THE Renewable Energy Thread (merged)

[Graeme]

A Bright Spot for Renewable Energy? Clean Energy Patents at Quarterly High

The Clean Energy Patent Growth Index (CEPGI), published quarterly by the Cleantech Group at Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C. provides an indication of the trend of innovative activity in the Clean Energy sector from 2002 to the present. Results from the Q1 2012 reveal the CEPGI to have a value of 694 granted U.S. patents, the highest quarter since tracking of the CEPGI began and up 154 over the first quarter of 2011.

The granting of patents by the United States Patent and Trademark (PTO) is often cited as a measure of the inventive activity and evidence of the effectiveness of research & development investments. Patents are considered to be an indicator of this because to be awarded a patent requires not only the efforts of inventors to develop new and non-obvious innovations but also successful handling by patent counsel to shepherd a patent application through the PTO.


The components breakdown of the CEPGI shows fuel cells to be down 19 patents relative to the 4th quarter of last year at 232 and being down 18 relative to the year before. More breakdown follows:

With 188 granted solar patents, solar has once again topped the remaining components of the CEPGI, and its closest competitor, wind at 157.
Solar and wind were tied the previous quarter at 143. This quarter, wind was up by 14 (to 157) and solar up by 45. Both technologies also greatly exceeded the results of the first quarter of 2011 with wind topping the previous year by 71 and solar up 50.
Hybrid/Electric vehicle patents numbered 62, up two relative to the 4th quarter and up 24 as compared to a year prior.
There were 36 Biomass/Biofuel patents, up 2 from the 4th quarter and more than double relative to the 1st quarter of 2011.
Hydroelectric patents (5) were up four compared to the quarter of a year prior and down one as compared to the 4th quarter.
Tidal patents were up six at 22 from the 4th quarter and up 13 over the year before.
Companies Leading the Patent Filings

Toyota emerged to take the quarterly clean energy patent crown for the first time since 2009 in the first quarter of 2011 with 49 patents. Toyota’s patents were primarily in fuel cells at 35 with an assist from Hybrid/Electric Vehicle patents at 14 and a Biofuel patent.

The leader for 2011, GE, followed with 33 patents (30 in wind, 2 solar, and 1 each in hybrid/electric vehicles and hydroelectric. Vestas Wind Systems moved into third with 30 patents – all in wind. General Motors slipped to fourth with 28 patents – all in fuel cells except four hybrid/electric vehicle and one solar patent.

renewableenergyworld

[Graeme]

The truth about clean energy in Nevada

In 2008, I invited President Bill Clinton to speak at the first National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas. President Clinton delivered the keynote address, and he challenged Nevada to become the first state to be energy self-sufficient by producing more electricity and creating jobs from our geothermal, solar and wind energy resources.

Nevada took the challenge seriously because leaders in business and government saw an opportunity to bring new industries and jobs to the state. Since then, clean energy production has increased by 450 percent as solar, wind and geothermal projects have cropped up all over the Silver State. These clean energy resources are producing enough power for hundreds of thousands of Nevadans and simultaneously fueling our state's tax base. In fact, since 2010 Nevada has seen more than $248 million in tax revenue generated from clean energy projects.

Our state has seen vast economic benefits as a result of clean energy projects. From 2003 to 2010, clean energy job growth measured annually at 5.8 percent. In Nevada, clean energy jobs pay $8,000 more than the median wage for other jobs and are currently projected to increase by nearly 11 percent between 2011 and 2016. And nearly 3,500 construction and permanent jobs have been created as a result of these projects. It's important to note that a project such as the One Nevada Transmission Line (ON-Line) will allow northern and southern Nevada to pool their energy resources and provide the flexibility needed to select the lowest-cost mix of renewable energy resources. This makes additional clean energy projects possible that will create additional jobs.

lvrj

[Graeme]

Mapping US Renewable Energy Potential, State by State

Dovetailing their June report showing the promise of renewable energy technology to serve US electricity needs, scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are providing detailed guidance about the state-by-state potential.

