Hobart Mercury
Monday 15/2/2010 Page: 5
FINANCIAL help from Hydro Tasmania has allowed a wind farm in South Australia to go ahead while a similar project here has stalled. It has been revealed Hydro Tasmania underwrote Roaring 40s Waterloo windfarm in South Australia with joint venture partner TRUEnergy. Meanwhile, the Musselroe wind farm in Tasmania's far northeast has stalled indefinitely because of financing problems. Workers have not been told when, or if, construction will resume.
Liberal energy spokesman Peter Gutwein questioned the priorities of the state's energy generator. "The Government must explain why a Roaring 40s wind farm project in SA was able to be underwritten by Tasmanian GBE Hydro yet the Musselroe wind farm, worth more than $400 million, and a key northern project with hundreds of jobs attached to it, has still been unable to achieve financial close," Mr Gutwein said.
Hydro Tasmania purchased renewable energy certificates (RECs) and hedged electricity prices for the Waterloo project for 10 years to get it off the ground. Since then the market for RECs has dropped, making investment in wind energy uneconomic. Energy Minister David Llewellyn said he would not interfere with the dealings of a private company. He believed the Musselroe project would still be built.
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Zero emissions possible - at $40bn a year Climate group sets 10-year target
Age
Monday 15/2/2010 Page: 6
AUSTRALIA could move to 100% renewable energy within a decade if it spent heavily on cutting edge solar thermal and wind technology, according to an analysis released as part of a community bid to redirect the flailing climate policy debate. The shift would require the annual investment of up to $40 billion - roughly 3.5% of national GDP - with the largest chunk going towards solar thermal power plants that used molten-salt heat storage to allow power generation to continue without sunlight. The plan by advocacy group Beyond Zero Emissions was outlined at the launch of the Transition Decade, or T10, a grassroots campaign hoping to garner support for dramatic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
Pitched as a response to the failure to introduce national and state policies to substantially reduce emissions, T10 won support yesterday from the City of Melbourne, the Australian Greens and Victorian Governor David de Kretser. Launching the campaign, Professor de Kretser said Australia had a responsibility to act. "If every person in the world generated greenhouse gas emissions per person equivalent to those of each Australian today, the levels would quickly exceed those predicted to cause very dangerous global warming," he told more than 1000 people at the Melbourne Town Hall. "The consequences for planet Earth.., would be disastrous."
Under the Beyond Zero Emissions model, concentrated solar thermal plants at 12 sites across the country would meet 60% of national energy demands. They would be supplemented by wind and photovoltaic solar panels, with existing hydroelectricity and biomass from burning crop remains as back-up. Beyond Zero Emissions spokesman Mark Ogge said developments overseas had shown the claims that renewable energy could not provide baseload power had no basis. Spain plans to install enough concentrated solar thermal in the next three years to power half of Victoria, with capacity six times greater than this in development.
Mr Ogge conceded the estimated investment was huge, but said it should not seen as just a cost. "All these power plants pay themselves off over their lifetime," he said. "When you finish we've got a brand new renewable energy system that is going to last 50 years at least and have no fuel costs." Greens climate change spokeswoman Christine Milne said the government and opposition were too invested in "business-as-usual" politics to support the change needed to combat climate change.
Prince Minister Kevin Rudd said the government was continuing to negotiate with all parties in a bid to have the scheme passed. He again alluded to a possible double dissolution if the bill was defeated. "Whenever the next election is held, and whatever form that election takes, both emissions trading and action on climate change will be front and centre," Mr Rudd told Network Ten's Meet the Press.
Monday 15/2/2010 Page: 6
AUSTRALIA could move to 100% renewable energy within a decade if it spent heavily on cutting edge solar thermal and wind technology, according to an analysis released as part of a community bid to redirect the flailing climate policy debate. The shift would require the annual investment of up to $40 billion - roughly 3.5% of national GDP - with the largest chunk going towards solar thermal power plants that used molten-salt heat storage to allow power generation to continue without sunlight. The plan by advocacy group Beyond Zero Emissions was outlined at the launch of the Transition Decade, or T10, a grassroots campaign hoping to garner support for dramatic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
Pitched as a response to the failure to introduce national and state policies to substantially reduce emissions, T10 won support yesterday from the City of Melbourne, the Australian Greens and Victorian Governor David de Kretser. Launching the campaign, Professor de Kretser said Australia had a responsibility to act. "If every person in the world generated greenhouse gas emissions per person equivalent to those of each Australian today, the levels would quickly exceed those predicted to cause very dangerous global warming," he told more than 1000 people at the Melbourne Town Hall. "The consequences for planet Earth.., would be disastrous."
Under the Beyond Zero Emissions model, concentrated solar thermal plants at 12 sites across the country would meet 60% of national energy demands. They would be supplemented by wind and photovoltaic solar panels, with existing hydroelectricity and biomass from burning crop remains as back-up. Beyond Zero Emissions spokesman Mark Ogge said developments overseas had shown the claims that renewable energy could not provide baseload power had no basis. Spain plans to install enough concentrated solar thermal in the next three years to power half of Victoria, with capacity six times greater than this in development.
Mr Ogge conceded the estimated investment was huge, but said it should not seen as just a cost. "All these power plants pay themselves off over their lifetime," he said. "When you finish we've got a brand new renewable energy system that is going to last 50 years at least and have no fuel costs." Greens climate change spokeswoman Christine Milne said the government and opposition were too invested in "business-as-usual" politics to support the change needed to combat climate change.
Prince Minister Kevin Rudd said the government was continuing to negotiate with all parties in a bid to have the scheme passed. He again alluded to a possible double dissolution if the bill was defeated. "Whenever the next election is held, and whatever form that election takes, both emissions trading and action on climate change will be front and centre," Mr Rudd told Network Ten's Meet the Press.
Power plants will generate 2000 jobs
Weekend Australian
Saturday 13/2/2010 Page: 5
THOUSANDS of engineering and construction jobs may be generated in western Victoria this decade as the Portland-Warrnambool district becomes a new eastern seaboard hub for power supply and a key contributor to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce and Energy says an energy revolution is under way in the state. It estimates that demand growth will require 6000MW of new power plants by 2030, with the requirement going up to 12,000MW if the four existing brown coal-fired generators in the Latrobe Valley have to be replaced to meet greenhouse requirements.
VECCI chief executive Wayne Kayler-Thomson says the capital cost of new power stations will lie between $18 billion and $36bn. He also predicts that up to $10bn will be spent on transmission networks to move electricity from generators to the market and another $5bn m ay be required to upgrade natural gas supply capacity. While the political focus over the next few years will be on the fate of the Latrobe Valley coal burning plants in eastern Victoria - which currently meet 85% of the state's power needs most development attention will be on the other side of the state.
Three gas-fired developments are proposed in southwest Victoria. Origin Energy has begun building a $640 million peaking power plant, with a capacity of 550MW, near Mortlake and says it will consider doubling its size. The first phase is due to be commissioned next summer and the project overall could cost $1.5bn. The critical need for peaking capacity in Victoria was highlighted in January's heatwave when demand soared to more than 8000MW compared with a normal day-today requirement of 5700MW.
Santos is pursuing feasibility studies on an $800 million gasfired baseload power station at Orford and says it will consider extending the development to 1500MW in three stages. AGL Energy is weighing up building a 500MW gas peaking plant near Koroit and says it could be extended to 850MW. These developments can provide more than 2000 construction j obs, the firms say. Meanwhile the renewable energy industry sees southwest Victoria as a major wind energy hub for eastern Australia. Fortythree projects are under construction, in planning stages or mooted for the area. If all are built, they will add more than 4000MW to Victoria's generation capacity and cost more than $7bn.
State Energy Minister Peter Batehelor says $2bn in renewable investment is under way to build 1836MW of wind generation, creating more than 2000 construction jobs. However, wind investment is stalled nationally because of industry concerns about the federal government's renewable energy target, the RET's new provisions to support solar heaters and hot water pumps having caused a large slump in the value of the underpinning generation certificates.
AGL Energy, which is planning the biggest development, an $850m windfarm at Macarthur near Portland, able to provide enough energy to power Geelong, has said it will not proceed until the RET problems are resolved. Two other new generation technologies may be available in western Victoria. The federal government has contributed $66.4m to an ocean energy demonstration project off Portland and the state government is supporting geothermal exploration in the area. Both, if commercially viable, could provide zero emission baseload power.
Saturday 13/2/2010 Page: 5
THOUSANDS of engineering and construction jobs may be generated in western Victoria this decade as the Portland-Warrnambool district becomes a new eastern seaboard hub for power supply and a key contributor to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce and Energy says an energy revolution is under way in the state. It estimates that demand growth will require 6000MW of new power plants by 2030, with the requirement going up to 12,000MW if the four existing brown coal-fired generators in the Latrobe Valley have to be replaced to meet greenhouse requirements.
VECCI chief executive Wayne Kayler-Thomson says the capital cost of new power stations will lie between $18 billion and $36bn. He also predicts that up to $10bn will be spent on transmission networks to move electricity from generators to the market and another $5bn m ay be required to upgrade natural gas supply capacity. While the political focus over the next few years will be on the fate of the Latrobe Valley coal burning plants in eastern Victoria - which currently meet 85% of the state's power needs most development attention will be on the other side of the state.
Three gas-fired developments are proposed in southwest Victoria. Origin Energy has begun building a $640 million peaking power plant, with a capacity of 550MW, near Mortlake and says it will consider doubling its size. The first phase is due to be commissioned next summer and the project overall could cost $1.5bn. The critical need for peaking capacity in Victoria was highlighted in January's heatwave when demand soared to more than 8000MW compared with a normal day-today requirement of 5700MW.
Santos is pursuing feasibility studies on an $800 million gasfired baseload power station at Orford and says it will consider extending the development to 1500MW in three stages. AGL Energy is weighing up building a 500MW gas peaking plant near Koroit and says it could be extended to 850MW. These developments can provide more than 2000 construction j obs, the firms say. Meanwhile the renewable energy industry sees southwest Victoria as a major wind energy hub for eastern Australia. Fortythree projects are under construction, in planning stages or mooted for the area. If all are built, they will add more than 4000MW to Victoria's generation capacity and cost more than $7bn.
State Energy Minister Peter Batehelor says $2bn in renewable investment is under way to build 1836MW of wind generation, creating more than 2000 construction jobs. However, wind investment is stalled nationally because of industry concerns about the federal government's renewable energy target, the RET's new provisions to support solar heaters and hot water pumps having caused a large slump in the value of the underpinning generation certificates.
AGL Energy, which is planning the biggest development, an $850m windfarm at Macarthur near Portland, able to provide enough energy to power Geelong, has said it will not proceed until the RET problems are resolved. Two other new generation technologies may be available in western Victoria. The federal government has contributed $66.4m to an ocean energy demonstration project off Portland and the state government is supporting geothermal exploration in the area. Both, if commercially viable, could provide zero emission baseload power.
Energy project tackles storage
Adelaide Advertiser
Saturday 13/2/2010 Page: 80
A US company plans to dig underground caverns that it hopes to fill with compressed air, to generate electricity by turning a turbine. This could solve one of the most vexing problems facing the cleanenergy industry - how to store power. Under a barren patch of Utah desert, a private equity group is bankrolling the project to hollow out a series of energy storage vaults from a massive salt deposit a mile (1.6km) underground. It promises to make a repository for storing energy and, in effect, creating a giant subterranean battery.
Energy storage is catching on as a way to make wind and solar energy more useful. The lack of storage is one of the things holding back clean energy, say scientists for Sandia National Laboratories' energy systems group in Albuquerque. The only commercial scale, compressed-air power plants are in McIntosh, Alabama, and Bremen, Germany. Other projects are under development in Norton, Ohio, and Ankeny, Iowa.
Saturday 13/2/2010 Page: 80
A US company plans to dig underground caverns that it hopes to fill with compressed air, to generate electricity by turning a turbine. This could solve one of the most vexing problems facing the cleanenergy industry - how to store power. Under a barren patch of Utah desert, a private equity group is bankrolling the project to hollow out a series of energy storage vaults from a massive salt deposit a mile (1.6km) underground. It promises to make a repository for storing energy and, in effect, creating a giant subterranean battery.
Energy storage is catching on as a way to make wind and solar energy more useful. The lack of storage is one of the things holding back clean energy, say scientists for Sandia National Laboratories' energy systems group in Albuquerque. The only commercial scale, compressed-air power plants are in McIntosh, Alabama, and Bremen, Germany. Other projects are under development in Norton, Ohio, and Ankeny, Iowa.
A new wire twist on silicon solar cells
www.reuters.com
Feb 14, 2010
CHICAGO, Feb 14 (Reuters) - U.S, researchers have devised a way to make flexible solar cells with silicon wires that use just 1% of the material needed to make conventional solar cells. The eventual hope is to make thin, light solar cells that could be incorporated into clothing, for instance but the immediate benefit is cheaper and easier-to-install solar panels, the researchers said.
The new material, reported on Sunday in Nature Materials, uses conventional silicon configured into micron-sized wires (a micron is one-millionth of a meter) instead of brittle wafers and encases them in a flexible polymer that can be rolled or bent. "The idea is it would be lower cost and easier to work with by being more flexible than conventional silicon solar cells," Michael Kelzenberg of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who worked on the study, said in a telephone interview. solar cells, which convert solar energy into electricity, are in high demand because of higher oil prices and concerns over climate change.
