The Energy Blog

Sony Develops High Efficiency Fuel Cell

Fuel Cell Works reported that Sony has developed a direct methanol fuel cell that can generate 100 milliwatts-hours per square centimeter at room temperature, the highest generation efficiency ever achieved by that type of fuel cell.

More blogs about fuel cells, energy

BP Alternitive Energy Unit Details

Today BP announced a website that gives greater details about its Alternative Energy business, a new unit that consolidates its low-carbon activities in the power industries, that was announced yesterday.  The website gives an insite into their current activities in each of these areas and a clue as to what they will be doing in the future.

They have formed this unit because they believe that solar, wind, hydrogen power and gas-fired technologies have reached the a tipping point where they think they can create a profitable, high growth, global business in the course of the next decade. 

More blogs about solar, hydrogen, natural gas, wind power, electrical generation, alternative energy, renewable, renewable energy, energy

Dynamotive Developing 500 tpd Plant

DynaMotive Energy Systems Corporation (OTCBB: DYMTF), Vancouver, B.C. and E & R Langille Contracting Ltd. of Nova Scotia announced today that they have signed an Interim Project Development Agreement for a potential 500 tonne per day BioOil production facility.

The proposed plant is expected to be completed in two stages, comprised of an initial 200tpd facility with a further module to be added subsequently. The plant is expected to be located near the port of Pictou in Nova Scotia and will utilize wood chips and other biomass sources in the area. The parties have confirmed access to 500 tonnes per day of biomass for the proposed plant. Initial technical and economic studies have been completed successfully and that the project site has been secured. The progress on the project comes shortly after DynaMotive announced its first commercial shipment of BioOil from the West Lorne facility, its first commercial scale facility.

Q-Cells lines up its Silicon Supplies

Q-Cells AG, a German maker of solar cells that went public last month, said Norway's Renewable Energy Corp. AS will become the third partner in its EverQ joint venture with Evergreen Solar Inc. Renewable Energy will deliver 250 tons of solar-grade silicon per year to EverQ GmbH, which produces solar modules, Q-Cells said. REC will hold a 15 percent stake in the joint venture, Q-Cells a 21 percent stake, and Marlborough-based Evergreen a 64 percent stake, according to the companies.  Under terms of the seven-year agreement, REC will initially supply Evergreen Solar with 60 metric tons and EverQ with 190 metric tons of solar-grade silicon annually.

Evergreen Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: ESLR), a manufacturer of solar power products with its proprietary, low-cost String Ribbon(TM) wafer technology, Q-Cells AG, is the world's largest independent manufacturer of crystalline silicon solar cells, and REC is the world's largest manufacturer of solar-grade silicon and multicrystalline wafers. Evergreen Solar and Q-Cells are currently building a 30-megawatt solar wafer, cell and module manufacturing plant in Thalheim, Germany. The 30-megawatt Thalheim facility is scheduled to commence full-scale operations by the summer of 2006.

More evidence of companies lining up silicon supplies - it appears they had to give up 15% of the company to get silicon. 

Resource: Evergreen Solar and Q-Cells Announce Partnership with REC; Leading Solar Silicon Supplier Joins EverQ Venture, press release, November 28, 2005

Q-Cells lines up its Silicon Supplies More blogs about solar power, solar, silicon, energy

Kyocera To Ship Low Cost Solar Panels as Early as FY 2006

Kyocera Corp. (NYSE: KYO) plans to start shipping as early as fiscal 2006 a low-cost solar panel that uses just one-fifth the silicon of existing models.

The new panel sharply reduces silicon usage by lining up spherical silicon measuring 1mm or less in diameter on a non-silicon substrate. The design also eliminates the need to cut the panel to make finished products, sharply lowering material waste.

Coupled with other Kyocera technologies, a 3-kilowatt household solar power system incorporating the new panels are expected to be priced below comparable modules marketed for around 2 million yen (US$16,800).

Due to tightening silicon supplies stemming from recovering semiconductor production, the company's profit margin for solar panels is forecast at about 16 per cent for the second half of fiscal 2005, a drop of roughly 4 percentage points from the first half.

Kyocera, the world's second largest solar cell manufacturer, now makes solar panels in Japan, Mexico and elsewhere. Its total annual solar panel production in terms of cumulative power output stands at 240 megawatts.

More evidence that solar cell producers are finding ways to reduce costs by using less silicon.  FYI their FY 2006 ends March 31, 2006.

KYOCERA TO BEGIN SHIPPING LOW-COST SOLAR PANELS IN FY06, Press release, Canadian Centre for Energy via Asian Pulse, November 25, 2005

More blogs about solar power, solar, silicon, energy

BP Forms New Unit, To Use Sequestration

BP today announced that it plans to double its investment in alternative and renewable energies to create a new low-carbon power business with the growth potential to deliver revenues of around $6 billion a year within the next decade. BP Alternative Energy will manage an investment programme in solar, wind, hydrogen and combined-cycle-gas-turbine (CCGT) power generation, which could amount to $8 billion over the next ten years.

“We are focusing our investment in alternatives and renewables on power generation because it accounts for over 40 per cent of man-made greenhouse gas emissions, the biggest single source. It is also the area where technology can be applied most cost-effectively to reduce emissions." said BP chief executive Lord Browne.

Investment in hydrogen fuels will include the world’s first commercial project – at Peterhead, in Scotland – to turn natural gas into hydrogen by stripping out carbon dioxide and pumping it into depleted oil reservoirs. The hydrogen will be used at a power station in Peterhead to generate 350 megawatts of ‘clean’ electricity, and the carbon dioxide re-injected into the offshore Miller field. BP is looking at a similar sequestration scheme to make hydrogen from low-value coke by-products at a US refinery which would be used to generate 500 megawatts at an adjacent new-build power plant.

The complete press release can be found here.

The most newsworthy part of this announcement is BP's plans for sequestering carbon dioxide as part of two projects.  I believe that this is the first time sequestration has been used on non-subsidized commercial projects.  Hopefully this will push regulators to look at sequestration as best available commercial technology (BACT) and require it to be used on other projects.

More blogs about environment, hydrogen, energy

Laser Fusion Milestone Achieved

A major milestone was reached recently when scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California reported that they had demonstrated that laser pulses shot into a cavity can produce the conditions required to trigger nuclear fusion reactions.  The finding was a crucial test of principle for Livermore's National Ignition Facility (NIF), the $3.5 billion complex now under construction and expected to start full operations in 2009.

When completed NIF will be, by far, the world’s largest and most energetic laser and a major international scientific resource. Designed to study the physics of matter at extreme densities, pressures, and temperatures, NIF will use 192 laser beams to compress fusion targets to conditions required for thermonuclear ignition and burn. In the process, more energy will be liberated than is used to initiate the fusion reactions.

Water Heater Uses Microwaves, Saves Energy?

Per Article in Globe and Mall:

Pulsar Advanced Technologies, Town of Mount-Royal, Canada, has announced that it will launch its lead product, the Vulcanus MK4, a tankless water heater using microwave technology to heat water on demand. This technology with super-heating capabilities will drastically cut energy costs and totally eliminate the need to store hot water. The Vulcanus MK4 is making its world premier at Construct Canada in Toronto between Nov. 30 and Dec. 2, 2005.

The technology is designed to eliminate the deadly Legionella Pneumophila, since water will not stagnate, as it does with conventional hot water heaters. It can heat water from 35 degrees Fahrenheit to 140 degrees Fahrenheit in seconds and can source multiple applications at once: showers, dishwasher, sink usages and more. The unit is the size of a stereo speaker with a sleek modern look, making it ideal for condos and apartments, while powerful enough to serve the needs of any size family.

