Find out why nine families in one Goshen, NY, neighborhood went solar with SunPower.
According to a report from Powering Peace, UN missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo may save much of their tight budgets by simply resorting to off-grid solar for powering their operations, instead of using polluting and costly diesel generators. According to the organization's experts, adding a 200 kW solar system with 200 kW/450 kWh of storage would reduce diesel consumption by 80% and allow 10-year savings of nearly US$2.6 million.
Off-grid solar and renewables may help the United Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo improve its electricity supply, while also reducing its dependence on diesel generators, according to the report Renewable Energy and UN Peacekeeping, Untapped Potential in the Democratic Republic of Congo, published by Powering Peace, which is a joint research initiative of U.S.-based start-up, Energy Peace Partners and the Stimson Center, a US nonpartisan policy research center working to solve the world’s greatest threats to security and prosperity.
The report notes that the UN is active through the so-called Monusco missions in DR Congo with around 20,000 people and an annual budget of over $1 billion, and that its electricity consumption if of around 46.5 million kWh, of which around one third is covered by local utility SNEL, while the other two thirds are coming from diesel power generators.
Need for lowering costly diesel consumption
Solar has already showed how much power supply can be improved in critical areas with a 650 kW grid-connected solar plant installed on UN properties in Goma, which host their eastern headquarters, and is powering mainly the mission’s national air navigation service provider, but also solar security lighting and water heaters in the field offices. “There are no batteries to store the energy generated by the panels, but during daylight hours, the system is usually capable of supplying more than the hospital’s energy needs,” the authors of the study wrote.
But despite this exception, most of Monusco military bases in DR Congo are still being powered with diesel generators, which in many cases are old, inefficient and highly polluting. “To date, neither the United Nations’ overall goal to use more renewable energy nor its specific call in 2017 for more efficient generators (including hybrid solar generators) has been reflected in the headquarters-based process of recruiting and organizing TCC and PCC contingents,” the report also highlights. Off-grid PV may help reduce noise, fuel consumption and carbon emissions at the sites, as well as reducing expenditures associated with the fuel itsself, fuel transportation, generator maintenance, generators, and spare parts. And moreover, it has also the capability of providing a cheaper alternative, despite the difficulty of having the missions 12-month budget cycles.
Local solar providers
A possible option to source off-grid solutions, the report also notes, is engaging regional companies active in solar through the energy-as-a-service solar leasing model. “Adding a 200 kW solar system with 200 kW/450 kWh of batteries would reduce diesel usage for electricity generation by 80 percent, with a payback period of less than four years and 10-year savings of nearly US$2.6 million,” the paper’s authors calculated.
The economic analysis for the solar-plus-storage systems assumes a cost of $2.1 per watt installed for the PV installation and of $0.91 per kWh for the storage system.
The report also reveals that local company Kivu Green Energy installed the country’s first solar mini-grid of 55 kW in Beni, North Kivu, in 2017, and that it is also building a larger 1.3 MW solar mini-grid in Goma that is planned to become operational next month. The study also cites London-based off-grid solar system supplier Bboxx, which in alliance with telecommunications company Orange, sells and services solar kits to households and small businesses and counts 3,500 customers in Goma and 5,000 in Kinshasa.
Furthermore, it points out the company Altech which is said to have sold 120,000 solar lights and 30,000 solar kits across the DRC over the past five years.
The challenges posed by the high upfront cost for buying and deploying the PV systems should be addressed by using flexible financing solutions, as well as through the creation by the United Nation of a dedicated fund.
Benefits for local economy
Expanding the missions’ use of off-grid solar, the report further explains, would help boost the business of local solar companies, which could result in economies of scale and a decrease in prices that would then be passed on to Congolese consumers. “The positive local impacts could be multiplied further through additional training and capacity-building programs to help build the Congolese renewable energy sector,” the study also claims.
According to the paper, DR Congo has one of the world’s lowest access to electricity with only 19% of its around 80 million inhabitants currently being provided with power, and with rural areas having a percentage close to zero. The country, on the other hand, has no a unified power grid and its utility SNEL operates, at a limited service, through three different grids located in the west, the south, and the east, respectively. The company owns 14 hydroelectric and 36 thermal plants with a combined installed power of 2.59 GW, which represents around 94% of the country’s total generation capacity, with the remaining share coming from mini-grids operated by SNEL itself or other private entities.
Furthermore, the country has a very poor transmission capacity covering only a small portion of its surface with a bit less than 5,000 kilometers of medium-voltage lines and a little more than 12,000 kilometers of low-voltage lines.
PV201L… is where I get inspired
I have been teaching for Solar Energy International (SEI) for six years. Every experience I have had as an instructor, especially through hands-on installation classes, has been rewarding. There´s always an opportunity for growth, in many different aspects of career and personal goals.
Part of what I love about teaching for SEI is that it is a “safe zone” for everyone, students and teachers alike, to say “I do not know the answer to that, but I am here to find out.” Students can expect to feel comfortable asking questions, as we are all here coming with a humble approach to learn together. They can also expect to be in expert hands, with all our instructors having extensive experience and expertise. As instructors, we strive on enabling our students by sharing everything we know, to the best of our abilities. We are curious to discover new avenues about our industry, and that comes from students who visit us with curiosity, too.
