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EU to invest billions in energy research / EurActiv
7 October 2009 – The European Commission today revealed its long-awaited blueprint for tripling Europe’s energy research funding within the next decade, in a bid to shift monies towards supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy in the next EU budget.
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The EU executive calls for the energy research budget to be increased to €50 billion over the next ten years. This would require yearly flows from both the public and private sectors to jump from their current €3bn to €8bn, it calculated.
The Communication on Financing the Development of Low-Carbon Technologies sets out how this money should be divided between key low-carbon technologies that can move Europe from 80% dependence on fossil fuels to 80% emissions cuts by 2050. The research priorities were identified in the 2007 Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) that intended to reassert Europe’s competitiveness by putting declining EU energy research budgets back on track.
The financing plan, which was originally due out last year, was partly delayed due to the financial crisis, which required new thinking on how to reactivate growth, Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs told journalists. Furthermore, drawing up roadmaps for the various technologies took time, he added.
The final plan earmarks €6bn for research into wind energy, which the Commission believes could produce a fifth of the EU’s electricity by 2020. The money would help to fund developments offshore, where winds are stronger, by investing in next-generation turbines and new structures.
Solar energy would get €16bn for developing new photovoltaic concepts and large industrial concentrating solar power (CSP) installations to contribute 15% of EU electricity in ten years’ time. Bioenergy research would also get €9bn so that it could provide 14% of EU energy while respecting sustainability criteria.
In order to integrate renewables and implement the internal energy market, electricity grids would get €2 billion so that half of the networks can operate along a “smart grid” principle.
Apart from renewables, carbon capture and storage (CCS) is set to receive €13bn for up to 12 demonstration projects. Nuclear research would also get €7bn for putting the fourth generation into operation.
The financing proposal also foresees €11bn for a ‘Smart Cities’ programme, in order to counter criticism that the SET-Plan disregards energy efficiency. Between 25 and 30 cities are to be upgraded with low-carbon houses and transport so that they emit 40% less greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 than they did in 1990.
In addition, the Commission is calling for more money for future breakthrough technologies, such as motors fuelled directly by sunlight or batteries which store power at ten times their current density.
Public partnering with private money
The Commission believes that public-private partnerships are the most credible way to go about funding energy research. However, it did not spell out how the financial burden should be shared between the two.
TheStar.com – Business – Canadians’ help sought for a green desert oasis
The first city in the world likely to emit zero carbon and generate zero waste is, ironically, likely going to be in a country that gets most of its revenues from the sale of oil and gas.
Three years ago Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, came up with a grand plan. The country is rolling in petrodollars, which make up more than two-thirds of its gross domestic product. So it decided it would commit $22 billion (U.S.) toward an ambitious effort to diversify the economy, by building a green city from scratch in the middle of the desert.
Masdar City, as it’s called, will be small at about six square kilometres, and only 50,000 or so people are expected to live within its perimeter wall. But it has big vision. It will have its own university, and will be the headquarters to the newly created International Renewable Energy Agency (which Canada, by the way, refuses to join).
Masdar will also be a cleantech mecca.
The city will be powered largely by solar, wind and geothermal power, starting with a 50-megawatt solar power plant that will supply energy for construction.
A wind farm will be built outside the city’s walls and eventually, as buildings emerge, they will have solar panels on their rooftops. Some of this renewable power will be used to generate and store hydrogen, which will be used as an emission-free fuel for what’s expected to be the world’s largest hydrogen power plant.
Solar will power a desalination plant that will turn salt water into drinking water, which will be recycled where possible or used as grey water for irrigating crops or flushing toilets.
High-tech incineration technologies will be used to turn waste into energy.
Vehicles will also be banned within city walls. Instead, residents and workers will have to rely on light-rail transit and electric-powered personal transportation systems, those driverless pods you see in sci-fi movies like Blade Runner, Minority Report and – I’m aging myself now – Logan’s Run.
