long, that reflect and focus sunlight on an oil-based fluid inside a tube connected to the hot side of a power plant. The heated fluid � reaching temperatures ranging from 600 to 700 degrees � produces steam to turn a turbine at a utility company's power plant, Winter said.

A concentrating solar power system like Alcoa's would be installed in a "solar power park," with the number of units depending on the size of the park, said Monique Hanis, a spokeswoman for the Solar Energy Industries Association, a Washington-based trade group.

A typical solar park produces enough power for 200 households annually for each 5 to 10 acres it covers.

Alcoa's project is one of about 100 utility-scale solar power projects being developed, many of which use parabolic troughs such as Alcoa's, Hanis said. Those projects use concentrating solar power technology, as well as silicon photovoltaic solar panels produced by companies such as Solar Power Industries Inc. of Rostraver.

Projects are moving toward commercialization. Federal funds in the 2009 stimulus package are helping the solar power industry to scale up faster, Hanis said.

One megawatt from a solar park can power about 200 homes.

"More than 200 megawatts of solar power will come online in 2010," Hanis said.

More Business headlines

South Africa to stop funding Pebble Bed nuclear reactor

 

South Africa to stop funding Pebble Bed nuclear reactor

 

South Africa is to stop funding a nuclear reactor it can no longer afford.

Over the past eleven years, South Africa has invested R7.4bn ($970m) into Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) Limited, but the project has not attracted a long-term investor or customers.

Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan has said the decision to stop financing the project has nothing to do with the technology, on which a decision will be made in August about its future.

PBMR began in 1999, aiming to build 24 high-temperature, gas-cooled 110 MW reactors. Support for the project waned as costs rose, as did concerns that the technology would fail to work properly.

State-run power utility Eskom Holdings and South Africa’s Industrial Development Corporation own 85 per cent of the company. Westinghouse Electric Co of Pennsylvania, US, owns the rest. These bodies have respectively invested R817m, R457m and R460m in PBMR since 1999.

Much work took place on a 165 MW reactor using a full-scale Brayton cycle gas turbine, but in 2009 PBMR decided to focus on a 80 MW design using a conventional Rankine cycle enabling it to produce steam and to generate electricity.

Desertec picks Morocco as first nation to host concentrating solar power plant

A group aiming to source 15 per cent of Europe’s power from sunny climes has chosen the country in which it will be and the nature of its first plant.

The Desertec Initiative aims to use renewables in Middle East and North Africa to achieve its target by 2050 and has decided a concentrating solar power (CSP) scheme in Morocco will be its initial project.

Desertec is in talks about the plant with the government of Morocco, a key nation in the plan because of its lack of natural resources and its commitment to renewables. If the project goes ahead it would help the country meet its ambitious national solar plan, announced last November.

 

Qatar asks projects for more power

 

The Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa) has approached the firms in charge of three schemes at the North Ras Laffan power and water complex to discover whether they can increase output so that they can help meet greater demand.

Projections for Qatar’s demand are an extra 170 MW of power by 2014 and an additional 40 million gallons per day of water by 2016.

North Ras Laffan includes projects A, B and C, with a total capacity of 4.5 GW and 200 million gallons per day of water.

 

Putin condemns Russia’s power industry oligarchs

 

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has accused the billionaire owners of several of Russia’s power generation companies of failing to upgrade capacity despite promising to do so during privatization in 2008, when the country sold its Soviet-era electricity sector to raise investment and boost capacity that been facing near overload.

Demand in Russia has now reached the highs of 2008 after a fall during the financial crisis, former Russian President Putin said, adding that only 38 out of 100 power stations planned for construction this year were being built while work had not started at all at 45 power plants.

Putin said that power investment must be boosted or infrastructure constraints would put a brake on economic growth. The Russian Prime Minister contrasted the actions of the oligarchs with those of state companies operating in the sector, such as Gazprom, as well as foreign investors like Enel, E.ON and Fortum. Putin said they had stuck to their investment obligations in spite of the financial crisis.

 

U2 urges fans to buy green energy certificates

 

A popular musical group is asking its fans to buy carbon certifcates to help pay for environmentally-friendly power projects around the world.

U2 from Ireland aims to raise $0.45m for the four green electricity generation schemes, which include the Dora-1 geothermal plant in Turkey. Music lovers can offset the carbon footprint their journies to see U2 play cause by buying the certificates indirectly from the power projects in question.

Dora-1 has the right to offer carbon-offset certificates valued at some 30 000 tonnes. The other schemes in U2’s green energy plan are in China, India and Indonesia.

 

Hans Blix joins UAE nuclear board

 

A former chief weapons inspector of the International Atomic Energy Agency will head a board to advise the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on its civil nuclear programme.

Hans Blix, ex-chief of the UN nuclear watchdog, will chair the nine-member board, which will meet twice a year.

The board will provide the UAE nuclear programme with the expertise and knowledge of a highly select group of experts. Last December the UAE agreed to build nuclear reactors developed by South Korea’s Doosan.

 

•••

 

DR Congo: ABB will refurbish stations that convert power from AC to DC on the 506 MW Inga-Kolwezi HVDC transmission link, which takes power from Inga falls to mines in Katanga and allows the country to export power to the Southern African power pool.

Egypt: Doosan Heavy Industries of Korea has secured a $350m order to supply the North African country’s East Delta Electricity Production Company with two boilers for the 1.3 GW Ain Sokhna coal fired power plant, 150 km from Cairo, due online in February 2014.

Iran: The government has announced it is to privatize 20 power plants. It had earlier said it would float two plants by 10 March 2010 in line with its policy of privatizing state-run bodies.

