Group items tagged

Ecogeek has a post on an offshore wind farm planned for the US great lakes - Nation's First Freshwater Offshore Wind Farm Planned for Lake Erie. It's an exciting time in wind energy these days. The U.S. will be getting its first offshore wind farm thanks to Cape Wind's long-awaited approval, and now plans for the first freshwater offshore wind farm in the U.S. have been announced as well. The Lake Erie Energy Development Corp has signed a deal with GE to purchase five offshore wind turbines destined for the Ohio waters of the lake. The 4-MW turbines will be placed three to five miles offshore though their exact planned location isn't known. This is expected to be the first order of many from the development corp that has made a goal of having 1 GW of freshwater-based wind energy online by 2020."

Mecca, which hosts millions of pilgrims a year visiting Islam's most holy shrine, is working toward becoming the first city in Saudi Arabia to operate a utility-scale plant generating electricity from renewables. See it on Scoop.it, via Sustaina...

World firsts are always interesting. Here, a bus network in Adelaide, Australia will operate using a solar photovoltaic system. Of course, the region has enough sun to keep energy levels topped up. In regard to using solar for other city systems, it will be interesting to see how this model works .

First Minister Alex Salmond believes Scotland has hit the energy jackpot for the second time. First came North Sea oil. Now, it's Scotland's abundance of wind and water which could prove to be our economic saviour. The big question is: How can Scotland cash in on its good fortune? Wind farms have become a common feature of the Scottish landscape. Indeed, many would argue they are all too common. The power companies themselves admit they are finding it harder and harder to identify suitable sites for new onshore wind farms.

First Minister Alex Salmond believes Scotland has hit the energy jackpot for the second time. First came North Sea oil. Now, it's Scotland's abundance of wind and water which could prove to be our economic saviour. The big question is: How can Scotland cash in on its good fortune? Wind farms have become a common feature of the Scottish landscape. Indeed, many would argue they are all too common. The power companies themselves admit they are finding it harder and harder to identify suitable sites for new onshore wind farms.

"This bill will provide the first real boost to the renewable energy storage industry, as it secures a clean energy future for California. To bring 2.25% of peak demand in storage online, Jon Petersen estimates that (with 135 MW a year of storage needed) $200 million each year will need to be invested, along with the new jobs that all that new investment brings."

Photovoltaics firm Signet Solar has inked what might be a first in the renewables industry (PDF): a 25-year insurance plan that covers the performance warranty of Signet's solar modules. Implemented by insurance provider Munich Re, the plan is designed to protect against the risk of performance deterioration in Signet's photovoltaics. Signet guarantees that its modules will perform to at least 90 per cent capacity in the first 10 years and to at least 80 per cent in the remaining 15 years.

"In Chile, solar energy project developer Solarpack Corporación Tecnológica and state-owned Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile (Codelco), the world's leading copper producer, say they will build the country's first utility-scale solar power plant in northern Chile, an area with high potential for solar energy generation."

The BioEnergy Center will generate eight million gallons of third-generation bioethanol each year from renewable biomass including yard, wood, agricultural and vegetative wastes. The Center will also generate six megawatts of renewable electricity. The facility will be the first to use INEOS Bio's advanced BioEnergy technology, the world's leading feedstock flexible technology for advanced biofuels. The technology breaks the link between food crops and ethanol production. At the heart of the INEOS Bio technology is a patented anaerobic fermentation step, through which naturally occurring bacteria convert gases derived directly from biomass into bioethanol.

Firefly Energy Inc. the leader in developing next generation carbon and graphite foam batteries, announced that the first preproduction versions of its BCI Group 31 truck battery will be available for review and testing during the first quarter of 2008. The battery will primarily be utilized when the truck's engine is turned off, and provide up to 50 percent longer runtimes than competitors when powering accessories which collectively make up a truck's "hotel loads."

MONTEFALCONE, Italy, July 23 Israel-based Millennium Electric TOU Ltd. has completed construction of Italy's first solar power station. The 50-kilowatt plant is part of an order for a nationwide network of solar power stations, which will generate an aggregate 10 megawatts, Globes Online reported. The company is scheduled to complete the project in five years. The first solar power station will begin operating immediately. The power station was built in Montefalcone in southern Italy for ES Energy, which operates a multi-megawatt wind driven turbine power station on the site. The present contract deviates from Millennium Electric's business policy in that the company usually only signs contracts through which it both builds solar power stations using its technology for the customer, as well as shares in the power station's sales.

NRG Energy has opened its first eVgo direct-current electric vehicle charging station in Dallas, Texas, today as part of a privately funded 70-station network

PG&E may be installing millions of smart meters in Northern California, but the nation of Malta (pop. 400,000) is about to become the world's first smart grid island. IBM is building the island's national smart grid network, which will consist of 250,000 smart meters placed in homes around the country.