The Energy Blog

Another Thermal Solar System Announced

Thermal solar systems are having a heyday with several announcements of installations in the US and in Spain.  International Automated Systems, Inc. (IAS) announced that it had secured a site for its first 1 MW concentrating solar power plant.  Once in operation, the company hopes to expand beyond several 100 Megawatts.  The company claims its breakthrough solar power technology may become the first solar to compete with gas. Low-cost energy produced by the company's new patented and patent-pending solar technology can be used to generate electricity or produce clean fuels such as hydrogen and green methanol (gasoline replacements) at a competitive price. 

The plant will be located in Southern California. IAS expects to complete construction of the solar power plant during the first quarter 2006.  According to the company website; "IAS’s unique thin-film lens focuses the sun’s energy, producing super-heated steam for power generation. IAS’s panels are inexpensive, efficient, and require virtually no maintenance. Typical solar reflector panels (e.g. solar dishes, troughs, heliostats) are expensive and require a great deal of maintenance to sustain a solar focal point. Once installed, IAS’s lenses need no further adjustment." 

According to a July 27 press release; "IAS's unique thin-film solar panels can be produced at a fraction of the cost of today's photovoltaic solar panels. IAS is on schedule to begin mass production of its solar panels by September 2005. Once in production, IAS will be able to turn out nearly 200 megawatts of solar panels yearly, nearly 10 times greater capacity than a $100 million photovoltaic fabrication plant."

Not really much technical information about their equipment.  The company, founded in 1988, has yet to report any revenue.  It sounds like they may generate steam directly, without using a heat transfer fluid as most trough collectors do.  They are developing a variety of high technology equipment including a bladeless turbine being demonstrated at various geothermal power plants.  They could be using this turbine to generate electricity.  They do not say that they have sold the equipment, so it may be possible that they plan on paying for the units by selling the electricity.  That would be a good deal if the units are as reliable and inexpensive as they claim.

International Automated Systems, Inc., Salem, UT
IAS press Release, 7/27/05
IAS Press release, 9/29/05

Technocrati tags: solar, concentrating solar, thermal solar, Energy, renewable, alternative energy

SOx, NOx, CO2, Hg and Particulates Removed at Ohio Power Plant

Processes that uses an amonia based solutions to capture SOx, NOx,CO2, Hg and particulates from power plant flue gas have or will be demonstrated at FirstEnergy's R.E. Burger Plant in Shadyside, Ohio. The ECO technology produces a commercially salable, ammonium sulfate nitrate fertilizer co-product, reducing operating costs and avoiding landfill disposal of waste. The CO2 is to be recovered and prepared for sequestration in another process.  After regeneration the ammonia solution from the CO2 capture will be recycled.  FirstEnergy Corp. and Powerspan Corp., a clean energy technology company, announced plans to pilot test the CO2 removal technology beginning in late 2006. The pilot test will follow successful demonstration of Powerspan's patented Electro-Catalytic Oxidation (ECO(R)) multi-pollutant control technology that converts pollutants into fertilizer.  The CO2 capture process is expected to be readily integrated with the ECO technology, which uses aqueous ammonia to absorb high levels of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury.

Wearable Solar Battery Charger

How would you like a jacket that would charge your MP3 player or PDA?  Konarka and Textron think you would.  The two have formed a joint development program to create prototype garments and fashion accessories with portable, wearable power-generation capabilities. The technology will utilize Konarka's light-activated Power Plastic(TM) and Textronics' electronic textile systems to provide renewable, wearable energy sources for personal electronic devices.  By combining the two technologies they hope to develop garments that will overcome the shortcomings of conventional power technologies by enabling consumers to have energy generation ability with them at all times.

The resulting systems will be flexible and integrated in a way that will retain many of the qualities of conventional textiles, providing an overall consumer experience that is more like wearing a jacket or carrying a messenger bag than charging a device. Konarka's added abilities to provide colored and patterned Power Plastic technology will allow for innovative aesthetic solutions.

"This joint effort will show designer-label manufacturers how we can bring new benefits to consumers through their everyday clothing and fashion accessories, including increased levels of convenience, freedom of use and performance while minimally affecting the garment's overall weight, size or appearance," said Daniel Patrick McGahn, Konarka's executive vice president and chief marketing officer.

Konarka builds products that convert light to energy – anywhere. Konarka is the leading developer of polymer photovoltaic products that provide a source of renewable power in a variety of form factors for commercial, industrial, government and consumer applications. Konarka’s photovoltaic nanotechnology is focused on delivering lightweight, flexible, scalable and manufacturable products. Unlike other photovoltaic technologies that incorporate glass, Konarka's technology is polymer-based, making it lightweight and portable. The company's PV module technology converts both sun and indoor light into direct current (DC) electrical energy and can be incorporated into a wide range of applications for an economical, versatile power source.

Textronics is a developer and producer of electro-textiles or “e-textiles,” which are fabric systems that can conduct, warm, illuminate or sense. The company’s unique technology portfolio uses the stretch and recovery properties of elastomeric materials to interact with electronic systems.  Electro-textiles are used in the apparel, automotive, industrial, home interior, healthcare, and communications business sectors to deliver enhanced safety, comfort, heath, communications, entertainment and aesthetic solutions.

See this article from Business Week for more on the subject.

Resources:

"Konarka and Textronics Partner to Develop Power-Generating Wearable Electronics", Joint press release, 9/28/05
Textronics, Wilmington, Delaware
Konarka, Lowell, MA

Technocrati tags: textiles, solar, energy, renewable, alternative energy

Micanthus: Perennial Grass for Fuel

Micanthus x giganteus, sometimes referred to as elephant grass, is a promising energy crop, originally imported from Asia, that the University of Illinois is investigating as an energy crop. It is a perennial grass known for its ornamental forms.  The type being investigated for an energy crop is a stronger-stemmed highly productive hybrid that grows to a height of 8 to 12 feet. The U of I team calculates that over a ten year period, with no subsidies to either crop, it would be more profitable than corn or soybeans.