The entire construction effort is being overseen by Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, and the first neighbourhood in Masdar is expected to be finished in 2013.
And you thought Bramalea was a planned city.
Why bring up something happening more than 10,000 kilometres away?
Last week a delegation of Masdar City executives flew into Toronto at the invitation of Sandra Pupatello, Ontario’s minister of economic development and trade. They spent two days meeting clean technology, engineering and urban design companies from Ontario and the rest of Canada.
Dr. Nawal Al-Hosany, associate director of sustainability at Masdar City, said in an interview that Masdar needs access to the latest technologies if it is to achieve its mission. That won’t come from Abu Dhabi alone.
“This is why we seek partnerships,” she said. “We’re looking at opportunities to investigate what’s happening everywhere in the world.
“We believe there are lots of opportunities in Canada.”
She called the meetings “fruitful,” and said she expects there will be some serious business relationships formed.
“You have four senior members of Masdar here, so we’re definitely not here to waste the company’s money.”
Masdar, it should be clear, isn’t just a grand idea on paper. Construction has already started. In June, Abu Dhabi-based Enviromena Power Systems completed a 10-megawatt solar power farm that spans 22 hectares and consists of 87,777 solar photovoltaic modules. So far it takes the prize as the largest solar power plant in the Middle East and North Africa.
Last year, Burnaby, B.C.-based solar lighting company Carmanah Technologies signed a deal that will see Enviromena distribute its products throughout the Middle East, so already the Masdar initiative is having an impact on Canadian companies.
“Masdar is really seen as a test bed for these technologies,” said Kevin Healy, who heads up marketing for Masdar City.
Joseph Dableh, president and chief executive of Oakville-based intelligent lighting company Fifth Light Technology, attended one of the sessions with Al-Hosany and her team and managed to make an impression.
Fifth Light has developed technology that allows fluorescent lighting in buildings to be dimmed in a way that saves energy, extends the life of the lights, and in a way that’s hardly noticeable to the naked eye.
Masdar, said Dableh, is a perfect match for his technology.
“They have expressed serious interest and clearly stated that this is exactly what they are hoping to acquire. I had three one-to-one meetings with them and it was agreed to follow up.”
It’s great news for a promising Canadian company, even if it takes going to a desert in the Middle East for some well-deserved exposure.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Europe will select 30 cities to pioneer “smart” electricity grids and space-proven insulation as it seeks to lead the global race for green technology, a draft European Union document shows.
The windpower sector must shift offshore and strive to provide a fifth of EU electricity by 2020 — ahead of industry goals — said a draft of the European Commission’s long-awaited Strategic Energy Technology Plan.
The so-called SET-Plan lays out the EU’s strategy for promoting hi-tech solutions to climate change to give European businesses a head start as the world switches to low-carbon energy.
Billions of euros will have to be poured into research to avoid falling behind the United States, which is pouring $777 million into energy research, the draft, obtained by Reuters ahead of the plan’s release next month, said.
“Basic research is chronically underfunded in the EU,” the report said. “We need to stimulate and incentivize our best brains to push back the frontiers of science.”
The project envisages 25 to 30 “smart cities” — highly insulated cities that glean energy from their waste and the sun and wind overhead and channel it down to the electric cars, trams and buses in the streets below.
“These Smart Cities will be the nuclei from which smart networks, a new generation of buildings and alternative transport means will develop into European wide realities,” it added.
EU officials are still calculating the exact needs for funding and how it will be split between industry and the public purse.
MIXED REACTION
Environmentalists gave the plan a mixed reception, saying it should have completely ditched coal power and nuclear.
The geothermal industry, which generates steady “baseload” power by tapping into the earth’s natural heat, said it provided the perfect complement to fluctuating wind and solar and expressed dismay it had been ignored altogether.
“A renewable energy mix can not be reached in the future without geothermal energy,” the European Geothermal Energy Council said.
Boosting energy efficiency will top the agenda, an area where the European Space Agency is expected to contribute.
