www.kplu.org
5 Jul 2013
Researchers are testing a new battery power storage system that may provide some long-term solutions to storing power from the electrical grid. The tests are being conducted at a wind farm near the Tri-Cities. Currently, wind power--and hydroelectric--must be used as it is produced.
"Electric in general is difficult to store, or to save for later; you have to use it", said John Steigers of Energy Northwest, a public power consortium. "The whole system in the country is based on the premise that what is being produced has to be used".
The new battery that is being tested is huge--we're talking half the size of a railway shipping container. It utilizes modern Lithium ion technology. Steigers says the battery is being tested at several different locations. The idea is that it can store wind power that is generated at times of the day when actual use by consumers is not all that high.
"It tends to show up at night, when the loads for the system are the lowest, and when it shows up you can store it, and then later in the day when air conditioners are on and people are working it, the electricity can be used at that time", he said.
Steigers says the battery is expected to be able to store enough electricity to power 50 homes for a year. He says long-term plans for the batteries would be to site them where they are needed, at industrial areas or neighborhoods to power individual homes.
Showing posts with label Air Conditioner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Air Conditioner. Show all posts
Saturday, 7 September 2013
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
Solar photovoltaic diesel hybrid system to power one of Australia’s remotest locations
www.electronicsnews.com.au
8 Nov 2012
An off-grid, sustainable power supply developed by a Curtin University PhD student is being used to power one of the hottest and most remote locations in Australia.
Shaji Mathews from the University's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is developing uninterrupted power supplies for remote locations and, in conjunction with Regen Power, has designed and installed an innovative solar photovoltaic diesel hybrid system for the Veterans Retreat at Meentheena Station, 75 km east of Marble Bar.
The retreat is for veterans of military, medical, police and other services to help them cope with experiences of past conflicts and events. While the remoteness of the site makes it an ideal location to unwind, visitors battle with the extreme temperatures, so the Veterans Retreats of Western Australia approached Regen Power to develop a cost-effective, uninterrupted power supply system. With the nearest petrol station located some 200 km away, Mathews developed a diesel generator which can run on variable speed to reduce the retreat's fuel needs, yet still meet power requirements in case of solar power shortages.
"This is the first variable speed generator of this type and I'm pretty sure success of this combination system will give a big boost to remote applications", Mathews said. "Current hybrid systems require a large battery storage bank or a big diesel generator to meet peak load, and running a new or upgraded grid is expensive. We can supply year-round power without a huge capital investment, making it affordable for those with limited funds".
The system includes 32 panels, a 38 kW energy storage battery system and the variable speed diesel generator, providing 24 hour power to the retreat, which incorporates facilities for caravans and camping, a donga with four self-contained rooms, a house and a shed. solar panels have been mounted to the rooftop of the house and donga while the battery bank is located in an air-conditioned and insulated sea container.
"The new power system allows residents to have air conditioners, lighting and refrigerators in each room and to use appliances at any time. Previously, only their absolute basic electrical needs, such as refrigeration, were powered using a small petrol generator", Mathews said.
The solar panels will generate an average of about 30 kW of electricity per day. The solar hybrid system can meet almost 10 kW peak power on a sunny day and around 5 kW power at night. "Our experiments have proven that the variable speed generator can achieve a fuel saving of up to 40% compared to a conventional diesel generator in remote applications", he said.
8 Nov 2012
An off-grid, sustainable power supply developed by a Curtin University PhD student is being used to power one of the hottest and most remote locations in Australia.
Shaji Mathews from the University's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is developing uninterrupted power supplies for remote locations and, in conjunction with Regen Power, has designed and installed an innovative solar photovoltaic diesel hybrid system for the Veterans Retreat at Meentheena Station, 75 km east of Marble Bar.
The retreat is for veterans of military, medical, police and other services to help them cope with experiences of past conflicts and events. While the remoteness of the site makes it an ideal location to unwind, visitors battle with the extreme temperatures, so the Veterans Retreats of Western Australia approached Regen Power to develop a cost-effective, uninterrupted power supply system. With the nearest petrol station located some 200 km away, Mathews developed a diesel generator which can run on variable speed to reduce the retreat's fuel needs, yet still meet power requirements in case of solar power shortages.
"This is the first variable speed generator of this type and I'm pretty sure success of this combination system will give a big boost to remote applications", Mathews said. "Current hybrid systems require a large battery storage bank or a big diesel generator to meet peak load, and running a new or upgraded grid is expensive. We can supply year-round power without a huge capital investment, making it affordable for those with limited funds".
The system includes 32 panels, a 38 kW energy storage battery system and the variable speed diesel generator, providing 24 hour power to the retreat, which incorporates facilities for caravans and camping, a donga with four self-contained rooms, a house and a shed. solar panels have been mounted to the rooftop of the house and donga while the battery bank is located in an air-conditioned and insulated sea container.
"The new power system allows residents to have air conditioners, lighting and refrigerators in each room and to use appliances at any time. Previously, only their absolute basic electrical needs, such as refrigeration, were powered using a small petrol generator", Mathews said.
The solar panels will generate an average of about 30 kW of electricity per day. The solar hybrid system can meet almost 10 kW peak power on a sunny day and around 5 kW power at night. "Our experiments have proven that the variable speed generator can achieve a fuel saving of up to 40% compared to a conventional diesel generator in remote applications", he said.
Saturday, 27 October 2012
Yallourn Power Station downsize shows Renewable Energy Target is working
Clean Energy Council
17 Oct 2012
The peak body for Australia's clean energy industry said today's announcement that part of the coal-fired Yallourn W power station would be mothballed showed that cleaner sources of power were gradually replacing the country's highest-polluting power generation. Clean Energy Council Chief Executive David Green said if Australia was serious about transitioning to a clean energy future, then such shifts in the way electricity was generated were to be expected.
"Six weeks ago renewable energy was wrongly criticised in some quarters for not reducing emissions, and now Australia's 20% Renewable Energy Target has been criticised for being too effective", Mr Green said. "The fact is, the Renewable Energy Target is doing exactly what it is supposed to: aiding Australia's transition to a cleaner energy system and hunting out the least-cost ways of doing this.
"Not only that, while providing the country with clean energy such as solar, wind, bioenergy and hydroelectric, it has also delivered billions of dollars in investment and thousands of jobs, along with increased protection against the volatile costs of fossil fuels. And it has the potential to deliver much more if kept in place and not tinkered with".
However, the policy is currently under review by the Climate Change Authority, which is under pressure from some energy companies who want it scaled back in order to maintain their dominance of the market.
"People are using less fossil fuelled electricity because of the increased contribution of large-scale clean energy such as wind, rising power prices, mild weather and better energy efficiency at home as well as through technologies like solar power. Contrary to the predictions of some doomsayers, the lights are still on and our energy sources are still secure. "It's not surprising the impact of all this is being felt by some of the big fossil fuelled power generators.
"But it is too early to say whether any forecast reduction in demand for energy will be a long-term trend or whether it will increase again if we all turn the air conditioning on over a few hot summers, or the exchange rate changes and manufacturing picks up", he said.
17 Oct 2012
The peak body for Australia's clean energy industry said today's announcement that part of the coal-fired Yallourn W power station would be mothballed showed that cleaner sources of power were gradually replacing the country's highest-polluting power generation. Clean Energy Council Chief Executive David Green said if Australia was serious about transitioning to a clean energy future, then such shifts in the way electricity was generated were to be expected."Six weeks ago renewable energy was wrongly criticised in some quarters for not reducing emissions, and now Australia's 20% Renewable Energy Target has been criticised for being too effective", Mr Green said. "The fact is, the Renewable Energy Target is doing exactly what it is supposed to: aiding Australia's transition to a cleaner energy system and hunting out the least-cost ways of doing this.
"Not only that, while providing the country with clean energy such as solar, wind, bioenergy and hydroelectric, it has also delivered billions of dollars in investment and thousands of jobs, along with increased protection against the volatile costs of fossil fuels. And it has the potential to deliver much more if kept in place and not tinkered with".
However, the policy is currently under review by the Climate Change Authority, which is under pressure from some energy companies who want it scaled back in order to maintain their dominance of the market.
"People are using less fossil fuelled electricity because of the increased contribution of large-scale clean energy such as wind, rising power prices, mild weather and better energy efficiency at home as well as through technologies like solar power. Contrary to the predictions of some doomsayers, the lights are still on and our energy sources are still secure. "It's not surprising the impact of all this is being felt by some of the big fossil fuelled power generators.
"But it is too early to say whether any forecast reduction in demand for energy will be a long-term trend or whether it will increase again if we all turn the air conditioning on over a few hot summers, or the exchange rate changes and manufacturing picks up", he said.
Thursday, 4 October 2012
New cobalt catalyst can split hydrogen from water
resourceinvestingnews.com
26 Sep 2012
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have produced hydrogen from water using an inexpensive cobalt catalyst, the university said. The research is gaining attention because hydrogen can be used as a fuel in combination with fuel-cells, which are seen as a growing source of green energy.
The scientists' work is also noteworthy because the cobalt catalyst will work in conditions useful to industry. That means the catalyst uses fresh water, tolerates oxygen in the atmosphere and runs at room temperature.
Hydrogen is currently produced from fossil fuels, creating the greenhouse gas CO₂ as a by-product. Hence it is neither renewable nor clean. "A green process such as sunlight-driven water splitting is therefore required to produce 'green and sustainable [hydrogen],'" the University of Cambridge said in a statement.
The cobalt catalyst comes in handy because until now scientists have had a tough time finding an efficient and inexpensive catalyst that can function under real-world conditions--using pH neutral water, surrounded by oxygen and at room temperature. Currently, highly-efficient catalysts such as platinum are too expensive and cheaper alternatives are inefficient, the researchers said.
"Our research has shown that inexpensive materials such as cobalt are suitable to fulfil this challenging requirement", Dr. Erwin Reisner, the lead author of the research and head of the Christian Doppler Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, said in a university circular. "Of course, many hurdles such as the rather poor stability of the catalyst remain to be addressed, but our finding provides a first step to produce 'green hydrogen' under relevant conditions".
While it is too early to tell what impact this development will have on demand for cobalt, new applications for cobalt are generally seen as positive for the mineral, which is in oversupply; new uses could boost demand.
Global mine production of cobalt was 98,000 tonnes in 2011, according to the US Geological Survey. With two more mines coming on board in the next few years, London-based CRU has estimated that demand for cobalt will rise to over 100,000 tonnes of refined consumption a year by 2016. The market is expected to remain in oversupply at least until then.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) sources nearly two-thirds of the world's cobalt, most of which is refined in China. Zambia, Russia, Australia, Brazil and Canada also produce some cobalt, but the main players are the DRC and China. The Cambridge researchers, in the meantime, look forward to creating a sunlight-driven hydrogen system.
Fezile Lakadamyali and Masaru Kato, co-authors of the study, told New Energy and Fuel, "[w]e are excited about our results and we are optimistic that we will successfully assemble a sunlight-driven water splitting system soon". New Energy and Fuel added that it would be a breakthrough if the team "could get the hydrogen ready to store or reconnected to a carbon atom".
26 Sep 2012
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have produced hydrogen from water using an inexpensive cobalt catalyst, the university said. The research is gaining attention because hydrogen can be used as a fuel in combination with fuel-cells, which are seen as a growing source of green energy.
The scientists' work is also noteworthy because the cobalt catalyst will work in conditions useful to industry. That means the catalyst uses fresh water, tolerates oxygen in the atmosphere and runs at room temperature.
Hydrogen is currently produced from fossil fuels, creating the greenhouse gas CO₂ as a by-product. Hence it is neither renewable nor clean. "A green process such as sunlight-driven water splitting is therefore required to produce 'green and sustainable [hydrogen],'" the University of Cambridge said in a statement.
