News

SENER and Masdar announce a joint venture to develop Concentrated Solar Power Plants in the sunbelt regions

Spanish engineering group Sener Grupo De Ingenieria S.A. and Masdar, Abu Dhabi's alternative energy company, today announced a joint venture - Torresol Energy - to design, build and operate concentrating solar power (CSP) plants in the world's sunbelt regions.

Solar Thermal Power Poised for Prime Time

Yet another renewable energy technology-concentrating solar power (CSP)-may be ready for the explosive growth that has marked solar photovoltaic and wind power systems in recent years.

APS Announces New Solar Power Plant, Among World's Largest

Arizona Public Service Co. (APS) today announced plans for one of the world's largest solar facilities - a 280-megawatt (MW) concentrating solar power (CSP) plant to be built 70 miles southwest of Phoenix, near

Gila Bend, Ariz.

Nevada Solar One generator dedicated

The founder of Apple Computers, the first woman in space and a Hollywood actor and activist joined officials from a Spanish company dedicating a solar power generating station Friday in the Nevada desert

Nevada Solar One Dedicated to Power Las Vegas Homes

Nevada Solar One, the world's largest concentrating solar power plant to be built in 17 years, was dedicated Friday at Boulder City, about 32 miles southeast of Las Vegas in the Eldorado Valley

Group Predicts Investment In Clean Energy Will Soar

High oil prices and growing concerns about the environment may drive more than $7 trillion of new investment in clean energy technologies by 2030, an energy research group says.

State regulators want project and its profits kept in Arizona

As the state's largest utility companies work toward building the nation's biggest concentrating solar power plant, Arizona regulators are urging them to keep the project and its potential billion-dollar windfall in the state.

Storing Energy Using Graphite

The Canberra Times recently published an article, rather misleadingly entitled " Generating solar energy in the dark ", which looked at the use of purified graphite for thermal energy storage.

Energy Bill is Low on Energy and Loaded with Subsidies

Before adjourning for the year, the Democratic-controlled Congress attempted to address Americans' "pain at the pump" by passing the so-called Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Unfortunately, this misguided bill boils down to a pack of huge subsidies for special interest corn growers that not only picks our pockets but pollutes our air

Clean tech headed for $7 trillion investment

Those good folk over at CERA (that's the Cambridge Energy Research Associates and also the Spanish word for wax, although Greenbang doesn't think the two are related) have been studying the affects of everyone's interest in climate change and the stopping thereof, and they've come up with a mighty prediction for future investment in clean energy.

Alcoa Gas-Fired Cogeneration Facility, Australia

Stage one of Alinta's natural-gas-fired cogeneration facility at Alcoa's Pinjarra Alumina Refinery in Western Australia is complete. The A$300m facility is being built in two stages, each with a gas turbine generator (GT), heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) and auxiliary equipment. The unit is now generating 140MW of sent out electricity and 240t/h of high-pressure steam. The second, similar, unit started construction in 2005, and was scheduled to come online in 2006.

Taweelah A1 Power and Desalination Plant, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

The Taweelah A1 plant has been refurbished and expanded to 385 million litres per day of clean water and 1,430MW. Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA) signed a contract with TotalFinaElf and Tractebel in July 2001 for the purchase, expansion and refurbishment of the plant. The four-year project to expand the facility (one of the biggest cogeneration plants in the world) was completed in 2006. A further expansion is now planned.

The pros and cons of solar power

Even in grey, overcast Britain, some householders are managing to use solar power to meet their energy needs.

Sopogy MicroCSP honored by Hawaii Venture Capital Association

The Hawaii Venture Capital Association (HVCA) has bestowed its Deal of the Year 2007 award to Sopogy Inc., manufacturer of MicroCSP concentrating solar power technologies.

A Concentration Solar Power People In San Francisco

The Concentrated Solar Power Summit in San Francisco (28-29 Jan) is set to exceed all expectations with more than 250 people already confirmed to attend.

Energy crisis? What energy crisis?

