Climbing robotic wind turbine inspector

www.engineering.com
28 Apr 2013

How do you inspect the outside of a wind turbine? Either stand on the ground and use a telescope, or set up some climbing gear and scale the tower. The first solution is imprecise and the second is expensive and dangerous. Both are time-consuming. Now there's a third option: the HR-MP20 Light Weight Magnetic Climbing Robot by Helical Robotics. This remote-controlled robot can scale a turbine tower while carrying up to 9kg (20 lbs) of inspection gear such as cameras and ultrasound. It clings to the tower using five neodymium magnets, the strongest type of permanent magnet available. A technician stands on the ground with a transmitter, directing the robotic inspector to various places on the turbine. (I know-technically that makes it a radio-controlled vehicle, not a robot. The company named it, I didn't.)

The HR-MP20 features a zero turning radius and it can climb at a rate of 20 meters per minute (65 ft/min) and descend at 27 m/min (90 ft/min). It uses a 15 Ah lithium-polymer battery pack for its drive motors, a 10Ah NiMH battery pack to power its payload, and a 4.5Ah NiMH battery for its radio. The radio operates in the 2.4GHz band with a range of 762 m (2500 ft). Its size and capacity can be custom-engineered according to client needs.

Inspecting the blades of a wind turbine requires that the blades be stopped. Using the telescope method, a technician stands away from the turbine and looks at the blades through a telescope. This process can take up to four hours per turbine. Climbing a turbine requires a lot of rope, a strong technician, and a hefty insurance premium. Robotic inspection is faster, safer, less expensive, and more reliable than the telescope or climbing methods. Less down-time translates into more energy production. The HR-MP20 has been proven to work in high winds (which you're likely to find on a wind farm, right?) and bad weather, both of which will delay manual inspections. Of course, you still need a technician to climb up the inside of the tower to perform maintenance on the internal gears, generator, and other moving parts. But the towers have ladders on the inside, and wind is not a factor inside the tower.

New all-solid sulfur-based battery outperforms lithium-ion technology

m.phys.org
5 Jun 2013

(Phys.org) —Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have designed and tested an all-solid lithium sulfur battery with approximately four times the energy density of conventional lithium-ion technologies that power today's electronics.

The ORNL battery design, which uses abundant low-cost elemental sulfur, also addresses flammability concerns experienced by other chemistries. 

"Our approach is a complete change from the current battery concept of two electrodes joined by a liquid electrolyte, which has been used over the last 150 to 200 years," said Chengdu Liang, lead author on the ORNL study published this week in Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 

Scientists have been excited about the potential of lithium sulfur batteries for decades, but long-lasting, large-scale versions for commercial applications have proven elusive. Researchers were stuck with a catch-22 created by the battery's use of liquid electrolytes: On one hand, the liquid helped conduct ions through the battery by allowing lithium polysulfide compounds to dissolve. The downside, however, was that the same dissolution process caused the battery to prematurely break down.

The ORNL team overcame these barriers by first synthesizing a never-before-seen class of sulfur-rich materials that conduct ions as well as the lithium metal oxides conventionally used in the battery's cathode. Liang's team then combined the new sulfur-rich cathode and a lithium anode with a solid electrolyte material, also developed at ORNL, to create an energy-dense, all-solid battery. 

"This game-changing shift from liquid to solid electrolytes eliminates the problem of sulfur dissolution and enables us to deliver on the promise of lithium sulfur batteries," Liang said. "Our battery design has real potential to reduce cost, increase energy density and improve safety compared with existing lithium-ion technologies." 



The new ionically-conductive cathode enabled the ORNL battery to maintain a capacity of 1200 milliamp-hours (mAh) per gram after 300 charge-discharge cycles at 60° Celsius. For comparison, a traditional lithium-ion battery cathode has an average capacity between 140-170 mAh/g. Because lithium sulfur batteries deliver about half the voltage of lithium-ion versions, this eight-fold increase in capacity demonstrated in the ORNL battery cathode translates into four times the gravimetric energy density of lithium-ion technologies, explained Liang. 

The team's all-solid design also increases battery safety by eliminating flammable liquid electrolytes that can react with lithium metal.

Chief among the ORNL battery's other advantages is its use of elemental sulfur, a plentiful industrial byproduct of petroleum processing. 