The cobalt catalyst comes in handy because until now scientists have had a tough time finding an efficient and inexpensive catalyst that can function under real-world conditions--using pH neutral water, surrounded by oxygen and at room temperature. Currently, highly-efficient catalysts such as platinum are too expensive and cheaper alternatives are inefficient, the researchers said.
"Our research has shown that inexpensive materials such as cobalt are suitable to fulfil this challenging requirement", Dr. Erwin Reisner, the lead author of the research and head of the Christian Doppler Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, said in a university circular. "Of course, many hurdles such as the rather poor stability of the catalyst remain to be addressed, but our finding provides a first step to produce 'green hydrogen' under relevant conditions".
While it is too early to tell what impact this development will have on demand for cobalt, new applications for cobalt are generally seen as positive for the mineral, which is in oversupply; new uses could boost demand.
Global mine production of cobalt was 98,000 tonnes in 2011, according to the US Geological Survey. With two more mines coming on board in the next few years, London-based CRU has estimated that demand for cobalt will rise to over 100,000 tonnes of refined consumption a year by 2016. The market is expected to remain in oversupply at least until then.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) sources nearly two-thirds of the world's cobalt, most of which is refined in China. Zambia, Russia, Australia, Brazil and Canada also produce some cobalt, but the main players are the DRC and China. The Cambridge researchers, in the meantime, look forward to creating a sunlight-driven hydrogen system.
Fezile Lakadamyali and Masaru Kato, co-authors of the study, told New Energy and Fuel, "[w]e are excited about our results and we are optimistic that we will successfully assemble a sunlight-driven water splitting system soon". New Energy and Fuel added that it would be a breakthrough if the team "could get the hydrogen ready to store or reconnected to a carbon atom".
Thursday, 13 September 2012
New hydrogen filling stations in Europe and Japan
www.4-traders.com
7 Sep 2012
The automotive industry has announced that vehicles powered by fuel-cell technology will be on the market by 2015. Air Liquide is preparing for the emergence of hydrogen in transport by supporting the rollout of the necessary filling station infrastructure globally. These developments have recently received strong government backing in Europe and Asia.
Today, Air Liquide officially opened its first public hydrogen filling station for passenger cars in Germany, in the city of Duesseldorf. This state of the art station will be followed by 10 new hydrogen filling stations that will be designed, built and rolled out in the next three years under the auspices of the German government's major demonstration project. By 2015 Germany will have a supply network of at least 50 public filling stations.
Those new steps are in line with the Group's announcement in October 2011 that it would invest in 20 new stations in Europe. Driven by the same dynamic, two other stations have been installed recently by Air Liquide in Oslo, Norway, and in the Swiss city of Brugg.
In Japan, the government sees hydrogen as a promising major energy source for cars and expects to install about 100 hydrogen distribution stations for fuel-cell vehicles by 2015. Air Liquide Japan intends to build a significant number of them and, in support of this goal, has recently set up a specialized team focused on the hydrogen business. The Group is already very active in Japan in this field, having so far installed 3 hydrogen energy stations (in Tokyo, Kawasaki, and Saga). One of these stations demonstrated the feasibility of a complete "Blue Hydrogen" chain, from wood chips to clean mobility.
Read More…
7 Sep 2012
The automotive industry has announced that vehicles powered by fuel-cell technology will be on the market by 2015. Air Liquide is preparing for the emergence of hydrogen in transport by supporting the rollout of the necessary filling station infrastructure globally. These developments have recently received strong government backing in Europe and Asia.
Today, Air Liquide officially opened its first public hydrogen filling station for passenger cars in Germany, in the city of Duesseldorf. This state of the art station will be followed by 10 new hydrogen filling stations that will be designed, built and rolled out in the next three years under the auspices of the German government's major demonstration project. By 2015 Germany will have a supply network of at least 50 public filling stations.
Those new steps are in line with the Group's announcement in October 2011 that it would invest in 20 new stations in Europe. Driven by the same dynamic, two other stations have been installed recently by Air Liquide in Oslo, Norway, and in the Swiss city of Brugg.
In Japan, the government sees hydrogen as a promising major energy source for cars and expects to install about 100 hydrogen distribution stations for fuel-cell vehicles by 2015. Air Liquide Japan intends to build a significant number of them and, in support of this goal, has recently set up a specialized team focused on the hydrogen business. The Group is already very active in Japan in this field, having so far installed 3 hydrogen energy stations (in Tokyo, Kawasaki, and Saga). One of these stations demonstrated the feasibility of a complete "Blue Hydrogen" chain, from wood chips to clean mobility.
Read More…
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Future of Japan's nuclear energy uncertain
www.upi.com
16 Apr 2012
TOKYO, April 16 (UPI), None of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors will be in operation as of May 6, as the country's last reactor operating is to go offline for maintenance, Japanese Trade Minister Yukio Edano said. The bulk of Japan's reactors, excluding the No. 3 Tomari reactor in Hokkaido scheduled to be shut down May 5 for maintenance, were taken offline for scheduled checkups but have stayed offline due to safety concerns sparked by the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster following the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami.
Although the May 5 Tomari shutdown means that nuclear power in Japan "will be zero from May 6 momentarily", Edano said in a speech Sunday in Tokushima that Japan will eventually reduce its reliance on nuclear power "to zero permanently", Kyodo news reports. The Tomari shutdown will mark the first time that Japan would be without nuclear power production since 1966, when the country's first reactor began operation. Prior to the Fukushima crisis, nuclear power provided 30% of Japan's electricity.
Edano's comments came as Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's administration has been seeking local approval to restart the Nos. 3 and 4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture. While Edano on Sunday called for support for the reactivation of the Oi reactors to avoid power shortages in the near future, he maintained, "We will realistically and steadily reduce the number of nuclear reactors through a process that would not cause concerns or confusion in society while thoroughly examining their safety".
At a parliamentary committee meeting Friday, Edano said that even if the two Kansai reactors are restarted, the utility's service territory, including Osaka, could face electricity shortages during summer heat waves, particularly with increased air conditioner use. "I have to say we are facing the risk of a very severe electricity shortage", Edano told reporters. But the momentum to restart Japan's reactors is losing ground as time passes, particularly if Japan and its economy emerge relatively unscathed from a nuclear power-free summer.
As for the decision to restart other nuclear reactors, the government plans to make those on a case-by-case basis. "Each time, we will make a decision based on safety and necessity", Edano said at a news conference Friday, noting that restarting the Oi reactors would not automatically open the door for reactors at other plants to be restarted. Platts news service cited industry sources as saying that Japan could see restarts of several of the country's nuclear reactors this year, yet they say most of the total nuclear capacity of 48.96 GWs is expected to remain shut because of safety concerns.
16 Apr 2012
TOKYO, April 16 (UPI), None of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors will be in operation as of May 6, as the country's last reactor operating is to go offline for maintenance, Japanese Trade Minister Yukio Edano said. The bulk of Japan's reactors, excluding the No. 3 Tomari reactor in Hokkaido scheduled to be shut down May 5 for maintenance, were taken offline for scheduled checkups but have stayed offline due to safety concerns sparked by the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster following the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami.Although the May 5 Tomari shutdown means that nuclear power in Japan "will be zero from May 6 momentarily", Edano said in a speech Sunday in Tokushima that Japan will eventually reduce its reliance on nuclear power "to zero permanently", Kyodo news reports. The Tomari shutdown will mark the first time that Japan would be without nuclear power production since 1966, when the country's first reactor began operation. Prior to the Fukushima crisis, nuclear power provided 30% of Japan's electricity.
Edano's comments came as Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's administration has been seeking local approval to restart the Nos. 3 and 4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture. While Edano on Sunday called for support for the reactivation of the Oi reactors to avoid power shortages in the near future, he maintained, "We will realistically and steadily reduce the number of nuclear reactors through a process that would not cause concerns or confusion in society while thoroughly examining their safety".
At a parliamentary committee meeting Friday, Edano said that even if the two Kansai reactors are restarted, the utility's service territory, including Osaka, could face electricity shortages during summer heat waves, particularly with increased air conditioner use. "I have to say we are facing the risk of a very severe electricity shortage", Edano told reporters. But the momentum to restart Japan's reactors is losing ground as time passes, particularly if Japan and its economy emerge relatively unscathed from a nuclear power-free summer.
As for the decision to restart other nuclear reactors, the government plans to make those on a case-by-case basis. "Each time, we will make a decision based on safety and necessity", Edano said at a news conference Friday, noting that restarting the Oi reactors would not automatically open the door for reactors at other plants to be restarted. Platts news service cited industry sources as saying that Japan could see restarts of several of the country's nuclear reactors this year, yet they say most of the total nuclear capacity of 48.96 GWs is expected to remain shut because of safety concerns.
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
Renewable energy generates jobs and investment - not major price hikes
Clean Energy Council
21 Mar 2012
The contribution of renewable energy to rising power bills is tiny compared to the huge investment required to meet peak demand and replace ageing poles and wires, the Clean Energy Council said today.
Clean Energy Council acting Chief Executive Kane Thornton said more than $20 billion in investment and thousands of jobs would be unlocked by Australia's pledge to generate 20% of its electricity in 2020 from renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, bioenergy, wave and geothermal 'hot rocks'.
"Renewable energy is supported by the vast majority of Australians and the national 20% Renewable Energy Target is designed to come at a minimal cost", he said. "According to the Australian Electricity Market Commission, more than 90% of the price rises over the next three years will come from increases in costs for the traditional energy system".
Mr Thornton said Australia was staring down the barrel of a 37% hike in national power prices over the next three years, but passing the buck would not help solve the problem.
"It is widely acknowledged that this rise is due to the cost of replacing old poles and wires, as well as building new capacity to meet additional electricity demand for appliances such as air conditioners and televisions. Every average sized air conditioner costs electricity users around $7000 in extra costs to the power grid, according to the Federal Government's draft Energy White Paper. The paper also states that peak demand represents around a quarter of total network costs".
Mr Thornton's comments came after the Energy Users Association of Australia released a report saying our nation's power prices are high compared to many other countries. It was followed by a call from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry to abandon renewable energy schemes.
"Organisations like the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry risk their credibility by trying to pin rising power bills on renewable energy, while apparently ignoring the main factors that have led to recent price hikes", he said. "Renewable energy produces about 10% of Australia's electricity. The idea that 10% of our electricity somehow makes the other 90% unaffordable is absurd".
21 Mar 2012
The contribution of renewable energy to rising power bills is tiny compared to the huge investment required to meet peak demand and replace ageing poles and wires, the Clean Energy Council said today.Clean Energy Council acting Chief Executive Kane Thornton said more than $20 billion in investment and thousands of jobs would be unlocked by Australia's pledge to generate 20% of its electricity in 2020 from renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, bioenergy, wave and geothermal 'hot rocks'.
"Renewable energy is supported by the vast majority of Australians and the national 20% Renewable Energy Target is designed to come at a minimal cost", he said. "According to the Australian Electricity Market Commission, more than 90% of the price rises over the next three years will come from increases in costs for the traditional energy system".
Mr Thornton said Australia was staring down the barrel of a 37% hike in national power prices over the next three years, but passing the buck would not help solve the problem.
"It is widely acknowledged that this rise is due to the cost of replacing old poles and wires, as well as building new capacity to meet additional electricity demand for appliances such as air conditioners and televisions. Every average sized air conditioner costs electricity users around $7000 in extra costs to the power grid, according to the Federal Government's draft Energy White Paper. The paper also states that peak demand represents around a quarter of total network costs".
Mr Thornton's comments came after the Energy Users Association of Australia released a report saying our nation's power prices are high compared to many other countries. It was followed by a call from the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry to abandon renewable energy schemes.