I come from an engineering background in a culture that is still very much male-dominated, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank specifically the women who come share a week of learning at SEI. They have especially empowered me to feel the Girl Power that comes from learning and laughing in sisterhood. My mind has been opened by all the women I´ve had the pleasure to meet, instruct, and learn from. We are paving the road and making way to equality, starting with ourselves. Thank you, and I cannot wait to meet the hundreds more women I know will cross my path as we keep growing together.
More information on PV201L: Solar Training – Solar Electric Lab Week (Grid Direct)
The post Instructor Highlight: Why We Love PV201L with SEI Instructor and Curriculum Developer Karo Fernandez appeared first on Solar Training - Solar Installer Training - Solar PV Installation Training - Solar Energy Courses - Renewable Energy Education - NABCEP - Solar Energy International (SEI).
The Swiss Federal Council intends to increase competition in the solar sector and set fixed tariffs for large PV projects using tenders. The electricity market will be fully opened up in a move industry association Swissolar says will discriminate against PV and threaten the rapid expansion of renewables.
From pv magazine Germany.
The Swiss Federal Council has announced it intends to liberalize its electricity market and improve renewable energy incentives.
The federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications will prepare a bill to amend the Energy Act and submit it to the Federal Council before April. As part of the new legislation, the Federal Council stated, the 2035 targets for hydropower and other renewables will become binding.
A tender process for large scale solar projects will be drawn up and the incentives budget for hydro will be doubled with fixed tariffs maintained.
PV industry association Swissolar has warned a reverse auction, race-to-the-bottom tender system will further dent the economic case for large scale solar, for which the association says current incentives are insufficient. “In particular, the return rate for independent producers is likely to decline, which endangers the economic operation of the facilities,” said the association.
Red tape
Swissolar said the experience of other markets showed tenders lead to the sort of red tape which can only be managed by large energy companies. The organization added, subjecting solar to variable, tender-determined electricity tariffs while maintaining fixed payments for hydro was discriminatory.
The group has suggested introducing tenders only for self-consumption solar projects, with a generation capacity of more than 1 MW. To encourage solar rooftops on infrastructure, agricultural buildings and commercial property, the government should raise the rebate budget for systems with a capacity of 100 kW-1 MW, said Swissolar.
With electricity demand expected to soar by 2050, the solar industry group says PV could generate 67 TWh on rooftops and building facades alone but the nation will need 1.5 GW of new solar per year to keep up with demand – 4-5 times more than the current installation rate.
Electrical utility FirstEnergy issued a request for proposal (RFP) to purchase both Ohio-compliant solar renewable energy credits (SRECs) and renewable energy credits (RECs) for its Ohio utilities — Ohio Edison, The Illuminating Company and Toledo Edison. The purchases will help meet the companies’ 2019 renewable energy targets established under Ohio’s alternative energy law. RECs sought…
The post FirstEnergy Ohio Utilities plans to purchase 11,400 MWh in solar RECs appeared first on Solar Power World.
The government was forced to hold a tender for the 200 MW Cirata Dam scheme after originally awarding the deal to UAE developer Masdar. With August 19 named as the date to announce the auction results, nobody is any the wiser as yet.
Has UAE solar developer Masdar succeeded in securing the contract for a 200 MW Indonesian floating solar project it believed it had sewn up two years ago? The answer is, nobody knows.
The Indonesian government was due to announce the victor in a reverse auction to establish the Cirata Dam facility on August 19 but, almost a month on, no decision has been publicized.
The contract has been mired in controversy since the beginning, with state power company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) having awarded the deal to Masdar in July 2017 only to be forced to rip up the arrangement six months ago because state rules dictate such business must be tendered rather than awarded directly.
That meant the contract had to go through a public procurement which matched up Masdar with seven rivals from Japan, China, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. No outcome has yet been announced by Jakarta regarding an installation that was meant to start construction this year.
Tender attention
Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resource regulation 50/2017 stipulates tenders must be held in relation to the purchase of renewable energy by the PLN. The rule was introduced after the direct award of a contract to develop the Riau-1 coal-fired power plant in Sumatra prompted a corruption scandal.
When Masdar was awarded the Cirata Dam project and given until November last year to negotiate a power purchase agreement with the PLN, deputy energy and mineral resources minister Archandra Tahar told broadcaster CNBC Indonesia at the time: “[The] PLN needs to carefully arrange the contract because this project is categorized as a direct appointment.”
Marlistya Citraningrum, program director of Indonesian thinktank the Institute for Essential Service Reform, backed the call to conduct a tender. “We highly recommend to adopt a reverse auction, specifically for high scale utility solar photovoltaic projects in Indonesia for speeding up the development of renewable energy, the fulfillment of national energy targets and for driving the economic scale of solar photovoltaic power plants,” she said.
Another floating project planned
The institute published a comparative study of reverse auction tender systems applied in India, Brazil, Mexico and – ironically – the UAE which could be applied in Indonesia and which emphasized the importance of auction design and process, incentives and bidder quality.
The cloud of uncertainty over the Cirata Dam project, however, has not dissuaded state-owned mining company Bukit Asam from planning a 1 MW floating PV project at the Sigura-Gura Dam, in North Sumatra province. The miner will work with Indonesian Asahan Aluminium to develop two 500 kWp arrays which will be set to start operating in the third quarter of next year.
