NG Power & Energy Europe

Europe forms supergrid organisation

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:52:00 +0000

An organisation has been set up to drive forward European policy towards the construction of a supergrid that will help the continents green energy revolution.

Friends of the Supergrid is made up of ten European companies from the sectors that will deliver the high voltage direct current (HVDC) infrastructure and related technology, and sectors that will develop, install, own and operate that infrastructure.

A pan-European electricity grid will be essential to fully harnessing all the new sources of renewable energy EU members plan to develop in an effort to meet its target of cutting carbons emissions by 30 percent by the year 2020.

The newly formed organisation will primarily focus on developing an offshore supergrid that will allow us to harness the full potential of northern Europe's offshore wind power. Friends of the Supergrid says the offshore supergrid is not an extension of existing or planned point-to-point HVDC interconnectors between particular states. "Even the aggregation of these schemes will not provide the network that will be needed to carry marine renewable power generated in our Northern seas to the load centres of central Europe," the organisation adds.

Open trade of electricity

The HVDC technology will be used "supernodes" to collect, integrate and route electricity to energy markets.

Mainstream Renewable Power's Chief Executive Dr Eddie O'Connor, says: "The UK Government has recently shown its commitment to large-scale offshore wind by announcing the development of up to 50GW by 2020.

"We now need to integrate this huge resource into Europe to enable the open trade of electricity between Member States."

At the end of last year nine countries signed up to the North Seas Countries Offshore Grid Initiative which aims to connect green energy projects around the North Sea region. With the network of cables, electricity will eventually be transmitted across the continent from wherever the wind is blowing, the sun is shining or the waves are crashing.

Membership will be kept to a maximum of 20 companies representing an industrial and geographic cross section. The base will be in Brussels.

So far the members are:

* 3E (company specialising in renewable energy and energy efficiency)
* AREVA T&D (provider of low-carbon power generation and electricity transmission)
* DME Blue Energy (a hydraulic engineering, dredging and offshore contractor)
* Elia (Belgian transmission system operator)
* Hochtief Construction AG (construction company)
* Mainstream Renewable Power (developer and operator of renewable energy plants)
* Parsons Brinckerhoff (energy and infrastructure project developer)
* Prysmian Cables & Systems (provider of high-technology cables and systems for energy and telecommunication)
* Siemens UK (engineering and technology company)
* Visser & Smit Marine Contracting (maritime contracting entity)

Image: Friends of the Supergrid

Related Articles:

Northern European supergrid | Spain making waves in RE sector | Biofuels: More polluting than fossil fuels?

Daniel Jones

Daniel is a Politics and Philosophy graduate from Cardiff University where he also worked as a section editor on the award winning student newspaper. After university he joined an IT support company where he was a B2B online writer. He loves anything to do with sport and joined GDS in July 2009.

EC give pipelines & power �2.3bn boost

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:15:00 +0000

The European Commission have announced they are to invest a huge chunk of the EU's five-billion euro economic stimulus fund in aiding the construction and development of 43 pipeline and electricity projects.

In all, 2.3 billion euros will be thrown at gas and power connections to help prepare Europe for its energy future in which there are plans to develop a pan-European super-smart-grid that will connect up a vast array of renewable and traditional energy sources from across the continent.

The decision granted 0.91 billion euros for 12 electricity interconnection projects and 1.390 billion euros for 31 gas pipeline projects.

Last December saw a series of offshore wind and carbon capture and sequestration projects that will eventually 1.565 billion euros from the same stimulus package, which has been labelled a "milestone in the history of EU energy policy" by Energy Commissioner, Günther Oettinger.

Flexible responses in crisis situations

"Never before has the Commission agreed such an important amount for energy projects. We have selected key projects which will help create a more integrated energy network in Europe ensuring flexible energy flows across member states' borders," he said.

The projects subject to the recently announced funding include key interconnectors linking up the currently isolated Baltic States and neighbouring Finland, Sweden and Poland, and an array of reserve flow projects to bring flexibility to responses in crisis situations.

Some controversy has emerged over the European energy commission's decision to invest 200 million euros in the construction of the Nabucco pipeline, a gas line that will constructed with the sole purpose of taking gas from the Caspian region to a number of European markets. It has been viewed by Russia as a rather antagonistic move that directly competes with its own South Stream pipeline.

However the majority of criticism surrounds the projects failure to, as yet, secure any gas supplies on top of not filling the criteria of a 'mature project', which is the prerequisite for funding under the stimulus package. As Euractiv reports, the plan requires that all funds are committed by the year's end in order for the projects to contribute to economic recovery.

Problems surrounding Nabucco

Nabucco will eventually help Europe reduce its dependency on Russian gas, which is considered a priority according to Oettinger: "Nabucco is not just a possible new pipeline. It's a European project," he said, adding that the fact that talks about funding had started makes the project more credible.

When asked whether the problems surrounding the Nabucco could effect whether it goes ahead or not, Jeremy Ellis, head of business development at RWE Supply & Trading, said he did not believe this was the case.

"The timetable for Nabucco is now in the suppliers' hands, not ours," Ellis said.

He was eager to stress that the securing of gas supplies was close at hand and that he fully expects the project to have secured a final investment decision by the end of 2010.

Related Articles:

China boosts global energy investments | Spain making waves in RE sector | Northern European supergrid

Daniel Jones

Spain making waves in RE sector

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:40:00 +0000

Spain look set to benefit from the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) after Ocean Power Technology (OPT) secured 2.2 million euros in funding for a wave energy project in the western European country.

