Category Archives: U.S.

Achieving Global Consensus on PV Grid parity

Posted on February 20, 2011 | 3 Comments

Qualified Opinion Sources are kindly invited to express their opinion on a specific website: www.SolarGridParity.com

on the following debate:

By 2020 or earlier the installed costs for solar electricity systems will be reduced to US$1 per watt

Background: Due to strong incentives, mainly within the EU, global solar photovoltaic market has significantly grown during 2010, with the whole PV installed capacity having reached almost 40GW, or up 70% from nearly 23GW in 2009. The strong expansion in PV installations was mainly dominated by the European countries, with about 70% of the new solar power installations in 2010, with Germany leading the PV market accounting for almost 7GW and Italy with about 3GW, followed by Czech Republic (1.3GW), France (0.5GW), Spain (0.4), Belgium (0.25) and Greece (0.2). As for the main markets outside Europe, Japan PV market accounted for nearly 1GW, followed by the United States (0.8GW) and China (0.4GW).

The US administration and the Chinese government are both aiming at achieving price parity between solar electricity and fossil-based electricity without additional subsidies. Reaching this goal will establish the country’s technological leadership, improve the nation’s energy security, and strengthen economic competitiveness in the global clean energy race.

President Obama laid down a bold challenge to America in his State of the Union speech January 2011: “get to 80% clean energy by 2035.”

Ms. Eleni Despotou, Secretary General of the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (www.interpv.net): “PV electricity would see its generation costs dropping to a range of 5 to 12 c / kWh by 2020, making it highly competitive with all peak generation technologies, and as low as 4 to 8c/kWh in 2030, making it also widely competitive with most mid-load generation technologies.”

 

On the other hand we hear every day: “Solar is too expensive” or “Variable costs related to permitting, inspection and interconnection are killing the solar industry’s ability to achieve speed and scale”.   .

Mr. Amnon Samid, CEO, The AGS group  (www.AGSpower.com):  “Encouraging investment only in PV systems will jeopardize the chances to develop a competitive solar thermal mini-grid distributed  generation solutions for electricity production, that may enjoy the advantages of PV systems, but offers also storage capabilities and hybrid, co-generation and on-site power production options, occupying less expensive land for extended use, making it competitive with base load generation technologies, representing an alternative for new generation capacity  in Sunbelt countries.”

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) SunShot Initiative aims to restore America’s once-dominant position in the global market for solar photovoltaic (PV), which has dwindled from 43% in 1995 to only 6% today. DOE estimates that if the installed costs for solar energy systems drop to $1 per watt — equivalent to a levelized cost of electricity of 5-6 cents per kilowatt hour — solar without subsidies would be competitive with the wholesale rate of electricity nearly everywhere in the U.S. The DOE intend to devote $200 million per year — to support a targeted roadmap to meet the SunShot goal by the end of the decade.

However, the “64 million dollar question” is:

Is it a realistic goal?

You are invited to express your professional opinion by answering three brief questions at: http://www.SolarGridParity.com

The BiPSA™ methodology aims to convert

Controversy-to-Consensus

www.BiPSA.com

 in collaboration with the AGS Group www.AGSpower.com

Promoting and enabling the incorporation of innovative clean energy technologies into the grid.

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Posted in Africa, Asia, China, Conferences, Europe, Israel, Politics, Technologies, U.S.

Advanced Energy Storage from the MIT

Posted on March 10, 2010 | Leave a comment

 Currently only 2.5% of the capacity of the U.S. grid is able to be stored, compared with 10% in Europe and 15% in Japan, which in the event of a grid failure could mean trouble for the U.S. This is why Professor Donald Sadoway at MIT received US $7 million from U.S. Energy Agency ARPA-E), $4 million from French oil company Total and support from the U.S. Defense Agency DARPA.