And contrary to the common myth that only certain states will have a stake in the clean energy movement, the NREL analysis finds that every state has the space and resources to generate clean energy.

"Decision-makers using the study will get a sense of scale regarding the potential for renewables, and which technologies are worth examining," says NREL’s Anthony Lopez, a co-author of the study. "Energy modelers also will find the study valuable."

In June, the NREL predicted that 80% of the nation's power could be generated by clean energy sources by 2050. About 5% of US power today comes from renewable energies such as solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal or biomass.

The new NREL report, US RE Technical Potential, maps the "could be" scenarios for key renewable technologies in each state. The forecasts strictly consider technical system performance, topographical limitations, environmental and land-use constraints but they don't account for economic conditions.

The total technical capacity potential for renewable energy technologies identified by NREL is 212,224 gigawatts (GW), says NREL.

sustainablebusiness

[vtsnowedin]

Mapping US Renewable Energy Potential, State by State

And contrary to the common myth that only certain states will have a stake in the clean energy movement, the NREL analysis finds that every state has the space and resources to generate clean energy.

That sounds like a conclusion that the customer paying the bills wanted to hear. Wanna bet that there isn't some fuzzy science supporting that conclusion?
Also notice that the quote doesn't say "How much" clean energy and you don't see words like sufficient applied to each state.

[Graeme]

North Africa's Solar Transmission Troubles

Among the critics of the kind of green energy grid solutions provided by projects like Desertec – and there are a few – one of the most common concerns is just how planners intend to deliver the apparent wealth of solar power from the deserts of North Africa to Europe. Allowing that project advocates can eventually build and connect a vast network of renewable farms from Tangiers to Cairo in an effective and reasonably effective way, how exactly do they plan to cross the Mediterranean without losing much of their product along the way? After all, we’re talking about covering hundreds of miles, much of which is deep under the sea. If its possible, can it be done with minimal loss or at a cost that does not make an already daunting project seem that much harder to complete?

According to the organizers behind one of Desertec’s largest anchor projects, its not only possible, but a feasible solution is already in motion, awaiting the O.K. from government officials. With so much at stake and so much potential on the table, its worth exploring just how they plan to make this happen – at least in a way that makes financial sense.


For Desertec member projects, the answer now lies in the construction of High Voltage Direct Current Lines (HVDC), to be laid across the Mediterranean at various points. Unlike earlier systems, they argue, HVDC lines can transmit energy from concentrated solar power farms in Tunisia to households in Italy with minimal loss – about 4 to 5 percent per 1000km. Taken with operating costs and capital requirements, this would amount to about 1-2 c/kWh in additional costs, according to Desertec documents. Sure it’s an increase, but they predict that it will still be less the cost of traditional energy transmission efforts over the next several decades.

However, according to a paper published in Energy Policy earlier this year, the project’s initial costs could be substantially higher. According to the report penned by Franz Trieb, Christoph Schillings, Thomas Pregger, and Marlene O’Sullivan for Energy Policy, the project would require about $135 billion in costs to achieve a system that could deliver 707.5 TWh a year by 2050 or about 15 percent of European demand. (Subscription Required) Coupled with the estimated $668 billion in plant construction costs, the lines would help add about 10 c/kWh to European energy costs.

forbes

[Graeme]

Model shows wind could meet many times world's total power demand by 2030

In 2030, if all energy is converted to clean energy, humans will consume about eleven-and-a-half terawatts of power every year, all sources combined. If there is to be a clean-energy economy based on renewable energy, wind power will no doubt have to help meet much of that demand.

In a new study, researchers at Stanford University's School of Engineering and the University of Delaware developed the most sophisticated weather model available to show that not only is there plenty of wind over land and near to shore to provide half the world's power, but there is enough to exceed total demand by several times if need be, even after accounting for reductions in wind speed caused by turbines. The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) by Mark Z. Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford and Cristina Archer, an associate professor of geography and physical ocean science and engineering at the University of Delaware.