Many companies, including Japanese consumer electronics maker Sharp Corp and Germany's Q-Cells SE, are making thin-film solar cells using organic materials such as polymers, but they typically are less efficient at converting solar energy into electricity than conventional cells using silicon. The study is among the latest to combine the flexibility of the new organic or carbon-containing films with the high efficiency of silicon, which is heavy and stiff.
Kelzenberg said the material uses about 1/100th as much silicon per cell area as a silicon wafer. "It is potentially a route to bypass many of the costs associated with producing solar cells," he said. He said a big problem with working with silicon wafers is they are fragile. More testing is needed but Kelzenberg said the material would be about 15% to 20% efficient, about the same level as solar cells used on roofs to heat homes.
A similar effort is under way in the lab of John Rogers, a professor of materials science at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Campaign, who is working on ways to make inorganic materials more flexible. While many companies are investing in organic solar cells - - basically materials like plastic that contain carbon - - Rogers said these materials have relatively low performance, less long-term reliability and an unproven cost structure. "We like the inorganics - - trying to adapt them and use them in non-standard ways," Rogers said in a telephone interview.
Last year, his team reported on a new manufacturing process that creates thin arrays of solar cells that are flexible enough to be rolled around a pencil and transparent enough to be used to tint windows on buildings or cars. "We can make them stretch like a rubber band or bendable like a sheet of plastic," he said. He is founder of a start-up semiconductor company called Semprius Inc in Durham, North Carolina, that last month announced a joint effort with Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE) to develop large systems for utility-scale power generation. "The same technology they are using to make these rigid utility-scale modules could be used for flexible devices as well," he said. Rogers said that the company has funding from the U.S. Department of Defense and the CIA.
The Australian connection at Amity university
economictimes.indiatimes.com
14 Feb 2010
'Amity Indo-Australian Commerce Science and Technology Foundation', the launch of which was recently announced at the Amity campus, Noida, will work in the areas of commerce, science and technology and thereby, attempt to bring credit to both the countries. Amity Institute of Renewable and Alternative Energy organised a two day Indo-Australian Solar Energy Workshop from February 09-10, 2010 at Amity University Campus, Noida. Supported by Department of Science and Technology, Delhi, the workshop witnessed speakers and delegates from IITs of Chennai, Kanpur, Guwahati and Mumbai. The workshop was inaugurated by Lachan Strahan, deputy high commissioner, Australia.
In his inaugural address Ashok K Chauhan, founder president, Amity Universe promised that the projects developed out of the discussions and deliberations during the two day workshop would be commercially utilised. Chauhan formally announced the launch of the Amity Indo-Australian commerce, science and technology foundation.
Strahan said: "Challenge before us, as a planet and as a race is to find a living which is in harmony with the planet. I agree that IT has opened up wonderful new ways of communication but there is no substitute for coming together and meeting each other face to face. It's been two months that Copenhagen Conference took place where the world community grappled with the challenge of climate change. We all acknowledge that it was a difficult conference and agreement to so many issues was not reached."
Talking about the solution towards the problem, Strahan added, "We also know that technology must be a part of the solution to climate change; we must find ways of developing cleaner sources of energy. solar energy must be a part of that solution.The two Governments-Indian and Australian have recognized the fundamental importance of solar energy. India has its own solar energy mission; it has sets its ambitious targets for solar energy generation.
Australian Government has set its own renewable energy targets ie 20% by 2020. This conference will strengthen the expanding relationship between India and Australia" Most of the speakers pointed out on common thing and important fact that India and Australia are blessed with abundant sun, which should be utilised to the fullest extent.
Prahlada, chief controller, DRDO said: "Both the countries have abundant sun to play with. Normally, DRDO deals with missiles, aircrafts, torpedoes etc but off late, we have started looking at solar energy for various reasons, for example, we do develop unmanned air vehicles but now we are talking about solar energyed unmanned air vehicles which can keep roaring for days and days. The need of the hour is low cost, low weight solar batteries made of plastic or polymer. DRDO is encouraging institutes and students to carry on research in this area and in next ten years lot of opportunities exist for this in Solar Energy sector."
V K Jain, director, Amity Institute of Renewable and Alternative Energy while apprising the gathering about the proceedings of the workshop, said: "India is blessed with 300 sunny days in a year, which means over 5, 000 trillion kWs of solar energy in a year but the cost of solar energy needs to be reduced to make it a viable source of energy". The topics discussed during the workshop were - "High Efficiency Flexible Solar Cells", "Dye Sensitized Solar Cells", " Solar Thermal Systems", " Phase Change Thermal Storage for Solar Application" and the like.
Amity's Turkish Connection
The President of Turkey, Abdullah Gul, visited the campus in Noida, and addressed a cross section of people, including, students, faculty members of Amity and dignitaries from Corporate and educational sector. The University conferred a doctorate degree on the President. Ashok K Chauhan, founder president, Amity University and Atul Chauhan, chancellor, Amity University, honored the President of Turkey with a Doctorate Degree in Philosophy along with a citation.
Expressing his gratitude on being conferred with the degree, Turkish President, said: "it gives me profound pleasure to be in Amity University and address the students. I have special interest in the centers of higher education, they are the future of our world and are means to reach lasting peace, security and prosperity."
14 Feb 2010
'Amity Indo-Australian Commerce Science and Technology Foundation', the launch of which was recently announced at the Amity campus, Noida, will work in the areas of commerce, science and technology and thereby, attempt to bring credit to both the countries. Amity Institute of Renewable and Alternative Energy organised a two day Indo-Australian Solar Energy Workshop from February 09-10, 2010 at Amity University Campus, Noida. Supported by Department of Science and Technology, Delhi, the workshop witnessed speakers and delegates from IITs of Chennai, Kanpur, Guwahati and Mumbai. The workshop was inaugurated by Lachan Strahan, deputy high commissioner, Australia.
In his inaugural address Ashok K Chauhan, founder president, Amity Universe promised that the projects developed out of the discussions and deliberations during the two day workshop would be commercially utilised. Chauhan formally announced the launch of the Amity Indo-Australian commerce, science and technology foundation.
Strahan said: "Challenge before us, as a planet and as a race is to find a living which is in harmony with the planet. I agree that IT has opened up wonderful new ways of communication but there is no substitute for coming together and meeting each other face to face. It's been two months that Copenhagen Conference took place where the world community grappled with the challenge of climate change. We all acknowledge that it was a difficult conference and agreement to so many issues was not reached."
Talking about the solution towards the problem, Strahan added, "We also know that technology must be a part of the solution to climate change; we must find ways of developing cleaner sources of energy. solar energy must be a part of that solution.The two Governments-Indian and Australian have recognized the fundamental importance of solar energy. India has its own solar energy mission; it has sets its ambitious targets for solar energy generation.
Australian Government has set its own renewable energy targets ie 20% by 2020. This conference will strengthen the expanding relationship between India and Australia" Most of the speakers pointed out on common thing and important fact that India and Australia are blessed with abundant sun, which should be utilised to the fullest extent.
Prahlada, chief controller, DRDO said: "Both the countries have abundant sun to play with. Normally, DRDO deals with missiles, aircrafts, torpedoes etc but off late, we have started looking at solar energy for various reasons, for example, we do develop unmanned air vehicles but now we are talking about solar energyed unmanned air vehicles which can keep roaring for days and days. The need of the hour is low cost, low weight solar batteries made of plastic or polymer. DRDO is encouraging institutes and students to carry on research in this area and in next ten years lot of opportunities exist for this in Solar Energy sector."
V K Jain, director, Amity Institute of Renewable and Alternative Energy while apprising the gathering about the proceedings of the workshop, said: "India is blessed with 300 sunny days in a year, which means over 5, 000 trillion kWs of solar energy in a year but the cost of solar energy needs to be reduced to make it a viable source of energy". The topics discussed during the workshop were - "High Efficiency Flexible Solar Cells", "Dye Sensitized Solar Cells", " Solar Thermal Systems", " Phase Change Thermal Storage for Solar Application" and the like.
Amity's Turkish Connection
The President of Turkey, Abdullah Gul, visited the campus in Noida, and addressed a cross section of people, including, students, faculty members of Amity and dignitaries from Corporate and educational sector. The University conferred a doctorate degree on the President. Ashok K Chauhan, founder president, Amity University and Atul Chauhan, chancellor, Amity University, honored the President of Turkey with a Doctorate Degree in Philosophy along with a citation.
Expressing his gratitude on being conferred with the degree, Turkish President, said: "it gives me profound pleasure to be in Amity University and address the students. I have special interest in the centers of higher education, they are the future of our world and are means to reach lasting peace, security and prosperity."
Kia introduces concept hybrid vehicle that utilizes solar energy
solar.coolerplanet.com
February 12, 2010
Kia is entering the world of green energy with one of its newest plug-in hybrid concept vehicles, which features a range of 746 miles and utilizes solar energy for some of its smaller functions. The Kia Ray, which was debuted Thursday at the 2010 Chicago Auto Show, is one of Kia Motors America's first forays into hybrid vehicles that will offer an array of green technologies designed to reduce its carbon footprint compared to more conventional vehicles.
In addition to its plug-in capabilities that can boost the 153-horsepower engine's fuel economy to 202 miles-per-gallon, the car also features solar cells that are located in the vehicle's glass on its roof. When the car is parked, the cells generate a small charge of solar energy to operate cooling fans to reduce the vehicle's interior temperature.
"It is important to imagine what people will want in the future from a green perspective early in the design process, because people want to reduce their carbon footprint without driving carbon copies," said Peter Schreyer, chief design officer, Kia Motors Corporation. Nano-laminate films and other cooling materials on the vehicle's windows are also designed to reduce heat in the interior, which in turn will reduce the use of air conditioning and the release of greenhouse gases.
February 12, 2010
Kia is entering the world of green energy with one of its newest plug-in hybrid concept vehicles, which features a range of 746 miles and utilizes solar energy for some of its smaller functions. The Kia Ray, which was debuted Thursday at the 2010 Chicago Auto Show, is one of Kia Motors America's first forays into hybrid vehicles that will offer an array of green technologies designed to reduce its carbon footprint compared to more conventional vehicles.
In addition to its plug-in capabilities that can boost the 153-horsepower engine's fuel economy to 202 miles-per-gallon, the car also features solar cells that are located in the vehicle's glass on its roof. When the car is parked, the cells generate a small charge of solar energy to operate cooling fans to reduce the vehicle's interior temperature.
"It is important to imagine what people will want in the future from a green perspective early in the design process, because people want to reduce their carbon footprint without driving carbon copies," said Peter Schreyer, chief design officer, Kia Motors Corporation. Nano-laminate films and other cooling materials on the vehicle's windows are also designed to reduce heat in the interior, which in turn will reduce the use of air conditioning and the release of greenhouse gases.
Monday, 15 February 2010
Sweden to build world's biggest wave power plant
www.swedishwire.com
12 February 2010
Swedish energy company Seabased Industry and Finnish power giant Fortum got one step closer to build the world's biggest wave power plant on the Swedish west coast as the Swedish Energy Agency approved an 14-million-euro investment grant. The planned full-scale wave power project is to be located near Smögen in the municipality of Sotenäs, southwest Sweden. Up to 500 units are to be interconnected in the plant and installed power will be approximately 10 MW. The plant will be the biggest of its kind in the world, the Swedish company said in a statement.
"The demonstration plant gives us, or the first time in full scale, the possibility to show that wave power can became a reliable and commercially interesting energy source", Billy Johansson, chief executive officer of Seabased Industry. The agency will contribute 14 million euro (139 million kronor) of the total investment of approximately 25 million euro. The Swedish Energy Agency has been instructed by the Government to support and stimulate the development of commercially viable renewable energy production through investment support.
12 February 2010
Swedish energy company Seabased Industry and Finnish power giant Fortum got one step closer to build the world's biggest wave power plant on the Swedish west coast as the Swedish Energy Agency approved an 14-million-euro investment grant. The planned full-scale wave power project is to be located near Smögen in the municipality of Sotenäs, southwest Sweden. Up to 500 units are to be interconnected in the plant and installed power will be approximately 10 MW. The plant will be the biggest of its kind in the world, the Swedish company said in a statement."The demonstration plant gives us, or the first time in full scale, the possibility to show that wave power can became a reliable and commercially interesting energy source", Billy Johansson, chief executive officer of Seabased Industry. The agency will contribute 14 million euro (139 million kronor) of the total investment of approximately 25 million euro. The Swedish Energy Agency has been instructed by the Government to support and stimulate the development of commercially viable renewable energy production through investment support.
Wave and tidal technologies get £12m boost
www.greenwisebusiness.co.uk
11th February 2010
The Government-backed Technology Strategy Board (TSB) has announced that £12 million will be up for grabs this year to help innovative businesses develop the wave and tidal power technologies of the future. The announcement comes just as SeaGen, the prototype tidal power energy turbine designed and deployed by Marine Current Turbines Ltd (MCT) has become the first tidal power current or wave energy system in the world to exceed 1,000 hours of operation. MCT said yesterday that the 1,000 hour milestone means that the company is well on the way deploying the UK's first tidal power farm within the next two years. The funding from TSB is designed to further exploit the potential of marine energy and comes in the form of two competitions.
