News

Here are some news articles I've come across that I find interesting for one reason or another. Note that the articles are posted in the order that I find them, not by publication date.

World 10/17/2012 -   Denmark Hits 200 Megawatt Solar Capacity Goal 8 Years Ahead of Schedule Always known for green energy and progressive politics, near-polar Denmark now produces more than 20% of its energy from renewables. The biggest surprise here might be that selling energy into the grid with net metering wasn't available until 2010. 11/22/2012 -   Scotland Schools the States on Offshore Wind Initiatives While the US is considering cutting wind subsidies, Scotland is building French manufacturing facilities to supply their offshore turbines. While the rest of the world is still in discussion, Scotland has increased their renewable energy production from 3% in 2006 to 35% in 2011. 6/26/2012 -   China’s First Wind-Farm Lull Limits Outlook for Sinovel: Energy China is currently developing 2.3gW of offshore wind with another 13.6gW with gov approval waiting in the wings make it the proud owner of NEARLY HALF the world's currently proposed 40gW[1]. However, gov delays have incited criticism, and shaky investor support could endanger the future of these projects, siting them as financially "unrealistic". 11/12/2012 -   Solar power, too, was gone with the wind Little known to many, solar panels automatically shut down during outages to avoid electrocuting workers. The obvious solution, buying a battery, is too expensive for most at $8,000. 4/18/2012 -   Global wind capacity to reach 500 GW in 2016 Good news for wind and clean energy, but looking at it holistically, according to the US IEA this is 0.000002477578% of world power production. Even accounting for other clean energy sources, there's a long way to go! 9/18/2012 -   Shift by Cuomo on Gas Drilling Prompts Both Anger and Praise NY governor Andrew Cuomo delayed fracking in NYS to commission another study into its health effects. Industry cries foul while Cuomo cries "...decision will be made based on the science...". I second that. 9/18/2012 -   Chinese Solar Companies Slash Costs The price dumping is finally catching up to the Chinese solar industry as they cut costs because of new US anti-dumping tariffs and anticipated similar moves from the EU after their recording breakingly-large investigation.
New Installations 11/21/2012 - China's United Power installs 6MW offshore wind turbine This is the latest in the shift to the new standard biggest turbines, with work on 12mW towers already underway, and another baby step into China's delayed massive expansion into offshore wind through its entire south and eastern seaboard. 11/7/2012 - Three tiny islands are world's first to rely entirely on solar power Seems like there must be reserves to keep the power running at night and on cloudy winter days, but it's pretty much there. The reader comments mention an energy storage system based on pumping compressed air. 9/26/2012 - Datang begins China's biggest wind farm Actually this will come in at #2 behind Da Ban Cheng's 500MW, and at least 10 more massive farms in the US. The 2 largest in the world are ~1000MW in the US and India. 9/7/2012 - World’s First Floating Wind Farm Test Site in Mediterranean This test run for floating wind power is being expanded to 26MW before an eventual 150MW. Looks promising, cross your fingers! 1/4/2012 - BYD Unveils World's Largest Energy Storage System in China This electrical storage system was installed to regulate supply from a 140MW wind and solar plant. It stores 36MWh of electricity and is built on the Fe battery design. They've also recently built a battery for a nuclear plant in China.	Wild Ideas 12/27/2013 -   Apple's wind turbine technology uses heat, not rotational energy to generate electricity Apple has patented a new type of wind turbine that produces heat which is then stored to turn a turbine. Seems similar to concentrated solar's molten salt energy storage, but can it really produce enough heat? Seems questionable... 1/9/2013 -   Google is Greenwashing, Paper Industry Claims An angry debate has sprung up between Google and the paper industry about the seemingly innocuous push for a paper-less world. With both sides having an obvious horse in the race, the paper industry makes a good point that sustainable paper production can be green whereas power production needed to run computers is decidedly bad for the environment. 1/9/2013 -   Close up - Testing the V164 80-metre blade An uneventful look at the largest turbine blade yet made with the exception of the description of their testing and data collection process. They are building a database comprehensive enough to completely avoid using prototypes in the future. 10/3/2012 -   China and Netherlands sign deal for world’s largest tidal energy project Dynamic Tidal Power (DTP) is a Dutch technology that sets up a physical barrier between coastal places with different tidal patterns and pushes turbines with the water pouring from high to low tide. This project will set up a small demonstration plant in China, which is said to have 150 gigawatts of DTP potential. 7/4/2012 -   Scientists to push organic solar cell efficiency Organic solar has already reached 10% efficiencies in the lab and have excellent flexibility, but have more distance to cover before competing with silicon on a price/watt basis.
Business 11/15/2012 -   Solar Struggle: A Rise Of Poorly Made PV Modules? An overly competitive solar panel market is starting to produce companies focused on cost cutting over quality. Faced with looming bankruptcy, liquidity and fast returns are paramount. Could this be another effect of Chinese price dumping? 5/16/2012 -   Organic Photovoltaics Market to Grow 1300% by 2022 This new and developing method of harvesting the sun's energy is basically a cheaper version of its silicon cousin, both price-wise and quality-wise, giving it a lot of niche space in the market over the next 10 years. 8/29/2012 -  GM on Target to Meet Solar Energy Commitments GM is adding an 8.15MW installation in Germany to join its largest-on-earth 12MW rooftop installation in Spain on the road to 60MW of total installed solar by 2015. 9/12/2012 -  Solar Means Business: Top Commercial Solar Customers in the U.S. Walmart has the largest private investment in solar in the US to the tune of 65MW. Before reading I assumed this was in renewable energy credits, but it's in actual installations built locally to power stores and cut electricity bills. Very interesting! 5/23/2012 -  U.S. anti-dumping duty crimps solar companies' margins Earlier hits in the weak European markets and the new US tariff seem to be having an effect.	Taiwan 5/19/2012 - U.S. anti-dumping tariffs on China solar firms may benefit Taiwan Solar producers in Taiwan don't have nearly the subsidies that the Chinese enjoy, but the relative competitive edge should make a difference. 4/26/2012 - Privatization, competition aren't magic solutions for energy woes An op-ed about recent calls for privatization of the state-run Taipower and CPC companies, which control electricity and petroleum respectively, as a result of recent economic strains, increased prices, and complaints of inefficiency. 4/25/2012 - President Ma Calls for National Energy Saving A positive call to action amid rising energy costs, but upon completion in 2018 the 815,000 new LED bulbs nationwide will cut national energy consumption in Taiwan a mere .04%. The $3.34USD billion loan program for companies to purchase more efficient equipment seems likely to be more effective. 4/18/2012 - 2012 Global Economic Energy Efficiency Ranking The US is ranked as the #1 in increased efficiency since 2005, followed by mostly other developed nations. 4/17/2012 - Businesses quietly pre-empt energy price hike In reaction to increased fuel prices and anticipation of higher electricity prices planned for March, business are beginning to increase their prices. The rice industry is considering an increase in prices of "at least 20 to 30 percent" to compensate farmers" additional costs.