"Sulfur is practically free," Liang said. "Not only does sulfur store much more energy than the transition metal compounds used in lithium-ion battery cathodes, but a lithium sulfur device could help recycle a waste product into a useful technology." 

Although the team's new battery is still in the demonstration stage, Liang and his colleagues hope to see their research move quickly from the laboratory into commercial applications. A patent on the team's design is pending.

Wind-solar hybrid plants up to twice as efficient

www.pv-magazine.com
22 Apr 2013

Combining wind turbines and photovoltaic systems results in up to twice the amount of electricity being generated across the same surface area, while shading losses caused by wind turbines amount to a mere 1 to 2%-much less than previously thought.

As an additional benefit, the construction of hybrid power plants does not require grid expansion because the plants generate wind and solar power at different times of day and during complementary seasons, ensuring the level of energy fed into the grid is more steady than that of wind or photovoltaic power plants alone.

"Until now, it was thought that the shadows cast on solar plants by wind turbines led to high yield losses. The study shows, however, that these shading losses are much lower than expected, provided the hybrid power plant is well designed", said Alexander Woitas, head of the engineering department at Solarpraxis AG, parent company of pv-magazine.com. Various scenarios were simulated for the study and detailed shading analyses were carried out.

"Initial requests to create yield reports as well as technical and economic system planning have given us cause to hope that the more efficient utilization of space and infrastructure created by hybrid power plants has excellent prospects for the future", said Dr. Christian Breyer, managing director of the Reiner Lemoine Institut. "We also calculated what effects combining photovoltaic and wind power plants will have on power grids on both a global and regional level. The fact that wind and photovoltaic power supply the grid with much more stable levels of energy when working together has a positive effect on grid stability", he added.

While wind turbines produce a lot more electricity during the colder parts of the year, due to greater levels of wind over the winter months, solar power plants generate more solar power in the summer, compensating for the lower wind power production at this time of the year.

Next year, a photovoltaic system at Templin, near Berlin, is set to be retrofitted with wind turbines as part of the German government's Zwanzig20 research initiative. Data from the pilot plant will be analyzed by Solarpraxis, the Reiner Lemoine Institut and project partners.

Wind investment could hedge rising power prices: Vestas

www.businessspectator.com.au
15 Apr 2013

Increasing wind investment in Australia so renewable energy accounts for at least 20% of the country's energy mix would help hedge against rising power prices, according to the chief of the world's biggest wind power company.

Ditlev Engel, chief executive officer of Denmark-based Vestas Wind Systems, said utilities had been taking on wind power to hedge the unpredictability of gas prices because the cost of the wind was easier to predict and guarantee.

"I think you see a lot of utilities saying well it's a good idea to have 20%, 30% of our portfolio in wind", Mr Engel said. Speaking to Business Spectator's KGB, Mr Engel said the fundamentals of the wind power sector were strong despite price falls since the global financial crisis.

In the wake of the global financial crisis, the price on the emissions trading scheme in Europe plunged from €30 to €4 and gas prices in the US fell from $US12 to $US3. Other factors contributing to a "perfect storm" engulfing the wind sector included stagnant economic growth and the absence of public dialogue on the impact of renewables in the face of eurozone woes.

But energy security was an issue for governments and they should avoid depending on gas for fuel, particularly given the difficulty and cost of transporting it, he said. "If you take the shale gas in the US, it costs about $3 to $4 dollars in the US and the landed cost in Asia is about $12, $13", he said.

"I can tell you at $12, $13 wind is by far more competitive. We just have to remember that a lot of infrastructure investment has to go in there in order to exploit the gas as well".

Meanwhile, when the huge investment in wind power, particularly in storage and batteries, paid off it "could break the very important price barrier for renewables" and reduce Australia's dependency on other countries.

"The most risky thing you can do I think in any business is to say we are here today, disregard technology development and say that we're going to be here in 10 years from now", he said.

Duke completes biggest power storage system at wind farm

www.bloomberg.com
24 Jan 2013

Duke Energy Corp. (DUK), the largest U.S, utility owner, said the world's biggest battery power storage system has begun operating at the company's 153 MW wind farm in west Texas.

The 36 MW Xtreme Power Inc, system can release stored power from the Notrees Wind project when needed and absorb it during times of low demand, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Duke said in a statement today. Closely held Xtreme Power will manage the unit at the facility, which sells electricity to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer.

The system, which Duke said in April would cost $44 million, can improve the reliability of the Texas power grid by responding quickly to fluctuations in supply and demand. Such systems may eventually help the state avoid blackouts as it faces tightening power supplies.