Courtesy of the Engineer Poet:

Microwaves are not magic.  Generating microwaves is a lossy process.  You can turn on a magnetron in a fraction of a second (if its filament is hot), but you're going to lose up to half the input power as heat in the device itself.

Point 1:  It is impossible for a microwave-based water heater to require less energy or deliver hot water faster than an on-demand resistance heater.

Point 2:  It is very unlikely that the microwave heater will have lower losses, because it will need to keep its filament powered for instant-on operation, and the heat dissipated in the magnetron (which will have to be water-cooled) will leave some unusable heat in the machine itself when the water stops flowing.  That energy is lost.

Engineer Poets comment incorporated 11/28/2005.

Resource: Pulsar announces water heater using microwaves, GLOBEANDMALL.COM, November 22, 2005

More blogs about consumer technology, conservation, energy

Hemlock Expands Silicon Production

Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation, the world's leading producer of polycrystalline silicon, will begin construction of a $400-$500 million expansion at its Hemlock, Mich. headquarters in December. The expansion is driven by increasing demand for polycrystalline silicon, the cornerstone material used in the production of solar cells used to manufacture renewable energy from light rays and semiconductor device manufacturing.  The expansion will increase site capacity by 50 percent.

Demand in Solar Energy Industry Drives $400 Million Hemlock Semiconductor Expansion

More blogs about solar power, solar, silicon, energy

Gates Invests in Ethanol

Pacific Ethanol, Inc.(Nasdaq: PEIX)announced that it has signed a definitive agreement with Cascade Investment, L.L.C., the personal investment company of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, to sell 5,250,000 shares of Series A Cumulative Redeemable Convertible Preferred Stock, which will result in gross proceeds of $84 million. The shares of preferred stock will be convertible into shares of common stock at an initial conversion ratio of two shares of common stock for each share of preferred stock which, if converted immediately, would result in the issuance of 10,500,000 shares of common stock at an effective price of $8.00 per share. 

Pacific Ethanol has announced plans to build five ethanol plants in the Western United States with an expected combined installed annual ethanol capacity of at least 200 million gallons.  Construction has begun on the first 35 million gallon per year plant and permitting and engineering has begun on the next three.

Resources:

Pacific Ethanol, Inc. Signs Definitive Agreement for $84 Million Investment by Cascade Investment, L.L.C., November 15, 2005

Gates fund invests $84M in ethanol producer, Puget Sound Business Journal, November 16, 2005

More blogs about biofuels, ethanol, energy

Wind Power Plus Stored Energy

The Iowa Stored Energy Plant (ISEP) will be the first plant in the world that will use energy from a wind farm plus supplemental off peak electricity to produce compressed air to be stored in an underground aquifer until it is need to produce electricity on demand.  When demand for electricity is high, the air will be released and used in combination with a small amount of natural gas to drive combustion turbines to generate electricity.  Wind power is undependable and not always available when needed, compressed air energy storage (CAES) mitigates this intermittency.  This method will save one-third to one-half the natural gas that would otherwise be needed. CAES has been used in Alabama and Germany, but at these locations the energy for storage does not come from wind.

A separate section of the underground aquifer will also be used for storing natural gas. Gas storage will allow the facility and other gas utilities to buy natural gas when prices are lower. This type of gas storage is widely used in the U.S.

Unaxis Lowers Production Costs, Reduces Silicon Content of Thin Film Solar Cells

The Solar business unit of Unaxis, which the company has actively expanded in the recent past, is setting new standards in solar-cell technology. Using its newly developed production equipment thin film solar cells can be produced at 30 percent less costs than traditional cells and, in contrast to conventional manufacturing processes, require only a fraction of the scarce raw material silicon. With their high energy yield and low cost of materials, these thin film solar cells have the potential to compete with traditional energy sources. That Unaxis is at the forefront with its innovative technology is also confirmed by its having been awarded the Swiss Solar Prize for 2005.

The first deposition unit for mass production of solar cells has already been installed at customer facilities, and further units are currently being produced. For the 2005 financial year, Unaxis expects that its solar activities will generate revenues in excess of CHF 20 million (US $15 million) and is anticipating higher growth rates in 2006.

STM Power, Clean Power from Stirling Engines

STM Power Inc., produces Stirling cycle generators that produce electricity from almost any form of heat or fuel: waste gases from landfills or sewage treatment plants, biomass, solar energy and paint fumes.  STM Power was originally organized as a research and development company that did experiments and demonstrations showcasing a variety of energy-related technologies, including engines based on the Stirling Cycle, a technology invented in 1816. The Stirling is an external combustion engine, somewhat like a steam engine, that burns fuel to heat a liquid or gas in a sealed system -- hydrogen in the case of STM's Power Units. That heated hydrogen is then used to drive pistons that are in turn connected to an electrical generator.

The STM engine is a four-cylinder, double-acting Stirling engine with a swash plate drive. At the heart of the engine are four independent gas enclosures each comprised of the volume under a piston (compression volume), the volume above the adjacent piston (expansion volume), a series of three heat exchangers connecting these two volumes, a cooler adjacent to the compression volume, a heater adjacent to the expansion volume and a regenerator between the heater and the cooler.

The four pistons are arranged symmetrically around a swash plate that forces the reciprocating motion of any two neighboring pistons to be 90º out of phase. The gas enclosures are charged with high-pressure hydrogen that serves as a working fluid. The reciprocating motion of the pistons causes the volume of hydrogen to increase and decrease alternately. The expansion spaces are maintained at a high temperature by continuous combustion of fuel or some other source of heat (waste heat) outside the tubes of the heaters. The compression spaces are maintained at a low temperature by liquid cooling of the coolers. Therefore, the temperature and the pressure of the hydrogen during expansion is higher than during compression. The hydrogen absorbs heat from the combustion process, converts a portion of it to mechanical power, which it delivers to the pistons, and rejects the balance to the liquid coolant. The mechanical power delivered by the hydrogen to the pistons is aggregated and converted to rotating shaft power by means of the swash plate drive. The regenerator, which is the third heat exchanger, does not exchange heat with the outside. It alternately absorbs heat from and releases heat back to the hydrogen in order to improve the engine efficiency. The engine’s output shaft is connected to a generator to make three-phase electrical power.

First Flight for HiSentinel Stratospheric Airship

November 17, 2005 -- A team led by Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®) successfully demonstrated powered flight of the HiSentinel at an altitude of 74,000 feet. The development team of Aerostar International, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and SwRI launched the airship on November 8 from Roswell, N.M., for a five-hour technology demonstration flight. The 146-foot-long airship carried a 60-pound equipment pod and propulsion system. Sponsored by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, the flight was the culmination of a six-month preparation effort. 

Future test flights will include multi-day missions with solar power and demonstration of the SwRI autonomous station-keeping autopilot. These low-cost systems will be capable of lifting small- to medium-payloads (20 to 200 pounds) to near-space altitudes for durations of longer than 30 days for communications, military and science applications.

The airship is shown fully inflated during preflight verification in a hangar in Roswell, N.M.  It was later deflated and refolded in preparation for the launch. HiSentinel is the first in a family of long-endurance airships developed under the Composite Hull High Altitude Powered Platform program. SwRI designed the airship and provided the telemetry, flight control, power and propulsion systems. Aerostar International fabricated the hull and participated in the integration and test flight. AFRL developed the innovative launch system, provided facilities, and supported the launch and recovery. Each of the four organizations contributed funding, manpower, equipment and facilities for the collaborative effort.

