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Kramer Junction. Nevada Solar One. Andasol 1. Kimberlina. They're obscure names today. But they'll be household names tomorrow. The reason? Each is now providing 'here and now' proof concentrating solar power (CSP) works. That can't be said for cabon capture and storage. Nor can it be said for 'next generation' nuclear. Each faces years of additional research and development before some 'first mover' will be game enough to build one. That just isn't the case with concentrating solar power. It's got 20 years of proven commercial operation (Kramer Junction) behind it. It also has new innovations coming on line (Nevada Solar One), with solar thermal storage (Andasol 1), and the promise of super-low costs in coming years (Ausra's Kimberlina). What it adds up to is a price-declining research and development juggernaut in concentrating solar power. This is rapidly bringing concentrating solar power closer to competitiveness with dirty fossil fuels. The California Energy Commission estimates this price 'cross over' could happen by 2015. Bulls predict sooner. And in an industry where new plants and equipment can last 40 years, 5-7 years from now is like tomorrow. What this means is that for forward planning of new infrastructure, concentrating solar power is already nipping at the heels of coal. Toss in carbon prices and the reduced likelihood of protesters chaining themselves to bulldozers as they are likely to at any new coal plants, CSP starts looking like a VERY good deal indeed.

Recently the town of Heerlen in the Netherlands repurposed an old abandoned coal mine into a brilliant source of geothermal energy. The project takes advantage of flooded underground mine shafts, using their thermal energy to power a large-scale district heating system. Dubbed the Minewater Project, the new system recently went online and provides 350 homes and businesses in the town with hot water and heating in the winter and cool water in the summer.

From March 4-6, world leaders in the renewable, green, clean technology and energy efficiency sectors will gather in Bangalore for Green Energy Summit 2009. The summit is a highly efficient forum for varied stakeholders from solar, wind, biomass, IT, transport, construction, aviation, nanotechnology and biotechnology to bring together the business and science of the most important and relevant Green Energy and Clean technologies (http:// www.greenenergysummit.com).

The solar thermal energy or the radiant heating systems is as simple process of pumping water into solar panels to be heated and then stored in tank for ready use.

Wow, what a visual slam on consumerism. I don't think I'll ever forget to take my thermal mug to Wawa again!

California's utilities are in a tight spot. They're mandated to procure 20 percent of their electricity from renewable resources by the end of next year. Currently, renewable energy provides only 12 percent of the state's needs. Green energy is needed, and fast. Where to get it? The southeastern corner of California is becoming the state's Wild West of renewable energy. Five years from now this patch of desert will hold one of the largest solar thermal plants in the world. An area of 10 square miles will be filled with 38,000 "sun catchers," which look like enormous satellite dishes with mirrors.

- Installed capacity in China's wind power sector will grow 64 percent this year to 20 million kilowatts, organizers of the 3rd China (Shanghai) International Wind Energy Exhibition and Symposium 2009 forecast Friday. Installed capacity grew 105 percent last year. Chinese industry experts believe that by about 2020, wind power will likely surpass nuclear power as China's third-largest source of electricity, after thermal and hydro power. Wind power comprised 1.5 percent of China's total installed capacity in 2008, when the country became the world's fourth-largest wind power market.

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has released its 2008 U.S. Solar Industry Year in Review, highlighting a third year of record growth for the solar industry. According to the report 1,265 megawatts (MW) of all varieties of solar power were installed in 2008, bringing total U.S. solar power capacity up 17 percent to 8,775 MW. California was the leader among state grid-tied PV installations with 178.6 MW, New Jersey followed with 22.5 MW installed, Colorado was next at 21.6 MW, Nevada installed 13.9 MW and Hawaii with 11.3 MW. The 2008 figure included 342 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) installations, 139 MWTh (thermal equivalent) of solar water heating, 762 MWTh of pool heating and an estimated 21 MW of solar space heating and cooling.

TreeHugger has a post on a solar thermal power plant planned for Arizona (Which isn't the largest announced, but how many of these get built in the short term remains to be seen) - Largest Solar Plant in the World Coming to Arizona ?. Could be--details are still emerging and sketchy, but it looks like one of the world's biggest solar projects will find its home in Arizona. The proposed 340 megawatt system would use advanced parabolic trough technology, and would cost over $2 billion--and yes, it would take advantage of stimulus funding. Looks like Arizona's becoming a hotbed for solar power indeed--this would be the fourth solar plant in Mohave County, AZ alone. Here are the whispered details: Mohave Sun Power and Albiasa Solar are the companies behind the ambitious installation, and they'll be using the same technology as another recently proposed massive solar project:

Large-scale solar power is beginning to take on the job of meeting the demands made by California's air conditioners for electricity. Pacific Gas & Electric and Brightsource Energy today announced they have expanded a series of solar power contracts for a total of 1,310 megawatts of electricity - enough to power 530,000 California homes during peak hours with energy from the Sun. Completion of the first project will nearly double the amount of solar thermal electricity produced in the United States.

Delta-T Pro wireless Wi-Fi access is mainly used to control solar thermal collector systems which include open loop and closed loop with a heat exchanger. It is also used in residential domestic water heating with electrical ignition and combination systems with space heating.

The best method for efficient, cost effective solar energy storage may be to store the heat in a solar thermal plant instead of storing the energy from the sun's rays in a battery.