Saturday, December 31, 2011

Presentations

BELECTRIC once again leading the global EPC market for solar PV systems


In 2011, BELECTRIC (Kolitzheim, Germany) is once again the global market leader in development and construction (EPC) of ground-mounted solar power plants and roof-mounted photovoltaic (PV) systems.
For the second year in a row, BELECTRIC has installed more photovoltaic power around the world than any other company in the industry. This is the result of an analysis of the photovoltaic market conducted by Solarpraxis AG in collaboration with the iSuppli market research company ('photovoltaic' magazine 12/2011).
391 MW installed world-wide
Across all continents, 62 solar power plants were constructed in addition to a multiplicity of large-scale roof-mounted photovoltaic systems, photovoltaic greenhouse systems and photovoltaic car park systems with a total output of 391 MW.
BELECTRIC pursues a sustainable and innovative strategy, the company emphasizes. The development of the company and its products focuses on the customers and their satisfaction in every stage of project planning and realization.
In-house project planning, manufacturing of system components
With 2,000 employees in 15 countries, BELECTRIC's leading position on the market is primarily due to full integration and in-house project planning. Nearly all system components (BOS), such as substructures and cable systems, are manufactured in house, enabling perfect adaptation of the system design and construction processes, which in turn results in reduced costs per generated kWh (LCOE) in the long run and high-quality results.
The high degree of flexibility in all working procedures allows BELECTRIC to construct all ground-mounted solar power plants within the specified time frame.
Independent rating from Creditreform further proofs BELECTRIC's market leadership
Another aspect that ensures the company's success is its exceptionally strong financial position, BELECTRIC accentuates. With an equity ratio of 60% and a high credit limit, BELECTRIC is viewed as one of the most reliable partners by investors and banks responsible for project financing. At an index of 122, the independent rating from Creditreform is further proof of BELECTRIC's market leadership.
“Thanks to its reliability and quality, BELECTRIC has enjoyed a cooperative partnership with all its investors, banks and land owners for many years.” emphasises Martin Zembsch, CSO BELECTRIC Solarkraftwerke GmbH.
Europe's largest thin-film ground-mounted solar power plant located boasts an output of almost 70 MW
A documented example of this strength is the 100 million euro project financing of Europe's largest thin-film ground-mounted solar power plant located in Alt Daber, Brandenburg. The plant boasts an output of almost 70 MW. Investor is CommerzReal from Düsseldorf, a company of the Commerzbank AG.
The project financing was operated in cooperation with the Bavarian State Bank. The CFB 179 Fund, prize winner of the Scope Awards 2011, has owned 9 power plants from BELECTRIC with an output of almost 122 MW.
When it comes to modules, BELECTRIC relies on the expertise and years of experience of First Solar and Solar Frontier. Both companies are financially stable and produce modules on the basis of long-term planning.
CEO Bernhard Beck: German companies to be trendsetters for the worldwide transformation of energy production
In 2012, BELECTRIC will use its innovative force to anchor solar power more firmly across the globe, the company announces. With entry into further international markets, the company is represented in all global growth regions. Bernhard Beck, CEO BELECTRIC Solarkraftwerke GmbH, also places the focus on the decisive role played by the German market: "We are confident that new technologies such as the integrated grid stability of the 2.0 MegaWattBlock and energy storage solutions will help to reduce the costs of the energy turnaround, make it more effective and render part of the grid extension obsolete. Germany and its companies must assume the role of trendsetters for the worldwide transformation of energy production." That's why BELECTRIC will continue to implement its projects on the German market in 2012 with a focus on efficiency.

National seminar on eco-friendly crop protection


In recent years, there has been renewed interest in popularizing organic and consumer-safe pest management technologies, to cater to organic and export-focus cultivation of crops in India.
Need for promotion
A national seminar on Biotechnological approaches in organic and eco-friendly crop protection towards promoting knowledge transfer and technology awareness was organised recently by the Sun Agro biotech research centre (SABRC) and the Department of Zoology, University of Madras in Chennai.
The event was inaugurated by Dr. P. Murugesa Boopathy, Vice Chancellor, Tamil Nadu agricultural University.
He exhorted the scientific community to keep constantly reminding themselves of the need to keep evolving strategies and fine-tuning agro-technologies, so as to be able to provide assured and adequate food to the growing population.
Need for support
He also emphasized the need to adequately support the organic farming communities with appropriate technologies, especially eco-friendly pest control options to be available at farm level.
He further pointed out the potential for public-private R&D collaboration as a vital link in catering to consumer-safe produce by promoting organic technology products like biopesticides and pheromone trapping systems.
Dr. J. Kannaiyan, President, Sun Agro Biotech Research Centre (SABRC), in his introductory remarks informed the delegates that SABRC is a technocrats-founded consortium, devoted to supporting R&D in developing eco-friendly agro products, and has been recognized by Govt. of India - Department of Scientific &Industrial Research (DSIR) as an approved centre for scientific and industrial R&D.
Past initiatives
He also recalled the past initiatives of SABRC in convening two such national seminars earlier in the last five years, with focus on organic and eco-friendly pest management technologies .
Dr.E.I. Jonathan, Director, Centre for Plant Protection Studies (CPPS), TNAU in his inaugural lecture spoke on the recent success of biological control of papaya mealy bug in the state.
He explained that this successful campaign for mass production and field release of the imported bioagent was an outstanding success story in biological pest control at national level. About 60 experts from several ICAR institutes and other Universities participated.