South Africa has plenty of energy available. The problem is, we don't have enough power.

Some of the country's biggest businesses have been queuing up to sell power to Eskom. The potential power on the table -- all 5 000MW of it -- is almost equivalent to two Koeberg-sized nuclear power stations.

New Solar Energy Systems Business Unit Formed by Glasstech Includes Several Current High Tech Systems

Glasstech, Inc., the world leader in the development of glass bending and tempering equipment, has formed a new business unit to formalize its ongoing activities to meet the solar energy industry ’ s burgeoning demand for flat and bent glass substrates. The announcement was made by Mark D. Christman, Glasstech ’ s President and CEO

CSP: Market Trends and New Technologies

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) is emerging as one of the most promising utility-scale renewable energy sources. The launch of Nevada Solar One last June sparked a revival for this so-called "sleeping giant" in the U.S. and marked the first of a series of important developments for the industry.

The Concentrated Solar Power Summit in San Francisco (28-29 Jan) has exceeded all expectations!

The Concentrated Solar Power Summit in San Francisco (28-29 Jan) has exceeded all expectations with more than 250 people already confirmed to attend.

There has been record interest in this event said Belen Gallego, the director of CSP Today, the organiser of the conference. The Concentrated Solar Power industry is booming and the industry needs to discuss many issues of development and commercialisation. This is just the beginning, we need to be prepared and in-sync.

SCHOTT Solar to Build Production Facility in Albuquerque , New Mexico

SCHOTT AG of Mainz, Germany (SCHOTT) and Governor Bill Richardson (D - NM) today announced that SCHOTT Solar, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of SCHOTT AG, will construct a new solar energy technology production facility in the Mesa del Sol region of Albuquerque, NM

Breakthrough: Concentrated Solar Power All Over Southwest US

You are looking at a picture of the solar power plant now being developed all over the American southwest by a company called eSolar . Notice: no smokestacks; no coal chutes; no rail lines stretching to the horizon for coal trains to approach. It's a beautiful sight.

SolarReserve, the Los Angeles-based solar thermal company that has recently commercialized an innovative heat storage technology that provides utility-scale solar power on demand, today announced that Kevin Smith has been hired to serve as Chief Operating Officer and Head of Development

Exploring ways to effectively tap the sun

Will solar energy be the ultimate answer to world’s ever growing demand for energy?  Do we yet have the best technologies to translate solar energy efficiently into electricity and would our methods be cost effective for large scale implementation?

Ausra to Build World's Largest Solar-Thermal Factory

Ausra said Thursday it is building the world's largest factory for solar-thermal power systems in Las Vegas.

Whatever Happened to Solar Power?

Solar energy is the light alternative to a carbon-rich energy diet, and it may be the only renewable energy that can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, engineers say.

New solar Systems

Widespread anxiety about the damaging effects of burning fossil fuels, coupled with a genuine fear that oil and gas will become scarce before the century ends are fueling a renewed interest in renewable energy and, in particular, solar power solutions

APS, SRP lead solar venture as RFP goes out

A consortium of utilities led by Arizona Public Service Co. and Salt River Project , have submitted a request for proposals for a concentrating solar plant that would produce between 100 and 250 megawatts of power.

Sandia's Sunshine To Petrol Project Seeks Fuel From Thin Air

Using concentrated solar energy to reverse combustion, a research team from Sandia National Laboratories is building a prototype device intended to chemically “reenergize” carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide using concentrated solar power. The carbon monoxide could then be used to make hydrogen or serve as a building block to synthesize a liquid combustible fuel, such as methanol or even gasoline, diesel and jet fuel

Group wants solar-thermal plant built

Xcel Energy, Colorado's largest utility, is part of a consortium leading the development of a utility- scale concentrating-solar-power plant.