Among the most promising things the researchers learned is that there is a lot of potential in the wind—hundreds of terawatts. At some point, however, the return on building new turbines plateaus, reaching a level in which no additional energy can be extracted even with the installation of more turbines. "Each turbine reduces the amount of energy available for others," Archer said. The reduction, however, becomes significant only when large numbers of turbines are installed, many more than would ever be needed. "And that's the point that was very important for us to find," Archer said. The researchers have dubbed this point the saturation wind power potential. The saturation potential, they say, is more than 250 terawatts if we could place an army of 100-meter-tall wind turbines across the entire land and water of planet Earth. Alternatively, if we place them only on land (minus Antarctica) and along the coastal ocean there is still some 80 terawatts available—about seven times the total power demand of all civilization. Hypothetical turbines operating in the jet streams six miles up in the atmosphere could extract as much as an additional 380 terawatts. "We're not saying, 'Put turbines everywhere,' but we have shown that there is no fundamental barrier to obtaining half or even several times the world's all-purpose power from wind by 2030. The potential is there, if we can build enough turbines," said Jacobson.

phys.org

[Graeme]

World Economic Forum's Energy For Society Initiative Aims To Improve Energy And Living Standards

A new international initiative aims to unite leaders of the world's energy companies to meet global needs while improving living standards. The World Economic Forum's Energy For Society Initiative, which launches September 11, brings together 20 founding signatories from some of the world's largest energy firms.

According to the WEF, the initiative's members are united under five guiding principles: "supplying secure and affordable access to energy; having efficient energy systems; upholding responsible citizenship in communities; contributing to economic development and promoting energy literacy."

The World Economic Forum's Roberto Bocca, Senior Director, Head of Energy Industries, said in a statement, "This is the first time that the global energy community is demonstrating such a commitment to society, not only by sharing their successes and challenges to improve their industry’s business practices with transparency, but also by demonstrating how those principles might be implemented concretely."

With all sectors of the energy represented in the initiative, the WEF hopes to "restore trust between the energy industry and society at large," according to a statement. The group contends that its global scope and holistic approach, going "beyond 'one issue' campaigns," sets it apart from existing efforts.

The WEF initiative comes as renewable energy investment grows globally. Earlier this year, the U.N. concluded in a report that world investment in renewable energy set a record in 2011 with $257 billion spent across the globe last year.

huffingtonpost

[mattduke]

I've lost every penny I've ever invested in renewable energy.

[sparky]

.
Yes matttduke , that's not you being unlucky , it's the reality of the economics
alternatives are valid only in isolated locations or heavily subsidized by the taxpayer

[Graeme]

Report: Morocco’s ADEREE, Desertec sign MOU to build solar farms

Morocco’s Agency for the Development of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ADEREE) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Germany’s Desertec Foundation for the development of solar farms in the North African country, reported BusinessGreen.

The two organizations plan to work together to develop a framework for the solar projects, which they noted will have the capability to transmit power to Europe. The MOU further aligns Desertec on the right path to accomplish a goal of constructing several large solar farms in North African countries, which would hold the potential to produce energy for both the domestic and European energy markets.

"Morocco is a not just a visionary in the region but also a successful pioneer in the global transition to renewables, where ADEREE plays a key role," said Thiemo Gropp, director of the Desertec Foundation, in a statement. "We are very happy to support their work in this context."

pv-tech

[Graeme]

Sahara solar plan loses its shine

Dimming prospects for solar energy have caught up with a massive renewable-energy project planned for the Sahara Desert. By 2050, according to its backers, DESERTEC, a network of solar plants and other renewable sources scattered across North Africa and the Middle East, could generate more than 125 gigawatts of power that could be used locally or delivered to Europe through high-voltage direct-current cables beneath the Mediterranean Sea. But one of its major backers, Siemens, based in Munich, Germany, now says that it will leave Dii, the consortium trying to advance DESERTEC, by the end of the year.


