Monday 31 August, 2009

 

• Victoria Extends Solar Hot Water Rebates
  The Victorian Government has announced an extra $10 million of funding for the Regional Solar Hot Water Rebate Scheme


• Solar Farm Opened On Queensland's Lady Elliot Island
  On Saturday, Queensland Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Kate Jones officially opened a hybrid solar farm for an eco-resort on on Lady Elliot Island, located at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef .


• Mars Rover Solar Panels Battle On
  The Mars Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have certainly exceeded all expectations in terms of performance and are testimony to how much solar power technology has evolved.

Friday 28 August, 2009

 

• Australia's New Solar Power Battlefield
  The passing of legislation that finally saw rebates for the Solar Credits program written into law coupled with decreases in prices for solar panels has been a bonanza for consumers.. and a minefield.


• First Solar Assisted Oil, Now Solar Assisted Coal
  A new project aims to prove that the heat produced by a solar farm can increase the efficiency of a coal-fired power plant while also lowering carbon dioxide emissions.

Thursday 27 August, 2009

 

• Solar Power Equals Green(er) Oil?
  Chevron Corp has teamed up with BrightSource Energy to build a solar thermal plant in California that will help extract oil from an aging oil field

Wednesday 26 August, 2009

 

• South Australia Sets Sights On Exporting Renewable Energy
  South Australian Premier Mike Rann recently unveiled a plan to see renewable energy sourced power generated in South Australia exported to the nation's eastern states.

Tuesday 25 August, 2009

 

• 200 MW Solar Farm For China
  China Longyuan Electric has commenced developed of a 200 MW solar power plant in the Golmud Desert of Qinghai, which will be the largest facility of its kind in the nation.


• Australian Researchers Help Break Solar Power Conversion Record
  Researchers from the University of New South Wales have played the key role in attaining the highest conversion efficiency for solar power, setting a new world record of 43 per cent of sunlight converted into electricity.

Monday 24 August, 2009

 

• Germany's Largest Solar Farm - 560,000 Solar Panels
  Consisting of over 560,000 solar panels and with more to come, the Lieberose solar farm being constructed in Brandenburg has become the world’s second largest solar farm and Germany’s biggest.


• Latest Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Indices
  The latest Ernst & Young Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness indices see China climbing three points in the "all renewables" index to tie with Germany, following the Chinese government's announcements of increased support for solar panel based energy production.

Friday 21 August, 2009

 

• Job Losses - The Coal Power Industry Furphy
  The jobs loss bogeyman promoted by the coal fired power generation lobby would appear to be nothing more than scare mongering. Jobs could be lost; but would be regained in other, greener industries - and far more of them.


• Australia New Zealand Solar Energy Society 47th Conference
  Solar09, the 47th annual conference of the Australia New Zealand Solar Energy Society (ANZSES,) is taking place in Townsville between September 29th and October 2nd. The conference will bring together some of the world’s leading minds and professionals from the renewable energy sector to discuss the future of solar power in Australia, New Zealand and throughout the world.

Thursday 20 August, 2009

 

• NEWSFLASH: Australia's Solar Credits Legislation (Finally) Passed
  After a couple of months of Australia's solar industry being left in the dark in regards to rebates, the Solar Credits program has finally been written into law. Thousands of Australian households, businesses and community groups will now again be able to claim substantial rebates on grid connect and off-grid solar power systems. Unlike the previous rebates scheme, Solar Credits are not means-tested.


• Australia's Renewable Energy Target Legislation - Update
  After an excruciatingly long debate in the Senate late yesterday afternoon that dragged on well into the evening, Australia's Renewable Energy Target legislation is yet to be passed, but is expected to later today.


• Suntech Pluto Breaks Solar Panel Efficiency Record
  Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. has announced that it has set a new world record conversion efficiency of 15.6% with a polycrystalline panel incorporating its Pluto technology, surpassing the record set by Sandia National Labs 15 years ago.

Wednesday 19 August, 2009

 

• Australia's Renewable Energy Target - Green Coal?
  Now that coal seam gas has been included in Australia's Renewable Energy Target (RET), it seems that other fossil fuel sectors want a piece of the action too.


• More Aussie Solar Powered Air Conditioning Innovation
  The Australian Government earlier this month announced funding of over $450,000 from its Climate Ready program to a local company to build a solar desiccant air cooler expected to be up to 12 times more power efficient than traditional air conditioning systems.

Tuesday 18 August, 2009

 

• Sharp Powers Italy's Largest Solar Farm
  The largest solar farm in Italy has recently been completed. The Montalto di Castro (Viterbo) project boasts 6 MW of installed solar panel capacity.


• Australia's Renewable Energy Target Bill Passes House Of Reps
  After being decoupled from the Australian Government's failed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), the Renewable Energy Target bill was passed in the House of Representatives last night.