Competitive with other renewable energy solutions
TSB chief executive Iain Gray, explained why the funding is needed: "To fully realise the marine energy potential in the UK, there are a number of technological challenges that must still be tackled, ranging from proving which technological solutions will most successfully harness marine energy, to reducing the cost of the energy produced to make the technology competitive with other renewable energy solutions." The first competition, which opens in March with applications due in by April 29, offers a total of £9 million, split between two strands.
The first of these is designed to support the enhancement of existing devices. This would cover improving the reliability and power capture of full-scale devices; the development of second generation existing devices that improve survivability and performance and reduce the cost of energy; and applied research and experimental development for devices that are quarter size or larger. The second strand will support 'novel concept devices' that have already undergone desk-based evaluation and where there is evidence to indicate that the concept has long term commercial prospects.
TSB competition not limited to wave and tidal devices
A spokesperson for the TSB confirmed that the competition is not limited solely to wave and tidal power stream device manufacturers, but is likely to include collaborations designed to develop the supply chain and skills necessary for the future deployment of these technologies. So a wide range of businesses could be eligible for a share of the funding – from those that develop materials and coatings or cables and undersea equipment to utility companies and environmental impact specialists. Of the £9 million available, £2 million is being provided by the South West Regional Development Agency. To qualify for this money, at least one partner involved in the project must be based in South West England.
Strong consideration to proposals that will us Wave Hub
"Strong consideration" will also be given to proposals that include innovative use of the consented area of seabed at the Wave Hub site in Cornwall. This is the South West RDA's £42 million flagship marine renewables project designed to create a grid-connected 'socket' on the seabed, to which arrays of wave energy conversion devices can be connected and tested.
"We are delighted to be investing in this new competition with the Technology Strategy Board. It will accelerate the pace of marine renewables development in the UK, and complement the significant investment the South West RDA is making in the sector through our investments in Wave Hub and marine energy research," said Stephen Peacock, the South West RDA's executive director of enterprise and innovation. The second TSB competition, due to open in September with a deadline for applications of October 21, is aimed at getting pre-commercial full scale devices installed and operating in the sea and is specifically aimed at businesses that are already working towards full scale deployment of their technology.
SeaGen developer could be eligible for funding
Companies like MCT, which got a share of the Carbon Trust's Marine Renewable Proving Fund (MRPF) announced earlier this month, are eligible for the competitions, but their applications must be designed to complement, not replicate, developments for which they have won MRPF support. MCT's 1.2 MW SeaGen tidal power current turbine, situated in n Northern Ireland's Strangford Lough, claims to be the largest MW scale grid-connected marine renewable energy system in the world and has achieved a capacity factor of 66 per cent, delivering 800 MW hours into the National Grid so far.
The company, is now preparing SeaGen for more intensive operation and hopes to gain consent for continuous '24/7' operation before the summer. "SeaGen is operating as it was designed to do. Crucially, the operational experience and data that we are gaining every day is hugely valuable as we work towards deploying the UK's first tidal power farm within the next two years," said Martin Wright, managing director of MCT. "SeaGen is a commercial scale prototype and already we are incorporating into the design of the next machines subtle changes to improve maintainability and reliability which are vital for commercial generation."
11th February 2010
The Government-backed Technology Strategy Board (TSB) has announced that £12 million will be up for grabs this year to help innovative businesses develop the wave and tidal power technologies of the future. The announcement comes just as SeaGen, the prototype tidal power energy turbine designed and deployed by Marine Current Turbines Ltd (MCT) has become the first tidal power current or wave energy system in the world to exceed 1,000 hours of operation. MCT said yesterday that the 1,000 hour milestone means that the company is well on the way deploying the UK's first tidal power farm within the next two years. The funding from TSB is designed to further exploit the potential of marine energy and comes in the form of two competitions. Competitive with other renewable energy solutions
TSB chief executive Iain Gray, explained why the funding is needed: "To fully realise the marine energy potential in the UK, there are a number of technological challenges that must still be tackled, ranging from proving which technological solutions will most successfully harness marine energy, to reducing the cost of the energy produced to make the technology competitive with other renewable energy solutions." The first competition, which opens in March with applications due in by April 29, offers a total of £9 million, split between two strands.
The first of these is designed to support the enhancement of existing devices. This would cover improving the reliability and power capture of full-scale devices; the development of second generation existing devices that improve survivability and performance and reduce the cost of energy; and applied research and experimental development for devices that are quarter size or larger. The second strand will support 'novel concept devices' that have already undergone desk-based evaluation and where there is evidence to indicate that the concept has long term commercial prospects.
TSB competition not limited to wave and tidal devices
A spokesperson for the TSB confirmed that the competition is not limited solely to wave and tidal power stream device manufacturers, but is likely to include collaborations designed to develop the supply chain and skills necessary for the future deployment of these technologies. So a wide range of businesses could be eligible for a share of the funding – from those that develop materials and coatings or cables and undersea equipment to utility companies and environmental impact specialists. Of the £9 million available, £2 million is being provided by the South West Regional Development Agency. To qualify for this money, at least one partner involved in the project must be based in South West England.
Strong consideration to proposals that will us Wave Hub
"Strong consideration" will also be given to proposals that include innovative use of the consented area of seabed at the Wave Hub site in Cornwall. This is the South West RDA's £42 million flagship marine renewables project designed to create a grid-connected 'socket' on the seabed, to which arrays of wave energy conversion devices can be connected and tested.
"We are delighted to be investing in this new competition with the Technology Strategy Board. It will accelerate the pace of marine renewables development in the UK, and complement the significant investment the South West RDA is making in the sector through our investments in Wave Hub and marine energy research," said Stephen Peacock, the South West RDA's executive director of enterprise and innovation. The second TSB competition, due to open in September with a deadline for applications of October 21, is aimed at getting pre-commercial full scale devices installed and operating in the sea and is specifically aimed at businesses that are already working towards full scale deployment of their technology.
SeaGen developer could be eligible for funding
Companies like MCT, which got a share of the Carbon Trust's Marine Renewable Proving Fund (MRPF) announced earlier this month, are eligible for the competitions, but their applications must be designed to complement, not replicate, developments for which they have won MRPF support. MCT's 1.2 MW SeaGen tidal power current turbine, situated in n Northern Ireland's Strangford Lough, claims to be the largest MW scale grid-connected marine renewable energy system in the world and has achieved a capacity factor of 66 per cent, delivering 800 MW hours into the National Grid so far.
The company, is now preparing SeaGen for more intensive operation and hopes to gain consent for continuous '24/7' operation before the summer. "SeaGen is operating as it was designed to do. Crucially, the operational experience and data that we are gaining every day is hugely valuable as we work towards deploying the UK's first tidal power farm within the next two years," said Martin Wright, managing director of MCT. "SeaGen is a commercial scale prototype and already we are incorporating into the design of the next machines subtle changes to improve maintainability and reliability which are vital for commercial generation."
Solar research goes thermal - Researchers have proposed ideas to produce liquid fuels and heat.
www.mndaily.com
02/10/2010
From solar energyed vehicles to solar gasifiers, students and faculty at the University of Minnesota have participated in more than a dozen research projects as part of an effort to develop new methods of using solar energy as a renewable resource. But more recently, researchers have proposed ideas that utilize solar thermal processes to produce liquid fuels and heat.
With several projects funded by the Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment and the U.S. Department of Energy, professors and graduate students are collaborating to conduct research that has the potential to assist in making the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, said mechanical engineering professor Jane Davidson. Davidson serves as the principal investigator for a large number of the research projects.
Currently, solar energy can be acquired through towers, satellite-like dishes and parabolic troughs - large structures that use reflective material like mirrors to absorb solar energy. Several research groups have also been focusing on thermal solar processes to produce energy sources. One group of graduate students, accompanied by professors, are researching ways to collect solar energy, said Luke Venstrom, a graduate student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Mechanical engineering graduate student Brandon Hathaway's area of focus uses solar energy to heat and convert cellulosic biofuel feedstock, like prairie grass, to energy in a gasification process. According to Hathaway, solar energy reduces the amount of feedstock combusted in the process and, in effect, provides a higher quantity of energy that can be used to produce liquid fuels such as synthetic gasoline. Since last summer, University professor Andreas Stein has been working on developing a solar thermal process that involves converting carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide, which could then form liquid fuels such as methanol.
Stein said that because of its stability rate, high temperatures are required to break down carbon dioxide. However, in order to retain the materials used, researchers are attempting to use a metal oxide that will allow the carbon dioxide to be converted at a lower temperature while simultaneously using solar energy. Stein stressed that the efficiency of solar thermal processes is "much higher" than solar electric processes.
02/10/2010
From solar energyed vehicles to solar gasifiers, students and faculty at the University of Minnesota have participated in more than a dozen research projects as part of an effort to develop new methods of using solar energy as a renewable resource. But more recently, researchers have proposed ideas that utilize solar thermal processes to produce liquid fuels and heat.With several projects funded by the Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment and the U.S. Department of Energy, professors and graduate students are collaborating to conduct research that has the potential to assist in making the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, said mechanical engineering professor Jane Davidson. Davidson serves as the principal investigator for a large number of the research projects.
Currently, solar energy can be acquired through towers, satellite-like dishes and parabolic troughs - large structures that use reflective material like mirrors to absorb solar energy. Several research groups have also been focusing on thermal solar processes to produce energy sources. One group of graduate students, accompanied by professors, are researching ways to collect solar energy, said Luke Venstrom, a graduate student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Mechanical engineering graduate student Brandon Hathaway's area of focus uses solar energy to heat and convert cellulosic biofuel feedstock, like prairie grass, to energy in a gasification process. According to Hathaway, solar energy reduces the amount of feedstock combusted in the process and, in effect, provides a higher quantity of energy that can be used to produce liquid fuels such as synthetic gasoline. Since last summer, University professor Andreas Stein has been working on developing a solar thermal process that involves converting carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide, which could then form liquid fuels such as methanol.
Stein said that because of its stability rate, high temperatures are required to break down carbon dioxide. However, in order to retain the materials used, researchers are attempting to use a metal oxide that will allow the carbon dioxide to be converted at a lower temperature while simultaneously using solar energy. Stein stressed that the efficiency of solar thermal processes is "much higher" than solar electric processes.
Sunday, 14 February 2010
Report blasts Abbott climate plan - Policy would cost twice as much
Age
Wednesday 10/2/2010 Page: 13
THE Coalition's climate change policy would cost taxpayers more than twice as much as the government's emissions trading scheme, an analysis has found. A report by carbon market analysts at Bloomberg New Energy Finance said the government's scheme would cost the budget $1.5 billion over the first four years - less than the $3.4 billion of the emissions reduction fund proposed by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott. It said the Coalitions claim that the government scheme would cost $40.6 billion was based on a "strange logic" that confused its market value with its cost to taxpayers. The opposition needed "to come up with something better and get the numbers right", it said.
It said Mr Abbott's proposal - allowing businesses and farmers to apply to have the government pay for their greenhouse gas emissions cuts from a fund eventually worth $1 billion a year - failed on three fronts: it was not the cheapest way to cut emissions, could not accurately limit national emissions and was a short-term option only. The government's scheme "has limitations", but was considered more cost effective because it was a market-based system with penalties to force businesses to find the cheapest cuts. "It is not our place to take sides in politics, but we do question the willingness of taxpayers to fund the entire cost of reducing emissions under [the opposition's proposals]," the report said.
The criticisms of the opposition plan echo those of former leader Malcolm Turnbull, who has vowed to cross the floor to vote for the government's scheme. But the analysis does not cover the Coalitions main attack on the government scheme - that it is a "great big tax on everything" that will be felt through increased food and electricity bills. The government says 92% of households will be at least partially compensated.
The opposition plan has been backed by energy company TRUEnergy, which runs the Yallourn brown coal-fired power station. TRUEnergy managing director Richard Mclndoe said it supported emissions trading, but not the scheme proposed by the government and not before a substantial global climate deal. He said the opposition's "direct-action" policy could lead to coal-fired power stations closing within a decade if the owners' successfully applied to the emissions fund.
Clean energy group the Alternative Technology Association criticised the Coalition plan as a potential killer of large-scale renewable energy. The opposition proposal includes an additional $1000 rebate for rooftop solar panels and solar hot water systems. But the association's Damien Moyse said incentives for household solar systems connected to the government's renewable energy target were already stopping large-scale wind and solar projects from going ahead. He said the Coalition proposal would exacerbate the problem and "put the final nail in the renewable energy industry's coffin'.
Wednesday 10/2/2010 Page: 13
THE Coalition's climate change policy would cost taxpayers more than twice as much as the government's emissions trading scheme, an analysis has found. A report by carbon market analysts at Bloomberg New Energy Finance said the government's scheme would cost the budget $1.5 billion over the first four years - less than the $3.4 billion of the emissions reduction fund proposed by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott. It said the Coalitions claim that the government scheme would cost $40.6 billion was based on a "strange logic" that confused its market value with its cost to taxpayers. The opposition needed "to come up with something better and get the numbers right", it said.