"Energy storage will benefit our renewables business, our customers and the energy sector as a whole", said Greg Wolf, president of Duke's renewables unit. Power releases from battery storage units can help provide electricity even when the wind isn't blowing or the sun isn't shining.

Using snail teeth to improve solar cells and batteries

www.sciencedaily.com
16 Jan 2013

An assistant professor at the University of California, Riverside's Bourns College of Engineering is using the teeth of a marine snail found off the coast of California to create less costly and more efficient nanoscale materials to improve solar cells and lithium-ion batteries.

The most recent findings by David Kisailus, an assistant professor of chemical and environmental engineering, details how the teeth of chiton grow. The paper was published Jan. 16 in the journal Advanced Functional Materials. It was co-authored by several of his current and former students and scientists at Harvard University in Cambridge Mass., Chapman University in Orange, Calif. and Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, NY.

The paper is focused on the gumboot chiton, the largest type of chiton, which can be up to a foot-long. They are found along the shores of the Pacific Ocean from central California to Alaska. They have a leathery upper skin, which is usually reddish-brown and occasionally orange, leading some to give it the nickname "wandering meatloaf."

Over time, chitons have evolved to eat algae growing on and within rocks using a specialized rasping organ called a radula, a conveyer belt-like structure in the mouth that contains 70 to 80 parallel rows of teeth. During the feeding process, the first few rows of the teeth are used to grind rock to get to the algae. They become worn, but new teeth are continuously produced and enter the "wear zone" at the same rate as teeth are shed.

Kisailus, who uses nature as inspiration to design next generation engineering products and materials, started studying chitons five years ago because he was interested in abrasion and impact-resistant materials. He has previously determined that the chiton teeth contain the hardest biomineral known on Earth, magnetite, which is the key mineral that not only makes the tooth hard, but also magnetic.

Sempra Energy completes a wind farm in Maui

www.utsandiego.com
31 Dec 2012

San Diego-based Sempra Energy has announced the completion of a wind farm in southeast Maui capable of powering 10,000 island homes.

Perched on a ridge of the Haleakala volcano, the Auwahi Wind power plant consists of eight new turbines and a battery designed to sustain power during light wind conditions. The plant was built by Sempra US Gas & Power and BP Wind Energy under a 20-year contract with Maui Electric, a subsidiary of Hawaii's dominant regulated utility.

The state is requiring utilities to increase the share of electricity generated from renewable sources to 40% by 2030. California's renewable portfolio standard requires 33% renewable generation by 2020. In a written announcement Wednesday, Sempra recognized the support of neighbors to the project including the Ulupalakua cattle ranch.

Apple exploring alternative wind power technology and motion-control Mac mice

techcrunch.com
27 Dec 2012

Apple's patent filings today reveal one concept outside their usual product-focused applications, detailing a method for harnessing wind power in a manner different from that employed in traditional turbines. Electricity gathered from a wind turbine would be converted to heat energy and stored in a "low-heat capacity fluid" in Apple's patent, allowing it to be tapped on an as-needed basis whenever the wind dies down.

It all gets pretty technical, but painted in broad strokes, the system would potentially use the motion of the rotor shaft moving against a "low-heat capacity fluid" (such as ethanol or mercury, for instance) to generate heat through friction between the two surfaces. This can then be transferred from the storage fluid to a working fluid which is then boiled off to release steam. The steam powers a turbine, converting the energy to usable form.

Apple's system differs from basic wind-power generators that are highly subject to variances in wind power, as well as systems that use batteries to store energy made through rotational energy for later use when wind isn't actively making that much power. Instead, it is designed to make wind power available on a more "on-demand" basis, which is of significant importance for facilities requiring a constant, uninterrupted power supply. That likely explains why Apple is pursuing this kind of tech: Its massive data centers have huge power requirements, and the company has stated its commitment to harnessing wind, solar and other alternative energy sources to help keep these facilities running smoothly.

So far, Apple has been working mostly on building solar farms and biogas generators to help fulfill its energy needs at data center locations like the one it has in Maiden, NC, and competitor Google recently revealed that it has powered a data center with wind power for the first time.

Read More…

Australia takes a shine to solar energy research

www.smh.com.au
13 Dec 2012

The Gillard government will step up its investment in joint solar power research with the US, using additional funds from its new $2.2 billion renewable energy agency.

