The completion of ten new solar panel projects across the five boroughs has effectively tripled the amount of solar power that the city creates, now up to 648 kilowatts, which is enough to power 143 households.
The ten new solar project sites have a total solar photovoltaic capacity of 428 kilowatts. In Brooklyn, the project sites include New Horizon Middle School (M.S. 442), in Carroll Gardens (which built a green roof in 2010), as well as a Department of Sanitation garage. Five other sites are in Queens, with one site in each of Manhattan, Bronx and Staten Island.
“In clean tech, New York City is leading by example and the solar projects we’ve completed will generate clean, affordable energy while cutting our carbon emissions and energy costs – goals that are central to our administration’s sustainability agenda, PlaNYC,” said Mayor Bloomberg, in a statement.
David Bragdon, Director of the Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, called the installation of the new solar panels “one example of this administration’s progress toward our PlaNYC goals to reduce our carbon footprint and encourage the development of renewable energy.”
In addition to the solar installations, federal grants helped fund other green measures, like the installation of high efficiency lighting on 12 sites throughout the city (cutting more than 917 metric tons of carbon emissions), as well as the adoption of clean vehicles, which the city says will save more than $163,000 annually.
The push for a greener future is also being felt in Windsor Terrace and Kensington, where residents recently voted to have 100 new trees planted across Dist. 39 as part of Councilman Brad Lander's participatory budgeting initiative.
2012年4月11日星期三
2012年3月4日星期日
Mesa considers solar incentives for homes, businesses
Mesa is preparing to bolster incentives to residents and businesses who want to cut their electric bills by installing solar panels.
The city’s current approach hasn’t made solar a popular option. Of the 15,000 customers in the Mesa-owned utility, only five homeowners have solar panels. But other homeowners are considering solar panels if the city offers the right incentives, said Frank McRae, Mesa’s energy resources director.
Now, Mesa doesn’t allow homeowners to get credit when solar panels produce more energy than a house consumes. The meter simply stops.
But the city is looking to have meters spin backward at time of excess energy production, which McRae said is an important financial consideration for those considering panels.
“There is more of an incentive for them,” McRae said.
Some homeowners have probably put off solar panel installation until the city allows them to get credit for that extra energy production, he said.
Mesa’s initial round of incentives will be small. It will offer rebates of $1,000 per kilowatt of solar production, with a limit of 5kW for a home and 10kW for a business. The program is capped at $100,000 of incentives, split evenly between businesses and homes.
The city will study the financial impact to avoid losing money if its solar customers begin producing large amounts of energy. After evaluating that, Mesa will look at the possibilities of industrial-level solar production.
“Then we’ll use that data to see how the city can invest in solar in larger scales, whether buying large power plants or put in our own facilities,” McRae said.
The solar program will include energy audits. It’s more cost-effective to address leaks or poor insulation than to install excess solar panels on an inefficient building, he said.
“We feel that’s really important when customers are contemplating solar to make sure they’ve done as much as possible to make sure they’re consuming energy as efficiently as possible,” McRae said.
The city’s current approach hasn’t made solar a popular option. Of the 15,000 customers in the Mesa-owned utility, only five homeowners have solar panels. But other homeowners are considering solar panels if the city offers the right incentives, said Frank McRae, Mesa’s energy resources director.
Now, Mesa doesn’t allow homeowners to get credit when solar panels produce more energy than a house consumes. The meter simply stops.
But the city is looking to have meters spin backward at time of excess energy production, which McRae said is an important financial consideration for those considering panels.
“There is more of an incentive for them,” McRae said.
Some homeowners have probably put off solar panel installation until the city allows them to get credit for that extra energy production, he said.
Mesa’s initial round of incentives will be small. It will offer rebates of $1,000 per kilowatt of solar production, with a limit of 5kW for a home and 10kW for a business. The program is capped at $100,000 of incentives, split evenly between businesses and homes.
The city will study the financial impact to avoid losing money if its solar customers begin producing large amounts of energy. After evaluating that, Mesa will look at the possibilities of industrial-level solar production.
“Then we’ll use that data to see how the city can invest in solar in larger scales, whether buying large power plants or put in our own facilities,” McRae said.
The solar program will include energy audits. It’s more cost-effective to address leaks or poor insulation than to install excess solar panels on an inefficient building, he said.
“We feel that’s really important when customers are contemplating solar to make sure they’ve done as much as possible to make sure they’re consuming energy as efficiently as possible,” McRae said.
2012年2月13日星期一
Solar panels could double as a roof
Researchers in Australia are developing a solar roof system that uses wasted energy to warm air and water.
What distinguishes the project from other systems, the researchers say, is that the solar cells are integrated into the structural makeup of a building. So instead of being attached to a roof, the system actually becomes the roof, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The system evolved from a "low carbon living" project to investigate future energy efficiency initiatives while evaluating the effectiveness of current methods of generating solar power, said the researchers from the University of New South Wales.
"Australia has this perception that we are blessed with limitless energy but by the time we have filtered it through the system and into buildings in the form of electricity, there is enormous waste. So we are gathering the data to make informed decisions about that,'' associate professor Alistair Sproul told the Herald.
If solar panels are extra-durable, the researchers say, they can serve as roofing material.
While solar cells on top of panels typically generate a significant amount of waste heat as a by-product, the researchers devised a way to harness it instead with an insulated space behind the panel, heating the air to 25 degrees Celsius.
''We want to take the building performance to the next level,'' said research leader Professor Deo Prasad.
'In the past we have had separate experts working on solar panels, on energy efficiency, water efficiency but what we are looking at now is total integration from the start.''
The researchers are investigating the possibility of manufacturing the system in Australia and said a number of firms are monitoring their research with that in mind.
''A lot of lower-tech forms of photovoltaics seem to be finding their way into countries where there are cheaper labor costs, so we want to concentrate on developing these high-tech, high-end forms,'' Prasad said.
Australia relies on coal to generate 80 percent of its electricity.
Last year, roof-mounted solar panels in Australia for the first time competed favorably against peak-priced electricity from coal-fired power stations, Asian Scientist magazine reports. Solar photovoltaic panels cost around $1.07, compared to $3.75 per watt a few years ago.
