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Category: Research

AWS Truepower joins Duke Energy and partners for Carolinas offshore wind study

January 16th, 2012 | Posted in Wind

AWS Truepower has been chosen as one of the partners to be involved in the Carolinas Offshore Wind Integration Case Study (COWICS), funded by the US Department of Interior. The company's partners on this project are Duke Energy, ABB and the
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), as well as the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNC). The purpose of
the study is to assess the benefits and challenges associated with the development of offshore wind capacity near the coasts of North and South Carolina. The US DoI will regard the results of this study as critical for making policy and commercial descisions having to do with offshore wind development.

Vattenfall working on wind energy to hydrogen gas conversion

December 8th, 2011 | Posted in General

Vattenfall will be taking part in an innovative project to store wind energy as hydrogen gas, which can later be used to generate electricity and heat. The new hybrid power plant, the core of the project, is located north of Berlin, Germany, and will be the first such facility in Europe.

Google pulls plug on RE<C – shares results

November 23rd, 2011 | Posted in General Solar

Google is downsizing its external operations, as the company's CEO Larray Page is steering the company back to its core business. Among the projects getting shut down or abandoned is RE<C (Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal), a research program initiated by the company in order to find ways to reduce the cost of renewable energy and make it cheaper than coal. The research efforts were mostly concentrated on solar power technology.

E.ON to store wind energy as hydrogen in Germany's gas grid

November 15th, 2011 | Posted in General Wind

E.ON is looking into options for storing excess wind energy in other of forms of potential energy. One of the options is to convert the produced electrical energy into hydrogen, which can then be stored in Germany's gas grid. E.ON is making a EUR 5 million investment in such a pilot plant, and more research in this new field of energy storage.

US DoE investing USD 60m in innovative CSP development

October 27th, 2011 | Posted in Solar

The US Department of Energy announced a USD 60 million investment, as part of its SunShot Initiative, into innovative concentrated solar power technology development. The aim is to reduce the cost of solar energy by 75%, and make it competitive with other sources of energy by the end of this decade.

ETI investing in offshore wind floating system demo project

October 27th, 2011 | Posted in Wind

Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) said the institute will invest GBP 25 million in an offshore wind floating system demonstration project, with the goal of opening up new areas near the coast of the UK for offshore wind development. It is hoped these new areas will contribute to reducing the cost of offshore wind energy further.

OPT improving PowerBuoy efficiency with wave prediction technology

October 24th, 2011 | Posted in Hydro

Ocean Power Technologies will work with a consortium of European companies and institutions on advancing its PowerBuoy wave energy conversion system. The PowerBuoy is to be enhanced with the addition of a new wave prediction technology, which will allow the system to adjust its performance with the oncoming waves.

ETI to model UK's tidal energy resources

October 19th, 2011 | Posted in Hydro

Energy Technology Institute (ETI), based in the UK, is to produce a model of UK's tidal energy resources, as part of a project which aims to improve the possible interactions between tidal energy harnessing technologies which are to be deployed from now until 2050. The Tidal Modelling Project will run until the end of 2012, and will be executed by Black & Veatch (engineering and construction) supported by hydrodynamic modelling specialists HR Wallingford, as well as by the University of Edinburgh.

EIB grants EUR 200m R&D loan to Iberdrola

October 17th, 2011 | Posted in General

The European Investment Bank has approved a EUR 200 million loan to Iberdrola for funding the company's research and development program. The loan will finance several projects in the fields of conventional power generation, power transmission and distribution, and renewable energy.

IBM joins EcoGrid EU project to develop a smart grid which includes more renewable energy

October 14th, 2011 | Posted in General

IBM has joined the collaborative consortium of participants in the EcoGrid EU project, which is to demonstrate the capabilities of a smart energy grid which will connect smart devices with renewable energy sources, altogether based on real-time pricing and power availability.