Jordan: US firm K&M Engineering & Consulting has won the conultancy contract for the country’s third IPP, in Zarqa, north of Amman. The 400-500 MW plant will begin operating in 2013.

South Africa: Engineering firm DCD-Dorbyl has signed a memorandum or understanding with Westinghouse for cooperation on its AP1000 reactor. The deal could eventually see DCD-Dorbyl supplying heat exchangers and vessels for the reactor.

Turkey: The 775 MW Denizli combined cycle plant is to employ €110m ($150m) worth of Siemens equipment, including two SGT5-4000F gas turbines, one SST5-5000 steam turbine and three SGen5-1000A air-cooled generators.

UAE: HSBC Bank of the UK is to be financial adviser to the Abu Dhabi Water & Electric Authority (Adwea) on the develpoment of its 1.6 GW Shuweihat S3 water and power project. S3 is Adwea’s first IPP.

Uganda: Consulting group Sweco of Sweden has won a €1.2m ($1.6m) contract to study the potential for interconnecting the country’s grid with that of Tanzania. The link would reduce power shortages in the region.

Zambia: The World Bank is preparing a document to determine the technical specifications for a 600 MW hydropower plant in lower Kafue Gorge. The World Bank report will also detail how financing for the $1.5bn hydropower project could be structured.

 

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Solar projects shine in North Africa

RABAT, Morocco, March 24 (UPI) -- North Africa is taking a shine to solar power in a big way, with plants slated for Morocco and Tunisia as a German-led consortium pushes ahead with the world's most ambitious solar project in the Sahara Desert.

The $555.3 billion Desertec project is designed to turn the Sahara's endless sunlight into carbon-free electricity that will supply 15 percent of energy-hungry Europe's power and lessen its dependence on natural gas from Russia.

Separately, the Moroccan government hopes to invest $9 billion in a solar energy program over the next decade.

This means big-ticket contracts could be up for grabs from major European, mainly French energy concerns, such as GDF Suez; oil giant Total; Areva, which specializes in building nuclear plants, and St. Gobain which manufactures mirrors and photovoltaic panels.

Paris's Maghreb Confidential online newsletter says the French were lining up to join the program when Moroccan Energy Minister Amina Benkhadra presented her investment program to her French counterpart, Jean-Louis Borloo, March 8-9 in Paris.

The centerpiece of the Moroccan plan is a Franco-Moroccan solar power plant generating 20-40 megawatts and exporting up to 4 MW to France.

That's a relatively modest project. But the Moroccans are hoping that it will lay the groundwork for more ambitious projects that will boost solar power exports to Europe and beyond.

One project being mooted for Morocca's Solar Plan is a 500MW solar power station and at least nine international companies are bidding. They include Nexant of California and Fichtner Solar of Stuttgart, Germany, which has won contracts to design power plants at Ain beni Mather in Morocco, Hassi R'Mei in Algeria and Kuraymat in Egypt.

In neighboring Tunisia, the government unveiled a solar plan in late 2009 that includes some 40 renewable energy projects, such as thermo-solar photovoltaic power plants, with a cost of $2.67 billion.

Desertec is by far the most complex of all the solar projects currently under way. It is still in the planning stage and construction isn't expected to begin for another 2-3 years.

It has big-name partners, such as Deutsche Bank and Siemens, and is still attracting new companies, such as First Solar, a U.S. photovoltaic company that has constructed utility-scale solar plants in the deserts of the United States and the United Arab Emirates.

Using a method known as concentrated solar power it would generate inexhaustible and affordable quantities of energy across the Mediterranean -- and even on a global scale if necessary.

One of its big attractions is that it would emit no carbon dioxide, making it the world's biggest green-energy project. If Desertec does get off the ground, it would be the largest green-energy project on the planet.

In theory, a global system of solar thermal power would also eliminate the prospect of resource wars erupting in the years ahead as the planet's natural resources that currently produce energy -- oil, gas, coal, timber and water -- disappear.

The idea for this massive project to harness the sun's energy on a gigantic scale originated with a group of European scientists and politicians called the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation.

The concept of large-scale solar power has been around for some time but was never able to make the breakthrough because of cheap oil.

Desertec's backers believe it will open the door to a new era of environmentally friendly generated power on a massive scale.

That would keep Europe at the forefront of the struggle against climate change and help North African and European economies to expand within the limits of greenhouse gas emissions.

Its critics caution that there are numerous pitfalls, among them the vagaries of North African politics and the perception that European projects like Desertec is just another form of economic plundering by the old colonial powers.

According to Nature magazine, the solar-cell market has been growing by an average by 31 percent a year for the last decade, and enthusiasts predict a 20-25 percent growth rate in the next few years.

Every year, the sun produces 630,000 terawatt hours -- a terawatt equals 1 trillion volts -- of energy in North Africa that is untapped. Europe consumes 4,000 terawatt hours of energy a year. That's only 0.6 percent of the unused energy that falls on the North African desert.

eSolar Introduces Semiconductor Veteran as SVP of Operations

March 25, 2010 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time  eSolar Introduces Semiconductor Veteran as SVP of Operations

Gary Breton Brings 20 Years of Global Operations Experience to eSolar Team

PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--eSolar, a leading producer of modular, scalable concentrating solar thermal power plants, announced today it has named Gary J. Breton as senior vice president of operations. Mr. Breton brings to the eSolar team more than 20 years' experience in executing global expansion and improving the operational profitability of leading semiconductor companies.

“My ability to reduce costs and improve processes in the semiconductor industry is well-suited for helping to drive eSolar’s technology model and business strategy.”