It said Mr Abbott's proposal - allowing businesses and farmers to apply to have the government pay for their greenhouse gas emissions cuts from a fund eventually worth $1 billion a year - failed on three fronts: it was not the cheapest way to cut emissions, could not accurately limit national emissions and was a short-term option only. The government's scheme "has limitations", but was considered more cost effective because it was a market-based system with penalties to force businesses to find the cheapest cuts. "It is not our place to take sides in politics, but we do question the willingness of taxpayers to fund the entire cost of reducing emissions under [the opposition's proposals]," the report said.
The criticisms of the opposition plan echo those of former leader Malcolm Turnbull, who has vowed to cross the floor to vote for the government's scheme. But the analysis does not cover the Coalitions main attack on the government scheme - that it is a "great big tax on everything" that will be felt through increased food and electricity bills. The government says 92% of households will be at least partially compensated.
The opposition plan has been backed by energy company TRUEnergy, which runs the Yallourn brown coal-fired power station. TRUEnergy managing director Richard Mclndoe said it supported emissions trading, but not the scheme proposed by the government and not before a substantial global climate deal. He said the opposition's "direct-action" policy could lead to coal-fired power stations closing within a decade if the owners' successfully applied to the emissions fund.
Clean energy group the Alternative Technology Association criticised the Coalition plan as a potential killer of large-scale renewable energy. The opposition proposal includes an additional $1000 rebate for rooftop solar panels and solar hot water systems. But the association's Damien Moyse said incentives for household solar systems connected to the government's renewable energy target were already stopping large-scale wind and solar projects from going ahead. He said the Coalition proposal would exacerbate the problem and "put the final nail in the renewable energy industry's coffin'.
Australia not living up to solar potential
www.upi.com
Feb. 9, 2010
SYDNEY, Feb. 9 (UPI) - - Australia missed the opportunity to become a pioneer in solar energy, experts say. Australia Solar Energy Society Chairman John Grimes says government decisions to keep Australia locked into coal-fired power killed its early potential to build a leading solar industry, according to an article in the Brisbane Courier-Mail. As early as 1974, a summary of global solar research recognized Australia for the University of Queensland's research, notably its study on large-scale solar electricity generation. "Our golden opportunity was in the '70s," Grimes told the newspaper. "We led all solar fields but we squandered it."
Grimes said Australia is posed to remain the "sleeping Goliath" of solar energy unless the government "wakes up." He said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's government, by its actions, indicates it aims to keep Australia locked into using coal and gas for the vast bulk of electricity and to protect its coal and gas exports at the expense of new clean energy Grimes said Energy Minister Martin Ferguson is clearly no fan of solar and is focused on supporting coal by pushing unproven "clean coal" technology.
Coal-fired power stations, known for high carbon dioxide emissions, now generate about 80% of Australia's electricity. Australia surpasses the United States as the world's biggest per capita carbon emitter. In May Australia announced its $1.5 billion Solar Flagships program, which includes four solar thermal and solar photovoltaic installations totaling 1,000 MWs in a single location. The program also allocated several billion to clean coal projects. While the clean coal funding is in the final stages of being allocated, the government has only started the first stage of the process for the solar program.
But the Solar Flagship program "is shaping up to be a failure," Matthew Wright, executive director of clean-energy lobby group Beyond Zero Emissions, said in a news release. Its guidelines are skewed to favor 1980s-style daytime-only solar plants rather than the newer standard of "base load" solar thermal storage plants now being built in Europe and the United States, said Wright. "Australia has one of the best solar resources in the world. We have some of the best researchers, too. Yet the Rudd government remains in thrall to the coal lobby, investing in dead-end fantasies like clean coal while other countries develop their solar thermal expertise and manufacturing," said Wright.
Grimes of the Australia Solar Energy Society noted the country's solar sector has experienced wave after wave of a boom approach characterized by an administration giving support, only to be followed by an administration that would pull funding. He pointed to Germany's "strategic decision" to move into solar, creating 148,000 jobs in the sector and pivoting itself to one of the world's largest solar equipment manufacturers. And Spain's "coherent policy approach" means it now has the largest solar energy generation capacity in the world, Grimes said. Its government is supporting solar thermal power with a serious feed-in tariff for large-scale plants. "We (Australia) should do the same," he said.
Feb. 9, 2010
SYDNEY, Feb. 9 (UPI) - - Australia missed the opportunity to become a pioneer in solar energy, experts say. Australia Solar Energy Society Chairman John Grimes says government decisions to keep Australia locked into coal-fired power killed its early potential to build a leading solar industry, according to an article in the Brisbane Courier-Mail. As early as 1974, a summary of global solar research recognized Australia for the University of Queensland's research, notably its study on large-scale solar electricity generation. "Our golden opportunity was in the '70s," Grimes told the newspaper. "We led all solar fields but we squandered it."
Grimes said Australia is posed to remain the "sleeping Goliath" of solar energy unless the government "wakes up." He said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's government, by its actions, indicates it aims to keep Australia locked into using coal and gas for the vast bulk of electricity and to protect its coal and gas exports at the expense of new clean energy Grimes said Energy Minister Martin Ferguson is clearly no fan of solar and is focused on supporting coal by pushing unproven "clean coal" technology.
Coal-fired power stations, known for high carbon dioxide emissions, now generate about 80% of Australia's electricity. Australia surpasses the United States as the world's biggest per capita carbon emitter. In May Australia announced its $1.5 billion Solar Flagships program, which includes four solar thermal and solar photovoltaic installations totaling 1,000 MWs in a single location. The program also allocated several billion to clean coal projects. While the clean coal funding is in the final stages of being allocated, the government has only started the first stage of the process for the solar program.
But the Solar Flagship program "is shaping up to be a failure," Matthew Wright, executive director of clean-energy lobby group Beyond Zero Emissions, said in a news release. Its guidelines are skewed to favor 1980s-style daytime-only solar plants rather than the newer standard of "base load" solar thermal storage plants now being built in Europe and the United States, said Wright. "Australia has one of the best solar resources in the world. We have some of the best researchers, too. Yet the Rudd government remains in thrall to the coal lobby, investing in dead-end fantasies like clean coal while other countries develop their solar thermal expertise and manufacturing," said Wright.
Grimes of the Australia Solar Energy Society noted the country's solar sector has experienced wave after wave of a boom approach characterized by an administration giving support, only to be followed by an administration that would pull funding. He pointed to Germany's "strategic decision" to move into solar, creating 148,000 jobs in the sector and pivoting itself to one of the world's largest solar equipment manufacturers. And Spain's "coherent policy approach" means it now has the largest solar energy generation capacity in the world, Grimes said. Its government is supporting solar thermal power with a serious feed-in tariff for large-scale plants. "We (Australia) should do the same," he said.
German coalition agrees to delay solar cuts
www.reuters.com
Feb 9, 2010
BERLIN, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Germany's ruling coalition has agreed to delay cuts in solar energy incentives by two months, parliamentary officials said on Tuesday, easing pressure on solar companies so they will have more time to sell components. Support for new rooftop solar installations will be cut by 16% from June 1, said Hans-Peter Friedrich, parliamentary group leader for the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU). The original plan was to introduce the cuts on April 1.
Solar stocks around the globe gained on the news, with shares of Q-Cells, SolarWorld, FirstSolar, SunTech, SMA Solar and Yingli up 1.8 to 4.4%. "It would certainly be positive for the sector if that was the case. The sector would be able to benefit from stronger growth in April, May and June - - a strong seasonal time for installations in Germany," said Ardour Capital analyst Adam Krop. "It's positive, but still the most important thing is that it's yet another proposal," Krop added.
Critics of the cuts, including members of Germany's ruling parties, have said they could harm the expansion of photovoltaic technology in the world's largest solar market. About half of the world's solar electricity is produced in Germany. The CSU is one of three parties in Merkel's centre-right coalition with the CDU and the Free Democrats, and had called for a delay in the cut to solar incentives. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to pass a law without CSU support.
Jesse Pichel, solar analyst at PiperJaffray, said a delay to the cuts could add modestly to his forecasts for solar makers' profits, but said the reductions could still prompt Germany's manufacturers to seek to put up barriers to imports. "We think the German companies are going to be hard pressed to compete under the cost structure required," he said in an email.
Solar Fits
The so-called feed-in tariffs - - prices utilities are obliged to pay to generators of renewable energy - - are the sector's lifeline as long as grid-parity, the point at which renewables cost the same as fossil fuel-based power, has not been reached. Global solar stocks plunged in January when it emerged that the German government was planning to make additional cuts to the feed-in tariffs, arguing the industry is overly subsidised and needed to become competitive much faster.
Friedrich said the coalition still wanted to cut the feed-in tariff for open field solar systems by 15% from July 1. The coalition needs to agree final details on solar cuts, in particular on how to reduce subsidies for larger farm land installations, before sending the bill through parliament.
Feb 9, 2010
BERLIN, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Germany's ruling coalition has agreed to delay cuts in solar energy incentives by two months, parliamentary officials said on Tuesday, easing pressure on solar companies so they will have more time to sell components. Support for new rooftop solar installations will be cut by 16% from June 1, said Hans-Peter Friedrich, parliamentary group leader for the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU). The original plan was to introduce the cuts on April 1.
Solar stocks around the globe gained on the news, with shares of Q-Cells, SolarWorld, FirstSolar, SunTech, SMA Solar and Yingli up 1.8 to 4.4%. "It would certainly be positive for the sector if that was the case. The sector would be able to benefit from stronger growth in April, May and June - - a strong seasonal time for installations in Germany," said Ardour Capital analyst Adam Krop. "It's positive, but still the most important thing is that it's yet another proposal," Krop added.
Critics of the cuts, including members of Germany's ruling parties, have said they could harm the expansion of photovoltaic technology in the world's largest solar market. About half of the world's solar electricity is produced in Germany. The CSU is one of three parties in Merkel's centre-right coalition with the CDU and the Free Democrats, and had called for a delay in the cut to solar incentives. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to pass a law without CSU support.
Jesse Pichel, solar analyst at PiperJaffray, said a delay to the cuts could add modestly to his forecasts for solar makers' profits, but said the reductions could still prompt Germany's manufacturers to seek to put up barriers to imports. "We think the German companies are going to be hard pressed to compete under the cost structure required," he said in an email.
Solar Fits
The so-called feed-in tariffs - - prices utilities are obliged to pay to generators of renewable energy - - are the sector's lifeline as long as grid-parity, the point at which renewables cost the same as fossil fuel-based power, has not been reached. Global solar stocks plunged in January when it emerged that the German government was planning to make additional cuts to the feed-in tariffs, arguing the industry is overly subsidised and needed to become competitive much faster.
Friedrich said the coalition still wanted to cut the feed-in tariff for open field solar systems by 15% from July 1. The coalition needs to agree final details on solar cuts, in particular on how to reduce subsidies for larger farm land installations, before sending the bill through parliament.
Arava Power Will Invest $535 Million in 15 Israeli Solar Fields
www.businessweek.com
February 08, 2010
Arava Power Co., an Israeli solar company, said it signed agreements to invest 2 billion shekels ($535 million) to build 15 solar fields in Israel. The fields will produce a total of 100 MWs of solar energy using photovoltaic technology, the company, based in Eilat near the country's southern tip, said in a press release yesterday. Siemens AG, Europe's largest engineering company, said on Aug. 28 it invested $15 million for a 40% stake in Arava Power, which runs a solar energy plant at Kibbutz Ketura north of Eilat. Munich-based Siemens on Oct. 15 said it agreed to buy Israeli solar thermal power company Solel Solar Systems Solar Systems for about $418 million.
February 08, 2010
Arava Power Co., an Israeli solar company, said it signed agreements to invest 2 billion shekels ($535 million) to build 15 solar fields in Israel. The fields will produce a total of 100 MWs of solar energy using photovoltaic technology, the company, based in Eilat near the country's southern tip, said in a press release yesterday. Siemens AG, Europe's largest engineering company, said on Aug. 28 it invested $15 million for a 40% stake in Arava Power, which runs a solar energy plant at Kibbutz Ketura north of Eilat. Munich-based Siemens on Oct. 15 said it agreed to buy Israeli solar thermal power company Solel Solar Systems Solar Systems for about $418 million.
Thursday, 11 February 2010
Nuclear giant Areva buys solar company Ausra
www.reuters.com
Feb 8, 2010
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The world's largest nuclear plant builder, Areva SA, is diversifying into solar energy with the aim of becoming an industry leader, as it acquires U.S.-based solar thermal player Ausra, the company said on Monday. "This market is set to have 20 GWs by the year 2020. Areva has an objective to be a world leader in solar energy" by 2012, said Anil Srivastava, senior executive vice president of Areva's renewable energies business group. Financial details were not disclosed in the purchase of Ausra, a Silicon Valley company which had raised $130 million in venture capital from high-profile firms including Kleiner Perkins and Khosla Ventures.
The purchase marks Areva's first foray into solar energy. Areva chose solar thermal technology - - which uses the sun's heat to create steam to run turbines for electricity - - over other solar energy options because it is "the closest" to nuclear plants, Srivastava told Reuters in an interview. The solar energy industry has started to consolidate after struggling in 2009 with a dearth of financing for new projects and a steep fall in prices. Other solar thermal players include Spain's Abengoa SA and privately held U.S.-based BrightSource Energy Inc.