Separately, the future of southwest Queensland's proposed Solar Dawn $1.2 billion solar thermal plant appeared uncertain after it failed to meet a Dec. 15 deadline to compete financing but last week the government granted a six-month extension to its contract.
What distinguishes the project from other systems, the researchers say, is that the solar cells are integrated into the structural makeup of a building. So instead of being attached to a roof, the system actually becomes the roof, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The system evolved from a "low carbon living" project to investigate future energy efficiency initiatives while evaluating the effectiveness of current methods of generating solar power, said the researchers from the University of New South Wales.
"Australia has this perception that we are blessed with limitless energy but by the time we have filtered it through the system and into buildings in the form of electricity, there is enormous waste. So we are gathering the data to make informed decisions about that,'' associate professor Alistair Sproul told the Herald.
If solar panels are extra-durable, the researchers say, they can serve as roofing material.
While solar cells on top of panels typically generate a significant amount of waste heat as a by-product, the researchers devised a way to harness it instead with an insulated space behind the panel, heating the air to 25 degrees Celsius.
''We want to take the building performance to the next level,'' said research leader Professor Deo Prasad.
'In the past we have had separate experts working on solar panels, on energy efficiency, water efficiency but what we are looking at now is total integration from the start.''
The researchers are investigating the possibility of manufacturing the system in Australia and said a number of firms are monitoring their research with that in mind.
''A lot of lower-tech forms of photovoltaics seem to be finding their way into countries where there are cheaper labor costs, so we want to concentrate on developing these high-tech, high-end forms,'' Prasad said.
Australia relies on coal to generate 80 percent of its electricity.
Last year, roof-mounted solar panels in Australia for the first time competed favorably against peak-priced electricity from coal-fired power stations, Asian Scientist magazine reports. Solar photovoltaic panels cost around $1.07, compared to $3.75 per watt a few years ago.
Separately, the future of southwest Queensland's proposed Solar Dawn $1.2 billion solar thermal plant appeared uncertain after it failed to meet a Dec. 15 deadline to compete financing but last week the government granted a six-month extension to its contract.
2012年2月9日星期四
Will the sun save the polar bears?
Up to now the plan to fight climate change has involved a series of grimly difficult and ruinously expensive lifestyle choices and technological innovations. Vast arrays of windfarms carpeting every hill and cliff in Christendom and beyond. Unlikely Star Trek breakthroughs in nuclear fusion, tidal power, carbon capture and arrays of mirrors in space. Hydrogen fuel cells, eye-watering green taxes and the abandonment of long-haul flying and the worldwide adoption of hair shirts. What these strategies all have in common is that they are unpopular, they are expensive and they will not work.
But could a quiet, almost unnoticed technological revolution be about to tame climate change without anyone noticing it?
A fascinating report in New Scientist this week points to the price crash in electricity-generating solar panels. At the moment photovoltaic panels are frightfully dear and they do not really make much economic sense outside the tropics and subtropics. But that is changing.
Because of the economies of scale being driven by increasing demand, zero-carbon solar panel electricity in India is now cheaper than electricity from diesel generators. This is a huge deal. India has the world’s second-largest population and perhaps the world’s greatest potential for increased carbon emissions as it becomes wealthier. It now costs 8.8 rupees for one kilowatt-hour of solar electricity compared to 17 rupees for diesel – and this is without a subsidy or green tax in sight.
It is not that solar panels have got that much better, but they HAVE got a lot cheaper, costing (worldwide) about a quarter what they did in 2008. According to Jenny Chase, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, solar power is now cheaper than diesel 'anywhere as sunny as Spain'.
By 2015 solar electricity will be as cheap as grid electricity in half of the countries in the world. This is extraordinarily good news, a win-win on all counts. Solar energy is most effective in warm sunny places – exactly the places which are experiencing the highest population and economic growth. And as these places turn to the Sun more and more the panels they buy will continue to get cheaper and cheaper.
It may, astoundingly, be the case that Solar, a fairly mature and unglamorous technology, will come out of the left field and save us just when the doom-mongers say all is lost. Of course we still have the problem of transport emissions, and emissions in high-latitude nations where solar is not viable, but this little noticed economic revolution in a still pretty-obscure technology has the potential to take the sting, at least, out of the worst environmental crisis of the modern era.
But could a quiet, almost unnoticed technological revolution be about to tame climate change without anyone noticing it?
A fascinating report in New Scientist this week points to the price crash in electricity-generating solar panels. At the moment photovoltaic panels are frightfully dear and they do not really make much economic sense outside the tropics and subtropics. But that is changing.
Because of the economies of scale being driven by increasing demand, zero-carbon solar panel electricity in India is now cheaper than electricity from diesel generators. This is a huge deal. India has the world’s second-largest population and perhaps the world’s greatest potential for increased carbon emissions as it becomes wealthier. It now costs 8.8 rupees for one kilowatt-hour of solar electricity compared to 17 rupees for diesel – and this is without a subsidy or green tax in sight.
It is not that solar panels have got that much better, but they HAVE got a lot cheaper, costing (worldwide) about a quarter what they did in 2008. According to Jenny Chase, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, solar power is now cheaper than diesel 'anywhere as sunny as Spain'.
By 2015 solar electricity will be as cheap as grid electricity in half of the countries in the world. This is extraordinarily good news, a win-win on all counts. Solar energy is most effective in warm sunny places – exactly the places which are experiencing the highest population and economic growth. And as these places turn to the Sun more and more the panels they buy will continue to get cheaper and cheaper.
It may, astoundingly, be the case that Solar, a fairly mature and unglamorous technology, will come out of the left field and save us just when the doom-mongers say all is lost. Of course we still have the problem of transport emissions, and emissions in high-latitude nations where solar is not viable, but this little noticed economic revolution in a still pretty-obscure technology has the potential to take the sting, at least, out of the worst environmental crisis of the modern era.
2012年2月7日星期二
Highest Solar Panel Efficiency Achieved
The highest efficiency for a solar panel has been achieved by Alta Devices, the California-based solar company proudly announced on Monday.
The efficiency rating of 23.5 percent, meaning that the panels are able to convert 23.5 percent of energy captured from the sun into electrical output, was verified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
“This is the highest solar panel efficiency yet achieved and demonstrates Alta’s progress toward its objective of developing solar photovoltaic (PV) solutions that are competitive, without subsidies, with fossil fuels,” the company wrote in a press release.