Prior to joining eSolar, Mr. Breton oversaw financial operations for Aurora Semiconductor and led sourcing efficiency initiatives at Cypress Semiconductor. Previously, as a senior vice president at Amkor Technologies, Mr. Breton supervised the operations of seven factories in six countries, where he successfully drove growth in Asian markets.

“To realize our vision of making solar power competitive with fossil fuels, eSolar is drawing on the legacy of seasoned industries,” said John Van Scoter, eSolar's CEO. “eSolar will benefit from Gary’s expertise in reducing operational and equipment costs, while driving international growth.”

“I look forward to applying my skill set to the dynamic concentrated solar power industry,” said Mr. Breton. “My ability to reduce costs and improve processes in the semiconductor industry is well-suited for helping to drive eSolar’s technology model and business strategy.”

Over the course of his career, Gary Breton has led teams in creating and implementing effective solutions involved with overall financial growth, government interaction, operations, and customer relationships in foreign markets. Mr. Breton holds an MBA and BS in Management from the University of La Salle.

About eSolar

eSolar is an Idealab company founded in 2007 to develop modular and scalable solar thermal power plant technology. In the summer of 2009, eSolar unveiled the 5 MW Sierra SunTower plant, the only commercial CSP tower facility operating in North America. The eSolar solution marries a low-impact, pre-fabricated form factor with advanced computer software engineering to meet the demand for reliable and cost-competitive solar energy. eSolar’s proprietary solution resolves issues of price, scalability, speed of deployment and grid impact that have historically stymied solar thermal adoption, thus affording dramatic reductions in the cost of solar thermal energy. eSolar is based in Pasadena, California. For more information, please visit www.esolar.com.

Masdar to go slow on North America green power

VANCOUVER, March 24 (Reuters) - North America's renewable energy market is an attractive target, but Abu Dhabi's Masdar Power will take its time deciding which projects it will pursue, the company's chief executive said on Wednesday.

"We're not in a hurry. We're always looking for quality rather than quantity and speed," Frank Wouters said on the sidelines of Globe 2010, an environmental business conference in Vancouver.

Masdar Power, a unit of Abu Dhabi state-owned green energy firm Masdar, currently has no projects in Canada or the United States, having kept its investments to Europe and the Middle East.

"We're looking at the U.S. market and the Canadian market for investments in solar and wind," Wouters said. "We're exploring right now."

Wouters said it will be important for Masdar Power to team up with companies that have similar business models and have the local political knowledge needed for any renewable energy projects to be developed.

"In that respect, I would rather take my time looking for a good partner who will make life a lot easier in the way going forward," he said.

Masdar has so far focused on technologies of concentrated solar power, which uses mirrors or lenses to to focus sunlight to heat water for steam generation, and photovoltaic, which produces electricity through solar cells, as well as on offshore wind power generation.

It is not interested in other renewable energy technologies such as biomass.

"It's not that we have anything against them ... but there is only so much that we can do, and it has to be relevant, to some extent, for Abu Dhabi," Wouters said.

The Masdar group is probably best known for its plans to build a carbon-neutral city in Abu Dhabi, a project Wouters told the conference will help it develop new environmental technologies.

Masdar's venture capital unit is also pursuing potential investments in clean energy technologies. Its first fund is fully deployed at $250 million, and the second recently closed at $265 million.

"We can expand to $750 million over the next year so it is going to be a substantial venture capital fund, and there are options for that," Wouters said. (Reporting Allan Dowd; editing by Rob Wilson)

Focus your mind: The rise of concentrated solar power

Editor's Note: Scientific American 's George Musser will be chronicling his experiences installing solar panels in Solar at Home (formerly 60-Second Solar). Read his introduction here and see all posts here.

I had a fun talk yesterday afternoon with Bob MacDonald, the CEO of Skyline Solar, makers of a new concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) array. The thing looks rather like a big solar cooker, with a long mirror that focuses sunlight so that you only need a tenth as many solar cells to cover a given area. CPV may become the first photovoltaic technology to reach cost parity with fossil fuels.

The basic idea, which goes back to the '70s, is to use fewer solar cells and shine more light on each one. A cell's rated output is based on straight-on, full-on sunlight, which is about 1,000 watts per square meter at Earth's surface. In light that is hundreds or even thousands of times brighter, the cell will generate proportionally more current and therefore proportionally more power. (The voltage remains fixed by quantum physics.) Indeed, some types of cells, such as those that capture a wider range of the solar spectrum, perform best under intense light.

The main tradeoff is that the cells then absorb more heat. The Skyline array relies on passive cooling -- namely, natural air flow around metal fins mounted on the back of the cells. You also have to factor in the cost of the mirror and, if the panels track the sun, motors. For small residential systems, regular flat panels are still cheaper, but CPV becomes economical for systems bigger than about 50 kW, such as those that are starting to show up on the roofs of shopping malls. For truly gigantic arrays, those bigger than about 50 MW, the cost of silicon begins to add up and solar thermal systems, which heat up a fluid to spin a turbine, become cheaper.

One of CPV's hangups has been the cost of manufacturing and installation, but MacDonald says his company has come up with a simplified mechanical design that can be built on a converted car assembly line. The units are sized to fit into a standard shipping container and are fully preassembled to make them easy to plug in at the site. A 1 MW array will consume about five acres.  The company set up a 27 kW demo system in San Jose last May and expects to start shipping its production units later this year.

Initially, MacDonald says, they will cost about 15 cents per kW-hr, about half the cost of regular solar panels. If so, it is already competitive with nuclear power and closing in on fossil power, which runs about 10 cents per kW-hr (varying with location), not counting its environmental costs.

