Articles Archive for December 2009
SURE Energy, Wind Energy »
Today, a European company put the finishing touches on a wind project in North Dakota which Americans have known for decades is “the Saudi Arabia of Wind.”
Spain’s Iberdrola Renovables, the parent company of Iberdrola Renewables Inc that built the project became a giant global wind company in the wake of the Kyoto Accord. The European renewable energy sector grew from the resulting renewable energy legislation in Europe.
The result is that it is European wind companies such as Vestas and Iberdrola, that are now building the wind energy that we need.
Energy Storage, SURE Energy »
It’s a little known fact — the Earth’s geothermal resources could satisfy the world population’s power needs many times over. So why is it only generating little over 10 gigawatts of power globally? The prime reason: Few companies have figured out how to make the capital-intensive plants economically feasible. But geothermal conglomerate Ram Power may have found an answer with its new development in Nicaragua.
The company, based in Reno, Nev., is embarking on a 72-megawatt geothermal project in the Central American country (PDF) — a big leap forward considering that it has only built a 10-megawatt facility in the past (also in Nicaragua). The new plant, expected to come online in the start of 2012, will be broken into phases to help shoulder the enormous cost.
To pay for the first phase, which will build 46 megawatts of capacity, Ram has closed a $77 million credit facility provided by a gaggle of lenders, including the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, Cordiant Capital and Export Development Canada. It adds this sum to an undisclosed amount of equity it raised previously. This segment of the project is slated to complete by April 2011.
The second phase, kicked off soon thereafter, will expand the plant’s capacity to the full 72 megawatts. This should be completed by the end of 2011. Both phases will be using flash Fuji Turbine Generators. If the first phase of the plan proves successful, Ram believes that financing the second should come easier.
Also helping Ram’s case is that its basically a consortium of to-tier geothermal companies. In October this year, Ram Power, Polaris Geothermal, Western GeoPower and GTO Resources decided to join forces. As a single unit, it also has plans to buy or build another 50 to 100 megawatts of generation within the next year or so.
Utilities are already taking notice. Ram has scored power purchase agreements with Southern California Edison for up to 400 megawatts of future geothermal generation.
As an industry, geothermal power has been growing by 3 percent every year on average, since 2005. The largest obstacles are still economic. Capital costs for a cutting-edge geothermal facility run above $4 million per megawatt installed.
Once capital is raised though, the energy itself costs about a nickel per kilowatt-hour — even cheaper than nuclear power. Geothermal also produces less waste and is better for the surrounding environment than a lot of other sources of renewable energy. This makes it seem like a bargain.
of course, this bargain is predicated on the presence of readily-available geothermal energy. To date, the overwhelming majority of the Earth is not well-suited to this tpe of generation. It’s either too expensive or the terrain isn’t appropriate. Going forward, it will be up to innovative organizations like Ram to overcome these obstacles and fully tap geothermal’s potential.
SURE Energy, Solar Power, Transportation »
There are large steps and small steps that can be made to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution. I think these solar electric vehicles are something in between, but definitely something to start using!
The Solar Electric Vehicle Company creates innovative electric shuttles (i.e. large golf carts) for universities, resorts, stadiums, governments, shopping malls, airports, arenas, medical centers, etc. that combine electric vehicle (EV) technology with solar power technology. Looks like a good combination.
Not only that, but these vehicles are FREE!
Transportation »
People in North Carolina and Virginia must have seen what’s going on in China with high-speed rail and decided they wanted some of that. They are now requesting over $5 billion in funding for high-speed rail.
Actually, as a former resident of both North Carolina and Virginia professionally and personally involved in this topic, I can say they have been working on this topic and wanting better rail for quite a long time.
Now, though, with the federal government pledging $8 billion in stimulus funding for high-speed rail, they may have their chance.
However, they are not the only ones who want this money!
SURE Energy »
Highways, train stations, and even dance floors: the world is full of vibrating surfaces that could yield a rich trove of clean, sustainable energy. It’s called piezoelectric energy, formed by the conversion of mechanical strain into electrical current. Now a team of researchers in Europe has developed a micro-scaled piezoelectric device that could harvest energy from machinery as well as from infrastructure and buildings.
The tiny devices are ideal for use in powering remote sensing equipment, for example to monitor bridges or machines for early signs of deterioration. In that case they could play a key role in more energy efficient maintenance for wind turbines and other renewable energy infrastructure, while lowering human risk.
SURE Energy, Wind Energy »
Mass Megawatts Wind Power, Inc., is testing new wind turbine equipment that could help boost the efficiency of the company’s Multi-Axis Turbosystem wind power generators. The tests are under way at a wind power installation in Hunter, New York.
If successful, the technology could start appearing soon at ski resorts in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. Last spring the principal owner of one major ski facility in the region, Camelback Mountain Resort, took an equity position in a licensed manufacturer of the Multi-Axis Turbosystem. It appears to be a first step toward introducing sustainable wind power to ski resorts on an industry-wide scale.
SURE Energy, Solar Power »
Image: Albert von Thurn und Taxis, gallery
digg_url = ‘http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/12/prince-proposes-worlds-largest-solar-park.php’;
Royalty Racing to Solar
Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis ranked 19th in a spread of 23 racing in the 2009 FIA GT3 European Drivers Championship. Burning fuel and the family fortune in a 535 horsepower Lamborghini Gallardo is… Read the full story on TreeHugger
SURE Energy, Wind Energy »
”Fraction of a Kolmogorov spectrum of different time scales as a function of the number of interconnected wind plants. Interconnecting four or five wind plants achieves the majority of the reduction of wind power’s variability.” Image credit:Draft paper; The Variability of Interconnected Wind Plants (pdf)
Warren Katzenstein, Emily Fertig, and Jay Apt of the Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center have release… Read the full story on TreeHugger
SURE Energy, Solar Power, Water/Hydro, Wind Energy »
This weekend the main Chinese legislature adopted an amendment to the renewable energy law, requiring that utilities must buy all the electricity produced by renewable energy generators. Utilities refusing would be fined up to an amount double that of the economic loss of the renewable energy company.
The big question is: for how much? Whether this would create a boom in renewable energy in China will depend on how much money companies could earn in the sales. So far, this figure is not in the news reports. This amount paid per kilowatt-hour produced is the key to the success or failure of Feed-in Tariffs to generate more renewable energy.
Bio Fuels, SURE Energy »
Here’s an opportunity to wisely spend some of the $100 billion that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised at Copenhagen to cut the greenhouse gases of developing nations by aiding in the development of renewable energy infrastructure to by-pass fossil fuel dependence. (Previous story.)
Apparently one in four Chinese cities and seven out of 10 counties are without sewage-treatment plants, according to the People’s Daily. While there are many ways to treat sewage or municipal waste; one of the newest is the use of municipal solid waste to make renewable energy.