The goal of Sadoway’s research is to bring the cost of large scale energy storage facilities in line with the cost of natural gas plants. He said that in order to do this, incredibly large liquid metal batteries will need to be built and the facilities will need to be used in much the same way that flywheel storage plants are expected to be used, as frequency regulators that are capable of dispatching energy quickly in the event of an emergency. The basic principle behind the technology is to place three layers of liquid inside a container: Two different metal alloys, and one layer of a salt. The three materials are chosen so that they have different densities that allow them to separate naturally into three distinct layers, with the salt in the middle separating the two metal layers — like novelty drinks with different layers. The energy is stored in the liquid metals that want to react with one another but can do so only by transferring ions — electrically charged atoms of one of the metals — across the electrolyte, which results in the flow of electric current out of the battery. When the battery is being charged, some ions migrate through the insulating salt layer to collect at one of the terminals. Then, when the power is being drained from the battery, those ions migrate back through the salt and collect at the opposite terminal. The whole device is kept at a high temperature, around 700°C, so that the layers remain molten. While each of these technologies has a lot of lab work left before it’s ready for field testing on a large scale, chemistry professor Dr. Dan Nocera and the company he helped found Sun Catalytix are working to commercialize a catalyst that can be used to split water.

The basis of Sun Catalytix’s technology is a cobalt phosphate catalyst that Nocera said is more efficient at splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen than other materials. He said that the catalyst can work within normal ambient temperatures and with water sources as diverse as tap water and water straight out of the Charles River in Boston. While commercial electrolyzers that split water to make hydrogen already exist, Nocera said that they’re far too expensive and require a significant amount of energy to run. Sun Catalytix is in the process of testing an electroylzer that is built with its proprietary catalyst that can be manufactured using PVC plastic. A completed 100-watt system would work like this: solar PV panels would power an electrolyzer, which would then produce hydrogen that would be stored in tanks and then used as fuel for a fuel cell for electricity or to power a hydrogen vehicle. Nocera said that three liters of water a day could power a home. He said the ultimate goal of the Sun Catalytix system is use cheaper solar panels and fuel cells (still a stumbling block) to implement systems like this in the developing world where there is little-to-no electricity generating infrastructure in place and where three liters of even low-quality water per day could dramatically increase the quality of life of the people living there. Development of the technology is being financed by more than $1 million from Polaris Venture Partners. Nocera said that he expects a working prototype to be completed in the next 5-8 years and that the company has already been approached by solar companies interested in having their panels used in the system.

Source: Renewable Energy World

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Posted in Technologies, U.S.

Rational and risks involved in incorporating thermal storage with current CSP plants

Posted on March 2, 2010 | 1 Comment

Much effort is invested worldwide for developing storage for trough technology. The more advanced approach is based on phaze changes materials (which is called: PCM), since it enables higher density in the storage and minimal temperature losses between charge and discharge. The main problem is the low heat transfer (due to low thermal conductivity of the salts), and this affects directly the amount of power that could be extracted from the storage. Several research is being executed (mainly in Germany) for developing enhanced solutions, usually by enhancing the heat transfer between the salt and the heat transfer fluid (in the molten salt receiver/hot storage tank), reducing transient effects, optimization of the storage materials (for example, by using metal with graphite that has very high thermal conductivity – which can result up to 15% increase in conductivity, modifications in geometry, boundary conditions (e.g., addition of inflow and outflow, adding radiating surfaces or media) are being tested.  Parts of those solutions are technically feasible, although too expensive yet, e.g. the additional costs overweigh the benefits. One of the advanced approaches, that might have a chance to be cost effective, is based on adding metal surfaces into the salt zone, which may significantly improve the heat transfer to the salt by adding both radiative and convective areas, and also induce more mixing by producing faster flow and higher turbulence. Another alternative to these effects is to add particles that participate in radiation and supply convection area. The goal is to achieve an energy storage system with thermal efficiency of 90%, life time of 30 years and specific costs of: 30 USD/KWthermal capacity, and 1.5 US cent per KWHelectric. But, as far as I know, no system can achieve it yet. 

 Various storage systems incorporated with solar tower electricity generation systems were developed and the most advanced of them was installed and tested in California. This system, Solar Two, generated 10MW electricity using an eutectic molten nitrate salts mixture pumped and piped from a ground-based cold tank to a receiver mounted on the top of a tower. The hot salt from the receiver is then piped to a second, hot tank on the ground. In a secondary loop, the hot salt flows through a heat exchanger to generate steam and returns to the cold tank. The third loop includes the steam generator, which supplies steam to a steam turbine electricity generator. This plant was closed on 1999. Now Sener is trying to do something similar in Spain.