HiSentinel is the first airship developed under the Composite Hull High Altitude Powered Platform (CHHAPP) program. CHHAPP is a spiral development program for a family of long-endurance autonomous solar-electric, stratospheric airships. The relatively inexpensive nature of the Hi Sentinel system will allow several test flights per year to take place. Designed for launch from remote sites, these airships will not require large hangars or special facilities. Unlike most stratospheric airship concepts, HiSentinel is launched flaccid with the hull only partially inflated with helium. As the airship rises, the helium expands until it completely inflates the hull to the rigid aerodynamic shape required for operation.

More blogs about solar power, general interest, energy

Stellaris Concentrating Photovoltaic Glazing

Stellaris Corporation, an early-stage sustainable energy company, has developed a new type of solar module that will cost much less to manufacture but will generate roughly the same amount of electricity as existing, comparable-sized modules.

Stellaris' concentrating photovoltaic glazing (CPG) technology (see cross section, left) consists of small (6mm high) lenses that concentrate light onto narrow strips of thin film PV material, which is supplied from leading manufacturers.  This concentration reduces the amount of PV material required in manufacturing the module by 67%.  Significant manufacturing savings are realized because PV material is a major cost component in the production of solar modules.

In addition, improved and unique aesthetic properties are possible because low-angle light passes through the CPG’s lensesThis allows an observer located at low angles in front of the module (such as a person on a sidewalk looking towards a roof) to perceive customized colors and textures, which can be radically different from those of the PV material. When located behind the module, the observer perceives ambient light passing through the module. These aesthetic qualities have the potential of enabling new opportunities and creating new markets in architectural design.

“We are proving that roughly the same amount of electricity can be produced with only one-third the amount of costly photovoltaic material,” explained Stellaris Co-founder and President, James Paull.  “This technology will allow us to sell our solar modules to customers at a much lower price than that which we currently see in the market. We are currently working to develop partnerships with building material manufacturers who see a future in integrating solar modules with construction materials such as roofing, curtain walls, spandrel, and skylights."

NRL Demonstrates Fuel Cell Aerial System

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), in collaboration with industrial partners, demonstrated an unmanned aerial system (UAS) flight solely powered by fuel cell technology. The flight of the 5.6-pound 'Spider-Lion" lasted 3 hours, 19 minutes and consumed 15-grams of compressed hydrogen gas.

The 100-watt fuel cell system was designed and constructed at NRL largely using commercially available hardware and a fuel cell stack and components developed by Protonex. The "Spider-Lion" UAS was developed by NRL as a high-impact research platform for testing fuel cell technology. Research and development continues aimed at developing a fuel cell system capable of powering small military platforms currently in the field or in advanced development stages requiring extended operation that is not achievable using current battery technology.

Protonex develops and manufactures high-performance, long-duration fuel cell power systems for portable and remote applications in the 10-500W power range. Protonex products and platforms are based on patent-pending fuel cell stacks. Protonex stacks are claimed to deliver the industry's best metrics on virtually all dimensions including weight, size, durability, and lifetime performance. They have developed fuel cells that are powered by chemical hydride cartridges, direct hydrogen storage or reformers that can extract hydrogen "as-needed" from commercially available liquid fuels such as methanol, ethanol, propane, gasoline, diesel, and JP8.

The Spider-Lion project is a joint venture between NRL's Chemistry and Tactical Electronic Warfare Divisions and Protonex Technology Corporation.

Resources:

US Naval Laboratiory press release
Protonex Technology Corporation, Southborough, MA

More blogs about fuel cells, military, energy

Syntroleum inks three MOUs for GTL plants

Via the Oil and Gas Journal -- Syntroleum Corp., Tulsa, (Nasdaq: SYNM) recently signed memoranda of understanding that it says could lead to construction of three gas-to-liquids (GTL) plants using its proprietary Fischer-Tropsch technology:

-- Syntroleum and Papua New Guinea's Ministry of Planning and Development will examine development of a 50,000 b/d GTL plant near the capital city Port Moresby as part of an industrial complex dedicated to gas-based industries. The plant would share a natural gas pipeline and infrastructure facilities with other possible gas conversion participants, including ammonia, methanol, and power plant developers. Papua New Guinea's proved and probable natural gas reserves are estimated at more than 15 tcf. About 6 tcf currently are dedicated to a planned pipeline linking the country to Australia.

-- Syntroleum and service company PT Elnusa, a subsidiary of Indonesia's state-owned company Pertamina, will establish a joint study to identify suitable existing gas reserves for development of a GTL facility in Indonesia. The companies are looking at numerous properties within Indonesia as potential sites for a plant, Syntroleum said.

-- Ivanhoe Energy (Middle East) Inc., a Syntroleum licensee, and Egyptian Natural Gas Holding C(EGAS) will prepare a joint study to determine the economical feasibility of constructing and operating a GTL plant in Egypt. A site has not yet been determined. EGAS would commit as much as 4.2 tcf of natural gas, or about 600 MMcfd, for a 20-year period if the study proves the project viable, Ivanhoe reported.

More blogs about Gas-to-Liquids, natural gas, energy

GreenShift Invests in Aerogel Composite

Aerogel Composite, Inc. (ACI) is a development stage materials science company with proprietary technologies involving meso-porous carbon aerogel composites.  Aerogels are solid-state substances similar to gels but where the liquid phase is replaced with gas. Aerogels have a highly dendritic tree-like structure and rank among the world's lowest density solids. They have a remarkably high surface area and are very porous and light. Their microstructure and physical properties can be manipulated at the nanometer scale by selection of raw material and modification of manufacturing conditions. Aerogel products can be engineered to exhibit desired thermal, acoustic, mechanical and/or chemical properties. Aerogel materials can be produced as monoliths, thin-films, powders, or micro-spheres to respond to given application requirements.

ACI has patented nanotechnology for the preparation of aerogel composites for a wide variety of applications. Applications of ACI's Hyrogel(TM) carbon aerogel supported catalysts are planned to include hydrogen powered stationary and mobile PEM fuel cells, direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) for portable electronic devices such as laptop computers and cell phones, and other metal oxide aerogel supported catalyst for catalytic converters for gasoline and diesel powered vehicles and other internal combustion engines. Aeogels have the potential for reducing the precious metal content of fuel cells, batteries and catalysts by 90% over prevailing levels.

GreenShift Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: GSHF) is a publicly traded business development company (BDC) whose mission is to develop and support companies and technologies that facilitate the efficient use of natural resources and catalyze transformational environmental gains. Today GSHF announced that it had purchased a 25% interest in ACI, and receive certain commercial rights in return for GreenShift's investment, with an option to purchase an additional 5% of ACI.

Dynamotive Receives First Commercial Order for its BioOil

DynaMotive Energy Systems Corporation (OTCBB: DYMTF ) announced today that it has signed its first commercial supply agreement for BioOil produced from the West Lorne BioOil production facility.  The BioOil will be shipped to a U.S. based company and will be utilized for the development of specialty products.

The contract will last for 5 years and calls for monthly deliveries of BioOil from West Lorne starting at 20 tonnes per month and increasing to 250 tonnes per month at its peak (3000 tonnes per annum). The total value of BioOil to be shipped during the 5 year term is estimated at U.S. $5,300,000 and at its peak delivery would represent 15% of the plant’s annual production of BioOil.

New Rules Coming for Fuel Economy

EPA is going to propose new regulations for testing vehicle fuel economy by the end of this year and wants the new tests in place by the 2008 model year.  The update will be the first major change to the EPA's fuel economy tests since 1985. The EPA tests vehicles to get the estimated city and highway fuel economy displayed on vehicle's window stickers.

