Green Energy WA Strategic Partners In The News

Another company using flashy wind turbine technology to lure potential customers was SI Clean Energy, the Coffs Harbour-based outfit that was recently awarded the job of designing, supplying, installing and maintaining one the 136.5kW rooftop solar system for Coffs HarbourCity Council. (It also supplied and commissioned the solar inverters for the commercial solar farm in Alice Springs.) Despite its main business being designing, installing and maintaining clean power systems, dominating SI Clean Energy's display was a massive prototype for the unique-looking Honeywell Wind Turbine, which it will be distributing in Australia for the massive Fortune 100 US technology development company, Honeywell.

Made by WindTronics, it is a gearless wind turbine that features a Blade Tip Power System (BTPS) that the company describes as "breakthrough technology," allowing the turbine to start producing energy at wind speeds of 2mph (3.2km/h) and to remain operational until 38 mph (62km/h). How it works is that the gearless system eliminates mechanical resistance and drag, while the BTPS, which is based on a system of magnets and stators, captures energy at the tips of the blades, where the speed is the greatest. The turbine's increased operational span means the turbines can be used by companies, industries and communities in areas where the wind resource is less than ideal.

SI Clean Energy sales rep Haydn Fletcher told CS the mining industry was a prime target for the technology, as it is designed for use at the point of energy consumption, and has few moving parts to reduce maintenance requirements. The 6 ft (diameter), 109kg (they're made of polycarbonate, aluminum and steel) turbines can be mounted on a rooftop, a ballast, or a pole, and the power can be connected directly to the building, to the grid, or to batteries. Each turbine can produce up to 1500kWh per year depending on height and location – that's up to 15-20 per cent of the average household’s annual electricity needs, according to the US DOE. It is also quieter than most turbines, producing less than 35 decibels at 10 feet with "negligible vibrations."

St. Charles, France, A Worldwide Heavyweight Solar Energy Pole

That's it, it’s done! The idea which was conceived back in 2007 has now become a reality that radiates its 97,000 photovoltaic tiles placed on the roofs of the Society of St. Charles, France. At first, it was just a crazy daring bet buoyed by the boom in the solar energy scene and the local track. This idea has been made possible after a huge investment of around 55 million euros, negotiated and approved during a financial crisis by 72 owners. Not bad, huh?.

That was a master stroke that has definitively Perpignan put on the world map of solar energy.  This plant, the first of its size ever built in the world, now produces the equivalent of 10% of the electricity consumption of the city of Perpignan. No less! Visitors from around the world come to witness this technological green peak. Now besides the Eiffel Tower, France has this!

There are many manufacturers of solar energy around the globe that insist on visiting the site, as indicated by George Jordan, CEO of Saint-Charles International. "The Japanese, Germans, the Swiss have already contacted. This week we welcome American and Algerian delegations to present the solar platform," he enthuses. For beyond technical innovation, this major project does also shine and brighten the image of the first European platform for distribution of fruits and vegetables. 

This was definitely an achievement to be proud of. André Joffre, President of the competitiveness cluster Derbi (Development Of Renewable Energy In Buildings And Industry), partner of St. Charles in the creation of the plant. "This project is awesome in every sense of the word. It features a total size of 7 hectares, nine megawatts of power and the fact that these are local businesses that participated, what is remarkable is that St. Charles anticipated the European regulation of positive energy buildings, set in 2020," notes André Joffre, President of Derbi. 

This is a great project that has to be, MUST be remembered. And we don’t have to forget that a Swiss industrialist who had discovered the surface of buildings while consulting Google Earth was the one who immediately decided to start this plant. Legend or reality? We can simply note that he propelled Perpignan at the top of solar energy.

Basma - Green Energy International Correspondent - 15/10/11

Produce Hydrogen Using Solar Energy

The most abundant renewable energy source is undoubtedly solar energy. The sun sends to earth a power of 90,000 terawatt (TW) compared to 14 TW consumed by the world's population, and will continue to do so for several billion years. However, because of its intermittent nature and low density, it is essential to be able to store and concentrate the solar energy as fuel.
 
One of the most attractive possibilities of doing this is to turn it into hydrogen, a clean fuel (its combustion produces water only) with a high energy density (2.7 times more than oil), although its gaseous state at an ambient temperature and pressure makes its storage and transport difficult. This hydrogen is then used to power fuel cells to generate electricity. There are several ways to obtain hydrogen from the sun. The first is to perform the water electrolysis from the electrical energy supplied by photovoltaic panels. But another method, inspired by biological processes, could change it in a more or less near future, our energy supply.

The conversion of solar energy into fuel is indeed beautifully performed by the living world, including plants, through photosynthesis. Green plants use the sun continuously to convert water and carbon dioxide (CO2) into high-energy molecules such as sugars or fats. Well, they are not the only ones. Some microorganisms such as unicellular algae or cyanobacteria have the ability to make a simple water photolysis.

Clearly, they use solar energy to "break" the water molecule into oxygen and hydrogen. The water does not absorb photons (or "grain" of light) from the Sun, this veritable “force tour" is by means a molecular systems that’s incredibly sophisticated and effective to collect and convert solar photons into energy efficient Chemical photosystem. The produced energy can be used for the oxidation of water into oxygen and hydrogenises for the reduction of water into hydrogen. 

What is remarkable here is that these two enzyme systems are used as catalysts abundant metals such as manganese, nickel or iron, while the electrolysers and fuel cells today rely on noble metals such as platinum, which is very expensive and scarce in the earth's crust. We often forget to say that there is no future for a hydrogen economy if it does not solve the problems of catalysts.