The most common storage technology in use (following the inefficient oil storage tanks solution that is being used at the SEGS plants in California) is the molten salt two-tank system, which provides a feasible storage capacity and is considered to have low to moderate associated risks. Molten salt that will be used for storage as such is bankable (as molten salt is being used for a long time in the chemical industry), but the integration of this kind of storage system to the solar system – is risky.  Concentrated solar thermal power plants have specific requirements for storage that are not well known in the chemical industry. For example: working under thermal cycling conditions; heating and cooling; temperature changing periodically; even design the hot and cold tanks is a challenge; Not to speak about the pipes and the heat exchangers. Another problem is freezing at night. But the main risk is that it is a big step from the existing technology in the chemical industry to that is required by the solar plants, especially in size – going up in scale, since in the chemical industry relatively small amounts of molten salts are being used.   On the other hand, storage contributes not only by increasing operation hours, but also enhancing the overall efficiency, as the plant is working more hours close to the design point. 

At Acciona’s Nevada parabolic trough plant there is no storage (only for about 30 minutes, which is achieved by the fluid that is in the pipes). On the other hand, at the parabolic trough plants of Andasol One & Two – FlagSol (Solar Millennium’s subsidiary) together with ACS/Cobra developed thermal storage based on molten salt. This system is being working for almost two years, probably with a lot of obstacles to deal with, like freezing issues (the freezing point of the chosen nitrates is probably 220ºC), corrosion, blocking, purity of the salt, problems with materials that are in contact with the salt, and a lot of integration and control issues. However, the operators (ACS/Cobra) are gaining much experience and claim to be able to overcome most obstacles. 

 Another risk related to incorporating storage is how much downtime (forced outage) will the plant experience. As a worth case scenario one has to assume up to 10 percent (36.5 days) down, although some plants have almost no downtime due to troubles with storage systems. Thermal storage allows project developers to maximize the value of the solar thermal facility’s output for time of use pricing verses the cost of producing that electricity. Designing a facility to sell the largest amount of output does not necessarily make that design the one with the best return on capital. Sometimes it is preferred, for example, to store all of the thermal energy produced in the morning instead of directing only part to the storage and part to produce electricity for immediate sale. The design point as well as operation strategies are of utmost importance especially when thermal storage is incorporated with the solar thermal plant. However, reducing drastically the capital cost of thermal storage is key to the commercial deployment of the technology.

 

 

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Posted in Europe, Technologies, Thoughts, U.S.

Will SolarReserve defeat its competition?

Posted on February 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

“The brainchild of rocket scientists and a private equity group specialized in renewable energies, SolarReserve, the solar energy development company, is primed to be a winner in the concentrated solar power sector.

United Technology subsidiary, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, has combined its liquid rocket engine heat transfer technology and molten salt handling expertise to develop a unique tower receiver technology with thermal storage capabilities – for which SolarReserve is the exclusive license holder.

Another key ingredient is SolarReserve’s founding partner – the US Renewables Group, a US$575 million private equity firm exclusively focused on renewable power and clean fuel projects.

And finally: the team.  SolarReserve’s blend of professionals from the energy, technology and finance industries are proving to be a knockout combination.” [Source: CSP TODAY].

Competition:

 Parabolic troughs, which have been in operation since the mid-1980′s, are currently the most commercial technology and hence the main competitor for any solar thermal technology. Parabolic trough plants have proven a maximum efficiency of 21% (with an average of 12% to 15%) for the conversion of direct solar radiation into grid electricity. While the plants in California uses synthetic oil as heat transfer fluid in the collectors, efforts to achieve direct steam generation within the absorber tubes in order to reduce costs further did not achieve a viable system so far.

 Another option is the approximation of the parabolic trough by segmented mirrors according to the principle of Fresnel. Although this will reduce efficiency, it shows a considerable potential for cost reduction. The close arrangement of the mirrors requires less land and provides a partially shaded, useful space below.

