Renewable Energy Development

A new photovoltaic solar farm has recently begun producing electricity near Lexington, North Carolina. The Davidson County Solar Farm is a project that has been developed by SunEdison and Golden Crescent Investment Group and they have entered a 20 year agreement with Duke Energy who will buy the electricity from the farm. The solar energy has been online since the end of December 2009.

The solar farm currently has the capacity to produce 4MW of power. Eventually the solar development is going to be expanded so that the capacity will rise to 16MW. When it is completely brought into service it will be able to produce enough electricity to power 10,000 homes each year, offsetting over 225 million pounds of carbon dioxide.

The site on which the solar farm is located is 356 acres and it currently comprises 16,000 solar panels. When the project is completed that number will rise to 64,000 solar panels that rotate to track the movement of the sun across the sky. The photovoltaic panels absorb the sunlight and convert it to direct-current electricity before it is then converted to alternating-current electricity.

This solar energy development is part of the state law on renewable energy that was passed in 2007 that requires public utilities to source 12.5 per cent of their power from renewable energy by 2021.

“This first phase represents a major milestone in our overall plan to develop 16 megawatts of solar energy at this site,” said SunEdison President Carlos Domenech in a press release. “Having financed and completed this initial installation, we have mobilized resources for the next phase of the solar farm.”

Solar energy is still a developing energy with technological advances continually being made to make it more cost efficient and more abundant. Currently it is still a form of electricity that is only used by a minority of households, either as self-contained rooftop installations or on the grid direct from a solar power plant.

There are still pockets of opposition to the development of more solar farms with the main criticism being that it is a very expensive way to create electricity. While this is true compared to the traditional use of fossil fuel such as coal, if you take a wider view and compare the cost with what it is saving the world in terms of non-renewable resources you could say that the extra dollars are a small price to pay.

There are definitely advantages to using solar power and some of these advantages are more important to some people than others. Here is a brief list:

• Solar energy is a renewable energy source. This means that no matter how much sunlight or heat we use to create electricity it won’t be exhausted.
• The creation of electricity does not disrupt neighboring residents. This is a completely silent process.
• Creating electricity from solar power does not produce pollutants, unlike coal-based electricity.
• Electricity from solar panels can be generated in locations that are isolated from an electricity grid without the need to run electricity cables all over the place.
• Solar power gives you the potential to become completely independent from a utility company.
• Over the long term you can save money on your power bill, in some cases not only will you no longer have to pay for your electricity, if you generate enough the power company could pay you for the excess electricity added to the grid.
• Once installed solar panels and solar cells don’t require any maintenance.
• Apart from the sun, solar energy requires no fuel.
• Your hot water bill will be greatly reduced after the installation of a thermal hot water system.
• With the development of CSP, it is possible to continue producing electricity from solar energy after the sun has gone down, or on cloudy days.
• Solar power can be used by a wide range of devices as well as for the production of electricity to power your home. Lights, watches, calculators, cars can all be powered by solar energy.

As was pointed out earlier, some people may not feel as though all of these solar power advantages are applicable to them. But every single person is affected by the increase of power that is generated by a means that reduces the amount of pollution that is pumped into the atmosphere. Forget about talks of the Greenhouse Effect and global warming, our immediate health can be improved by the closure of one power plant that burns coal to generate electricity.

It may be possible that a new geothermal power plant will be developed in Akutan, Alaska if the electro-magnetic probes being used by a geophysical survey team indicates that a nearby geothermal resource is significant enough to produceinexpensive and reliable geothermal energy.

Currently, the city’s power cost is over 32 cents per kilowatt / hour which is three times the amount paid by Anchorage residents. The peak usage in Akutan is only 7 megawatts which is currently generated by a diesel generator.

An Akutan geothermal energy power plant would eliminate the dependence on diesel in the city, reduce carbon emissions and would help to promote economic sustainability in the area.

It all hinges on the outcome of the geophysical survey which is due for completion by the end of September. This survey uses probes that can detect the presence of a possible geothermal reservoir.

A lot of work is still required to confirm that a geothermal energy power plant can actually be set up in the area. The exploration activities take place on the surface and require no drilling to complete, followed by exploratory drilling that will drill up to for slim holes up to a depth of 1,500 feet.