By Sorta Caroline
The Brattle Group released a new report that estimates that New England will need to add between 4 and 7 gigawatts of new clean energy capacity every year to achieve an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. Commissioned by the Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA), the report estimates that decarbonizing the…
The post Report finds New England must add 4-7 GW of new clean energy per year to meet targets appeared first on Solar Power World.
Plans to build one of the state’s largest solar facilities are a step closer to reality as Xcel Energy, EVRAZ North America and Lightsource BP announced they have reached a long-term agreement to develop a new 240-MW solar facility in Pueblo, Colorado. Lightsource BP will finance, build, own and operate the Bighorn Solar project and…
The post Xcel Energy, Lightsource BP reach agreement on 240-MW solar project for steel mill appeared first on Solar Power World.
The nation’s plan for grid-parity solar – brought forward to ease a mounting public PV subsidy debt burden – could be left in ruins by a newly-announced scheme to part liberalize the electricity price, itself motivated by a need to bail out financially stricken state-owned power companies.
State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) on Thursday night dropped a bombshell on solar developers by reporting the manner in which the price of electricity supplied to the grid is determined will undergo a seismic change from January 1.
With Chinese stocks falling 1-7% in the days before the new policy to liberalize the electricity price was formally promulgated, fears abound that opening the door to a lower coal price will drastically undermine the gains made in bringing solar and wind power projects to grid-parity.
Since 2004, the price of electricity in China has been determined annually by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) after discussion with power plant operators and state-owned coal mining companies.
That ‘benchmark price’ system saw the state-owned operators of coal-fired power plants hammered when the economy was on a rapid upward trajectory. An expanding economy drove up demand for power and, with the coal price having been liberalized long before 2004, thermal plant operators had to pay ever higher prices for the fuel without being able to pass on their costs in higher electric prices. As a result, huge state-owned power companies have racked up billions of renminbi in debt.
The only way is … down
In an attempt to ease the financial burden on state coffers, the authorities will introduce a new variable element to the electric price which will range from 15% below the benchmark price set each year to 10% above it. In order to mitigate the effect on big energy consumers, including polysilicon and other solar manufacturers, the authorities stressed the variable rate will only apply in one direction for the first year of operation. In other words, the price of electricity may fall next year, depending on market values, but will not go above the benchmark level, which CCTV reported will be negotiated between power plants, electricity consumers and the NDRC.
Analysts believe the eventual liberalization of electricity prices could cut both ways for solar. Financial services company Guosen Securities said the new system will be more friendly for coal-fired power plants but the related uncertainty about future coal prices will favor more price-stable sources of power such as solar and wind.
Song Jie Cao, from the Shanghai Solar Energy Society told pv magazine the reform will enable the coal price to fall and be more competitive with renewables. The extensive penetration of renewables in China will mean coal overcapacity, an even lower coal price and less favorable returns from renewables, said Cao.
The mechanism applied to prevent electricity price rises will ensure coal can only become more competitive against renewables, at least for the next 12 months, and a 15% fall in the coal price could leave China’s much-trumpeted plans for grid-parity solar in tatters.
Growatt has been actively exploring the solar market in the Americas this year. At Solar Power International 2019, Growatt showcased its new XH series of storage-ready inverters. Future-proof PV solution MIN 2500-6000TL-XH has a storage-ready feature. The inverter works with a low-voltage battery and has a battery interface that can be easily extended later to…
The post Growatt brought storage-ready inverters to SPI 2019 appeared first on Solar Power World.
The exercise, conducted on Longi PERC bifacial modules by Germany’s TÜV SÜD at a test field in China, showed surprisingly higher gains in panels getting light reflection from painted-surface and grassland albedo. It also showed, Longi claimed, bifacial panels operate at lower temperatures than single-sided alternatives.
Chinese module manufacturer Longi Solar has published the results of a test conducted on its PERC bifacial modules by German testing and product certification services provider TÜV SÜD.
Longi said the modules were tested at a pilot solar plant in Ding’an county on the island province Hainan, China’s southernmost territory. The manufacturer said data was collected on module yields under different surface reflection conditions from September 2018 to April.
Image: Longi Solar
The company said the location has annual solar irradiance of 1,668.4 kWh/kWp/m² and an annual average temperature of around 24 degrees Celsius. Longi added, the solar modules were positioned with similar shading conditions, at heights of 1-1.5m. The manufacturer installed an irradiator on the steel of the front module to record the irradiance of oblique incidence and the accuracy of the irradiance, and two irradiators at the top and bottom of the rear module to record the irradiance reflected from the rear side. Thermocouples were also used at the middle and edge of the rear module of each array to test operating temperature.
Surprising albedo results
Longi said it tested the modules with different albedo including white paint with a reflectance of 67.21%, cement (43.1%), sandy soil (40.46%) and grassland (16.1%).
The energy yields of bifacial PERC modules grew significantly when placed at 1.5m, with gains of 10.1% on grassland, 15.82% on sand, 14.5% on cement and 20.59% on white painted surfaces, compared with single-sided PERC modules tested in the same conditions. Those results, Longi claimed, were in line with a trend that the higher the surface reflectance, the higher the energy gain. “The energy gain is as high as 20.59% on the white painted surface with a reflectivity of 67.21%, and 10.1% on the grassland, which is higher than [the] expected value,” the manufacturer stated.