EPA administrator Steve Johnson said he hasn't decided what the final proposal will look like but it will take into account more factors than the current test. People drive faster than they did in the 1980s, and road congestion has increased. Vehicles have more accessories like air conditioning, which use up vehicle power, and the EPA still conducts tests at 75 degrees, which doesn't take into account the effect of hot or cold weather on fuel economy.

We certainly need new and better mileage information to help us make an educated decision on what car to buy.  EPA does not establish CAFE standards, but this is where we really need new standards.  Legislation has been introduced to change these.  We will have to wait and see whether new CAFE standards can make it through congress now that the price of gasoline has become of more concern.  It will require some votes from republicans if it is to get through.  Its another time where letting your opinion be known could make a difference.

More blogs about vehicles, energy policy, energy

Zap to Import Cars From Brazil

Automotive Pioneer ZAP (PCX: ZP) of Santa Rosa, California announced the first public showing of its latest vehicles, including the OBVIO! at the 47th Annual San Francisco International Auto Show, November 19-27 at The Moscone Center.

ZAP and OBVIO! have agreed to collaborate in the design and manufacture of high efficiency, high performance urban cars. OBVIO!, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, intends to manufacture two models for export to the USA the model 012, shown above, and the model 828.  ZAP will work closely with OBVIO! to ensure these advanced technology vehicles are fully compliant with United States regulatory requirements and will serve as the exclusive representative and distributor for OBVIO! in North America. The 828 is expected to be availble for delivery in the third quarter of 2006 and the 012 in the last quarter of 2007.

Under the terms of the agreement, ZAP is ordering 50,000 vehicles from OBVIO! during the three year period following initial delivery. Given the level of interest ZAP continues to receive from its dealer network coupled with the "greening" of the American market, the partners see growing market demand for fuel efficient cars. According to the Wall Street Journal, the potential market for small, fuel-efficient cars could be as high as one million vehicles per year.

Entire Farm Powered by Solar Power

Prescott College's 30 acre Wolfberry Farm is entirely powered by sunlight, from the irrigation-well pump, to the lights and computer in the caretaker's house, to the small fan that cools the greenhouse, the power for Wolfberry Farm comes from a series of photovoltaic solar panels.

They get some income from the sale of vegetables but the farm was never intended to be self-sustaining, the farm is a a research demonstration project -the farm is looking for energy-efficient farming methods.

Read more at "Experimental farm runs entirely on solar power", Cindy Barks, AP, November 17, 2005

More blogs about solar power, solar, energy

Qatar-Worlds Largest LNG Refinery

Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil have launched a project to build what will be the worlds largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) refinery.  Under a 25 yr agreement, starting in 2008 the U.S. will import 25-30% of its LNG needs from Qatar.  In the first part of this phase of the project, to be completed in the second half of 2008, train 6 of the RasGas-3 plant will produce 7.8 million tons a year (MTA) of LNG.  The second part, train 7, with the same capacity, will start up approximately a year later. The current phase is expected to cost about $14 billion when all the auxillary equipment is included.

Train 3 with a capacity of 4.7 MTA is in operation. Train 4 and 5, each with the same capacity as train 3 are under construction. Train 4 is scheduled to start up in the 4th quarter of 2005 and train 5 late in 2007. Trains 6 and 7 with a capacity of 15.8 MTA, together with trains 1-5, with a combined capacity of 16 MTA, represent a big step forward for the State of Qatar to become the world's largest supplier of LNG with expected total annual production of 77 million tons by 2010.

Twenty-eight wells are planned to be drilled to supply the two trains with natural gas, sourced from Qatar's giant North Field. The field has proven reserves of more than 900 trillion cubic feet (25 trillion cubic meters) of natural gas, the third largest in the world. Qatar Petroleum has a 70-percent stake in the project and ExxonMobil Ras Laffan III Limited the remaining 30 percent.

To deliver the LNG to its targeted markets, RasGas-3 plans to lease 12 LNG tankers to support Train 6.  It has contracted with Teekay Shipping Corporation to lease, for 25 years commencing in 2008, four 217,000 cubic meter LNG carriers.  Teekay in turn has contracted with Samsung Heavy Industries to construct the carriers for a total price of approximately $1 billion.  Hyundai Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and will also supply tankers.  It is expected that an additional six LNG tankers will be required to support Train 7.

Resources:

"ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum Progress LNG Project", Qatar Petroleum press release, Nov. 15, 2005
Qatar Patroleum--RasGas Companies, website
"Technip, Chiyoda JV Sign Multi-billion US$ LNG Contract in Qatar", Contractoors Unlimited, Sept., 9,2005
"Teekay Awarded Four Long-Term LNG Contracts", Teekay Shipping Corporation press release, August 2, 2005

More blogs about natural gas, LNG, fossil fuels, energy

Researchers Discover Magnets Secret

Permanent magnets are an important component in a broad variety of technologies, from car starters to alternators for wind power generation to computer hard drives. Researchers at the U.S. DOE's Argonne National Laboratory have found new clues into ways to make those magnets longer-lasting and more powerful. Using the Western Hemisphere's most powerful X-rays at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne, they were able to see new details of rare-earth ions, a critical component of permanent magnets.  Using the Western Hemisphere's most powerful X-rays the researchers were able to see new details of rare-earth ions, a critical component of permanent magnets. Rare-earth ions in dissimilar crystalline environments compete with one another, and undermine the magnetic performance of the highest performance magnets.   Read more

Resources: "Argonne Researchers discover keys to improving commercial magnet technology", Argonne National Laboratory News Release, November 18, 2005

More blogs about magnets, electrical, energy

Hydrogen Boost for Truckers

Some truckers are now using hydrogen, generated onboard, to supplement their fuel and get a 10-40% increase in fuel efficiency.  The Canadian Hydrogen Fuel Company (CHEC) is selling its hydrogen fuel injection (HFI) system to:

• Reduce fuel costs, a guaranteed 10% in fuel savings
• Improve torque and horsepower
• Decrease exhaust emissions by about 50%
• Reduces oil degradation by about 50% and
• Decrease engine maintenance requirements

HFI is an onboard generator of hydrogen and oxygen gases for internal combustion engines.  The gases are generated by electrolysis of distilled water. They are introduced into the air intake manifold of the truck where they are mixed with the incoming air. Introducing a small amount of hydrogen to an engine enhances the flame velocity and thus permits the engine to operate with a leaner air to fuel ratio than otherwise possible. The result, is that relatively small amounts of hydrogen can significantly decrease fuel consumption, dramatically increase horsepower and reduce exhaust emissions.  The company spent 8 years in R & D with extensive road tests before going into the market. They now have over 60 million miles of road use with the HFI. 

Oxycombustion Projects, to Enable CO2 Capture, Announced

DOE announced today that they had selected two projects to demonstrate "oxycombustion".  In an oxycombustion-based power plant, oxygen rather than air is used to combust a fuel resulting in a highly pure carbon dioxide (CO2) exhaust that can be captured at relatively low-cost and sequestered. No commercial oxygen combustion power plants are operating today, due mainly to the high cost of producing oxygen. Significant reduction in the cost of oxygen compared to today’s best cryogenic technology is a key requirement to making the oxycombustion power plant a viable future option.

Sharp Says PV Solar Costs to be Halved

According to this Nov. 16, 2005 AP article Katsuhiko Machida, the president of Sharp Corp. predicted:

that by around 2010 the electricity fee for home using solar power could be halved from the current 47 yen (40 cents) per kilowatt hour to 23 yen (19 cents), the same as current rates for conventional electric power generated by oil and coal.