The grant to OPT is part of a total award of 4.5 million euros to a consortium of companies, including OPT, to deliver a PowerBuoy wave energy device under the WavePort project, with wave prediction capabilities and a ‘wave-by-wave' tuning system.

Santoña is fully expected to be chosen as the location for the PowerBuoy wave energy device, where OPT has previously worked on a wave project under contract from Spanish utilities giant Iberdrola.

US-based renewable energy technology firm OPT will be responsible for the design, supply and deployment of the PowerBuoy wave energy device and underwater substation pod, according to Renewable Energy Focus. Additional funding will go towards remaining consortium members for the steel fabrication, wave-monitoring equipment, wave resource prediction research, system monitoring and project management.

Spain's close neighbour Portugal have often been considered one of Europe's leaders in wave energy, along with the UK, whilst the Spanish have made their mark in the solar power industry, in particular with concentrated solar power. The first commercial scale concentrating solar power plant in Europe is based in Spain. the 11MW power plant was designed to produce 23 GWh of electricity per year, enough to supply a population of 10,000.

Elsewhere, Trina Solar Ltd has established a European regional headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, which commenced initial operations as of January 2010.

Trina Solar hopes to be closer to "key established solar markets, allow additional logistical support and provide enhanced service to the company's strategic partners and customers."

Related Articles:

Portugal: A pioneer in wave energy? | Smartgrid at forefront of German energy plans | Northern European Supergrid

Daniel Jones

Biofuels: More polluting than fossil fuels?

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:40:00 +0000

I am a true believer in clean energy technology, and I think the need for transition away from fossil fuels is very real. However it has often crossed my mind that if it were really that easy to "go green" then we would surely be a lot further down the line by now.

If biofuels truly carried the weight that many environmentalists claim they do, then oil companies would have snapped up many, if not all of the most promising biofuel startups and development firms in fear of being put out of business by the fledgling energy source.

But oil and gas companies remain confident in their traditional source of revenue, they do not appear particularly threatened by any of the new kids on the block. So, do they know something we don't?

Well, UK newspaper The Times may have uncovered something that might explain what they know, and we don't...

Using fossil fuels in vehicles is better for the environment than so-called green fuels made from crops, according to a government study seen by The Times.

Plantations produce huge amounts of carbon

The United Kingdom has set itself a target to significantly raise the level of biofuel in all fuel sold in Britain as part of its larger goal to cut carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2020 (providing a comprehensive global agreement is reached in this time).

But Britain hitting its biofuels target will result in millions of acres of forest being logged or burnt down and converted to plantations. The study, likely to now force a review of the target, concludes that some of the most commonly-used biofuel crops fail to meet the minimum sustainability standard set by the European Commission.

Under this standard each litre of biofuel should cut emissions by at least 35 percent compared with fossil fuel. However the study shows that palm oil, the major crop for biofuel production, actually increases emissions by 31 percent because of the carbon released when forest and grassland is turned into plantations. Rape seed and soy also fail to meet the standard.

Clearing rain-forests for biofuel plantations releases huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, and the expansion of palm oil plantations in Indonesia has made it the world's thrid-largest CO2 producer and forced the orang-utan close to extinction.

Report could kill biofuel industry

Europe's biofuels industry has grown significantly on the back of research that championed it as a leading alternative fuel, the entire EC biofuel sector receives around GBP£3 billion in subsidies. Therefore any changes in land use that may be included in new sustainability standards would seriously jeopardise a increasingly important industry in Europe.

Yet this may have to happen if biofuels are indeed no better at protecting the environment than the fossil fuels they are engineered to replace. But, as The Times reports, the EC hopes to protect its biofuel target by issuing revised standards that would give palm plantations the same status as natural forests.

However, changing the rules so that palm oil plantations no longer breach EC criterion does not change that fact that the practice is a massive cause of green house gas emissions. This latest report could kill the biofuel industry, not just in Europe but across the world. In fact it threatens the validity of the entire alternative energy sector.

Related Articles:

Bloom Box: Electricity from thin air... | BA to use garbage as jet fuel | Wind and carbon capture EU funding

Daniel Jones

Mitsubishi put �100m into UK wind project

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:49:00 +0000

The UK's wind energy industry received a major boost from a somewhat unexpected source this morning after Japan's Mitsubishi Power Systems, one of the world's leading turbine manufacturers, announced plans to invest up to GBP£100m in a new wind turbine R&D project.

This is just the latest in a string of developments that are helping the UK achieve its goal of becoming a green manufacturing hub.

The GBP£100 million being spent on building a new factory in the north-east comes as Germany-based Siemens acquired a stake of UK tidal energy firm Marine Current Turbines. This is in addition to the announcement that FCC, an environmental services, infrastructure and energy group based in Spain, said it planned to spend another GBP£100m building wind turbines on some of the dozens of waste recycling plants it controlled in Britain through a local subsidiary.

Clipper Windpower of the United States have also made a similar investment to that of Mitsubishi's.

Global leader in renewables

All of this, insists UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Lord Mandelson gives the country a real opportunity of become a global leader in renewables.

"No country makes offshore wind turbines of the size we are talking about today on a commercial scale," he explained.

"We are creating the largest market in the world for offshore wind and we intend to build and support the industry."

The government, which will provide a GBP£30m grant to support the project, said that the move made the UK a "strong contender" to become a manufacturing base for Mitsubishi's wind turbine arm, potentially creating up to 1,500 jobs in the future.

"Mitsubishi's investment in wind turbine R&D and the creation of 200 highly skilled jobs is great news for our future plans in low carbon, high technology industries," added Lord Mandelson.