The Chinese company said additional gains provided by bifacial technology in the region are higher in summer due to the longer duration of mornings and evenings and periodic variation of the solar elevation angle. “The energy gain in January and February of 2019 is over 5% lower than that in other months, which [is] mainly caused by the change of the solar elevation angle,” Longi said.
Lower temperatures
The manufacturer also tested the operating temperature of bifacial and single-sided panels using rear-side sensors. Bifacial products operated under lower temperatures due to the lower thermal effect produced by higher infrared radiation. The company also attributed the result to the use of 2mm+2mm glass which, in its view, has a better heat dissipation speed than that of 3.2mm glass-backsheet panels.
“In summary, the TÜV SÜD Hainan pilot project fully verified the excellent power generation performance of the Longi Hi-MO PERC bifacial modules, and specifically verified the effects of reflectance, installation height and scattered light ratio on the bifacial energy gain,” the company said.
Longi launched the Hi-MO 4 module in May, claiming efficiencies of 18.5-19.2% and a power rating of up to 430 watts.
When O3 Energy started in 2011, company founders identified a need in the market — commercial building owners didn’t know where to start when going solar. From development to financing to construction, O3 promotes itself as well-versed in all aspects of C&I solar and seeks out corporations with little experience in the finer details of…
The post Contractors Corner: O3 Energy knows every aspect of C&I solar appeared first on Solar Power World.
With hundreds of billions of dollars in assets and funds under management, Macquarie Group is seeking to amplify its considerable influence, bringing investment and reporting to bear on accelerating climate mitigation and adaptation.
From pv magazine Australia.
Macquarie Group managing director and CEO Shemara Wikramanayake has announced a series of commitments by the world’s largest infrastructure asset manager to accelerate action against climate change.
The pledges, made at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York, include the development of a 20 GW renewable energy pipeline over the next five years through Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG), and an RE100 commitment to sourcing all the group’s energy needs from renewables by 2025.
“We are increasingly broadening our focus by seeking new solutions to emissions reduction across agriculture, waste and real estate and working to ensure our infrastructure investments are more climate resilient,” said Wikramanayake in a statement on Wednesday.
In the same announcement, Macquarie said it was building on its “long track record of investing in renewable energy projects”. The group claimed it has committed more than $8 billion (US$5.4 billion) in direct and arranged finance for renewables since 2010, acquiring GIG in 2017 and bringing more than 22 GW of renewables generation capacity online.
Of its intended 20 GW pipeline of new renewables projects, around 20% would be expected to be “in non-OECD, emerging market countries where climate finance flows have historically been weaker”, said Macquarie.
GIG intends to arrange finance for many of the pipeline projects via power purchase agreements through Macquarie corporate clients. The group has already raised $1 billion of share capital via an institutional placement in August.
Agriculture
Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) is approaching final close on its most recent, $1 billion agricultural fund, which aims to improve farm energy efficiency and reduce emissions in one of the world’s most carbon-intensive industries.
“Over the past decade, we have played a leading role in facilitating the shift towards renewables,” said Wikramanayake, “with a particular focus on trying to address the various challenges that remain to full transition.”
Australian green bank the Clean Energy Finance Corporation is an investor in the MIRA agricultural fund and is working with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization to develop an emissions-reduction benchmarking model to help farmers work toward emissions intensity aims consistent with the science-based targets initiated to support the COP21 Paris Agreement.
MIRA announced it will introduce carbon and energy reporting for the portfolio of companies in its fund. “These metrics will enable MIRA to make better investment and asset management decisions and, over time, set future targets for the businesses within each fund portfolio to achieve a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions,” Macquarie stated.
Such reporting would hold portfolio companies accountable and credit initiatives contributing to climate-change mitigation.
Keeping score
On the renewable-assets side, GIG’s carbon score methodology will be merged with renewable energy project data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance to create a green-impact assessment tool to improve understanding of how more than 40,000 global solar and wind assets are reducing emissions.
As an RE100 signatory, Macquarie will enter power purchase agreements that support the development of new renewable energy projects to supply electricity for its new Sydney headquarters and Melbourne office.
In January, Macquarie became one of the founders of the Climate Finance Leadership Initiative established by Michael Bloomberg, the UN secretary general’s special envoy for climate action. The group includes chief executives of companies including Allianz, Enel and HSBC, and the chief information officer of Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund. The initiative has committed to deploy US$20 billion of emerging-market climate finance by 2025.
The devices, developed by a European research team, are said to have twice the energy density of conventional aluminum devices. The scientists used a cathode made of anthraquinone, instead of one based on graphene, increasing energy density.
Scientists from Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology and Slovenia’s National Institute of Chemistry say they have created aluminum batteries with higher energy density and potentially wide renewable energy storage applications.
Compared to typical aluminum batteries, which use an aluminum anode and graphene cathode, the new device features an organic, nanostructured cathode made of carbon-based molecule anthraquinone.
In the paper Concept and electrochemical mechanism of an Al metal anode ‒ organic cathode battery, published in Energy Storage Materials, the researchers explained anthraquinone enables storage of positive charge-carriers from the electrolyte, ensuring their device has twice the energy density of conventional aluminum batteries. “Because the new cathode material makes it possible to use a more appropriate charge-carrier, the batteries can make better usage of aluminum’s potential,” the researchers stated.