I think its great that the price of PV solar will be cut in half in the next five years.  This is fine for Japan where electric rates are that high, but where do we (in the rest of the world) stand? According to Solarbuzz the average price for industrial Solar energy (500kW installation, worldwide average in sunny climates, 5.5 hrs sun/day, Japan is not quite that sunny) costs are $0.213 per kWh or $4.95 per watt for November 2005 and according to an article in REA today the 62 MW Girassol plant in Portugal (BP panels) is $4.71 per watt. There should be a bigger discount for a megaproject, but that is what the numbers are or more likely the Solarbuzz index is a little off from the real world. Installation runs about 1/2 of the total plant cost, and if that ratio remains the same (optimistically) then according to Sharp, in five years we might be in the neighborhood of $2.50/watt which would be roughly $0.10 per kWh. That is not competive for base load power now, but is very competitive with peak load power.  The people that sell thin film photovoltaics are predicting their cost will be $1.00 to $1.50 per watt at that time which would lead to about the same costs.  The cost of solar panels has been rising since June 2004, that situation should be remedied sometime when silicon supplies catch up with demand.  In the meantime there is an opening for thin film and Daystar and Ovonics are increasing production rapidly, but are far behind Sharp and the other leaders.  I guess that makes me more optimistic than I ever have been about photovolataics.  Of course then there is themal solar....

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New Plug-in Hybrid Organization

A Wired News article discusses a new group of automotive component suppliers, the Advanced Hybrid Vehicles Development Consortium, will coordinate the development of the advanced technology needed for a cost effective Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) that will run the first 20 – 50 miles in all electric zero emission mode. The consortium will develop a prototype hybrid vehicle within a year that includes more-powerful electric motors, longer-lasting batteries and ultracapacitors that can store electricity used for acceleration.  The prototype will cost about as much to build as today's hybrids, because some components such as the flywheel will be eliminated. Not only will the vehicle get more than 100 mpg, but consumers will save even more by tapping into the grid.

The group hopes to license the hybrid technology to auto companies that have yet to produce hybrids, which would enable automakers to jump in the game without having to do 15 years of research and development.  Companies participating in the group include high performance electric motor manufacturer Raser Technologies, lithium-ion battery manufacturers Electrovaya and Enax, utility Pacific Gas and Electric and ultracapacitor supplier Maxwell Technologies.

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BigBelly Solar Trash Compactor

BigBelly (tm) is a cordless automatic solar trash compactor which reduces collection burden and litter.  The innovative BigBelly™ dramatically cuts emptying frequency and waste handling costs, trash overflow and litter at outdoor sites with high traffic and high trash volume.  This ruggedized trash container/compactor reduces trash volume by a 4:1 to 8:1 compaction ratio, depending on the nature of the trash. BigBelly has LED indicator lights that tell how full it is or optionally it transmits a wireless signal when it is within hours of being full.  A battery stores enough power to run 3 to 4 weeks with no sun and it can maintain a full charge in shaded areas. The BigBelly system has proven successful in various locations and environments from the ski slopes at Vail, to amusement parks in Orlando to the streets of New York city.  Queens, NY has purchased 50 of the compactors. According to press reports it costs about $4500. 

It is manufactured by the privately held Seahorse Power Company of Westborough, MA.  On November 14, Seahorse Power Company closed on $1.1 million in financing to expand marketing, sales and manufacturing of the BigBelly solar powered trash compactor.

Seahorse Power Company, Westborough, MA, USA

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CO2 Sequestration Project Successful

The following is and announcement, dated November 15, 2005 by DOE:

Successful Sequestration Project Could Mean More Oil and Less Carbon Dioxide Emissions
Weyburn Project Breaks New Ground in Enhanced Oil Recovery Efforts

Washington, DC – Secretary Samuel Bodman today announced that the Department of Energy (DOE)-funded “Weyburn Project” successfully sequestered five million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the Weyburn Oilfield in Saskatchewan, Canada, while doubling the field’s oil recovery rate.  If the methodology used in the Weyburn Project was successfully applied on a worldwide scale, one-third to one-half of CO2 emissions could be eliminated in the next 100 years and billions of barrels of oil could be recovered.

Lithium Batteries: The Future Technology

Two of the largest battery manufactures have made it official, they both say that Lithium-ion batteries will be the standard battery for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) in a few years.

Sanyo Electric Co., the largest manufacturer of nickel-metal hydride batteries, predicts that by 2010, the majority of hybrid vehicles will use lithium-ion batteries. Currently, all hybrids use nickel-metal hydride batteries.

Johnson Controls recently launched an advanced lithium-ion battery development laboratory, to create advanced power-storage solutions for near-future hybrid-electric vehicles. The facility – located at the company’s Battery Technology Center – features a “dry room” and an array of highly specialized tools and equipment for designing, developing and testing power-storage and power-management concepts based on lithium-ion technology. The new laboratory facility and development equipment were installed at a cost of approximately $4 million. The company believes lithium ion technology is likely to replace nickel-metal-hydride as the battery technology of choice in hybrid-electric and electric vehicles in the future. Johnson Controls, the world’s largest manufacturer of automotive original equipment and aftermarket batteries, manufactures and distributes more than 80 million batteries annually.

In 2004, the company was granted a contract for lithium-ion battery development by the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC). In this program, Johnson Controls has been tapped to develop an abuse-tolerant, lithium-ion battery offering extended life and significantly improved power-to-weight performance vs. current hybrid-battery technology. The USABC, which includes the U.S. Department of Energy, DaimlerChrysler, Ford and General Motors as members, supports research and development for advanced energy systems to power future HEVs.

According to industry projections, sales of HEVs in the U.S. and European automotive markets could reach 6 million units within a decade.

Although lithium-ion batteries are currently more expensive, their advantages over nickel-metal hydride batteries include higher voltage, power density and energy density.  But the batteries still have a number of problems. Early lithium-ion batteries had a tendency to short-circuit internally, sometimes melting cell-phone cases. More testing is needed to ensure that the short-circuit problem has been solved. In addition, the batteries have yet to be proved crashworthy.

FuelCell Energy Commissions Wastewater Power Plant

From news release of November 7:  FuelCell Energy, Inc. (FCEL ), a leading manufacturer of efficient, ultra-clean power generation plants for commercial and industrial customers, announced today that its European partner MTU CFC Solutions GmbH, a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler, and RWE Fuel Cells have commissioned a 250-kilowatt  power plant incorporating FuelCell Energy's technology to run a municipal wastewater treatment facility in northeastern Germany.

This system combines FCE's efficient and low-emission Direct Fuel Cell® (DFC®) stacks with MTU's balance of plant design that it manufactures for the European market. Situated at the Municipal Wastewater Treatment Works in Ahlen, Germany, it is the first fuel cell in Europe to operate on anaerobic digester gas.

Using sewage gas produced by the Ahlen facility itself as fuel, the power plant generates electricity to run the wastewater treatment process; any excess power is fed to the grid. The power plant also generates 180 kilowatts of heat byproduct. Ahlen harnesses this energy to operate its digestion tower (where sewage sludge is turned into the gas fuel source), while any remaining thermal energy is used to heat its office and plant buildings there.

About Methanol

I recently read two related articles regarding methanol which were somewhat conflicting and perked my interest in methanol.  The first was the announcement of a new plant for producing methanol.

Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Limited (MHTL) announced that its M5000 methanol plant achieved first methanol production on September 23, 2005 and expected to achieve full production of 5400 tons per day, making it the largest methanol plant in the world, during the first week of October.  The total production capacity of MHTL's four plants is now about 4 million metric tons per annum (11,000 tons per day).