CPV exempifies how the challenge of solar power these days is not the high-tech lab work but the low-tech, nuts-and-bolts cost-cutting. MacDonald's description of how arrays must be tailored for their site also made me appreciate how the two ends of the solar market are moving in opposite directions. For homeowners, systems are becoming more standardized to reduce installation costs, make it easier to get permits, and allow DIYers to put up panels on their own. But large farms of solar panels are becoming less standardized. Though their components may be plug and play, their overall design needs to be customized to squeeze out every last watt. "There's a lot of benefit to be had by purpose engineering," MacDonald says.

SCHOTT cautious over impact of German feed-in tariff cuts on solar business

With the majority of its broad-based businesses showing recovering sales, SCHOTT expects double-digit sales growth for the current fiscal year. Its Concentrated Solar Power (CPV) receivers for solar thermal parabolic trough power plants are also showing significant growth, according to the company. However, Professor Udo Ungeheuer, the Chairman of the Board of Management said in a business update that proposed German feed-in tariff cuts has left the market feeling extremely insecure.

“Thanks to its high-quality modules that continue to deliver far more than 90 percent of their rated output, even after 25 years, SCHOTT Solar is well-prepared to cope with the new situation,” noted Prof. Ungeheuer.

He also noted in the business update that the company would continue to appeal to German politicians to ‘show greater understanding for the situation of the German photovoltaic industry, particularly with respect to cheap competition from Asia.’

Desertec wins new partners

BERLIN, March 22 (UPI) -- U.S. solar power firm First Solar and several other companies recently joined the Desertec project, which is aimed at powering Europe's homes with green electricity from North Africa.

Italian utility Enel, Spanish grid operator Red Electrica, French building materials maker Saint Gobain and Moroccan energy holding Nareva joined the Desertec project, the initiative said Monday.

The announcement comes a week after Arizona's First Solar joined the $550 billion project, which hopes to supply North Africa and 15 percent of Europe's power by 2050 with a solar-power-dominated network of renewable energy sources. The plants in Africa would be linked to Europe via an underwater high-voltage direct current grid that requires billions of dollars in investments.

"The challenges of energy security and global warming demand bold solutions and Desertec certainly provides an ambitious vision," Stephan Hansen, First Solar's head of sales and customer service for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said in a statement.

The company will join for three years and then evaluate whether to extend its involvement.

First Solar is the first pure photovoltaic company in the project. This has been a surprise to analysts, as Desertec was so far meant to focus on energy generated mainly via concentrated solar power plants located in the Sahara. (The project also aspires to include wind farms and biomass plants). In light of quickly changing market realities and the long-term scope of the project, it seems the initiative is broadening its member base.

So far, companies from Germany have dominated Desertec. Its founding members include technology giant Siemens, Deutsche Bank, insurer Munich Re as well as utilities Eon and RWE.

"We are now making a key step to internationalize our initiative through the accession of additional companies from Europe and North Africa," Paul van Son, the head of the initiative, said in a statement, adding that Desertec was about to finalize talks with a company from Tunisia.

European energy experts have long advocated making the sunny African deserts Europe's power bank in order to reduce the continent's dependence on oil and gas imports from Russia and the Middle East. They say a welcome side-effect of the project is that it helps the host countries to technology and clean power.

While investors have always been deterred by the high up-front investment required, the companies involved in Desertec bank on cost-sharing and government aid.

The German government has already promised to support Desertec and created a task force to monitor the project. Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle has said he would try to make Desertec a European initiative.

Yet the project also sparked criticism.

Claude Turmes, a European Parliament member for the Green Party and one of Europe's most active energy politicians, is generally supportive of the idea of Desertec. He warned, however, that the utilities involved have a hidden agenda.

Grids in North Africa can't yet support a large-scale power plant but that would change with Desertec, he said.

"Every cable that is being laid through the Mediterranean is the ultimate door-opener for investments into a coal-fired or nuclear power station," Turmes said last week at an energy conference in Berlin organized by the German Green Party-affiliated Heinrich Boell Foundation.

Alcoa's aluminium mirrors for solar power applns

PITTSBURGH (Commodity Online):If solar energy has not got the widespread application it deserves, the major obstacle is cost of generating power. Now Alcoa (NYSE:AA) has successfully tested the use of aluminium mirrors instead of glass mirrors in Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technology to make it competitive.

USA's leading primary aluminium producer is jointly testing its advanced solar technology with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL). NREL and Alcoa recently installed a new Alcoa-designed Concentrating Solar Power parabolic trough at NREL’s test facility in Golden, Colo., USA. The series of tests will measure the 20-foot by 46-foot collector’s efficiency to generate energy and evaluate its structural performance. This round of validation at NREL follows successful tests at Alcoa Technical Center outside of Pittsburgh, Pa., USA.

"NREL is looking forward to performing outdoor efficiency tests on the innovative new parabolic trough collector developed by Alcoa,” said Dr. Chuck Kutscher, Manager, NREL Thermal Systems Group. “We are excited to see a major U.S.-based manufacturer entering the Concentrating Solar Power market through the financial support of the U.S. Department of Energy's Funding Opportunity Announcement Program."

Currently, commercial Concentrating Solar Power systems installed to date use glass mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto receivers that collect the solar energy and convert it to heat. This thermal energy can then be used to produce utility scale electricity via a steam turbine.

Instead of glass mirrors, the new Alcoa solution uses highly-reflective aluminum mirrors, which are more durable and environmentally-friendly than fragile glass-based mirrors. The Alcoa design solution enables high-volume manufacturing techniques to lower installation costs, plus its monolithic structure enables a simple “drop-in-place” collector for easy installation. The Alcoa design includes sheet, extrusions and fasteners.