Worrying Effects Of Pollution In Bangalore

Of the over 200 lakes in and around Bangalore, only 12 have remained unpolluted, A.S. Sadashivaiah, Chairman of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) said.
The unchartered growth of electroplating industry over the years has been one of the reasons for pollution of water bodies, and the chromium concentration has increased in the groundwater, he said while speaking at the International Conference on ‘Bioremediation and Environmental Management and Polar Science and Technology'.

India unlikely to follow new Japan N-power pricing model


In what could influence how governments calculate the cost of producing nuclear power, Japan has begun adding societal factors, such as the price of dealing with nuclear accidents, sharply inflating the bill.
Experts say India is unlikely to follow Japan’s model, but it could give ammunition to detractors of nuclear-generated power in the country.
Undated Undated handout of Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS) in Thane district of Maharashtra . AFP
A government body in Japan has said in a recent reportthat the cost of producing nuclear power in that country is now about 50% more than in 2004.
The added cost has resulted from including “the price of dealing with nuclear accidents and policy costs related to the government’s budget”, it said.
While there was no official comment from India’s nuclear establishment, a senior official, who didn’t want to be identified, said the country was unlikely to adopt the method—of incorporating the risk of nuclear plants into power generation costs.
The Japanese government agency that oversees energy and environment policy has estimated the per-unit cost of nuclear power at 8.9 yen (nearly Rs6)—significantly higher than the 5.9 yen estimate for 2004.
Factoring in the possibility of a core meltdown—because of the March accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station after a tsunami struck—societal costs were included for the first time.
The cost of producing nuclear power in India varies from as much as 90 paise a unit from the country’s oldest plants at Tarapur, Maharashtra, to Rs3.02 a unit, according to Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd, which operates 18 such plants.
Thermal power, the most ubiquitous source of electricity in India, costs between Rs2 and Rs4 a unit.
Detractors of nuclear power have maintained that the enormous cost of setting up a nuclear plant and concerns over radiation dwarf its low running cost and minimal emissions.
Additional factors such as the one used by the Japanese government could bring the per-unit cost closer to the cost involved in generating solar and wind power, and could open another line of attack for campaigns that demand a halt to nuclear plant expansion in India, according to analysts.
“We cannot follow Japan’s yardstick. Different accidents have varying levels of risk and our disaster management laws already make a provision for the funds required towards mitigating damage,” said an official at Nuclear Power Corp. “That can’t be rationally factored in in advance.”
Through the past year, India has seen roiling controversy over forthcoming nuclear power projects at Jaitapur in Maharashtra and Koodankulam in Tamil Nadu significantly influenced by the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi.
Japan saw a series of nuclear reactors destruct and release copious—but harmless—radiation in the aftermath of the tsunami.
“As the Japan report shows, nuclear energy there is still cheaper than wind or geothermal,” said Sandeep Tripathi, a nuclear policy analyst, “But this could certainly lead to fresh questions of whether societal costs ought to be included in nuclear power costing.”
India produces about 4.7 billion watts of nuclear electricity and has announced plans for facilities for 14 billion watts in its forthcoming 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17).

Renewable energy certificate prices hit new high in Dec



This month's trading (today) in renewable energy certificates touched a new high, both in volumes and in prices. As many as 1,11,621 RECs were traded on the two exchanges – Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) and Power Exchange of India Ltd (PXIL).
IEX accounted for 95 per cent of the trading and saw the number of RECs traded on it cross the 100,000-mark —105,942 RECs were traded on the exchange today.
On the price front, the average prices were Rs 2,950 a REC on both the exchanges. In November trading, a little over 105,000 RECs were traded for an averge price of Rs 2,900 on the IEX and Rs 2,800 on PXIL.
RECs are generation-based ‘certificates' awarded (electronically, in demat form) to those who generate electricity from renewable sources such as wind, biomass, hydro and solar, if they opt not to sell the electricity at a preferentially higher feed-in tariff.
These certificates are trade-able on the exchanges and are bought by ‘obligated entities', who are either specified consumers or electricity distribution companies. These obligated entities may be either required to purchase a certain quantum of either green power or RECs.
Trading in RECs happen on the last Wednesday of each month.
Cleared volumes have been picking up month after month. In September, 46,363 RECs were traded, which was more than twice as much as in the previous month.
In October, the number rose to 95,504, and to 105,000 in November.
Up till now, close to 220,000 RECs have been issued, which means that half the available certificates only got traded.
“The price hike has been very marginal, which reflects that the prices are very near to their maturity,” says Mr Vishal Pandya, Director, REConnect Energy Solutions, a consultancy that specialises in facilitating REC trading.
“The future market movement will depend heavily upon how the new demand shapes up as next month onwards we can expect additional supply of RECs coming into the market,” Mr Pandya told Business Line today.
Courtesy: THE HINDU

