North Carolina's Solar Lead

North Carolina is well known as a leader in renewable energy.  It was ranked 8th in the nation in renewable energy after installing 55 megawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity in 2011. The State boasts a portfolio standard to enable renewable energy growth, and a 35% corporate tax credit to encourage green energy adoption.  With the help of policies and increasing demand,  the cost of commercial scale solar PV systems have become competitive with the retail commercial electricity rates. The Charlotte Observer profiles a major investor that was attracted to spend money in North Carolina because of these policies; SunEnergy1.

And yet,  the small solar target of the renewable energy portfolio standards is now preventing NC's solar industry from reaching its full potential. The article reports that the current low portfolio standards are depressing the value of the renewable energy certificates. They point to the low REC values as a reason a "significant number of large companies are absolutely sitting on the fence as to whether to build a system." 

Click here to read the full article, SunEnergy1 wants North Carolina to shine in solar power by Bruce Henderson.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/04/14/3171419/sunenergy1-wants-north-carolina.html#storylink=cpy

Canary Island Plans for Energy Self Sufficiency

The Spanish island of El Hierro (part of the Canary Islands) is planning on becoming completely energy self sufficient in the near future. A new renewable energy project has been launched- that could generate 80% of the island's electricity requirements in the next few years.

The project is comprised s of 5 wind turbines and a hydro electric scheme. The former will  generate electricity for the islanders when it is windy, and the latter takes over when there's no wind.

Check out the BBC video and blurb for more information!

Mobile, solarpowered classrooms bring education to rural South Africa.

Samsung has designed and is now building a 12-metre long shipping container with an array of gadgets including laptops, video cameras and 50 inch e- boards instead of blackboards. These portable schools have space for 21 students and connect to a central location- like the department of education to access other curriculum based content.  These schools-in-a-box can be carried by truck to remote areas, survive harsh weather conditions and operate even without electricity supply.

How, you might ask, could all of these gadgets run without saddling up to some power lines? Solar panels, of course. Foldaway solar panels power the classroom for up to 9 hours a day, and even over a full day without any sunlight at all- for those rainier seasons.

Samsung Electronics Africa has set a goal for themselves to positively impact 5 million lives by 2015. This seems like a pretty good step in the right direction. Read David Smith's report to the Guardian about Samsung's project here. 

Renewable Energy is a Sound Investment

Experts agree, the smart investment bet these days is in renewable energy. In 2011, investments in clean energy reached a record $260 billion worldwide. And we haven't reached the top of that climb. As an article in Forbes.com pointed out, even if we conservatively assume the renewable portfolio standards set in 29 US states and the District of Columbia don't expand at all- analysts predict that several hundred billion dollars of investment in renewable energy generation projects will be required between now and 2030, just to meet those standards.

The article also points out another interesting point- investment in clean energy is good for utility companies too. Diversifying the supply of energy allows the utilities to hedge against the predictably unpredictable volatile fossil fuel prices. these investments are win-win-win.

"The bottom line: For investors looking for financially sound, environmentally responsible, climate-friendly investments, renewable energy project finance is worth a very close look."- Mindy Lubber (forbes.com) 

Mowing the Lawn is the New Frontier

Researchers are working on a way to break down plant matter for it's photosynthetic molecules, and then spread that on solid instrument to create a solar panel. The ultimate hope is to be able to pour a mixture of chemicals on a bag of raked leaves or cut grass and create a paint that could then turn your windows into electricity producing panels. 

MIT researcher Andreas Mershin explains a different way of turning trash into treasure.

 Biophotovoltaics isn't a brand new idea, but low efficiencies, rapid degradation and dissemination of the paint-like mixture have stumped researchers up until now. Nine scientists recently published research on new advances that improve performance and could possibly allow the paint like mixture to be used on materials like recycled glass or metal. 

Read more about the science behind these biophotovoltaics in this report. Or check out Think Progresses take on the new advance!