Still, companies such as U.S.-based FirstSolar Inc and China's SunTech Power this year expect a rise in demand for panels that convert sunlight to electricity. The nuclear industry is aiming for a renaissance as concerns about greenhouse gases mount. U.S. President Barack Obama proposed an extra $36 billion in loan guarantees for nuclear energy in the new U.S, budget. Simmons & Co analyst Burt Chao said that teaming up traditional energy and renewable firms makes sense. "As solar especially goes toward more of an energy story, it certainly makes sense for energy focused companies to start looking at solar," Chao said. "You will probably see more and more energy companies buying up or partnering with these other solar companies."
New Strategy Areva plans to run its solar business out of Ausra's headquarters in Mountain View, California, and expand its 70-strong workforce to 120 people worldwide. The group plans to build concentrated solar energy plants for utilities, independent power producers and industrial companies in the southwestern United States, Middle East, Europe, South Africa and ultimately other parts of the world. Ausra Chief Executive Robert Fishman said in an interview that costs run between $3 and $3.50 per watt to build solar projects with its technology. Fishman said the group will target two key markets: impending power plants and adding solar projects to existing coal and natural gas-fired plants. The acquisition is expected to close in the next few months, subject to regulatory approval.
Feb 8, 2010
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The world's largest nuclear plant builder, Areva SA, is diversifying into solar energy with the aim of becoming an industry leader, as it acquires U.S.-based solar thermal player Ausra, the company said on Monday. "This market is set to have 20 GWs by the year 2020. Areva has an objective to be a world leader in solar energy" by 2012, said Anil Srivastava, senior executive vice president of Areva's renewable energies business group. Financial details were not disclosed in the purchase of Ausra, a Silicon Valley company which had raised $130 million in venture capital from high-profile firms including Kleiner Perkins and Khosla Ventures.
The purchase marks Areva's first foray into solar energy. Areva chose solar thermal technology - - which uses the sun's heat to create steam to run turbines for electricity - - over other solar energy options because it is "the closest" to nuclear plants, Srivastava told Reuters in an interview. The solar energy industry has started to consolidate after struggling in 2009 with a dearth of financing for new projects and a steep fall in prices. Other solar thermal players include Spain's Abengoa SA and privately held U.S.-based BrightSource Energy Inc.
Still, companies such as U.S.-based FirstSolar Inc and China's SunTech Power this year expect a rise in demand for panels that convert sunlight to electricity. The nuclear industry is aiming for a renaissance as concerns about greenhouse gases mount. U.S. President Barack Obama proposed an extra $36 billion in loan guarantees for nuclear energy in the new U.S, budget. Simmons & Co analyst Burt Chao said that teaming up traditional energy and renewable firms makes sense. "As solar especially goes toward more of an energy story, it certainly makes sense for energy focused companies to start looking at solar," Chao said. "You will probably see more and more energy companies buying up or partnering with these other solar companies."
New Strategy Areva plans to run its solar business out of Ausra's headquarters in Mountain View, California, and expand its 70-strong workforce to 120 people worldwide. The group plans to build concentrated solar energy plants for utilities, independent power producers and industrial companies in the southwestern United States, Middle East, Europe, South Africa and ultimately other parts of the world. Ausra Chief Executive Robert Fishman said in an interview that costs run between $3 and $3.50 per watt to build solar projects with its technology. Fishman said the group will target two key markets: impending power plants and adding solar projects to existing coal and natural gas-fired plants. The acquisition is expected to close in the next few months, subject to regulatory approval.
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Government neglect turns lights out for solar power industry
www.news.com.au
February 07, 2010
AUSTRALIA has the scorching sun, the scientific skill and private investors poised to swing behind a solar industry boom that could deliver a climate-safe power sector and billions in export earnings. But missing from that equation is the political will, industry experts say. Scientists say the world needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions from electricity and transport virtually to zero in 40 years if it wants a decent chance of keeping damage from climate change manageable. Australia had a major solution in sight long ago. The sun. Australian researchers, including a world-leading team in Queensland, created a golden age in the '60s and '70s for Australian solar innovation.
The Australia-NZ Solar Energy Society was the oldest branch of the International Solar Energy Society. Year after year it filed its solar energy progress in Australia-NZ report. A 1974 summary of global solar research pointed to the University of Queensland's mechanical engineering department, where a large team led by Dr Norman Sheridan worked on projects including a study for large-scale solar electricity generation. Australia was on the cusp of harnessing the sun. But it stalled on take-off and huge talent was lost just as the world now reaches for zero-emissions energy.
What killed Australia's early solar promise and can the sunburnt country fulfil its potential now? Australia Solar Energy Society chairman John Grimes says government decisions to keep Australia locked into coal-fired power killed its early potential to build a leading solar industry. "Our golden opportunity was in the '70s. We led all solar fields but we squandered it. It's heartbreaking really." He says the Rudd Government's actions indicate it now aims to keep Australia locked into using coal and gas for the vast bulk of electricity and to protect its coal and gas exports at the expense of new clean energy.
Australia will remain the sleeping goliath of solar energy, he says, unless the Government wakes up. Australia may earn small income from licensing technology to offshore companies, but it won't build local solar technology companies that can rival the US, German and Chinese firms now making billion-dollar profits, much of it on the back of Australian innovation. "Since the 1970s solar in Australia has been through wave after wave of a boom and bust approach. A government would tend toward giving support, then a government would pull funding. "Other governments, such as Germany, took a strategic decision to move into solar. It created 148,000 jobs in a sector now one of the world's largest solar equipment manufacturers. It also gets 14 per cent of its electricity from solar and Germany's solar resource is a fraction of Australia's.
"Spain's Government took a decision three years ago to really back solar energy and its coherent policy approach means it now has the largest solar energy generation capacity in the world," Grimes says. Spain has in the planning pipeline 15.5 GWs of baseload power from solar thermal projects – more than enough to power NSW. There are no signs the Rudd Government will do the same. Grimes says federal Energy Minister Martin Ferguson is clearly no fan of solar and is focused on supporting coal by prioritising unproven "clean coal" technology. The Government has put $1.5 billion in a Solar Flagships Program to jump-start four solar projects. It allocated several billion to clean coal projects.
The clean coal funding is in final stages of being allocated, but the Government has only started the first stage of the process for the solar program. "We're not seeing strong policy settings for solar energy here. And I'm not optimistic of getting the right policy settings even in a next term of the current Government," he says. A funding candidate is potentially Queensland's first commercial-scale solar thermal plant. Queensland state-owned utility CS Energy and US solar company Ausra six months ago applied for federal funding for a portion of a $200 million solar thermal generator as a 23mW bolt-on to the 750mW Kogan Creek coal-fired power plant near Chinchilla.
Ausra says the project is shovel-ready and could supply zero-emission solar energy within 12 months of a funding decision. Ausra is the classic example of Australian solar brain drain. Founder David Mills relocated the company to the US in order to commercialise Australian solar technology. The damage from poor policy support was clear last year when Solar Systems collapsed, taking with it plans for a $420 million solar plant in Victoria, after failing to secure funds when an investor withdrew. Clean energy proponents say until the Government adopts policies – such as a strong, national feed-in tariff for large-scale solar generators – investors are being asked to carry all the commercial risk without the commercial benefits.
Australia's renewable energy target is expected to lead to $20 billion being invested in clean energy capacity by 2020 but Grimes says the policy effectively sends that money to wind energy, to the detriment of solar, geothermal, wave and tidal power. Matthew Wright, of clean-energy lobby group Beyond Zero Emissions, says policy support from the Obama administration has led to applications in the US to build a combined 97 GWs of solar thermal projects. "Australia has one of the best solar resources in the world. We have some of the best researchers too. Yet the Rudd Government remains in thrall to the coal lobby, investing in dead-end fantasies like clean coal while other countries develop their solar thermal expertise and manufacturing.
"Spain's Government is supporting solar thermal power with a serious feed-in tariff for large-scale plants. We should do the same. "Our Solar Flagships Program is shaping up to be a failure, with guidelines skewed to favour daytime-only solar plants rather than the newer standard of (24-hour) solar plants now being built in Europe and the US," Wright said. solar energy can be up to four times as expensive as coal-fired power but some governments, such as the US, are working to slash costs. Dr Sheridan, the founding father of Queensland solar research, died in 2008. In 2003 in Toowoomba he told a conference that solar was sidelined so long as the social and environmental costs of burning coal, gas and oil were left uncosted. But awareness of these costs is now growing.
Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner last year launched an Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering report that estimated sun and geothermal energy costs were competitive against coal, gas and nuclear if the social and environmental costs of mining and burning fossil fuels – on human health, land and water quality and the climate – were accounted for. ATSE said such costs have been estimated at $31 per tonne of carbon emissions. Based on 2008 emissions, Australia has a carbon pollution damage bill of $17 billion a year.
Harvard researchers last year said the cost of producing power from the sun and other renewable sources would be the same as from carbon-capture coal plants. That didn't include costs from transporting and permanently storing CO2 underground. The full costs of carbon capture and storage are so far unknown, Australia's ATSE said. Dr Sheridan estimated Australia's primary energy demand could be met by an area 70km by 70km covered in solar heat collectors. He said poor attitudes toward solar were encapsulated by a retired electricity commissioner's comment that, "I wouldn't waste much energy in worrying about (solar). To get a significant contribution would cost the world." Stalling now on clean energy will indeed cost us a habitable world.
February 07, 2010
AUSTRALIA has the scorching sun, the scientific skill and private investors poised to swing behind a solar industry boom that could deliver a climate-safe power sector and billions in export earnings. But missing from that equation is the political will, industry experts say. Scientists say the world needs to cut greenhouse gas emissions from electricity and transport virtually to zero in 40 years if it wants a decent chance of keeping damage from climate change manageable. Australia had a major solution in sight long ago. The sun. Australian researchers, including a world-leading team in Queensland, created a golden age in the '60s and '70s for Australian solar innovation.The Australia-NZ Solar Energy Society was the oldest branch of the International Solar Energy Society. Year after year it filed its solar energy progress in Australia-NZ report. A 1974 summary of global solar research pointed to the University of Queensland's mechanical engineering department, where a large team led by Dr Norman Sheridan worked on projects including a study for large-scale solar electricity generation. Australia was on the cusp of harnessing the sun. But it stalled on take-off and huge talent was lost just as the world now reaches for zero-emissions energy.
What killed Australia's early solar promise and can the sunburnt country fulfil its potential now? Australia Solar Energy Society chairman John Grimes says government decisions to keep Australia locked into coal-fired power killed its early potential to build a leading solar industry. "Our golden opportunity was in the '70s. We led all solar fields but we squandered it. It's heartbreaking really." He says the Rudd Government's actions indicate it now aims to keep Australia locked into using coal and gas for the vast bulk of electricity and to protect its coal and gas exports at the expense of new clean energy.
Australia will remain the sleeping goliath of solar energy, he says, unless the Government wakes up. Australia may earn small income from licensing technology to offshore companies, but it won't build local solar technology companies that can rival the US, German and Chinese firms now making billion-dollar profits, much of it on the back of Australian innovation. "Since the 1970s solar in Australia has been through wave after wave of a boom and bust approach. A government would tend toward giving support, then a government would pull funding. "Other governments, such as Germany, took a strategic decision to move into solar. It created 148,000 jobs in a sector now one of the world's largest solar equipment manufacturers. It also gets 14 per cent of its electricity from solar and Germany's solar resource is a fraction of Australia's.
"Spain's Government took a decision three years ago to really back solar energy and its coherent policy approach means it now has the largest solar energy generation capacity in the world," Grimes says. Spain has in the planning pipeline 15.5 GWs of baseload power from solar thermal projects – more than enough to power NSW. There are no signs the Rudd Government will do the same. Grimes says federal Energy Minister Martin Ferguson is clearly no fan of solar and is focused on supporting coal by prioritising unproven "clean coal" technology. The Government has put $1.5 billion in a Solar Flagships Program to jump-start four solar projects. It allocated several billion to clean coal projects.
The clean coal funding is in final stages of being allocated, but the Government has only started the first stage of the process for the solar program. "We're not seeing strong policy settings for solar energy here. And I'm not optimistic of getting the right policy settings even in a next term of the current Government," he says. A funding candidate is potentially Queensland's first commercial-scale solar thermal plant. Queensland state-owned utility CS Energy and US solar company Ausra six months ago applied for federal funding for a portion of a $200 million solar thermal generator as a 23mW bolt-on to the 750mW Kogan Creek coal-fired power plant near Chinchilla.
Ausra says the project is shovel-ready and could supply zero-emission solar energy within 12 months of a funding decision. Ausra is the classic example of Australian solar brain drain. Founder David Mills relocated the company to the US in order to commercialise Australian solar technology. The damage from poor policy support was clear last year when Solar Systems collapsed, taking with it plans for a $420 million solar plant in Victoria, after failing to secure funds when an investor withdrew. Clean energy proponents say until the Government adopts policies – such as a strong, national feed-in tariff for large-scale solar generators – investors are being asked to carry all the commercial risk without the commercial benefits.