Paul van Son, Dii’s chief executive, says that he is not concerned about losing Siemens for the next phase of the work, a detailed look at specific projects. “It will not really affect us,” he says, pointing out that Siemens is only one of dozens of shareholders and partners.


Solar thermal plants have become increasingly hard to sell in recent years, says Wolf, owing to the falling price of a competing technology, silicon solar panels. Between 2006 and 2012, the cost of these photovoltaic panels fell by around 65%, partly as a result of a glut of solar cells on the market. Waning government subsidies for solar installations have made staying in the business even harder by lowering the demand for solar power, says Matthew Feinstein, an analyst at Lux Research in New York.


But Thiemo Gropp, director of the non-profit DESERTEC Foundation that set up Dii, says the fall in costs that drove Siemens out of the business will ultimately benefit the project. “Other companies will fill this gap with their own products,” he says. DESERTEC has endorsed one such project, a solar thermal plant planned for a site in Tunisia. Nur Energie, the London-based company behind the undertaking, hopes to supply Italy with power from the plant through an underwater cable.

And Siemens’ relationship with DESERTEC may not be entirely over. The company says that it still supports the mission in principle, and may have something to offer down the road. Wind energy, for example, has taken on an increasingly important role in plans for DESERTEC, which hopes to tap into Africa’s coastal winds. And Siemens now plans to focus on its wind portfolio.

nature

[Graeme]

PART II: Transitioning from Fossil Fuels to Renewable Energy

In the race to transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy and avoid runaway climate change, wind has opened a wide lead on both solar and geothermal energy. Solar panels, with a capacity totaling 70,000 megawatts, and geothermal power plants, with a capacity of some 11,000 megawatts, are generating electricity around the world. The total capacity for the world’s wind farms, now generating power in about 80 countries, is near 240,000 megawatts. China and the U.S. are in the lead.

Over the past decade, world wind electric generating capacity grew at nearly 30 percent per year, its increase driven by its many attractive features and by public policies supporting its expansion. Wind is abundant, carbon-free and nondepletable. It uses no water, no fuel and little land. Wind is also locally available, scales up easily and can be brought online quickly. No other energy source can match this combination of features.

One reason wind power is so popular is that it has a small footprint. Although a wind farm can cover many square miles, turbines occupy only one percent of that area. Compared with other renewable sources of energy, wind energy yield per acre is off the charts. For example, a farmer in northern Iowa could plant an acre in corn that yields enough grain to produce roughly $1,000 worth of fuel-grade ethanol per year, or he could use that same acre to site a turbine producing $300,000 worth of electricity each year.

Because turbines take up only one percent of the land covered by a wind farm, ranchers and farmers can, in effect, double-crop their land, simultaneously harvesting electricity while producing cattle, wheat or corn. With no investment on their part, farmers and ranchers can receive $3,000 to $10,000 a year in royalties for each wind turbine on their land. For thousands of ranchers on the U.S. Great Plains, wind royalties will one day dwarf their earnings from cattle sales.

Wind is also abundant. In the U.S., three wind-rich states—North Dakota, Kansas and Texas—have enough harnessable wind energy to easily satisfy national electricity needs. Another attraction of wind energy is that it is not depletable. The amount of wind energy used today has no effect on the amount available tomorrow.

Unlike coal, gas, and nuclear power plants, wind farms do not require water for cooling. As wind backs out coal and natural gas in power generation, water will be freed up for irrigation and other needs.

Perhaps wind’s strongest attraction is that there is no fuel cost. After the wind farm is completed, the electricity flows with no monthly fuel bill. And while it may take a decade to build a nuclear power plant, the construction time for the typical wind farm is one year.

ecowatch

[Timo]

.
Yes matttduke , that's not you being unlucky , it's the reality of the economics
alternatives are valid only in isolated locations or heavily subsidized by the taxpayer

Ditto for fossil fuels. I can't tell you how much i deeply resent my taxes being used to subsidize big oil, big coal, nuclear, and to some extent, even hydro-electric. If given the choice, i'm much rather live with less while subsidizing clean, renewable alternatives instead of the dying, earth-destroying behemoth that is fossil fuels. Efficiencies are gained over time and only happen as a result of investment, public or private. And i'll just remind everyone that it was the automobile manufacturers that systematically bought and dismantled this entire nation's intra-city rail systems at the beginning of the 20th Century, just to ensure that their products would become essential possessions for every American family. The private sector rarely has the public's best interests in mind.