Illinois researchers found that the grass has a higher yield than in Europe where  earlier work has been conducted to evaluate it as an energy crop.  It yields 10 to 30 tons dry mass per hectare (2.47 acres) in Europe and results in Illinois have been twice that.  Using a computer simulator, Heaton predicted that if just 10 percent of Illinois land mass was devoted to Miscanthus, it could provide 50 percent of Illinois electricity needs. It is burned and fired with coal, in mixtures of up to 50% Micanthus.

It is a sterile cross, which means that it is not invasive as some varieties are, and it is propagated from rhizomes, similarly to irises.  After planting, Micanthus takes three years to mature for harvesting.  It is left standing in the field to dry and is harvested from November to February with the same machinery that is used to harvest corn.  It is very low in sulfur and carbon neutral so it has strong environmental benefits.  The grass is one of the most efficient crops for growing in cold weather and is very drought resistant. Energy input to growing it is much lower than row crops since it is only planted once every 10 to 20 years.  It improves soil by adding large amounts of organic matter to it.  It requires little or no herbicides or fertilizer and no cultivation once it is established. 

"Hybrid grass may be valuable fuel source", PHYSORG.COM, 9/27/05
"Biomass Crops as a Source of Renewable Energy: European Experience with Miscanthus and projections for Illinois",  Emily Heaton et al, U of Illinois, 2003 (pdf)
<"Miscanthus, a Promising Energy Crop for Illinois", U of Illinois Environmental Almanac, 2/24/05

Technocrati tags: biomass, biofuels, energy, renewable, alternative energy

About IGCC Power Plants

Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants are believed to be the type of power plants that will predominately be used to add to our electrical power supply, replace our aging coal power plants and out increasingly expensive natural gas power plants. (Wabash River, IN IGCC plant shown above) The process offers options to eliminate greenhouse gases, produce hydrogen and/or produce liquid fuels.

The process used by IGCC plants can be broken down into five broad steps:

1. the coal is gasified to produce a synthetic gas (syngas)
2. the pollutants are removed from the syngas, then electricity is generated using a combined cycle, consisting of the following three steps:
3. a gas turbine-generator burns the syngas
4. heat from the gasification and the exhaust heat from the gas turbine are used to create steam
5. the steam is used to power a steam turbine-generator.

The potential for carbon dioxide sequestration makes IGCC technology even more appealing and environmentally responsible.  If desired hydrogen can be separated from the syngas stream.  A more complex, but even more economical option is to generate Fischer-Tropsch liquid fuels from a portion of the syngas. 

The following are the characteristics of an IGCC plant:

• SOx, NOx and particulate emissions are much lower in IGCC plants than from a modern coal plant. Its VOC emissions and mercury emissions are comparable.
• IGCC plants emit approximately 20% less CO2 emissions than a modern coal plant.
• IGCC plants use 20-40% less water than a modern coal plant.
• IGCC plants operate at higher efficiencies than conventional coal fired power plants thus requiring less fuel and producing less emissions.  Current efficiency is 42% with efficiencies as high as 60% expected in the very near future using a high efficiency turbines and some other process improvements.
• Costs for electricity, without CO2 capture, is about 20% higher than in a modern coal plant.  Electricity costs are 40% lower than from a natural gas IGCC plant with natural gas at $6.50 per MMbtu.
• CO2 can be captured from an IGCC plant much more easily that from a conventional coal plant at an an additional cost increase of 25-30% for capture and sequestration, without transportation charges.
• IGCC offers the possibility to capture the hydrogen that is part of the syngas stream, in an economic manner.

How to Clean Coal

An article in onearth, a NRDC environmental magazine, discusses at great length, in a very well researched article, the prospects we have for increasing use of coal to generate electricity, the associated CO2 generation, Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power generation and sequestration.  IGCC plants enable the capture of the CO2 at little or no additional cost to the plant.  The disposal or sequestration of the CO2 is where additional cost is incurred.  The article traces the authors trips to plants using these technologies and makes the case that IGCC plus sequestration are the answer to controlling CO2 emissions.  He also discuses the problems involved with implementing these technologies.

His travels take him to the Dakota Gasification Plant (plant that makes synthetic gas for supplementing natural gas supplies) that sends its CO2 200 miles north to an oil field in Canada where it is disposed of by using it for enhanced oil recovery (EOR).  He is impressed with the network of 88 injection wells that dispose of the CO2 at the oil field.  An independent study, In a nutshell, said that sequestration is working. "In this particular oil-field geology," they summarized, "the CO2 is staying down there."  He also concedes that many power plants are not located where such a means of disposal are available.  The first sequestration of CO2 from a power plant, on a commercial scale, is being implemented by BP in Scotland who is also going to dispose of its CO2 by using it for EOR in an offshore oil field.  Several alternative means are available for sequestration, but they still need to be demonstrated. 

He visits Tampa Electric's IGCC plant (built with subsidies from DOE) and is impressed with the cleanliness of the facility and the lack of visible emissions from the CO2 exiting the "smokestack."  He points to a few power companies that see IGCC as the answer to future pollution control, whether sequestration is required or not, but would provide the basis for implementing sequestration if it were ever required.  The Wisconsin Public Service Commission denied an application to build a IGCC plant because it was "expensive and requires more maturation."

The article "How to Clean Coal" is worth the time to read its six pages if you have any interest in this technology,  CO2 emissions or the problems that have to be faced in implementing this technology.

Technocrati tags: coal, electric power, energy, sequestration, pollution

2 MW Solar Hybrid Project

The native-American Hualapai Tribe has issued an RFP for a renewable energy electric utility for their isolated 9,000 acre tourism enterprise, Grand Canyon West (GCW).  The Hualapai Tribe has received a $2 million grant from the USDA Rural Utilities Service to build electric generation and distribution infrastructure at GCW.   The solar hybrid power system will initially be sized at 250 kW with expansion to 2 MW anticipated.  Innovative technology is anticipated to meet overnight and cloudy day loads.

Renewable Energy Access has the complete story here.

This seems like a very good use of renewable energy technology at this time.  Whether a grant to pay for the whole project is justified is another question.  Certainly some subsidy is justified as it would not be possible to get power from a utility at this location and building your own utility is prohibitively expensive on this small scale.  I think this is a better use for taxpayers money than many other causes.