 Despite improvements in performance of the parabolic troughs new generations, the cost of electricity with solar only is relatively high.  Hence lower limit of costs (through Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) or competition) will not enable this technology to be competitive for the long run. For larger scale power generation, Central receivers, which utilize a collection of heliostats – mirrors which track the sun and concentrate the radiation onto a central receiver located at the top of a tower – hold out a huge potential for lower costs. Concentrating the sunlight enables heating a heat transfer fluid up to 1200ºC and higher. Today, molten salt or air or water is used to absorb the heat in the receiver. The heat may be used for steam generation or making use of the full potential of this high-temperature technology – to drive gas turbines. For gas turbine operation, the air to be heated must pass through a pressurized solar receiver with a solar window. Combined cycle power plants (like Aora’s) require about 30% less collector area than equivalent steam cycle.

 Another option is based on Parabolic Dish, which are relatively small concentrators that have a motor-generator or a turbo-generator in the focal point of the reflector. This generator may be based on Stirling engine or a gas turbine. Because of their size, they are particularly suited for decentralized electricity supply and remote stand alone systems. Dishes up to 400m² have been built and other even larger are being currently designed. Although significant progress has been made on most major components including the high performance dish, it is too early to determine whether the promises of developing a simple, low cost and very reliable engine will be realized by new designs. Moreover, this technology is inherently nondispatchable without storage or fuel backup, so can not reach utility’s dispatch requirements. 

 

 

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Posted in Asia, Europe, Israel, Technologies, U.S.

“Making the Impossible Possible – Finding Alternatives to Fossil Fuels”

Posted on October 22, 2009 | 1 Comment

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Speech at the 2009 President’s Conference Jerusalem, 20 October 2009

 Translation from Hebrew

This Conference is an opportunity to think about how to make the impossible possible. How do we transform a dream into reality, a crisis into an opportunity? ……Therefore, tonight I would like to talk to you about one of the more significant matters on the global agenda: eliminating the world’s dependence on fossil fuels, particularly oil. We all know the simple truth: dependence on oil endangers the world. It is a threat to our security, our economy and the environment. Our security, because dependence on fossil fuels strengthens the dark regimes that encourage instability and fund terror with their petrodollars. Our economy, because if we don’t develop alternative energy sources, the demand for fossil fuels will increase and the supply will decrease. This will lead to an increase in prices, which in turn will adversely affect global economic development in countries that import fossil fuels – which is the majority of countries. This will cause serious economic harm. Environmentally, because the pollution from fossil fuels poisons the air that we breathe, the water that we drink and the food that we eat. Our dependence on oil harms us and the earth every day, and has done so for decades. To counteract all this, we must set a goal: we must free ourselves from our dependence on oil. I know it seems impossible, but believe me – it is possible. Sometimes all it takes is one or two inventions to make a breakthrough and change the world. Look at salt during the 19th century. Until the beginning of the 20th century, salt was a luxury item used to preserve food. Caravans of camels carried salt through the Sahara Desert, and the salt was traded for gold. Entire empires became rich trading salt, because of the world’s dependence on salt. But two inventions were made. The first was the canning process and the second was refrigeration, and all at once the world’s huge dependence on salt was eliminated. As a result, the salt empires crashed almost overnight. Is Israel the country that will discover the breakthrough that will free the world of its dependence on fossil fuels? I believe so because Israel has two significant resources that provide us with a good chance of doing so. • We have the minds and the hearts. • The capability, the will. Israel is very advanced in the technological fields – agro-tech, hi-tech, nanotechnology, solar energy, battery technologies and renewable energies. Naturally, we are leading candidates to create a global revolution in the clean energy field because of this capacity. Here is the essence of what I’m saying. It’s possible to change the world. The greatest changes in man’s history occurred when there was not only a technological change, but a conceptual change. For many generations, hundreds of thousands of years, man was a hunter-gather. He went to seek out food. He had to go great distances, chase animals to get the protein he needed, or to look for berries or fruit to gather so he’d have the nutrients that were needed for life. These nomadic hunter-gatherer patterns changed one day, because man realized that the food was right underneath his feet. And that was the day that agriculture was born. We are hunter-gatherers for energy. We go to the depths of the oceans. We seek energy from the bowels of the Earth and distant lands. But the energy is right under our noses. It’s all around us. It’s bountiful. It’s in the sun. It’s in the wind. It’s in the water. We just have to tap it.