[PrestonSturges]

"renewable" energy can't run data cloud...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 50864.html

Apple has touted its plan to use solar energy to help run its massive new data center in Maiden, N.C. But in a recent blog post (perspectives.mvdirona.com) titled "I Love Solar Power But," James Hamilton, a vice president and engineer on Amazon's Web services team, calculated that the 500,000 square-foot facility would need about 6.5 square miles of solar panels.

yeah ok - that's a solid assumption..."we can give you all the power you need so long as you don't need much ...if any..."
lol

And of course, many of the "features" offered by big data are unwelcome and unwanted by many consumers. And Amazon is an environmental catastrophe anyway, with trucks zooming all over town to deliver a little item here, another knick-knack there. And Amazon Prime customers order 3 or 4 similar item with the intention of returning most of what they buy because they assume they'll get free shipping.

[PrestonSturges]

Maybe we should exile the data centers to the Sahara. It's easier to pump bytes long distance via fiber optics than electricity via copper cable.

[Graeme]

Global Geothermal Markets Booming - Will the US Get Left Behind?

When speaking to a geothermal advocate, it is likely that they will express a common frustration about the industry: geothermal, unlike wind and solar, is a baseload, guaranteed source of steady power, so why isn't there enough favorable policy in the U.S. to help the industry grow?

During the geothermal policy panel discussion at the Renewable Energy World North America Conference and Expo, co-located with POWER-GEN International, panelists described the scene in the U.S. government and expressed concern over the fact that if something doesn't change, the U.S. geothermal industry might get left behind.

While the wind industry is fighting for an extension of the production tax credit (PTC) set to expire at the end of this year, Karl Gawell, executive director of the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA), explained a current Senate proposal that could benefit both wind and geothermal. The proposal changes the condition of the PTC so that projects under construction by January 1, 2014 would qualify, rather than completed projects.

Gawell is confident that the provision will pass. “This stands a good chance. In Washington, no one ever tells you that something stands a good chance, but I think this right now stands a reasonably good chance, but it has to be part of the bigger deal.”

Its supporters include the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), GEA, National Hydropower Association (NHA) and more. According to Gawell, the fiscal cliff deal will be the vehicle that pushes the PTC.

If the PTC provision passes, Gawell said he expects 2013 to be a “boom year” for the geothermal industry. Instead of companies and projects phasing out due to an expiring tax credit, the industry will be scrambling to get more projects qualified.

power-eng

[Graeme]

100% Renewable Energy - The Only Way Forward

The world's leading scientists have issued a mandate that we must change our energy system to a sustainable one based on conservation, efficiency and renewable energy in the near future or risk losing planetary habitability. The energy transition is not a lifestyle choice; it is an essential way to combat climate change and save our planet. Fukushima and BP’s Deepwater Horizon catastrophe are only the most recent reminders of the hazards of our current energy system. Energy infrastructure is outdated and much of the world’s power generation capacity is nearing the end of its life. Major investment decisions to modernize the world’s energy system are unavoidable. Now is the time for the energy transformation.

There are many people who would consider themselves supporters of renewables but doubt the feasibility of 100% in the near future. Indeed, it is one of the biggest challenges humanity has ever faced. In times of economic crisis and budget cuts in most parliaments people are mainly concerned about jobs and price increases in their daily lives. However, the evidence shows that investments in renewable energies actually tackle these issues. Energy is a cross-cutting issue.

Looking at countries like Germany and Denmark that are successfully moving towards 100% renewable energy, we see that high citizen participation and regional value creation from decentralised renewable energy production are the key success factors.

