Shell, Drax Named Preferred Bidders for $1.5 Billion CCS Funding

The U.K. selected two projects led by companies including Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) andDrax Group Plc (DRX) as preferred bidders for 1 billion pounds ($1.5 billion) of funding forcarbon capture and storage.

The Peterhead project in Aberdeenshire, Scotland by Shell and SSE Plc (SSE) was selected along with the White Rose venture in northern England by Drax, Alstom SA (ALO) and BOC Group Ltd., according to a statement on the Department of Energy and Climate Change website. The projects were chosen from among eight original bids last year.

The government wants to spur a carbon capture industry by the 2020s by supporting commercial operations that bury emissions under the seabed. The plans appeared to falter after British CCS projects missed out on a first round of European funding and a first attempt at the 1 billion-pound contest failed in 2011.

“Today’s announcement moves us a significant step closer to a carbon capture and storage industry,” Energy Secretary Ed Davey said in the statement.

DECC will make an investment decision to build “up to two” projects in early 2015, with facilities slated for operation from 2016, according to the statement. The department plans to agree on contracts to carry out early engineering and design studies for the projects by summer.

Capture Power Ltd., the CCS venture comprising Drax, Alstom and BOC, said in a separate statement it will get government funding for preliminary engineering work for carbon capture at a coal-fired power station at the Drax site near Selby in northern England.

Shell and SSE plan to fit equipment to trap 90 percent of the emissions from the Peterhead power station in what would be the world’s first commercial CCS demonstration at a gas-fired plant, for storage in the depleted Goldeneye gas reservoir offshore Scotland.

“The government’s decision sends a strong signal of support for the role of gas in meeting the rise in global energy demand,” Ed Daniels, chairman at Shell U.K., said in a separate statement.

Warren Buffett In $2 Billion Solar Deal

Warren Buffett In $2 Billion Solar Deal

Making a big bet on solar energy, Warren Buffett’s MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company has acquired two SunPower solar photovoltaic power plant projects inCalifornia for between $2 billion and $2.5 billion,
the companies said Wednesday.

The adjacent Antelope Valley Solar Projects will be
built in Los Angeles and Kern counties and will generate
579 megawatts of electricity for utility Southern
CaliforniaEdison. At peak output that’s the equivalent
of a big fossil fuel power plant.

SunPower, the Silicon Valley solar panel manufacturer
and developer, will build and operate the projects for
MidAmerican Renewables, a division of
MidAmerican Energy, which is controlled by
Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.

“We are excited about these projects because they
support our core business principle of environmental
respect,” Bill Fehrman, president of MidAmerican
Renewables, said in a statement. “We are very proud
to add SunPower technology to our portfolio of projects,”

It’s just the latest solar deal for Buffett. MidAmerican
Energy also owns the 550-megawatt Topaz Solar
Farms built by First Solar in San Luis County, Calif.,
and holds a 49% stake in a 290-megawatt solar power
plant in Yuma, Ariz.

Construction of the Antelope Valley Solar Projects is
set to begin this year with the power plants going online
at the end of 2015.

Next-Gen Solar Cells Receive Efficiency Boost from Graphene

Solar Ink can be sprayed on any surface 

Graphene, a greatly promising new nanomaterial, may be able to substantially boost the efficiency of the next generation of solar panels, according to new research from Michigan Technological University.

Graphene is a two-dimensional, one-atom-thick honeycomb of carbon atoms. It’s a much-hyped material because of its unique and radical properties, potentially allowing for great innovation and improvements in efficiency across a wide variety of fields. CleanTechnica has posted numerous stories on graphene in recent years.

One of its most interesting properties is its electrical conductivity, which could make it an important part of the next generation of photovoltaic (PV) solar cells.

Dye-sensitized solar cells use common and relatively inexpensive materials, making them cheaper than solar cells based on silicon and thin-film technologies. But they do not work as well as silicon-based cells at converting light into electricity.

“In dye-sensitized solar cells, photons knock electrons from the dye into a thin layer of titanium dioxide, which relays them to the anode. The researchers found that adding graphene to the titanium dioxide increased its conductivity, bringing 52.4 percent more current into the circuit.”

 

“The excellent electrical conductivity of graphene sheets allows them to act as bridges, accelerating electron transfer from the titanium dioxide to the photoelectrode,” said Yun Hang Hu, a professor of materials science and engineering.