'Wind power market faces tough 2013'

Copenhagen: The wind turbine market faces a difficult 2013 even if a US incentive scheme known as the Production Tax Credit (PTC) is extended beyond its end-2012 expiry date, Denmark-based MAKE Consulting said in a research note.
Uncertainty about whether the tax credit will be extended or replaced with something else has led to a rushed 2011 and 2012 wind farm building cycle, while new development plans for 2013 have plummeted, MAKE said.
The wind industry will see precipitous drops in 2013 installations without a PTC, MAKE said in an abstract of a note for paying customers entitled, US market eyes policy cliff.
But even if a PTC is extended, the market impact is likely to be muted due to more challenging macro-economic conditions - basic demand conditions remain weak and natural gas futures remain low, it said. Even with a PTC, 2013 will not be the boom market of PTC years past.

Solar-powered sprayer that solves many problems

One need not be a genius to develop any commonly used devices. Take the case of the humble yet important knapsack manual sprayer (hung on the shoulders).
Though many models are available on the shelves, priced at different rates, most of them last for only a few years.
“Regularly filling them with water, pesticides and fuel (in case of fuel operated ones) makes it difficult to lift and hang them on the shoulder. After an hour of spraying, the weight of the machine creates a backache and shoulder pain for farmers,” says Mr. David Raja Beleau, Assistant Director of Horticulture Kadayam, Tamil Nadu, who developed a solar powered battery operated sprayer for farmers.

Big effort:
In the commonly available ones, the user needs to exert a lot of effort to push the lever up and down to create the pressure to spray.
Sometimes when the pressure becomes uneven, the nozzle gets blocked and the farmer has to spend time to rectify it.
“Being a farmer and working among them for long years, I decided to make some alterations in the existing design and fitted solar panels and a battery unit to it.,” says Mr. David.
An electric motor operated by a 12 volt 7 Amp rechargeable battery, powers the sprayer which has a capacity of 16 litres.
Once charged during the night, it can be operated for nearly eight hours and there is no need for petrol or any other fuel to operate the device.
While spraying in the field, the battery can be further charged by switching on the solar power system attached to the sprayer.
The solar panel is attached to a helmet and connected to the battery.

Minimizes drudgery:
“The sprayer not only minimizes the drudgery of the work but is also more effective than the conventional ones.
“Since villages still get electricity for a short time, that too during odd hours, this solar sprayer just might be the answer,” explains Mr. David.
The solar power system in the sprayer can also facilitate lighting of ‘wireless light traps' that control insect pests and reduces the number of insecticide sprays by fifty per cent, cutting the cost of cultivation for the farmer.
This reduces pesticide residue in the products thereby improving the quality of the products. The light traps can also control mosquitoes effectively .
While demonstrating to the farmers in Tirunelveli a farm labourer who gets hired by others for spraying said that it was just the equipment he dreamt of when the cost of fuel was increasing everyday.
A woman farmer who bought the sprayer said ‘It is easy for me to carry the load on my back and spray easily on my jasmine crops.

Seems like a boon:
Another farmer from Kolli hills who came to see the demonstration of the device remarked that, “in a remote area like ours power failures are common occurrence. This device seems to be a boon for us.”
“That the idea of converting existing battery powered knapsack equipment into solar powered one emerged because villages still did not have enough electricity to either run the sprayers or to charge the batteries for any single spraying operation. The solar power system is priced at Rs. 3,500. Farmers can buy it and fit to the existing devices they use,” says Mr. David.