I think we have the capacity to develop this. Our Nobel Prize winners were mentioned – yes, we have per capita more Nobel Prize winners than any other country, than any other people. We have the second largest concentration of technological capacity; in terms of venture capital, the highest per capita by far. We have scientific publications and we have patents in abundance. So we have the capacity, including in these areas – the development of energy from hydrogen, from water, the development of solar energy and other energies. We have the brains, but we also have the will. Because think what this will mean for our national security. Think of what it would mean for our future if the world ended its dependence on fossil fuels, and especially on oil. By changing this dependence, we can change the world. I don’t know which technology will triumph. Yesterday, Ray Kurzweil, who hasn’t changed a bit in 35 years – I remember you from MIT, Ray – you gave us a course on entrepreneurship and you proceeded to be an entrepreneur, like Shimon Peres, in your own great scientific capacities. Yesterday you said that the efficiency of solar energy doubles every two years. You said that we live in a very brief generation that will develop the energy of the proximate future. If that’s the case, then we’re in good shape. But I say let’s make it happen faster. If we have placed a man on the moon, surely we can harness the energy of the sun.

 What I propose to do today is to establish a nation commission of scientists, engineers, business and government people to set a goal that within ten years, we’ll have a practical, clean, efficient substitute for oil. I think it’s possible. I think we can make the impossible possible. Ladies and Gentlemen, I have never been accused of being a disciple of government intervention. However, sometimes the private market simply cannot create the critical mass of activities needed to make such a big change. Sometimes it needs a push and support from the government. Finding an alternative to oil is a critical matter for the State of Israel must deal with – with regard to geopolitics, security concerns, environmental concerns, to secure the future and to change the world’s order of priorities. Therefore, I repeat my announcement that I am going to establish a national commission comprised of scientists, manufacturers, engineers, businesspeople and government officials, with the goal of formulating a practical plan for efficient development in technologies and engineering in order to replace fossil fuels within the decade. I ask the minds and talents who are here, and around the world, to help.

It is not in our interest alone. The resources need not be exclusively Israel’s. Most of the world shares this interest. But Israel has a strong and clear interest in achieving this. “For out of Zion will come Torah”: We are commanded to bring a new light to the world. God willing, with your help and the help of many others around the world, we will make the impossible possible. Thank you.

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Posted in Conferences, Israel, Politics, Thoughts, U.S.

Incentives for each energy source based on current production costs

Posted on August 4, 2009 | 1 Comment

A very important proposal that would require utilities to buy power from small-scale renewable energy producers was suggested according to the New York Times by two Democrats in the U.S. House:

Reps. Jay Inslee of Washington and Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts are preparing a bill that would require utilities to purchase small-scale renewable energy from developers at rates equal to the cost of production plus a premium. The so-called feed-in tariffs proposal would set European-style guarantees for investors that many credit for a recent boom in solar energy in Germany.

 “We have some brilliant Americans with brilliant business plans with brilliant technologies, but they don’t have financing,” Inslee said at a briefing last week on Capitol Hill. “The charm of the feed-in tariff is solid, take-it-to-the-bank security and confidence for the investing community.”

Proponents say feed-in tariffs can be more effective than renewable-energy standards, such as the one included in the House climate bill by Democrats Henry Waxman of California and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, because they offer staggered rate incentives for each energy source based on current production costs. The initial rate that utilities would pay for solar energy, for example, would be higher than payments for less-expensive wind energy.

Backers of the bill also point to the model in Germany, where, after passing its own Renewable Energy Sources Act in 2000, Germany was able to become the world’s largest market for photovoltaic systems and wind energy and more than doubled its supply of renewable energy between 2000 and 2007.

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Posted in Politics, Technologies, Thoughts, U.S.