In Germany renewable energy deployment has already resulted in more than 380,000 jobs. Especially in 2008 – the year of the global economic crisis – the sector proved its importance for growth and employment with an increase of more than 10%. By reducing costs for energy imports by € 6 billion in 2011, renewables enabled politicians to spend the limited resources on local development.[1] A study from the German Renewable Energy Agency (2010) calculates that German municipalities can expect at least € 1.2 billion a year in tax revenue from the use of renewable energies by 2020.[2] The more job-intensive a system technology or a value creation chain is, the more tax revenue municipalities can expect from their shares of the income tax.

theenergycollective

[Graeme]

Even France can go 100% renewables

For the nuclear industry and the pro-nuclear lobby, France is held out as the text book model of how an energy system should work: More than 70 per cent of electricity needs supplied by nuclear, relatively cheap electricity for customers, investment in the next generation technology.

But France has a problem. The massive investment in nuclear in the 1970s and 1980s was financed by the government, and energy generators unburdened by the cost of capital were able to deliver that cheap energy. And as these reactors trundle towards the end of their life, replacing them becomes a dilemma: The government is not in a position to repeat that investment, and it is not clear how private investors could afford the cost of capital, as the UK is discovering in its nuclear plans.

Is there an alternative? One French think tank, called negaWatt, suggests there is: allow nuclear to be phased out altogether (closing plants as they reach the end of their life), and replace it with energy efficiency, renewables and storage.

cleantechnica

[Graeme]

Solar Power to Hit Cost Parity Next Year

They said it couldn’t be done. They tried to tell us that renewable energy could only survive if it were propped up with government subsidies. Never mind that our whole system of economic development, beginning with the patent office, is predicated on the idea that fledgling, underfunded industries need special protection for a limited time until they are strong enough to go it alone. Never mind that the fossil fuel industry, which can hardly be considered fledgling or underfunded, is still receiving billions in taxpayer subsidies.

But like the little engine that could, or the middle aged rock star that, after twenty years of struggling in sleazy dives has suddenly become an overnight sensation, solar power, having now surpassed the 100 GW threshold, has finally arrived and is good to go, in many places, without subsidies.

True, almost a third of that is in Germany, where the government has aggressively backed its development through the successful deployment of feed-in tariffs (FiT). Germany now has five times as much solar power as the U.S., despite the fact that the levels of sunshine it receives are more comparable to Alaska than Arizona, or even Florida (which is closer to Spain).

China is growing faster than any other country and is expected to surpass Germany and take the number one spot this year.

Germany is showing no signs of slowing down either, as their Environment Minister, recently proposed raising their 2020 renewable target to 40 percent and their 2030 target to 80 percent.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that solar installations will more than double to 230 GW by 2017.

This is the kind of progress that we are going to need to avoid the 6 degree Celsius scenario we discussed last week. We might see even more than if the U.S. Congress ever gets its act together to set some kind of energy policy.

triplepundit

[Graeme]

Saudi Arabia hopes to export solar electricity to Europe

Saudi Arabia, which is planning massive investment in renewable energy, hopes to export solar electricity to Europe in winter, when cooler temperatures reduce the need for air conditioning in the kingdom.

It would be viable for Saudi Arabia to export up to 10 gigawatts, the equivalent of 10 nuclear plants, via North Africa and Italy or Spain, Khalid Al Sulaiman, vice president for renewable energy at the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE) told a conference in Paris.

"It is not a project, it is a potential. It has to be examined thoroughly by all," Sulaiman told Reuters.

He said solar energy capacity in Saudi Arabia is "almost non-existent" at the moment, with only about 10 to 11 megawatts of capacity installed in the entire country.

But the kingdom has huge ambitions to build renewable and nuclear capacity as it tries to reduce domestic oil consumption.

The world's top oil exporter said in February it aims to install 24 gigawatt of renewable power capacity by 2020 and 54 gigawatt by 2032, which would make Saudi Arabia one of the world's main producers of renewable electricity.

reuters