Technocrati tags: solar, solar cells, Energy, Renewable, Alternative energy

About Crystalline Silicon PV Cells

Crystalline silicon solar cells were the first type of PV cells to be widely commercialized. They are very stable and do not deteriorate significantly with time.  Silicon cells represented more than 90% of the 927 MW of solar cells sold in 2004.  Silicon is in short supply and increasingly costly.  Approximately 45% of the cost of a silicon cell solar module is determined by the cost of the silicon.  Thus efforts are being made to use less silicon in the manufacture of solar cells.  This is being done by making the cells thinner, making them more efficient and using cell structures other than silicon.

Crystalline silicon cells come in four forms:

Single-Crystalline or Monocrystaline Silicone - Made using cells saw-cut from a single cylindrical crystal of silicon. The principle advantage of monocrystalline cells are their higher efficiencies, typically around 15%, although the manufacturing process required to produce monocrystalline silicon is complicated, resulting in slightly higher costs than other forms of silicone cells. The two production process, Czochralski process or float-zone process produce single crystal cylinders or rods. Once the rods are produced, by either the Cz or FZ method, they must be sliced or sawn to form thin wafers.

Poly-crystalline or Multicrystalline Silicon Made from cells cut from an ingot of melted and recrystallized silicon.   In the manufacturing process, molten silicon is cast into ingots of polycrystalline silicon, these ingots are then saw-cut into very thin wafers and assembled into complete cells.  Multicrystalline cells are less expensive to produce than monocrystalline ones, due to the simpler manufacturing process.  However, they tend to be slightly less efficient, with average efficiencies of around 12%.

Ribbon Silicon - A type of single crystal silicon that differs in the way the single crystals are grown. These single crystals may cost less than other processes, because they form the silicon directly into thin, usable wafers of single-crystal silicon. These methods involve forming thin crystalline sheets directly, thus avoiding the slicing step required of cylindrical rods.

Thin-film Silicon:  Another multicrystalline technology where the silicon is deposited in a continuous process onto a base material giving a fine grained, sparkling appearance. The term "thin-film silicon" typically refers to silicon-based PV devices other than amorphous silicon cells and single-crystalline silicon cells (where the silicon layer is thicker than 200 micrometers). These films have high absorptivity of light and may have cell thicknesses of only a few micrometers or less. Nanocrystalline silicon and small-grained polycrystalline silicon—considered thin-film silicon—may replace amorphous silicon alloys as the bottom cell in multijunction devices.

Panda Builds Ethanol Plants

Panda Energy announced that it will build the third, of a planned five, 100 million gallon per year ethanol plants in Haskell County, Kansas.  The ethanol produced at each plant will be blended with gasoline and replace the equivalent of 2.4 million barrels of imported gasoline each year.  The $120 million facility will use bio-gas produced from one billion pounds of cattle manure to produce the steam used in the plant.  The bio-gas, by replacing natural gas usually used in ethanol plants, will save the equivalent of 1,000 barrels of oil per day, which will make these facilities the most energy efficient ethanol refineries in the United States.

Panda had previously announced identical plants in Hereford, TX and Yuma, CO.

Resources:

"Panda Energy International, Inc.", Dallas TX
"Panda to build fuel ethanol plant", Dallas Business Journal, 9/19/05
Panda to Build  Fuel Ethanol Plant in Colorado, Marketplace.com, 8/24/05

Technocrati tags: ethanol, biofuels, energy, renewable, alternative energy

Fuel Cells Extend Range of NEVs

Fuel cell golf cart/NEV range extended to 6 hours, 100-150 miles

Anuvu Incorporated has scheduled production and delivery of a fuel cell-powered Neighborhood Electric Vehicle with On-Board Power generator to Reg Technologies Inc. for evaluation and testing. The design for the fuel cell power system for golf carts/NEVs would be a universal range extending power package that would be added to existing vehicle designs. The fuel cell would provide 2.5 kW of net power to the NEV, providing substantial range extension and enhanced performance over the entire duty cycle.

Technocrati tags: fuel cells, hydrogen, Energy, Renewable, Alternative energy

Largest Photovoltaic Plant to be Built

BP Solar to build world's largest photovoltaic solar power plant in Portugal

The plant, with a cost of 250 million eur, will have 350,000 solar panels spread over 114 hectares near the southern town of Moura and will be able to produce 62 megawatts, more than six times the largest existing solar power station in Germany.

Technocrati tags: solar, solar cells, Energy, Renewable, Alternative energy

Higher Efficiency Solar Cells?

High-Efficiency Solar Cells Using Photonic-Bandgap Materials

Solar photovoltaic cells would be designed to exploit photonic- bandgap (PBG) materials to enhance their energy-conversion efficiencies, according to a proposal. Whereas the energy- conversion efficiencies of currently available solar cells are typically less than 30 percent, it has been estimated that the energy-conversion efficiencies of the proposed cells could be about 50 percent or possibly even greater. Read more here.

Technocrati tags: solar, solar cells, Energy, Renewable, Alternative energy

Commercial IGCC Plants to be Built

Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) electric power plants seem to becoming accepted as state of the art technology with the announcement that plants totaling 1,200 megawatts of capacity would be built.  IGCC plants convert coal into gas that is burned in turbines to power electric generators.  The process can significantly decreases emissions of nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, particulates and mercury to well below that required by environmental regulations.  The process reduces CO2 emissions by about 20%, but can isolate the CO2 into a separate stream if a means for disposal were available.  Sequestration technologies have not been demonstrated on a large scale.  The 2005 energy bill included funding for the Future Gen plant which incorporates sequestration technology. 

According to a 9/16/05 article in the Charleston Daily Mail an executive from Appalachian Power Company, a subsidiary of American Electric Power, said that he is convinced that a $1 billion, 1,200 MW IGCC plant will be constructed in West Virginia. 

Technocra ti tags: electrical generation, coal-fired power plants, integrated closed cycle gasification, >, energy

Ovonics to Build Third 25 MW/yr Production Line

According to a 9/19/05 press release, "United Solar Ovonic has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Tianjin Jinneng Investment Company (TJIC) to form a joint venture to establish a 25-megawatt (MW) thin-film triple-junction amorphous silicon photovoltaic module manufacturing operation in Tianjin, the People's Republic of China.