Reduce investment risk by intelligent information

The new Alcoa CSP design leverages high volume manufacturing and assembly approaches utilized in the aerospace and automotive markets as well as the Company’s materials and technology leadership to lower the cost of CSP trough systems.

“We understand the end-customers’ need to lower the capital investment in these systems in order to lower the cost of energy,” said Dr. Eric F. M. Winter, Alcoa’s Director of Development Laboratories. “After listening to numerous industry experts, our multi-faceted team combined its materials knowledge with design, manufacturing and engineered finishes capabilities to develop a system solution that enables manufacturers to more easily scale up to meet the growing demand for this solar technology.”

One of the benefits of Concentrating Solar Power technology is that thermal energy can be stored and drawn upon during short periods of clouds and at night. Therefore, the technology provides better grid stability and increased capacity factors compared to photovoltaic applications.

The project is being partially funded by a US$2.1 million DOE grant. Test results are expected by the second quarter of 2010, after which the system will enter its next level of large-scale testing.

“We are proud to partner with the Department of Energy to develop a new, clean, reliable and affordable source of electricity,” said Scott Kerns, Vice President and General Manager of Alcoa Transportation Products. “Alcoa has a long history of developing sustainable solutions for its customers, and aluminum – which can be infinitely recycled – is a natural fit for this green energy solution. (Courtesy: Businesswire)

Why coal is the best way to power South Africa's growth

Today, the South African economy is two-thirds larger than it was in 1994, when Nelson Mandela took office as the country's first democratically elected president. With this growth has come strong new demand for electricity. Millions of previously marginalized South Africans are now on the grid. Unfortunately, as in other major emerging economies, supply has not kept pace.

Reserve margins are increasingly tight -- too tight for an energy-intensive economy such as South Africa's, whose mines and factories rely on steady supplies of competitively priced power. South Africa has weathered the global downturn better than many richer countries, but the majority of our people remain poor and unemployment stands at an unacceptable 24 percent. To sustain the growth rates we need to create jobs, we have no choice but to build new generating capacity -- relying on what, for now, remains our most abundant and affordable energy source: coal.

Because this is not the most auspicious time for our energy utility, Eskom, to be looking to finance a $50 billion capital program, we are approaching sources of funding we have hitherto left untapped, including the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the European Investment Bank. But our application for a $3.75 billion World Bank loan faces stiff opposition. A strong body of opinion holds that multilateral development banks should be discouraged from funding coal-burning power projects with carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change. We share this concern but, after careful consideration, have concluded that the course we have chosen is the only responsible way forward.

The bulk of the loan, or just over $3 billion, will go toward the construction of a 4,800-megawatt power station at Medupi in South Africa's Limpopo province. This plant, the first of its kind in Africa, will use some of the most efficient, lowest-emission coal-fired technology available. The rest of the loan, $745 million, will be invested in wind and concentrated solar power projects, each generating 100 megawatts, and in various efficiency improvements.

South Africa takes climate change and the need to reduce fossil fuel emissions extremely seriously. Working with Brazil, India and China, we helped to craft the compromise that saved December's United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen from ending in deadlock. In thanks, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called us and our partners "the four horsemen of a climate change solution."

At home, we are taking concrete action that will push our carbon emissions 34 percent lower in 2020 than they would have been otherwise and 43 percent lower in 2025, with net reductions kicking in 10 years after that. We are using every tool at our disposal -- legislative, regulatory and fiscal -- to promote clean and renewable energy and manage demand.

If there were any other way to meet our power needs as quickly or as affordably as our present circumstances demand, or on the required scale, we would obviously prefer technologies -- wind, solar, hydropower, nuclear -- that leave little or no carbon footprint. But we do not have that luxury if we are to meet our obligations both to our own people and to our broader region whose economic prospects are closely tied to our own. South Africa generates more than 60 percent of all electricity produced in sub-Saharan Africa. Tight supplies are not just a problem for us. Our neighbors Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe all rely on Eskom for their electricity. They face the same growth constraints that we do. Their factories and businesses, hospitals and schools, and their ability to provide basic services all depend on Eskom-generated power.

A question that has to be faced is whether stunting growth prospects in our region will in any way serve the goal we all share of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions over the long term. Whatever paths we take toward that goal, whether shifting to renewables and nuclear, or finding ways to keep harmful gases out of the atmosphere once created, the journey will inevitably be costly, requiring massive investments in technology, research and re-engineering the ways in which we live and do business. It will also require a true spirit of consensus and collaboration.

Neither of these requirements will be well served by hampering the transitional measures that developing countries like ours need to take to get themselves on sustainable growth tracks and generate the resources they need to play their part in preserving our planet.

The writer is South Africa's finance minister.

Egypt expects to see its wind power capacity reach 7200 MW by 2020 and is ...

Egypt expects to see its wind power capacity reach 7,200 MW by 2020 and is boosting it to 550 MW by May 22 de marzo de 2010

The success of this bidding process is key to achieving a target to boost Egypt's wind energy capacity to 7,200 megawatts from the current 520 megawatts over the next 10 years.

Egypt is likely to launch a second tender round to choose from 10 wind power firms short-listed to build its first private wind farm. In the first round, Egypt shortlisted the firms in November 2009 for the 250-megawatt wind energy project. The most populous Arab country, trying to diversify its energy sources, aims to generate 12 percent of its power from wind turbines by 2020.

The project developer will design, finance, construct, own and operate the wind power plant for 20 to 25 years and will sell the power produced during that period to the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company.

