The world has a new largest offshore wind farm: The 209 MW Horns Rev 2 project, located 30 kilometers off the west coast of Jutland in the North Sea, was inaugurated today by Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik. Constructed by DONG Energy, the project consists of 91 Siemens turbines and is expected to produce about 800 GWh of electricity per year — enough for 200,000 households.

In addition to the being the current record-holder for offshore capacity, Horns Rev 2 is the first offshore wind farm to be manned year-round by up to 24 workers on an offshore maintenance platform, dubbed Poseidon.

DONG Energy chairman of the board Fritz Schur touted his company’s offshore wind power prowess:

In many ways the establishment of Horns Rev 2 is a final test piece for DONG Energy. Half of the world’s current offshore wind power capacity was constructed by us. This inauguration of the world’s largest offshore wind farm underlines that DONG Energy is among the frontrunners in the field.

Though it will be able to bask in the number one spot for some while, there are a number of other larger offshore wind farms in planning and construction, including the now-slightly-downsized London Array — of which DONG is a backer — scheduled to come online in a few years.

More: DONG Energy – Horns Rev 2

Offshore Wind Power
The 1 GW London Array Offshore Wind Farm (Again) Moving Forward
Offshore Wind Power in Great Lakes Touted as Untapped Resource
Rule Britannia: UK is Now World’s #1 Offshore Wind Power Producer

November 2, 2009
Province of Manitoba

Manitoba has taken another step forward as a leader in support of the biofuels industry by becoming the first jurisdiction in the country to implement a biodiesel mandate, Premier Greg Selinger said today at Speedway International, a Manitoba biodiesel processing facility.   

 “This mandate is one of the building blocks of our clean energy plan, an important climate-change initiative that will see the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions in Manitoba,” said Selinger. “As a result of the two per cent biodiesel blend with diesel, it is expected greenhouse-gas emissions will be reduced by 56,000 tonnes or the equivalent of removing more than 11,000 cars from the road annually.”  

“Biodiesel is better for the environment as it has fewer emissions than regular diesel and will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Royce Rostecki, president of Speedway International. “The potential market for biodiesel is significant.”  

Biodiesel is a safe, non-toxic, renewable and clean-burning fuel made from a variety of sources such as oilseed, animal fats from rendering facilities and used restaurant oils and grease.  It is biodegradable in water, produces fewer emissions and has a more pleasant odour than petroleum diesel.  

Selinger also said the province will provide greater support for local biodiesel production by replacing the current fuel tax exemption with a 14-cent-per-litre, five-year production grant for biodiesel produced in Manitoba. He said the grant keeps Manitoba competitive with incentives offered in other North American jurisdictions.  

Selinger noted that biodiesel is already being used in Manitoba by some vehicle fleets, such as Manitoba Hydro, Winnipeg School Division and Canada Safeway using this biofuel to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions. It is expected biodiesel will be widely available to consumers by summer 2010.  

“We know biodiesel is a proven renewable and clean-burning fuel source,” said John Graham, public affairs manager, Canada Safeway.  “Safeway supports Manitoba’s biodiesel initiative and is already using biodiesel in our fleets.”   

 Today’s announcement builds on a previously announced regulation in 2008 requiring the licensing of biodiesel manufacturers and the adoption of fuel quality standards which ensures the integrity of the province’s fuel supply, said Selinger.  

For more information on biodiesel visit www.gov.mb.ca/stem/energy/biofuels/biodiesel/.

EDC’s forecast, released this morning, contains sectoral and regional outlooks that will be of interest to sector and geographic groups and posts and is available at the following link: http://www.edc.ca/gef             

EDC projects that Canadian exports will grow by 6% in 2010 after a 23% contraction in 2009. For Canadian GDP, EDC’s forecast remains at the lower end of the range, projecting 1.9% GDP growth in Canada in 2010, versus the Canadian banks that average at 2.5% and the Bank of Canada at 3%.

The Clean Energy Portal is a repository of information related to Canadian climate change mitigation expertise and relevant Canadian or international organizations, initiatives and events. It lists activities, directories, products, international projects, financing from all CleanTech sub-sectors.  

http://www.cleanenergy.gc.ca/tech_dict/index_e.asp

The enhanced Canada Business Network website came on line on October 19th. The site includes export related information for Canadian businesses as well as a search engine for Canadian companies looking for grants and financing.

This funding search engine has drop-down menus including,

 ”Purpose of financing” (one option is “To export my products or services”),

“Your Industry” (where you can make one or more selections based on NAICS codes). 