In addition to its existing 25 MW photovoltaic manufacturing plant, United Solar Ovonic broke ground in July 2005 for its second state-of-the-art solar module manufacturing plant in Auburn Hills, Mich., to double its U.S. solar cell/module manufacturing capacity. Occupancy of the new facility is scheduled for May 2006, and it is anticipated that the plant will begin manufacturing products in the fall of 2006.

Compared to conventional solar technology utilizing single crystal or polycrystal silicon, United Solar Ovonic’s thin-film solar cells are 100 times thinner, do not use crystalline silicon material and, therefore, are unaffected by the scarcity of silicon worldwide. The products, unlike conventional glass-based PV products, are lightweight, flexible and rugged and can be aesthetically integrated into buildings.

United Solar Ovonics is the world leader in thin-film amorphous photovoltaics. Its existing 25-megawatt production equipment is the world’s largest and most advanced machine for the manufacture of thin-film amorphous silicon alloy solar cells and related products used for a variety of applications ranging from large solar farms for utility-scale applications to charging batteries for solar lanterns. UNI-SOLAR® solar cells are lightweight, rugged and flexible, and are ideal as building-integrated photovoltaic roofing systems for residential and industrial customers. ECD Ovonics and United Solar Ovonic hold the basic patents covering the continuous roll-to-roll manufacturing of thin-film amorphous silicon alloy multi-junction solar cells and related products. More information on United Solar Ovonic can be found at www.uni-solar.com".

A full copy of the press release can be found here. (application/msword)

A previous post that discussed thin-film amorphous silicon cell technology can be found here.

Technocrati tags: solar, solar cells, Energy, Renewable, Alternative energy

Biodiesel From Ethanol Production Waste

The ethanol industry produces a byproduct that contains significant volumes of corn oil that until recently could not be cost effectively recovered.  Mean Green Biofuels Corporation (Mean Green™), a Greenshift related company, has exclusive use of the EORS corn oil extraction technology in the eastern U.S. that can be applied to the dry mill ethanol processing industry.  The corn oil is then processed into biodiesel at an offsite biodiesel production facility.

The Mean Green Biofuels™ process redirects an internal waste stream in dry mill ethanol facilities through its proprietary extraction systems where crude corn oil is extracted and then prepared for shipment offsite for further refining.  Initially they will purchase and sell this on the basis of wholesale and retail prices, thereby stimulating near term cash flows pending the initiation of operations at its planned new biodiesel facility.  They intend to build a 30 MMgpy biodiesel production facility which will process the crude corn oil in a new facility that is expected to be completed in 2007.

More HEV Vans for Purolator

Purolator has ordered an additional 115 diesel-electric hybrid vehicles from Azure Dynamics Corporation, the largest order of it kind in the delivery industry.  Purolator has already accumulated more than 20,000 km's (12,000 miles) of in-service mileage after four months of evaluation with the 10 vans received for testing.  Pre-production testing has shown that the HEVs are capable of eliminating up to 50 per cent of greenhouse gasses currently emitted with conventional gasoline/diesel delivery vehicles as well as significant reductions in fossil fuel emissions.  Deliveries of the first vehicles will commence in 2006. If these vehicles continues to live up to expectations, then as Purolator replenishes its fleet each year, the company intends to add up to 400 HEV vehicles to its fleet annually.

Purolator’s HEVs are equipped with a hybrid series configuration, which uses the internal combustion engine combined with a generator to supply electricity for the battery pack and electric motor. There is no mechanical connection between the internal combustion engine power unit and the wheels. All motive power is transferred electrically to one or more electric traction motors that drive the wheels.

Azure has a demonstration agreement with Zebra, manufacturer of high temperature sodium-nickel-chloride batteries, which have power densities on the order of 100 W/kg.  Under the agreement they developed an electric van for display and demonstration purposes.  The vehicle was to be available as either a utility delivery van or a passenger minibus.  No information was given if these are the batteries being used in these vehicles.

Update 11:00 pm 9/17/05 - Non-withstanding the above agreement, the Green Car Congress Post on this subject accurately reported that NiMh batteries produced by Cobasys are being used in the Purolator HEVs.  The Cobasys press release is reference below.

Resources:

"Purolator to take delivery of 115 Azure hybrid electric vehicles", Purolator press release, 9/16/05
Azure Dynamics, Vancouver, Canada
Zebra Battery made by Beta R&D Ltd, Derby, England

"Azure Dynamics Selects Cobasys NiMHax 336-70 Nickel Metal Hydride Batteries for Hybrid Electric Vehicles", Cobasys press release, 10/1/04

Technocrati tags: Hybrid cars, Batteries, Energy, Renewable, Alternative energy

High-Temperature Superconductor Discoveries

This year scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory have discovered two ways of improving the conductivity of "high temperature" superconductors (HTCs).  They have found that both increasing the substrate roughness and adding calcium to boundaries between the grains of superconductors can significantly increase the current carrying capacity. 

A superconductor is a material that conducts electricity with no resistance. These discoveries are important steps in creating superconductor-based electric and power-delivery devices, such as power transmission lines, motors, and generators. “High-temperature” superconductors are conductors that superconduct at temperatures much “warmer” than conventional superconductors (although still very cold) — for example, -300°F rather than -440°F.  This difference, while not huge, is enough to make HTCs more viable for practical applications than materials that must be kept much colder.

The superconducting material they studied is a "cuprate," dubbed YBCO consisting of the elements yttrium, barium, copper and oxygen. YBCO films are deposited onto a ‘normal’ metal surface (the “substrate”), forming components known as coated conductors.  They found that nanoscale corrugated surfaces on the substrate produces a 30 percent increase in the current carried by the YBCO films.  They had previously thought that surface roughness degraded the performance of HTSCs.

HTSCs are made of many tiny crystalline grains. The boundaries between grains act like barriers to electrical flow. Previously scientists had discovered that adding calcium to the boundries between the grains improved the conductivity, seemingly because the calcium changed the electric-charge structure at the boundaries.  In the latest discovery it was found that the chemical structure was changed by adding the calcium and that is what leads to improved conductivity.  The importance of this discovery is that it means that similarly sized elements could be equally or more effective than calcium.