My immediate naive reaction was that converting stranded natural gas to methanol was an inexpensive way, less expensive than FT synthesis, to convert the gas to a liquid which would make the transportation much less complex (stranded gas refers to gas that is not in sufficient supply to justify converting it to LNG).  Methanol could be used as a vehicular fuel, so there should be a market for it.  Shortly after I saw the above announcement I saw an article in the Oil & Gas Journal about an overcapacity situation in methanol.  According to the article:

During its 5-year study period, beginning in 2006, CMAI in its 2006 World Methanol Analysis, forecasts world demand for methanol to be about 38 million tonnes/year. Meanwhile, nearly 27 million tpy of new capacity is planned for the same period and most expansions are not demand-driven, it said.

The largest absolute growth for methanol will be fueled by the Middle East and Northeast Asia, most notably China, as this country continues to build infrastructure to support its economic development.

Methanol demand in North America will decline as the methyl tertiary butyl ether phase-out programs sweep the US by 2007. This will eliminate the use of 9 million tonnes of MT BE by 2008, the equivalent of more than 3 million tonnes of methanol. Also, Europe is rapidly replacing MT BE with biofuels. It is expected to reduce MT BE production by 1.8 million tonnes (about 600,000 tonnes of methanol) from the 2000 peak consumption time frame to the end of the study period.

CMAI said the probability is high for the planned methanol-to-olefins complex in Nigeria in 2009. This addition, which will interact independent of the methanol industry and derivatives, will create almost 2.2 million tonnes of new demand.

Oil Prices: Up, Up and Do They Stop?

There is a graph on the Peak Energy website that is a startling representation of how oil prices have been going up at a linear pace over the past two years.  If the trend is correct, the downward movement in the past couple of months is typical and an upward trend should resume in somewhare in the first quarter.  While this pattern may not be a surprise, and is for a relatively short period, the consistency of the trend is amazing.  The slope is an increase in oil price of about $14 per year, which would extrapolate to about $74-$75 a barrel for October of next year.  I don't believe that such a short term trend means that much statistically, but it certainly argues that the range of oil prices next year could be between $50 and $75.

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China Silicon Production Breaks Foreign Monopoly

A 300 ton per year polycrystalline silicon factory has successfully started production at the China Silicon High-Tech Company.  This marks the end of a foreign blockade and monopoly in polycrystalline silicon production technology. After more than two years of construction, the first ingots of polycrystalline silicon, with a diameter of 130 mm and length of two meters and weighing 1.3 tons, rolled out successfully on November 3, 2005.

The technology for manufacturing polycrystalline silicon, the most important raw materials for the semiconductor and photovoltaic industries have long been monopolized by seven large companies in the United States, Japan and Germany. Prior to opening of this factory, China could only produce very small batches with second-level technology. This combined with controlling the sale of silicon to China by these seven companies had meant that the Chinese semiconductor and PV industries had been under control of these foreign companies.

It is predicted that the world's demand for polycrystalline silicone will hit 28,000 tons in 2005, and the domestic demand (in China) reach 1,500 tons.  And the world's demand will grow 10%-plus annually.

This obviously means that the Chinese semiconductor and PV industries can grow and compete with foreign manufactures and reduce their imports of finished products in these areas.  It also should help relieve the silicon supply shortage that has been limiting the PV industry.

Reference: China Breaks Foreign Monopoly in Silicon Production Tech, Canadian Centre for Energy, November 11, 2005

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Nanopowders Could Revolutionize Electrodes

QuantumSphere makes such products as nano-nickel/cobalt alloy nanopowder that behaves like platinum but is 80 percent cheaper. Since platinum is 40 percent of the cost of small batteries and fuel cells, QuantumSphere's alloy could greatly reduce the cost of batteries for laptops, cell phones, digital cameras and hearing aids. Most of QuantumSphere's 11 employees are scientists. So far, the company has grown without venture capital. It has started selling its products this year and could possibly break even in 2006. QuantumSphere was recently selected for a 2005 Technology Innovation of the Year award by research organization Frost & Sullivan. 

QuantumSphere claims to be the leading manufacturer of metallic nanopowders for markets demanding exacting material quality and performance. In their words: "Our exclusive manufacturing process provides consistent and narrow particle size distribution, low levels of agglomeration and impurities, a custom-tailored oxide shell thickness, and the highest purity metallic nanopowders on the market that are easier to transport and handle. The company accomplishes this without compromising its commitment to the environment and the community. No other company offers these performance advantages."

They see their applications as including:

• Electrodes in batteries, fuel cells and water hydrolysis/hydrogen production, where huge surface area and greater surface energy combined equals orders of magnitude Increase in reactive performance.
• Coatings and sealants, where enhanced performance characteristics including higher conductivity, magnetic, anti-corrosive, increased durability, antimicrobial, abrasion resistance and radio frequency shielding are desirable.
• Filtration of solutions or gases to remove bacteria, viruses, bio-hazards and pollutants in gas separation, biological protection systems and chemical catalysis.
• Biomedical to improve imaging of internal organs and tumors, bio-hazard protection, targeting drug delivery and tumor eradication and as a antimicrobial.
• Vehicles, where replacing platinum with nickel nanoparticles in lean-burn diesel engine catalytic materials and in catalytic emissions controls.

GE Energy Sees Growth in Wind Power & IGCC

Wind turbine sales are seen as powering growth of GE energy over the next few years with IGCC having a huge potential after that.  John Krenicki, president and CEO of GE Energy, a $17 billion unit of GE, told Reuters that they forecast revenue from wind energy to grow by 50% in 2006 to $3 billion, $4 billion in 2007 and more than 10% a year through the end of the decade.

The U.S. wind energy business is enjoying the benefits of federal energy legislation passed this summer which extended a production tax credit for two years.  In gusty parts of the country, such as West Texas, wind power has become competitive and sometimes cheaper than power from natural gas.

Krenicki said that given the volatility of energy prices, GE's customers want a broad portfolio of generating assets, including nuclear, natural gas turbines and clean coal units called integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC).

GE forecasts operating profit at the energy unit -- which accounts for more than 10 percent of GE's total revenue -- to grow by 10 to 15 percent in 2006 from an estimated $2.7 billion this year.

GE Energy expects sales of IGCC, which offers utilities a cheaper way to capture and sequester greenhouse gases than traditional pulverized coal units, could be a $75 billion opportunity from 2010 to 2020.  That market could grow even larger to over $100 billion if the United States, which dropped out of the Kyoto Protocol, ever requires carbon constraints, he said. U.S. firms American Electric Power and Cinergy are planning IGCC units, but are not installing carbon capturing until required to do so.

Resource: GE Energy head eyes wind energy to power growth, Reuters, November 10, 2005

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Are Very Small Cars in Your Future?

Have you ever heard of the Toyota Yaris (shown), Honda Fit, Nissan Versa, Hyundai Accent, Suzuki Aerio, Kia Reo or the Chevrolet Aveo?  These are the very small cars that their builders are bringing out to compete with the Scion.  The cars are primarily aimed at the youth market, but could see quite a bit of sales for third cars or for retirees. The Aveo is the best selling car in the segment and is coming out with a redesigned model next year.  The Aveo starts at under $10,000 but most of these dirt-cheap and fuel-efficient cars will start at about $12,000.  Most of these cars are expected to get mileage in the 30-40 mpg range, and with small 4 cylinder engines their performance will not be spectacular.