Toward that end, Alta Device’s highest-efficiency panel was created based on an innovative, even counter-intuitive idea about how to maximize energy conversion: The panels themselves emit fluorescent light, as TPM reported in November 2011, when the research was in its earlier stages.
The idea makes sense when one considers that conventional polysilicon solar panels and cells lose energy as heat, reducing their efficiency. But when Alta’s panels lose any energy, it’s in the form of external fluorescence, which is less detrimental to the conversion process.
Back in November 2011, Alta’s panels had managed to hit an astounding 28.4-percent efficiency, approaching the maximum 33.5 percent Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit, though that was just for an individual solar cell. The full panel itself contains several cells, decreasing its efficiency slightly.
The panels themselves are made of gallium arsenide (GaAs), a byproduct of aluminum smelting combined with arsenic, a combination that is ideal for solar cell production due to the fact that it can withstand high temperatures and yet be cut extremely flexible and extremely thin, one micron thick in the case of Alta’s panels. That’s about 1/40th the thickness of a human hair, according to the company, allowing it to be used for a variety of applications, where conventional polysilicon panels can’t go.
Alta Devices itself is the result of solar technology research breakthroughs achieved at the University of California Berkeley. The company was founded in 2007 and has received venture capital funding. It plans to produce its panels for commercial use later this year.
The efficiency rating of 23.5 percent, meaning that the panels are able to convert 23.5 percent of energy captured from the sun into electrical output, was verified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
“This is the highest solar panel efficiency yet achieved and demonstrates Alta’s progress toward its objective of developing solar photovoltaic (PV) solutions that are competitive, without subsidies, with fossil fuels,” the company wrote in a press release.
Toward that end, Alta Device’s highest-efficiency panel was created based on an innovative, even counter-intuitive idea about how to maximize energy conversion: The panels themselves emit fluorescent light, as TPM reported in November 2011, when the research was in its earlier stages.
The idea makes sense when one considers that conventional polysilicon solar panels and cells lose energy as heat, reducing their efficiency. But when Alta’s panels lose any energy, it’s in the form of external fluorescence, which is less detrimental to the conversion process.
Back in November 2011, Alta’s panels had managed to hit an astounding 28.4-percent efficiency, approaching the maximum 33.5 percent Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit, though that was just for an individual solar cell. The full panel itself contains several cells, decreasing its efficiency slightly.
The panels themselves are made of gallium arsenide (GaAs), a byproduct of aluminum smelting combined with arsenic, a combination that is ideal for solar cell production due to the fact that it can withstand high temperatures and yet be cut extremely flexible and extremely thin, one micron thick in the case of Alta’s panels. That’s about 1/40th the thickness of a human hair, according to the company, allowing it to be used for a variety of applications, where conventional polysilicon panels can’t go.
Alta Devices itself is the result of solar technology research breakthroughs achieved at the University of California Berkeley. The company was founded in 2007 and has received venture capital funding. It plans to produce its panels for commercial use later this year.
2012年1月31日星期二
New Type of Inverter Could Drive Down the Cost of Solar Power
ArrayPower says that it has invented a “sequenced inverter” design that could cut the cost of solar power by 10%.
For those that don’t know what an inverter is, don’t worry, it is easy to understand and I will explain it: a typical inverter for a solar-powered home converts the DC power that solar panels generate into 120- and 240-volt AC (alternating current) power, the same as what your power outlet provides. Small solar setups often generate DC at 12 volts, and that 12 volts of DC power is converted into 120 volts of AC power, which is suitable for most household appliances, portable devices chargers, etc.
The new inverter setup mentioned above involves equipping each solar panel with a small inverter, instead of connecting all solar panels to one large inverter.
At a cost of one dollar per watt (of electricity generation capacity), commercial-scale solar panel purchases are less than one-third of the cost of the total cost of commercial solar power setups (including installation), which is $3.50 per watt, on average.
Typical solar setups suffer from lower efficiency because of the way the panels are connected, which is in series. A series connection means that electricity flows from one panel, through the other, and then the next, until it reaches the end of the circuit. When one panel is shaded, the power output of the rest of the panels is reduced because the electrical resistance of the shaded panel restricts the flow of electric current to the rest of the panels.
Each of the distributed inverters invented by ArrayPower attach to the back of each panel. They use rectifiers and transistors to boost the solar panels’ DC voltage from 60 volts to the 208 volts used on the grid. An inductor then briefly stores the current, allowing the device to emit discrete pulses of alternating current. The pulses are combined with those from a minimum of three other panels to provide three-phase AC current that is suitable for the electricity grid.
For those that don’t know what an inverter is, don’t worry, it is easy to understand and I will explain it: a typical inverter for a solar-powered home converts the DC power that solar panels generate into 120- and 240-volt AC (alternating current) power, the same as what your power outlet provides. Small solar setups often generate DC at 12 volts, and that 12 volts of DC power is converted into 120 volts of AC power, which is suitable for most household appliances, portable devices chargers, etc.
The new inverter setup mentioned above involves equipping each solar panel with a small inverter, instead of connecting all solar panels to one large inverter.
At a cost of one dollar per watt (of electricity generation capacity), commercial-scale solar panel purchases are less than one-third of the cost of the total cost of commercial solar power setups (including installation), which is $3.50 per watt, on average.
Typical solar setups suffer from lower efficiency because of the way the panels are connected, which is in series. A series connection means that electricity flows from one panel, through the other, and then the next, until it reaches the end of the circuit. When one panel is shaded, the power output of the rest of the panels is reduced because the electrical resistance of the shaded panel restricts the flow of electric current to the rest of the panels.
Each of the distributed inverters invented by ArrayPower attach to the back of each panel. They use rectifiers and transistors to boost the solar panels’ DC voltage from 60 volts to the 208 volts used on the grid. An inductor then briefly stores the current, allowing the device to emit discrete pulses of alternating current. The pulses are combined with those from a minimum of three other panels to provide three-phase AC current that is suitable for the electricity grid.