This technology is increasingly important as the energy loss in electrical transmission lines is already very significant.  If we are to become more dependent on electrical generation methods that are geographically restricted; such as solar, wind, ocean power and geothermal; this technology becomes even more important.  Commercial use of this technology is far away, but I believe some early, small scale experiments with transmission lines have been conducted. 

Resources:

"Helping out a High Temperature Superconductor"  , Physics.com, 9/14/05
"Pushing the Boundaries of High-Temperature Superconductors" , Physics.com 5/26/05

Technocrati tags: superconductors, high-temperature superconductors, energy,

Overview of Concentrating Solar Power

Concentrating solar power (CSP) is thermal solar power that uses a means of magnifying or concentrating the effective radiation from the sun onto a receiving device that collects the power so that it can be used directly as thermal energy or used to generate electricity. It is generally economical in sizes of 10 MW and larger, from community sized systems up through major grid connected systems.  CSP is the most developed of the solar technologies and is on the verge of being competitive with conventional power plants.  CSP technologies relatively low cost and ability to deliver power during periods of peak demand mean that it has the potential to be a major contributor to our electrical power needs.

The solar resource for generating power from concentrating solar power systems is plentiful.  For instance, enough electric power for the entire country could be generated by covering about 9 percent of Nevada—a plot of land 100 miles on a side—with parabolic trough systems.  It is not too much of a stretch to foresee that future power needs for much of the southwest; Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas could be met with concentrating solar power.

Electrical Costs from CSP facilities is coming down at a reasonable price.  All of the technologies forecast that their costs could be less than $3.00 per watt by 2015.  This corresponds to a cost of $0.10-$0.15 per kWh. Some current incentives reduce the costs to the point that costs are competitive with conventional power plants.

Currently solar toughs are believed to be the lowest cost, with some large projects being initiated.  Solar dish costs have not been publicized, but must be on the same order as solar troughs or recent orders for large systems would not have been made. These orders, when completed, will enable solar dishes to overtake solar troughs as having the largest installed capacity of all grid connected solar systems.  A 10-15 MW solar tower is under development in Spain.  Twenty five MW to 200 MW solar chimney projects are under development in Australia and the US. I am not aware of any actual large orders for concentrating solar photovoltaics, plants of up to 100 kW have been built.  Amonix claims that their costs for concentrating solar photovoltaic are approaching competitive values.

Is There a Hybrid in Your Future?

Lots of news about hybrids in the past few days:

• Volkswagen AG, Audi AG and Porsche AG form alliance to develop hybrid engines
• BMW AG joined General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG in a similar partnership
• PSA Peugeot-Citroen also wants to develop hybrid technology
• Audi unveiled their first gas-electric hybrid vehicle
• DaimlerChrysler also said it will release its first hybrid Mercedes

See complete story on above items here

Despite the recent announcements (above) Hyundai Motor Co. said that it will continue on its own, aiming to reach an annual production of 300,000 hybrid cars by 2010.

Toyota Says It May Make All Its Vehicles Gas-Electric, Toyota aims to cut production costs and halve the $5,000 price premium on such vehicles.

It seems to be more than a passing fad.  At a $2,500 premium, hybrids probably could be economically justified based on fuel cost savings.  But what is there to justify if all the cars are hybrids?   While they are making all these announcements, how about a plug-in hybrid?

About Solar Towers

Solar towers use many large, computer controlled, sun tracking mirrors (heliostats) to focus the suns energy on a receiver located at the top of a tower.  A heat transfer fluid, usually molten nitrate salt, is heated in the receiver and used either to drive a turbine/generator to produce electricity or to provide high temperature thermal heat.  The molten salt can be used to store the thermal energy for producing electricity at night or during cloudy weather. Commercial power plants would be sized from 50 MW to 200 MW each.

A ten MW plant, Solar One, located near Barstow CA operated for six years demonstrating the viability of solar towers.  It used a heat transfer fluid to transfer the heat to the generator.  Solar Two, shown left, was a retrofit of solar one, built to demonstrate the advantages of molten salt for heat transfer and solar storage.  At one point it delivered power to the grid for seven days, 24 hours a day during cloudy weather.  Molten salt solar towers are well suited to peaking power applications, being able to generate power when most needed, day or night, cloudy or sunny.

Hybrid Bus Sales Booming

High gas prices are affecting buses too, and Hawaii is taking note.  Hawaii has the highest energy prices in the US and hybrids provide great efficiency as well as reducing pollution.  Last year they purchased ten General Motors hybrid diesel electric buses, now they're planning to bring dozens more of them to Honolulu.  The buses are getting even better mileage than they anticipated.

The buses have a 75-passenger capacity, offer 90 percent cleaner emissions than conventional diesel buses and can accelerate 50 percent faster.  The buses, at $749,000 each, are about $150,000 more than regular buses, but the fuel savings justify the cost.

Hawaii is not the first place to use hybrid buses.  New York City Transit, starting their program in 2000, currently has 180 hybrid diesel electric buses in operation and will have 325 buses on the street by the end of 2005.  The hybrids are the Orion VII (Orion Bus Industries of Mississauga, Ontario) diesel hybrid electric buses. The buses feature BAE SYSTEMS' HybriDrive™ propulsion system and Cummins' ISB5.9 liter engine.  NYCT is purchasing a total of 325 Orion VIIs for delivery in 2004 and 2005.

Hybrids are not the only way NYC is reducing pollution. Since 2000 all of the NYC buses have run on low sulfur fuel to  reduce emissions.  More than 2550 diesel engines have been equipped with particulate filters which reduce particulate emissions by as much as 95%.  NYC Transit currently operates more than 400 CNG buses and will have 481 in service by the end of 2005.

Resources:

"City plans to bring in more hybrid buses" , KHON2, 9/8/05
"City unveils new hybrid buses", Stability.com, 10/22/04
The clean fuel bus program, NYC Transit and the Environment

Solar Refined Zinc Enables New Hydrogen Process

A hydrogen production process has been developed using solar refined zinc.  Hydrogen can be extracted from water by heating water to 350°C (662°F) in the presence of zinc.  The problem is that zinc is produced by either electolysis or smelting, both processes having a high energy consumption and concurrent pollution resulting from the consumption of fossil fuels used to oproduce the energy.  Production of hydrogen by electrolysis of water requires even more energy and using the current technology of making it from natural gas would require too much of this resource to be used to produce the large quantities of hydrogen needed to run our cars using fuel cells.