Martin Ferguson, Minister for Resources and Energy, will today announce more than $83 million for research as part of the United States-Australia Solar Energy Collaboration (USASEC) launched in 2010. The funding taps into money not yet spent from the $50 million Australian contribution to USASEC, managed by Newcastle-based Australian Solar Institute (ASI).

In addition, the new Australian Renewable Energy Agency will contribute about $38 million in funds to the research. The agency will absorb the ASI at the start of 2013. "These projects will leverage an investment of $140 million from industry, resulting in more than $220 million for solar research and involving over 40 organisations across Australia and the US", Mr Ferguson said in a statement. Most of the combined funding will be spent on two research endeavours.

About $33 million will go to the US-Australia Institute for Advanced Photovoltaics to develop the next generation of PV technologies and spur increases in performance and lower costs. The University of New South Wales will lead the research, supported by other universities in Australia and the US, and commercial partners including Blue-Scope Steel and Suntech Power R&D Australia.

The other major research focus, the Australian Solar Thermal Research Initiative (ASTRI), will receive $35 million aimed at making Australia a global leader in so-called Concentrating Solar Power technologies. The effort will be led by the CSIRO and mostly involve Australian and US universities, and Sandia National Laboratories Corp. An additional $15.5 million will be allocated to collaborative research projects under the Open Funding Round of the USASEC, the statement said.

Projects range from developing an Australian Solar Energy Forecasting System-a venture the CSIRO had sought funding for-that will improve the integration of solar power generation, to a solar device that simplifies incorporation of solar power into hybrid fossil fuel applications.

Read More…

Feds fund four projects to simplify solar gear designs and predict power output

www.forbes.com
7 Dec 2012

The US Department of Energy said Friday it will give $29 million to four projects for reducing the costs of installing solar panels and helping utilities figure out how to manage the growing amount of solar electricity that flows into their grids.

The funding is part of an initiative called SunShot, which was launched in early 2011 to make solar electricity cheap to produce and therefore competitive against energy from coal or natural gas power plants. The goal is to cut the production costs of large-scale solar projects to $1 per watt--or about $0.06 per kW-hour-by 2020.

The department plans to dole out up to $21 million over five years to two projects that will create "plug-and-play" solar power producing equipment. The idea is to make it simpler and cheaper for homeowners to buy, install and bring online a system of solar panels, electronic equipment and wires that connect solar panels to the grid-all in one day.

The North Carolina State University ($9.1 million) will work on standardising the designs of the components and the overall solar power system for a home's rooftop. A research center in Cambridge, Mass., called Fraunhofer's Center for Sustainable Energy Systems ($11.7 million) will work on designing cabling that will make it easier for connecting the solar panels to a smart meter and the grid. Fraunhofer also will design a system to allow the solar power equipment to check itself for proper installation and to send its power generation data to the local utility.

The energy department will provide up to $8 million to two projects that will create better tools for predicting the amount, timing and location of electricity generation from solar power plants. Currently there are ways for solar power plant owners to crunch numbers to project how much electricity their power plants might generate year after year. But some of the methods aren't sophisticated or they aren't proven, particularly since the U.S, doesn't have many solar power plants that have been operating for decades.

The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research ($4.2 million) in Boulder, Colo., will research the impact of clouds on solar power generation and design short-term forecasting techniques. The IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center ($3.8 million) in Armonk, N.Y., will use a supercomputer to analyze various forecasting methods and figure out the best ways to predict solar power production.

Being able to forecast solar power production is crucial for maintaining the health of an electric grid. The amount of solar electricity flowing from a power plant can fluctuate, sometimes significantly, depending on the weather and other conditions. At the same time, an electric grid runs smoothly only when there is a balance of supply and demand. Making sure that a surge of solar electricity into the grid-or a big drop off of it-will not disrupt the grid and cause a blackout is a big worry for utilities and electric grid operators.

There are several ways to ensure the grid runs well. Utilities could use a type of natural gas power plants that can turn on and produce power quickly to make up for any shortfall. Using batteries or other equipment to store solar electricity and drawing on the power when needed is another way. The need to engineer energy storage equipment that could work well with solar or wind power plants has prompted many private and public investments in battery and other storage technologies.

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.