"Organisations like the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry risk their credibility by trying to pin rising power bills on renewable energy, while apparently ignoring the main factors that have led to recent price hikes", he said. "Renewable energy produces about 10% of Australia's electricity. The idea that 10% of our electricity somehow makes the other 90% unaffordable is absurd".
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
The hidden cost of infinite energy (Part 2)
www.theglobalmail.org
7 Feb 2012
The chief of Australia’s largest electricity network decries that he has no incentive to rein in our demand for power. Well, academics led by economist Chris Dunstan are touting a detailed plan to slow Australia’s energy spending, drive down prices and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The energy bosses are listening. But is Canberra ready to act?
Read more…
7 Feb 2012
The chief of Australia’s largest electricity network decries that he has no incentive to rein in our demand for power. Well, academics led by economist Chris Dunstan are touting a detailed plan to slow Australia’s energy spending, drive down prices and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The energy bosses are listening. But is Canberra ready to act?Read more…
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
The key to staying cool when the heat is on
Australian
16 May 2011, Page: 29
THE sun is obviously the world's greatest source of heat but, paradoxically, it is also being harnessed for cooling buildings, important on the hottest days when air conditioners can overwhelm the electricity supply, and institutions such as hospitals are taking advantage of the evolving technology.
Sustainability Victoria, which is working with the CSIRO and the Energy Resources Institute in India to develop small scale solar coolers, says solar cooling systems are either closed cycle systems or open cycle systems. Closed cycle systems produce chilled water that can supply any type of air conditioning equipment.
Open cycle systems, or desiccant systems, are a combination of sorptive dehumidification and evaporative cooling, providing cool, dry air to a building. Heat for thermally driven cooling is gathered by solar collectors typically used in home solar hot water systems. Using sorption, it is then converted into cold, which is delivered in the shape of chilled water or dry, cool air.
The Victorian body is also a partner in the installation of solar coolers at Echuca hospital, where it has part funded the replacement of two electric air conditioning units. The cooler has a solar field of 102 evacuated tube collectors over 422m² that feeds hot water to an absorption chiller, cutting the hospital's natural gas consumption.
"When the chiller is not in use, the hot water from the collector field is used for the domestic hot water demand or stored in hot water tanks for later use", Sustainability Victoria's Sonja Ott says. The solar cooling system was installed in March and is now under commissioning. "It is expected that the solar cooling system will save 1400 tonnes CO₂ equivalent and $60,000 in energy bills a year", Ott says.
CSIRO research team leader Stephen White says supply and demand problems with solar cooling are the subject of further research. "In a conventional air conditioning system, you use the electricity grid, which you hope will supply you with energy as and when it is needed to keep your building cold. "But once you have a solar air conditioning process, not only is the call for air conditioning variable over the day but also the supply of driving heat is variable".
The hard part is "trying to match that variable supply of power with a variable demand for cold". "In the last five to 10 years researchers around the world have been getting that integration working well to bring down the cost and improve the solar fraction", White says. Many conventional sorption units are powered by gas fired heat or by waste heat from an engine. "That's become a lot more popular in the past few years and now were looking at adding in a solar component that doesn't require the fossil fuels", he says.
White says the technology could be used in two ways: large systems with economies of scale for buildings such as hospitals or schools, or smaller plug and play systems for houses. "Absorption chillers are most cost effective at a large scale, in the MW range. To get economies of scale, go larger; but to go smaller, companies need to come up with a mass produced plug and play device". White says a solar cooling system is more efficient than a conventional electric system.
The focus for the next five to 10 years is for manufacturers to develop their products and get them on the market. "There's a bright future but a lot of work to do in terms of product development and also getting legislation so solar cooling is treated the same way as other renewables", White says. "It is not explicitly mentioned in renewable energy targets, [yet] solar cooling has the potential to address peak demand. The 200 member Solar Cooling Interest Group, of which White is chairman, is working with Standards Australia "to recognise the performance and benefits of solar cooling" as a precursor to lobbying government to have the technology recognised as a renewable energy device.
16 May 2011, Page: 29
THE sun is obviously the world's greatest source of heat but, paradoxically, it is also being harnessed for cooling buildings, important on the hottest days when air conditioners can overwhelm the electricity supply, and institutions such as hospitals are taking advantage of the evolving technology.
Sustainability Victoria, which is working with the CSIRO and the Energy Resources Institute in India to develop small scale solar coolers, says solar cooling systems are either closed cycle systems or open cycle systems. Closed cycle systems produce chilled water that can supply any type of air conditioning equipment.
Open cycle systems, or desiccant systems, are a combination of sorptive dehumidification and evaporative cooling, providing cool, dry air to a building. Heat for thermally driven cooling is gathered by solar collectors typically used in home solar hot water systems. Using sorption, it is then converted into cold, which is delivered in the shape of chilled water or dry, cool air.
The Victorian body is also a partner in the installation of solar coolers at Echuca hospital, where it has part funded the replacement of two electric air conditioning units. The cooler has a solar field of 102 evacuated tube collectors over 422m² that feeds hot water to an absorption chiller, cutting the hospital's natural gas consumption.
"When the chiller is not in use, the hot water from the collector field is used for the domestic hot water demand or stored in hot water tanks for later use", Sustainability Victoria's Sonja Ott says. The solar cooling system was installed in March and is now under commissioning. "It is expected that the solar cooling system will save 1400 tonnes CO₂ equivalent and $60,000 in energy bills a year", Ott says.
CSIRO research team leader Stephen White says supply and demand problems with solar cooling are the subject of further research. "In a conventional air conditioning system, you use the electricity grid, which you hope will supply you with energy as and when it is needed to keep your building cold. "But once you have a solar air conditioning process, not only is the call for air conditioning variable over the day but also the supply of driving heat is variable".
The hard part is "trying to match that variable supply of power with a variable demand for cold". "In the last five to 10 years researchers around the world have been getting that integration working well to bring down the cost and improve the solar fraction", White says. Many conventional sorption units are powered by gas fired heat or by waste heat from an engine. "That's become a lot more popular in the past few years and now were looking at adding in a solar component that doesn't require the fossil fuels", he says.
White says the technology could be used in two ways: large systems with economies of scale for buildings such as hospitals or schools, or smaller plug and play systems for houses. "Absorption chillers are most cost effective at a large scale, in the MW range. To get economies of scale, go larger; but to go smaller, companies need to come up with a mass produced plug and play device". White says a solar cooling system is more efficient than a conventional electric system.
The focus for the next five to 10 years is for manufacturers to develop their products and get them on the market. "There's a bright future but a lot of work to do in terms of product development and also getting legislation so solar cooling is treated the same way as other renewables", White says. "It is not explicitly mentioned in renewable energy targets, [yet] solar cooling has the potential to address peak demand. The 200 member Solar Cooling Interest Group, of which White is chairman, is working with Standards Australia "to recognise the performance and benefits of solar cooling" as a precursor to lobbying government to have the technology recognised as a renewable energy device.
Sunday, 20 December 2009
Ban to hit inefficient air-conditioners
www.abc.net.au
Dec 17, 2009
The sale of inefficient air-conditioners will be banned from next July in South Australia. Premier Mike Rann says it will not affect air-conditioners already installed. "The inefficient air-conditioners we are talking about are costly for consumers and for the environment," Mr Rann said from Copenhagen, where he chaired a meeting during the climate summit. "[They] impose a cost burden on the whole community. "That's because the extra energy needed to power them means bigger power stations, bigger transmission boosters and bigger distribution lines, the cost of which is passed on to all consumers via bigger electricity bills."
Mr Rann says SA will be first to have a ban and other states are expected to follow. He says COAG committed to a further 10 per cent improvement in national energy efficiency requirements by October 2011, but South Australians will not have to wait that long. He says the SA Government will contribute $200,000 to research and development of solar thermal air-conditioners for residential use.
Dec 17, 2009
The sale of inefficient air-conditioners will be banned from next July in South Australia. Premier Mike Rann says it will not affect air-conditioners already installed. "The inefficient air-conditioners we are talking about are costly for consumers and for the environment," Mr Rann said from Copenhagen, where he chaired a meeting during the climate summit. "[They] impose a cost burden on the whole community. "That's because the extra energy needed to power them means bigger power stations, bigger transmission boosters and bigger distribution lines, the cost of which is passed on to all consumers via bigger electricity bills."
Mr Rann says SA will be first to have a ban and other states are expected to follow. He says COAG committed to a further 10 per cent improvement in national energy efficiency requirements by October 2011, but South Australians will not have to wait that long. He says the SA Government will contribute $200,000 to research and development of solar thermal air-conditioners for residential use.
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Renewable energy player on front foot
Sun Herald
Sunday 6/12/2009 Page: 63
CBD Energy has runs on the board but still faces some testing times, writes David Potts.
THERE'S a lot to be said for being a renewable energy supplier. Everybody's on side, an ETS can't hurt you and there are lots of federal and state solar subsidies and grants besides. Then there are other people's ETSs, too. China has $US350 billion ($379 billion) ready to be harnessed to meet its 2020 target of 15% of its electricity supplied by renewables. That will buy a lot of, er, wind or solar energy.
Australia's renewable energy target is 20% but this requires a more modest $25 billion-$30 billion investment. CBD Energy, which has antecedents in other fields stretching back before the tech wreck, has lost no energy in getting on the front foot. It has a $25 million deal with a Chinese state owned utility, Baoding Tianwei Wind, which will supply finance (at 4% a year) and turbine windmills for its renewable energy project at Adjungbilly in the Snowy Mountains.
As the project manager, CBD Energy will collect an unspecified fee for building and running the windfarm, its second in the Snowys. It's also bought 20% of Planet Power, paid entirely by scrip, which happens to be one of its biggest customers. Good to see they get on so well. Incidentally, the Hume Building Society in Albury has installed solar panels supplied by CBD Energy, which it says will reduce its electricity tariff by 14%, cut carbon dioxide emissions by 87 tonnes and even generate revenue if it sells surplus power back to the grid.
But the real breakthrough for CBD Energy was when it secured the licence for a method of storing renewable energy through graphite that, putting the resource shoe on the other foot, it imports from China. The trouble with renewable energy is it doesn't work when there's not enough wind for a windmill or the sun has set for solar energy. But CBD Energy's graphite battery can store some of the energy a windfarm can generate. In remote locations it could virtually replace expensive to run diesel generators. By all accounts, it works.
CBD Energy has a joint venture with Hydro Tasmania on King Island, supplying most of its electricity. And the cheese tastes just the same. CBD Energy will be supplying the batteries for its new best friend's huge solar thermal project at Liang Shan in China, its biggest installation yet. They're both looking at other renewable energy projects in Australia and China. Unfortunately, that's different to saying they're making money from them. CBD Energy does have two businesses that are profitable, CapTech and Parmac, but they don't have much to do with renewable energy - one installs air-conditioners.
All up, CBD Energy made a modest loss last year and Alto Capital, which underwrote its recent $5.4 million capital raising and so could be expected to be familiar with the innards of the company, is projecting after-tax losses of $2.5 million next year - down from this year's $3.7 million - and a $0.3 million loss in 2011. Alto Capital says: "It must be noted that if CBD Energy is to achieve its goals in the renewable energy sector, the comp any will be required to raise substantial capital going forward." This could be "at least $40 million in new equity over the next two years".
Sunday 6/12/2009 Page: 63
CBD Energy has runs on the board but still faces some testing times, writes David Potts.
THERE'S a lot to be said for being a renewable energy supplier. Everybody's on side, an ETS can't hurt you and there are lots of federal and state solar subsidies and grants besides. Then there are other people's ETSs, too. China has $US350 billion ($379 billion) ready to be harnessed to meet its 2020 target of 15% of its electricity supplied by renewables. That will buy a lot of, er, wind or solar energy.