The researchers also created a “comparably foolproof method for creating sheets of titanium dioxide embedded with graphene. It first made graphite oxide powder, then mixed it with titanium dioxide to form a paste, spread it on a substrate (such as glass) and then baked it a high temperatures.”

“It’s low-cost and very easy to prepare,” said Hu. But not just any recipe will do. “If you use too much graphene, it will absorb the light in the solar cell and reduce its efficiency,” he said.

The researchers presented a talk on their work, “Graphene for Solar Cells,” at the US-Egypt Joint Workshop on Solar Energy Systems, held March 12-14 in Cairo. It was funded by the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund and the National Science Foundation.

Altaeros balloon boosts wind turbine power

A prototype of Altaeros Energy's high-altitude wind turbine in Maine.

(Credit: Altaeros Energy)

Startup Altaeros Energy is going up for more energy.

The company yesterday said it has successfully tested a prototype of its
airborne wind turbine, which is a traditional small wind turbine enclosed
in an inflatable shell. The Boston-based company is seeking to partner
with others to build and test a commercial-scale turbine.

Altaeros Energy is one of a few companies developing systems to
capture the stronger and steadier winds at high altitudes.
Others include Makani Power, Joby Energy, and Windlift.

For its prototype test in Maine, Altaeros Energy placed a Southwest
Skystream turbine, which is normally placed on a pole, inside a helium-filled shell.
The entire machine is tethered by a cable which transmits electricity
and was lifted to 350 feet.

At that height, the Skystream turbine produced more than twice the
power than a typical tower-mounted one, according to Altaeros Energy.
The prototype test also automatically hoisted and lowered the
airborne turbine, which was attached to a towable trailer.

"Modern inflatable materials can lift wind turbines into more
powerful winds almost everywhere -- with a platform that is cost
competitive and easy to setup from a shipping container,"
CEO Ben Glass said in a statement. The technology is designed
to capture wind over 1,000 feet, he added.

Altaeros Energy is going after a very specific market with its first-generation
product of locations that rely on diesel generators.
That could include military bases or remote off-grid industrial sites or villages.
Longer term, it hopes to deploy its inflatable turbines offshore.

The shell itself was made by a sail-making company and the l
auncher was converted from industrial blimps called aerostats used
 for heavy communications and radar equipment.

Geothermal Energy Market worth $12.94b

"The Geothermal Energy Market to be Worth $12.94bn in 2012" According to New Visiongain Report As traditional fossil fuel energy sources dwindle and increase in price, renewable energies become a more attractive prospect and more cost competitive. Geothermal energy, whether used to produce electricity by driving a turbine, or used directly for heating, has considerable potential for growth due to its ability to consistently deliver energy. This new report explains how the market will develop as a multi-billion dollar sector, revealing geothermal energy developments throughout the world and including regional or country specific forecasts and analysis for both the electricity and direct use parts of the market. This report covers all the major companies involved in the industry and includes the latest contract developments, newest partnerships and the most significant technological advances. A wealth of data is analysed to provide a clear breakdown of how the geothermal energy market will develop over the next ten years. The report includes 158 tables and graphs quantifying the geothermal energy market in detail, and includes two original interviews with companies involved in geothermal energy. In addition, the report provides a SWOT analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the market over the next ten years, and offers profiles of 23 leading companies involved in the geothermal energy industry. The various drivers and restraints of the market are evaluated in order to provide readers with specific insights into the future direction of the geothermal energy market. This visiongain energy report will be valuable to those already involved in the geothermal energy market or to those wishing to enter this important market in the future. For sample pages and further information concerning the Visiongain report The Geothermal Energy Market 2012-2022 please visit: www.visiongain.com/Report/838/The-Geothermal-Energy-Market-2012-2022 For an executive summary of this report or to order it today, please contact: Email: Sara Peerun on sara.peerun@visiongainglobal.com Tel: +44 (0) 20 7336 6100 About visiongain Visiongain is one of the fastest growing and most innovative independent media companies in Europe. Based in London, UK, visiongain produces a host of business-2-business conferences, newsletters, management reports and e-zines focusing on the Energy, Telecoms, Pharmaceutical, Defence, Materials sectors. Visiongain publishes reports produced by its in-house analysts, who are qualified experts in their field. Visiongain has firmly established itself as the first port-of-call for the business professional, who needs independent, high quality, original material to rely and depend on.