Australia's renewable energy target is expected to lead to $20 billion being invested in clean energy capacity by 2020 but Grimes says the policy effectively sends that money to wind energy, to the detriment of solar, geothermal, wave and tidal power. Matthew Wright, of clean-energy lobby group Beyond Zero Emissions, says policy support from the Obama administration has led to applications in the US to build a combined 97 GWs of solar thermal projects. "Australia has one of the best solar resources in the world. We have some of the best researchers too. Yet the Rudd Government remains in thrall to the coal lobby, investing in dead-end fantasies like clean coal while other countries develop their solar thermal expertise and manufacturing.
"Spain's Government is supporting solar thermal power with a serious feed-in tariff for large-scale plants. We should do the same. "Our Solar Flagships Program is shaping up to be a failure, with guidelines skewed to favour daytime-only solar plants rather than the newer standard of (24-hour) solar plants now being built in Europe and the US," Wright said. solar energy can be up to four times as expensive as coal-fired power but some governments, such as the US, are working to slash costs. Dr Sheridan, the founding father of Queensland solar research, died in 2008. In 2003 in Toowoomba he told a conference that solar was sidelined so long as the social and environmental costs of burning coal, gas and oil were left uncosted. But awareness of these costs is now growing.
Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner last year launched an Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering report that estimated sun and geothermal energy costs were competitive against coal, gas and nuclear if the social and environmental costs of mining and burning fossil fuels – on human health, land and water quality and the climate – were accounted for. ATSE said such costs have been estimated at $31 per tonne of carbon emissions. Based on 2008 emissions, Australia has a carbon pollution damage bill of $17 billion a year.
Harvard researchers last year said the cost of producing power from the sun and other renewable sources would be the same as from carbon-capture coal plants. That didn't include costs from transporting and permanently storing CO2 underground. The full costs of carbon capture and storage are so far unknown, Australia's ATSE said. Dr Sheridan estimated Australia's primary energy demand could be met by an area 70km by 70km covered in solar heat collectors. He said poor attitudes toward solar were encapsulated by a retired electricity commissioner's comment that, "I wouldn't waste much energy in worrying about (solar). To get a significant contribution would cost the world." Stalling now on clean energy will indeed cost us a habitable world.
Arava Power gets deals for 15 mid-size solar fields
www.reuters.com
Feb 7, 2010
Israeli solar energy developer Arava Power said on Sunday it signed long-term contracts with 15 agricultural cooperatives to build mid-size solar fields at an investment of 2 billion shekels ($533 million). The fields will produce a total of 100 MWs of solar energy using photovoltaics, for an average of 6.5 MWs per field. Arava said it is advancing rooftop solar installations on cowsheds and factories in the signatory cooperatives. Last year German conglomerate Siemens invested $15 million in Arava Power to build 10 five-MW solar fields.
In December the Public Utilities Authority decided to allow mid-size solar fields at a nationwide capacity of 300 MWs but many in the industry believe this cap will be filled quickly. "The goal to produce 300 solar MWs is an important step toward implementing the government's decision to produce 5% of Israel's energy consumption from renewable sources by 2014, but it's not enough," Arava Power Chief Executive Jon Cohen said. "In order to achieve this goal, at least 1,000 MWs are needed, and the market indicates that.., mid-size solar fields can fill the gap faster than any other source."
Arava Power President Yosef Abramowitz said that in each of the 15 mid-size field locations the company plans to build a large-size field, adding another 500 MWs to its pipeline. "Together with our partners from Siemens, we are weighing additional proposals from investors," he said, without providing further details. Siemens also acquired Israel's Solel Solar Systems Solar Systems in October for $418 million.
Feb 7, 2010
Israeli solar energy developer Arava Power said on Sunday it signed long-term contracts with 15 agricultural cooperatives to build mid-size solar fields at an investment of 2 billion shekels ($533 million). The fields will produce a total of 100 MWs of solar energy using photovoltaics, for an average of 6.5 MWs per field. Arava said it is advancing rooftop solar installations on cowsheds and factories in the signatory cooperatives. Last year German conglomerate Siemens invested $15 million in Arava Power to build 10 five-MW solar fields.
In December the Public Utilities Authority decided to allow mid-size solar fields at a nationwide capacity of 300 MWs but many in the industry believe this cap will be filled quickly. "The goal to produce 300 solar MWs is an important step toward implementing the government's decision to produce 5% of Israel's energy consumption from renewable sources by 2014, but it's not enough," Arava Power Chief Executive Jon Cohen said. "In order to achieve this goal, at least 1,000 MWs are needed, and the market indicates that.., mid-size solar fields can fill the gap faster than any other source."
Arava Power President Yosef Abramowitz said that in each of the 15 mid-size field locations the company plans to build a large-size field, adding another 500 MWs to its pipeline. "Together with our partners from Siemens, we are weighing additional proposals from investors," he said, without providing further details. Siemens also acquired Israel's Solel Solar Systems Solar Systems in October for $418 million.
Arab states may become solar energy exporters
www.business24-7.ae
February 07, 2010
Massive renewable energy projects undertaken by the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries could turn them into solar energy exporters along with their large hydrocarbon exports, according to a veteran Arab energy analyst. "After oil, Arab countries could start exporting solar energy," said Nicolas Sarkis, Director of the Paris-based Arab Petroleum Research Centre (APRC), which acts as an adviser to the 10-nation Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries. "The development of solar energy is rapidly becoming a priority of energy policies pursued by most countries in the Middle East and North Africa, whether oil and natural gas producers or not," Sarkis wrote in the APRC's monthly magazine, Arab Petroleum and Gas.
He said that in non-oil Arab countries, the growing interest being shown in solar energy and other renewable energy sources is dictated not only by the deterioration in their energy deficits and the insufficiency of their indigenous fossil fuel resources but also by environmental imperatives and the technological progress that characterises the development of renewable energies. As for the large hydrocarbon exporting countries in the Arab World, the exploitation of their huge potential in the area of solar energy reflects a dual concern to protect the environment and prepare the post-oil era, he said.
UAE
Highlighting solar projects and other renewable energy developments in the region, Sarkis said the UAE has emerged as a pioneer in this sector. "Abu Dhabi has emerged as a pioneer with its famous Masdar initiative, the largest clean energy development programme going ahead anywhere in the world, with investments of more than $22 billion (Dh80.7bn)," he said. He noted that several agreements have been concluded for the construction of Masdar City, including with BASF and Fraunhofer Gesellschaft of Germany.
Masdar, which is an offshoot of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, part of the state-owned Mubadala group, has launched numerous projects both in the UAE and at the regional and international level. Its first photovoltaic solar energy plant, which has a capacity of 10 MW and is the largest built so far in the Middle East, was connected to the UAE's national power grid last May.
Since 2008, Masdar has also concluded several agreements with international companies for the implementation of a wide range of renewable energy ventures, including one with German company Coenergy for a plant to produce solar panels as part of a $2bn programme, and an association agreement worth $1.2bn with the Spanish company Sener for the development of a photovoltaic power station, according to Sarkis.
Over the past few months, Masdar has also launched a number of other schemes. In particular, it has signed an agreement with Bahrain's National Oil and Gas Authority (Noga) for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in that country, concluded an agreement worth €2.2bn (Dh11bn) with E.ON and DONG Energy for the implementation of the first phase of a windfarm in the Thames estuary east of London, in the United Kingdom, and embarked on the study of a wind energy project on the island of Mahé in the Seychelles.
Saudi Arabia
"Another very significant example is Saudi Arabia. The fact that it is the world's leading oil-exporting country has not prevented it from deciding to invest in the development of solar energy," Sarkis said.
Under the terms of an agreement signed last June, Saudi Aramco and the Japanese refining company Showa Shell are to develop a pilot solar energy plant that will have a capacity of 10 MW and is due to come on stream in 2011. Another 20 MW solar energy plant is due to be built at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, along with a center devoted to photovoltaic technology.
For its part, Algeria announced in September 2009 that it was to develop a 150 MW solar energy station at Hassi R'Mel. Other Arab states Other oil-exporting countries, such as Kuwait and Iraq, recently announced their determination to go down the same road. Egypt is also planning to develop power stations running on renewable energies that will account for 20 per cent of its total power generation capacity by 2020.
"With limited hydrocarbon resources and rapidly growing domestic energy demand, all other Middle Eastern and North African countries are turning to renewable energies, especially solar energy," Sarkis said. "The most ambitious is Morocco, which in November 2009 announced a $9bn programme for installing renewable energy power plants with a total capacity of 2 GW by 2020, representing 14 per cent of the country's total power generation capacity at that point."
Tunisia, too, has drawn up a national programme, the Tunisian Solar Plan, which encompasses some 40 projects to be implemented over the 2010-2016 period under public-private partnership arrangements. Twenty-nine of the projects are due to be carried out by private sector companies and the rest by the public sector, including five by the Société Tunisienne d'Electricité et du Gaz (Steg), which is to establish an ad hoc subsidiary called Steg Energies Renouvelables. "The Tunisian Solar Plan calls for total investments of $2bn over the 2010-2016 period and is designed to enable Tunisia to reduce its consumption of conventional energy sources by some 660,000 tonnes of oil equivalent per year, equivalent to 22 per cent of the country's total energy consumption by 2016."
Mediterranean
In addition, the Mediterranean Solar Plan (MSP) launched in 2008 by the Union for the Mediterranean has given a major impetus to solar energy projects throughout the Middle East and North Africa region, according to Sarkis. "The objective of the MSP is to have a total solar energy generation capacity of 20 GW installed by 2020, with part of the electricity produced destined for domestic consumption and part for export to Europe by means of subsea cables… the total capital investment required is estimated at €38-46bn during 2009-2020."
Sarkis referred to the recent announcement by the World Bank that it would provide financial support to five Mena countries for 11 projects involving the construction of concentrating solar energy (CSP) stations, which are expected to cost some $5.5bn altogether. "Other financial institutions are expected to fund investments totalling an estimated $4.85bn in the region. The 11 projects concerned are to be undertaken in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia and will entail the installation of total generating capacity of 900 MW by 2020. More than 200 projects have been developed and submitted for approval under the MSP."
Sarkis said the APRC would organise a conference and exhibition in Paris in September 2010 to examine the progress made until date and the prospects for the MSP. SlarMed will bring together leading players from the public and private sectors involved in the implementation of the MSP. In a recent study, a veteran Arab expert urged Gulf oil producers to introduce incentives to encourage the establishment of solar and wind energy projects to ensure their power needs and save their hydrocarbon wealth. Waheeb Al Nasir, Director of the Arab Section at the Germany-based International Solar Energy Society (ISES), said he expected the amount of new solar and wind electricity in the GCC to reach 5,000 MW by 2015, including 1,000 MW in Bahrain, 3,500 MW in Qatar and 400 MW in the UAE.
But he noted such capacity remains tiny compared to what he described as the massive solar and wind potential in the six-nation GCC. Al Nasir cited figures by the World Energy Council showing the GCC nations would require around 100 GW of additional power production over the next 10 years to meet their demand at a cost of nearly $25bn, most of which is expected to be invested by the private sector.
He said solar and wind projects in the GCC, which controls more than 45 per cent of the world's extractable crude deposits and a quarter of the global gas wealth, would allow member states to save their hydrocarbon wealth, expand their petrochemical industry, produce hydrogen for export and create jobs. "Solar and wind energy will also contribute to the reduction of the high ratio of CO2 per capita in the GCC. Using renewable energy will lead to prolonging the life of oil and natural gas in these countries and use this resource for petrochemicals industry or use it to produce hydrogen for local use and export," said Al Nasir, also Economics Professor at the Bahrain University.
"Given the high cost of solar and wind energy, there should be an incentive system that provides a sufficient rate of return on such costly investment to encourage investors, ie, introducing Feed In Tariff and making the national grid capable to be integrated with solar and wind electricity."
Key solar and wind projects in GCC
UAE
Saudi Arabia
Joint programme with the US: This programme, which is called Soleras Solar Energy Research American/Saudi addressed solar energy technological and economical related issues. Soleras began in 1977 and concluded in 1987. A second programme started in 1989 with the US Department of Energy.
Kuwait
A systematic analysis was conducted to assess the technical benefit and economics of solar-based technologies to produce electricity, water and heating or cooling. Solar cooling was found to save up to 50 per cent of electricity compared to the conventional system and much more, if the auxiliary power is supplied from PV source. Solar PV power supply can save 100 per cent electricity for off-grid applications.
Bahrain
Oman
The Total Renewable Energy Installation in Oman is 235 kW. Among these projects are:
Qatar
Qatar had much interest in renewable energy. There were three published papers on wind and solar potential in Qatar. Also, there was a relatively large scale Solar Pond Project with, probably, not less than 10 kW power.
February 07, 2010
Massive renewable energy projects undertaken by the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries could turn them into solar energy exporters along with their large hydrocarbon exports, according to a veteran Arab energy analyst. "After oil, Arab countries could start exporting solar energy," said Nicolas Sarkis, Director of the Paris-based Arab Petroleum Research Centre (APRC), which acts as an adviser to the 10-nation Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries. "The development of solar energy is rapidly becoming a priority of energy policies pursued by most countries in the Middle East and North Africa, whether oil and natural gas producers or not," Sarkis wrote in the APRC's monthly magazine, Arab Petroleum and Gas.He said that in non-oil Arab countries, the growing interest being shown in solar energy and other renewable energy sources is dictated not only by the deterioration in their energy deficits and the insufficiency of their indigenous fossil fuel resources but also by environmental imperatives and the technological progress that characterises the development of renewable energies. As for the large hydrocarbon exporting countries in the Arab World, the exploitation of their huge potential in the area of solar energy reflects a dual concern to protect the environment and prepare the post-oil era, he said.