“This could be achieved by transferring advanced insulation materials and ultra-efficient energy systems to the terrestrial energy sector,” the report said.
Coal-fired power stations will be pushed to trap and bury their carbon dioxide emissions and the nuclear industry will be urged to move toward a new generation of reactors — the so-called Generation-IV reactor.
“Such reactors will be able to exploit the full energetic potential of uranium, thus greatly extending resource availability by factors up to 100 over current technologies,” said the report.
Greenpeace campaigner Frauke Thies said the overall message was inconsistent, as money poured into coal and nuclear would only prolong Europe’s unhealthy dependence on an inflexible, centralized energy network.
“We must focus on building a decentralized and flexible energy system that can handle fluctuations in renewable energy and balance supply and demand,” she added.
A small community on Vancouver Island is undergoing a solar project of epic proportions. T’Sou-ke First Nation in Sooke on the southern end of Vancouver Island will be powering nearly 30 buildings with solar energy.
The T’Sou-ke First Nation has launched a solar power project that will power its band office, fisheries building, canoe shed, and 25 homes on the reserve.T’Sou-ke Nation is installing solar panels to pre heat hot water and photovoltaic panels to create clean electricity to power potentially large savings as hydro prices spike, according to PEJ. The community trained nine residents in solar power installation so that they would be able to take on such a project.
Chief Gordon Planes of T’Sou-ke First Nation is heading up the project in an effort to show other communities and Canada as a whole how feasible a project of this magnitude can be.
“I guess you could say we’re the new warriors. We’re educating our young people to be able to take on this task and it takes a whole community to do that,” he said.
And this isn’t all that the T’Sou-ke First Nation has in store. Next up—the community is also looking at wind power and organic farming in the next steps of their economic and ecological evolution.
The new solar project was launched Friday July 17, 2009 at a forum on the reserve.
photo: T’Sou-ke Nation
Promoting renewables is focus of new agency
Via: World Business Council for Social Development
The International Herald Tribune, May 19, 2009 Tuesday – In Sharm el Sheik, Egypt, delegates from 79 countries will meet next month to choose a home, a director and a preliminary work program for the International Renewable Energy Agency, which was set up this year to lead a global drive to accelerate and expand the development of renewable energy resources.
The agency grew out of a conference in Bonn on Jan. 26, which was sponsored by the German government, with support from Denmark and Spain. Of the 192 United Nations member states invited, 125 sent delegations and 75 European and emerging countries signed on to the final agreement establishing the agency, also known as Irena.
Membership includes leading European economies like Germany and France; emerging economies like India; major energy producers like Norway and Nigeria; hostile neighbors like Eritrea and Ethiopia, or Israel and Syria; and poor states like Liberia and Burkina Faso.
The United States has not yet joined the agency because of lingering commercial concerns, but is likely to do so, Hermann Scheer, a member of the Bundestag, the lower house of the German Parliament, said during an interview. Major countries like China, Britain and Brazil have not yet joined, either.
Very few countries ”have adequate and comprehensive programs for renewable energy, ” Mr. Scheer said, ”The others do not, and they need them urgently.”
Kingston to be new home for Canada’s first supplier of next-generation thin-film solar panels
KINGSTON, ON (CNW) – After reviewing several locations, Everbrite Solar, a division of Everbrite Industries Ltd. of Toronto, today announced plans to locate its state-of-the-art ultra-high efficiency photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing facility in Kingston. With the help of several financial advisers, Everbrite Solar is raising $500 million to invest in a highly specialized, robot-controlled manufacturing facility using leading-edge technology in the realm of “thin-film” solar module production. Everbrite also looks forward to discussions with the Government of Ontario regarding the project and the opportunity it presents. The planned plant will have an annual output of thin-film modules capable of generating 150 MW of clean solar power, and generate more than 1,200 direct, indirect and induced “green collar” jobs in the Kingston area.