Funding Roundup: Spreading the Greentech Wealth

Solar installer GroSolar has raised $10 million in its second round of venture-capital funding, CEO Jeffery Wolfe said Wednesday at ThinkEquity Partners' ThinkGreen Conference in San Francisco

Design competition launched for solar power plant tower

The Institute of Electrical Engineering (IEE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has recently launched an international design competition for a tower building, the key architecture of its planned first-ever solar thermal power plant to be built near the foot of the Badaling Great Wall in northern suburb of Beijing.

Solar power: California's latest gold rush

Silicon Valley is greening. Investors are flocking to low-carbon (clean) energy technologies, fuelling a boom in the sector, with investments set to overtake those in Internet start-ups. But does this venture-capital explosion herald another dotcom bubble?

Endesa plans 200 MW solar thermal push

Spanish energy major Endesa has signed an agreement with the Instituto Hispánico del Arroz to jointly develop four 50 MW solar thermal generation plants in the country's southern Seville province

SkyFuel's DOE grant will help develop solar technology 

SkyFuel Inc a solar startup, will receive a $435,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to continue developing concentrating solar power (CSP) technology.

Solar thermal draws grants

Two Denver-area solar-energy firms and a research lab have garnered the lion's share of $12.4 million in federal grants awarded Thursday to speed alternative-energy advancements.

Four grants from the U.S. Department of Energy totaling $2.5 million are going to Lakewood-based Abengoa Solar Inc., formerly known as Solucar, and SkyFuel Inc. of Arvada, both developers of a solar-power technology that analysts say could change the future of generating electricity.

How Africa's desert sun can bring Europe power

Europe is considering plans to spend more than £5bn on a string of giant solar power stations along the Mediterranean desert shores of northern Africa and the Middle East.

More than a hundred of the generators, each fitted with thousands of huge mirrors, would generate electricity to be transmitted by undersea cable to Europe and then distributed across the continent to European Union member nations, including Britain.

DOE to Invest $5.2M in Solar Projects

The Energy Department on Thursday said it will invest up to $5.2 million to support the development of nine low-cost solar-power projects, including some proposed by 3M Co., Alcoa Inc. , Hamilton Sundstrand and PPG Industries .

DOE To Fund $5.2 Million For CSP Development

U.S. Department of Energy announced it will invest $5.2 million in funding to support the development of low-cost concentrating solar power (CSP). As part of the department's technology transfer efforts, the DOE will also make available a Technology Commercialization Development Fund of up to $7.2 million to three of DOE's National Laboratories to support commercialization of clean energy technologies.

Clean Power from Deserts for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa

The White Paper "Clean Power from Deserts - The DESERTEC Concept for Energy, Water and Climate Security" is to be presented to the European Parliament in Brussels on November 28, by His Royal Highness Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, former President of The Club of Rome. It is based on studies by the German Aerospace Center on the potential of deserts to supply clean power to Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (EU-MENA)

Towards A Low Carbon Future: EU Strategic Plan

On 22 November, the European Commission will present the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan. Low carbon technologies will play a vital role in reaching our energy and climate change targets. The main goal of the SET-Plan is to accelerate the development and implementation of these technologies.

More solar power stations coming to California

"California has a huge share of America's best sunshine," said John O'Donnell, vice president at Palo Alto-based Ausra. His company soon will announce the location of a 175-megawatt solar plant to be built in California, and recently received $40 million in venture funding.

Solar Thermal Electric Hybrid Power plant for Barstow, California

Solar MW Energy Inc. and affiliate Ecosystem Solar Electric Corp. has commenced the development of another "jewel" near Barstow's Mojave Desert, San Bernardino County, Southern California.

A nominal in the aggregate of 59.4 megawatt (MW) solar thermal electric hybrid, utility-scale merchant power plant, to be sited on green field land parcel, privately owned by the developer, at the north-west end of Lenwood Road.

MEPs weigh the role of innovation in climate change

If it is serious about achieving the sort of climate change objectives it has set out for itself at this spring's European Council, the EU must hammer out concrete policy options and binding targets -- not least concerning renewable energies -- as soon as possible. This was the key message of Monday's hearing on "Innovation and Technology for Climate Protection", attended by experts, MEPs and industry representatives.