Chlorine
The current version of the electrolyte, however, contains chlorine the research team wants to eliminate.
The scientists claim, although aluminum storage technology is a long way from commercial production, the new device will be able to compete or complement lithium-ion storage. “So far, aluminum batteries are only half as energy dense as lithium-ion batteries but our long-term goal is to achieve the same energy density,” stated the paper.
Aluminum in principle works better than lithium-ion as a charge carrier, according to the research group. “Furthermore, the batteries have the potential to be significantly less environmentally harmful,” said research co-author Patrik Johansson.
Historic SPI. Solar, solar, solar. And solar pros. According to insiders, SPI 2019 drew 19,000 to Salt Lake City which handled the crowd quite nicely. I found manoeuvring the traffic on the scooters quite easy and able to get through the week without much pain. Definitely easier on the body when SPI is in SLC instead of Vegas. The booths were nice, some actually made me step back and appreciate the attention to detail and overall design, but I saw those dollar signs as well. Now get back to work!
The Energy Bearhug. If you didn’t get it from the name change, the team that is producing SPI added a bunch of other things to the show creating the show known as North American Smart Energy Week. When this publication came out to question this decision the defence was an old fashioned bearhug. SEPA came out in defence of the name change saying “Smart Electric Power Alliance & Solar Energy Industries Association have expanded our show to be Smart Energy Week, it’s because – as critical as solar is – no one technology can get us to carbon-free.” The truth is that the name change wasn’t a unanimous decision and the benefit of it is still being debated.
A Call To Commit. All of the above is noise in a world where we need to get an ITC extension. While SEIA is actively fighting and pushing for it, educating and lobbying legislators, something it is able to do as a 501(c)6, SEPA has historically stayed out of this education afraid to endanger its 501(c)3 status. Hoping to get $500k into the ITC fight, I am calling for the organizers of SPI to give $500k towards the ITC extension efforts. Why? SETS makes money by producing trade shows like SPI and the regional shows. Those shows depend on paid attendance, exhibitors and sponsors. When the ITC reduces and disappears, so do the show profits. SETS will make north of $10million this year and 5% for this fight is a minimal effort by the organization. This is not a novel idea, here is SEIA proposing this exact idea.
My Takeaway. The Smart Energy Week name change was a bust. This show was all solar, even the energy storage messaging centred around solar. The East Bay CCA signed a massive solar plus storage deal at the sPower booth because solar is what people want. Putting the SPI logo side by side, the same size, with hydrogen and microgrids is a slap in the face of solar. This idea was a fail and needs to end permanently. Who knows, if this editorial can’t stop it, maybe nuclear and biomass join the party next year too? Speaking of solar, I commend SEIA for doing a great job on their part. Their team was on me with messaging all week long, working the floor, raising money and trying to grow membership. When I walk the floor I see SEIA members everywhere, this really has become an SEIA show. Speaking of, it also seems to be a show filled with profitable companies or some well on their way towards them.
Opinion
Best, Yann
The post This is your SolarWakeup for September 30, 2019 appeared first on SolarWakeup.com.
A 6 MW solar plant and 5 MW/2.5 MWh storage system are set to increase the share of renewable electricity on the Pacific island of Nauru from 3% to 47%. The $27 million project is being supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The Republic of Nauru, like many Pacific Ocean island states relies almost entirely on diesel generators for its power.
However, the government has decided raise the share of renewables in the power mix of the 21km² nation from 3% to 47% with a large-scale solar-plus-storage project.
The power plant will have a solar capacity of 6 MW and 5 MW/2.5 MWh of storage. “The system will be fully automated and integrated with the existing diesel system to optimize solar energy use, enable optimal battery energy storage system charging and discharging and allow optimal shut-off of the diesel engines,” said the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which has agreed to finance the $27 million project with a $22 million loan.
The Nauru Solar Power Development Project will be owned and operated by the Nauru Utilities Corporation and will provide almost all of the daylight electricity consumption needs of the world’s third smallest nation.
The ADB is backing the project under its Pacific Renewable Energy Investment Facility, which supports renewable energy projects in states including the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Palau, the Marshall Islands, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
Nauru and many of its neighbors are expected to be among the first nations in the world to disappear if rising sea levels are not checked and the country’s politicians have been outspoken critics of developed nations at UN climate change gatherings.
In early August, Saint Kitts and Nevis began a 35.6 MW solar array to be paired with 44.2 MWh of storage capacity that is expected to provide around a third of the nation’s power demand. The solar-plus-storage plant will provide clean power to state-owned electric utility Skelec for 20 years.
Queensland’s Somerset Regional Council is embracing solar power and will expand its capacity significantly in the near future. The Somerset Regional Council Local Government Area (LGA) is located in the West Moreton region of South East Queensland; around 100 kilometres northwest of Brisbane. Major population centres include Lowood, Esk and Coominya. According to the Australian […]
The post Somerset Regional Council Cranking Up Solar Deployment appeared first on Solar Quotes Blog.
The Queensland Government’s Solar For Rentals trial for the private market kicked off in March this year. Uptake to the end of the financial year was less than stellar. Queensland has Australia’s second highest proportion of renters (28.2% in 2016) – and most renters are locked out of the benefits solar energy can bring. The […]
The post QLD Solar For Rentals Bit Of A Fizzer? appeared first on Solar Quotes Blog.