Solar capability enhanced with battery ‘smoother’

www.sciencewa.net.au
3 Nov 2012

WESTERN Australian based company Magellan Power has developed a unique device to address electricity fluctuations that occur with some alternative energy technologies. Renewable energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal are growing industries in Australia and research is focused on the pursuit of more efficient energy transmission. In particular, solar farms have an issue with power surges and lulls that occur due to changeable weather conditions.

"When the grid experiences large changes in the injection of solar power, for example on cloudy days, the generators work hard to keep up", Magellan Power's Jolleh Abshar says. "If a large cloud passes by, then the solar injection level will suddenly drop and generators will need to work hard to keep the power flowing".

This lack of reliability has caused WA electricity utility, Horizon Power to bring in new specifications, effective from July this year requiring solar farms to have 'smoothing devices'--a relatively new technology, installed. Chief Technical Officer for Magellan Power, Lindsay Meek says their Solar Smoother uses an integrated cell battery management system. "Our system consists of batteries and a bi-directional inverter and the lithium ensures that the batteries aren't compromised by the heavy work load", she says.

It uses similar battery technology to hybrid powered vehicles. A number of similar units called Grid Power Support Systems have already been sold to Ergon Energy in Queensland, to solve issues with their solar power and to smooth electricity flow in old single earth return (SWER) lines. The success of these first commercial placements has seen Magellan Power refining their product to the point where they now also offer smaller residential units (RUSS).

The Solar Smoother is a key solution for a 45KW solar project at the Carnarvon Police and Justice Complex, which is currently under tender. Plans are underway for another project for a local council in the Pilbara, where a Solar Smoother is again the preferred solution. Magellan believes it has the only Solar Smoother specifically designed to smooth solar power. The technology can be applied to both existing and prospective electricity supply sources in Australia and internationally.

Australia's largest battery-based renewable energy storage system to be built on Tasmanian island

www.pacetoday.com.au
1 Nov 2012

Australian energy storage company Ecoult has been awarded the Hydro Tasmania contract to supply the largest battery based renewable energy storage system in Australia for the King Island Renewable Energy Integration Project (KIREIP).

The 3 MW / 1.6 MWh UltraBattery storage system will complement other elements of Hydro Tasmania's KIREIP, the aim of which is to significantly reduce King Island's reliance on diesel fuel to supply the island's energy needs. The storage system will have the capacity to power the entire island for up to 45 minutes.

Ecoult CEO John Wood said the UltraBattery storage system would shift and smooth renewable energy generated on King Island and will help maintain stability of the power grid. "Ecoult's UltraBattery solutions support the utilisation of renewable energy by storing energy in periods where there is excess generation and making it available when it is needed to better match demand", Wood said.

"Ecoult energy storage solutions are an important complement for renewable energy generation and this implementation is another boost for the environment as it will support the overall KIREIP solution that reduces reliance on diesel", he said. Hydro Tasmania's Manager of Renewable Asset Development Simon Gamble said the KIREIP brings together a portfolio of new and existing technologies, combined in novel ways to increase renewable energy use on King Island.

"KIREIP will enable demonstration of a world-leading power system that can deliver more than 65% of King Island's annual needs from renewable energy, and do it without any loss of reliability or grid stability and at a price lower than the diesel power alternative", Gamble said. "As well, the KIREIP will lower CO₂ emissions by 95% through the use of sustainable clean energy sources, including biodiesel".

KIREIP is an initiative of Hydro Tasmania and is being developed with the assistance of the Australian Government's Renewable Energy Demonstration Program and the Tasmanian Government. Formed in 2007 by the CSIRO Australia, Ecoult was acquired by the US-based East Penn Manufacturing Company in 2010. East Penn (founded in 1946) manufactures the UltraBattery Storage Blocks in their manufacturing facility at Lyon Station, Pennsylvania, USA.

Stanford's battery-life research steps into economy class

phys.org
25 Oct 2012

(Phys.org)--Looking for better battery designs and solutions is a priority pursuit for many scientists, and the Batteries for Advanced Transportation Technologies (BATT) Program is always on the lookout for worthy contributions. Supported by the US Department of Energy and managed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, BATT is a leader in U.S, research in battery solutions for electric vehicles. They have not missed the fact that Prof. Yi Cui, Associate Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University, has been leading a team that is coming up with new answers for energy storage.

"Several fundamental studies still need to be conducted to develop viable Si electrodes for batteries", BATT has written in the past. "Yi Cui's group at Stanford University is working on understanding the properties of various Si nanostructures and is designing new ones based on particles and wires that target improving Si cyclability".