Another difficulty could be securing financing. The government funds wind farm projects through soft financing, bank loans with long maturities and favourable interest rates.

Egypt should also speed up efforts to expand in solar energy. The country's first Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant will start production by the end of the year. The integrated solar thermal power plant, located south of Cairo at Koraymat, has a capacity of 140 megawatts, of which 20 megawatts comes from concentrated solar generation.

The World Bank currently partly finances four energy projects in Egypt, including gas, electricity and renewable energy. Projects are worth a total of nearly $3 billion.

Hallouda said two more power projects, worth around $1.5 billion, were waiting for World Bank partial funding approval.

Egypt to allot more land for wind farms

Egypt's Electricity Ministry will allocate 1.5 million feddans (630,000 hectares) of government land in Upper Egypt for wind farms, an official at the ministry said.

"Part of this land will be used for future tenders that we will announce for building wind farms, and the other part will be for wind farms funded by the government and multinational organisations," the official, who declined to be named, said.

The land will be in the provinces of Beni Suef, Minya, and Assiut. The ministry had said it was allocating 300,000 feddans of land on the Red Sea coast in the Gulf of Suez area to wind farm projects in June.

Egypt, which is a gas and oil producer, has been developing wind power along its Red Sea coast in its east. It aims to generate 12 percent of its power from wind turbines and a total of 20 percent from renewable sources by 2020.

Officials say Egypt's combined oil and gas reserves will last the most populous Arab country for roughly three more decades, pushing the drive for more renewable energy.

Egypt already has wind farms at Zafarana and Hurghada on the Red Sea coast.

Siemens builds wind power unit on Red Sea

Siemens has taken another step towards becoming one of the world's top three wind turbines makers by 2012 by installing a 250-megawatt renewable energy plant in Egypt's Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea coast.

Egypt's state news agency quoted Emad Gali, head of Siemens's renewable energy, oil and gas operations, as saying Egypt has huge potential in generating renewable energy, but has not used it optimally.

Until recently Germany-based Siemens has ranked as the world's sixth biggest manufacturer of wind turbines in terms of market share, behind Denmark's Vestas, US General Electric, Spain's Gamesa, Germany's Enercon and India's Suzlon.

Siemens, Europe's biggest engineering conglomerate, said it was on track towards becoming one of the world's top three wind turbines makers by 2012.

Research shows that the world market for wind turbines was worth about 45 billion euros in 2009 and that global installed capacity will more than double to 340 gigawatts by 2013.

Egypt has been developing wind power along its eastern Red Sea coast. It has wind farms at Zafarana and Hurghada in the area, and has so far installed capacity of 550 megawatts (MW) of wind energy.

Egypt is to host a factory producing raw materials and gas used to generate solar energy, with $460 million of investments in total, state news agency Mena reported.

The new plant is expected to produce annually 3,000 tonnes of polysilicon, a key material in most photovoltaic solar cells, and 1,500 tonnes of a gas also used in the manufacture of cells.

According to Mena the plant will be built on a 200,000 sq m site northwest the Suez Canal. The country has strong solar energy potential due to low levels of rain and clouds, and year-round sun.


http://business.maktoob.com

Alcoa Getting Into The Concentrating Solar Power Game

SUNDAY 21 MARCH, 2010 | |

Alcoa Getting Into The Concentrating Solar Power Game

Alcoa announced last week testing of its advanced solar technology with the goal of making Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) competitive in the United States by lowering its cost to generate energy.
 
In a joint project with the U.S. Department of Energy�s National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), the two recently installed a new Alcoa-designed Concentrating Solar Power parabolic trough at NREL�s test facility in Golden, Colorado. The testing will measure the collector's efficiency to generate energy and evaluate its structural performance. 
 
Commercial Concentrating Solar Power systems usually use glass mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto receivers, using the heat created to produce utility scale electricity via a steam turbine.
 
One of the benefits of Concentrating Solar Power technology for utility scale applications is thermal energy can be stored and drawn upon cloudy periods and at night, providing better grid stability and increased capacity factors compared to solar panel applications that currently require costly deep cycle battery storage.
 
Instead of glass mirrors, the new Alcoa technology uses highly-reflective aluminium mirrors, which the company says are more robust and environmentally-friendly than fragile glass-based mirrors. Alcoa points out that the aluminium can be infinitely recycled.
 
Alcoa says its design enables high-volume manufacturing techniques to lower installation costs and offers a simple "drop-in-place" collector solution for easy installation. The Alcoa design includes sheet, extrusions and fasteners.
 
The project is being partially funded by a US$2.1 million Department of Energy grant. Test results are expected by the second quarter of 2010, after which the system will enter its next level of large-scale testing.
 

