The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority announced last week the unveiling of what they are terming as a “ground-breaking recycled energy and optimization project.” The pilot project captures the braking energy of its trains on the Market-Frankford Line and integrates the captured energy into the regional electric grid. This is a unique … [continued]
Is 24-hour solar that includes storage cheaper than PV with gas augmentation in the evening? Is this why SolarReserve contracts are over MPR? This is the second part of an interview I had with Tom Georgis, the SVP of SolarReserve, about the new wave of solar Power Purchase Contracts (PPAs) … [continued]
SolarReserve can operate potentially 24 hours a day, because its solar tower technology can bank the sun’s energy stored as heat – for as long as two months – which can be used to drive a turbine to make power at any time. At the CPUC site that lists the … [continued]
Last week I had the chance to talk on Skype with Kevin Smith, the CEO of SolarReserve, which is building the world’s largest concentrating solar power plant in Tonopah, Nevada. It is the same technology as one that came on line in Spain last year that can ship power 15 … [continued]
Earlier this month, New York Times reporter Matt Wald had a piece on the role of energy storage in supporting the expansion of renewable energy. However, his specific focus on solar thermal power generation overlooks the potentially high costs of relying on solar thermal power and also overlooks the potential for distributed “storehousing” of renewable energy. […]
Today, I’m going to do a few round-ups to catch you all up on what I think were important stories in the cleantech arena. This first one is on cleantech policy. 1. Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Senate Energy Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) have introduced the Storage Technology for Renewable and Green Energy … [continued]
A new report has shown that the total storage capacity worldwide will increase a hundred-fold over the next 10 years, pushing the number from 121 megawatts (MW) in 2011 to 12,353 MW in 2021.
That number equates to a growth of just over $122 billion of investment in energy storage projects over the same timeframe.
Concentrating solar thermal power has promised big additions to renewable energy production with the additional benefit of energy storage. But with significant water consumption in desert locations, is the energy storage benefit of concentrating solar enough to compete with the dramatically falling cost of solar PV?
While technology has helped change the economics of electricity production (in favor of renewables and distributed generation), this new dynamic can as easily be controlled by the incumbent utilities as the old paradigm of centralized fossil fuel power generation.
An innovative new way to store wind power has been invented by researchers at the the University of Nottingham. Literally in inflatable bags under the ocean. A university spinoff, NIMROD Energy Ltd, has been launched by Professor Seamus Garvey, based on the research. Next month a prototype is to be tested in seawater.
