Home: Renewable Energy News: December 2011

Renewable Energy News

DECEMBER 2011 | View archive list |

Friday 30 December, 2011

Solar Shipping Containers Help Bring Internet To Rural Africa
A reliable electricity supply can be a rare thing in some parts of Africa and access to the Internet even more so. Shipping containers turned into Internet "cafes" and powered by solar panels are helping to change this.

Thursday 29 December, 2011

Ta Ta, BP Solar - But What About Moree?
BP Solar exiting the solar panel manufacturing industry has seen India's Tata Power acquire full equity in Tata BP Solar - but what will happen to BP's major Australian project, Moree Solar Farm?

NEWSFLASH: Fire Moving Towards South Australian Wind Farm
South Australia's Country Fire Service has issued an advisory that a grass fire is burning out of control in the State's mid-north and is headed towards a major wind farm.

Gamesa To Supply Wind Turbines For Egypt Wind Farms
Spanish wind farm builder and turbine manufacturer, Gamesa, has won an international public tender to supply Egypt with 200 MW of turbines for use in wind energy projects in El-Zayt, located along the environmentally sensitive Gulf of Suez.

Wednesday 28 December, 2011

Palau Airport Goes Solar
It's not going to set any capacity records, but Palau International Airport's new solar panel array is a big deal for such a small nation and sets an example for other countries.

Wind Power A Winner In Ireland's Energy Roadmap
A new energy roadmap released by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) states the country could avoid more than 250 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 through the deployment of wind power, smart grid technology and greater uptake of electric vehicles for transport.

Tuesday 27 December, 2011

Swimming Pools Add $620 A Year To Power Bills
A recently released report from NSW's Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) help explains why households of the same size may have very different electricity bills - with one factor being the presence of a swimming pool.

Monday 26 December, 2011

Western Australia Solar Power Safety Report Questioned
An audit of a small number of home solar power systems in Western Australia carried out by EnergySafety has raised concerns about the prevalence of shoddy installation quality.

Friday 23 December, 2011

TransCanada Announces Solar Farm Acquisitions
TransCanada, the company behind the controversial proposed Keystone XL pipeline project that will transport tar sands oil to the USA, has announced the acquisition of $470 million worth of solar farm projects.

Thursday 22 December, 2011

NREL Black Silicon Patent Sold To Industry
The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) has announced it will release an exclusive patent license to its black silicon solar cell technology to Natcore Technology Inc.

Sun-Believable - Paint On Solar Cells
A team of researchers at the University of Notre Dame state they have made major inroads in creating a paint that can generate electricity from sunlight.

REC Inks 60MW Solar Panel Supply Agreement
REC Solar has been selected for a 60MW module supply agreement with German solar project developer GP Joule.

Wednesday 21 December, 2011

US Government Approves Major Wind And Solar Farm Projects
US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has announced approval of a wind farm and solar park that combined will generate enough clean electricity to power 150,000 homes.

Drop Petition Or Risk Solar Industry - CASE
The sabre rattling over the abundance of cheap solar panels on the US continues.

Google Invests In Four Solar PV Farms
Google's love affair with PV-based solar continues, with an announcement last night that the giant of search is splashing cash on solar farms to be built in California.

Tuesday 20 December, 2011

Roll To Roll Solar A Step Closer
Researchers from the University of Florida (UF) say they have achieved a milestone 8 percent efficiency record for a prototype polymer solar panel which could finally enable roll-to-roll manufacturing of cheap thin-film solar cells.

Draft Energy White Paper Gets Renewables Cost Wrong - Bloomberg
It's a good thing the Australian Government's recent Energy White Paper was a draft, because it appears they will be busy rewriting it.

Wind And Solar Power Upgrade For U.S. Stadium/Shopping Complex
A one-megawatt solar panel and additional wind energy project will build on an existing 525-kilowatt PV solar power system at a massive U.S. shopping center and stadium complex.

Monday 19 December, 2011

Like This: Facebook Friending More Renewable Energy
After a 20-month campaign by Greenpeace, online social networking giant Facebook has agreed to begin to "unfriend" coal-fired power and make the switch to renewable energy at all new data centers.

Solar Panels Still Going Strong After 25 Years
Many solar panels come with a 20 or 25 year warranty these days; but most modules haven't been installed for anywhere near that long. Will they last the distance? It's already been proven they can in real-world conditions.

Friday 16 December, 2011

Tiny Solar Cells Show Huge Promise
U.S. solar energy company Semprius has utilised funding and expertise from the Department of Energy's (DOE) Sunshot Incubator program to develop a high-efficiency solar cell less than 600 microns in diameter - smaller than the dot made by a ballpoint pen.

Solar Cell Efficiency Could Benefit From The Dark Side
Yet another technological development could significantly increase the sunlight conversion efficiency of solar cells.

Thursday 15 December, 2011

US Solar Market Records 140 Percent Growth In Q3
The U.S. solar energy market continues to go from strength to strength, achieving a record 140 percent growth rate in the third quarter of 2011.

Decentralised Energy Generation Key To Cutting Electricity Expenditure
A report from the Intelligent Grid Research Cluster (iGrid) says distributed energy generation, such as that provided by PV solar power systems, has the potential to defer or reduce expenditure on transmission and distribution networks.

Draft Energy White Paper Reactions - Solar Sold Short
Reactions to the recently released Australian Government's Draft Energy White Paper have been many and varied - and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson's enthusiasm for nuclear power didn't go unnoticed.