“With this next-generation optical and coating technology and mechanized production process,” said Everbrite Solar President and CEO Karl Scherre, “generating clean solar power will, at last, be cost-competitive with electricity produced from the burning of fossil fuels.”
Everbrite Solar’s revolutionary technology surpasses traditional thin-film modules by dramatically increasing the efficiency of the module, lowering costs significantly and eliminating the environmental hazards associated with the earlier generations. A key part of today’s announcement is Everbrite’s intention to seek a collaborative research agreement with Queen’s University to engage a multi-disciplinary team of researchers to help ensure that Everbrite continues to be at the forefront of photovoltaic technology. Everbrite intends to invest up to $25 million to build an experimental thin-film manufacturing facility to which the Queen’s researchers will have access for their studies and, as a result, help ensure that Kingston remains a focus of excellence in thin-film solar technology. “Queen’s participation in Everbrite Solar’s Kingston research and development community will ensure that the ultra-high efficiency thin-film modules produced by Everbrite will continue to improve and be best in class for quality, efficiency and production costs,” said Mr. Scherre.
By using a broader spectrum of light and thereby producing electricity for more hours daily – even on cloudy days – these modules are ideally suited to the Canadian climate. Demand for solar panels is expected to increase exponentially, and Everbrite Solar is confident that the company will be in a strong position to capitalize on what is expected to be a $50 billion market by 2012.
About Everbrite Solar
Everbrite Solar, a division of Everbrite Industries, is a manufacturer of ultra-high efficiency thin-film solar panels. Using state-of-the-art robotic manufacturing techniques, we are able to mass produce the best quality, environmentally friendly solar panels available in North America, with a production cost at or below any manufacturer in the world, enabling large-scale solar farms to generate electricity at a cost below that of most fossil fuels.
About Everbrite Industries
Everbrite Industries is a full-service Industrial and Commercial Electrical Contractor located in Toronto. Established in 1984, Everbrite Industries has worked closely with clients to install electrical communications, mechanical and control systems to fully service the industrial and commercial sectors.
Solar power giant embraces Quebec, Paul Delean, The Gazette, Published: Tuesday, August 26, 2008
To build $1.2-Billion plant in Bécancour. Norway’s Renewable Energy lured by promise of plentiful and cheap hydro-electricity
After a 17-month search covering more than 100 sites in 16 countries, solar-energy powerhouse Renewable Energy Corp. (REC) of Norway has settled on Bécancour, across the river from Trois Rivières, as the home of a new manufacturing plant to make polysilicon, a raw material used in the production of solar wafers and cells.
The project will be built in stages, starting in 2010, with an estimated price tag of $1.2 billion, making it one of the largest private-sector investments in the province in the last decade. Further expansion is possible because the site the company has leased in the Bécancour industrial park can accommodate four plants, and Premier Jean Charest said there have already been talks to that end with the company.
Pre-engineering will be conducted over the next six months, with actual production due to begin in 2012. When fully operational, the plant is expected to provide 300 full-time jobs and economic spinoffs for the province of $100 million annually.
Since production of polysilicon is energy-intensive, availability of a steady source of hydro-electric power at an attractive price was a key element in the final decision.
REC and Hydro-Québec have concluded a 20-year agreement providing electricity at the preferential rate already enjoyed by about 200 industrial customers.
“It has been a long journey to where we stand today,” company president Erik Thorsen told a news conference in Bécancour yesterday attended by Charest and several local and provincial politicians. “We look forward to a long and industrious relationship between REC and the people of Quebec.”
Charest said the project fits perfectly with his government’s energy policy, and in particular its emphasis on clean, renewable energy.
“It’s part of a broader vision of how we see the future of Quebec, and energy as a part of it,” he said. “I want it to be a star project that’ll generate interest for investors elsewhere in the world.”
Only last week, Hydro-Québec announced a $1.9-billion upgrade of the Gentilly 2 nuclear-generating station, also in Bécancour.