'Solar Zone' Articulates New, World-Class Concept

PR Log (Press Release) – Mar 18, 2010 – The “Solar Zone” at the University of Arizona Science & Technology Park is a revolutionary, solar-centric business zone poised to significantly advance solar energy innovation and production. The Solar Zone thrusts Southern Arizona into the center of solar investment. Far beyond a solar farm’s sea of glinting photovoltaic panels, the Solar Zone is a sweeping integration of research and development, manufacturing, green job training, education and public awareness, according John D. Grabo, director of business development for the UA Tech Park. About 200 of the UA Tech Park’s 1,345 acres, 9000 S. Rita Road, have been designated for the Solar Zone. “The Solar Zone is the articulation of a vision to bring different aspects of the solar industry together in a supportive and competitive environment to manufacture products, create technology, attract suppliers, nurture talent, and influence the solar strategy of the region,” Grabo said. “A comprehensive, integrated solar park at this level does not exist elsewhere.” The Solar Zone will connect selected and prequalified research centers internationally and create productive partnerships through The Global AdvantageTM program, a network of cities and regions in the United States, Canada and Europe that includes Ottawa and Berlin, committed to working collaboratively on clean-tech initiative that will: • Create new markets; • Enhance supply chains; • Foster research opportunities for technology development and commercialization; and • Create productive partnerships with relevant solar centers to investment business opportunities for Solar Zone firms. Location, location, location Tucson’s 350 days of sunshine make it ripe for solar power innovations. The Solar Zone at the Tech Park offers the ideal setting and several attributes not available elsewhere. These strategic advantages include: • Location — 200 acres will cluster multiple solar generation technologies used in the marketplace, combined with next generation product development. • Synergy — Centralizing key suppliers in the region and state is a fundamental goal. • Speed to marketplace — The Solar Zone’s streamlined processes combined with an understanding of the competitive challenges and demands helps drive solar companies to operational much faster than anywhere else. • Talent — The next generation of solar professionals is being developed in collaboration with industry requirements.   • Innovative capacity — The Solar Zone is linked to the University of Arizona, is ranked among the top 20 of public research universities nationwide, and its solar efforts such as the Arizona Research Institute for Solar Energy (AzRISE) and programs in the Optical Sciences, Engineering, Atmospheric Sciences and Physical Sciences. Outcomes The Solar Zone’s collaborative approach dovetails with the community’s goals and the University of Arizona’ strong strategic focus on sustainability and renewable energy. Utilities and the research community welcome the Solar Zone’s presence and unique concept. This sweeping innovation is meant to stimulate investment for the solar industry and create a distinct competitive advantage for solar industry investment and jobs. Grabo expects the Solar Zone to attract power generation and be solar thought leaders. Energy companies, manufacturers of solar panels and other materials, researchers, start-up companies, and educational institutions should be to attracted to the Solar Zone. This is the environment to create, test and deploy current and future solar technologies. Tucson Electric Power (TEP) is committed to and actively engaged in the direction of the Solar Zone. The Solar Zone’s success will support TEP’s efforts to satisfy Arizona’s Renewable Energy Standard, which calls on the state’s utilities to increase their use of renewable power each year until it represents 15 percent of their retail energy in 2025. The Solar Zone also will play a key role in deployment of solar energy technology, resulting in the wider acceptance of a solar energy use and driving down costs. The Solar Zone’s demonstration garden and public awareness center will showcase how solar power works, how it can be used and how it helps the environment, will be central to the Solar Zone’s goal of stimulating interest in and awareness of clean energy. The Solar Zone’s education goal will extend to on-site classrooms where local institutions can develop workforce-training programs with industry input for solar energy-related jobs, such as technicians and installers. Anchor tenant The Solar Zone’s first-of-its-kind integration attracted Bell Independent Power Corporation (BIPC) of Rochester, NY, which announced in January that it would be the anchor tenant of the Solar Zone with its state-of-the-art 5-MW Concentrated Solar Power plant with a Thermal Storage System — the first in the world. BIPC will harvest Tucson’s unique, renewable natural resource: The Heat. Its proprietary Thermal Storage System will enable the concentrated solar power plant to generate electricity on cloudy days and after sunset, reducing cost and overcoming the major limitation of solar power — it only works days. Concentrated solar power gathers the sun’s heat, rather than its light. Photovoltaic arrays at airports and on building rooftops convert solar light photons into electricity. The impetus for the BIPC project was a TEP request for proposal. TEP has asked the Arizona Corporation Commission to approve its agreement to purchase power from the plant over a 20-year period. The plant is expected begin providing power to the company’s customers in May 2011. Tucson has been supportive and positive of the solar industry. “We look forward to the community’s continued support through TREO (Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities, Inc.) and its ongoing efforts to attract economic development incentives,” President Joseph Bell, Jr., said when announcing the firm’s decision to locate at the Solar Zone. The Solar Zone at The Tech Park in Tucson offers a sweeping, integrated approach that will elevate Tucson as a world-leader in development solar power’s prowess and investment potential. UA Tech Park contributes nearly $3.0 billion annually to Pima County’s economy and is one of the region’s largest employment centers hosting 39 business and educational organizations and employing more than 7,000 people including four Fortune 500 companies. For fifteen years, the Tech Park has contributed to regional economic development by advancing the University of Arizona’s research mission and its efforts at technology development and technology commercialization. The Tech Park has been nationally recognized as one of the premier university research parks in North America.  For more information about the Tech Park, visit http://www.uatechpark.org.

