Agua Caliente Solar Project

Share Department of Energy Finalizes a $967 Million Loan Guarantee to Support the Agua Caliente Solar Project Arizona Project Expected to Generate Approximately 400 Solar Related Jobs Washington D.C. U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced that the Department of Energy finalized a $967 million loan guarantee to Agua Caliente Solar, LLC. The loan guarantee will support the construction of the Agua Caliente Solar project , a 290-megawatt photovoltaic solar generating facility in Yuma County, Arizona that will use thin film solar panels manufactured by First Solar, Inc. The project sponsor, NRG Solar LLC, estimates the photovoltaic generation facility will fund approximately 400 construction jobs and 10 full time operating jobs, and will be one of the largest plants of its kind in the world when completed. The Agua Caliente Solar project will bring hundreds of jobs to Arizona, while helping increase the reliability of renewable solar power, said Secretary Chu. “Todays announcement, in addition to several recent offers of conditional commitments for loan guarantees to solar manufacturing and generation projects, demonstrates the Administrations ongoing commitment to creating clean energy jobs while bringing innovative renewable energy technologies to the market.” The Agua Caliente Solar project will deploy fault ride-through and dynamic voltage regulation, innovative technologies that are new to photovoltaic solar power plants in the United States. These technologies will improve the reliability and predictability of the electricity supplied to the electricity grid. Pacific Gas & Electric Company will purchase power generated from the project and will deliver clean, renewable electricity to California consumers. The Department of Energys Loan Programs Office administers three separate programs: the Title XVII Section 1703 and Section 1705 loan guarantee programs, and the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program. The loan guarantee programs support the deployment of commercial technologies along with innovative technologies that avoid, reduce, or sequester greenhouse gas emissions, while ATVM supports the development of advanced vehicle technologies. Including all three programs, DOE has issued loans, loan guarantees or offered conditional commitments for loan guarantees totaling over $40 billion to support 42 clean energy projects across the U.S. DOE has issued conditional commitments or loan guarantees to support numerous projects, including several of the worlds largest solar generation facilities, three geothermal projects, the worlds largest wind farm, and the nations first new nuclear power plant in three decades. For more information, please visit http://www.lpo.energy.gov. Bookmark our website and please come back and visit us soon. We have other articles, just like the one above, which will be sure to get your mind looking at solar power in a completely different way. Why not sign up for our email notifications so that you can be informed immediately we post the latest information? Please share your feedback and add to the growing debate on solar power : there are thousands of readers waiting to read your thoughts.

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Agua Caliente Solar Project

Solar Power Coated Plastic? It’s Here!

Share New Energy Generates Electricity on Flexible Plastic Using Novel See-Through SolarWindow(TM) Coatings Columbia, MD – August 3, 2011 – New Energy Technologies, Inc. (OTCQB: NENE) today announced that researchers developing its SolarWindow(TM) technology, capable of generating electricity on see-through glass, have now successfully generated electricity on flexible plastic using the Company’s ‘spray-on’ coating methods – an important technical achievement necessary for the development of electricity-generating window films. “Today’s breakthrough supports a brand new commercial application for our core SolarWindow(TM) technology and is the direct result of numerous patent-pending methods, materials, and processes we have worked hard to invent and develop,” explained Mr. John A. Conklin, President and CEO of New Energy Technologies, Inc. “These important technology breakthroughs have already resulted in a successful public demonstration last year of our SolarWindow(TM) application on glass, able to generate electricity while remaining see-through. Since then, New Energy’s product development group has worked aggressively to advance our SolarWindow(TM) application for glass windows towards commercial manufacturability. Concurrently, our research scientists have been working to create new and exciting SolarWindow(TM) products which reach beyond glass. The result is today’s announcement regarding our ability to generate electricity on flexible plastics.” Scientists anticipate that commercially developed electricity-generating flexible plastic could be deployed as tinted window film, which remains see-through while generating electrical power. Traditionally, the prospect of creating see-through flexible plastic which generates electricity has been limited by numerous technical challenges, including the need for cumbersome temperature-specific, pressure sensitive, and expensive process methods for applying coatings to plastic surfaces. New Energy researchers achieved today’s breakthrough by spraying the Company’s electricity-generating coatings onto flexible, lightweight lab-scale plastic (polyethylene terephthalate or “PET”) at room temperature and at low pressure, which may result in reduced manufacturing costs. While developing the first working PET prototype, researchers also overcame conventional issues with surface preparation, considered vital to achieving maximum strength of the coatings’ bond to the surface, and for optimizing product durability and lifespan. Notably, researchers were able to maintain the working ‘architecture’ of New Energy’s SolarWindow(TM) while achieving flexibility. The SolarWindow(TM) architecture enables various important functions such as generating electricity on the surface of plastic and distributing electricity to the circuit. Currently under development for eventual commercial deployment in the estimated 85 million commercial buildings and homes in America, SolarWindow(TM) is the subject of ten new patent filings and is the world’s first-of-its-kind technology capable of generating electricity on see-through glass windows. I hope this article has given you new insight on the subject and given you some things to think about. Although there is nothing new under the sun, the information that you have just finished reading is presented in a fresh and interesting way. One thing is for sure, information on this subject is available all over the Internet and this article is one of many articles available on the subject. We love writing on this subject and have presented our point of view. Feel free to look around and explore our site for more solar power information.