It’s also investing heavily in wind power.
“Energy is part of our DNA,” Charest said.
Renewable Energy Corp. is one of the world’s largest makers of solar-grade silicon, which is in short supply globally, and operates two plants in Moses Lake, Wash., and Butte, Mont. It also produces solar cells and modules.
The publicly-traded company had revenue of about $750 million for the first six months of 2008. Thorsen said it has 14 different expansion projects under way in Sweden, Norway, North America and Singapore.
Via: CNW Group
Additional Intellectual Property Protection Supports Day4 Energy’s Global
Expansion
BURNABY, BC, Aug. 21 /CNW/ – Day4 Energy Inc. (TSX: DFE), a leading manufacturer of high performance, cost-effective solar electric modules, today announced that the China Patent & Trademark office has issued a decision to
award the company a patent for its core Day4 Electrode(TM) solar technology. The Chinese patent approval adds to existing intellectual property protection the company holds in key global markets including the European Union, United States, India and Mexico. “With international market demand for the advanced Day4 solar energy modules continuing to outpace our current product supply, we continue to evaluate near- and long-term production expansion strategies. This Chinese patent protection allows us to further explore partnership and growth opportunities in Asia, a region with significant electrical power generation market potential as well as photovoltaic and electronics manufacturing capabilities,” said George Rubin, president of Day4 Energy. The Day4 Electrode is an advanced construction technology that directly replaces the decades-old soldering methods that are widely used to manufacture solar panels. By improving connections to and between photovoltaic (PV) cells, the Day4 Electrode delivers quality solar electric products with higher performance, longer lifetime, improved aesthetics and lower cost. The Day4 Electrode further enables more efficient design and manufacturing of next generation PV technologies including lower-cost upgraded metallurgical grade (UMG) silicon and thin film materials. Day4 Energy is seeking patent protection for this and other related technologies in a number of additional countries worldwide.
About Day4 Energy:
Headquartered near Vancouver, British Columbia, Day4 Energy Inc. (TSX: DFE) designs, manufactures and sells photovoltaic (PV) modules based on its patented Day4 Electrode technology, a proprietary method of contacting and interconnecting solar cells that produces PV panels of high power density,
increased lifetime and uncompromised aesthetic appearance. Day4 Energy partners with the industry’s leading PV cell producers to deliver IEC- and UL-certified commercial and residential solar products to customers throughout Europe and North America. www.day4energy.com
Via: Industry Week
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have set a world record in solar cell efficiency with a photovoltaic device that converts 40.8% of the light that hits it into electricity. This is the highest confirmed efficiency of any photovoltaic device to date.
The inverted metamorphic triple-junction solar cell was designed, fabricated and independently measured at NREL. The 40.8% efficiency was measured under concentrated light of 326 suns. One sun is about the amount of light that typically hits Earth on a sunny day. The new cell is a natural candidate for the space satellite market and for terrestrial concentrated photovoltaic arrays, which use lenses or mirrors to focus sunlight onto the solar cells.
The new solar cell differs significantly from the previous record holder- – also based on a NREL design. Instead of using a germanium wafer as the bottom junction of the device, the new design uses compositions of gallium indium phosphide and gallium indium arsenide to split the solar spectrum into three equal parts that are absorbed by each of the cell’s three junctions for higher potential efficiencies. This is accomplished by growing the solar cell on a gallium arsenide wafer, flipping it over, then removing the wafer. The resulting device is extremely thin and light and represents a new class of solar cells with advantages in performance, design, operation and cost.
NREL’s Mark Wanlass invented the original inverted cell, which recently won a R&D 100 award. His design was modified by a team led by John Geisz that further optimized the junction energies by making the middle junction metamorphic as well as the bottom junction. Metamorphic junctions are lattice mismatched – their atoms don’t line up. The material properties of the mismatched semiconductors allows for greater potential conversion of sunlight.
NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy’s primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by Midwest Research Institute and Battelle.
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