 Should be very useful when looking for sector-specific funding options for Canadian clients.  

The October 19th news release “Canada Business Network enhanced website to offer better service to businesses” can be found here.

http://www.austrade.gov.au/Solar-energy-to-Canada/default.aspx

Profiled industries:

Bioenergy-to-Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Bioenergy-to-Canada/default.aspx

Carbon-capture-and-storage-to-Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Carbon-capture-and-storage-to-Canada/default.aspx

Consumer goods to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Consumer-goods-to-Canada/default.aspx

Food and beverage to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Food-and-beverage-to-Canada/default.aspx

Green building to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Green-building-to-Canada/default.aspx

ICT to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/ICT-to-Canada/default.aspx

Mining to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Mining-to-Canada/default.aspx

Oil and gas to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Oil-and-gas-to-Canada/default.aspx

Solar energy to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Solar-energy-to-Canada/default.aspx

Wind energy to Canada
http://www.austrade.gov.au/Wind-energy-to-Canada/default.aspx

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.

Read more …

Source: National Research Council (US)

Plumes of harmful air pollutants can be transported across oceans and continents — from Asia to the United States and from the United States to Europe — and have a negative impact on air quality far from their original sources, says a new report by the National Research Council. Although degraded air quality is nearly always dominated by local emissions, the influence of non-domestic pollution sources may grow as emissions from developing countries increase and become relatively more important as a result of tightening environmental protection standards in industrialized countries.

“Air pollution does not recognize national borders; the atmosphere connects distant regions of our planet,” said Charles Kolb, chair of the committee that wrote the report and president and chief executive officer of Aerodyne Research Inc. “Emissions within any one country can affect human and ecosystem health in countries far downwind. While it is difficult to quantify these influences, in some cases the impacts are significant from regulatory and public health perspectives.”

The report examines four types of air pollutants: ozone; particulate matter such as dust, sulfates, or soot; mercury; and persistent organic pollutants such as DDT. The committee found evidence, including satellite observations, that these four types of pollutants can be transported aloft across the Northern Hemisphere, delivering significant concentrations to downwind continents. Ultimately, most pollutants’ impacts depend on how they filter down to the surface.

Current limitations in modeling and observational capabilities make it difficult to determine how global sources of pollution affect air quality and ecosystems in downwind locations and distinguish the domestic and foreign components of observed pollutants. Yet, some pollutant plumes observed in the U.S. can be attributed unambiguously to sources in Asia based on meteorological and chemical analyses, the committee said. For example, one study found that a polluted airmass detected at Mt. Bachelor Observatory in central Oregon took approximately eight days to travel from East Asia.

Read full report for free online. (National Academies Press)

Reuters, 11 September 2009 – The time it takes for clean technologies to spread globally must be halved by 2025 to meet greenhouse gas reduction targets by 2050, a report by London-based think tank Chatham House said on Friday.

The report found that innovations in wind and solar power, biomass to electricity, cleaner coal technologies and carbon capture have taken 20-30 years to reach the mass market.

Intellectual property rights can influence the speed at which a particular technology might spread, the report found.

For example, the lag in the spread of clean technology is mirrored by the time it takes for a patent to become widely used in inventions — an average 24 years across the sectors.

“Markets will deliver the technology we need, but it takes too long,” said Bernice Lee, research director for energy, environment and resource governance at Chatham House.

“A patent portfolio is a form of currency that can be used to attract venture capital, facilitate entry into strategic alliances, provide protection against litigation and create opportunities for mergers and acquisitions,” Chatham House said.

International cooperation is needed to double technology diffusion rates. Currently, cooperation on innovation is mainly on a national, not international, basis.

When world leaders meet in Copenhagen this December to set a new global climate pact, they should focus on stepping up joint venture companies, cross-licensing agreements and joint manufacturing programmes, the think tank recommended.

Removing bottlenecks from patent registration, introducing incentives for open innovation and improving technology standards bodies could all accelerate diffusion.

The report also recommended greater collaboration between countries on research and development, more public funding for high-risk technologies such as carbon capture and a global licensing database to speed up patent registration.

Countering climate change will require a far higher technology deployment rate than the greatest ever annual rate of any given clean energy technology, the think tank found.

“In all cases, the proposed (climate) targets far exceed the current rate of deployment,” the think tank said.

The report is entitled “Who Owns Our Low Carbon Future? Intellectual Property and Energy Technologies” and is part of a project on ‘Trade, Finance and Climate Change: Building a Positive Agenda for Developing Countries’, funded by the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) and managed by the Energy, Environment and Resource Governance research team at Chatham House.

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.