The "new North Sea oil"

Senior executives at Mitsubishi also signalled that, alongside the new research centre, the firm's Ship Building division is investigating entering the offshore wind turbine installation, operation and maintenance vessel market.

Industry insiders said that the latest deal is further evidence of growing confidence in the sector ahead of the new wave of so-called phase-three offshore wind projects.

British Wind Energy Association chief executive Maria McCaffery said the recent flurry of investment in the UK's offshore wind sector underlined growing confidence across the industry.

There is even talk of offshore wind becoming the "new North Sea oil"."

The need for this kind of industry move was underlined by Sam Laidlaw, chief executive of Centrica, who said that it could spend up to £7.5bn by 2020 on wind operations, but stressed the economic conditions would have to be favourable.

Related Articles:

Turbine City | UK hydrogen highway | Bloom Box: A genuine cleantech miracle?

Daniel Jones

Bloom Box: Electricity from thin air

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:38:00 +0000

OK so perhaps the title is slightly misleading, but an energy start-up has unveiled a new clean and affordable power generator the size of a parking space that can produce enough electricity to power 100 homes, by simply mixing natural or biogas with air.

The likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Colin Powell and the heads of Google and Walmart attended the launch of Bloom Energy's "Bloom Box", the eagerly anticipated 'energy server' that has created the sort of hype usually reserved for tech giants like Apple.

The newswires and blogospheres have been sizzling with talk of this "miracle" micro power plant, but in case you've missed all the hype Power & Energy Europe are here to give you the lowdown.

So, what's all the fuss about?

This is a potentially game-changing, nay, world-changing device that promises to house ample amounts of power in relatively tiny amounts of space for less than US$3,000 a unit (the one pictured in the thumb nail image is apparently enough to power a house).

A mini power station that runs round the clock producing 100 kilowatts of electricity by converting air and a fuel source such as natural gas or biogas into electricity via an electrochemical process instead of by burning the fuel. Even if it uses fossil fuel to generate power, it is still 67 percent cleaner than a typical coal-fired power plant, according to the company.

The e-Bay HQ, one of Bloom's first customers, was the setting for the Bloom Box's unveiling and company CEO KR Sridhar, a former NASA scientist, was visibly excited about showing his creation to the number of our world's technology leaders present as well as the eyes of the world.

"Compared to the US national grid, this is about twice as efficient," said Sridhar. "So your carbon footprint is about half. If you use a renewable fuel, you're carbon neutral." Sridhar has spent eight years developing the fuel cells and users include some of the world's biggest firms such as Google, Coca-Cola,FedEx, Staples and Wal-Mart.

Google was Bloom's very first customer and use four of its energy servers at Google HQ in Mountain View California.

"This is a product of the future"

The largest of the Bloom Boxes cost around $700,000 but will become far more cost-effective as more of the units are built at commercial scale. Sridhar said that customers with should expect to see a payback time of 3-5 years through electricity.

"In a few years, how we will use it is as a home energy server of the future - it simply has a solar panel and [Bloom Box], it will provide electricity day and night and also charge your automobile, you don't need a grid. This is a product of the future, a decade or so away."

It is still unclear whether the Bloom Box can live up to the hype, but if the likes of Google and the Governator are excited by it then things look promising.

Related Articles:

Amsterdam's electric cars | BMW to produce electric car | Your very own floating island

Daniel Jones

Your very own floating island

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:25:00 +0000

In a place like the Netherlands, where you are particularly vulnerable to any rise in sea levels as a result of global warming and where rising and falling tides have created the need for architectural solutions such as dams, dykes and canals in and around many of its cities, new ideas on how to prepare for the worst are always welcome.

Dutch architect Anne Holtrop has collaborated with green technology firm Studio Noach and botanist Patrick Blanc to propose a rather luxurious solution - floating islands.

Together they have designed these floating gardens which also contain baths, saunas, and treatment rooms, while the exterior is wrapped in an insulating shell of greenery designed by vertical gardens innovator Blanc.

Capitalizing on its environs

The Spa Wellness Amsterdam project would capitalizes upon its watery environs with a hydroponic growing system that sustains a vibrant crop of oxygen producing plants. The designers suggest that this vegetation will also provide a breeding ground for birds, butterflies, and insects.

The main structure of the island will be made from the composite GreenRexwall - developed in collaboration with the German constructor Aquahouse GmbH - a strong and buoyant material made from recycled polystyrenem meaning cement, steel or bricks do not need to be used.

The surrounding water acts as a heat exchanger and cooling source, making the spa up to 70 percent more efficient than using conventional energy systems.

Who's to say that one day these spa islands can't be turned into individual living quarters for populations affected by serious floods.

The proposal is currently on show at Architecture of Consequences - Dutch designs on the Future at the Netherlands Architecture Institute in Rotterdam.

Related Articles:

Samso: The energy self-sufficient island (Infograhic) | Turbine City | UK hydrogen highway

Daniel Jones

BMW move towards electric car production

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:19:00 +0000

Germany are one the world's leaders in developing and using clean technology, so it comes as little surprise that its very own car giant BMW has taken a big green step in developing a clean machine.

BMW are to build a progressive electric vehicle at its Leipzig manufacturing plant using major components from Bavaria. This clear commitment to Germany as the home of production for its revolutionary new vehicle speaks volumes about the nation's energy ambitions.

Slowly but surely BMW is developing the knowledge and capacity to deliver a small all-electric car by 2013, and this started last year when the company began leasing an electric two-passenger version of the Mini Cooper to about 600 drivers in California, New York, and New Jersey. This program was aimed at helping BMW learn about real-world driving and charging experiences.

