From concentrated solar power to floating wind turbines and from printable organic solar cells to biomass gasification, power-technology.com picks six of the most promising new green power technologies. Concentrating solar power technology Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technology involving the use of mirrors to focus sunlight onto a receiver that captures and converts the solar energy into heat for electricity generation has been in use since 1980s.
Electrical hydrocarbon prospecting using induced polarization (IP) has a history in the offshore industry, but Norwegian company ORG Geophysical wants to push the technology on to the world stage.
Britain's ability to generate green electricity is growing, but with utility-scale solar farms typically covering up to 100 acres of land or more - usually in rural areas - is it good news for wildlife?
The European Commission has given the UK Government the go ahead to offer EDF a guaranteed price per unit of electricity generated for a 35-year period for the purpose of incentivising investment. Ever since it was first proposed in October 2013, the proposed deal between the UK government and French nuclear power company EDF for the financing of a new nuclear plant has courted controversy.
Researchers in the US are using pioneering technology to create long-lasting, more efficient nuclear batteries. We talk to Patrick J Pinhero, Alan K Wertsching and Jae Wan Kwon of the University of Missouri about pushing the boundaries of betavoltaic electricity generation. The University of Missouri (MU) is pushing boundaries in betavoltaic electricity generation.
China has signalled plans to invest $16bn into its electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, a move that could stimulate massive growth in EV sales and help the country cut carbon emissions. We take a look at the project and find out what impact an EV revolution could have on the power grid.
The upcoming Teesside energy-from-waste (EfW) plant at Teesside in the United Kingdom will use innovative technology to generate 49MW of green energy from residual municipal and commercial waste. The power project, whose groundbreaking is scheduled for 2014 and operation commencement scheduled for 2016, is being developed under a build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) contract for Merseyside and Halton Waste Partnership (MHWP).
Scientists from Stanford University have developed a microbial battery using 'wired microbes' to create power from sewage and wastewater. The technology, though small in scale, shows early promise as both an electricity source and an exciting new treatment for wastewater.
The upcoming Birmingham Bio Power Plant at Tyseley, Birmingham, will be UK's first power plant using innovative gasification technology to generate electricity from recovered wood waste.
India to build world's largest solar power project spread across 23,000 acres, expected to generate around 6,000 million units of electricity annually.
20 February 2014 The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced it will approve approximately $6.5bn in loan guarantees for the construction of two new Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors at the Alvin W. Vogtle electric generating station, also known as Plant Vogtle, in Georgia.
The majority of power technology innovations and breakthroughs in 2013 occurred in the renewables sector. Power-technology.com lists some of 2013's major innovations and breakthroughs in energy technology. Ultra-efficient photovoltaic designs A four-junction solar cell, developed by Germany's Freiburg-based Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Soitec and two other research organisations, achieved a record breaking 44.7% efficiency converting sunlight to electricity in September 2013.
The University of Toronto Edward S Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering researchers in Canada have developed and demonstrated a new class of solar-sensitive nanoparticle.
The EU-funded Sinfonia smart cities project aims to retrofit more than 100,000m2 of living space in two pioneer districts, optimising technologies for electricity grids and district heating and cooling. At the project's heart is collaboration - the sharing of processes to increase energy savings and develop a coherent framework to expand the use of renewables.
Electricity has begun to flow at Hornsea 1, a wind array that will become the world's biggest offshore wind farm off the coast of the UK. This milestone makes the UK's offshore wind sector arguably the best in the world, and with significant investment recently announced it looks set to maintain that position.