GE to invest $50M in India renewable energy deal

Expanding GE's footprint in India and connection with one of the country's fastest growing clean energy developers, GE Energy Financial Services and Indian-based Greenko Group have agreed to invest in a new venture to develop wind energy projects across India. The Stamford, Conn.-based GE will invest $50 million — its first renewable energy investment in India — to support the development of 500 megawatts of wind projects out of Greenko's planned developments of one gigawatt of wind projects in India.
Greenko has committed $65 million for the venture, a newly created subsidiary of Greenko, known as Greenko Wind Project Pvt. Ltd. 
"This investment expands GE's presence in one of the world's fastest growing power markets with a local, proven renewable energy developer," said Raghuveer Kurada, managing director and leader of India at GE Energy Financial Services. "In addition to capital, GE Energy Financial Services brings deep wind and other renewable energy expertise gained by building a $6 billion portfolio of renewable energy investments worldwide." 
Greenko is currently developing a pipeline of wind projects in the Indian states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan, which the new venture, an Indian holding company and Greenko subsidiary specifically set up to develop wind projects, will own. 
The first project, the 65-megawatt Ratnagiri wind farm in Maharashtra, is planned for completion in December and will use GE's 1.6-megawatt turbines. The wind turbines, specifically designed for low and medium wind speeds, will be assembled at GE's facility in Pune, India. Once operational, a 500-megawatt wind portfolio could generate enough renewable electricity to power 875,000 average Indian households and displace 700,000 tons per year of greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of taking 137,000 average U.S. cars off the road. 
"Wind power is an increasingly important part of the Indian energy market, and through our partnership with GE, a global energy leader, we are well positioned to play an important role in helping to meet the country's energy needs with clean power using advanced technology," said Anil Kumar Chalamalasetty, chief executive officer and managing director of Greenko. 
Greenko estimates that with an average growth rate of 30 percent, wind energy is the fastest growing clean energy source in India. The company estimates that less than 25 percent of the country's wind energy potential — estimated at 45,000 megawatts — has been harnessed to date. The Indian government has set a renewable energy target of 15 percent by 2020 and provided what Greenko believes is a strong and clear policy framework to support the continued expansion of renewable energy sources.
GE Energy Financial Services' investment expands its global renewable energy portfolio and supports "ecomagination," GE's business strategy to create new value for customers by solving energy, efficiency and water challenges. 
GE's presence in India dates back to 1902, when the company installed India's first hydropower plant. The company has established a significant footprint across key locations in India with over 14,000 employees. 
Formed in 2006, Greenko operates 183 megawatts of contracted energy capacity across India, including seven hydroelectric power, six biomass and one gas/liquid fuel-based plant and has 1,600 megawatts of projects under development, including 1,000 megawatts of wind projects. The company has 750 full-time employees, with offices in Hyderabad, New Delhi and Bangalore

Friday, December 30, 2011

Cyclone Thane 150 km southeast of Chennai


Chennai: The cyclonic storm Thane has moved westwards and lay centred about 130 km east of Puducherry and 150 km southeast of Chennai, the weather office said on Thursday night. The storm is likely to move westwards and cross north Tamil Nadu coast between Nagapattinam and Chennai, close to Puducherry around early morning of tomorrow, a weather bulletin said.
Under the influence of this system, north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry would experience isolated extremely heavy rainfall of 25 cm or more, while isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall would occur over south coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalseema in the next 36 hours beginning 2030 hrs, it said.
Isolated heavy rainfall would occur over south Tamil Nadu.
Cyclone Thane 150 km southeast of Chennai
Gale winds speed reaching 110-120 kmph gusting to 135 kmph is likely along and off north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts during next 24 hours.
Storm surge of about 1-1.5 metre height above the astronomical tide would inundate the low lying areas of Puducherry and Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kanchipuram and Villupuram districts of north Tamil Nadu at the time of landfall.
"Sea condition is phenomenal along and off north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and adjoining south Andhra Pradesh coasts. Fishermen along north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and south Andhra Pradesh coasts are advised not to venture into sea during next 24 hrs," it said.
The system is likely to maintain its intensity for 12 hours even after landfall and weaken gradually. Under its influence rainfall at most places with heavy to very heavy falls at a few places and isolated extremely heavy fall is likely to continue over north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in next 24 hours.
Gale or squally wind speed reaching 80-90 kmph gusting to 100 kmph is likely over north Tamil Nadu and Puducherry during 12 hours after the landfall.

BHEL technology gives thrust to power generation

BHEL, Tiruchi, has established process reliability of in-house IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) technology suited to power generation using Indian coals, through its 6.2 MW demonstration plant.
The IGCC technology has been developed with 42 per cent plant efficiency, incorporating clean coal technologies (CCT) in the process itself with stringent requirements for gas turbine and easier separation of carbon dioxide due to pressure cycle. A 182 MW IGCC plant was ready for commercialisation; it will be set up with Andhra Pradesh Generation Corporation, according to S.Arumugam, Additional General Manager, Coal Research, BHEL, Tiruchi. IGCC plant, based on the Pressurized Fluidized Bed (PFB) concept, was ideally suited for the high ash (35 to 45 per cent) Indian coals.

‘Need to create scientific temperament in young minds’

Stressing on the urgent need to conserve water and tap green energy, the governor of Rajasthan Shivraj Patil said that he had urged state government to make it compulsory for its employees to have water harvesting and solar heating systems fixed in their houses. He said the idea is to save energy and make the best possible use of renewable energy resources.
Patil was speaking at the inaugural function of the 19th National Children's Science Congress (NCSC ) that began on Tuesday at Jaipur National University (JNU) in the city.