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Solar Power Coated Plastic? Its Here!

Symposium on Global Green Cities of the 21st Century to Be Held in San Francisco

California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom to Deliver Keynote Address Worldwide Experts to Participate via Virtual Meetings by Marriott with AT&T and Cisco TelePresence SAN FRANCISCO , CA Organizers and sponsors of the Global Green Cities of the 21st Century: Evolving Models for Sustainable Urban Design today announced that the symposium will take place February 23-25, 2011 at the San Francisco JW Marriott. With the goal of fostering sustainable urban development and design, the landmark symposium will shed light on the development of green cities. Gavin Newsom, lieutenant governor of California, will deliver the opening remarks on Feb. 23. Read more on Symposium on Global Green Cities of the 21st Century to Be Held in San Francisco…

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Symposium on Global Green Cities of the 21st Century to Be Held in San Francisco

Turning Algae and Wood Chips Into Energy Jobs

Algae Aqua-Culture Technology (AACT), a Whitefish, Montana, company, announced its receipt of a $350,000 U.S. government grant to stimulate the development of Montanas algae-to-fertilizer industry. The grant, offered under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, was awarded by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).

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Turning Algae and Wood Chips Into Energy Jobs

First Instant Solar(TM) PV System

Solomon Technologies announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Technipower LLC has installed its first Instant Solar(TM) system at its Danbury, CT headquarters. Technipower has successfully completed the development program in less than six months. Their pilot manufacturing is in the process now. This is a pre-assembled, pre-wired system. It has two solar arrays Posted in: Future Energy , Inventions , Solar Power

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First Instant Solar(TM) PV System

National Areas for Solar Energy Development Proposed In New BLM Maps

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and U.S. Senator Harry Reid today announced a series of initiatives, including proposed Solar Energy Study Areas, that would expedite the development of solar energy on public lands in the western United States. The Bureau of Land Management believes that the selected areas, which have high solar energy potential and are located near existing transmission lines and other infrastructure, have low levels of conflict with natural resources.

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National Areas for Solar Energy Development Proposed In New BLM Maps

New Texas Gulf Coast wind farm in place

Iberdrola Renewables has announced that they have completed their development of their new 202 megawatt Peascal wind farm near the Texas Gulf Coast. They also announced that they have a 15 year contract in place with CPS Energy to provide 76.8 megawatts of electricity from the wind farm to CPS Energy customers.