Scientists from Israel, Sweden and France have collaborated to develop a method of producing the required pure Zinc from the naturally occuring ore of zinc, zinc oxide (ZnO).  Zinc must normally be heated to 1750°C / 3182°F to recover the zinc.   Scientists at the Weitzman Institute in Israel found that adding small amounts of carbon in the form of coal enabled Zinc production at a more manageable 1200°C (2192°F).  A 1 MW solar furnace (shown above) was used to generate the required temperatures.   A large array of heliostats (computer guided highly reflective mirrors) follows the sun around the sky and reflects the light to a hyperbolic mirror located inside the solar tower producing highly concentrated heat inside the solar furnace located in the tower.  Zinc was produced at rates which reached an average of 50kg/hr during the tests, so that scale up to commercial production quantities should be relatively easy.

When heated above 1200°C  the ZnO breaks down into Zn and oxygen which in turn recombines with the carbon to create CO as a minor by-product.  In order to produce hydrogen from the Zn powder a much simpler process is performed where the Zn is mixed with water at a temperature of 350°C. The oxygen inside the water recombines with the Zn to produce ZnO once again and the by-product is pure hydrogen. The later process could be performed at the local filling station where the hydrogen is needed, while zinc could be produced at locations where solar heat can be produced the most economically.

Resouce:  "ZINC POWDER WILL DRIVE YOUR HYDROGEN CAR", Isra Cast, 9/8/05

Technorati tags: hydrogen, solar tower, zinc

Largest Anerobic Digestor / Biogas Generation Facility Announced

Construction has begun on the world's largest multi-digestor biogas production and gas conditioning facility near Stephenville, TX.  The facility will produce the equivalent of 12,700 gallons per day of heating oil.  The gas is to be treated and compressed to produce and deliver about 2.7 million cubic ft/day of pipeline-grade methane, with a heating value of 650 BTU/cubic ft, that will be sold as a commodity to a nearby natural gas pipeline.  The facility will have eight 916,000-gallon degestors, sufficient to process the manure from up to 10,000 cows.

Microgy holds an exclusive license in North America for the development and deployment of a proprietary anaerobic digestion technology, which transforms manure and food industry waste into methane-rich biogas that can be used to generate electricity or thermal energy, or refined to pipeline-grade methane for sale as a commodity.

Sunball Rooftop Solar Concentrator

Green and Gold Energy, Australia is developing the SunBall™ rooftop solar system.  Incorporating a high efficiency (>30%) solar energy concentrator, an automatic dawn to dusk internal 2 axis tracking  system and solar cells that are cooled by radiation to a low operating temperature.  Extensive testing is being done to ensure 25+ years of life, high reliability and ease of installation.

"The company's goal is to reduce the delivered cost of rooftop generated photovoltaic (PV) kWhs to below that available from the grid.  Solar PV then becomes a sensible financial and logical choice for domestic and commercial electricity users."

Green and Gold have completed development of a 0.4 meter diameter SunBall™ , with 42 Wp output and are proceeding with development of a 1 m² unit with a 1.3 kWp output.  The 1 m² SunBall™ is expected to be available early in 2006 for a price of AUS$1,613 (US$1250.)  It is expected that units for export will be available by July 2006. The 0.4 meter SunBall™ suitable for battery charging, will be available at the same time.

5 MW Tracking Solar PV Plant for Spain

A 5 MW solar tracking photovoltaic plant incorporating 500 10 KWp single axis trackers will be built in Caravaca de la Cruz, Spain.  The trackers combined with the plant layout will increase the energy efficiency of the plant 40-45% over a conventional, stationary flat panel installation.

Construction of the plant, scheduled to start in a few weeks, is in two phases, the first phase being 2 MW and the second phase 3 MW.  Completion of the entire facility is scheduled for 2008.  The plant contractor has built two other similar plants with a total capacity of over 1 MW.

Why do these plants seem more popular in Spain than in other parts of the world? - they have built several other tracking plants.  Or am I simply unaware of other tracking plants?  Is it strictly their high incentives?  Tracking plants pose some potential unreliability due to the mechanical nature of the tracking system which may make some owners wary.  The fact that PV plants are more economical than concentrating solar plants in small sizes is the most likely explanation.  They seem to be spreading their bets, they are building some large trough concentrating solar plants also.

See the complete story at solarbuzz.

Technocrati tags: solar power, tracking solar, renewable energy

Overview of Photovoltaic Solar Cells

A photovoltaic solar cell (PV cell) is a semiconductor device which, in the presence of light, generates electricity.  Solar cells are a very attractive form of distributed, "green" renewable energy.  While they're operating, PV systems produce no air pollution, hazardous waste, or noise, and they require no transportable fuels. However their cost is still too high for them to be used except where subsidies are substantial or in remote locations where bringing power in from the grid would be prohibitively expensive.  Despite these limitations, sales of PV cells have been increasing rapidly, costs have been decreasing slowly but steadily and new developments show promise for reducing costs to economical levels.

According to SolarBuzz, sales of solar cells in 2004 were 927 MW, up 62.4% over 2003, and according to Sharp, the worlds largest manufacturer, sales should increase to about 1,600 MW by 2006.  Large  incentives for clean, renewable energy, on a worldwide scale, have been largely responsible for increasing sales.  Photovoltaic's prices have declined on average 4% per annum over the past 15 years.  Progressive increase in conversion efficiencies and manufacturing economies of scale are the underlying drivers for cost reduction.

Four Companies account for over 50% of solar cell production: Sharp, Kyocera, BP Solar, and Shell Solar.  Among the top five manufacturers, Sharp remains the largest and has shown the fastest growth over the last five years.  Sanyo, fifth largest, has shown the second highest rate of growth over the same period.  All of these companies produce crystalline silicon cells.