Wind energy achieves many milestones this year in USA

The wind farm industry never sits still in any given year, and 2011 was no different, as it forged ahead with a slew of benchmarks, policy progress, and hard data that illustrate wind energy continuing its march forward as a mainstream, reliable and affordable energy source made in America.
The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) has established a tradition of taking a look back in December at the events that shaped the year in wind farm. Here's a look at just some of the many happenings that made 2011 yet another big year in the continued evolution of the industry.

Hawaii, California removing barrier limiting rooftop solar projects

Prompted by pressure from clean energy advocates, Hawaii and California are quietly working to remove a regulatory obstacle that is slowing a boom in rooftop solar systems in the nation's leading solar states.
The culprit is an arcane provision in the rules many states have adopted for how utility companies handle "distributed generation," any system of small-scale power installations, usually solar arrays, that generates electricity at homes or businesses and hooks up with the main electric grid. The regulation requires that once distributed energy reaches 15 percent of peak demand on a local circuit, anyone wanting to add more solar must carry out a lengthy and costly review of the project's ability to connect with the grid.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Recycling – Not Always A Good Idea


Recycling often saves money and nature, but there is one thing you should never recycle: your passwordWhen talking about passwords the focus is often in password strength. And password strength is an important issue. But we 
lazy people
 sometimes get tempted to shortcut – As a countermeasure many web services have included a password strength indicator on the signup page.
Years of password education has resulted in most people understanding what a strong password is and how to create one. (For those who don’t know: At least 8 characters of letters in lower and upper case, numbers and symbols if the system allows them). So in theory password security should not be an issue, right?
Unfortunately this is not the case. What has happened is many of us memorize a strong password and recycle it on multiple websites.
According to a British study a whopping 73 percent of people recycle their online banking password on other sites. Another study claims the percentage is even higher, 76 percent And not only that, but nearly half use the same user name and password combination to login to other websites!
Why is this a significant threat? Imagine you use the same password for Facebook, Gmail, Amazon and your online bank. What happens if someone cracks your password? They have access to basically everything. Now that’s a pretty scary scenario, isn’t it? But very convenient when you need a bit of a motivational boost to create new passwords. Create a unique, strong password for each site you consider important or sensitive.
Having a unique password on each site limits the damage of a possible breach. This issue has become increasingly important due to several recent high profile data breaches – hackers have published thousands of passwords they have acquired, causing a great deal of anxiety and worries to people affected.

Plans afoot at Infosys to power all campuses through green energy by 2017

The global information technology services company, Infosys, headquartered at Bengaluru, plans to become carbon neutral and shift completely to renewable energy by 2017. Rohan Parikh, head of the Green Initiatives and Infrastructure division at Infosys spoke to Ankur Paliwal. Excerpts:
When did Infosys decide to tread the path of clean energy and efficient use of natural resources?
Infosys has always been responsible towards environment. But four years ago, in 2007, we decided to take leadership in the area of sustainable development and efficient use of natural resources.
It is also a way of putting pressure on our peers to do the right thing. Some of our important goals include 50 per cent reduction in energy consumption, and becoming carbon neutral by 2017.

Industrial units in Maharashtra must treat waste water

Maharashtra government has decided that industries will get only treated sewage water and they would have to fully treat and recycle the water used by them before discharging it back. Similarly, it will be made mandatory for municipal corporations and councils to treat the water discharged by them into rivers. The cities located near industrial areas will sell treated water to industries.
Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan said that the government had launched a special scheme to ensure that riverside villages got unpolluted water.

Bid to power Indian villages with solar energy

Expected cost reductions in solar technology are not enough to extend solar energy to rural markets in the developing world as there are many other challenges, a solar industry executive has said.
"We foresee incredible cost reductions in solar technology. But these cost reductions will not be enough to speed solar to rural markets in the dev-eloping world," Damian Miller, CEO of Orb Energy, a solar energy company in India, said in an email interview.
The company will also need to reach out to service the products as well as deliver the products with consumer finance, he said.

Survey recognises Manipal Varsity’s green efforts


The campus of Manipal University in Udupi has earned the distinction of making it to the list of green universities in the world.
The UI GreenMetric World Universities Ranking, 2011, has given 78th rank to the university. Among Indian institutes, only Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, ranks higher, at number 44.
Altogether, 178 universities in the world were found eligible for the ranking. Chairman of UI GreenMetric World Universities Ranking, Riri Fitri Sari, communicated Manipal University’s achievement on Saturday.
About 25 years ago, the Manipal University ‘s campus was a bald hill, with only monsoon grass and endemic shrubs growing there. PLNG Rao, the varsity’s director, quality assurance, told DNA that it was through a scientific approach that the area turned green.
He said the university started working on making the campus green only about 15 years ago.
He said measures such as recycling water, solid-waste management and soil conservation yielded results and the bald hill has now become green enough to make it to the list of top green varsities in the world.
The UI GreenMetric World Universities Ranking is the first world-wide college-based commitment to the development of sustainable infrastructure, education and research. The ranking methodology is based on a widely accepted principle that measuring sustainability should involve three things: Environment, Economics and Equity.
The ranking not only helps in raising awareness about these issues, but is also proving to be a catalyst to put in place green campus management policies around the world.
The aim of this ranking is to provide the result of online survey regarding the current condition and policies related to green campus and sustainability in the universities across the world.