Wednesday 14 December, 2011

Energy Matters Video News - Episode 52 - December 14, 2011
Virginia covers the release of the Australian Government's Draft Energy White Paper, the cost of solar power often overestimated, major electricity price increases loom for Australian households and how a solar panel system can knock four years off a mortgage.

NREL Constructing Electricity Grid Simulator
The USA’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) says the American electricity grid is in dire need of a tune-up as new generation technologies such as wind and solar power come on line in greater numbers and smart meters are rolled out across the country.

Queensland's Carrara (Metricon) Stadium's Solar Halo
Said to be Australia's largest Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) project, installation of the solar panels for Queensland's Carrara Stadium (now known as Metricon Stadium) has now been completed.

Tuesday 13 December, 2011

Australian Government Releases Draft Energy White Paper
The Australian Government released its draft Energy White Paper a short time ago - a publication for public consultation that sets out a series of proposed Commonwealth Government priorities to address the challenges faced by Australia’s energy sector.

Harvesting Jet Stream Wind Energy Not Viable - And Dangerous
New findings from Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry into the nature of the jet stream that flows around the Earth’s upper atmosphere may put an end to hopes of harvesting its high-speed winds as an endless supply of renewable energy.

New Dye Boosts Solar Cell Efficiency
Researchers at North Carolina State University (NCSU) have developed a new dye that will allow dye-sensitised solar cells (DSSCs) to more efficiently harvest ambient and direct sunlight.

Monday 12 December, 2011

Cost Of Solar Power Overestimated, Performance Understated
One of the few remaining arguments about PV based solar power is its cost. It may have been a valid point just a few years ago, but many of today's studies reiterating that claim may be well out of touch.

Electricity Prices To Rise 37% - Solar Power Only A Bit Player
A report from the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) estimates residential electricity prices are projected to jump by 37 per cent in nominal terms on average by 2014. Home solar power is yet again being made a scapegoat by some media outlets, but its contribution to the overall jump in electricity costs will be minor.

Buffet Company Buys Topaz Solar Farm
News that investment guru and world’s top-five ranked richest man Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway have scooped up Topaz Solar Farm - reportedly for a song - has pushed the tale of Topaz back into the headlines.

Friday 09 December, 2011

Suntech Awarded Gigaton Prize
Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP) has been awarded the 2011 Gigaton Prize for its part in reducing carbon emissions around the world.

$1.5 Billion Clean Energy Project Proposed For South Australia
The obvious environmental concerns regarding BHP Billiton's Olympic Dam mining operations expansion aside, where will the electricity to power it come from? A proposed $1.5 billion "Clean Energy Precinct" in South Australia may address those requirements.

Nanotech Improves Organic Solar Cell Efficiency
Researchers from Yale University say improvements they have made to solar cell efficiency levels could result in less expensive, more efficient solar power systems and encourage broader use of clean energy technology.

Thursday 08 December, 2011

Arnold Schwarzenegger - Renewable Energy Leader Of The Decade
Arnie's keeping busy and back in the headlines after receiving the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) award for Renewable Energy Leader Of The Decade.

Wednesday 07 December, 2011

Energy Matters Video News - Episode 51 - December 7, 2011
Virginia covers Linkin Park's solar initiative, Qatar's massive carbon footprint, solar power systems prices in Australia drop 70% and South Africa's first concentrated PV plant power Durban climate talks.

Solar Power Can Knock 4 Years Off Your Mortgage - SEA
One way to reduce the duration of home loan repayment pain and cut a mortgage by 4 years is to go solar says the Sustainable Energy Association of Australia (SEA).

Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Could Cost $257 Billion
According to a report from Reuters, based on data from the Nikkei, it's been estimated cleaning up after the Fukushima nuclear disaster and compensation costs could be as high as 20 trillion yen - USD$257 billion.

Tuesday 06 December, 2011

Australian Rooftop Solar Power Installations 35x That Of 2008
The number of Australian households with solar panels has increased by more than 35 times over the last three years states a new report from the Clean Energy Council (CEC).

Energy Matters Raises Over $4,000 For Movember
Not satisfied with simply being experts in solar power, team members from Energy Matters turned their technical know-how towards cultivating moustaches during November, all for a good cause.

Linkin Park Spruiks Solar - Power The World
The fact 1.3 billion people around the world do not have reliable and safe access to electricity has inspired rock band Linkin Park to kick off a solar lighting initiative.

Monday 05 December, 2011

What If Fossil Fuel Based Electricity Was Free?
Free electricity can be generated by solar power; but in some places in the world, even fossil fuel based electricity is free. However, the impact on carbon emissions is staggering.

AUO Solar Panels Power South Africa's First PV Solar Farms
AU Optronics Corp. (AUO) has announced its recent completion of South Africa's first PV based solar farm project.

Thursday 01 December, 2011

Solar Power System Prices Drop 70%
Competition and global price cuts on components make it a great time for Australian households to go solar - particularly with electricity prices predicted to jump a national average of 17%.

200MW Solar Farm Project For Florida
Florida's National Solar Power has announced the inking of a deal with Hardee County, Fla. to establish a network of solar farms in the area totaling 200MW capacity.

USA's Largest Solar Rooftop Project Revived
America’s largest residential solar power project will go ahead with the company behind the initiative, SolarCity Corporation, securing financial backing from Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA Merrill).

The Floating Axis Wind Turbine (FAWT)
Offshore wind farms have traditionally been more expensive to build and maintain than their land based counterparts, but a floating axis wind turbine concept could result in a substantial cost reduction of offshore power generation.