In the US the cost of solar cells now average $5.23 per Wp with the lowest price being $3.70 per Wp for a thin film module.  Wp (Watts peak) is defined as the power output of a solar module when it is exposed to standard conditions; an intensity of 1000 watts per meter squared, at 25 C and a light spectrum equivalent to that of light that has passed through the atmosphere.  Thus it is the peak output at ideal test conditions, not the output that would be expected at a typical installation.  The installed cost of a residential solar energy system typically costs about $8-10 per Watt. Where government incentive programs exist, together with lower prices secured through volume purchases, installed costs as low as $3-4 watt - or some 10-12 cents per kilowatt hour can be achieved. Without incentive programs, solar energy costs (in a sunny climate) range between 22-40 cents/kWh.

Daystar Silicon-free Solar Cell Update

Today Daystar Technologies, producer of silicon-free CIGS thin film solar cells, announced they were progressing well over the past few months in meeting their goals on two contracts they have received this year.  The most significant contract is to deliver 30 MW of product to Blitzstrom, GmbH by 2008, previous post.  They have begun shipping productions samples of the ordered products.  They are continuing to fine tune their 2-2.5 MW Gen II production line.  According to Dr. John Tuttle, Chairman and CEO, "Our technology readiness level in Gen-II is rapidly approaching production status,' and we are pleased with our progress in this challenging endeavor." 

"Concurrently, DayStar is continuing to add resources and make steady progress towards technology readiness for our Gen-III fully-continuous manufacturing platform. We are in the midst of a detailed design and planning process that will culminate in our Gen-III roadmap, from which we can better estimate our capital needs and the resulting cash-flow. We anticipate it will take approximately 18-24 months to achieve production capacity in the range of 25-100 MW/yr."

They also have raised the capital necessary for the modifications to their Gen II line and development of the Gen III design.  They will have to raise additional capital for implementation of the Gen III production line.

They also pointed out that they had a window of opportunity while there was "a serious pinch in the supply of raw Si feedstock."

Resources:

"Daystar CEO Issues Operational Update", Daystar news release, 9/7/05
Daystar Technologies Inc., Halfmoon, NY

Technocrati tags: solar cells, thin film cells, renewable energy

Another Major Stirling Solar Dish Facility

Stirling Energy Systems (SES) announced that it has signed a contract to build a 300-900 MW dish solar facility for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E).  The power company has agreed to a contract to buy all the power produced by the 300 MW first phase of the project.  The plant will consist of 12,000 solar dishes located on approximately three square miles of land located in the Imperial Valley of California.   SDG&E has options to buy electricity from two additional 300 MW facilities.

This announcement comes on the heels of an August announcement to build a 500 MW  power station for Southern California Edison in the Mojave Desert. 

These two plants represent a huge boost for thermal solar power in general and for SES in particular.  These two plants make SES the largest supplier of solar power for electrical generation in the world.  Their system has a long history of development and demonstration and a lot of experience has been gained.  By reproducing a large quantity of the same model they reduce their risk.  They, as a company, have little manufacturing experience.  They have assembled strategic alliances with Kockums for supply of their Stirling engines and Shuff Steel for their steel fabrication and erection. This still puts a lot of pressure on a company like SES and I wish them the best of luck.

Resources:

300-900 MW Solar Project Planned for Southern California, Renewable Energy Access, 9/7/05
Stirling Energy Systems Inc., Phoenix, AZ

Technocrati tags: solar power, renewable energy, dish-Sterling systems

Peak Oil Comments

Prediction of peak oil is not an exact science.  C.J. Campbell, one of the leading experts on the subject, made a few comments on the vagaries of the science which I would like to pass on to you.  He points out that the date of the peak is not nearly as important as the long decline that follows. The following is taken from the September 2005 ASPO newsletter.  Campbell has compiled a database and prepared the graphics for the past 15 years.  His comments follow the graphics. I thought it would be interesting for some of you who are not so involved with peak oil to see his opinion of where we are and his explanation of some of the difficulties in predicting when peak oil would occur.  His peak date is slowly drifting to the right.  When he started doing this, nearly all of the oil being produced was, by his definition, regular oil (lowest curve).  As you can see we have passed that date.  The changes in technology to enable production from other sources plays a large part in this shift.  My opinion has been that the peak that I considered "peak oil" was the peak of regular oil, which is really not the case - but where do we stop counting liquids as "oil"?   Should oil made from natural gas (GTL), or from any gasification/Fischer-Tropsch process be it coal-to-liquids or biomass-to-liquids be counted.  I don't think so, but they could, depending on what you are trying to prove.

"It is a summary of a depletion model and database that have been maintained for about 15 years, being subject to continual revision and refinement. It will be readily understood that public reserve and production data are grossly unreliable, and that even the industry databases show widely different estimates. Accordingly, it is necessary to look for trends and relationships, as well as apply common sense and geological knowledge, to try to come up with realistic assessments. The next revision may well see a reduction in the Yet-to-Find, based on extrapolating the falling trend. Furthermore, modeling depletion involves not only the calculation of natural depletion rates as imposed by the immutable physics of the reservoirs, but also relies on assessing politico-economic factors, especially in relation to critical Middle East supply. Each country is evaluated individually and then summed to give regional and world totals. It is well said that all numbers are wrong: the challenge being to determine by how much.

Much interest devolves on the date of peak, but this really misses the point. It is not an isolated or high peak, merely the indicated maximum on a fairly gentle production curve. Small changes in the estimates and modeling can shift it by a few years one way or the other. The Middle East Gulf is a particularly sensitive case. Production reached an historic peak in 1974 of 21.2 Mb/d. As currently modeled, production will rise from 19.4 Mb/d in 2004 to 20.5 Mb/d this year before declining gently to 19 Mb/d by 2030. It might indeed make sense to slightly modify the model and reserve estimates in, for example, Iraq, where there is a wide range of possible scenarios, so as to shift overall regional peak from 1974 to some date over the next few years. However, the importance is not so much in the date of peak itself but in recognition of the long, remorseless decline that follows."

Technocrati tag: peak oil

More on the Ethanol Debate

I came across a listing, on Journey to Forever, of most of the studies relating to the energy efficiency of ethanol along with a brief summary and a link to the whole report.  For those of you who are interested in doing more research on the subject it is a very good resource.