2012年1月15日星期日
When solar makes sense
The economic picture for Mechanicville is looking brighter these days, thanks to construction projects under way at GlobalFoundries and the Pan Am Southern railyard. And the city is about to get another project that could be seen as a symbol of its improved prospects, using solar energy to provide electricity for some major public buildings. It looks like a good deal for the city, which will save money while reducing its carbon footprint, as well as for Monolith Solar Associates, the company that will be supplying the equipment.
The city will get photovoltaic panels, which turn sunlight into electricity, installed on the buildings -- City Hall, the water plant, the senior center and the city garage -- at no cost. Monolith, a fast-growing company with an office in East Greenbush, will own and maintain the panels, and the city will commit to buying the power produced from Monolith.
But the power will be priced at a discount -- 30 percent less than the city is currently paying. Monolith is able to offer the power for less because it can take advantage of federal and state tax breaks for solar energy, and because it can sell any unused power -- such as that produced at off-peak times -- back to the grid. The city will be free to buy any additional power needed from its usual supplier.
The city isn't the only one to sign up with Monolith. Various businesses around the region, including DiSiena Furniture in Mechanicville and Best Fitness in Schenectady, have also had its panels installed. So has the town of Niskayuna, with a unit at Town Hall. And Schenectady County last month signed a 15-year agreement with Monolith to put panels at the library branches, jail and highway department. Schenectady County expects to save about $40,000 a year in electricity, significant but probably not enough to justify the large capital outlay needed if it were to buy and maintain the units itself.
At some point, though, it might make sense for the county and other municipalities -- even without the tax incentives available to businesses and homeowners -- to have their own solar panels. Thanks to advances in materials and processes, they are continuing to become cheaper and more efficient. And although the Capital Region doesn't get the sunlight of Texas, for instance, energy costs are higher here, so the savings per kilowatt from solar are greater.
Throw in the facts that the University at Albany's Nanotechnology College has a new $500 million solar research center, which last year received a $58 million federal grant to help it create a U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium (similar to what Sematech did for semiconductors), and that General Electric will be opening a new $600 million solar manufacturing plant in Colorado, and you can see why solar is the fastest-growing technology industry. Expect to see many more roofs and yards with solar panels, whoever owns or operates them. Municipalities will need appropriate regulations to avoid controversies like the one in Ballston over a large, free-standing solar panel.
The city will get photovoltaic panels, which turn sunlight into electricity, installed on the buildings -- City Hall, the water plant, the senior center and the city garage -- at no cost. Monolith, a fast-growing company with an office in East Greenbush, will own and maintain the panels, and the city will commit to buying the power produced from Monolith.
But the power will be priced at a discount -- 30 percent less than the city is currently paying. Monolith is able to offer the power for less because it can take advantage of federal and state tax breaks for solar energy, and because it can sell any unused power -- such as that produced at off-peak times -- back to the grid. The city will be free to buy any additional power needed from its usual supplier.
The city isn't the only one to sign up with Monolith. Various businesses around the region, including DiSiena Furniture in Mechanicville and Best Fitness in Schenectady, have also had its panels installed. So has the town of Niskayuna, with a unit at Town Hall. And Schenectady County last month signed a 15-year agreement with Monolith to put panels at the library branches, jail and highway department. Schenectady County expects to save about $40,000 a year in electricity, significant but probably not enough to justify the large capital outlay needed if it were to buy and maintain the units itself.
At some point, though, it might make sense for the county and other municipalities -- even without the tax incentives available to businesses and homeowners -- to have their own solar panels. Thanks to advances in materials and processes, they are continuing to become cheaper and more efficient. And although the Capital Region doesn't get the sunlight of Texas, for instance, energy costs are higher here, so the savings per kilowatt from solar are greater.
Throw in the facts that the University at Albany's Nanotechnology College has a new $500 million solar research center, which last year received a $58 million federal grant to help it create a U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium (similar to what Sematech did for semiconductors), and that General Electric will be opening a new $600 million solar manufacturing plant in Colorado, and you can see why solar is the fastest-growing technology industry. Expect to see many more roofs and yards with solar panels, whoever owns or operates them. Municipalities will need appropriate regulations to avoid controversies like the one in Ballston over a large, free-standing solar panel.
2011年12月15日星期四
St. Tammany turns to solar power at 2 parish buildings
Solar energy is now powering two St. Tammany Parish buildings, thanks to a federal grants.
The buildings are a pavilion at the parish headquarters on Koop Drive, and the caretaker's cottage at Camp Salmen Nature Parkin Slidell.
The solar panels and monitoring equipment have only been in place for about a month, but the early signs, according to parish leaders, point to success.
"It appears to be generating at least as much energy as we projected, if not more," said St. Tammany administrator Gina Campo.
The money for the panels came from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, stimulus money from the U.S. Department of Energy, with a goal of reducing energy usage and improving energy efficiency.
"It's been a huge, huge learning experience for everybody in all the parish departments," Campo said of the solar panel project and other aspects of the federal loan.
Campo expects that in roughly 10 years, the solar panels will repay the federal investment with energy savings.
As part of the grant, St. Tammany Parish did an energy survey of all parish facilities to gauge where money could be saved.
"It'll give us, as part of our planning process going forward, the knowledge that we've gained about how we can do things to use less energy and to save dollars for the taxpayers," Campo said.
The wall-mounted monitor is located inside the parish headquarters, and is accessible to the public during normal business hours.
It has a touch screen display that explains how the solar energy is generated and collected, and it keeps real time readings of how much energy has been collected by the solar panels.
The buildings are a pavilion at the parish headquarters on Koop Drive, and the caretaker's cottage at Camp Salmen Nature Parkin Slidell.
The solar panels and monitoring equipment have only been in place for about a month, but the early signs, according to parish leaders, point to success.
"It appears to be generating at least as much energy as we projected, if not more," said St. Tammany administrator Gina Campo.
The money for the panels came from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, stimulus money from the U.S. Department of Energy, with a goal of reducing energy usage and improving energy efficiency.
"It's been a huge, huge learning experience for everybody in all the parish departments," Campo said of the solar panel project and other aspects of the federal loan.
Campo expects that in roughly 10 years, the solar panels will repay the federal investment with energy savings.
As part of the grant, St. Tammany Parish did an energy survey of all parish facilities to gauge where money could be saved.
"It'll give us, as part of our planning process going forward, the knowledge that we've gained about how we can do things to use less energy and to save dollars for the taxpayers," Campo said.