Monday 17 August, 2009

 

• Australian Solar Credits Update
  While the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme was defeated in Australia's Parliament last week, there was no rest for politicians on the weekend as they scrambled to negotiate a decoupling of the Renewable Energy Target legislation contained within the CPRS.


• Rooftop Solar Panels Decrease Power Line Costs
  California has set a target of obtaining 33% of the its electricity from renewables by 2020. Some of that energy will come from interstate projects, meaning that billions will need to be spent on transmission infrastructure. Rooftop solar can help reduce those costs.

Friday 14 August, 2009

 

• Australia's Solar Power Rebates Reinstated Next Week?
  Australia's Prime Minister and Climate Change Minister have been called upon to commence discussions regarding passing the Renewable Energy Target legislation component of the failed CPRS bill on Monday; which would allow for funding for the Solar Credits program to finally become available.

Thursday 13 August, 2009

 

• NEWSFLASH: Australia's Solar Industry Screwed... Again
  Solar power supporters and the Australian solar industry have been once again left in the dark after today's voting down of ETS legislation.


• Suntech To Lead Solar Panel Production
  Suntech has been predicted to topple Q-Cells to become the world's leading producer of crystalline cells for solar panels in 2009.

Wednesday 12 August, 2009

 

• Clean Coal A Water Hog
  A report prepared for the Australian Government has warned that coal-fired power plants incorporating carbon capture and storage (CCS) could be one-quarter to one-third more water intensive.


• ACT Greens Push For Mandatory Solar Hot Water
  The ACT Greens will be tabling a bill to make it mandatory for all new houses in the nation's capital to have solar hot water, heat pump or efficient gas hot water systems.

Tuesday 11 August, 2009

 

• USA's First Solar Tower Unveiled
  eSolar, a U.S. solar thermal power company, last week unveiled its 5-megawatt (MW) Sierra SunTower solar power plant; heralding what it says is the beginning of a new era for solar energy in the nation.


• North Carolina Wind Power Controversy
  The North Carolina State Senate has moved to ban large wind turbines from the western ridgelines throughout the state.

Monday 10 August, 2009

 

• Australian Push For Fully Solar Schools
  An Australian public policy think-tank has urged the NSW Government to consider investing approximately $40 million a year over three years to convert its public primary schools to 100% solar power.


• Solar Panel Industry Outlook
  Solar panel inventory levels may ease towards the end of 2009 and the market is see the beginning of recovery, according to Navigant Consulting.

Friday 07 August, 2009

 

• Obama's $1.5 Billion Battery Boost
  US President Barack Obama yesterday announced $1.5 billion in grants to go to USA based manufacturers to produce hi-tech batteries, components and to expand battery recycling capacity.

Thursday 06 August, 2009

 

• Spinning Batteries - Flywheel Energy Storage
  Flywheels are an alternative to deep cycle batteries or molten salt for storing energy that can be transformed into electricity. Flywheel energy storage works by accelerating a rotor (flywheel) to incredibly high speeds and maintaining the energy in the system as rotational energy, which is converted back by slowing down the flywheel.


• Global Peak Oil In 10 Years - IEA Sounds Alarm
  Dr Fatih Birol, the chief economist at the International Energy Agency (IEA), sounded an alarm that global oil production is likely to peak in around 10 years; far earlier than most governments had foreseen.

Wednesday 05 August, 2009

 

• New Power Inverter Efficiency Record Set
  The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Germany has set a new world record of 99.03 % efficiency for inverters used in solar energy systems. 


• Walmart Moves Closer To 100% Renewable Energy
  The world's largest public corporation by revenue, Walmart, is moving closer to achieving its stated goal of 100% renewable energy with the recent announcement to install rooftop solar power systems on five of its stores in Puerto Rico; with the potential for 23 stores over five years.

Tuesday 04 August, 2009

 

• China's wind power capacity doubles
  In just the first 6 months of this year, China's installed wind power capacity increased to 11.81 gigawatts, more than double the amount of the previous year.


• USA Wind Power Capacity Approaches 30 Gigawatts
  The US wind power industry installed 1.2 gigawatts of new capacity in the second quarter of 2009, bringing the total added this year to just over 4 gigawatts - 1.1 gigawatt more than the amount added to the end of June in 2008.


• Energy Matters At The NAB's Mini-Environmental Expo
  Energy Matters will be attending the National Australia Bank Environment Expo; showcasing renewable energy and energy efficiency information to over 5,000 South Australian and New South Wales NAB employees.

Monday 03 August, 2009

 

• USA's Largest Rooftop Solar Array
  Fedex announced last week the construction of the nation’s largest rooftop solar power system at its distribution hub in Woodbridge, New Jersey.


• Solar Power - From Dumpsters?
  Any space exposed to the sky is fair game for solar panel coverage these days it seems - including dumpster storage areas.

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