All About: CSP - CNN

What if you could provide the world with an endless supply of virtually carbon-free electricity; ensure a constant source of drinkable water to the world's most vulnerable areas; avert some of the world's future humanitarian crises; and save billions of dollars in the process? Certain concentrated solar power (CSP) proponents say there is no "could" about it -- it's more a case of "can."

Clean energy no longer just a pipe dream

While motorists may be alarmed at the inexorable rise in the price of oil, which is setting new records almost daily, environmentalists and alert investors see a silver lining in the cloud.

Not only should high prices for oil (and coal and gas, which have also jumped) prompt a reduction in usage, but they will encourage the use of renewable energy, the price of which is now falling relative to fossil fuels.

Solar's day in the sun

John O'Donnell started thinking about saving the world 30 years ago. In his first job, in the late 1970s, he worked to harness fusion--the nuclear reaction that powers the sun--at Princeton University's famed Plasma Physics Lab. "The sense was, if it was successful it would change the world," O'Donnell recalls

Concentrating Solar Power Plant in Spain and Powerful Solar Power Plant in Portugal Combat Climate Change

The first commercial scale concentrating solar power (CSP) plant in Europe was inaugurated in the Southern Spanish city of Seville in March 2007.   The 11 MW plant has been designed to produce 23 GWh of electricity a year, enough to supply a population of 10,000. This production of solar electricity avoids the emission of about 16,000 tonnes of CO 2 each year.

Portugal gambles on 'sea snakes' providing an energy boost
Portuguese surfers keeping an eye on the weather will be joined this month by engineers and businessmen, but they will be hoping for very different reports. The men and women behind the latest renewable energy project will be looking for a flat, calm sea

Solar solutions for the UAE
The UAE is finally making the most of its sun-drenched habitat. Perhaps being slow off the mark, the country is speeding ahead to develop avant-garde technology to feed a growing solar industry which, in just over a decade, will attract $20 billion (Dh73.4 billion) in investments and will avoid the emission of 362 million tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere.

Shining a light into the solar century
Revered by ancient cultures as a deity, the sun has a growing band of modern worshippers who believe that its abundant power can solve our dependence on fossil fuels.

While World Powers Struggle Over The Global Warming Lead, Super Solar Mirrors Follow The Sun
Next generation gasification systems that use a patented German Technology called KUG Thermolysis convert many types of waste products into gas and electricity cleanly and efficiently. Specifically designed to convert used tires into clean burning, high quality gas in an environmentally friendly process, these plants can easily be converted to gasify waste plastics, paper, biomass, wood waste and certain other waste products that would otherwise wind up in our landfills.

U.A.E officials eye the red hot Spanish Concentrated Solar Power industry
Mr Ziad Tassabehij, the Director of Innovation and Investment of Masdar, Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, and his Excellency Mr. Sultan Mohamed Al-Qortasi Al Noami, the Ambassador of the United Arab of Emirates in Spain confirmed their assistance to the Concentrated Solar Power Summit.

EP calls for better funding of renewable energy research
A greater portion of the European Union's budget should go into renewable energy research, the European Parliament (EP) says in a report on a roadmap for renewable energy adopted on 25 September.

FPL and PG&E team with Ausra on solar projects
LONG BEACH, California (Reuters) - Two of the nation's biggest power companies are teaming up with a solar start-up to create one of the world's largest solar power projects, which they say could make electricity at a competitive price.

Ausra: soon to be a household name
John O'Donnell doesn't need a publicist right now but he has a good one if he needed it. O'Donnell is executive president of Ausra - the company that Florida Power & Light is partnering with in a $2.4 billion alternative energy project that includes $900 million to build a solar power plants in Florida and California.

California may see boom in solar power plants
California's push for energy from the sun could turn the Golden State into the Saudi Arabia of the solar power industry.

"California has a huge share of America's best sunshine," said John O'Donnell, vice president at Palo Alto-based Ausra. His company soon will announce the location of a 175-megawatt solar plant to be built in California, and recently received $40 million in venture funding.