The wall-mounted monitor is located inside the parish headquarters, and is accessible to the public during normal business hours.
It has a touch screen display that explains how the solar energy is generated and collected, and it keeps real time readings of how much energy has been collected by the solar panels.
2011年12月11日星期日
Town can lease land, school roof for solar use
The tiny coastal town of Cohasset could join the growing ranks of communities that allow private developers to install solar panels on public rooftops and land, in exchange for the promise of cheap electricity.
And while similar plans have met stiff resistance in some towns - Carver residents, for example, want a bylaw to outlaw commercial solar arrays in residential neighborhoods - the Cohasset proposal sailed through a Special Town Meeting last week.
Voters overwhelmingly agreed to allow town officials to lease both the roof of the Cohasset Middle/High School and the closed landfill for $1 a year for up to 20 years.
The plan depends on private developers taking advantage of federal tax credits and other financial perks intended to stimulate the “green’’ energy industry - as well as related state rules requiring utilities to purchase a portion of their power from renewable sources.
Few details are worked out, but Cohasset officials hope the town will be able to buy back electricity from the solar arrays at a discounted rate, and get a share of profits from power sold to the commercial electrical grid. Just how much money that could amount to, however, is unclear.
“I don’t know [how much savings there would be], to be honest,’’ said David DeGennaro, business manager for the Cohasset public schools. “It depends on how many solar panels they can throw up there [on the roof] and how the proposals come back.’’
He said engineers are working to determine whether the roof of the school could support a solar array, and what size it should be. Similar study is needed at the landfill on Cedar Street to make sure the cap wouldn’t be compromised by work at the site.
“I think it would be great,’’ DeGennaro said of the project, which was proposed by the School Committee and the town’s Alternative Energy Committee. “I just hope it works out.’’
DeGennaro said that last fiscal year the bill for electricity at the middle/high school was about $215,000. The town budgeted about $674,000 altogether on electricity this fiscal year, with about $380,000 of it for all school uses, according to Town Manager Michael Coughlin, who supports the solar project. “This is a great opportunity for the town - putting solar panels at the landfill is the type of “trash talk” that makes the taxpayers happy,” he said.
There are almost 300 solar installations on public buildings in Massachusetts, according to Kate Plourd of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. The projects vary widely in size and productivity.
In Brockton, for example, 1,400 solar panels sit on 3 acres of what was once the Brockton Gas Works. When “Brightfields’’ opened in 2006 on the once-polluted site, it was billed as the largest solar array in New England. It produces a substantial amount of electricity: 542,252 kilowatt-hours annually, according to the municipal webpage.
In Milton, voters approved leasing the roofs at four schools to Broadway Electric for solar panel installations. Work at one elementary school, the Tucker, is complete and the panels are producing electricity, according to William Ritchie, the town’s facilities director. But the project still needs a final approval before the town can use the power, he said.
The town itself installed 250 solar panels on the roofs of the Collicot-Cunningham Elementary School complex about two years ago, and that electricity is saving the town about $10,000 a year, he said. The project cost about $300,000, with 90 percent of the money coming from a state grant, he said.
Other south suburbs with solar arrays on public spaces include Braintree, Bridgewater, Dedham, Duxbury, Norwell, Quincy, Rockland, Walpole, Westwood, and Whitman.
Elsewhere, in Scituate and Easton, officials are in the process of getting private developers to build solar plants at the towns’ closed landfills. Scituate officials estimate the town could save about $200,000 a year in utility costs; Easton estimates its savings at about $225,000 annually.
Both the Scituate and Easton projects are bigger than what Cohasset is considering.
Cohasset is talking about solar arrays at the school and landfill that each would produce about 1 megawatt of electricity per hour, according to Tanya Bodell, who chairs the town’s Alternative Energy Committee. That would produce enough electricity to power about 150 homes for a year, according to Plourd.
Bodell said the size of the solar installations hasn’t been set, though. And while she hopes the town will be able to get electricity at about 25 percent of the market cost - because of government subsidies provided to the private developer - that figure also isn’t solid, she said.
Both the Cohasset Board of Selectmen and Advisory Committee endorsed the project, although the Capital Budget Committee said it couldn’t make a recommendation because it had been left out of the loop and had no information about the proposal.
Responding to a question at Town Meeting about the impact of bankruptcies in the solar industry on the project, Bodell said the town would be sure to include protections for itself in any contract.
There are many more steps to take before the plan becomes a reality, she stressed. The time frame is “long enough to do the appropriate level of due diligence, fast enough to get it done quickly, and with enough deliberation to ensure an appropriate power pricing arrangement that benefits the town,’’ she said.
And while similar plans have met stiff resistance in some towns - Carver residents, for example, want a bylaw to outlaw commercial solar arrays in residential neighborhoods - the Cohasset proposal sailed through a Special Town Meeting last week.
Voters overwhelmingly agreed to allow town officials to lease both the roof of the Cohasset Middle/High School and the closed landfill for $1 a year for up to 20 years.
The plan depends on private developers taking advantage of federal tax credits and other financial perks intended to stimulate the “green’’ energy industry - as well as related state rules requiring utilities to purchase a portion of their power from renewable sources.
Few details are worked out, but Cohasset officials hope the town will be able to buy back electricity from the solar arrays at a discounted rate, and get a share of profits from power sold to the commercial electrical grid. Just how much money that could amount to, however, is unclear.
“I don’t know [how much savings there would be], to be honest,’’ said David DeGennaro, business manager for the Cohasset public schools. “It depends on how many solar panels they can throw up there [on the roof] and how the proposals come back.’’
He said engineers are working to determine whether the roof of the school could support a solar array, and what size it should be. Similar study is needed at the landfill on Cedar Street to make sure the cap wouldn’t be compromised by work at the site.
“I think it would be great,’’ DeGennaro said of the project, which was proposed by the School Committee and the town’s Alternative Energy Committee. “I just hope it works out.’’
DeGennaro said that last fiscal year the bill for electricity at the middle/high school was about $215,000. The town budgeted about $674,000 altogether on electricity this fiscal year, with about $380,000 of it for all school uses, according to Town Manager Michael Coughlin, who supports the solar project. “This is a great opportunity for the town - putting solar panels at the landfill is the type of “trash talk” that makes the taxpayers happy,” he said.