BATT has recognized an important issue addressed by Cui, the conductivity of Si electrodes. "The electrical conductivity of Si is a major factor in determining the power and energy capabilities of an electrode that does not contain inactive materials such as conductive additives and binder. Future work in the Cui group will focus on designing new Si structures and pre-lithiation methods that are amenable to scale up so that large quantities of this anode material can be made at a low cost. Fundamental questions such as the best morphology for electrode packing, the type of surface coating for improving cyclability, and the optimal state of charge for these electrodes still need to be answered".

This month, Prof. Yi Cui and his Stanford team offer more answers in a newly published paper appearing in the journal Nature Communications. To compensate for fluctuating renewables in wind and solar systems, new approaches to storage are needed and Cui's team present a battery technology that works when the sun or wind falls short, in the form of sharp drop-offs of wind and solar systems. The battery electrodes can run for a thousand charge cycles without degrading, an advancement when typically the electrodes degrade with time.

Read More…

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.

Energy firm claims battery storage breakthrough

www.smh.com.au
10 Oct 2012

A South Australian energy firm is claiming an international breakthrough in battery technology that will help generators of solar and wind power store their energy more cheaply. Zen Home Energy Systems today unveiled a computer-controlled storage system-with one model about the size of a bar fridge-which almost doubles the effectiveness of batteries. "This technology is a game changer for the renewable energy industry and has the potential to change the way individuals and communities use electricity in the future", Zen Home Energy's chief executive officer, Richard Turner, said.

Mr Turner said as many as 10 Australian utilities are interested in trialling the system and the company has already begun shipping large-scale container-sized units to US clients. He predicts the new products may see Zen Home Energy increase its annual revenue from about $60 million now to $500 million within three to four years.

Residential units with a 20 kW story capacity-enough to power a typical house for 24 hours-will sell for $30,000 each. The hefty price tag should drop to $20,000 as Zen Home Energy scales up production, with an estimated pay-back period of 10 years based on savings consumers can make by avoiding peak power prices. In Victoria, off-peak prices are about 8¢ a kW versus 45¢ for peak times. The real savings, though, may come if power suppliers and users avoid excessive investment in new poles, wires and other equipment.

"The country is forecast to spend about $100 billion over the next ten years on infrastructure on what is an ageing and quite decrepit grid with an ever-increasing requirement for peak energy", Mr Turner said on the sidelines of the All-Energy conference in Melbourne. "A significant amount of those problems can be fixed through shifting the peak time load away from peak by simply storing energy when the grid's demand is low and using it when it's in high demand".

Mr Turner said one scenario would see utilities subsiding the use of storage systems for consumers. "We"ve got trials running with about three utilities in Australia with basically the balance of those (10) utilities all interested in running trials", he said, declining to name those involved. A Californian utility two weeks ago placed its third order of one of the company's large storage systems-capable of supplying six MWs-for $8 million, he said.

"This is going to be the future and it's going to be a significant cost benefit for the government, for the utilities".

Read More…

Liquid air 'offers energy storage hope'

www.bbc.co.uk
2 Oct 2012

Turning air into liquid may offer a solution to one of the great challenges in engineering-how to store energy. The Institution of Mechanical Engineers says liquid air can compete with batteries and hydrogen to store excess energy generated from renewables. IMechE says "wrong-time" electricity generated by wind farms at night can be used to chill air to a cryogenic state at a distant location. When demand increases, the air can be warmed to drive a turbine.

Engineers say the process to produce "right-time" electricity can achieve an efficiency of up to 70%. MechE is holding a conference today to discuss new ideas on how using "cryo-power" can benefit the low-carbon economy. The technology was originally developed by Peter Dearman, a garage inventor in Hertfordshire, to power vehicles. A new firm, Highview Power Storage, was created to transfer Mr Dearman's technology to a system that can store energy to be used on the power grid. The process, part-funded by the government, has now been trialled for two years at the back of a power station in Slough, Buckinghamshire.

More than hot air The results have attracted the admiration of IMechE officials. "I get half a dozen people a week trying to persuade me they have a brilliant invention", head of energy Tim Fox told BBC News. "In this case, it is a very clever application that really does look like a potential solution to a really great challenge that faces us as we increase the amount of intermittent power from renewables".