Commitment to electric vehicles

Beginning in 2011, a similar number of drivers will lease BMW's next electric test vehicle, the four-passenger ActiveE, a concept EV recently debuted at the Detroit Auto Show - essentially an electric-drive version of the BMW 1-series.

Other car giants such as Honda and Toyota are famous for their presence in the green car market, but BMW's serious commitment to produce electric vehicles will be viewed as a major development for the industry.

Ramping up production

The Leipzig plant itself (above) is quite something. Designed in 2005 by Zaha Hadid Architects and opened that same year, it features a production line rolling right through the center of the factory administration offices. It remains BMW's most flexible factory space, so it should have no trouble ramping up production of the electric vehicles quickly.

BMW chairman Norbert Reithofer seems pretty excited about the whole thing: "The BMW Group will build the car of the future in Leipzig with high-tech innovations from Bavaria. The main reasons behind this decision are the qualities that Germany has to offer: we have a tried and tested production network here and high levels of education and outstanding competencies at our disposal."

Let's hope the high levels of German efficiency that goes into their regular cars still applies to the electric ones.

Relevant Articles:

UK hydrogen highway | BA us garbage as jet fuel | Amsterdam's electric cars

Daniel Jones

The UK's first hydrogen highway

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:03:00 +0000

The M4 in south Wales and south west of England is to be turned into the UK's flagship "hydrogen highway" populated with alternative energy refuelling stations aimed at making hydrogen and electric-powered vehicles a viable alternative to petrol-driven machines.

Hydrogen has always been considered a good alternative to the dwindling, polluting commodities like crude oil and the announcement expected to be made by Welsh ministers is likely to be greeted with joy and optimism from environmentalists, as there are plans to make South Wales a Low Carbon Economic Area (LCEA) for hydrogen and low carbon fuel technologies such as natural gas and bio-methane.

Responding to the announcement expected later today, Gordon James, Director of Friends of the Earth Cymru (Wales), said: "This is excellent news as it will help to reduce emissions of climate changing gases from transport whilst boosting the green economy and creating jobs in Wales.

Renewable refuelling infrastructure

"We are pleased that the Welsh Assembly Government is promising to produce the electricity and hydrogen by means of renewable energy sources, such as wind and tidal power. It is essential that this is done if carbon emissions are to be reduced."

The long-term aim is to create an extensive renewable refuelling infrastructure in the UK, and the hydrogen highway would remove one of the biggest obstacles to the wider adoption of fuel-cell vehicles by addressing the lack of hydrogen fuelling stations.

The hydrogen highway is simply a linked network of hydrogen filling stations suitable for fuel cell vehicles or H2 combustion engine vehicles. As with electricity charging points, the provision of a suitable infrastructure is seen as vital for the market deployment of existing and future fuel cell vehicles such as the Riversimple Urban open source designed car.

Investing ahead of demand

Other examples of similar hydrogen highways in Europe include Norway, where a highway from Oslo to Stavanger covering 600km as part of the broader HyNor project, with 7 fuelling stations, reportedly the longest in the world.

Sweden and Denmark are also constructing wider segments of the Scandinavian Hydrogen Highway Partnership, to link up with Norway. By 2015 the project aims to have 20 main stations and 15 'satellite' stations in operation supporting about 100 buses, 500 cars and 500 speciality vehicles.

However opinion on the use of hydrogen for fuel is not universally positive, many others are sceptical because it is inefficient to produce, expensive to transport and to convert into electricity.

However governments and local authorities, not just in the UK but across Europe, are starting to realise the economic potential behind the fuel cell vehicle market. People will initially find the idea of spending money on something which people currently know and care very little about frustrating, but in cases such as hydrogen for fuel it is important to understand an emerging pattern and invest ahead of demand.

Related Articles:

Amsterdam electric car subsidy | BA to use garbage for jet fuel | Turbine City

Daniel Jones

Amsterdam businesses get �3m for electric car

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:02:00 +0000

Businesses in the Dutch city of Amsterdam are set to receive 3 million euros in subsidies from the government in an effort to encourage the switch to electric cars. The city hope to have 10,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2015.

Companies in the city will be able to apply for up to 50 percent of the costs of buying an electric vehicle up to a maximum of 15,000 euros for a car, 25,000 euros for a van or 45,000 euros for a truck or taxi. Grants of up to 250,000 euros are also available for businesses wanting to invest in an electric fleet of up to 20 vehicles.

The grant scheme is the latest initiative to support the city council's more farsighted goal of having 200,000 battery-driven vehicles on Amsterdam's roads by 2040.

Giving electric cars priority

The city's electric vehicle scheme will also be supported by the allocation of reserved parking spaces for electric vehicles and the installation of 45 charging stations, rising to 200 charge points by 2012. Energy firm Nuon will provide renewable energy for the charging stations, which will be installed by Coulomb technologies.

The city's plans involve a rather high tech process in which owners of electric cars will be able to subscribe to the network via a special website allowing them to charge their car at any of the charging stations using a smart card (pictured). Green drivers will also receive a number of other benefits such as priority drivers of normal combustion cars for parking permits, for which there is currently a five-year waiting list.

Amsterdam is also one of the cities planning to participate in a potential major European effort to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and last year took delivery of an initial 500 TH!NK city cars.

European super-grid

"Business and enterprise is at the heart of any major city, and targeting this sector with such generous subsidies we think will change the face of business transport in the city," said TH!NK CEO Richard Canny.

"We are increasing our EV sales forecasts in the Netherlands on the back of this announcement, and urge other forward-thinking, green European cities to follow Amsterdam's lead with this marvellous initiative."