Indication of what seem to be important for the DOE at the solar business

Posted on August 4, 2009 | Leave a comment

Partnership that includes DOE, Sandia National Laboratories, industry, utilities, and universities will invest in the 5 following projects that deals with complete grid connected systems:

  • PVPowered of Bend will receive up to $3 million to optimize interconnections across PV module technologies through systems integration,
  • Petra Solar of South Plainfield, NJ, which will get up to $2.9 million to improve reliability and resiliency in eight states so that high levels of PV integration can be adapted,
  • Princeton Power of Princeton, NJ will be awarded up to $2.8 million to lower manufacturing costs through integrated controls for energy storage and develop inverter designs,
  • Apollo Solar of Bethel, CT, will get $1.5 million to create inverters using energy storage and two-way communications between solar electrical systems and utilities,
  • Florida Solar Energy Center/UCF, will get up to $1.3 million to figure out how to include higher PV penetration levels in larger electrical systems.

AS much as all these projects are important – they are Not getting us closer to be free from oil addiction…

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Posted in Technologies, Thoughts, U.S.

“Is the average consumer willing to pay the upfront costs of a new smart grid and then respond appropriately to price signals?

Posted on August 2, 2009 | 1 Comment

 Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said at a recent hearing on smart grid.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu worry about security. “If you want to create mischief one very good way to create a great deal of mischief is to actually bring down a smart grid system. This system has to be incredibly secure,” Chu said.

 On the other hand, Chu says that the current grid stands in the way of increasing the use of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar that “will need a system that can dispatch power here, there and everywhere on a very quick basis.”

According to an article at Associate Press today, the “smart grid” has become the buzz of the electric power industry, at the White House and among members of Congress. President Barack Obama says it’s essential to boost development of wind and solar power, get people to use less energy and to tackle climate change. What smart grid visionaries see coming are home thermostats and appliances that adjust automatically depending on the cost of power; a world where a water heater may get juice from a neighbor’s rooftop solar panel, where on a scorching hot day a plug-in hybrid electric car charges one minute and the next sends electricity back to the grid to help head off a brownout. It is a world where utilities get instant feedback on a transformer outage, shift easily among energy sources, integrating wind and solar energy with electricity from coal-burning power plants, and go into homes and businesses to automatically adjust power use based on prearranged agreements.

However, without development of NEW clean energy technologies to transfer over the smart grid and without and robust technologies to protect the smart system against intrusion and evil shut down – the game is not worth the candle……

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Posted in Africa, Asia, Europe, Technologies, Thoughts, U.S.

Clean Energy “Apollo project” (40 years to the success of the first Apollo project)

Posted on July 19, 2009 | Leave a comment

We should urgently pursue a project for developing  technologies that can make a difference, to get rid of world dependence on oil, with the same vigor that the U.S. pursued the famous “Apollo project” (tomorrow 40 years anniversary).

Every nation on this planet is at risk.  And just as no one nation is responsible for climate change, no one nation can address it alone.  ….And it is why we have gathered again here today. –President Barack Obama. 

 Al Gore:  There has never been a better time than now for making the change we need in dealing with the climate crisis …  This is truly a new era of hope and opportunity for our cause.

We welcome individuals to contribute their solutions, ideas, words, and images.

Stay alert: Details will come soon….Kick-off is expected in February 2010.

www.energysummit2010.com

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Posted in Africa, Asia, China, Conferences, Europe, Israel, Politics, Technologies, U.S.

U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue to be held July 27-28, 2009 in Washington, D.C.

Posted on July 18, 2009 | Leave a comment

Two-Day Meeting Co-Hosted by U.S Departments of State and Treasury to Focus on Addressing Mutual Challenges, Opportunities and Promoting U.S.-China Cooperation WASHINGTON – The U.S. Departments of Treasury and State today announced that the first joint meeting of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue will be held in Washington, D.C. from July 27-28, 2009.

The Dialogue will focus on addressing the challenges and opportunities that both countries face on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global areas of immediate and long-term strategic and economic interests. This first meeting of the Dialogue will also set the stage for intensive, ongoing and future bilateral cooperative mechanisms. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner will be joined for the Dialogue by their respective Chinese Co-Chairs, State Councilor Dai Bingguo and Vice Premier Wang Qishan.

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Posted in China, Conferences, U.S.