GE places solar bets on thin-film cells

March 18, 2010 12:11 PM PDT Hey, I am no physicist or chemist or metallurgist or whatever, but I have a very strong feeling that everyone involved in green tech is too focused on the generation of electricity from alternate means . Whatever happens to solar ovens, solar water heaters , or even solar cigarette lighters is shoved aside. You see, all you need is basic shiny aluminium foil and a solar tracker mechanism to track the movement of the Sun to focus to almost unlimited applications. The biggest home application is the traditional electric, natural gas or fuel oil furnaces which usually comprise well over half of every utility bill often running into the hundreds of dollars monthly. Hey, we want to keep manufacturiing obsolete water heaters (even tankless types) or furnaces. Home light fixtures are also energy guzzlers despite the rise of flourscent bulbs with toxic mercury. Cooking is another energy consumer. Why cannot we try to experiment fiber optics as a conduct of lighting or even for cooking . I dont know if fiber optics will melt on itself if we made it too thick enough to cook food?? We can concentrate the sunlight into fiber optics , cannot we? Duh? We have skylights, of course which helps. Why is it that everyone is too tunnel visioned toward the inefficient conversion technologies to electricity which is still stuck in the teeny percentages. Direct reflection of sunlight is pure 100% conversion into many potential applications. Cannot we reflect the sunlight into the households without blinding dwellers indoors through new developments of materilals that can separate glare from the heat (radiation)? Are we avoiding aluminium simply on the numbskulled assumptions that we cannot keep on producing ever more aluminium due to high electricity required to produce aluminium from bauxite which is the most abundant on Earth topping iron! Why is it that everyone freaks out every time aluminum is mentioned?? Sure, we have uses for photovolitaics but it is not gonna be the only game in town, isnt it? As matter of fact, I built a crude array of aluminum foiled plywood boards that do nothing but reflect light and heat from the Sun toward the shady northern backside of my house. I was fortunate enough to have couple of large windows on the right side that is in the shade which I can concentrate all the sunlight through with total abandon. By golly, my home is so warm that I dont need stinking firewood at all... Sure , I can tear off the tiles off my roof to maximize the soak in of the Sun if I care! I rather have those solar wonks move their research efforts into the plain old sunlight where it counts the most . So much for efforts to convert electricty from the Sun,. while an average minded Joe Six Pack like myself is already soaking in countless kilowatt-hours of solar energy with my crude array of aluminium foiled plywood boards. I am waiting for solar tracking mechanisms to come down in price since it is still reserved for the astronomers and the heliostats still in experiment laboratories.. All I need is a solar shack where I can go to buy solar parts and put together my dreamwork of solar energy! Now, the question I am asking you is whether you will ever bother to look for any upstarts that already move away from the photovoltaics or concentrated solar gizmos and toward the basic application of lowly aluiminium foil or plastic mirrors that is the cheapest means of capturing the solar energy. Will you look for them? You can check out my YouTube site at www.youtube.com/junkyardnut and look for yourself...! Like this Reply to this comment by Dumbpeni March 18, 2010 12:24 PM PDT Dont you know that those millons and millions of brick chimneys dotting all over the world that are located on the wrong sides of the houses that is south facing. This is the worst location to put a brick ro rock chimney because bricks and rocks soak in the southern sunlight and release unwanted heat indoors during the nights . There is no statistics that can tell you how much electricity we can save running air conditioners to keep indoors cool from the glowing fireplaces during the summer nights. Maybe there should be a new building code prohibiting installations of such crummy chimneys on the southern facing sides of houses. New homes are still energy dumb as far as the chimneys are concerned.. As matter of factly, I tore down my brick chimney from top to bottom because it faces the blistering hot summer sun and soaking in negative kilowatthours everyday and making my sleep so miserable!! it is gone now! Hooray!!!! No more firewood smoke as a bonus for heatlh care reform!!!!! There is so much unmet needs in cost unifications as far as health costs are concerned.. We are still breathing neighbors' firewood smoke everyday and keep monitor of no burn days... What a numbskull! Like this Reply to this comment

Aluminium Giant to Make Solar CSP Cheaper

This summer Alcoa will test a new way of making the solar troughs used to make concentrated solar power (CSP) that could reduce the cost by 20%.

Alcoa is working with the NREL, funded by a $2.1 million DOE grant under the Recovery Act funding for renewable energy – to develop cheaper, more durable aluminium mirrors to replace relatively fragile glass mirrors for use in solar CSP technology.

This summer’s tests of the 20-foot by 46-foot solar collector will evaluate its efficiency and structural performance outdoors at NREL’s test facility in Golden, Colorado.

>> Interested in solar power? See if group discounts are available in your city

How CSP works:

The way the technology works is simple. Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) uses curved reflective surfaces to focus collected sunlight on a single point in order to heat a fluid; creating steam to drive a turbine to generate power.

Cheaper materials; mass production

By replacing the glass in parabolic troughs with reflective aluminum and integrating the mirror into a single structure that could be built using the high-volume manufacturing and assembly techniques used in the aerospace and automotive industries to lower installation costs; allowing easy “drop in place” installation, Alcoa thinks they can reduce costs by 20%.

They also aim to reduce both the weight (and thus the cost) of the support structure behind the mirrors.

“If you go out and look behind large parabolic troughs, you’ll find an elaborate truss structure,” said Rick Winter, a technology executive with Alcoa. “From our understanding of aerospace structures, we said if we can modify the wing box design used in aircraft and integrate a parabolic reflector, it would give us a light and stiff structure that would fundamentally affect the cost equation.”

An airplane’s wing box is a unit that integrates support structures and anchors a wing.

Low tech improvements can reduce costs

These kinds of simple mechanical improvements are actually more effective in reducing the cost of solar power in the very short term than breakthroughs in lab experiments that can take years to be developed at scale.

They should see test results by the second quarter of 2010 and be able to begin large-scale testing this Fall. Google is also working on reducing the cost of CSP.

Easiest “technology switch” to replace coal-fired electricity jobs

This form of solar technology is the closest to traditional coal-fired power since, at the end, it uses steam to drive turbines, just like coal power does. It is possible that in some regions coal power stations could be retrofitted to add CSP troughs to collect sunlight to make the steam to drive previously coal-fired steam-driven turbines.

Alcoa’s Technical Center is located outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where rust belt jobs languish, and where coal jobs are in need of a replacement.

A major U.S.-based manufacturer entering the Concentrating Solar Power market can only be good for the hard-hit rust belt economy, while also helping the US transition to all the clean, safe, and fuel-free sources of renewable energy we all need for a prosperous energy-secure future.

Image: Alcoa (Business Wire)
Source: Climate Progress
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