Australia's renewable energy target is 20% but this requires a more modest $25 billion-$30 billion investment. CBD Energy, which has antecedents in other fields stretching back before the tech wreck, has lost no energy in getting on the front foot. It has a $25 million deal with a Chinese state owned utility, Baoding Tianwei Wind, which will supply finance (at 4% a year) and turbine windmills for its renewable energy project at Adjungbilly in the Snowy Mountains.
As the project manager, CBD Energy will collect an unspecified fee for building and running the windfarm, its second in the Snowys. It's also bought 20% of Planet Power, paid entirely by scrip, which happens to be one of its biggest customers. Good to see they get on so well. Incidentally, the Hume Building Society in Albury has installed solar panels supplied by CBD Energy, which it says will reduce its electricity tariff by 14%, cut carbon dioxide emissions by 87 tonnes and even generate revenue if it sells surplus power back to the grid.
But the real breakthrough for CBD Energy was when it secured the licence for a method of storing renewable energy through graphite that, putting the resource shoe on the other foot, it imports from China. The trouble with renewable energy is it doesn't work when there's not enough wind for a windmill or the sun has set for solar energy. But CBD Energy's graphite battery can store some of the energy a windfarm can generate. In remote locations it could virtually replace expensive to run diesel generators. By all accounts, it works.
CBD Energy has a joint venture with Hydro Tasmania on King Island, supplying most of its electricity. And the cheese tastes just the same. CBD Energy will be supplying the batteries for its new best friend's huge solar thermal project at Liang Shan in China, its biggest installation yet. They're both looking at other renewable energy projects in Australia and China. Unfortunately, that's different to saying they're making money from them. CBD Energy does have two businesses that are profitable, CapTech and Parmac, but they don't have much to do with renewable energy - one installs air-conditioners.
All up, CBD Energy made a modest loss last year and Alto Capital, which underwrote its recent $5.4 million capital raising and so could be expected to be familiar with the innards of the company, is projecting after-tax losses of $2.5 million next year - down from this year's $3.7 million - and a $0.3 million loss in 2011. Alto Capital says: "It must be noted that if CBD Energy is to achieve its goals in the renewable energy sector, the comp any will be required to raise substantial capital going forward." This could be "at least $40 million in new equity over the next two years".
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Stop wasting energy, there's money in it
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday 28/11/2009 Page: 7
Cutting energy waste maybe the only thing we can all agree on at the fag end of a divisive debate about the best way of tackling climate change in Australia. As it happens that is the most productive area we could possibly focus on, environmentally and economically. One proposal that may emerge from the carbon pollution reduction scheme now before Parliament is the creation of a prime ministerial task group to develop a broad-based market mechanism to promote energy efficiency in 2010. Ho hum, you say? No money in it? Wrong.
Energy efficiency is the fastest growing carbon abatement market of all, according to HSBC's recent Climate Annual Index Review. HSBC estimated that the global market for energy efficiency in 2009 was$US164 billion ($178 billion) and would grow to more than $US600 billion by2020.
Clean coal versus renewable energy versus nuclear gets all the headlines. But the International Energy Agency expects 63% of the world's emissions reductions by2030-needed to meet an inadequate 450 ppm carbon dioxide stabilisation target will come from energy efficiency. A 2007 Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics study estimated energy efficiency would directly account for 55% of Australia's carbon abatement by 2050.
This is what energy experts call plucking the low-hanging fruit. Last year McKinsey & Co ranked carbon abatement strategies from cheapest to dearest, and showed many energy-efficiency strategies have a negative cost-that is, they make you money. In the commercial property sector, for example, McKinsey & Co says we can save $130 for each tonne of carbon dioxide pollution avoided.
This puts into perspective the debate about whether Australia meets its international emissions reduction obligations at home or by importing carbon credits-for example, paying to leave rainforests standing in developing countries while continuing to burn coal here like there's no tomorrow. Energy efficiency strategies are the cheapest abatement of all.
At the household level, this means "50 ways to beat the new green tax", as touted by one newspaper this week during this week's parliamentary negotiations. Too right. Let's change our globes (didn't we already?), hang out our clothes and wash the dishes by hand - or at least fill the dishwasher before turning it on. Such steps seem obvious but are we really going to beat climate change by killing the standby switch? Rightly or wrongly, it feels trivial.
Technology won't do the hard work for its. Mark Lister, from the Alliance to Save Energy, says in almost all cases the energy efficiency dividend from use of better technology over the years has been taken up as increased consumption. Demand continues to grow at about 2% a year - higher than population growth. Though we have more efficient fridges than we did a decade ago, they are bigger and there's a spare beer or wine fridge out the back. Add in air conditioners and plasma TVs, McMansions and SUVs, and you get the idea. Things have got worse, not better, in housing and transport.
Meanwhile prodigious amounts of energy are wasted by business, which dwarf anything householders can come at. Rob Murray-Leach, chief executive of the Energy Efficiency Council, says Australia is well behind Europe and the US. Historically, low energy prices have made its sloppy in our energy use-although it gets complicated when you start trying to put figures around sloppy. At its lead and zinc smelter at Port Pirie, for example, the Belgian company, Nyrstar, last year found annual savings of $5.5 million after doing an assessment with the federal energy department.
Or take the Moomba gas plant in South Australia, where Murray-Leach says Santos found it could reduce energy use by a third - enough to power 100,000 homes. In commercial buildings, energy efficiency retrofits routinely achieve energy savings of 40-50%. The profits, often measured in payback periods counted in years, are real but are too small for most property investors to bother about.
The visiting TEA energy efficiency chief, Nigel Jollands, who recently called our commercial building standards "appalling", hopefully gave a wake-up call to an industry that pats itself on the back every time it announces a new green star rated office building but has been lax on maintaining and improving the existing stock. The potential savings in this sector are guaranteed.
One Sydney company, EP&T, which has partnerships with the likes of Westfield, Colonial, GPT, Macquarie and Investa, is launching a service in which it stumps up the money for retrofits and reaps a return from the savings. That's not to say energy efficiency is easy. It's the ultimate marathon, as constant technological improvement increases potential savings against "business as usual" - itself a moveable feast. Plus it's a marathon with obstacles. Worst of all, our national energy market encourages participants to increase energy use.
Then there are cultural issues, information and skills deficits and downright pig-headedness or what economists call "bounded rationality"- when people don't behave optimally, in this case refusing to save money. Another obstacle would be the pollution reduction scheme itself. Currently structured, it would increase energy prices a little, shortening pay back periods from efficiency improvements. But demand is stubbornly price-inelastic.
Worse, according to energy expert Richard Dennis from the Australia Institute, the scheme would create structural impediments to a fair allocation of the return from investment in energy efficiency. "Say a large commercial property owner spends a lot of money on energy efficiency. It's true that they capture the savings in electricity - their bill will fall - but it's their electricity generator who will make money from sale of spare permits."
What is needed (and what could be introduced next year) is a complementary mechanism to the planned scheme to create an economic incentive to pursue energy efficiency - particularly in the commercial and industrial sector, because the carbon trust is meant to promote voluntary energy reduction in the household sector.
Mark Lister says a full policy response to climate change - as proposed in the US under the Waxman-Markey emissions trading scheme would have three strands, a "white certificate" scheme to promote energy efficiency, alongside "green" certificates under the renewable energy target regime, and "black" pollution permits as outlined under the CPRS. That's for next year.
Saturday 28/11/2009 Page: 7
Cutting energy waste maybe the only thing we can all agree on at the fag end of a divisive debate about the best way of tackling climate change in Australia. As it happens that is the most productive area we could possibly focus on, environmentally and economically. One proposal that may emerge from the carbon pollution reduction scheme now before Parliament is the creation of a prime ministerial task group to develop a broad-based market mechanism to promote energy efficiency in 2010. Ho hum, you say? No money in it? Wrong.
Energy efficiency is the fastest growing carbon abatement market of all, according to HSBC's recent Climate Annual Index Review. HSBC estimated that the global market for energy efficiency in 2009 was$US164 billion ($178 billion) and would grow to more than $US600 billion by2020.
Clean coal versus renewable energy versus nuclear gets all the headlines. But the International Energy Agency expects 63% of the world's emissions reductions by2030-needed to meet an inadequate 450 ppm carbon dioxide stabilisation target will come from energy efficiency. A 2007 Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics study estimated energy efficiency would directly account for 55% of Australia's carbon abatement by 2050.
This is what energy experts call plucking the low-hanging fruit. Last year McKinsey & Co ranked carbon abatement strategies from cheapest to dearest, and showed many energy-efficiency strategies have a negative cost-that is, they make you money. In the commercial property sector, for example, McKinsey & Co says we can save $130 for each tonne of carbon dioxide pollution avoided.
This puts into perspective the debate about whether Australia meets its international emissions reduction obligations at home or by importing carbon credits-for example, paying to leave rainforests standing in developing countries while continuing to burn coal here like there's no tomorrow. Energy efficiency strategies are the cheapest abatement of all.
At the household level, this means "50 ways to beat the new green tax", as touted by one newspaper this week during this week's parliamentary negotiations. Too right. Let's change our globes (didn't we already?), hang out our clothes and wash the dishes by hand - or at least fill the dishwasher before turning it on. Such steps seem obvious but are we really going to beat climate change by killing the standby switch? Rightly or wrongly, it feels trivial.
Technology won't do the hard work for its. Mark Lister, from the Alliance to Save Energy, says in almost all cases the energy efficiency dividend from use of better technology over the years has been taken up as increased consumption. Demand continues to grow at about 2% a year - higher than population growth. Though we have more efficient fridges than we did a decade ago, they are bigger and there's a spare beer or wine fridge out the back. Add in air conditioners and plasma TVs, McMansions and SUVs, and you get the idea. Things have got worse, not better, in housing and transport.
Meanwhile prodigious amounts of energy are wasted by business, which dwarf anything householders can come at. Rob Murray-Leach, chief executive of the Energy Efficiency Council, says Australia is well behind Europe and the US. Historically, low energy prices have made its sloppy in our energy use-although it gets complicated when you start trying to put figures around sloppy. At its lead and zinc smelter at Port Pirie, for example, the Belgian company, Nyrstar, last year found annual savings of $5.5 million after doing an assessment with the federal energy department.
Or take the Moomba gas plant in South Australia, where Murray-Leach says Santos found it could reduce energy use by a third - enough to power 100,000 homes. In commercial buildings, energy efficiency retrofits routinely achieve energy savings of 40-50%. The profits, often measured in payback periods counted in years, are real but are too small for most property investors to bother about.
The visiting TEA energy efficiency chief, Nigel Jollands, who recently called our commercial building standards "appalling", hopefully gave a wake-up call to an industry that pats itself on the back every time it announces a new green star rated office building but has been lax on maintaining and improving the existing stock. The potential savings in this sector are guaranteed.
One Sydney company, EP&T, which has partnerships with the likes of Westfield, Colonial, GPT, Macquarie and Investa, is launching a service in which it stumps up the money for retrofits and reaps a return from the savings. That's not to say energy efficiency is easy. It's the ultimate marathon, as constant technological improvement increases potential savings against "business as usual" - itself a moveable feast. Plus it's a marathon with obstacles. Worst of all, our national energy market encourages participants to increase energy use.
Then there are cultural issues, information and skills deficits and downright pig-headedness or what economists call "bounded rationality"- when people don't behave optimally, in this case refusing to save money. Another obstacle would be the pollution reduction scheme itself. Currently structured, it would increase energy prices a little, shortening pay back periods from efficiency improvements. But demand is stubbornly price-inelastic.
Worse, according to energy expert Richard Dennis from the Australia Institute, the scheme would create structural impediments to a fair allocation of the return from investment in energy efficiency. "Say a large commercial property owner spends a lot of money on energy efficiency. It's true that they capture the savings in electricity - their bill will fall - but it's their electricity generator who will make money from sale of spare permits."