The Toyota Echo, to be replaced by the Yaris, got an overall gas mileage of 38, the Mini Cooper and the ScionXA and XB all got 30 mpg and the Aveo 28 mpg according to the April 2005 Consumer Reports.  I would hope there would be more in the upper 30's. It seems that cost, not mileage, is the main selling point.  Data is not out on several of these so maybe one will surprise me.  Hybrids and electrics seem to be the only way to go if real fuel conservation is your goal.  These cars may be making a comeback in the number of models available, but I wonder if that will turn into sufficient sales to keep them all on the market.

Reference: Small Cars Making a Big Comeback, CNN.com.AUTOS, November 9, 2005

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Solar Tower Used to Test Space Materials

For the last two years, tests have been conducted at Sandia National Laboratories' National Solar Thermal Test Facility to apply heat equivalent to 1,500 suns to spacecraft shields called Advanced Charring Ablators. The ablators protect spacecraft entering atmospheres at hypersonic speeds. The test facility includes a "solar tower" surrounded by by a field of hundreds of sun-tracking mirror arrays called heliostats.  The heliostats direct sunlight to the top of the tower where the test objects are located.

The National Solar Thermal Test Facility is located on an eight-acre field of 220 solar-collection heliostats and a 200-ft.-tall tower that receives the collected energy at one of several test bays. A single heliostat includes 25 mirrors that are each four feet square. The total collection area is 88,000-square feet. Because the heliostats are individually computer controlled, test radiation can be a shaped pulse as well as a square wave in terms of intensity vs. time.

Test samples are mounted high in the receiver tower, and the heliostats direct the sunlight upward to irradiate the sample surface. The samples are mounted in a water-cooled copper plate inside the tower's wind tunnel with a quartz window that allows entry of the concentrated radiation.

Resource: Sandia Conducts Tests at Solar Tower to Benefit Future NASA Space Explorations, Sandia press release, September 7, 2005

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About Focus Fusion

Developers, led by Eric J. Lerner, are developing Focus Fusion, a fusion process to generate electricity that is expected to be relatively cheap, highly efficient, and small enough to fit into a garage.  The process which channels hydrogen-boron fuel through a plasma focusing device, uses a smaller, more elegant approach than is currently being pursued by conventional fusion researchers.  This device could be fired up and shut off with the flip of a switch, with no damaging radiation, no threat of meltdown, and no possibility of explosions

Focus Fusion reactors are small and decentralized, ideally suited for distributed power generation. Focus Fusion reactors can fit into a garage.  Lawrenceville Plasma Physics (LPP) Focus Fusion project aims at developing an electric generator with a projected output of about 5 MW, sufficient for a small community.  The Focus Fusion process can produce electricity directly without the need to generate steam, use a turbine or use a rotating generator. The reactors are extremely compact and economical, with expected costs of $300,000 apiece. As the fuel is an insignificant cost, electric power production is estimated at about one tenth of a cent per kWh, fifty times cheaper than current costs.  Because it can be shut off and turned on so easily, a bank of these could easily accommodate whatever surges and ebbs are faced by the grid on a given day, without wasting unused energy from non-peak times into the environment, which is the case with much of the grid’s energy at present.  On-site personnel are not needed on a daily basis, maintenance would be rare.  One technician could operate a dozen facilities by themselves.

Solar News Items

These are some solar news items I came across today that might interest some of you.

Shell Solar tops efficiency record for thin film PV modules

November 1, 2005 - Shell Solar recently achieved a record 13.5% light to electricity conversion efficiency for it's leading thin film CIS (Copper-Indium-Diselenide) photovoltaic technology.  This proves that the performance of thin film technology can be at least as good as that demonstrated by many traditional crystalline silicon products available in the market place today.  The result was independently verified by the TUV Rheinland Group in Cologne, Germany based on a 30 x 30cm sized module.

SOLON to Construct Multi Megawatt Solar Power System

November 2, 2005 - Berlin based, solar module manufaturer SOLON AG has received an order from GEOSOL Gesellschaft für Solarenergie mbH, Berlin, to build a 3.4 Megawatt solar power system.  The station will be equipped with SOLON Movers, photovoltaic systems from SOLON AG that automatically tilt and rotate during the day to directly face the sun at all times.  More at solarbuzz

Nanotechnology Center Makes Flexible Solar Cell Breakthrough

November 7, 2005 - Researchers at Wake Forest, with the help of researchers at New Mexico State University, have achieved an efficiency rate for organic solar cells of almost 6 percent. In order to be considered a viable technology, the solar cells must be able to convert about 10 percent of the energy in sunlight to electricity. Wake Forest researchers hope to reach 10 percent by October 2006, said David Carroll, director of the nanotechnology center at Wake Forest.  More at newswise

Sharp Corporation Raises Solar Cell Production Capacity

November 2, 2005 - In plans announced on Monday, Sharp Corporation said that the company will boost the solar cell production capacity of its Katsuragi plant in Nara Prefecture.  The company's annual production capacity is being increased to 500 Megawatts, which represents an additional 85 Megawatts on previous plans.

Flexible Solar Cells on Polymer Foil Reach 14.1% Efficiency

November 4, 20005 - The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) has set a new record for thin film solar cells on plastic (polyimide) foil. The research team of Professor Ayodhya Nath Tiwari, Dr. Dominik Rudmann and David Bremaud developed polycrystalline thin films solar cells of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (called CIGS) on very thin polyimide foils at the Thin Film Physics Group, Laboratory for Solid State Physics, ETH Zurich. A multilayer structure of about 4 micron thickness was grown with a combination of thin film deposition methods.  More at solarbuzz

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EIA Says Crude Prices to Average Above $64 in 2006

The EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook always has something of interest in it and today was no exception, here are a few excerpts highlighting their view on the Gulf recovery and prices of energy.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita damaged, set adrift, or sunk 192 oil and natural gas drilling rigs and producing platforms, the most significant blow to the U.S. petroleum and natural gas industries in recent memory.  At the beginning of November almost 53 percent of normal daily Federal Gulf of Mexico oil production and 47 percent of Federal Gulf of Mexico natural gas production remains shut in.

Hurricane recovery is underway but it will take many months for a complete recovery.  In this scenario, Gulf of Mexico shut-ins for December 2005 are projected to average 33.1 percent for crude oil (10.4 percent of total U.S. production) and 20.6 percent for natural (4.2 percent of total U.S. natural gas production). For refinery capacity, 1.7 percent is projected to be offline. ... It now appears unlikely that anything close to complete recovery will occur before the end of the second quarter of 2006.

This short-term forecast projects that total energy demand is likely to respond to higher prices and hurricane-related destruction by showing relatively flat growth between 2004 and 2005, compared with 1.5-percent growth between 2003 and 2004.  However, energy demand is expected to recover in 2006 at a rate of about 2 percent. 

Prices for crude oil, petroleum products, and natural gas are projected to remain high during the remainder of 2005 and through 2006 because of tight international supplies and hurricane-induced supply losses.  The price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is expected to average $57 per barrel in 2005 and $64-$65 per barrel in 2006. Retail regular gasoline prices are expected to average $2.29 per gallon in 2005 and $2.43 in 2006.  Henry Hub natural gas prices are expected to average $9.15 per thousand cubic feet (mcf) in 2005 and $9.00 per mcf in 2006.

The single most interesting item being that they predict the price of WTI to average $64-$65 per barrel in 2006 because of "tight international supplies".  Their outlook seems to be much more pessimistic than in previous years.  It couldn't be that they are considering the implications of peak oil? It should be kept in mind that since about 62% of our oil is imported that when 10.4% of our production is lost that amounts to 3.3% of our consumption which must be made up with increased imports, releases from our strategic oil reserves or decreased demand.  The U.S. crude oil supply is about 16 million barrels per day (mbd) so 3.3% translates to about 0.5 mbd.