There are almost 300 solar installations on public buildings in Massachusetts, according to Kate Plourd of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. The projects vary widely in size and productivity.
In Brockton, for example, 1,400 solar panels sit on 3 acres of what was once the Brockton Gas Works. When “Brightfields’’ opened in 2006 on the once-polluted site, it was billed as the largest solar array in New England. It produces a substantial amount of electricity: 542,252 kilowatt-hours annually, according to the municipal webpage.
In Milton, voters approved leasing the roofs at four schools to Broadway Electric for solar panel installations. Work at one elementary school, the Tucker, is complete and the panels are producing electricity, according to William Ritchie, the town’s facilities director. But the project still needs a final approval before the town can use the power, he said.
The town itself installed 250 solar panels on the roofs of the Collicot-Cunningham Elementary School complex about two years ago, and that electricity is saving the town about $10,000 a year, he said. The project cost about $300,000, with 90 percent of the money coming from a state grant, he said.
Other south suburbs with solar arrays on public spaces include Braintree, Bridgewater, Dedham, Duxbury, Norwell, Quincy, Rockland, Walpole, Westwood, and Whitman.
Elsewhere, in Scituate and Easton, officials are in the process of getting private developers to build solar plants at the towns’ closed landfills. Scituate officials estimate the town could save about $200,000 a year in utility costs; Easton estimates its savings at about $225,000 annually.
Both the Scituate and Easton projects are bigger than what Cohasset is considering.
Cohasset is talking about solar arrays at the school and landfill that each would produce about 1 megawatt of electricity per hour, according to Tanya Bodell, who chairs the town’s Alternative Energy Committee. That would produce enough electricity to power about 150 homes for a year, according to Plourd.
Bodell said the size of the solar installations hasn’t been set, though. And while she hopes the town will be able to get electricity at about 25 percent of the market cost - because of government subsidies provided to the private developer - that figure also isn’t solid, she said.
Both the Cohasset Board of Selectmen and Advisory Committee endorsed the project, although the Capital Budget Committee said it couldn’t make a recommendation because it had been left out of the loop and had no information about the proposal.
Responding to a question at Town Meeting about the impact of bankruptcies in the solar industry on the project, Bodell said the town would be sure to include protections for itself in any contract.
There are many more steps to take before the plan becomes a reality, she stressed. The time frame is “long enough to do the appropriate level of due diligence, fast enough to get it done quickly, and with enough deliberation to ensure an appropriate power pricing arrangement that benefits the town,’’ she said.
2011年10月19日星期三
Solar Firms Seek Duties in China Dumping Case
A group of U.S. solar-panel makers Wednesday called on the federal government to punish Chinese rivals with extra duties for allegedly dumping their products on the U.S. market.
Executives of SolarWorld AG, a German-based company that makes solar panels in Oregon, led the group at a news conference here, flanked by both U.S. senators from Oregon.
SolarWorld "can compete with anyone in the world," said Gordon Brinser, president of the company's U.S. unit. But, he added, "illegal subsidies in China" have prompted "the Chinese solar industry to come in and gut and own the U.S. solar industry."
One of China's top solar-panel makers, Suntech Power Holdings Co., rejected the accusations. It called SolarWorld's petition "protectionism" that could "put thousands of jobs at risk." Suntech added, "A solar trade war would deal a major blow to the global economy and to our common goal of achieving a clean energy future."
The solar battle touches on two hot debates in Washington and on the Republican presidential campaign trail: China's trading practices and the future of clean energy in the U.S. The Obama administration has blamed China in part for the demise of Solyndra LLC, the solar-panel maker that recently filed for bankruptcy after receiving $535 million in U.S. loan guarantees.
SolarWorld, one of the largest solar-panel suppliers in the U.S., recently shut down one of its Oregon facilities and laid off more than 150 workers.
The industry is struggling with soft demand in Europe—the world's largest solar market—and falling prices that executives blame on oversupply from China and other Asian countries. The difficulties have driven solar-panel company stock prices to multiyear lows.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) said that while U.S. demand for solar power has been "skyrocketing," the "American solar industry has been collapsing."
Joined by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.), Mr. Wyden said China was "cheating" by giving panel makers inexpensive loans. Mr. Merkley said Chinese government-backed banks extended $25 billion in loans to large solar-product manufacturers last year at fixed, subsidized rates.
Suntech has denied receiving special help from the Chinese government or government-backed banks.
The U.S. makers are asking the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission to impose a duty on panels imported from China, a market that totaled $1.6 billion in the first eight months of 2011. SolarWorld accused Chinese manufacturers of selling solar panels at less than half of what the production costs would be in a comparable free-market economy, and is asking for tariffs to make up the difference.
The U.S. could take a year to make a decision, though some duties could be imposed earlier on a preliminary basis.
The case includes only panels made with crystalline silicon. Some U.S. firms that use other technologies, including First Solar Inc., said they weren't involved in Solar World's petition and avoided endorsing it.
"We are a global firm, and in our experience the industry and our customers benefit most when trade is free and fair and all participants operate on a level playing field," First Solar said.
Executives of SolarWorld AG, a German-based company that makes solar panels in Oregon, led the group at a news conference here, flanked by both U.S. senators from Oregon.
SolarWorld "can compete with anyone in the world," said Gordon Brinser, president of the company's U.S. unit. But, he added, "illegal subsidies in China" have prompted "the Chinese solar industry to come in and gut and own the U.S. solar industry."
One of China's top solar-panel makers, Suntech Power Holdings Co., rejected the accusations. It called SolarWorld's petition "protectionism" that could "put thousands of jobs at risk." Suntech added, "A solar trade war would deal a major blow to the global economy and to our common goal of achieving a clean energy future."
The solar battle touches on two hot debates in Washington and on the Republican presidential campaign trail: China's trading practices and the future of clean energy in the U.S. The Obama administration has blamed China in part for the demise of Solyndra LLC, the solar-panel maker that recently filed for bankruptcy after receiving $535 million in U.S. loan guarantees.
SolarWorld, one of the largest solar-panel suppliers in the U.S., recently shut down one of its Oregon facilities and laid off more than 150 workers.