Solar energy to light up 925 villages

It is a move that promises to dispel darkness from forest villages. The forest department has drawn up a plan to power 925 forest villages in 28 districts of the state by taking an unconventional route-- solar energy. 
Towards that end, solar power station will be installed in every forest village under forest village development programme. For a power-starved state, it will be a win-win situation. For, besides being environment-friendly, it will put no burden on stretched-to-the-limit conventional energy sources in the state grappling with demand and supply deficit.

Wind and solar energy to light up Kashmir areas


Some remote and inaccessible border areas in Jammu and Kashmir will soon get electrified through solar and wind energy.
This is being done under the Remote Village Electrification Programme (RVEP) to be commissioned by the Science and Technology department of the state.
“The project will provide electricity to remote inaccessible areas, border areas and some remote hospitals as these are not connected with National Power Grid,” Minister for Science Technology Aga Syed Ruhullah said.
He said that each project will cost Rs.20 lakh and will generate 8.8 kilowatts of power (6.6kw from wind energy and 2.2 kw from solar photovoltaics) “to slowly replace the conventional power supply and bring down the cost of providing electricity through diesel generator sets being used in some remote areas.” An estimated 350 units would be installed.
A majority of these projects would be in areas that remain cut off for a few months during winters due to snowfall.
According to official statistics, 809 villages in the Jammu region close to the international border and 349 in the Kashmir Valley and Ladakh are without electricity. “We are going to cover 285 villages and 28 hamlets under RVEP,” the minister said.
In September 2009, about 30 villages comprising 3900 households in the remote Gurez area of North Kashmir close to the Line of Control (LOC) got solar electrification benefitting 30,000 people living there.

Winds of change blowing for turbine makers


Huge overcapacity and weak demand mean Chinese wind turbine makers, among the world's largest, are set for lower revenue and profits for at least the next two years.
China had more than 80 wind turbine makers as of 2010, capable of producing over 40 Gigawatts, yet wind equipment demand is expected to be just 15 GW a year.
And companies looking overseas to fuel their growth are met by funding bottlenecks in Europe and the United States that are likely to mean a decline in orders.
At home, Beijing has taken action to rein in overcapacity - implementing stricter technical standards for wind turbine production, tightening approvals for new wind farms and suspending connections of certain wind projects.
Those government moves to cool the sector have already dented profits at China's top companies, including Sinovel Wind Group and Xinjiang Goldwind Science and Technology. Earnings at several firms nearly halved in the first half of this year.
"The worst isn't over for these guys," said Min Li, head of alternative energy at Yuanta Securities. "Massive oversupply and a slowdown in wind turbine orders will keep margins depressed for a couple more years."
Macquarie analyst Patrick Dai said he expected Goldwind's revenue to decline at an annualized rate of 3 per cent from 2011 to 2013.
"Oversupply and soft demand conditions are unlikely to improve significantly in 2012, which suggests that pricing pressure should persist in the next 12 months," he said.
Chinese wind turbine makers' global share had been expanding along with China's rise as the biggest wind power market last year.
Seven Chinese companies, including Dongfang Electric and China Ming Yang Wind Power Group, were among the world's top 15 in 2010, according to Make Consulting, a specialist in the wind power industry.
China is on track to install 15 GW of wind power capacity annually through 2020, down from about 19 GW added last year, according to the Chinese Wind Energy Association.
After a two-fold annual rise in capacity over the last five years, the pace of China's wind power expansion has eased due to Beijing's market-cooling measures.
Shrinking markets at home have driven many Chinese firms to seek growth overseas, but they face fierce competition from global rivals in big markets such as the United States and Europe.
"Chinese turbine makers have increased their efforts for international expansion, with limited success so far," UBS analyst Patrick Hummel wrote in a recent report. "Their aggressive pricing keeps industry margins under pressure."
Exports represented just 5 per cent of Chinese companies' wind turbine sales in 2010. Companies like Gold-wind aim to boost that to 30 per cent by 2015.
The Global Wind Energy Council puts the combined market potential for the United States and Europe at 20 GW next year and 22 GW in 2013.


French solar major Solairedirect to invest Rs 4,000cr in 5 Yrs


Solar power producer Solairedirect Energy India plans to invest around Rs 4,000 crore to fund its target of becoming a 400-mw company in the next five years, a top company official has said.
The company, a subsidiary of the French solar major Solairedirect, which entered the country last year, provides end-to-end solar energy solutions for turnkey projects, including project development and engineering, construction and installation, financing, operation and maintenance. "With the government providing strong support for renewables and a positive investment outlook, we see a huge growth potential here. In the next five years, we plan to become a 400-mw company," its managing director Gaurav Sood said.