UAE
Highlighting solar projects and other renewable energy developments in the region, Sarkis said the UAE has emerged as a pioneer in this sector. "Abu Dhabi has emerged as a pioneer with its famous Masdar initiative, the largest clean energy development programme going ahead anywhere in the world, with investments of more than $22 billion (Dh80.7bn)," he said. He noted that several agreements have been concluded for the construction of Masdar City, including with BASF and Fraunhofer Gesellschaft of Germany.
Masdar, which is an offshoot of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, part of the state-owned Mubadala group, has launched numerous projects both in the UAE and at the regional and international level. Its first photovoltaic solar energy plant, which has a capacity of 10 MW and is the largest built so far in the Middle East, was connected to the UAE's national power grid last May.
Since 2008, Masdar has also concluded several agreements with international companies for the implementation of a wide range of renewable energy ventures, including one with German company Coenergy for a plant to produce solar panels as part of a $2bn programme, and an association agreement worth $1.2bn with the Spanish company Sener for the development of a photovoltaic power station, according to Sarkis.
Over the past few months, Masdar has also launched a number of other schemes. In particular, it has signed an agreement with Bahrain's National Oil and Gas Authority (Noga) for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in that country, concluded an agreement worth €2.2bn (Dh11bn) with E.ON and DONG Energy for the implementation of the first phase of a windfarm in the Thames estuary east of London, in the United Kingdom, and embarked on the study of a wind energy project on the island of Mahé in the Seychelles.
Saudi Arabia
"Another very significant example is Saudi Arabia. The fact that it is the world's leading oil-exporting country has not prevented it from deciding to invest in the development of solar energy," Sarkis said.
Under the terms of an agreement signed last June, Saudi Aramco and the Japanese refining company Showa Shell are to develop a pilot solar energy plant that will have a capacity of 10 MW and is due to come on stream in 2011. Another 20 MW solar energy plant is due to be built at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, along with a center devoted to photovoltaic technology.
For its part, Algeria announced in September 2009 that it was to develop a 150 MW solar energy station at Hassi R'Mel. Other Arab states Other oil-exporting countries, such as Kuwait and Iraq, recently announced their determination to go down the same road. Egypt is also planning to develop power stations running on renewable energies that will account for 20 per cent of its total power generation capacity by 2020.
"With limited hydrocarbon resources and rapidly growing domestic energy demand, all other Middle Eastern and North African countries are turning to renewable energies, especially solar energy," Sarkis said. "The most ambitious is Morocco, which in November 2009 announced a $9bn programme for installing renewable energy power plants with a total capacity of 2 GW by 2020, representing 14 per cent of the country's total power generation capacity at that point."
Tunisia, too, has drawn up a national programme, the Tunisian Solar Plan, which encompasses some 40 projects to be implemented over the 2010-2016 period under public-private partnership arrangements. Twenty-nine of the projects are due to be carried out by private sector companies and the rest by the public sector, including five by the Société Tunisienne d'Electricité et du Gaz (Steg), which is to establish an ad hoc subsidiary called Steg Energies Renouvelables. "The Tunisian Solar Plan calls for total investments of $2bn over the 2010-2016 period and is designed to enable Tunisia to reduce its consumption of conventional energy sources by some 660,000 tonnes of oil equivalent per year, equivalent to 22 per cent of the country's total energy consumption by 2016."
Mediterranean
In addition, the Mediterranean Solar Plan (MSP) launched in 2008 by the Union for the Mediterranean has given a major impetus to solar energy projects throughout the Middle East and North Africa region, according to Sarkis. "The objective of the MSP is to have a total solar energy generation capacity of 20 GW installed by 2020, with part of the electricity produced destined for domestic consumption and part for export to Europe by means of subsea cables… the total capital investment required is estimated at €38-46bn during 2009-2020."
Sarkis referred to the recent announcement by the World Bank that it would provide financial support to five Mena countries for 11 projects involving the construction of concentrating solar energy (CSP) stations, which are expected to cost some $5.5bn altogether. "Other financial institutions are expected to fund investments totalling an estimated $4.85bn in the region. The 11 projects concerned are to be undertaken in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia and will entail the installation of total generating capacity of 900 MW by 2020. More than 200 projects have been developed and submitted for approval under the MSP."
Sarkis said the APRC would organise a conference and exhibition in Paris in September 2010 to examine the progress made until date and the prospects for the MSP. SlarMed will bring together leading players from the public and private sectors involved in the implementation of the MSP. In a recent study, a veteran Arab expert urged Gulf oil producers to introduce incentives to encourage the establishment of solar and wind energy projects to ensure their power needs and save their hydrocarbon wealth. Waheeb Al Nasir, Director of the Arab Section at the Germany-based International Solar Energy Society (ISES), said he expected the amount of new solar and wind electricity in the GCC to reach 5,000 MW by 2015, including 1,000 MW in Bahrain, 3,500 MW in Qatar and 400 MW in the UAE.
But he noted such capacity remains tiny compared to what he described as the massive solar and wind potential in the six-nation GCC. Al Nasir cited figures by the World Energy Council showing the GCC nations would require around 100 GW of additional power production over the next 10 years to meet their demand at a cost of nearly $25bn, most of which is expected to be invested by the private sector.
He said solar and wind projects in the GCC, which controls more than 45 per cent of the world's extractable crude deposits and a quarter of the global gas wealth, would allow member states to save their hydrocarbon wealth, expand their petrochemical industry, produce hydrogen for export and create jobs. "Solar and wind energy will also contribute to the reduction of the high ratio of CO2 per capita in the GCC. Using renewable energy will lead to prolonging the life of oil and natural gas in these countries and use this resource for petrochemicals industry or use it to produce hydrogen for local use and export," said Al Nasir, also Economics Professor at the Bahrain University.
"Given the high cost of solar and wind energy, there should be an incentive system that provides a sufficient rate of return on such costly investment to encourage investors, ie, introducing Feed In Tariff and making the national grid capable to be integrated with solar and wind electricity."
Key solar and wind projects in GCC
UAE
- Etisalat: In 1997, as a major project of etisalat, the UAE started the installation of passive cooled shelters and solar photovoltaic power systems for powering 33 remotely located island and desert-based GSM base stations. The project, valued at $10m, involved design, manufacturing, installation, testing, and commissioning.
- Dubai Civil Aviation orders solar airport: Green Energy, Dubai, has received an order from Dubai Civil Aviation to supply solar energyed LED airfield lights to be installed at Dubai International Airport. The order consists of solar energyed LED model A601 red lights. After testing A601 lights, authorities concluded solar energyed LED lights were ideal.
- Solar LED flashing beacon in The Gardens, Dubai: Green Energy LLC has been contracted by "The Gardens" a project by Nakheel, to supply solar energyed LED R247C flashing beacons for installation at their property.
Saudi Arabia
Joint programme with the US: This programme, which is called Soleras Solar Energy Research American/Saudi addressed solar energy technological and economical related issues. Soleras began in 1977 and concluded in 1987. A second programme started in 1989 with the US Department of Energy.
- Soleras: In the Soleras programme, each country contributed $50m to the budget. This solar research funding exceeded all expenditures by Saudi Arabia on any solar research activity and the total international solar research commitment of the United States.
Kuwait
A systematic analysis was conducted to assess the technical benefit and economics of solar-based technologies to produce electricity, water and heating or cooling. Solar cooling was found to save up to 50 per cent of electricity compared to the conventional system and much more, if the auxiliary power is supplied from PV source. Solar PV power supply can save 100 per cent electricity for off-grid applications.
Bahrain
- Bahrain World Trade Centre: The first wind mill installed in Bahrain was in the 1950s but the latest one was in 2007 and was integrated to a building, Bahrain World Trade Centre. It consists of three parallel wind turbines, each having a blade diameter of nearly 30m. The total power output of these three turbines is 0.66 MW. They cost only 3.3 per cent BD1m (Dh9.74m) of the whole construction cost.
- Alba solar water heater: The solar water heating system at Alba Healthcare centre.
Oman
The Total Renewable Energy Installation in Oman is 235 kW. Among these projects are:
- The Oman Solar System has designed, manufactured and installed solar lighting systems.
- solar energy supply systems for unmanned microwave telecommunications systems to Omantel.
- Pay phone booths.
- TV transposer systems MOI.
Qatar
Qatar had much interest in renewable energy. There were three published papers on wind and solar potential in Qatar. Also, there was a relatively large scale Solar Pond Project with, probably, not less than 10 kW power.
Monday, 8 February 2010
Musselroe wind power project grinds to a halt
Hobart Mercury
Saturday 6/2/2010 Page: 17
THE $400 million Musselroe windfarm project has been placed on ice, its fate dependent on the Federal Government's renewable energy policy. Roaring 40s, a joint venture between Hydro Tasmania and China Light and Power, has so far spent $35 million on the project at Cape Portland, in the state's North-East. Energy and Resources Minister David Llewellyn said yesterday the development would be delayed.
"There will be a downturn in activity and expenditure in the short term until the investment climate improves," Mr Llewellyn said. "Roaring 40s continues to work on refining the capital costs to ensure that the project will be viable and profitable when the expected turnaround in renewable energy certificate prices occurs. "There is some minor work continuing on site as part of a considerable investment in the project over the past year."
Opposition energy spokesman Peter Gutwein said he had been told that all site work would cease next Friday. Mr Gutwein said the Rudd Government's policy on solar rebates had caused the price of renewable energy certificates to plummet to about $30. The Musselroe project is believed to need a REC price of about $50 to be viable. Government sources said a review of the REC target scheme was being conducted and the issue would be considered at the next Council of Australian Governments meeting.
Mr Gutwein said the North-East desperately needed employment. "Jobs would be generated in the construction phase and local engineering firms were expecting to be building the major wind towers," he said. "If it doesn't go ahead jobs, investment and confidence will be affected." Mr Gutwein said the State Government was too scared to take on the Federal Government. Mr Llewellyn said there were no new wind projects anywhere in Australia.
Saturday 6/2/2010 Page: 17
THE $400 million Musselroe windfarm project has been placed on ice, its fate dependent on the Federal Government's renewable energy policy. Roaring 40s, a joint venture between Hydro Tasmania and China Light and Power, has so far spent $35 million on the project at Cape Portland, in the state's North-East. Energy and Resources Minister David Llewellyn said yesterday the development would be delayed.
"There will be a downturn in activity and expenditure in the short term until the investment climate improves," Mr Llewellyn said. "Roaring 40s continues to work on refining the capital costs to ensure that the project will be viable and profitable when the expected turnaround in renewable energy certificate prices occurs. "There is some minor work continuing on site as part of a considerable investment in the project over the past year."
Opposition energy spokesman Peter Gutwein said he had been told that all site work would cease next Friday. Mr Gutwein said the Rudd Government's policy on solar rebates had caused the price of renewable energy certificates to plummet to about $30. The Musselroe project is believed to need a REC price of about $50 to be viable. Government sources said a review of the REC target scheme was being conducted and the issue would be considered at the next Council of Australian Governments meeting.
Mr Gutwein said the North-East desperately needed employment. "Jobs would be generated in the construction phase and local engineering firms were expecting to be building the major wind towers," he said. "If it doesn't go ahead jobs, investment and confidence will be affected." Mr Gutwein said the State Government was too scared to take on the Federal Government. Mr Llewellyn said there were no new wind projects anywhere in Australia.
Soil carbon: big potential, but maybe not yet?
Crikey.com.au
Thursday 4/2/2010 Page: 1
Opinion: Bernard Keane
One of Australia's foremost soil carbon experts has significant concerns about the Coalition's proposed funding of soil carbon initiatives, on which the Coalition is relying for more than 60% of its emissions abatement task between now and 2020. Professor Alex McBratney, Pro-Dean of Sydney University's Faculty of Agriculture Food & Natural Resources, has told Crikey that the $8-10 cost per tonne of CO2-equivalent on which the Coalition has based its figures is probably too low given the cost associated with sequestering soil carbon. "It needs to be closer to $20-40 a tonne to be viable."
Professor McBratney's comments follow eminent scientist Peter Cosier's criticism that farmers would be receiving more under the Government's CPRS than under the Coalition's plan. However, Professor McBratney is very optimistic about the potential for sequestering soil carbon and believes the Coalition is being conservative on its long-term potential.
Soil carbon-increasing carbon levels in soil through no-till or lower-till cultivation methods, composting or adding biochar to soil - has huge potential for biosequestration of carbon, locking carbon in soil for decades and, possibly, hundreds and thousands of years. It has some heavyweight backers. James Lovelock, James Hansen, Tim Flannery and Ross Garnaut are just some of climate change icons that urged a serious effort on biosequestration. Malcolm Turnbull began promoting soil carbon and particularly biochar early last year, and proposed that farmers be permitted to obtain credits under the CPRS for it on an opt-in basis.