“Preliminary results from this summer’s fieldwork are extremely interesting,” said Amanda Kolker, project manager. “We are rapidly developing a better understanding of the geothermal resource on Akutan. By the end of the year we should have a good conceptual model of the resource, which will help in targeting successful geothermal wells.”

We have heard the arguments against solar power in the past, particularly the one about how much more expensive it is compared to electricity generated by more traditional fossil fuels. Well how does $1 billion per megawatt sound? Since the 1960s the prospect of generating solar energy from space has been on the drawing board but has never been successfully brought to the next level of actually creating a test model.

Space solar is once again out there as a potential feasible, if very expensive, option for creating solar energy on a constant basis. The Japanese government has stated that it is prepared to spend 2 trillion yen to bring a one-gigawatt solar power station into orbit.

The project would involve roughly four kilometers of solar panels and would orbit the Earth approximately 36,000 kilometers away. The power would be transmitted back in a laser beam or microwave.

Some Japanese companies have already signed on to support the concept and will probably be taking part in the supply of materials and innovative expertise.

Space solar sounds as though it has a lot of potential, but there is a real downside to this idea and that’s in the number of houses that can be powered by such a massive undertaking. The power generated would only be enough to power 300,000 homes and at an estimated cost of $21 billion (and we know that’s going to blow out) it makes it some very expensive electricity being proposed.

Nevertheless the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is aiming to have a system in space by 2030 and will be attempting to launch a test satellite by 2015.

This is not a new idea by any stretch of the imagination with plans being out there undeveloped since the 1960s in the US. In fact, NASA has already put an estimated $80 million into the concept with very little to show for it. We’re now 40 years further down the track and the costs haven’t improved and there is really no indication that they’re likely to either.

Some government estimates put the cost of solar electricity generated by a space solar power plant at $1 billion per megawatt. And people complain about their electricity bills now!

A new waste to energy biomass power plant has been given the approval for construction at a disused site at Tilbury Docks in Essex. The power plant will be fuelled by a combination of waste and biomass products and is expected to have a capacity of producing 60MW of electricity. The biomass portion of the fuel will be woodchips from various sources.

The company behind the proposal is Tilbury Green Power Limited which is a subsidiary of Express Energy, a renewable energy developer. Planning approval had to be granted from the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change under the Electricity Act because the plant is planned to produce over 50MW of power.

Construction is expected to take 3 years to bring the power plant on line and will provide jobs for up to 380 people. Once the plant becomes operational in 2012 it will require a staff of 120 to run.

One of the benefits of the power plant’s proposed location at the docks is that it will be easily accessible for delivery of fuel by barge. This will remove the need to use the city’s road network. Initially, 90% of the biomass is due to be sourced from Europe and America and only 10% from the UK. After three years of operation it is hoped that this will be turned around and 90% will be sourced from the UK and 10% from overseas.

“If we are to tackle climate change, we must reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and also make use of renewable sources of fuel. This power station will achieve both those objectives by turning waste into energy and using biomass, which will also contribute to delivering the U.K.’s renewable energy targets,” Energy and Climate Change Minister Phil Hunt said.

A new wind farm has been commissioned in New Mexico by the Edison Mission Group, Foresight Wind Energy and Karbon Zero. The 100MW wind farm named the High Lonesome Mesa wind energy project is located around 90 miles southeast of Albuquerque in Torrance County. The project became operational on July 16.

The project has cost $190 million and comprises 40 Clipper Windpower wind turbines. The electricity that is being output by the facility has been sold under long-term contract to Arizona Public Service and is enough electricity to power up to around 24,000 homes.

“The climate-friendly energy provided by the High Lonesome project is part of APS’ growing renewable energy portfolio designed to provide reliable, affordable and sustainable electricity for our customers,” said Don Robinson, president and chief operating officer, Arizona Public Service.

The project will pay $24 million in taxes and fees to the local and state economies over the next 30 years.

This is the second project that Edison Mission Group has undertaken in New Mexico with the first being the 120MW San Juan Mesa wind project that was dedicated in 2006.