Solaire direct, which has already won a 5-mw project in Rajasthan under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), is planning to make an investment of nearlyRs 4,000 crore over the next five years to fund its plans. The company has won the Rajasthan order for a rate as low as Rs 7.49 a unit. On sourcing of funds, he said it would be a combination of debt, which will be 70 per cent and 30 per cent equity.
"We are the largest independent power producer (IPP) in France. But here, we not only want to become a leading IPP player, but also provide EPC services to companies, which want to set up solar plants," he said.
Solairedirect also plans to pick up minority stake in companies where it will be providing its EPC services, he said. "Instead of providing pure EPC services, we will be picking up less than 20 per cent stake in an interested company as well as share their risks," Sood said.
He said the company will continue to participate in the state as well as Central solar power programmes in the country. Solairedirect is in talks with various firms for providing its EPC services, he further added.

To survive, some biofuels companies give up on biofuels


Gevo,a prominent advanced-biofuels company that has received millions in U.S.government funding to develop fuels made from cellulosic sources such as grass and wood chips, is finding that it can't use these materials if it hopes to survive. Instead, it's going to use corn, a common source for conventional biofuels. What's more, most of the product from its first facility will be used for chemicals rather than fuel.
As the difficulty of producing cellulosic biofuels cheaply becomes apparent, a growing number of advanced-biofuels companies are finding it necessary to take creative approaches to their business, even though that means abandoning some of their green credentials, at least temporarily, and focusing on markets that won't have a major impact on oil imports. This is hardly the outcome the government hoped for when it announced cellulosic-biofuels mandates, R&D funding, and other incentives in recent years.
Cellulosic biofuels still cost much more to produce than either corn ethanol or gasoline. One reason is that startups have had trouble raising enough money to build the large-scale commercial plants needed to lower costs. That's in part because their technology is unproven, and in part because there's no guaranteed market for cellulosic biofuels yet.
Additionally, government mandates that were meant to help create a market for cellulosic biofuels have so far been ineffective; it's typically cheaper for the fuel providers affected by the mandate to purchase credits rather than biofuels. And finally, supply chains for cellulosic materials aren't yet well developed, so companies face a challenge when they try to lock in reliable access to them.
Gevo's strategy addresses all these problems. Besides relying on corn in order to overcome supply challenges, the company is reducing capital costs by retrofitting existing corn ethanol plants rather than building new ones; the retrofit of the first plant, in Luverne, Minnesota, will cost about $40 million, a fraction of the hundreds of millions it costs to build a new plant. And rather than making ethanol, Gevo is making butanol, which can command a higher price—especially for use as a feedstock for the chemical industry. Gevo expects that it can make butanol from corn—a readily available feedstock—for significantly less than it costs to make it from petroleum.
Gevo plans to start operations at Luverne within the next six months or so and hopes to produce 17 million gallons of butanol per year there. Most of it is destined for Sasol Chemical Industries, which will sell the butanol to make chemicals.
Butanol can be converted into a wide range of chemicals for making plastics and other products that are now made with oil. Gevo already has an agreement with a major maker of synthetic rubber, and last week it announced a partnership with Coca-Cola to develop plastic bottles made entirely from plants.
Gevo is not entirely abandoning the fuels market, however. It has an agreement with a distributor that can sell the butanol for use in small engines and marine engines, two applications where ethanol doesn't work well. It's also making 11,000 gallons of jet fuel from its butanol for the U.S. Air Force, which wants to test it for use in planes. That contract will cover the cost of a 10,000-gallon-per-month jet fuel demonstration plant, says Pat Gruber, Gevo's CEO.
The use of corn for fuels and chemicals is controversial, in part because growing and processing corn releases significant amounts of greenhouse gas, and in part because using corn for fuel may affect food markets.
Gruber says the impact on food supplies and prices is mitigated by the fact that the protein in corn is still available for use in animal feed. He even makes the case that using the sugar from corn to make fuel rather than soft drinks could help the obesity problem in the United States.
"Suppose we're in a world where we're making huge quantities of fuels and displacing petroleum. We could come to the point where we're running in a conflict of food versus fuel," he says. "We should use only excess carbohydrates to make fuels." Even so, eventually the company plans to use nonfood sources. "The feedstock in the U.S. right now is corn starch," he says. "That's the right feedstock for us. In the future it will be cellulosics."

Scotland 'running out of land' for wind farms

THE extent of Scotland's push to become the green energy leader of the world is revealed as figures show 2700 new onshore wind turbines are in the pipeline, taking the potential total number stretching across the country to more than 4000.
However, experts warned space is running out for the often controversial developments, with claims from one leading wind-farm developer there are only three to four years of "serious" onshore development left as the number of suitable sites disappear.