What is needed (and what could be introduced next year) is a complementary mechanism to the planned scheme to create an economic incentive to pursue energy efficiency - particularly in the commercial and industrial sector, because the carbon trust is meant to promote voluntary energy reduction in the household sector.
Mark Lister says a full policy response to climate change - as proposed in the US under the Waxman-Markey emissions trading scheme would have three strands, a "white certificate" scheme to promote energy efficiency, alongside "green" certificates under the renewable energy target regime, and "black" pollution permits as outlined under the CPRS. That's for next year.
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Still living in the dark on baseload power
www.smh.com.au
October 31, 2009
WE ARE often told we need more ''baseload'' power. But baseload power generated in a distant coalfield, delivered by a dumb grid, suits almost nobody these days, bar the incumbent operators. What's occurred in the past decade or so is a rapid growth in peak loads-especially on summer afternoons, when everyone gets home and turns on their air-conditioners, causing a huge spike in demand. Total electricity use, as against peak demand, has increased much more slowly and even fallen in some cases.
Forget for a moment whether those air-conditioners are necessary; we don't need to build more baseload power stations just because peak loads are expanding. A presentation this month by AGL's Paul Simshauser, chairman of the Loy Yang brown coal-fired power station in the Latrobe Valley, showed the national electricity market (NEM) had too much base and intermediate-load power (by about 4000 MWs, enough to power more than 1.5 million homes) and not enough peak-load power (we are short about 1700 MWs).
Michael Ottaviano, chief executive of Western Australia's Carnegie Corporation Energy, took up the theme at this month's Eco Investor conference in Sydney, arguing for an expanded role for wave energy, sitting somewhere between baseload power and intermittent energy sources such as wind. ''Wave is a very consistent resource with 90 per cent-plus availability,'' he said later. ''It will vary as wave height varies. But unlike wind, which varies in minutes and is difficult to predict more than a few hours in advance, wave will vary over hours and be predictable over days.''
A key, Ottaviano says, is a smart grid that can make use of all the available energy - renewable sources are not always conveniently located near coalfields, so we're going to need new transmission lines- and supply it where and when it is needed. (Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is on to this and on Thursday, with cabinet colleagues Martin Ferguson and Peter Garrett, invited bids to build a $100 million smart grid in Queanbeyan, near Canberra. Which is a start.)
Distributed generation can help, too. At the same conference, Ceramic Fuel Cells managing director Brendan Dow Chemical presented slides showing about 80 per cent of the energy generated by coal-fired power stations is lost as heat (65-70 per cent wastage) or in transmission and distribution (5-8 per cent). Given coal-fired power stations account for about 35 per cent of Australia's carbon dioxide emissions, that's a lot of carbon pollution for nothing.
Ceramic Fuel Cells makes a gas-powered fuel-cell appliance about the size of a dishwasher that can provide 17,000 kW hours of electricity a year- twice that needed to power an average home, meaning far greater energy savings than an equivalent-cost solar panel installation. The so-called BlueGen units have a world-beating 60 per cent electrical efficiency. Even without any subsidy in the form of a feed-in tariff, the BlueGen unit is a commercial proposition-as long as utilities will connect them to the grid, and take the electricity they generate, as they must do with home solar panels.
Meanwhile, the grid continues to roll out, whether the public wants it or not. As reported earlier this month, on the NSW North Coast there is majority community opposition to a $227 million power line from Lismore to Tenterfield, according to state-owned proponent TransGrid's own consultants. The residents say they don't need the power, question the demand projections and point to cleaner alternatives such as solar, wind and the bioenergy already generated from bagasse at sugar cane mills at Condong and Broadwater.
At the root of the problem is this: the national electricity market is run with disregard for the environmental objectives contained in the original Ministerial Council on Energy agreement that established it. A recent report for the Total Environment Centre, by energy consultants McLennan Magasanik Associates, showed the agreement aimed to ensure ''environmental impacts are effectively integrated into energy-sector decision-making'' but the institutions that run the market were not given this responsibility. In 2005, what is now called the Australian Energy Market Operator said it had ''neither the power nor the authority to make decisions based on considerations of sustainability and balance in resource management''.
Efficient, clean-energy development was being frustrated by the current market frameworks, MMA found. TEC campaigner Jane Castle says the owners of Australia's power stations, and the network, have every incentive to build more infrastructure and none to cut electricity use. ''It's called gold-plating,'' she says. ''If the networks save energy, they lose revenue.'' Demand modelling, she says, is based on the assumption that the market will continue to be operated in the interests of energy suppliers, and not in the interests of energy consumers. ''There's an assumption that supplying more energy is the only way to go,'' says Castle. ''It serves the interests of the incumbents.We're stuck in a paradigm of generating more power as people come online.
It's completely outdated in the era of climate change.'' The power of the generators is obvious, and extends to forcing brown-outs and blackouts. If they want to shut down a power station to send a message, they will, and worry about the fines later. Britain's International Power, owner of the Hazelwood power station, is already threatening to run down Victoria's power supply if it doesn't get enough compensation under the emissions trading scheme.
"Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," showed us how California's economy was held hostage by energy traders in the crisis of 2000-01. Now, says Castle, the US state has one of the most progressive market regimes. ''When they look at new demand they have a loading order: first, energy efficiency. Then demand management. Then renewables. Then gas,'' she says. Australia's energy problem, says Castle, is ''not a baseload problem, it's a problem of how we're meeting increasing demand''. Reducing demand does not mean going back to the Stone Age. It means making the grid work for us, not against us.
paddy.manning@fairfaxmedia.com.au
October 31, 2009
WE ARE often told we need more ''baseload'' power. But baseload power generated in a distant coalfield, delivered by a dumb grid, suits almost nobody these days, bar the incumbent operators. What's occurred in the past decade or so is a rapid growth in peak loads-especially on summer afternoons, when everyone gets home and turns on their air-conditioners, causing a huge spike in demand. Total electricity use, as against peak demand, has increased much more slowly and even fallen in some cases.
Forget for a moment whether those air-conditioners are necessary; we don't need to build more baseload power stations just because peak loads are expanding. A presentation this month by AGL's Paul Simshauser, chairman of the Loy Yang brown coal-fired power station in the Latrobe Valley, showed the national electricity market (NEM) had too much base and intermediate-load power (by about 4000 MWs, enough to power more than 1.5 million homes) and not enough peak-load power (we are short about 1700 MWs).
Michael Ottaviano, chief executive of Western Australia's Carnegie Corporation Energy, took up the theme at this month's Eco Investor conference in Sydney, arguing for an expanded role for wave energy, sitting somewhere between baseload power and intermittent energy sources such as wind. ''Wave is a very consistent resource with 90 per cent-plus availability,'' he said later. ''It will vary as wave height varies. But unlike wind, which varies in minutes and is difficult to predict more than a few hours in advance, wave will vary over hours and be predictable over days.''
A key, Ottaviano says, is a smart grid that can make use of all the available energy - renewable sources are not always conveniently located near coalfields, so we're going to need new transmission lines- and supply it where and when it is needed. (Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is on to this and on Thursday, with cabinet colleagues Martin Ferguson and Peter Garrett, invited bids to build a $100 million smart grid in Queanbeyan, near Canberra. Which is a start.)
Distributed generation can help, too. At the same conference, Ceramic Fuel Cells managing director Brendan Dow Chemical presented slides showing about 80 per cent of the energy generated by coal-fired power stations is lost as heat (65-70 per cent wastage) or in transmission and distribution (5-8 per cent). Given coal-fired power stations account for about 35 per cent of Australia's carbon dioxide emissions, that's a lot of carbon pollution for nothing.
Ceramic Fuel Cells makes a gas-powered fuel-cell appliance about the size of a dishwasher that can provide 17,000 kW hours of electricity a year- twice that needed to power an average home, meaning far greater energy savings than an equivalent-cost solar panel installation. The so-called BlueGen units have a world-beating 60 per cent electrical efficiency. Even without any subsidy in the form of a feed-in tariff, the BlueGen unit is a commercial proposition-as long as utilities will connect them to the grid, and take the electricity they generate, as they must do with home solar panels.
Meanwhile, the grid continues to roll out, whether the public wants it or not. As reported earlier this month, on the NSW North Coast there is majority community opposition to a $227 million power line from Lismore to Tenterfield, according to state-owned proponent TransGrid's own consultants. The residents say they don't need the power, question the demand projections and point to cleaner alternatives such as solar, wind and the bioenergy already generated from bagasse at sugar cane mills at Condong and Broadwater.
At the root of the problem is this: the national electricity market is run with disregard for the environmental objectives contained in the original Ministerial Council on Energy agreement that established it. A recent report for the Total Environment Centre, by energy consultants McLennan Magasanik Associates, showed the agreement aimed to ensure ''environmental impacts are effectively integrated into energy-sector decision-making'' but the institutions that run the market were not given this responsibility. In 2005, what is now called the Australian Energy Market Operator said it had ''neither the power nor the authority to make decisions based on considerations of sustainability and balance in resource management''.
Efficient, clean-energy development was being frustrated by the current market frameworks, MMA found. TEC campaigner Jane Castle says the owners of Australia's power stations, and the network, have every incentive to build more infrastructure and none to cut electricity use. ''It's called gold-plating,'' she says. ''If the networks save energy, they lose revenue.'' Demand modelling, she says, is based on the assumption that the market will continue to be operated in the interests of energy suppliers, and not in the interests of energy consumers. ''There's an assumption that supplying more energy is the only way to go,'' says Castle. ''It serves the interests of the incumbents.We're stuck in a paradigm of generating more power as people come online.
It's completely outdated in the era of climate change.'' The power of the generators is obvious, and extends to forcing brown-outs and blackouts. If they want to shut down a power station to send a message, they will, and worry about the fines later. Britain's International Power, owner of the Hazelwood power station, is already threatening to run down Victoria's power supply if it doesn't get enough compensation under the emissions trading scheme.
"Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," showed us how California's economy was held hostage by energy traders in the crisis of 2000-01. Now, says Castle, the US state has one of the most progressive market regimes. ''When they look at new demand they have a loading order: first, energy efficiency. Then demand management. Then renewables. Then gas,'' she says. Australia's energy problem, says Castle, is ''not a baseload problem, it's a problem of how we're meeting increasing demand''. Reducing demand does not mean going back to the Stone Age. It means making the grid work for us, not against us.
paddy.manning@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Power For The People
Adelaide Advertiser
Tuesday 4/8/2009 Page: 18
IMAGINE someone handed you a lump of silverly metal the size of a golf ball. They said you might wish to put on some plastic gloves to hold it, although that would not be necessary if you washed your hands afterwards. You look down at the metal resting on your palm. It feels heavy, because it's very dense. You are then told that this metal "golf ball" can provide all the energy you will ever use in your life. That includes running your lights, computer, airconditioner, TV, electric car, synthetic jet fuel. Everything. Using 1kg of uranium or thorium - take your pick. That is what modern nuclear energy offers. An incredibly concentrated source of energy, producing a tiny amount of waste.
Taken over its life cycle, when used in next-generation fast spectrum nuclear reactors, this energy generation will produce less carbon dioxide emissions than wind turbines. It gets better. Your lifetime's worth of energy waste, also weighing just under a kilogram, will be less radioactive than the natural rocks around Roxby Downs within 300 years. Not 100,000 years. Only 300 years. South Australian rocks contain this metal in great abundance. We live in one of the most energy-rich areas on the planet.
We are endowed with far more energy than all the oil and gas in the Middle East. We already export a few thousand tonnes of it each year, and are planning to ship much more overseas in the future. Yet, we don't use it ourselves. We recognise the fact that our natural gas supplies are limited. Worse, burning this fuel produces vast amounts of carbon dioxide, which is destabilising the climate system.