The complete Short-Term Energy Outlook can be found here.

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2004 Investments in Renewable Energy set Record

World Changing today reported that according to a report released today (Download - PDF) by the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century, or REN21, global investment in renewable energy set a new record of $30 billion in 2004. That's a far, far bigger number than others have projected.  See the complete post here.

Coal-to-Liquids to be Used in Fertilizer Plant

Rentech (RDC) announced today that it would purchase Royster-Clark Nitrogen of East Dubuqe, IL, a fertilizer producer, and convert the existing natural gas-fed plant to coal-fed gasification plant.  The conversion calls for two gasification trains and a spare, standby gasifier, to process 5,200 tons per day of coal.  The conversion will increase the capacity of the plant from 830 tons per day to 900 tons per day of nitrogen (in the form of ammonia) as well as producing 87 million gallons per year of Fischer-Tropsch (FT) liquid fuels and a surplus of electricity.  The conversion is estimated to take three and one-half years.  RDC will use the Conocco-Phillips gasification process with its slurry reactor, iron-based catalyst FT process.  Rentech believes that when the project is completed it will be the first U.S. plant to produce commercial quantities of fuel using coal-to liquids (CTL) technology.

Increased Power Density for SOFCs

ESL Electro-Science has announced that the use of scandia stabilized zirconia (ScSZ) has recently been shown to more than double the power density achieved with conventional electrolyte materials for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC).  ScSZ is now commercially available in both tape form and as a fired substrate.

High temperature SOFCs, based on an oxide-ion conducting electrolyte, offer a clean, low-pollution technology to electrochemically generate electricity at high efficiencies. SOFC provides many advantages over traditional energy conversion systems including high efficiency, reliability, modularity, fuel adaptability, and very low levels of SOx and NOx emissions.

It is expected that planar SOFCs will have widespread application in the stationary distributed power generation, transportation, and military market sectors. Systems based on both tubular and planar SOFCs are ideal power generation systems - reliable, clean, quiet, environmentally friendly, and fuel conserving, hence reducing dependence on imported oil.

The new ScSZ ceramic is made by adding scandia (Sc2O3) to zirconium oxide (ZrO2) to optimize the crystal structure. The raw materials are first tape cast into a flexible sheet, then sintered at high temperature. The new ScSZ exhibits improved ionic conductivity and mechanical strength while its coefficient of thermal expansion is about the same as yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ). The use of ScSZ thus helps increase power-generating characteristics of the devices, while decreasing size and cost.

SoFCs operate at temperatures of 750-1000 C  Efficiencies of 50-60% can be obtained without cogeneration and 80-85% with cogeneration.  Operation at these temperatures eliminates the need for precious metal catalysts, reducing the cost and allowing the reforming of fuels internally, further reducing the cost and permitting the use of a variety of fuels without adding an external reformer.

ESL Electro-Science, King of Prussia, PA, USA

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New Material for SOFCs Reduces Operating Temperature

Toto LTD, Japan has announced that it has developed a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack that operates at 500 C, which is much lower than conventional SOFC stacks that typically operate in the 750 - 1000 C range.  The development is made possible through the use of ceramic materials that have not previously been used in fuel cells.   For mobile operations this reduces weight and size due to lesser amounts of heat insulation being required.  The cell is tubular shaped which can be more efficiently designed to be resistant to thermal stress than a planer arrangement.  Start up time is about 5 minutes. The output power is 500 W to 1000 W.  Specific applications anticipated are motor-driven chairs, motor-assist bicycles, etc.

In the newly developed SOFC stack, a reaction control layer is placed between the electrolyte and the fuel electrode to reduce the internal resistance, and to stabilize the low-temperature operation characteristic. To increase the integration density and the start-up time, the fuel electrode is molded to be a tubular member of 5mm in diameter. The outer surface of the fuel electrode is covered with the electrolyte and the air electrode.  Materials used are:

• Air electrode: lanthanum cobalt ceramics
• Electrolyte: lanthanum gallate ceramics
• Fuel Electrode: compound of nickel and zirconia ceramics
• Reaction control layer: ceria ceramics

Reference:  World's First SOFC Stack Operable at 500 Degrees Celsius, Fuel Cell Japan, 10/23-10/31/2005, Item 40-6

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New Vertical Axis Windmill

Privately held Tera Moya Aqua unveiled there new vertical windmill which it says is more efficient than traditional propeller designs.  They claim their windmill creates up to 80% more power from the same wind as conventional wind turbines. They claim several advantages for their design including:

• Less dangerous to birds
• Very quiet operation
• Lower maintenance costs because their critical equipment is more accessible
• Lower capital costs due to simpler design
• More acceptable because of lower profile - less visual pollution
• Superior handling of high gusts of winds

The turbine assembly consists of two primary components, the rotor and a set of air foils/stators. The gearbox, generator and controls for the unit are housed in the building at the base of the unit.The company plans to sell turbines generating from 500 watts to 1 megawatt. The smaller ones are portable and can be used by farmers, the military and remote cabin owners.

Terra Moya Aqua, Inc.  Cheyenne, WY
Cheyenne firm's wind turbine get makeover, Jackson Hole Star Tribune, November 5, 2005
New Wind Turbine May Boost Wind Power, Wired News, Nov 5, 2005

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Toyota May Not Build a Plug-in

From: Felix Kramer <[email protected]> Date: Sat Nov 5, 2005  3:47 pm Subject: EVWorld says Toyota not about to build plug-in hybrids

felixkramery Offline Send Email

We encourage you to forward this email to anyone to whom you "wishfully" told about the possible good news from Toyota. Or point them to: http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/calcars-news/message/193

That says it all.

Evergreen Solar Receives $70 Million Sales Agreement

Evergreen Solar announced a sales agreement and financial results on November 4, 2005 which said in part:

Evergreen Solar, Inc., a manufacturer of solar power products with its proprietary, low-cost String Ribbon(TM) wafer technology, today announced its largest sales agreement to date. Evergreen Solar and PowerLight Corporation have entered into a definitive agreement for a guaranteed contract which calls for Evergreen Solar to ship a minimum of $70 million of photovoltaic (PV) modules to PowerLight over the next four years. There are defined options which could increase the value of the shipments in the contract to approximately $170 million. Shipments to PowerLight are scheduled to commence during the first half of 2006.

Aramco Expansion Going Foreward

Rigzone reported that Saudi Aramco had received $13.9 billion in financing from Samba Financial Group for its previously announced plans to expand its capacity from 11 mbd to 12.5 mbd by 2009.

The kingdom's 2005 oil revenue is expected to rise 54% from last year, thanks to red-hot oil prices sparked by hurricanes and limited spare capacity in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the bank said.

Export revenue would reach $163 billion, up from 2004's record $106 billion, with the value of Saudi crude for the year averaging $51 a barrel, above last year's $35/bbl. Production is forecast to average 9.5 million b/d, up from 2004's 9 million b/d.

So what does Matt Simmons have to say about this?  It would seem they are putting their money where their mouth is this time.   I hope this expansion compensates for any decline they have in other facilities. I guess the skeptics will say wait and see if their production ever gets that high.  With revenues like reported above it makes me wonder why they need any financing.  Their sales went up $57 billion with, what I woud presume were, essentially the same operating costs, so what are we complaining about Exxon's profits of $9.9 billion/qtr.

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