The EU is highly determined to develop the use of clean sources of power with nine nations now signed up to the idea of a northern European super-grid, and the UK has also taken steps to encourage the use of green vehicles with plans to turn parts of the M4 motorway into a "hydrogen highway".

Related Articles:

Daniel Jones

BA use garbage for jet fuel | China helps boost global energy investment | Turbine City

BA to use garbage for jet fuel

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:03:00 +0000

British Airways are joining forces with American bio-energy firm Solena to develop Europe's first clean jet fuel factory in London.

500,000 tonnes of landfill waste will be turned into 16 million gallons of carbon-neutral aviation fuel each year when the plant is completed in 2014, producing enough fuel to power double the amount of all BA's flights out of City Airport.

Such is the cleanliness of this garbage biofuel that it produces 95 percent less carbon the traditional kerosene which translates to almost 50,000 cars off the road. The environmental benefits don't end there. Alongside the reduction in carbon from the jet fuel itself, it will also cut the methane produced from landfill and generate 20 megawatts of electricity per year as a byproduct.

1200 new jobs

The development will also provide 1200 new jobs in the East End of London.

The project is seen as a huge leap forward for the aviation industry as biofuel development in the industry has been notoriously difficult due to technical problems such as the intensely high energy capacity of jet fuel and the extreme cold temperatures under which it must operate.

What's unique about this biofuel is it will not require any fossil fuel to be added to it, unlike the biofuel use when BA's rival Virgin conducted the first commercial flight powered by biofuel in February 2008.

Environmental concerns

BA's chief executive, Willie Walsh, believes the scheme will help BA to meet its target to cut net carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2050. "We believe it will lead to the production of a real sustainable alternative to jet kerosene," he said yesterday. The London Mayor, Boris Johnson, is also behind the plan.

BA and Solena insist that the biofuel will be powered by garbage alone and will not source power from biomass crops grown specifically for fuel.

But concerns remain among environmentalists. "Biofuels for cars were meant to be a way of using waste cooking oil, but fuel companies ended up taking food away from the poor and trashing rain forests to make way for biofuel crop plantations," said Kenneth Richter, the biofuels campaigner at Friends of the Earth told Business Week.

Daniel Jones

China helps boost global clean energy investment

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:31:00 +0000

Amid the worst recession in over half a century last years global overall investment in clean energy fell only 6.5 percent below 2008 figures, thanks in a large part to China's significant investments in wind energy according to a report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

In 2008, new investments peaked at US$155 billion as the world embraced renewable and sustainable energy and began to realise the immense economic potential for green investments. Then we entered the worst of the global financial crisis and even though green tech was used as a way of stimulating the economy through the creation of new jobs, investments inevitably fell. In 2009 the world spent US$145 billion on renewable energy technology.

Much of Asia fared far better than many of its counterparts during the recession and this showed as it was a key reason for the buoyancy of investments, with the money spent there pushing the continent beyond the total of the Americas last year. for the first time, total new financial investment in clean energy in Asia-Oceania reached US$37.3 billion, ahead of the Americas at US$32 billion, as reported by Renewable Energy Focus.

EMEA region leading the world

The US$37.3 billion spent in Asia was a 25 percent increase on the previous year and was driven by China's emerging passion for wind power.

Europe, Middle East and Africa continued to lead the world with US$42.2 billion of clean energy investment, but this represented a 14 percent slump in the EMEA region for 2009.

The financial slowdown significantly damaged clean energy investments in Europe and the America's, not surprising considering these were the first and worst hit by the crisis. As commercial banks started running scared, credit for renewable energy projects was quickly cut making life extremely difficult for public sector institutions, such as the European Investment Bank.

"The 2009 global investment numbers are higher than we expected even just a few weeks ago," explains Michael Liebreich of Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

"Clean energy remains a sector with strong long-term growth fundamentals even during hard economic times, and Asia has arrived not just as a big consumer of energy, but also as a heavyweight investor in clean energy capacity," he added.

Where did the money go?

The renewable energy sectors that received asset financing last year included, 83 deals in wind energy (US$13.9 billion); 29 deals in biomass (US$3.3 billion); 35 deals in solar (US$1.6 billion); 11 deals in small hydro (US$1.1 billion); three deals in geothermal received US$0.5 billion and three deals in marine energy received (US$0.1 billion).

In 2008 green energy overtook fossil fuels in attracting investment for power generation for the first time, according to figures released by the UN. This was the biggest sign yet that focus is truly shifting away from traditional energy sources and falling on cleaner power generation. And when developing countries like China and India start leading the way in such investments, its hard to see this pattern changing from here on in.

Related Articles:

Turbine City | Renewables for 1 in 10 UK homes | Clean energy super grid

Areva buys CST firm Ausra

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 17:07:00 +0000

Areva, the French state-owned energy company, mainly known for its prominence nuclear power, are to take a big step into the renewable energy industry by acquiring Areva, a US-based solar energy company, for an undisclosed fee.

Areva says its objective is to become the world leader in CSP and will further strengthen and diversify its renewables portfolio, which includes biomass and other assets.

The move could turn out to be a very positive development for the CSP market as the deal will combine Ausra's technology with Areva's engineering, procurement, and construction expertise. Under the agreement the two companies hope to develop the most cost-effective and efficient CSP plants for utilities, independent power producers and industrial customers across the globe.

In July 2008 Ausra built the first US manufacturing plant for solar thermal power systems, in Las Vegas. The 130,000-square-foot, highly automated manufacturing and distribution center produces the reflectors, towers, absorber tubes, and other key components of the company's solar thermal power plants.