Coal, found in great abundance in Australia's east coast states, is twice as bad as natural gas in terms of carbon emissions, and also dumps heavy metals, soot and chemicals causing acid rain into the air. Clearly, we must hitch ourselves off the fossil fuel energy bandwagon, and quickly. Right now, we are pushing for more and more wind and solar energy. This is well and good, but these variable and diffuse renewable energy sources have severe limits that often go unacknowledged.
They cannot power a large fraction of the needs of future all electric society without major breakthroughs in energy storage technology, and much cheaper backup options than now exist. Energy found in hot rocks deep beneath our deserts holds great promise, but is shadowed by many unknowns. We'd be taking a great risk if we gambled our entire energy future on this one possibility.
My research has convinced me that nuclear energy is by far the best prospect that we, as South Australians and as a global community, have of drastically cutting carbon emissions. The world is experiencing a nuclear renaissance, with almost 50 new reactors now being built and another 350 being planned, in places like China, India, Europe and North America.
Nuclear power station companies are now focusing on designing smaller-sized reactors that are built to a standardised, ultra-safe design, in a factory, and then shipped to site. This brings economies of scale to bear, which means cheaper electricity. Also, because each individual reactor can be quite small, you can simply add more units as your energy needs grow and as you retire old infrastructure. The age of huge plants, which can be difficult to finance and take many years to build, may soon be history.
It's time for Australia to embrace nuclear energy as a major enabler of a low-carbon economy. Companies like Rio Tinto recognise this need. We all should. After all, South Australia is perfectly positioned to be a leader in this new energy revolution.
Barry Brook is Sir Hubert Wilkins Professor Climate Change at the University of Adelaide's Environment Institute.
Tuesday 4/8/2009 Page: 18
IMAGINE someone handed you a lump of silverly metal the size of a golf ball. They said you might wish to put on some plastic gloves to hold it, although that would not be necessary if you washed your hands afterwards. You look down at the metal resting on your palm. It feels heavy, because it's very dense. You are then told that this metal "golf ball" can provide all the energy you will ever use in your life. That includes running your lights, computer, airconditioner, TV, electric car, synthetic jet fuel. Everything. Using 1kg of uranium or thorium - take your pick. That is what modern nuclear energy offers. An incredibly concentrated source of energy, producing a tiny amount of waste.Taken over its life cycle, when used in next-generation fast spectrum nuclear reactors, this energy generation will produce less carbon dioxide emissions than wind turbines. It gets better. Your lifetime's worth of energy waste, also weighing just under a kilogram, will be less radioactive than the natural rocks around Roxby Downs within 300 years. Not 100,000 years. Only 300 years. South Australian rocks contain this metal in great abundance. We live in one of the most energy-rich areas on the planet.
We are endowed with far more energy than all the oil and gas in the Middle East. We already export a few thousand tonnes of it each year, and are planning to ship much more overseas in the future. Yet, we don't use it ourselves. We recognise the fact that our natural gas supplies are limited. Worse, burning this fuel produces vast amounts of carbon dioxide, which is destabilising the climate system.
Coal, found in great abundance in Australia's east coast states, is twice as bad as natural gas in terms of carbon emissions, and also dumps heavy metals, soot and chemicals causing acid rain into the air. Clearly, we must hitch ourselves off the fossil fuel energy bandwagon, and quickly. Right now, we are pushing for more and more wind and solar energy. This is well and good, but these variable and diffuse renewable energy sources have severe limits that often go unacknowledged.
They cannot power a large fraction of the needs of future all electric society without major breakthroughs in energy storage technology, and much cheaper backup options than now exist. Energy found in hot rocks deep beneath our deserts holds great promise, but is shadowed by many unknowns. We'd be taking a great risk if we gambled our entire energy future on this one possibility.
My research has convinced me that nuclear energy is by far the best prospect that we, as South Australians and as a global community, have of drastically cutting carbon emissions. The world is experiencing a nuclear renaissance, with almost 50 new reactors now being built and another 350 being planned, in places like China, India, Europe and North America.
Nuclear power station companies are now focusing on designing smaller-sized reactors that are built to a standardised, ultra-safe design, in a factory, and then shipped to site. This brings economies of scale to bear, which means cheaper electricity. Also, because each individual reactor can be quite small, you can simply add more units as your energy needs grow and as you retire old infrastructure. The age of huge plants, which can be difficult to finance and take many years to build, may soon be history.
It's time for Australia to embrace nuclear energy as a major enabler of a low-carbon economy. Companies like Rio Tinto recognise this need. We all should. After all, South Australia is perfectly positioned to be a leader in this new energy revolution.
Barry Brook is Sir Hubert Wilkins Professor Climate Change at the University of Adelaide's Environment Institute.
Thursday, 23 July 2009
Solar air conditioners to chill California utility
news.cnet.com
July 21, 2009
The Los Angeles-based utility said on Tuesday that it has chosen two solar concentrators to measure how effective they are at cooling. The units will be installed on the roof of its Energy Resource Center (ERC) in Downey, Calif. Both products--one from Hawaiian start-up Sopogy and another from HelioDynamics in the U.K.--reflect and concentrate incoming sunlight onto a pipe to heat water. That heated water is used in place of gas or electricity to power an industrial absorption chiller, which creates cold air using a heat exchanger and compressor.
Using the sun for cooling has long been considered an excellent application for solar energy because the air conditioning load corresponds with daylight hours Concentrators can be more efficient and take less space than photovoltaic panels which make electricity, according to Southern California Gas. Sopogy's MicroCSP is essentially a shrunk-down version of the parabolic troughs used in giant solar energy plants. HelioDynamics' concentrators can produce both heat and electricity.
Southern California Gas chose these concentrators because they are small enough to fit on an office building roof and are modular, said Hal Synder, vice president of customer solutions. Each unit is capable of providing enough cool air for three average-size homes. Air conditioning can be half of a commercial building's electricity use. The utility plans to test these concentrators for two years and will add electricity production to the site in a year.
There are already a handful of companies developing concentrators for cooling. Chromasun, started by one of the founders of concentrating solar company Ausra, has developed a solar collector designed for commercial and industrial customers which can reduce energy bills significantly by cutting peak-time usage.
Meanwhile, there is already a solar cooler in operation. Late last year, famed piano maker Steinway & Sons installed a solar cooling system that uses reflective troughs. Like the SoCal Gas systems, the heat feeds an absorption chiller to provide cool air and dehumidify Steinway's buildings. In the winter, it provides heat.
July 21, 2009
The Los Angeles-based utility said on Tuesday that it has chosen two solar concentrators to measure how effective they are at cooling. The units will be installed on the roof of its Energy Resource Center (ERC) in Downey, Calif. Both products--one from Hawaiian start-up Sopogy and another from HelioDynamics in the U.K.--reflect and concentrate incoming sunlight onto a pipe to heat water. That heated water is used in place of gas or electricity to power an industrial absorption chiller, which creates cold air using a heat exchanger and compressor.Using the sun for cooling has long been considered an excellent application for solar energy because the air conditioning load corresponds with daylight hours Concentrators can be more efficient and take less space than photovoltaic panels which make electricity, according to Southern California Gas. Sopogy's MicroCSP is essentially a shrunk-down version of the parabolic troughs used in giant solar energy plants. HelioDynamics' concentrators can produce both heat and electricity.
Southern California Gas chose these concentrators because they are small enough to fit on an office building roof and are modular, said Hal Synder, vice president of customer solutions. Each unit is capable of providing enough cool air for three average-size homes. Air conditioning can be half of a commercial building's electricity use. The utility plans to test these concentrators for two years and will add electricity production to the site in a year.
There are already a handful of companies developing concentrators for cooling. Chromasun, started by one of the founders of concentrating solar company Ausra, has developed a solar collector designed for commercial and industrial customers which can reduce energy bills significantly by cutting peak-time usage.
Meanwhile, there is already a solar cooler in operation. Late last year, famed piano maker Steinway & Sons installed a solar cooling system that uses reflective troughs. Like the SoCal Gas systems, the heat feeds an absorption chiller to provide cool air and dehumidify Steinway's buildings. In the winter, it provides heat.
Thursday, 16 July 2009
Climate's right for more energy-efficient homes
Sunday Mail Brisbane
Sunday 12/7/2009 Page: 61
THERE's plenty of hot air but little action when it comes to designing energy-efficient homes. A survey by Think Brick Australia, the industry body representing clay brick and paving manufacturers, found that seven in 10 Queensland homeowners believed that energy efficiency was either not relevant or only a minor consideration when purchasing their home.
And while 83% of Queenslanders wanted to make their homes more energy efficient, the most common solutions to being too hot or too cold were to install energy-consuming airconditioners or heaters. Only a small minority of homeowners said they had adopted environmental sustainable design strategies to help keep their home cool, such as installing shading, planting trees or investing in window coverings.
To help builders, architects and homeowners create more environmentally sustainable homes, Think Brick Australia has created the Designing for Climate website at www.designingfoi-climate.com.au. The website provides details on climate conditions around Queensland and suggestions on how house design can help reduce the need for heaters and airconditioners.
Environmental architect Tone Wheeler said homeowners needed to change their attitudes. "As Australia continues to experience more extreme weather patterns meaning longer, hotter summers, more severe storms and ongoing drought conditions it is bewildering that energy-efficient house design is not at the forefront of Australians minds," he said. "And the key to energy efficiency is designing the home to fit the climate."
Sunday 12/7/2009 Page: 61
THERE's plenty of hot air but little action when it comes to designing energy-efficient homes. A survey by Think Brick Australia, the industry body representing clay brick and paving manufacturers, found that seven in 10 Queensland homeowners believed that energy efficiency was either not relevant or only a minor consideration when purchasing their home.
And while 83% of Queenslanders wanted to make their homes more energy efficient, the most common solutions to being too hot or too cold were to install energy-consuming airconditioners or heaters. Only a small minority of homeowners said they had adopted environmental sustainable design strategies to help keep their home cool, such as installing shading, planting trees or investing in window coverings.
To help builders, architects and homeowners create more environmentally sustainable homes, Think Brick Australia has created the Designing for Climate website at www.designingfoi-climate.com.au. The website provides details on climate conditions around Queensland and suggestions on how house design can help reduce the need for heaters and airconditioners.
Environmental architect Tone Wheeler said homeowners needed to change their attitudes. "As Australia continues to experience more extreme weather patterns meaning longer, hotter summers, more severe storms and ongoing drought conditions it is bewildering that energy-efficient house design is not at the forefront of Australians minds," he said. "And the key to energy efficiency is designing the home to fit the climate."
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
Green power takes root in Chinese desert
www.thenews.com.pk
July 05, 2009
DUNHUN, China: As the United States takes its first steps toward mandating that power companies generate more electricity from renewable sources, China already has a similar requirement and is investing billions to remake itself into a green energy superpower, the New York Times reported the other day. Through a combination of carrots and sticks, Beijing is starting to change how this country generates energy. Although coal remains the biggest energy source and is almost certain to stay that way, the rise of renewable energy, especially wind energy, is helping to slow China's steep growth in emissions of global warming gases.
While the House of Representatives approved a requirement last week that American utilities generate more of their power from renewable sources of energy, and the Senate will consider similar proposals over the summer, China imposed such a requirement almost two years ago. This year China is on track to pass the United States as the world's largest market for wind turbines after doubling wind energy capacity in each of the last four years. State-owned power companies are competing to see which can build solar plants fastest, though these projects are much smaller than the wind projects.