A Wave Power Generator with a Twist: It Generates Electricity On Dry Land

By Nicholas Brown On January 31, 2012 — Leave a Comment

A relatively new* type of reciprocating wave-powered electricity generator called Searaser has been developed and is moving forward. Searaser, acquired by Ecotricity, is not a typical wave power plant.

The first peculiarity is that it does not generate electricity out at sea. Due to the fact that waves move up and down in the ocean, they can continuously move a float attached to a reciprocating pump that can pump water through a water-powered onshore electricity generator for the sake of keeping the electrical parts of the system out of the water.

As Damian Carrington of The Guardian notes, its is a bit like an aquatic “bicycle pump.”

Searaser Skips the Challenges of Ocean- or Sea-Based Electricity

“If you put any device in the sea, it will get engulfed in storms, so it all has to be totally sealed,” the inventor, Alvin Smith, says. ”Water and electricity don’t mix – and sea water is particularly corrosive – so most other devices are very expensive to manufacture and maintain.”

Ecotricity founder, Dale Vince, claims: “We believe Searaser has the potential to produce electricity at a lower cost than any other type energy, not just other forms of renewable energy but all ‘conventional’ forms of energy too.”

A prototype of the Searaser has already been tested successfully.

Where the Idea for Searaser Came From

Smith’s Searaser idea has fun but simple origins, as so many great technologies do. “The idea of Searaser came to Smith when he was playing with a ball in his swimming pool and felt the energy released when the ball bobbed to the surface,” Carrington writes. “He said the device has the advantages of being extremely simple – like a bicycle pump – contains no lubricating or hydraulic oil, and is not a rigid structure and so can go with the flow in heavy seas.”

Another benefit of the system is that the energy produced could be stored in reservoirs and released for later use, helpful given the increasing amount of intermittent renewable energy going on the grid.

Wave-powered generators are a member of the family of hydroelectric power plants, which all use the movement of water to generate electricity. But it’s obviously a bit different than the hydroelectric power technologies you’re used to, isn’t it?

Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/15tYS)

Wave power: worth another look. And another, and another…

Much like nuclear fusion, wave power always seems to be at least ten years away.

The basic idea of using ocean waves to produce electricity may be simple, but the execution isn’t. The sea has a tendency to thrash the devices we stick in it, including tethered buoys that generate electricity as they bob up and down.

But a study released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Energy suggests wave power remains a dream worth pursuing. Especially in California.

Wave power devices stationed along California’s long coastline could generate up to 166 terawatt hours of electricity per year, according to the study, if those devices were placed in the water above the outer continental shelf. Wave power buoys would generate a little less, about 129 terawatt hours, if stationed above the inner continental shelf, in waters no more than 50 meters deep.

For comparison, the United States as a whole uses 4,000 terawatt hours of electricity each year, according to the Energy Department. The California Independent System Operator, which manages the electricity grid for 80 percent of California, says its territory uses about 225 terawatt hours per year.

“The takeaway message here is, it is a resource worth considering and worth doing more work on,” said Hoyt Battey, with the Energy Department’s water power program. “For the West Coast in particular — for those states — it could be a significant contribution.”

Tidal power too could benefit the state, although not to the same degree.

A related study released by the Energy Department on Thursday looked at the energy-generating potential of harnessing ocean tides at key “hotspots” across the United States, including the Bay Area’s Golden Gate. Using underwater turbines to tap the Gate’s strong tidal currents was a pet project of former Mayor Gavin Newsom. It went nowhere.

The Energy Department estimates that Golden Gate tides could generate a maximum of 178 megawatts of energy. A megawatt is a snapshot figure, roughly equal to the amount of electricity used by 750 typical homes at any given moment.

While it isn’t trivial, 178 megawatts is far less electricity than many of the large solar power plants under construction in California will be able to generate.  It also pales in comparison to the 18,239 megawatts of tidal power that Alaska’s Cook Inlet could produce, according to the Energy Department study.

“What we have heard from developers and experts who’ve looked at the Golden Gate is it’s somewhat marginal — on the fence — in terms of development,” Battey said. “That’s not to say it couldn’t be developed at some point.”