CSP ambitions

The company's proprietary technology significantly reduces the cost of a solar thermal power plant and so is capable of significantly reducing global carbon emissions normally associated with electricity generation. Ausra designs, develops, manufactures, and installs solar steam generators that utilize the company's compact linear fresnel reflector technology, all of which will become vital to Areva's ambitions in the CSP market.

Areva is one of the leading nuclear power companies in the world and is the only company with a presence in each industrial activity linked to nuclear energy: mining, chemistry, enrichment, combustibles, services, engineering, nuclear propulsion and reactors, treatment, recycling, stabilization, and dismantling.

Ausra's chairman and CEO Robert Fishman will be brought in to head up Areva's global solar business unit, which will be operated out of the solar firm's Mountain View headquarters in California.

PV Tech report that the acquisition is expected to close in the next few months, subject to customary regulatory approval, the companies say.

Related Articles:

German solar subsidies cut | Turbine City | Wind and carbon capture EU funding

Renewables for 1 in 10 UK homes

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:47:00 +0000

UK families could soon be earning GBP£900 every year if they choose to install renewable energy technologies in their home, such as roof-mounted solar panels, under a new government scheme that looks to reward people for generating their own electricity.

The government hope that through incentivising the personal use of renewable energy they can spread awareness and understanding of climate change in a far-sighted plan to help cut global carbon emissions whilst also making the UK more prepared for a European smart grid.

Under the deal, so called "feed-in-tariffs" due to start in April this year, will see households be paid for feeding electricity into the national grid from clean sources such as solar, wind or waste energy, while also saving money on their bills.

However the plans to reward eco-friendly householders for the green energy they produce has initially been met with a rather muted reaction, but this hasn't prevented the UK government from giving an optimistic forecast claiming one in 10 homeowners could fit panels or small wind turbines by 2020.

Britain's green revolution

Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said he expected the number of people with solar panels alone to increase from 10,000 today to 700,000 by 2020.

The main criticism is that the deal is not generous enough and UK families need more of an incentive if they are to play a significant role in Britain's very own green revolution.

At present the UK gets about 5.5 percent of its electricity from renewable sources and, in order to hit green targets in 10 years time, this would have to rise to 30 percent and this can only be achieved with the cooperation and active participation of the British public.

The BBC reports that homeowners who install photovoltaic panels could earn GBP£900 a year when they first put in the technology, along with saving GBP£140 a year on their bills, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said.

An unwelcome "green tax"

Renewable energy groups suggest people will have a 5 percent to 8 percent rate of return on their initial green investment for up to 25 years, although this technology remains relatively expensive to install.

Installing solar panels, which cover a space of around 10ft x 10ft on an average sized roof, will cost around GBP£12,500 but this will be paid back in 10 years because the households will be paid GBP£900 per annum, plus making GBP£140 savings on the yearly electricity bill. A medium sized wind turbine, that costs around GBP£4,500 to install, will earn a household about £400 each year.

The idea works on paper but some are calling it an unwelcome and unnecessary "green tax". Energy bills are already high and are likely to climb further so families may initially be reluctant to accept an additional levy to their existing costs. Household renewable energy technology was recently dismissed as "eco-bling" by the Royal Academy of Engineering, and it will not be your average UK family that can afford to install a roof-mounted solar panel.

Some families cannot avoid high levels of energy consumption, but nor can they afford the alternatives.

Photo: Science Photo Library

Related Articles:

Turbine City | Roof-mounted wind turbines: Carbon myth? | New wind farm zones announced

Subsidy cuts could put German solar in the dark

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:15:00 +0000

Earlier this month the German government proposed a cut of 15 percent on the subsidies it gives solar power providers, reflecting what the government deems the sector's success, but the move drew sharp criticism from the industry.

The cut is set to come into force in April for roof installations and in July for open field sites. Both cuts come in addition to an annual decline in subsidies that is already dictated by Germany's Renewable Energy Act.

Not even a week after the proposed subsidies were announced stocks in solar technology companies fell in German trading as Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats called for even bigger cuts in solar subsidies than the environment ministry was requesting.

The plans to cut solar cash had Germany's solar sector balking at cuts saying they were "too high for the industry to handle".

Too much, too soon

"Solar cells are now about 30 percent cheaper than they were two or three years ago," said CDU legislator Michael Fuchs.

"This means that we can also reduce state subsidies accordingly."

But there are concerns the cuts are too much, too soon for the industry, currently the world's biggest market for solar energy in terms of installed capacity, and that growth could be stunted by the move.

"These excessive subsidy cuts are threatening one of our country's most important job and economic motors," says president of the solar sector's federal association, BSW, Guenther Cramer.

Germany's solar sector had a turnover of around 10 billion euros in 2009, and employs some 60,000 people, and the government's generous incentives have done much to encourage such impressive numbers.

Now the cuts have faced more significant opposition from The Christian Social Union.

Cuts will weigh heavy on companies

Hans-Peter Friedrich, CSU leader in parliament, said the proposal by Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen to cut the feed-in tariff should be pushed back by three months to July 1 for rooftop systems and September 1 for open field systems.

Any law is almost impossible to pass without the support of the CSU, one of three parties in Merkel's center-right coalition with the CDU and the Free Democrats. Friedrich claims the extra time would give the sector a valuable transition period to avoid damaging fallout from the measures.

Cuts in public support will weigh on companies like Q-Cells, Phoenix Solar and SolarWorld, which depend on demand from Germany, so Merkel et al must consider their choice carefully. The cuts are indicative of how well the sector has performed even during a recession, but time will tell if it performed well primarily because of state support or if demand is high enough to help it cope with less government subsidies.