The industry is struggling with soft demand in Europe—the world's largest solar market—and falling prices that executives blame on oversupply from China and other Asian countries. The difficulties have driven solar-panel company stock prices to multiyear lows.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) said that while U.S. demand for solar power has been "skyrocketing," the "American solar industry has been collapsing."
Joined by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.), Mr. Wyden said China was "cheating" by giving panel makers inexpensive loans. Mr. Merkley said Chinese government-backed banks extended $25 billion in loans to large solar-product manufacturers last year at fixed, subsidized rates.
Suntech has denied receiving special help from the Chinese government or government-backed banks.
The U.S. makers are asking the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission to impose a duty on panels imported from China, a market that totaled $1.6 billion in the first eight months of 2011. SolarWorld accused Chinese manufacturers of selling solar panels at less than half of what the production costs would be in a comparable free-market economy, and is asking for tariffs to make up the difference.
The U.S. could take a year to make a decision, though some duties could be imposed earlier on a preliminary basis.
The case includes only panels made with crystalline silicon. Some U.S. firms that use other technologies, including First Solar Inc., said they weren't involved in Solar World's petition and avoided endorsing it.
"We are a global firm, and in our experience the industry and our customers benefit most when trade is free and fair and all participants operate on a level playing field," First Solar said.
2011年7月25日星期一
Solar Panels Cool Buildings
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, have discovered an added benefit to solar panels: In summer, they cool the buildings on which they are installed. Using thermal imaging, the scientists found that solar photovoltaic panels act like giant sun shades and that building ceilings under the panels were 5 degrees F cooler than top-floor ceilings of buildings with exposed roofs.
Reporting in the journal Solar Energy, the researchers also found that tilting the solar panels allowed for the efficient passage of air underneath, further cooling the buildings. In winter, the solar panels prevent some sunlight from warming buildings, but at night the panels trap heat and warm buildings, essentially offsetting any reduction of solar heating during the day.
Solar panels reduced the amount of heat reaching the roof by 38 percent, the study said. Overall, the study said that the energy savings from the cooling effect of solar panels amounted to getting a 5 percent discount on the price of the panels.
Reprinted with permission from Yale Environment 360.
Reporting in the journal Solar Energy, the researchers also found that tilting the solar panels allowed for the efficient passage of air underneath, further cooling the buildings. In winter, the solar panels prevent some sunlight from warming buildings, but at night the panels trap heat and warm buildings, essentially offsetting any reduction of solar heating during the day.
Solar panels reduced the amount of heat reaching the roof by 38 percent, the study said. Overall, the study said that the energy savings from the cooling effect of solar panels amounted to getting a 5 percent discount on the price of the panels.
Reprinted with permission from Yale Environment 360.
2011年6月14日星期二
Philippines stands to benefit from ADB solar energy initiative
The Philippines stands to benefit from the Asian Development Bank’s Asia Solar Energy Initiative (ASEI), which aims to help build an impressive $9-billion, 3,000-megawatt portfolio of solar power in the region over the next three years.
According to the recent ASEI primer released by the ADB, the Manila-based lender reiterated intentions of including the Philippines on the list of countries where potential projects might be implemented next year, the second year of the program.
“The Philippines has in place some manufacturing capacity for solar panels and (there are) plans to use this to develop solar energy power generation, which has been identified as a future objective,” the ADB said.
To assist the Philippines, the Clean Technology Fund had allocated $400 million as early as November 2009 for the project (Investment Plan for Philippines), which was envisioned to include 100 MW of solar power generation.
Launched in May last year, the ASEI would make available a range of projects and knowledge sharing mechanisms to attract other development banks, commercial banks and the private sector to invest in these projects.
In addition to direct financing, ASEI would set a target of raising $500 million from donor countries to bring down the high up-front capital costs of investing in solar energy and design other innovative ways to attract private sector investment.
Based on the objectives of the ASEI, solar capacity in the Asia-Pacific region was expected to reach 1,000 MW by the end of 2011 and 3,000 megawatts by the end of its third year in May 2013.
“Today, Asia and the Pacific is characterized by very high rates of economic growth, far outpacing the global average, and continuing population growth. These two factors pose a formidable challenge to ensuring access to adequate and clean energy supplies at affordable prices, especially for the region’s national governments to meet their economies’ ever-increasing energy demands,” the ADB primer stated.
“These growing pressures, coupled with climate change and energy security considerations, are now driving the region to recognize and to promote national policies for solar energy applications amid the rapid decline in solar energy generation costs,” it explained.
Fortunately, large parts of Asia and the Pacific were said to be endowed with high levels of solar insolation and have significant solar energy generation potential for both large-scale grid and off-grid applications.
“As a decentralized form of energy, solar energy holds promise in providing power to the millions of people in the region with no access to traditional energy supplies. As an added and perhaps more important benefit, rapid and sustainable development of solar energy applications in the region is key to accelerating solar energy’s global march to achieving grid parity,” the ADB added.
An ADB study projected that energy demand for Asia and the Pacific would grow by an average of 2.4 percent until 2030, more than double the world’s average over the same period.
One of the biggest challenges confronting policymakers in the region is how to provide adequate, affordable access to clean energy for a large, growing population. Added to this are issues of energy security and pricing, especially for the poorest, as well as energy delivery, especially across diverse terrain and climate conditions, according to the ADB.
“These struggles present vast opportunities for solar energy development in the region. Solar energy also offers substantial solutions to help address the energy challenges confronting Asia and the Pacific,” the ADB said.
According to the recent ASEI primer released by the ADB, the Manila-based lender reiterated intentions of including the Philippines on the list of countries where potential projects might be implemented next year, the second year of the program.
“The Philippines has in place some manufacturing capacity for solar panels and (there are) plans to use this to develop solar energy power generation, which has been identified as a future objective,” the ADB said.
To assist the Philippines, the Clean Technology Fund had allocated $400 million as early as November 2009 for the project (Investment Plan for Philippines), which was envisioned to include 100 MW of solar power generation.
Launched in May last year, the ASEI would make available a range of projects and knowledge sharing mechanisms to attract other development banks, commercial banks and the private sector to invest in these projects.
In addition to direct financing, ASEI would set a target of raising $500 million from donor countries to bring down the high up-front capital costs of investing in solar energy and design other innovative ways to attract private sector investment.