The Government later agreed to that and it now forms part of the revised, Turnbull-era CPRS Bill reintroduced into Parliament on Tuesday. However, soil carbon has come under attack from left-wing environmental groups, who argue that its biosequestration potential is as yet unproven and that demand for products such as biochar will see biosequestration competing with food production as biofuels have, leading to higher food prices.
Critics say there is insufficient peer-reviewed evidence of the long-term stability of soil carbon, and that there is some evidence that no-till and biochar use actually reduce soil carbon levels. No-till cultivation also requires greater use of herbicides (and has been encouraged by agrimultinationals such as Monsanto for the reason), or organic farming methods, which mean significantly more expensive food.
Biochar has come under greater scrutiny. It is produced from biomass such as agricultural waste through a heating process that can also produce biofuels. Very fine black carbon is susceptible to blowing or draining away-one Canadian study showed 25% loss in the process of transporting and spreading, including photos of clouds of black carbon-a particularly intensive greenhouse contributor-blowing away during spreading. In many cases, composting the original waste material rather than turning it into biochar is more viable. It is the production of biochar that critics believe has the potential to drive up food prices.
Soil carbon credits also have no value under current international carbon trading rules, although as Tony Abbott has noted, that's a secondary issue if soil carbon delivers a genuine carbon sink-it removes CO2 from the atmosphere. But while objections to biosequestration seem mainly confined to the hairshirt elements of the environmental movement, there is broader agreement that accurate measurement of soil carbon needs to be resolved before it can be viable. The CSIRO last year started a multi-year project to address issues in soil carbon measurement and said yesterday much more research needed to be done.
Professor McBratney who has undertaken extensive work on the issue, believes these issues will take 2-3 years to resolve but says relatively accurate measurement of soil carbon levels can be obtained at reasonable cost and form the basis for paying farmers. However, he proposes some caveats-a payments system should be based on whole units-such as an entire farm-so that total net carbon loss or gain can be monitored, and it should include all carbon-he says soils also contain non-organic carbonate carbon, which can be lost through irrigation and therefore any system must be on a "net carbon" basis.
He also suggests payment systems be based on relatively conservative verification systems, and if farmers want to be paid more, they pay for more accurate testing. Soil carbon credits are available on the Chicago Climate Exchange, he says, but are worth less than $US1 due to the lack of independent verification and reliance on estimation rather than measurement. Professor McBratney also proposed farmers be paid an ongoing, rather than one-off, payment as an incentive to maintain soil carbon levels.
He would prefer to see a market-based mechanism, and believes $8-10 "won't cut it". "Increasing soil carbon levels requires greater production levels or addition of biomass. Adding a tonne of carbon to soil requires about 100 kilograms of nitrogen, and that either has to be purchased at about $1 per kilogram or produced via legumes, which need water." Professor McBratney thinks $20-40 a tonne is a more realistic but still conservative cost.
However, he says there is enormous potential for soil carbon sequestration and that Australia is probably the world leader with the most sophisticated public debate in the area. "You're not going to see anything for the next two or three years but by 2020, we should start to see a real difference. A reasonable aspiration is a 20% increase in soil carbon by 2020." That assumes our politicians managed to get the right incentives in place.
Thursday 4/2/2010 Page: 1
Opinion: Bernard Keane
One of Australia's foremost soil carbon experts has significant concerns about the Coalition's proposed funding of soil carbon initiatives, on which the Coalition is relying for more than 60% of its emissions abatement task between now and 2020. Professor Alex McBratney, Pro-Dean of Sydney University's Faculty of Agriculture Food & Natural Resources, has told Crikey that the $8-10 cost per tonne of CO2-equivalent on which the Coalition has based its figures is probably too low given the cost associated with sequestering soil carbon. "It needs to be closer to $20-40 a tonne to be viable."
Professor McBratney's comments follow eminent scientist Peter Cosier's criticism that farmers would be receiving more under the Government's CPRS than under the Coalition's plan. However, Professor McBratney is very optimistic about the potential for sequestering soil carbon and believes the Coalition is being conservative on its long-term potential.
Soil carbon-increasing carbon levels in soil through no-till or lower-till cultivation methods, composting or adding biochar to soil - has huge potential for biosequestration of carbon, locking carbon in soil for decades and, possibly, hundreds and thousands of years. It has some heavyweight backers. James Lovelock, James Hansen, Tim Flannery and Ross Garnaut are just some of climate change icons that urged a serious effort on biosequestration. Malcolm Turnbull began promoting soil carbon and particularly biochar early last year, and proposed that farmers be permitted to obtain credits under the CPRS for it on an opt-in basis.
The Government later agreed to that and it now forms part of the revised, Turnbull-era CPRS Bill reintroduced into Parliament on Tuesday. However, soil carbon has come under attack from left-wing environmental groups, who argue that its biosequestration potential is as yet unproven and that demand for products such as biochar will see biosequestration competing with food production as biofuels have, leading to higher food prices.
Critics say there is insufficient peer-reviewed evidence of the long-term stability of soil carbon, and that there is some evidence that no-till and biochar use actually reduce soil carbon levels. No-till cultivation also requires greater use of herbicides (and has been encouraged by agrimultinationals such as Monsanto for the reason), or organic farming methods, which mean significantly more expensive food.
Biochar has come under greater scrutiny. It is produced from biomass such as agricultural waste through a heating process that can also produce biofuels. Very fine black carbon is susceptible to blowing or draining away-one Canadian study showed 25% loss in the process of transporting and spreading, including photos of clouds of black carbon-a particularly intensive greenhouse contributor-blowing away during spreading. In many cases, composting the original waste material rather than turning it into biochar is more viable. It is the production of biochar that critics believe has the potential to drive up food prices.
Soil carbon credits also have no value under current international carbon trading rules, although as Tony Abbott has noted, that's a secondary issue if soil carbon delivers a genuine carbon sink-it removes CO2 from the atmosphere. But while objections to biosequestration seem mainly confined to the hairshirt elements of the environmental movement, there is broader agreement that accurate measurement of soil carbon needs to be resolved before it can be viable. The CSIRO last year started a multi-year project to address issues in soil carbon measurement and said yesterday much more research needed to be done.
Professor McBratney who has undertaken extensive work on the issue, believes these issues will take 2-3 years to resolve but says relatively accurate measurement of soil carbon levels can be obtained at reasonable cost and form the basis for paying farmers. However, he proposes some caveats-a payments system should be based on whole units-such as an entire farm-so that total net carbon loss or gain can be monitored, and it should include all carbon-he says soils also contain non-organic carbonate carbon, which can be lost through irrigation and therefore any system must be on a "net carbon" basis.
He also suggests payment systems be based on relatively conservative verification systems, and if farmers want to be paid more, they pay for more accurate testing. Soil carbon credits are available on the Chicago Climate Exchange, he says, but are worth less than $US1 due to the lack of independent verification and reliance on estimation rather than measurement. Professor McBratney also proposed farmers be paid an ongoing, rather than one-off, payment as an incentive to maintain soil carbon levels.
He would prefer to see a market-based mechanism, and believes $8-10 "won't cut it". "Increasing soil carbon levels requires greater production levels or addition of biomass. Adding a tonne of carbon to soil requires about 100 kilograms of nitrogen, and that either has to be purchased at about $1 per kilogram or produced via legumes, which need water." Professor McBratney thinks $20-40 a tonne is a more realistic but still conservative cost.
However, he says there is enormous potential for soil carbon sequestration and that Australia is probably the world leader with the most sophisticated public debate in the area. "You're not going to see anything for the next two or three years but by 2020, we should start to see a real difference. A reasonable aspiration is a 20% increase in soil carbon by 2020." That assumes our politicians managed to get the right incentives in place.
China doubles its wind power
Adelaide Advertiser
Friday 5/2/2010 Page: 65
CHINA doubled the amount of energy generated from windmills last year, a report from the global wind industry said yesterday. The Global Wind Energy Council, which represents companies that make and manage wind energy stations, said the sector grew rapidly last year - with total wind capacity up 31% - despite the global economic downturn.
The market for new wind turbines was worth $63 billion in 2009, it said. China became the biggest market for new wind turbines last year, as it doubled power capacity from 12 GWs to 25 GWs. The world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases is turning to renewables as well as coal as its growing economy calls for more power. China aims to increase that sixfold - to 150 GWs - by 2020. The Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association says it could hit that target far earlier.
Friday 5/2/2010 Page: 65
CHINA doubled the amount of energy generated from windmills last year, a report from the global wind industry said yesterday. The Global Wind Energy Council, which represents companies that make and manage wind energy stations, said the sector grew rapidly last year - with total wind capacity up 31% - despite the global economic downturn.
The market for new wind turbines was worth $63 billion in 2009, it said. China became the biggest market for new wind turbines last year, as it doubled power capacity from 12 GWs to 25 GWs. The world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases is turning to renewables as well as coal as its growing economy calls for more power. China aims to increase that sixfold - to 150 GWs - by 2020. The Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association says it could hit that target far earlier.
Australia seeks investments in energy sector
www.financialexpress.com
Feb 06, 2010
New Delhi: Australian energy minister Martin Ferguson has sought Indian investments into the island nation's energy sector and has offered India long-term supply of energy sources and clean technologies. Australia would appoint a dedicated investment commissioner in Mumbai later this year to facilitate cross-border flow of investments. The energy minister will also showcase before Indian investors and businesses its latest blocks on offer for oil and natural gas exploration later this year, Ferguson told FE.
The minister, who is scheduled to meet Cabinet ministers and businessmen during the ongoing visit, said Australia is strategically placed to meet the growing energy needs of the Indian economy. Ferguson sees last year's Australian $25 billion deal between Australia's Exxon-Mobil Corporation's subsidiaries and Petronet LNG Limited for long-term supply of LNG as a milestone in cross-border trade in the energy sector. India is also a major buyer of Australia's coal, gold and copper ores. Australia wants to expand the association further.
"In resources and energy, we have a long-term relationship. With the growth in the Indian economy, it is going to expand dramatically over the next decade," said Ferguson. Australia is the biggest exporter of coal and the fifth largest exporter of LNG. With higher investments, the island nations hopes to be the second largest LNG exporter within five years.
Australia has also been encouraging India's huge investments in its coal industry, he said. "We have a favourable environment with respect to foreign investments. Our foreign investment policy is non-discriminatory," Ferguson said adding that the state does not interfere with market forces. The government, however, has regard for its national interest, the minister said.
Australia also offers partnerships and joint ventures with Indian firms in development of clean technology and sharing the research outcomes. The country is investing heavily in research and has committed a 20% cut in carbon emissions by the end of the next decade with a focus on solar thermal, geo-thermal and biomass sources. Ferguson said his government wants to take forward the activities of five working groups for co-operation set up last year in the areas of mining, coal, power, petroleum and natural gas and new and renewable sources of energy.
The Australian government is extremely serious about dealing with the alleged attacks against Indians. "The Australian government is taking these incidents very seriously. Our state governments are vigorously pursuing these cases and are prosecuting... We have had quite significant successful prosecutions with long-term prison outcomes. We are aware of those issues and we take crime very seriously in Australia," the minister assured.
Feb 06, 2010
New Delhi: Australian energy minister Martin Ferguson has sought Indian investments into the island nation's energy sector and has offered India long-term supply of energy sources and clean technologies. Australia would appoint a dedicated investment commissioner in Mumbai later this year to facilitate cross-border flow of investments. The energy minister will also showcase before Indian investors and businesses its latest blocks on offer for oil and natural gas exploration later this year, Ferguson told FE.
The minister, who is scheduled to meet Cabinet ministers and businessmen during the ongoing visit, said Australia is strategically placed to meet the growing energy needs of the Indian economy. Ferguson sees last year's Australian $25 billion deal between Australia's Exxon-Mobil Corporation's subsidiaries and Petronet LNG Limited for long-term supply of LNG as a milestone in cross-border trade in the energy sector. India is also a major buyer of Australia's coal, gold and copper ores. Australia wants to expand the association further.
"In resources and energy, we have a long-term relationship. With the growth in the Indian economy, it is going to expand dramatically over the next decade," said Ferguson. Australia is the biggest exporter of coal and the fifth largest exporter of LNG. With higher investments, the island nations hopes to be the second largest LNG exporter within five years.
Australia has also been encouraging India's huge investments in its coal industry, he said. "We have a favourable environment with respect to foreign investments. Our foreign investment policy is non-discriminatory," Ferguson said adding that the state does not interfere with market forces. The government, however, has regard for its national interest, the minister said.
Australia also offers partnerships and joint ventures with Indian firms in development of clean technology and sharing the research outcomes. The country is investing heavily in research and has committed a 20% cut in carbon emissions by the end of the next decade with a focus on solar thermal, geo-thermal and biomass sources. Ferguson said his government wants to take forward the activities of five working groups for co-operation set up last year in the areas of mining, coal, power, petroleum and natural gas and new and renewable sources of energy.
The Australian government is extremely serious about dealing with the alleged attacks against Indians. "The Australian government is taking these incidents very seriously. Our state governments are vigorously pursuing these cases and are prosecuting... We have had quite significant successful prosecutions with long-term prison outcomes. We are aware of those issues and we take crime very seriously in Australia," the minister assured.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)