Technocrati tag: ethanol, biofuels

New Reformed Methanol Fuel Cell

Ultracell announced a reformed methanol fuel cell (RMFC) for portable electronic devices that has "twice the energy density of lithium batteries."  Their technology uses a patented reformer to generate hydrogen from a concentrated methanol solution.  The polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) cell has the power density of a hydrogen fuel cell but uses liquid methanol fuel in a compact, non-pressurized container.  The cell develops up to 25 watts of continuous power, weighs 40 ounces and is about the size of a paperback novel.  The UltraCell25 will be available in 2006 for professional, industrial and mobile computing applications.

The complete UltraCell system includes fuel processor, fuel cell stack, control system, auxillary components and easily replaceable fuel cartridge. The control system manages a steady flow of power by adjusting pump and compressor settings. The fuel cell generates no excess water, and consequently does not need a water management system, saving size, weight and cost versus alternative micro fuel cell systems.  The system uses a PEMEAS high temperature membrane assembly (MEA) in its fuel cell stack with its advantages as describe below. The system's spent fuel canisters can be instantly "hot swapped," as needed, to provide continuous power in any remote situation.  A single cartridge powers an average laptop for an entire day.

About Parabolic Trough Solar

Trough solar systems use parabolic curved, trough shaped reflectors focus the sun's energy onto a receiver pipe running at the focus of the reflector.  Because of their parabolic shape, troughs can focus the sun at 30-60 times its normal intensity on the receiver pipe.  The concentrated energy heats a heat transfer fluid (HTF), usually oil, flowing through the pipe.  This fluid is then used to generate steam which powers a turbine that drives an electric generator.  The collectors are aligned on and east-west axis and the trough is rotated to follow the sun to maximize the suns energy input to the receiver tube.  Click flow diagram above to see full size flow diagram of the new plants beig built in Spain.  Current cost of electricity from these plants is  $0.10 to $0.12 per kWh.  The current goal of ongoing development by EERE is to reduce the cost to $0.035 to $0.043 per kWh by 2020. 

Trough collector solar power, also called solar electric generating systems (SEGS), represent the most mature concentrating solar power (CSP) technology, with 354 MW of installed capacity in nine plants, built between 1984 and 1991, all located in the Mohave desert of California.  There are several generations of plants, the newer generations incorporating features that would reduce the cost of electricity if they were new plants.  All plants are still operating and producing power for the electrical grid at 99% availability.

The technology has been stagnant since 1993, but four new projects are now being developed. 

• In the US, a 1 MW plant is being built by Arizona Public Service's at its Saguaro Power Plant and a 64 MW plant is being built in Eldorado Valley near Boulder City, NV.  Solargenix is the prime contractor on both projects in conjunction with EERE/NREL.  SHOTT North America is supplying the receivers.  The Boulder City plant is currently scheduled to go on line in Jone 2007.  Funding for the American projects has been difficult, but on 10/4/04 the Western Governors Association and EERE announced funding and support of a 1000 MW goal of concentrating solar power for the region by 2010.  Included in this program is support for the two afore mentioned projects.  Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific Power Company have signed long term contracts to buy the power produced by the 64 MW plant.
• Two identical 50 MW plants are being built by Solar Millinium AG in Granada, Spain.  The first plant has received a €5 million (~$6.25 million) grant from the EU’s Fifth Framework Program and financial support from the German Ministry for Environment.  To encourage this type of technology the Spanish government has set up regional funding programs. This is coupled with a bonus of 12 Eurocents per kWh generated from solar power has been instrumental in bringing such projects to Spain.   
• A 150 MW facility that is to be expanded to 500 MW In the Negev desert of Israel is being developed by Solel (the successor company to Luz). Solel will establish a consortium to finance and build the power station, which it estimates will cost $1 billion. The state has promised to buy the electricity under the terms of a contract to be signed by the parties.

Ethanol Energy Debate Continues

The major parties in the continuing debate as to whether ethanol's energy efficiency is better than that of other fuels has completed its most recent round of arguments with Michael Wang's presentation.  He concludes that ethanol is better because it uses less fossil fuel in its production than gasoline does.  My conclusions after this round of studies are no different than in my previous analysis.  I agree with the Wang arguments. 

Wang of Argonne National laboratories argues that what really matters is that ethanol compares favorably to gasoline, the fuel it replaces.  His argument is that the fuel that uses the least fossil fuel in its production process, relative to its energy output, is the most desirable.  He defines the Fuel Energy Ratio (FER) as ratio of the energy in the fuel being considered to the fossil fuel input to the fuel during its life-cycle of production.  Ethanol comes out way ahead when compared to other fuels.  Cellulosic ethanol has an FER of 10.31, corn ethanol: 1.88, coal: 0.98, gasoline: 0.81 and electricity: 0.46. He also finds that ethanol produced from corn achieves moderate reductions in greenhouse gases.  Ethanol produced from grass and other "cellulosic" or woody biomass sources can achieve much greater energy and greenhouse gas benefits. He dismisses an ongoing academic argument about the amount of energy needed to produce ethanol.

A paper published in the March edition of "Natural Resources Research" by researchers at Cornell University and the University of California at Berkeley claims that ethanol production from corn requires 29 percent more energy than is provided by the resulting ethanol fuel. In contrast, a 2004 study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) found that ethanol produces 67 percent more energy than is consumed in its production.  The chart below, from Wang, shows how the preponderance of studies show that corn ethanol has a positive energy value that has increased with time. 

Proponents of Shapouri argue that Pimentel continues to use outdated processes for the production of ethanol and includes energy from extraneous sources.  They also contend that he attributes to much energy to the production of fertilizer and to the growing of the corn.  Critics of Shapouri claim he omitted some energy inputs in the ethanol production system.  Wang presented data showing how the amount of fertilizer used in corn production has decreased with time.  Shapouri made the case for data that showed that the energy needed to grow corn is less than that used by Pimentel.

Resources:

"DOE National Laboratory Expert Notes Energy Benefits of Ethanol", EERE News, 8/31/05
"Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Impacts of Fuel Ethanol", Michael Wang, Argonne National Laboratory, 8/23/05
"Ethanol Production Using Corn, Switchgrass, and Wood; Biodiesel Production Using Soybean and Sunflower" , David Pimentel and Tad W. Patzek, National Resources Research, March 2005
"The 2001 Net Energy Balance of Corn Ethanol", Hosein Shapouri et al., USDA, June 2005

Technocrati tags: ethanol, renewable energy, ethanol energy efficiency