Related Articles:

Self-building solar cells | Europe's "Turbine City" | Germany achieves top solar grade

Turbine City

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:18:00 +0000

Wind turbines are continuously growing in size to keep up with our insatiable appetite for renewable energy, but could they eventually grow so big that we could live within them?

That's the dream of architecture company On Office, who are hoping the tourism and energy industries can be combined to form a "Turbine City". Their brainchild houses a posh hotel, swanky spa and "culturally-stimulating" museum right inside the base of a towering wind turbine.

Located in Stavanger, Norway, Turbine City would be designed to attract tourists, sailors, offshore oil-workers and cruise ships to the area, where people would be able to experience first hand the advantages and the spectacle of turbines and hopefully increasing awareness and support for the fight against climate change.

Attracting wind investment

Norway possible has the best conditions on the planet for utilising offshore wind power. It has the longest and the windiest coastline in Europe but as yet has failed to attract much wind turbine investment. This means there is plenty of room to truly take advantage of Norway's wind potential and thanks to the oil industry the country has plenty of experience in offshore operations as well as a healthy investment capital.

Often dismissed as unappealing eye sores, the development could transform the image of wind turbines and the renewable energy sector in general. The development would also be self-sustaining with just 1MW from a 8MW turbine being enough to power the entire facility.

The EU commission has committed to getting 20 percent of its total energy consumption from renewable sources by the year 2020, and Norway alone has the capacity to surpass this goal and become one of the world's biggest exported of renewable energy.

Alleviating fears

Although just an idea at this stage, On Office truly believe it as achievable. They will have to go some way to alleviate fears over the prospect of living within something notorious for being very loud, and whether such a huge investment would be worth it when wind turbines have been accused of limited efficiency (critics believe the energy they produce is just a fraction of what passes around its blades).

If renewable energy is to become such a huge part of people's future then it makes perfect sense to try and integrate the technology into everyday life beyond driving past the odd wind farm on your way to a holiday destination. Soon, the turbine could be your holiday destination.

The humble windmill has come an awful long way.

Related Articles:

Clean energy supergrid coming to Europe | Samso: The energy self-sufficient island | Copenhagen: The footprint

Are roof-mounted wind turbines a carbon myth?

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:49:00 +0000

Roof-mounted wind turbines experienced some pretty bad press once all the excitement died down, with reports emerging about how little power they actually generated compared to what the manufacturers stated, not to mention how long the pay back periods were.

Now a report released by UK organisation the Royal Academy of Engineering has dismissed urban renewable energy technology, such as roof-mounted wind turbines and solar panels, as "eco-bling" merely serving to allow people to show off their green credentials when in fact they are contributing very little to reducing carbon emissions.

It is the equivalent of attaching an extremely loud exhaust on a car with a tiny engine, it may sound and even look powerful but in fact it makes absolutely no difference to the car's performance.

Every home carbon neutral by 2016

Doug King, Professor of Building Engineering at the University of Bath and the author of a report on low carbon buildings published today, has encouraged people to take part in the fight against climate change in other, more effective ways such as buying energy efficient products and installing better insulation and methods of trapping the sun's rays.

The UK government currently has plans to make every home carbon neutral by 2016, but environmental agencies and Dr. King himself have urged Westminster to relax this plan in return for developers making equivalent contributions to wind farms and other large-scale renewable energy projects. "Wind turbines and solar cells on the roof achieve little or nothing and are what I describe as eco-bling. It's just about trying to say to the general public, ‘I'm being good, I'm helping the environment'.

He added that the things that actually save people money are often ignored because they're not considered "sexy".

Damning report

Dr. King's report was so damning that he claims the roof-mounted wind turbines actually consume more energy than they generate.

Field trials carried out last year by the government-funded Energy Saving Trust found that the most productive building-mounted wind turbines in urban or suburban areas generated only £26 of electricity a year. Many of these turbines, which cost about GBP£1,500, were net consumers of electricity because their controls drew power from the grid when the wind was low, as reported by UK newspaper The Times.

If roof-mounted wind turbines were installed to the size large enough to be effective, they would be so big that the vibrations would probably cause the house to collapse. He said that installing micro-generation devices could cost GBP£10,000 to GBP£12,000 per home and reduce its emissions by only a few per cent. He proposed an alternative policy under which developers would offset the entire emissions of new homes by contributing GBP£3,000 per dwelling towards a wind farm on a hilltop.

Practicing what they preach

As much as these turbines represent the level to which people like to show off as green technology becomes ever more fashionable, the government must accept a large chunk of the blame. 45 percent of Britain's current carbon emissions come from households, therefore the UK government must act to encourage, not renewable energy fads, but genuinely effective measures to cut emissions.

This means practicing what they preach - 80 per cent of government buildings opened since 2002 fell below minimum environmental performance standards. So until the government can be seen to be embracing necessary environmental measures itself, they are giving the general population little reason to follow suit.

Related Articles:

New wind farm zones announced | Wind and carbon caprture EU funding | Space tech furthers wind power efficiency

Self-building solar cells

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:45:00 +0000

The next generation of solar cells has been inspired by the physical principles crucial to dressing your salad.

The BBC reports that researchers at the National Academy of Sciences have come up with a cheap and simple method of developing self-building electronic devices, using the principal that oil and water-based fluids do not mix. The scientists have managed to form devices from components that align along the boundary between the two, and is particularly useful for assembling small components.

The technology could revolutionise the solar cell industry in that it allows for the large-scale assembly of high-quality electronic components.

The more traditional way of assembling electronic components relied on so-called "sedimentation" which, put crudely, exploited the effects of gravitational pull using "blank" devices that are etched with depressions to match precisely-shaped components, as explained by the BBC.