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New Texas Gulf Coast wind farm in place

Alternative Energy Argentina: Bringing Wind Power to Remote Areas

Max Seitz reports for the BBC that wind power is the most widespread renewable energy source in Argentina – and Patagonia in particular has extraordinary potential due to its strong and constant winds. He travelled to southern Chubut province, about 890 miles south of Buenos Aires, where wind power is making life easier for a number of isolated communities In the midst of a dark wilderness, wind-generated electricity is changing lives in the region, lighting homes and schools in remote areas. “Patagonia provides ideal conditions, unique almost, for the development of wind power,” explained Hector Mattio, Director of the Regional Centre for Wind Power (or Cree in Spanish). “We get very strong sustained winds of 11 metres per second, while in Europe they usually only reach about nine,” Mattio added. Cree – funded by the Chubut government and located in the provincial capital Rawson, near Trelew – currently has many community projects on the go to install wind generators. So far, more than 300 isolated rural villages in Chubut have received small wind turbines which provide them with light, communication and power for domestic electric appliances. A 66-year-old Araucano Indian, Julian Ibanez, welcomed us to his stone-built house. Julian owns horses and sheep but his prize possession is a three-blade, 12-metre high wind turbine with 600-watt power (the equivalent of 10 light bulbs). Like others in the region, he simply calls it the “windmill”. “They installed the windmill a while ago now and it’s changed our lives. We didn’t have electricity before, just a kerosene lamp and that was it; now we have light and we can listen to the radio.” Julian led me to a plain bedroom, where he had a fuse box attached to the wall and a 12-volt car battery, and explained how everything worked. The wind turns the windmill blades and a cable takes the energy produced into the house. The fuse box controls the voltage and battery charge. Marcos added that the electrical supply is constant – whether it comes directly from the generator or, when there is no wind, from what has been stored by the accumulator. Some dwellings have installed an inverter, a gadget to transform a 12 volt output into 220 volts – ideal for domestic appliances. Another inhabitant of the area, 30-year-old Adelino Cual, also an Araucano, had this to say: “We have electricity 24 hours a day, not just the little lamp we had before. We no longer have to buy kerosene or gas-oil. It works out cheaper for us.” The engineers had shown him how to work and maintain the generator and the fuse box: “They taught me, for example, how to change the fuses if they blow; I’ve changed them several times,” he said. And Marcos added that the idea is for those benefiting from the technology to be self-sufficient. After visiting the hamlets around about, we made our way to the heart of Chacay Oeste, which comprises a dozen or so houses and a school-shelter which accommodates some 30 pupils from neighbouring settlements. The school has been provided with six wind turbines, installed by Cree in the highest part of the town. “They provide energy for our building, for the shelter and also the teachers’ houses. During the school holidays, they are used to supply energy to the rest of the village”. Before turbines were installed, Chacay Oeste got its electricity from a petrol generator, the noise of which had become part of the landscape for the locals. “The windmills have changed things a lot for the youngsters. Now they have access to computers, and teachers can educate them through television programmes.” “Now I feel I communicate more with other people. Not like before – we were a bit unsociable,” Julian confessed after telling me that he regularly listens to the radio to find out what is going on, and that he really appreciates the Cree technicians’ visits. And at Cree they confirm that this is indeed what it is all about: The social impact the technology has had on the communities has helped to integrate them more. Full BBC Article

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Alternative Energy Argentina: Bringing Wind Power to Remote Areas