All you need is love sun
A new design for solar thermal electric generators could bust the technology out of niche status and supply the country's entire electric load, according to ... people who make solar thermal electric generators.

Floating Solar Island
The United Arab Emirates has just contracted with a Swiss firm, CSEM, to purchase a floating solar island. The island, which will basically float on a ring-shaped raft, was conceptualized a while ago by CSEM, but until now they haven't found any buyers. The prototype being comissioned by the UAE will first be tested in a nearby desert before the concept is moved onto the ocean. This 100 meter wide structure will cost $5 Million and could generate roughly 1 megawatt.

Solar on verge of solving volume, storage, transmission
Who French physicist Augustin Fresnel; Ausra (David Mills, CSO; John O'Donnell, VP); Mark Mehos, concentrating solar power program manager, and Nate Blair, senior analyst, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

First Forum On Concentrating Solar Thermal Power To Take Place In Seville
Concentrating solar power professionals meet to discuss the main challenges faced and the future of this fast growing industry. Issues include reducing the cost of energy, managing financial risk, improving storage and efficient construction

Sunny Outlook: Can Sunshine Provide All U.S. Electricity?
In the often cloudless American Southwest, the sun pours more than eight kilowatts per square meter of its energy onto the landscape. Vast parabolic mirrors in the heart of California's Mojave Desert concentrate this solar energy to heat special oil to around 750 degrees Fahrenheit (400 degrees Celsius). This hot oil transfers its heat to water, vaporizing it, and then that steam turns a turbine to produce electricity. All told, nine such mirror fields, known as concentrating solar power plants, supply 350 megawatts of electricity yearly

SCHOTT Solar Plans Aggressive Expansion of U.S. Solar Business
SCHOTT Solar plans to expand U.S. solar PV production by more than 60 MW. Company sees growing demand for both its photovoltaic and concentrated solar power technologies.

Roseville, CA (PRWEB) September 19, 2007 -- SCHOTT Solar made a major commitment to the U.S. solar power market today, as it announced plans to build a new photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing facility that will increase its domestic PV production by more than 60 MW. SCHOTT Solar is currently evaluating locations for the new facility, which is scheduled to go online in 2009

Expensive New Solar project announced in California
The northern California power company Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) announced on July 25 it will purchase 550 megawatts (MW) of solar power at subsidized prices. The project is expected to receive the federal production tax credit of 1.9 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), yet will still cost more than traditional power production.

Sopogy to test micro CSP technologies in North Idaho

Spokane, Wash. – Sopogy, Inc. of Honolulu, Hawaii, will deploy its concentrating solar power (CSP) technology at the Avista Clean Energy Test Site located in Rathdrum, Idaho. The trial is to demonstrate how Sopogy's system will perform in a northern climate, generating power on a utility grid scale

Hawaiian Firm Shrinks Solar Thermal Power
Solar thermal technology, or concentrating solar power, is getting more interest because it appears to be one of the more cost-effective renewable energies but it has not been commercially proven yet for distributed generation.

Demo models of its electricity-generating solar collectors–essentially metal half-pipes with a reflective coating–are now being tested with a Fortune 500 company and a few utility customers, according to company president and CEO Darren Kimura.

Concentrating on solar power in Hawaii
Interest in using solar-thermal power, or concentrated solar power, to generate electricity from heat is perking up.

Hawaiian start-up Sopogy is taking a novel approach by taking the basic trough design of solar-thermal power plants, and shrinking it down for commercial or relatively small-scale utility use. Its collectors concentrate sunlight onto a tube filled with a liquid to create steam to turn a turbine that makes electricity.

Large scale solar plants have a bright future
September 14, 2007 Although the use of solar energy has is seen as viable for the operation of stand-alone devices such as phone-chargers and even a computer mouse, the question remains in some minds: is solar a viable alternative energy source on a mass scale? The proliferation of large scale solar power plants worldwide and plans to build several new ones seems to suggest that the renewable energy sector believes that solar does indeed have a bright future.