Germany sets 2030 target for total energy shift

Keeping in view the fast depleting hydrocarbon energy sources in the world, Germany has set a target to entirely shift to renewable energy sources by 2030 and in the process the country has not only been phasing out its 17 nuclear power plants, but also many of its coal mines and thermal power plants have been converted into heritage sites with Unesco certifications.
Set to achieve total migration to renewable energy sources for the country’s requirement, the energy department has fixed 2030 as its deadline and has accordingly been providing substantive incentive to end users and producers. 
“Solar and wind power are being promoted in a big way. Power generated through the two energy sources are being integrated with the national grid. So every household, which has bought solar panels, has become a power generating plant, as the surplus power is fed into national grid and each generating unit gets an assured return of 28 euros per kilowatt,” said a senior energy department official. He added that with this policy, every household achieves break-even in almost one year against their capital investment for the equipment and solar panel. Conventional energy sources like coal are getting fossilised in the country, as its one of the oldest and largest coal mine — Zollverein — in the north of Essen city with 12 shafts has been converted into a world heritage site with a Unesco certification. Speaking to this newspaper, Mr Rolf Kuhlmann, head of communication and marketing, said, “The site was inscribed on the Unesco world heritage list. Preservation through conversion is the motto. History, culture, creativity, events, gastronomy, leisure, all these what Zollverein offers to about two million visitors every year.”

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Bid to power Indian villages with solar energy

Expected cost reductions in solar technology are not enough to extend solar energy to rural markets in the developing world as there are many other challenges, a solar industry executive has said.
"We foresee incredible cost reductions in solar technology. But these cost reductions will not be enough to speed solar to rural markets in the dev-eloping world," Damian Miller, CEO of Orb Energy, a solar energy company in India, said in an email interview.
The company will also need to reach out to service the products as well as deliver the products with consumer finance, he said.

Total ‘doubling down’ on solar energy, raises stake in SunPower

Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Total SA, Europe’s third-largest oil producer, increased its bet on solar energy by buying more of SunPower Corp. and selling its renewable energy development unit to the U.S. company.Total, which already owns 60 percent of the second-largest U.S. solar-panel maker, agreed to pay $163.7 million to raise its stake to 66 percent, SunPower said today in a statement. The solar company will buy Total’s Tenesol unit for $165.4 million in cash.
Total is buying the SunPower shares at a 50 percent premium over yesterday’s closing price, a move that Pavel Molchanov, a Houston-based analyst at Raymond James & Associates Inc., said was a vote of confidence in the company. Its plans contrast with those of BP Plc, Europe’s second-largest oil company, which is exiting the solar industry after 40 years.
“Total not only made a big bet” on solar with its $1.3 billion investment in SunPower in June, Molchanov said. “It’s now doubling down by investing more money.”
Increasing its stake may be more symbolic than practical, he said. “I’m not sure the 6 extra percent means much, but they are putting their money where their mouth is.” Total is “telegraphing that they remain committed to SunPower.”
SunPower shares have plunged 72 percent since April 29, the day after Total announced that it would buy its majority stake. SunPower rose 2.6 percent to $6.00 at the close in New York today. Total climbed 2.1 percent to 38.64 euros.
Slumping Solar Prices
Solar panel prices have slumped 47 percent this year. Global supply increased as producers, especially in China, boosted production while demand growth slowed after Germany, Italy and other important markets cut incentives.
That’s helped drive three U.S. solar companies into bankruptcy this year including Solyndra LLC, which received a $535 million U.S. government loan guarantee. Two German companies, Solon SE and Solar Millennium AG filed for insolvency this month.
BP told staff this month it’s closing its solar business because the division has become unprofitable.
Other companies are moving into the solar industry. Warren Buffett’s MidAmerican Energy Holdings purchased this month a $2 billion solar project under development in California and 49 percent of a $1.8 billion plant being built in Arizona.
Global investment in renewable energy was $195 billion in 2010 and is expected to more than double to $395 billion in 2020, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Underrepresented Markets
Buying Tenesol will bring “added flexibility and a stronger marketing presence in key markets where we currently are underrepresented,” SunPower Chief Financial Officer Dennis Arriola said Nov. 3 on an earnings conference call, when SunPower was still considering the acquisition.
Tenesol has installed more than 500 megawatts of solar systems worldwide, mostly in Europe and emerging markets.
“Combining the activities of Tenesol with SunPower is a step forward in Total’s strategy to become a world power in the promising solar industry,” Philippe Boisseau, president of the oil company’s gas and power division, said in the statement.
Helen Kendrick, a SunPower spokeswoman, said the company wouldn’t comment on the deal beyond the statement.
Total will purchase the SunPower shares when the Tenesol acquisition closes, which is expected in early 2012.

Simulating with Proteus

https://youtu.be/GDxYzqvTcnI