And other green energy projects, like burning farm waste to generate electricity, are sprouting up. This oasis town deep in the Gobi Desert along the famed Silk Road and the surrounding wilderness of beige sand dunes and vast gravel wastelands has become a center of China's drive to lead the world in wind and solar energy. A series of projects is under construction on the nearly lifeless plateau to the southeast of Dunhuang, including one of six immense wind energy projects now being built around China, each with the capacity of more than 16 large coal-fired power plants.
Each of the six projects "totally dwarfs anything else, anywhere else in the world," said Steve Sawyer, the secretary general of the Global Wind Energy Council, an industry group in Brussels. Some top Chinese regulators even worry that Beijing's mandates are pushing companies too far too fast. The companies may be deliberately underbidding for the right to build new projects and then planning to go back to the government later and demand compensation once the projects lose money.
The problem is we have so many stupid enterprises, said Li Junfeng, who is the deputy director general for energy research at China's top economic planning agency and the secretary general of the government-run Renewable Energy Industries Association. HSBC predicts that China will invest more money in renewable energy and nuclear energy between now and 2020 than in coal-fired and oil-fired electricity. That does not mean that China will become a green giant overnight. For one thing, Chinese power consumption is expected to rise steadily over the next decade as 720 million rural Chinese begin acquiring the air-conditioners and other power-hungry amenities already common among China's 606 million city dwellers.
As recently as the start of last year, the Chinese government's target was to have 5,000 MWs of wind energy installed by the end of next year, or the equivalent of eight big coal-fired power plants, a tiny proportion of China's energy usage and a pittance at a time when China was building close to two coal-fired plants a week.
But in March of last year, as power companies began accelerating construction of wind turbines, the government issued a forecast that 10,000 MWs would actually be installed by the end of next year. And now, just 15 months later, with construction of coal-fired plants having slowed to one a week and still falling, it appears that China will have 30,000 MWs of wind energy by the end of next year which was previously the target for 2020, Mr. Li said.
A big impetus was the governments requirement, issued in September 2007, that large power companies generate at least 3% of their electricity by the end of 2010 from renewable sources. The calculation excludes hydroelectric power, which already accounts for 21% of Chinese power, and nuclear energy, which accounts for 1.1%. Chinese companies must generate 8% of their power from renewable sources other than hydroelectric by the end of 2020.
The House bill in the United States resembles China's approach in imposing a renewable energy standard on large electricity providers. But the details make it hard to compare standards. The House bill requires large electricity providers in the United States to derive at least 15% of their energy by 2020 from a combination of energy savings and renewable energy including hydroelectric dams built since 1992. Chinese power companies are eager to invest in renewable energy not just because of the government's mandates, but because they are flush with cash and state-owned banks are eager to lend them more money. And there are few regulatory hurdles.
At the same time, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has temporarily banned three of the country's five main power companies from building more coal-fired power plants, punishment for their failure to comply with environmental regulations at existing coal-fired plants. China's renewable energy frenzy has been accelerating recently, especially in solar energy.
Last winter, winning bidders for three projects agreed to sell power to the national power grid for about 59 cents a kW hour. But this spring, when the government solicited offers to build and operate the 10-MW photovoltaic solar energy plant here in Dunhuang, the lowest bid was just 10 cents a kW hour so low the government rejected it as likely to result in losses for whatever state-owned bank lent money to build it.
The winning bidder was China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company, an entirely state-owned business that bid 16 cents a kW hour. (That was still far below last winter's price, but a two-thirds drop in raw material costs because of the global financial crisis has started to drive down the cost of solar panels, the chief expense for the winning bidder.)
Zheng Shuangwei, the company's general manager for northwest China, said that 22 or 23 cents would be more fair. The bid of 16 cents "is not a proper price," he acknowledged. "It's a bidding rate that is the result of competition." By comparison, the grid buys electricity from coal-fired power plants for 4 to 5 cents a kW hour. Wind turbine rates have dropped to 7 cents from 10 cents over the last couple of years because of fierce competition and declining turbine costs. The solar project still must go ahead Zheng said, because China has limited coal reserves 41 years at current rates of production and the potential for hydroelectric power is leveling off as most eligible rivers have already been dammed.
But technical obstacles to renewable energy are popping up. Sandstorms in Dunhuang in the spring, for instance, will cover solar panels and render them useless until they are cleaned after each storm by squads of workers using feather brushes to avoid scratching the panels, a process expected to take two days. And wind turbines are being built faster here than the national grid can erect high-voltage power lines to carry the electricity to cities elsewhere.
On the windiest days, only half the power generated can be transmitted, said Min Deqing, a local renewable energy consultant. Nonetheless, city officials are pushing for more projects. "It is the Gobi Desert," said Wang Yu, the vice director of economic planning. "There is not much other use for it."
July 05, 2009
DUNHUN, China: As the United States takes its first steps toward mandating that power companies generate more electricity from renewable sources, China already has a similar requirement and is investing billions to remake itself into a green energy superpower, the New York Times reported the other day. Through a combination of carrots and sticks, Beijing is starting to change how this country generates energy. Although coal remains the biggest energy source and is almost certain to stay that way, the rise of renewable energy, especially wind energy, is helping to slow China's steep growth in emissions of global warming gases.
While the House of Representatives approved a requirement last week that American utilities generate more of their power from renewable sources of energy, and the Senate will consider similar proposals over the summer, China imposed such a requirement almost two years ago. This year China is on track to pass the United States as the world's largest market for wind turbines after doubling wind energy capacity in each of the last four years. State-owned power companies are competing to see which can build solar plants fastest, though these projects are much smaller than the wind projects.
And other green energy projects, like burning farm waste to generate electricity, are sprouting up. This oasis town deep in the Gobi Desert along the famed Silk Road and the surrounding wilderness of beige sand dunes and vast gravel wastelands has become a center of China's drive to lead the world in wind and solar energy. A series of projects is under construction on the nearly lifeless plateau to the southeast of Dunhuang, including one of six immense wind energy projects now being built around China, each with the capacity of more than 16 large coal-fired power plants.
Each of the six projects "totally dwarfs anything else, anywhere else in the world," said Steve Sawyer, the secretary general of the Global Wind Energy Council, an industry group in Brussels. Some top Chinese regulators even worry that Beijing's mandates are pushing companies too far too fast. The companies may be deliberately underbidding for the right to build new projects and then planning to go back to the government later and demand compensation once the projects lose money.
The problem is we have so many stupid enterprises, said Li Junfeng, who is the deputy director general for energy research at China's top economic planning agency and the secretary general of the government-run Renewable Energy Industries Association. HSBC predicts that China will invest more money in renewable energy and nuclear energy between now and 2020 than in coal-fired and oil-fired electricity. That does not mean that China will become a green giant overnight. For one thing, Chinese power consumption is expected to rise steadily over the next decade as 720 million rural Chinese begin acquiring the air-conditioners and other power-hungry amenities already common among China's 606 million city dwellers.
As recently as the start of last year, the Chinese government's target was to have 5,000 MWs of wind energy installed by the end of next year, or the equivalent of eight big coal-fired power plants, a tiny proportion of China's energy usage and a pittance at a time when China was building close to two coal-fired plants a week.
But in March of last year, as power companies began accelerating construction of wind turbines, the government issued a forecast that 10,000 MWs would actually be installed by the end of next year. And now, just 15 months later, with construction of coal-fired plants having slowed to one a week and still falling, it appears that China will have 30,000 MWs of wind energy by the end of next year which was previously the target for 2020, Mr. Li said.
A big impetus was the governments requirement, issued in September 2007, that large power companies generate at least 3% of their electricity by the end of 2010 from renewable sources. The calculation excludes hydroelectric power, which already accounts for 21% of Chinese power, and nuclear energy, which accounts for 1.1%. Chinese companies must generate 8% of their power from renewable sources other than hydroelectric by the end of 2020.
The House bill in the United States resembles China's approach in imposing a renewable energy standard on large electricity providers. But the details make it hard to compare standards. The House bill requires large electricity providers in the United States to derive at least 15% of their energy by 2020 from a combination of energy savings and renewable energy including hydroelectric dams built since 1992. Chinese power companies are eager to invest in renewable energy not just because of the government's mandates, but because they are flush with cash and state-owned banks are eager to lend them more money. And there are few regulatory hurdles.
At the same time, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has temporarily banned three of the country's five main power companies from building more coal-fired power plants, punishment for their failure to comply with environmental regulations at existing coal-fired plants. China's renewable energy frenzy has been accelerating recently, especially in solar energy.
Last winter, winning bidders for three projects agreed to sell power to the national power grid for about 59 cents a kW hour. But this spring, when the government solicited offers to build and operate the 10-MW photovoltaic solar energy plant here in Dunhuang, the lowest bid was just 10 cents a kW hour so low the government rejected it as likely to result in losses for whatever state-owned bank lent money to build it.
The winning bidder was China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company, an entirely state-owned business that bid 16 cents a kW hour. (That was still far below last winter's price, but a two-thirds drop in raw material costs because of the global financial crisis has started to drive down the cost of solar panels, the chief expense for the winning bidder.)
Zheng Shuangwei, the company's general manager for northwest China, said that 22 or 23 cents would be more fair. The bid of 16 cents "is not a proper price," he acknowledged. "It's a bidding rate that is the result of competition." By comparison, the grid buys electricity from coal-fired power plants for 4 to 5 cents a kW hour. Wind turbine rates have dropped to 7 cents from 10 cents over the last couple of years because of fierce competition and declining turbine costs. The solar project still must go ahead Zheng said, because China has limited coal reserves 41 years at current rates of production and the potential for hydroelectric power is leveling off as most eligible rivers have already been dammed.
But technical obstacles to renewable energy are popping up. Sandstorms in Dunhuang in the spring, for instance, will cover solar panels and render them useless until they are cleaned after each storm by squads of workers using feather brushes to avoid scratching the panels, a process expected to take two days. And wind turbines are being built faster here than the national grid can erect high-voltage power lines to carry the electricity to cities elsewhere.
On the windiest days, only half the power generated can be transmitted, said Min Deqing, a local renewable energy consultant. Nonetheless, city officials are pushing for more projects. "It is the Gobi Desert," said Wang Yu, the vice director of economic planning. "There is not much other use for it."
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
Myths of peak energy use
Adelaide Advertiser
Monday 11/5/2009 Page: 55
IT seems very common with people I am talking to on a daily basis that a shared assumption is that we use more energy in summer. I think this often comes about from the number of blackouts we have during summer due to huge quantities of air conditioners creating such a large demand at any one time.
This obviously occurs on those stinking hot days because the only way we can all cool our homes and workplaces is with electric energy and air conditioners. In actual fact almost every home will consume more energy throughout winter than summer in our climate. In winter our consumption is greater because we have less daylight, therefore we use electricity to light our homes. We spend more time indoors bringing greater demand on our appliances and many of us use my pet hate, the clothes dryer.
I believe we need to look at ways we can reduce our consumption to guard against the future costs of living. As we head into winter it is important to create living spaces that are well zoned within your home. If we are heating, we want to ensure we are heating the parts of the home where we are spending all our time and not the entire house unnecessarily.
Solar energy is the way of the future. With rebates at $8000 and additional renewable energy certificates provided with each system purchased, now is the time to get on board. A good sized solar system can actually make you money with the current feed-in tariffs, something I have found in my own home.
Adam Wright is a director of Beyond Today.
Monday 11/5/2009 Page: 55
IT seems very common with people I am talking to on a daily basis that a shared assumption is that we use more energy in summer. I think this often comes about from the number of blackouts we have during summer due to huge quantities of air conditioners creating such a large demand at any one time.
This obviously occurs on those stinking hot days because the only way we can all cool our homes and workplaces is with electric energy and air conditioners. In actual fact almost every home will consume more energy throughout winter than summer in our climate. In winter our consumption is greater because we have less daylight, therefore we use electricity to light our homes. We spend more time indoors bringing greater demand on our appliances and many of us use my pet hate, the clothes dryer.