Dr Fox urged the government to provide incentives in its forthcoming electricity legislation for firms to store energy on a commercial scale with this and other technologies. IMechE says the simplicity and elegance of the Highview process is appealing, especially as it addresses not just the problem of storage but also the separate problem of waste industrial heat.

• The process follows a number of stages:
• "Wrong-time electricity" is used to take in air, remove the CO2 and water vapour (these would freeze otherwise)
• the remaining air, mostly nitrogen, is chilled to -190C (-310F) and turns to liquid (changing the state of the air from gas to liquid is what stores the energy)
• the liquid air is held in a giant vacuum flask until it is needed
• when demand for power rises, the liquid is warmed to ambient temperature. As it vaporizes, it drives a turbine to produce electricity - no combustion is involved

IMechE says this process is only 25% efficient but it is massively improved by co-siting the cryo-generator next to an industrial plant or power station producing low-grade heat that is currently vented and being released into the atmosphere. The heat can be used to boost the thermal expansion of the liquid air. More energy is saved by taking the waste cool air when the air has finished chilling, and passing it through three tanks containing gravel. The chilled gravel stores the coolness until it is needed to restart the air-chilling process.

Delivering durability
Highview believes that, produced at scale, their kits could be up to 70% efficient, and IMechE agrees this figure is realistic. "Batteries can get 80% efficiency so this isn't as good in that respect", explains Dr Fox. "But we do not have a battery industry in the UK and we do have plenty of respected engineers to produce a technology like this. "What's more, it uses standard industrial components-which reduces commercial risk; it will last for decades and it can be fixed with a spanner".

In the future, it is expected that batteries currently used in electric cars may play a part in household energy storage. But Richard Smith, head of energy strategy for National Grid, told BBC News that other sorts of storage would be increasingly important in coming decades and should be incentivised to commercial scale by government. He said: "Storage is one of four tools we have to balance supply and demand, including thermal flexing (switching on and off gas-fired power stations); interconnections, and demand-side management. Ultimately it will be down to economics".

Mr Dearman, who also invented the MicroVent resuscitation device used in ambulances, told BBC News he was delighted at the success of his ideas. He said he believed his liquid air engine would prevail against other storage technologies because it did not rely on potentially scarce materials for batteries. "I have been working on this off and on for close on 50 years", he told BBC News.

"I started when I was a teenager because I thought there wouldn't be enough raw materials in the world for everyone to have a car. There had to be a different way. Then somehow I came up with the idea of storing energy in cold. "It's hard to put into words to see what's happening with my ideas today".

John Scott, from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), added: "At present, pumped-hydroelectric storage is the only practical bulk storage medium in the British grid. "However, locations are very restricted", he told BBC News. "In the future, if new storage technologies can be deployed at a lower cost than alternatives, it would benefit the power system". A spokesman for the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (Decc) said it would shortly launch a scheme to incentivise innovation in energy storage. Other grants are available from Ofgem.

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".

Gorgon gas project tugs save fuel using battery power

shipandbunker.com
25 Sep 2012

Four new tugboats being built for use in the Gorgon gas project off Australia's West Coast will run on more than two MWs worth of lithium-polymer batteries, reducing both fuel use and emissions according to Corvus Energy, the Canadian company that makes the batteries.

The project, which will be the largest natural resources extraction effort in Australian history, is located in an environmentally sensitive area, and the battery-powered vessels are intended to help minimise pollution. Corvus Energy said its 48 volt AT6500 batteries are about a quarter the weight of conventional batteries, making them the world's most energy-dense batteries.

"Corvus Energy is thrilled to be part of this major project and have our industrial lithium-polymer battery technology featured in the hybrid tugs", Corvus Energy CEO Brent Perry said in a statement. "We are confident that our 48 ­volt batteries will provide many years of economical operation as well as significantly reducing the environmental impact of such a large and important project", he added.

The batteries, which shipbuilder Siemens AS is using as it builds the tugboats, offer a fuel savings payback in about three years. The tugs, which have a maximum bollard pull of 75 tonnes, will be used in general offshore operations as the gas field is developed.

The Gorgon project is being developed by a joint venture of ChevronTexaco, Shell, and Exxon-Mobil, according to Offshore Technology. The first gas from the area is expected in 2014, and Chevron has supply agreements for 4 million tonnes of natural gas a year. Chevron Australia says the project includes the construction of a 15 million tonne per annum liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on Barrow Island.

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.

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