Mera Gao Powers Indian Communities

Many governments  struggle with the immense expense of developing traditional infrastructure for electricity. In the world of competing priorities, and limited resources, rural communities are often left without access to energy. Mera Gao Power, however, is working to find a solution to this problem in India. According to a 2010 report by the World Resources Institute, 48% of rural households in India are unelectrified. That translates into 400 million people nationwide that cannot access electricity of any kind. Mera Gao Power, is using innovative off grid solar solutions to address this problem. They are building and maintaining solar powered micro grids that provide electricity to village houses. This electricity is used for powering lamps and charging mobile phones - impacting various aspects of daily life.

The systems need only four solar panels to supply electricity for  a village of 100 households. Each household that signs up receives two LED lights and one mobile-charging point for 25 rupees (about $.50) per week. The setup cost is an additional one time fee of 40 rupeees (about $.80).  USAID has provided enough funding to Mera Gao Power to set up 50 villages this year, but their aim is to power 100,000 households by 2016  with these solar micro grids.

MGP's Model: panels, battery, distribution, lights

Read more about it in the Guardian, or check out Mera Gao Power's website!

No Stone Unturned: New Research Captures More Light

Researchers from MIT, Zhejiang University, Taiyuan University and the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign are some of the first developing new ways to use metamaterials for solar panels to capture a wide range of light. This newest design of panels uses a pattern of wedge shaped ridges which can then capture light at a wide range of wavelengths and angles of incidence. In other words- no light goes unused- this new design has an efficiency of almost 95%.

credit: Yanzia Cui, MIT

Metamaterials are extremely thin, which reduces the weight and cost of the panels, and this new design is easily created using standard photovoltaic cell manufacturing equipment.  Researchers hope to use this discovery to create an extremely high efficiency solar cells or optical sensors. Check out MIT's news to learn more about the science behind this new design. It will also be detailed in an upcoming issue of the journal Nano Letters. But you can find a preliminary version of the paper here. 

Solar for Relief

LuminAID Lab has a neat product that has big implications for relief work and other areas that struggle to access electricity. The compact and highly portable lantern inflates to a pillow appearance with an LED light that gives off 4-6 hours of light at a time. Per usual, the LuminAID lantern takes about 3-5 hours to charge, but it holds that charge for quite a while making it quite ideal for transporting out to rural areas, conflict zones or communities recovering from disasters.

Watch the video LuminAID made about their product, or check out their website. 

Mapping Solar Parity in the US

At what point will it be cheaper for Americans to use solar over traditional electricity? What is that tipping point? John Farrell over at Energy Self Reliant States has mapped out a prediction of the solar grid growth over the next 20+ years. The map illustrates the path of solar parity or when solar electricity is less expensive than traditional energy production.

The analysis assumed that the cost of solar will decrease 7% a year and that grid electricity prices will increase by 2% a year. They also used the average residential rate for the core city of the metropolitan area for the calculation, and used the cost of solar in 2011 as the starting point- ($4.00 per Watt).

Check out the map for yourself, but their conclusion is good news for the solar fan- by 2018, it will be cheaper for 1in 6 Americans living in major metropolitan areas to choose solar energy over traditional power!

Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Possibilities in Italy

Nadia Ameli with the Fondazione Eni Enrico in Mattei, Italy and Daniel Kammen, of the Energy and Resources Group, University of California- Berkeley released a study at the end of 2011 analyzing the potential impact of a Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) policy in Italy: The Linkage between Income Distribution and Clean Energy Investments: Addressing Financing Costs

The study recognizes the key obstacles in project financing for renewable systems, including limited access to credit due to socio-economic status and the lack of loan guarantees. However, the study proposes the utilization of an innovative program like PACE, and then analyzes the potential impact it might have. This type of program would ameliorate the initial hurdle of up front costs for energy improvements, but allow these homeowners to benefit from the long term rewards of such an investment. Read the full study here.