I believe we need to look at ways we can reduce our consumption to guard against the future costs of living. As we head into winter it is important to create living spaces that are well zoned within your home. If we are heating, we want to ensure we are heating the parts of the home where we are spending all our time and not the entire house unnecessarily.
Solar energy is the way of the future. With rebates at $8000 and additional renewable energy certificates provided with each system purchased, now is the time to get on board. A good sized solar system can actually make you money with the current feed-in tariffs, something I have found in my own home.
Adam Wright is a director of Beyond Today.
Thursday, 19 March 2009
Thinking Outside The Square
Canberra Times
Wednesday 18/3/2009 Page: 10
Scientists and engineers are thinking outside the square to fight climate change in Canberra. They are working to improve existing technologies and create new ones to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Nyssa Skilton reports on three technologies being developed in Canberra.
Wind power
Finding the best spot for a wind turbine can be tricky. There has to be lots of wind, but also wind has to flow smoothly. Windlab Systems has developed software tools to improve windfarm efficiency. The Canberra-based company's latest offering will be a computational model to predict turbulence on wind energy sites.
Turbulent air can inflict different forces on the turbine blades and structure, increasing wear and also decreasing the amount of energy the turbine can extract. The model uses computational fluid dynamics to calculate and predict levels of turbulence in air passing through the disc of the turbine blades, so engineers can avoid placing turbines in areas of turbulent air flow.
Windlab's chief technology officer Keith Ayotte said one of the major challenges was that one turbulence analysis could require hundreds of billions of computer calculations. "Because the amount of power we have with computers is increasing fairly rapidly, we're only really now getting to the point where we can consider doing these things," he said. Wind lab plans to release the model commercially at the end of the year or beginning of next.
Angled Buried Contact Cell
A solar cell with hidden metal contacts may be another step in the efforts to improve solar efficiency. Canberra-based company Spark Solar Australia is working to develop the technology, called the Angled Buried Contact cell or ABC cell. Metal contacts act to draw electrical current from the cell. But they also shade about 7% of the surface of the cell from sunlight, reducing the cell's ability to convert sunlight into electricity. Hiding the contacts can improve cell efficiency by about 7% .
Spark directors Michelle McCann and Peter Fath, together with colleagues at the University of Konstanz in Germany, first developed the technology in 2005. But creating the ABC cell grooves into the surface of the cell at an angle. Surfaces that face upwards are covered in an insulating layer of silicon nitride and the metal is deposited on the exposed surfaces.
The contacts are hidden away underneath the surface of the cell, increasing the surface area that can collect sunlight. Spark Solar Australia plans to spend several years in further research, development and commercialisation of the technology.
Solar-powered air-conditioner
A team of engineers and scientists are developing a solar energyed air-conditioner, which can cool or heat a home and provide hot water year round.
The Australian National University design replaces the electrical compressor in a conventional air-conditioner with a solar energyed thermal compressor. Solar energy is provided in the form of heat, not electricity, from conventional solar water heater panels. Dr Mike Dennis, from the college of engineering and computer science, said the air-conditioner was similar to a traditional household split-system, except for the power source.
"The whole idea is to make it as seamless as possible, so it's very similar in look and feel to a conventional air conditioner," Dennis said. "In fact, the only difference people will see is the solar panel on the roof." Dennis said the refrigerants circulating in traditional air conditioning units were several thousand times more potent greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide.
He predicts the manufacture cost will be low as it has only one moving part. A two-year commercially driven development program started this year at ANU.
Wednesday 18/3/2009 Page: 10
Scientists and engineers are thinking outside the square to fight climate change in Canberra. They are working to improve existing technologies and create new ones to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Nyssa Skilton reports on three technologies being developed in Canberra.
Wind power
Finding the best spot for a wind turbine can be tricky. There has to be lots of wind, but also wind has to flow smoothly. Windlab Systems has developed software tools to improve windfarm efficiency. The Canberra-based company's latest offering will be a computational model to predict turbulence on wind energy sites.
Turbulent air can inflict different forces on the turbine blades and structure, increasing wear and also decreasing the amount of energy the turbine can extract. The model uses computational fluid dynamics to calculate and predict levels of turbulence in air passing through the disc of the turbine blades, so engineers can avoid placing turbines in areas of turbulent air flow.
Windlab's chief technology officer Keith Ayotte said one of the major challenges was that one turbulence analysis could require hundreds of billions of computer calculations. "Because the amount of power we have with computers is increasing fairly rapidly, we're only really now getting to the point where we can consider doing these things," he said. Wind lab plans to release the model commercially at the end of the year or beginning of next.
Angled Buried Contact Cell
A solar cell with hidden metal contacts may be another step in the efforts to improve solar efficiency. Canberra-based company Spark Solar Australia is working to develop the technology, called the Angled Buried Contact cell or ABC cell. Metal contacts act to draw electrical current from the cell. But they also shade about 7% of the surface of the cell from sunlight, reducing the cell's ability to convert sunlight into electricity. Hiding the contacts can improve cell efficiency by about 7% .
Spark directors Michelle McCann and Peter Fath, together with colleagues at the University of Konstanz in Germany, first developed the technology in 2005. But creating the ABC cell grooves into the surface of the cell at an angle. Surfaces that face upwards are covered in an insulating layer of silicon nitride and the metal is deposited on the exposed surfaces.
The contacts are hidden away underneath the surface of the cell, increasing the surface area that can collect sunlight. Spark Solar Australia plans to spend several years in further research, development and commercialisation of the technology.
Solar-powered air-conditioner
A team of engineers and scientists are developing a solar energyed air-conditioner, which can cool or heat a home and provide hot water year round.
The Australian National University design replaces the electrical compressor in a conventional air-conditioner with a solar energyed thermal compressor. Solar energy is provided in the form of heat, not electricity, from conventional solar water heater panels. Dr Mike Dennis, from the college of engineering and computer science, said the air-conditioner was similar to a traditional household split-system, except for the power source.
"The whole idea is to make it as seamless as possible, so it's very similar in look and feel to a conventional air conditioner," Dennis said. "In fact, the only difference people will see is the solar panel on the roof." Dennis said the refrigerants circulating in traditional air conditioning units were several thousand times more potent greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide.
He predicts the manufacture cost will be low as it has only one moving part. A two-year commercially driven development program started this year at ANU.
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Power to save if you have time to be smart about it
Sun Herald
Sunday 8/3/2009 Page: 32
AUSTRALIAN families will soon be able to track their energy use via home computer while potentially having the power to switch household electrical appliances on and off with a mobile phone. A free internet-based gadget will allow people with "smart" meters to monitor electricity use as it happens instead of having to wait every three months for a bill.
Electricity providers and the software developers say the combined technology will cut hundreds of dollars from annual household energy costs. A Google spokesman said the PowerMeter software, which measures the electricity used by appliances, would be available as an add-on to internet homepages before year's end.
We think consumers have a right to access detailed information about their home electricity usage throughout the day, to help save money and make smart energy decisions," he said. Google claims consumers will save up to 15% on bills by using PowerMeter to analyse their energy usage.
NSW Government-owned electricity provider EnergyAustralia has installed about 400,000 "smart" meters as part of a five year national rollout. These meters charge a higher tariff in peak periods, and lower amounts for shoulder and off peak periods.
EnergyAustralia spokesman Anthony O'Brien said a two-year trial of 1200 home monitors found 20 to 25% of consumers switched to off-peak use for certain appliances, with families saving an average of 20% on energy bills. But products such as PowerMeter needed an upgraded "intelligent" electricity grid and a second generation of smart meters to be truly effective.
About 10,000 such advanced smart meters had so far been installed in NSW, allowing remote meter-reading and online access to household electricity use. Providers will also be able to respond to "brownouts" by shutting off power to certain areas.
"The potential applications are huge," Mr O'Brien said. "smart meters enable a whole range of interesting possibilities. "What will be interesting from the consumer point of view will be the access to real-time information in the home." A $170 million intelligent network program is expected to be rolled out within a decade.
"You can picture what it will be like," Mr O'Brien said. "Your electric car can be plugged in and charged at a time when the price is cheaper. You can log onto the network from work through a remote-controlled device [online phone or computer] to control your home air-conditioner and set the dishwasher to run." Stakeholders have praised smart meters, but others are viewing them with more caution.
Indeed, some early take-up customers have reported bills rising as they are unable to adjust their energy habits outside peak hours, while others with smart meters have complained of problems trying to swap providers. Clean Energy Council chief Matthew Warren said smart metering would be "pivotal in driving energy efficiency".
NSW Department of Water and Energy executive director Peter Leihn said the challenge for Google would be making the software simple enough for most energy consumers to use. "The real-time feedback is going to be a positive thing," he said.
CSIRO researcher Glen Platt said PowerMeter was restricted to customers who can use and access the internet. The CSIRO has been developing in-house monitors - due in five years - that provide real-time information without requiring computer know-how. "We're working on ways to get benefits like 16% savings without having to be technologically savvy and it won't affect lifestyle and comfort," Dr Platt said.
Sunday 8/3/2009 Page: 32
AUSTRALIAN families will soon be able to track their energy use via home computer while potentially having the power to switch household electrical appliances on and off with a mobile phone. A free internet-based gadget will allow people with "smart" meters to monitor electricity use as it happens instead of having to wait every three months for a bill.
Electricity providers and the software developers say the combined technology will cut hundreds of dollars from annual household energy costs. A Google spokesman said the PowerMeter software, which measures the electricity used by appliances, would be available as an add-on to internet homepages before year's end.
We think consumers have a right to access detailed information about their home electricity usage throughout the day, to help save money and make smart energy decisions," he said. Google claims consumers will save up to 15% on bills by using PowerMeter to analyse their energy usage.
NSW Government-owned electricity provider EnergyAustralia has installed about 400,000 "smart" meters as part of a five year national rollout. These meters charge a higher tariff in peak periods, and lower amounts for shoulder and off peak periods.
EnergyAustralia spokesman Anthony O'Brien said a two-year trial of 1200 home monitors found 20 to 25% of consumers switched to off-peak use for certain appliances, with families saving an average of 20% on energy bills. But products such as PowerMeter needed an upgraded "intelligent" electricity grid and a second generation of smart meters to be truly effective.
About 10,000 such advanced smart meters had so far been installed in NSW, allowing remote meter-reading and online access to household electricity use. Providers will also be able to respond to "brownouts" by shutting off power to certain areas.
"The potential applications are huge," Mr O'Brien said. "smart meters enable a whole range of interesting possibilities. "What will be interesting from the consumer point of view will be the access to real-time information in the home." A $170 million intelligent network program is expected to be rolled out within a decade.
"You can picture what it will be like," Mr O'Brien said. "Your electric car can be plugged in and charged at a time when the price is cheaper. You can log onto the network from work through a remote-controlled device [online phone or computer] to control your home air-conditioner and set the dishwasher to run." Stakeholders have praised smart meters, but others are viewing them with more caution.
Indeed, some early take-up customers have reported bills rising as they are unable to adjust their energy habits outside peak hours, while others with smart meters have complained of problems trying to swap providers. Clean Energy Council chief Matthew Warren said smart metering would be "pivotal in driving energy efficiency".
NSW Department of Water and Energy executive director Peter Leihn said the challenge for Google would be making the software simple enough for most energy consumers to use. "The real-time feedback is going to be a positive thing," he said.
CSIRO researcher Glen Platt said PowerMeter was restricted to customers who can use and access the internet. The CSIRO has been developing in-house monitors - due in five years - that provide real-time information without requiring computer know-how. "We're working on ways to get benefits like 16% savings without having to be technologically savvy and it won't affect lifestyle and comfort," Dr Platt said.
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