Based on the objectives of the ASEI, solar capacity in the Asia-Pacific region was expected to reach 1,000 MW by the end of 2011 and 3,000 megawatts by the end of its third year in May 2013.
“Today, Asia and the Pacific is characterized by very high rates of economic growth, far outpacing the global average, and continuing population growth. These two factors pose a formidable challenge to ensuring access to adequate and clean energy supplies at affordable prices, especially for the region’s national governments to meet their economies’ ever-increasing energy demands,” the ADB primer stated.
“These growing pressures, coupled with climate change and energy security considerations, are now driving the region to recognize and to promote national policies for solar energy applications amid the rapid decline in solar energy generation costs,” it explained.
Fortunately, large parts of Asia and the Pacific were said to be endowed with high levels of solar insolation and have significant solar energy generation potential for both large-scale grid and off-grid applications.
“As a decentralized form of energy, solar energy holds promise in providing power to the millions of people in the region with no access to traditional energy supplies. As an added and perhaps more important benefit, rapid and sustainable development of solar energy applications in the region is key to accelerating solar energy’s global march to achieving grid parity,” the ADB added.
An ADB study projected that energy demand for Asia and the Pacific would grow by an average of 2.4 percent until 2030, more than double the world’s average over the same period.
One of the biggest challenges confronting policymakers in the region is how to provide adequate, affordable access to clean energy for a large, growing population. Added to this are issues of energy security and pricing, especially for the poorest, as well as energy delivery, especially across diverse terrain and climate conditions, according to the ADB.
“These struggles present vast opportunities for solar energy development in the region. Solar energy also offers substantial solutions to help address the energy challenges confronting Asia and the Pacific,” the ADB said.
2011年6月6日星期一
GE Buys Stake In Solar Power Plant Builder eSolar, Licenses Technology
Does General Electric chief Jeffrey Immelt aim to be the new sun king?
GE made another move into the nascent solar industry on Monday, taking a stake in California solar power plant builder eSolar and licensing its technology.
The global behemoth said it will integrate eSolar’s solar thermal technology into its new 510-megawatt, high-efficiency natural gas-powered plant, the FlexEfficiency 50, which GE unveiled in May.
In April, GE said it would build the United States’ largest solar panel factory, moving to compete with industry leaders such as First Solar as well as low-cost Chinese manufacturers.
The FlexEfficiency 50 is designed to ramp up and down quickly in response to fluctuations in energy production from intermittent sources of renewable energy such as wind farms and solar power plants. GE said integrating eSolar’s technology will boost a FlexEfficiency power station’s efficiency from 61 percent to 70 percent.
“When we look at the long-term future of power generation, we see the importance of integrating natural gas and renewable energy sources in new and innovative ways to provide energy that is cleaner, more cost effective and more reliable,” Paul Browning, chief of GE’s thermal products division, said in a statement.
GE will also build standalone solar power plants that deploy eSolar’s “power tower” technology. The investment, the size of which was not disclosed, is a boost to eSolar, a Pasadena, Calif., startup founded by serial technology entrepreneur Bill Gross.
Gross and his colleagues devised algorithms and imaging technology to control thousands of small mirrors called heliostats that focus the sun’s rays on a water-filled boiler atop a tower. The heat creates steam that drives an electricity-generating turbine.
ESolar built a 5-megawatt demonstration power plant in the desert northeast of Los Angeles in 2009 and subsequently signed a deal with NRG Energy to build projects in California and elsewhere.
When eSolar was unable to obtain federal loan guarantees to finance construction of the NRG projects, the deal fell apart and NRG replaced its solar thermal technology with photovoltaic panels like those found on residential rooftops.
Gross previously told me that he never really wanted to get into the power plant business, preferring to license eSolar’s technology to deep-pocketed developers who could take on the onerous tasks of licensing and financing multibillion-dollar solar projects.
MetCap Energy Investments, a Turkish investor and power plant builder, joined GE in making the investment in eSolar. The first generation of the FlexEfficiency is designed for the European market and MetCap’s involvement could signal a move into Asian and Middle Eastern markets.
GE made another move into the nascent solar industry on Monday, taking a stake in California solar power plant builder eSolar and licensing its technology.
The global behemoth said it will integrate eSolar’s solar thermal technology into its new 510-megawatt, high-efficiency natural gas-powered plant, the FlexEfficiency 50, which GE unveiled in May.
In April, GE said it would build the United States’ largest solar panel factory, moving to compete with industry leaders such as First Solar as well as low-cost Chinese manufacturers.
The FlexEfficiency 50 is designed to ramp up and down quickly in response to fluctuations in energy production from intermittent sources of renewable energy such as wind farms and solar power plants. GE said integrating eSolar’s technology will boost a FlexEfficiency power station’s efficiency from 61 percent to 70 percent.
“When we look at the long-term future of power generation, we see the importance of integrating natural gas and renewable energy sources in new and innovative ways to provide energy that is cleaner, more cost effective and more reliable,” Paul Browning, chief of GE’s thermal products division, said in a statement.
GE will also build standalone solar power plants that deploy eSolar’s “power tower” technology. The investment, the size of which was not disclosed, is a boost to eSolar, a Pasadena, Calif., startup founded by serial technology entrepreneur Bill Gross.
Gross and his colleagues devised algorithms and imaging technology to control thousands of small mirrors called heliostats that focus the sun’s rays on a water-filled boiler atop a tower. The heat creates steam that drives an electricity-generating turbine.
ESolar built a 5-megawatt demonstration power plant in the desert northeast of Los Angeles in 2009 and subsequently signed a deal with NRG Energy to build projects in California and elsewhere.
When eSolar was unable to obtain federal loan guarantees to finance construction of the NRG projects, the deal fell apart and NRG replaced its solar thermal technology with photovoltaic panels like those found on residential rooftops.
Gross previously told me that he never really wanted to get into the power plant business, preferring to license eSolar’s technology to deep-pocketed developers who could take on the onerous tasks of licensing and financing multibillion-dollar solar projects.
MetCap Energy Investments, a Turkish investor and power plant builder, joined GE in making the investment in eSolar. The first generation of the FlexEfficiency is designed for the European market and MetCap’s involvement could signal a move into Asian and Middle Eastern markets.
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