Why hasn’t more building-integrated PV (BIPV) been installed throughout the world? The simplest answer is that a PV module does not architecture make. The nature of the building process – its methods and logic – are key factors affecting technological transfer, as seen in the steel and concrete industries, which have been the basis of modern architecture for the past century. In many cases, standardization would go against the case-by-case approach to design and the interdisciplinary nature of the field. Solar architecture therefore involves a synergic concept of constructive and functional correctness, while always engaging an “aesthetic intentionality.” So how can the market segment continue to drive down costs?
From pv magazine, September 2019
We can try to resolve the actual barriers that still hold back BIPV development by changing our approach. Limitations due to shading in urban areas, or architectural and typological constraints, should no longer be seen as a no-go. Rather, they should be viewed as boundary conditions to be considered in design and technical solutions aimed at integrating solar potential with aspects of building design. The share of BIPV in the global solar PV market stood at approximately 1% in 2017, while in Europe, BIPV holds a share of about 2%. The EU-funded PVSites project estimates that by 2022, BIPV will account for around 13% of the total PV market. Is this forecast realistic, or is too ambitious?
The BIPV market in Europe is particularly dynamic, with a range of new products, research projects and flagship buildings emerging in recent years. Policies that push building owners to renovate, like net zero energy building programs, will be key drivers for the continent’s BIPV economy. EU actors will eventually have the chance to create a unique market with a quality-based asset.
Many trends define today’s routes to innovation. Both products and processes are interconnected. Thanks to industrial developments, a wide range of new products are available at competitive prices. Glass treatments that hide the solar cells – colored films or structured glazing, for example – are one path. But integration today means something more than pure cosmetics. We have to move from luxurious and costly BIPV solutions to a mass-market, cost-effective approach, with a clear focus on ordinary built stock. This involves innovation at different levels – not just with product aesthetics, but also in terms of flexibility and automation in manufacturing, creating multifunctional products for the building skin, process management based on digitalization, advanced performance assessments, and procedures that support the market to ensure quality, safety and reliability.
According to the European Commission’s “SET Plan – Declaration on Strategic Targets in the context of an Initiative for Global Leadership in Photovoltaics,” the way to expand the BIPV market is to set extremely ambitious cost-reduction targets: a 50% reduction of additional BIPV module costs from 2015 to 2020, and a 75% cut by 2030. But how can the industry introduce the aforementioned innovations with such ambitious cost-reduction targets?
The BIPVBOOST project, funded by the EU Horizon 2020 program, was launched in October 2018. The three-year initiative focuses on bringing down the cost of multifunctional BIPV systems, by addressing the entire value chain.
After examining cost-competitiveness from a dynamic point of view – that is, looking at the entire operating lifetime and considering real additional costs when making building components active – it becomes clear that the sector is economically attractive. The BIPVBOOST project will focus on different strategies throughout the entire process, from pre-design to operation and maintenance:
(1) implementing a large degree of flexibility and automation in the manufacturing of BIPV modules; (2) developing a range of multifunctional, cost-competitive glass-glass modules that comply with market requests through innovations in materials and processes; (3) implementing new multifunctional solutions for building skins by enabling simplified substructures and mounting procedures, together with thermal insulation and water retention; (4) defining a qualification process that simplifies the standardization framework.
Beyond products, process innovation is also essential for tackling construction sector fragmentation. That’s why BIPVBOOST is proposing new digital and data-driven solutions to enhance the collaboration of stakeholders throughout the value chain, thanks to building information management (BIM) and the implementation of advanced monitoring, as well as modelling and data analytics for automatic fault detection and predictive maintenance in BIPV operations. With energy management, everything is aligned with nZEB implementation objectives.
As legendary architect Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe once said, architecture should be a symbol of its time. To have “good buildings,” we need to look at architecture within a global context. That way, even with solar, there will only ever be “good” architecture.
About the author’s
Pierluigi Bonomo is the head of the innovative building envelope team at the Institute for Applied Sustainability to the Built Environment at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland. He has completed a Ph.D. in Building-Engineering/Architecture at the University of Pavia, with a thesis focusing on BIPV. He specializes in the design and envelope engineering of near zero-energy buildings, and has received a number of awards and acknowledgments for his work. He actively collaborates on different European and federal research projects related to product and process innovations for BIPV implementation. He is an expert member of the International Energy Agency’s Task 15 team.
Francesco Frontini is a professor at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland and the head of the building sector at the Institute for Applied Sustainability to the Built Environment. He holds a degree in Building Engineering and Architecture from Politecnico di Milano. His research was supported by experimental work on the design of actual buildings. Early in his career, he worked in the solar facades group at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, where he gained extensive experience in building simulations and BIPV solutions. He later completed a Ph.D. in Building Engineering in 2009 and worked with different manufacturers to develop new multifunctional BIPV facades for solar and glare control. Frontini also has broad experience with energy and lighting simulations and is a member of the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization. He has worked on the European BIPV standard EN50583 and is now working on international standards.