"Like sand on a riverbed"

When dumped into a liquid the components should settle down into the blank device just like sand on a riverbed.

"That's what we tried for at least two years and we were never able to assemble these components with high yield - gravity wasn't working," explained Heiko Jacobs of the University of Minnesota, who led the research.

In an interview with BBC news he added, "Then we thought if we could concentrate them into a two-dimensional sheet and then have some kind of conveyor belt-like system we could assemble them with high yields and high speed."

By building these two-dimensional sheets at the border between oil and water they were able to do very much the same thing but far more efficiently.

As before, they first built a blank device with depressions lined with low-temperature solder, designed specifically for individual solar elements. They then prepared the elements - each a silicon and gold stack a few tens of millionths of a metre across - and put different coatings on each side.

A "floating sheet" of element

A hydrophobic molecule was added to the silicon side so to evade contact with water. On the gold side they placed a hydrofilic molecule to do the opposite and seek out the water.

The balance in density of the oil- and water-based parts needs to be just right in order for a "sheet" of elements to "float" between the two. And, thanks to their individual coatings, the elements will face in the correct direction.

The conveyor belt process is to simply dunk the device blank through the boundary and draw it back slowly; the sheet of elements rides up along behind it, each one popping neatly into place as the solder attracts its gold contact, as explained by the BBC's science and technology reporter Jason Palmer.

Far more efficient solar cells

In just three minutes the researchers were able to make a working device made up of 64,000 elements.
The technology means that highly efficient solar cells can be built quickly and cheaply on various materials, "self-assembly is probably the best method for integrating high-performance materials onto unconventional substrates," explains Babak Parviz a nano-engineering professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.

If the method is proven to work on an even smaller scale it will allow scientists to use single-crystal silicon in the construction of solar cells, making them far more efficient than those built with other types of silicon.

Image: BBC.co.uk

Related Articles:

World's largest solar farm | Germany achieves top grade in solar policy | European "supergrid"

Germany achieves top grade in solar policy

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:42:00 +0000

Germany has been awarded the top grade in an evaluation of its solar energy policies by the he United States affiliate of Green Cross International, a Geneva-based NGO headed by ex-Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev.

The renewable energy powerhouse was the only one to be awarded top billing in a survey of 16 countries.

The NewStatesman.com reports that the results of the Green Solar Report Card also showed that Italy, Japan, Greece and China improved their solar energy policy performances compared to last year.

The report rates the solar energy policies of various countries and indicated that most nations still have a long way to go toward harvesting the full potential of solar power as a clean and renewable energy source.

400 per cent growth

The US state of California was Germany's closest contender along with Italy who experienced almost 400 per cent growth in installed capacity over the last year.

There were many countries who improved on there 2008 tally, including Japan, Greece, China, the UK and Switzerland. However Australia and India failed to improve due to a lack of cohesion and long-term policy plans. The only countries to be failed by the report were Russia and Poland.

China, the UK and Canada did not make the grade at all, highlighting their lack of efforts in encouraging growth in solar energy.

CEO of Global Green USA, Matt Petersen, said that governments across the globe must start to shift subsidies from the more traditional energy sources such as oil, gas and coal to the renewable energies of the future like wind and solar.

Germany has long been a leading light in Europe's renewable energy vision and is up there with the world's largest importers of solar power. It also has an impressive amount of wind farms and its plans for rolling out a smart grid across the entire country are gathering pace.

Related Articles:

Samso: The energy efficient island | Clean energy "supergrid" | Can Sahara power Europe?

New wind farm zones announced

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:44:00 +0000

Wind power has long been considered a vital part of the UK's renewable energy future and offshore wind turbines have become the new darling of the government's plans.

Today saw the announcement of nine new wind farm zones around the coast of the UK with nine successful license bids being launched. A consortium including Npower and Norway's Statkraft won the licence for the biggest zone, in Dogger Bank, which could produce nine GW of energy, as reported by the BBC.

The agreements have been signed with the Crown Estate which holds ownership over the UK seabed.

When the zones are fully occupied they are forecast to produce almost a quarter of the UK's electricity needs, around 32GW.

The leading consortium, called the Forewind consortium, also consists of the energy companies SSE and RWE npower and Statoil. It will now begin to carry out the surveys, assessments and planning required for the consent process.

Technically feasible projects

"Offshore wind is a strategic pillar for Statoil's new energy business," said Statoil executive vice president Margareth Ovrum. "Our goal is to mature the projects in the Dogger Bank zone up to investment decision, hopefully making profitable and technical feasible projects for the companies."

The Wall Street Journal reports that Norwegian state broadcaster NRK earlier Friday said, citing unnamed sources, that Statoil and state-owned utility Statkraft were among the partners picked to develop a wind farm at Dogger Bank in the UK government's third and biggest round of offshore wind tenders.

When completed it will become one of the largest wind infrastructure projects on the planet, but construction won't begin before 2014.

Substantial new platform for the UK

The second biggest, 7.2GW zone is located in Norfolk Bank and has been won by a consortium of Scottish Power Renewables and Sweden's Vattenfall Vindkraft.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said his government's policies on wind energy have put the country way ahead of other nations.

"This new round of licences provides a substantial new platform for investing in UK industrial capacity," he added.

"The offshore wind industry is at the heart of the UK economy's shift to low carbon and could be worth £75 billion and support up to 70,000 jobs by 2020," he said.

Image: BBC.co.uk

Related Articles:

Space tech furthers wind energy | Clean energy "supergrid" | Wind and carbon capture EU funding