With more knowledge about these natural and spectacular developments of chemistry, many "bio-inspired" chemists believe that artificial photosynthesis say that the implementation of the direct conversion of solar energy into fuel systems, synthetic unnatural, is within reach and should be developed. This particular fact was evidenced by some major research programs in the United States, involving the Department of Energy (DoE) or prestigious universities (CalTech, MIT), Europe (projectSolarH2) and in many European countries(EPFL, Switzerland).

Basma - Green Energy International Correspondent - 15th Oct 11

4 Solar Loans Guarantees By Obama in US

Solar energy is regaining more importance and recognition over the days and recently, governments have begun taking huge leaps in this domain by encouraging and pushing solar energy companies forward. And today, on the 30th of September 2011, Obama's administration has released 4 solar energy loans of a 5 billion dollars value within a loan program.

1 of the loans went to a project recently sold by a well-recognised solar energy manufacturer called "First Solar Inc." which is based in Arizona. This manufacturer has been originally seeking 3 loans in order to fund 3 solar energy projects in California.

If we go back a little in time, we can find out that a loan of 528 million dollars has been credited to a bankrupt solar panel maker called Solyndra Inc. by Obama's administration within the same program these 4 loans were released. Their approval on this loan has caused major problems and critics despite their good initiation to boost the green energy program advancement.

The good thing is that these billion dollars valued loans are going to hopefully push the American solar energy scene to compete against China and other countries that have already made large hops in this domain. These efforts will also help decrease the solar energy's costs on the long term and help America take over the renewable energy leadership like it did in several other domains.

Maybe you want to have a better idea about the 4 different loans issued and to which manufacturer they went, here take a glance:

- A 1.4 billion dollar went to the favour of Prologis Inc. (based in san Francisco) to help them complete their project consisting of installing 750 solar rooftops in 28 different American states.
A 1.2 billion dollars went to SunPower Corp. (based in San Jose) to complete their project of performing a 250 Megawatt plant in California.
- A total of 646 million dollars benefited Exelon Corp. (based in Illinois) and is going to help them perform a solar energy plant in Los Angeles of 230 megawatt.
- 1.5 billion dollar went to the favour of a group of investors that acquired a ready solar farm of 550 megawatt located in southern California which originally belonged to First Solar Inc.

These were the different 4 loans! It's really great to watch the worldwide solar energy scene grow in front of our eyes thanks to these projects. I hope that one day we can achieve a global and total solar energy usage to help the next generations live in clean healthy environment.

Story Basma J. 1st Oct 2011
Green Energy WA

We Think It’s Time To Take Solar Energy Seriously In Australia

Along its solar energy development journey, Australia has known unlimited hurdles and hold backs due the government’s policies. We can’t deny that the government is trying hard to push the Australian solar energy scene forward, but it still seems not enough and that it really needs to be worked on further. Due to this delay and grief made by the government, SEA, the Sustainable Energy Association Of Australia, has stepped ahead trying to make it right by suggesting a competitive market in which Australian people are encouraged to go green.

On the 7^th of October 2011, an industry survey has taken place concerning Western Australia’s solar scene; it has declared that the Australian residential solar industry had taken huge leaps forward and had been growing at an encouraging pace but is now severely threatened due to the ever-changing government subsidies.

The survey hasn’t stopped at stating such general facts but it has also mentioned some numbers: 73% of people surveyed stated that the feed-in tariff reduction has caused the sales to fall downhill. It’s obvious that this reduction has caused employees a hard time as well as some companies are going to have to set free about 49% of their workers which is not good news of course; imagining an 3000 workers factory, we can assume that the results are going to be catastrophic upon the “disposal” of 1500 innocent and financially crushed workers. Many businesses are closing their doors altogether, the industry has already witnessed some major players falling by the way. Is that Government support of a necessary industry?

And in order to push the solar energy usage further in Western Australia, Ray Wills (SEA Chief), is encouraging households to install solar energy panels on their rooftops and start using the green free electricity instead of the polluted one, which offers ever increasing prices.  The bungling of the incentive tariff scheme has made this very difficult now. It is time for the self-proclaimed environment guardians to step up to the plate and show the desire to protect our planet as its general population has done!

Clean Energy Week

Australia's peak body for renewable energy has welcomed Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's renewed commitment yesterday to the national 20 per cent Renewable Energy Target (RET).

Clean Energy Council Chief Executive Matthew Warren said the Howard Government introduced the original Mandatory Renewable Energy Target in 2001.

"The Coalition has been a key supporter of both the expanded Renewable Energy Target in 2009 and the changes to the scheme last year. All sides of politics are committed to delivering 20 per cent of Australia's electricity from renewable energy by 2020, a policy that will unlock more than $20 billion of private investment," said Mr Warren.

"Australia has some of the world's best clean energy resources, including sunshine, wind, waves, geothermal hot rocks, biomass and more. It's in the public interest to harness them better. The RET is a critical policy that will help us develop our natural clean energy advantages and reduce approximately 380 million tonnes of greenhouse gases by 2020."

Mr Warren said that although the Australia was still in the early years of the Renewable Energy Target, there had already been some encouraging signs.

"South Australia's greenhouse emissions have dropped by 18 per cent over the last five years, mostly due to the increased use of wind power," he said.

"Solar power systems and solar hot water systems have helped hundreds of thousands of Australians to save on their power bills. In the process, these investments by householders have also helped to reduce electricity demand and delay major investment in new electricity generating assets in several states for years. This ultimately represents a saving for all energy users.

"Thousands of new jobs have been created across the country, in diverse sectors like manufacturing of towers for wind farms in Victoria, research and development of solar power in NSW and construction of biomass power plants in Queensland. This industry has grown despite the global financial crisis.

"The Coalition has repeatedly expressed its support for the RET, and this bipartisanship is absolutely crucial for creating the confidence investors need to make billion dollar investments," Mr Warren said.

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