Many American families have a difficult time paying their electricity bills. Heating is one of the major ways these bills are elevated. Solar heating systems are a modern and ecological way to reduce your electricity bills. Solar power Seattle is what residents need in order to reduce paying high bills. Solar heating systems help create solar energy that can be saved and used for a variety of purposes. This is an ancient concept. It was used by the Greeks in sunrooms. There are two types of solar heating systems. Active and passive solar heating systems.
Passive solar heating is a method that uses energy that is abundant and available which will help warm your home during the winter. It involves building your home in an effective way to capture the solar heating. This can be done by building your rooms with windows that are large enough to capture the energy of the sun. The type of floor material you choose is also important when storing heat, such as concrete floors. You can also apply thick exterior walls to keep in the heat. During cold weather, it is important to have proper window protection. Energy-efficient windows are also a key factor to maintain heat. By incorporating this method from the beginning, you can significantly reduce your electric bill. It is recommended to include these types of designs before building your home or commercial building.
Active solar heating systems require device interventions. These devices can be pumps, storage tanks, and collectors. These improve heat circulation throughout the house. The collector is made up of panels that collect solar energy directly from the sun. Then the air or water which is located in a pipe will get warmed up with the heat. Then this heat will be placed inside with a pump or it will be stored to be used later on. This type of heating can be applied in a new or pre-owned home.
There are two types of active solar heating. They are solar air space heating and solar water heating systems. Solar air space heating will heat your room directly. Cold air enters and warm air exits. Solar water heating systems take in the radiation of the sun and transform it into heat.
Solar Heating Systems can effectively provide heat to your air and water. They make a positive impact on the planet and save you lots of money.
Of course, the best option for reducing your electricity bill is to choose solar energy production for your home, which can provide power for any type of electrical heating/cooling system you select. For more information about the benefits and installation of solar energy systems, visit one of the Top Solar Installers in Seattle, https://artisanelectricinc.com/, and find out all you need to know about how to implement a complete solar energy system into your home, business, or commercial building.
Artisan Electric Inc
969 S Nebraska Street Suite A
Seattle, WA 98108
(206) 557-4215
Follow Us On Social Media
https://facebook.com/ArtisanElectricSolar
https://twitter.com/artisanelectinc
https://www.youtube.com/artisanelectricinc
https://www.linkedin.com/company/artisan-electric-inc-
https://www.instagram.com/artisanelectricinc
The post What Is Solar Heating? appeared first on Solar Electric Contractor In Seattle WA | (206) 557-4215.
One of the hottest topics in solar these days is a solar power battery. That is, a battery to shift your solar production to the non-sunny part of the day as well as provide a backup power source for when the grid isn’t working. And if you’ve thought about a solar power battery at all,… Read the entire post »
The post Solar Power Battery Tesla Powerwall (Not The Only Game In Town) appeared first on The Energy Miser.
As we outlined in an earlier issue/blog, we divide each solar project into five stages; the Sales Stage, then Engineering, Operations, Installation and finally Close Out. In this series we went out of order, so in Part 1 we covered Close Out (the very end) and last month we covered Engineering and Operations. We could… Read the entire post »
The post Five Stages of a Solar Installation Part 3 – Sales and Solar Installation Stage appeared first on The Energy Miser.
Renewable Properties, a developer and financier of utility solar projects, has signed a Minnesota community solar subscription agreement with Caribou Coffee Inc., a coffeehouse chain with 300 locations nationwide.
The partnership was arranged by Terasota Partners, a Minnesota-based community solar subscription manager. The deal subscribes Caribou to multiple 1 MW community solar gardens throughout Minnesota. Over the term of the agreement, Caribou will receive utility bill credits on its retail electric bills throughout the state based on the number of kilowatt-hours produced by the company’s share of the projects.
“These are our first two community solar gardens in Minnesota, and this is just the beginning,” says Aaron Halimi, founder and president of Renewable Properties. “Big brands like Caribou have huge energy costs and, more often than not, a footprint that’s spread out. Thanks to the public service commissions and forward-thinking utilities like Xcel Energy, businesses like Caribou can benefit from community solar gardens and leave the engineering, permitting, construction, maintenance and operation of large-scale solar projects to us.”
“Community solar allows businesses, residents and public entities to subscribe to an off-site solar installation without hosting the project on their property,” says Jake Wanek, vice president of subscriber acquisition at Terasota Partners. “Working with the teams at Caribou and Renewable Properties has been easy, and we hope to work with both parties on more projects very soon.”
The average annual production from the two solar arrays is 3,612,949 kWh, which is enough to power 347 single-family homes per year.
Photo: Bobak Ha’Eri [CC BY 3.0 (https://ift.tt/2ExLibN]
The post Caribou Coffee Signs Minnesota Solar Deal appeared first on Solar Industry.
DNV GL has developed a tool for renewable energy stakeholders to better forecast weather, load or prices for projects.
According to DNV GL, the tool uses granular data from the past 20 years to create the equivalent of 10,000 years of plausible realities – simply put, a parallel universe generator that has 10,000 times more fidelity than was previously available, the quality assurance and risk management company says.
DNV GL’s stochastic engine produces modeling inputs that owners, utilities and system operators can use to model scenarios based upon hundreds of thousands of years of representative wind and solar production that captures possible weather conditions, load or prices.
The data can be used to answer a range of questions: i.e., what type of technologies to invest or how to mitigate price risk.