Australia: Alternative Energy Grants

Geothermal Plant From geothermal power to better batteries, millions have been spent on alternative energy research grants in Australia, according to Rod Myer writing for The Age of Australia. The AUD $23 million (approximately $17 million) spent by the Australian Federal Government under the first tranche of its $100 million (US $73m) pledge to aid the alternative energy sector has highlighted innovations by local companies to cure Australia’s fossil fuel addiction. Two companies awarded grants under the Renewable Energy Development Initiative (REDI) have developed a no-emissions alternative for base-load generation. Geodynamics received $5 million grant to help develop its geothermal electricity plant near Innamincka in the north of South Australia. Scope Energy, another betting its future on geothermal energy, received $3.9 million grant to aid development. Its principal, Roger Massey-Greene, says the grant will help finance a drilling program of 500-metre deep holes to prove up its resource. Scope plans to open a 50-megawatt plant, but Mr Massey-Greene says he hopes to see this expand to 1000 MW in the longer term. Scope has a geographic advantage, he believes. Its site is near Millicent, in the south-east of South Australia, meaning it is close to transmission lines and the population centres of Melbourne and Adelaide. “We expect the cost to be very competitive with combined-cycle gas power plants,” Mr Massey-Greene said. Scope’s geothermal technology will tap hot water heated deep in the earth and run it through a heat exchanger to generate electricity. Mr Massey-Greene likens this process to a “fridge operating in reverse”. Geodynamics’ system will pump water through hot rocks and use the resulting steam to generate power. Scope’s wells will be as deep as 4.5 kilometres. The technology that Scope is planning has been in use at a plant in Italy that has operated for 101 years, Mr Massey-Greene said. Stage one of the plant is expected to cost $4 million per megawatt to construct, compared with about $750,000 for a combined-cycle gas plant. “But we have no fuel costs,” Mr Massey-Greene said. Geothermal plants run at an output of about 98 per cent of rated capacity. Mr Massey-Green believes geothermal power has a great future. In New Zealand it provides 7 per cent of power needs and this could rise to as much as 15 per cent. Some in the market believe that Scope will float in the first half of 2006. Melbourne-based Katrix will use its $811,000 Renewable Energy Development Initiative grant to further develop its new fluid expander that may enable solar energy to be harnessed for electricity. Founder Attilio Demichelli says the expander, which does the job of a turbine, will allow solar thermal energy to be adapted for small-scale use far more cheaply than photovoltaic systems. Katrix is developing units in which solar energy will heat refrigeration fluid that will run through an expander linked to a generator to produce power. The expander is cheaper than a miniature turbine to build and has a number of advantages, including its ability to take gas or steam at 22 atmospheres (twenty two times atmospheric pressure) back to one atmosphere in one step. Katrix projects that in the Californian market once government solar energy grants are factored in its system will return its cost to consumers in two to three years, compared with 15 years for photovoltaic systems. Mr Demichelli, a private investor, and inventor Yannis Tropalis have invested over $3 million in the technology in three years. Another REDI grant, of $290,000, has gone to V-Fuel , which is developing a vanadium bromide redox battery. The funding will help develop a prototype of a battery that its promoters hope will be efficient enough to use to store power from renewable energy plants. Efficient storage would enable technologies such as wind power and solar energy to get over a bugbear unpredictability, because no one knows when the sun will shine or the wind will blow. V-Fuel principal Michael Kazacos says the grant is crucial to the company, which has raised only $400,000 up to now. V-Fuel has developed a five-kilowatt battery but is aiming to produce a 50-kilowatt prototype. That, he says, will cost $1 million, and further funding is being sought from another federal grant scheme. “There is a lot of interest in Europe,” Mr Kazacos said. “We have had offers of collaboration from there.” The battery was 85 per cent efficient, he said, and “we are aiming at having a $200-per-kilowatt production cost”. The vanadium bromide process was developed at the University of NSW by Professor Maria Skyllas-Kazacos , who is a principal of V-Fuel. according to Origin – Sliver Cells are “long, ultra thin, quite flexible & perfectly bifacial” Origin Energy received a $5 million grant to aid development of its facilities for manufacturing solar energy cells using photovoltaic sliver technology . The technology aims to cut the cost of solar energy cells by reducing silicon usage by up to 90 per cent. Sliver cells are micromachined to less than 70 microns thick with solar cell efficiency running at over 19%. Silicon is the most expensive part of a solar energy cell. Origin Energy says it costs $11,000 to fit a house with a one-kilowatt unit. This would take 20 years or more to pay itself off. However, as energy prices rise and production costs fall, this payback time will be cut. Origin Energy also owns a 19% stake in Geodynamics and offers Green Earth electricity from 100% renewable sources to Australian electricity consumers. For more green energy in Australia see the government Green Power website . Geothermal Energy: Hot Dry Rock Article in The Age on Australian Alternative Energy Grants

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Australia: Alternative Energy Grants