Trapping sunlight
DESPITE its oppressive glow in much of the West, the sun has remained largely untapped as a source of electricity. The world's biggest solar farm, where more than 400,000 mirrors cover four square miles (10.3 square kilometres) of California's Mojave desert, was built in the 1980s and still churns out 354 megawatts of electricity, enough for 90,000 homes. But until recently no more large solar plants have been built, despite soaring demand.

Investors bask in solar power's sun
But you may not have noticed the arrival - actually, the revival - of another solar technology, called solar thermal. Whereas solar photovoltaic panels are installed directly on buildings and convert sunlight into electricity, solar thermal power is more complicated: it uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight and heat liquids, which are then used to drive turbines to make electricity.

Structured Leveraged Concentrating Solar Power?
On August first, Acciona Energy closed financing on Nevada Solar One , in the first leveraged lease structured financing in the United States.

This begs two questions

1. What the ?*!@ is a leveraged lease structured financing?
2. Why do we care?

Aussie Solar Startup Takes on Silicon Valley
Standing out in the increasingly crowded solar energy space isn't easy these days. But Australian-American startup Ausra seems to have managed to do just that.

Named after an ancient Indo-European goddess of the dawn, Palo Alto, California-based Ausra is a solar thermal technology company that, unlike many of its rivals, touts a means to produce electricity from sunlight that requires less fuss than conventional methods and could lower the cost of generating utility-scale power.

Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector
Ausra's core technology is the CLFR (Compact Linear Fresnel Reflecto). Instead of the parabolic troughs or mirrors used in other solar thermal systems, this form of CSP (Concentrating Solar Power) uses flat reflectors moving on a single axis plus Fresnel lens to concentrate the solar thermal energy in collectors. Flat mirrors are much cheaper to produce than parabolic ones. Another advantage of CLFR is that it allows for a greater density of reflectors in the array. David Mills originally conceived of the approach in the early 1990s while at Sydney University.

HelioVolt Gets a $77M Jolt
In a major boost for thin-film solar technologies, HelioVolt Corporation said Wednesday it had secured a $77 million second round of funding.

The company said it would use the money to build a factory to manufacture thin-film panels using the company's copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) technology. The first factory, to be built at a yet undetermined location in the United States, will be capable of producing 20 megawatts worth of solar panels annually.

Various Articles on CSP in Algeria

Signature of a 3,000 MW strategic cooperation agreement with MAN and the Libyan Centre for Solar Research

In the frame of the cooperation that SPG has set up with Libyan Center for Solar Research and MAN Ferrostaal, a visit from Minister Matoug to Germany was organised. Several key issues were addressed by Minister Gabriel and Minister Matoug and a strategic agreement for the implementation of up to 3.000 MW of solar thermal power was signed. The ultimate objective is the production of renewable electricity in North Africa and its transport to Europe.

Smoothing the California Curve
The scorching California sun has pushed the states power generation structure to the limits,” says the Naib. Under this near record breaking demand for power, says Japlopnik, and with “temperatures edging into the triples across the sunshiny golden state, the Governator has declared a heat emergency. Mr. Freeze Schwarzenegger has ordered cooling centers for overheated citizens open in ten California counties.

Green Labour turns Brown
Labour's renewable energy programme is a shambles. Despite the government's loudly-proclaimed green commitments, its top advisors have privately admitted that Britain will, at best, generate only 9% of its energy from renewables by 2020 - not reaching even half the EU target that Tony Blair pledged in the spring.

Within a mere three months of signing the EU renewable deal, it is now apparent that it is a worthless piece of paper. Ministers have shown none of the leadership, imagination or funding needed to meet the EU target.

Special Report by Technology Review (MIT) on the Spanish Solar industry
In a special report, the American magazine Technology Review, produced by the MIT, highlights the latest developments and technologies in the Spanish solar power industry. The report can be found here: Solar Energy in Spain or downloaded as a pdf file here