“With the growing penetration of wind and solar generation, system operators and renewable plant owners need reliable data to enable them to ensure grid stability and meet energy demands,” says Richard S. Barnes, DNV GL’s regional president of energy for North America. “This engine provides stakeholders in the renewables industry never-before-available data that will accelerate the penetration of renewables on the grid and the energy transition.”
The post New DNV GL Tool Enables Better Forecasting For Solar, Wind Projects appeared first on Solar Industry.
Solar developer Renewable Properties has signed a community solar subscription agreement with Caribou Coffee, the second largest company-operated premium coffeehouse in the United States with over 300 company-owned locations nationwide, a move that will not only reduce the coffee giant’s energy costs today but hedge against rising utility costs in the future. The partnership, put…
The post Caribou Coffee subscribes to two community solar gardens in Minnesota appeared first on Solar Power World.
CleanChoice Energy and D.C.-based New Columbia Solar have opened a new 1-MW community solar portfolio to residents of the District of Columbia. The new community solar portfolio will serve nearly two hundred D.C. residents. New Columbia Solar developed and built the community solar projects and will continue to own, operate, and maintain the projects for…
The post CleanChoice Energy completes latest 1-MW community solar portfolio in D.C. appeared first on Solar Power World.
As global demand expands for reliable energy storage and battery technologies to pair with solar, Renewable Energy Test Center and VDE Renewables are partnering to provide a new level of performance and reliability testing for the North American market. The new collaboration to deliver dependable bankability testing will help developers, end-customers, and financial institutions determine…
The post RETC will offer performance and reliability testing for batteries in U.S. market <br><span style='color:#404040;font-weight:600;font-size:15px;'>Renewable Energy Test Center Provides New Battery and Energy Storage System Testing Services</span> appeared first on Solar Power World.
Schneider Electric together with Tigo have launched Schneider Electric’s MPPT Disconnect RS (Rapid Shutdown), an accessory for Schneider Electric’s Conext MPPT Solar Charge Controllers for rapid shutdown PV arrays with Tigo TS4-F (Fire Safety). Schneider Electric’s hybrid solar and storage solutions now offer enhanced flexibility to meet NEC 2017 requirements with both DC coupled and…
The post Schneider Electric launches rapid shutdown solution with Tigo appeared first on Solar Power World.
The first 60 MW slice of the 300 MW procurement exercise attracted 12 winning bids. The French government intends to allocate 200 MW of generation capacity for ground-mounted PV plants no larger than 30 MW each plus 100 MW of rooftop systems.
The French Ministry for an Ecological and Solidarity Transition (CSFD) has announced the winners of the first round of a 300 MW solar tender for the Fessenheim nuclear power plant, the country’s oldest nuclear site.
The ministry said 12 projects representing 62.8 MW of generation capacity were assigned during the procurement round, with nearly 200 MW of solar schemes having been admitted to participate.
The winning projects in the first round will sell power at an average price of €66.05/MWh, the French government added. Two more 120 MW procurement rounds will be held, in January and July.
France’s Directorate General for Energy and Climate said 200 MW of capacity will be allocated for ground-mounted solar plants ranging in size from 500 kW to 30 MW and another 100 MW will be for rooftop projects not exceeding 8 MW in scale. The tender has three types of project: the ground-mount facilities; rooftop systems with a 500 kW-8 MW capacity; and 100-500 kW rooftops.
Any projects which are at least partly financed by crowdfunding will be awarded a €3/MWh bonus, an incentive which features in all of France’s national solar tenders.
The CSFD in mid April announced plans for solar at the Fessenheim nuclear site, which is set to be decommissioned by next year. The 40-year-old nuclear plant has experienced safety issues in recent decades.
The French renewables group has taken over a specialist in C&I rooftop solar and launched a share purchase offer to enable its employees to benefit from the growth of the company.
From pv magazine France.
French renewables company Voltalia has finalized the acquisition of Helexia, a developer based in northern France which specializes in large solar rooftop projects and energy control in buildings. Voltalia intends to expand its green electricity offering to commercial and industrial clients.
“Voltalia is a pioneer with the recent signing in France of long-term, non-subsidized solar power supply contracts directly with enterprises,” said CEO Sebastien Clerc. “We want to go further by offering businesses a complete solution ranging from green electricity supply to energy efficiency and control services.”
Helexia offers commercial electricity consumers on-site rooftop generation and PV shades the company finances and installs. Its clients include big retailers such as Auchan, Decathlon and Leroy-Merlin.
Extensive market
With more than 200 PV plants installed or under construction in France, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Spain, Helexia is responsible for more than 60 MW of solar capacity. The young company is now planning to accelerate its international expansion, benefiting Voltalia customers on four continents, and particularly in emerging markets.
“By offering a green electricity supply at a competitive price, thanks to the renewable plants developed by Voltalia in addition to our self-consumption and energy efficiency services, Helexia will be able to better serve its customers,” said managing director Nicolas Mayaud.
In a separate development, Voltalia has for the first time offered its employees the chance to buy its shares on preferential terms.
“The employees of Voltalia embody and carry the mission of the company through their commitment,” chief executive Clerc. “The group has undergone … spectacular development since its creation and at a time when it sets new ambitions by 2023, I am delighted to be able to sustainably associate Voltners [Voltalia shareholders] with the value creation of this new phase of expansion.”
