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Category: Science

Chevron tests emerging PV solar technologies at its former Bakersfield refinery in Central California

March 23rd, 2010 | Posted in Solar

Chevron tests emerging PV solar technologies

Chevron has started the Project Brightfield, a demonstration of next-generation solar energy technologies in Bakersfield, California. The project, created on the site of a former Chevron refinery, will evaluate seven emerging PV technologies to help determine the potential application of renewable power at other company-owned facilities.

The former refinery site has been repurposed to test the performance of six emerging thin-film technologies and one emerging crystalline-silicon photovoltaic technology, which were provided by independent solar companies.

The 7,700 solar panels on the 8-acre site will generate approximately 740 kW of electricity. The produced power will be directed to the local utility grid as well as to Chevron's oil production operations at the Kern River Field.

The companies demonstrating thin-film technologies are Abound Solar, MiaSolé, Schüco, Solar Frontier, Sharp, and Solibro, while the crystalline-silicon photovoltaic technology is provided by Innovalight. Each solar company can access data about its technology, find out how well it performs in various conditions and compare it against a benchmark solar technology that has also been installed on the site.

Project Brightfield is Chevron's second completed project that repurposes an existing asset to integrate renewable power. The first was a wind farm on a former Texaco refinery site near Casper, Wyoming, where 11 wind turbines generate 16.5 megawatts of power. A third project – a concentrating solar photovoltaic installation at a Chevron Mining Inc. facility near Questa, New Mexico – is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2010.

[source: Chevron]

Trina Solar to set up PV research laboratory within the Changzhou Trina PV Industrial Park

January 26th, 2010 | Posted in Solar

Trina Solar received its first official documents from China's Ministry of Science and Technology to establish a State Key Laboratory to develop PV technologies within the Changzhou Trina PV Industrial Park.

The laboratory will be established as a national platform for driving PV technologies in China, with its mandate including research into PV related materials, cell and module technologies and system level performance. Moreover, it will also serve as a platform to bring together technical capabilities from the company's strategic partners, including customers and key PV component suppliers as well as universities and research institutions…

Commercial terms have yet to be finalized, though.

[source: Trina Solar]

Cavitation Technologies files patent for producing Algae oil

January 12th, 2010 | Posted in Biomass

After successfully completing development and testing of its Algae reactor, Cavitation Technologies (CTI) has filed a Nonprovisional Utility Patent Application titled "Method for Processing an Algae to Produce Algal Oil and By-Products." This technology is able to extract oil from Algae on a continuous basis for commercial applications, such as renewable fuel production.

In terms of the concept, the idea is quite simple: using an appropriate separation process, harvest the algae from its growth medium, and extract the oil out of it. By utilizing CTI's cavitation reactor, the extraction processes can be greatly accelerated. The process is conducted by creating cavitation bubbles in a solvent material, and when these bubbles collapse near the cell walls, they create shock waves and liquid jets that cause those cells walls to break and release their contents into the solvent.

Finally, after filling for patent, CTI is looking to license its technology to qualified companies and individuals.

[source: Cavitation Technologies]

SG Biofuels, Life Technologies team-up to advance Jatropha as sustainable biofuel

January 12th, 2010 | Posted in Biomass

Jatropha curcas

SG Biofuels announced a strategic alliance with Life Technologies Corporation to advance the development of Jatropha as a sustainable biofuel.

The partnership will initially include sequencing the Jatropha curcas genome, allowing for the rapid introduction of new traits targeted toward increasing the yield of the oil-producing plant. Life Technologies will also become a strategic partner in SG Biofuels.

For the record, Jatropha curcas is a non-edible shrub that is native to Central America. Its seeds contain high amounts of oil that can be used as biodiesel and feedstock substitutes for the petrochemical and jet fuel industries. It can be effectively grown on marginal lands that are considered undesirable for other crops.

[source: SG Biofuels]

RWE Power, BRAIN team-up to explore use of CO2 as raw material for new products

January 6th, 2010 | Posted in Biomass

Working together, BRAIN and RWE Power are researching and producing innovative designer micro-organisms.

RWE Power and BRAIN are joining forces to convert CO2 into microbial biomass or biomolecules. The idea is to equip micro-organisms with new enzymes and explore innovative synthesis-routes and pathways. For instance, CO2-rich flue gas from a lignite-fired power station feeds these designer micro-organisms.

The process creates biomass and industrial products such as new biomaterials, bioplastics and chemical by-products. Possible applications are being explored and include building and isolation materials and the production of fine and specialty chemicals. An experimental plant is to be located at RWE Power's Coal Innovation Centre, at RWE's Niederaussem power plant site.

Sounds super-interesting, and I'm sure we'll hear more from both RWE and BRAIN…

[source: RWE]

Electromagnetic "black hole" could lead to new ways of harvesting solar power

October 28th, 2009 | Posted in Solar

For the first time in history, Southeast University in Nanjing, China has built an electromagnetic black hole. This entity sucks in the light around it with its powerful gravitational pull.

This hand-made black hole is just like those found in outer-space, with the gravity found in it being so strong that it bends the space and time surrounding it, creating an effect that makes all the matter around it spin and create the hole.

This earth-bound black hole is made from 60 annular strips of meta-materials. The individual strips of this material have finite circuit boards etched on their surface and they are connected to one another. The device has a shell and absorber section, which were also created by these materials.

Electromagnetic waves are sent through the device, which traps the waves sent through the shell into the core of the device, where the microwaves are absorbed.

The creators of the device, Tie Jun Cui and Qiang Cheng, say the light that is absorbed by the mechanism turns into heat, which means that it could be possible to use this discovery as a means to harvest solar energy in the future. Neat, don't you think?

[Via: Engadget]

Ascent Solar achieves 14% cell efficiency milestone!

October 28th, 2009 | Posted in Solar

Ascent Solar

Ascent Solar has announced that it has reached a new milestone in manufacturing. The company has managed to push its flexible substrate to 14% cell efficiency of Copper, Indium, Gallium, Selenide (CIGS), a product produced at Fab1 (1.5MW) commercial production plant.

The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewal Energy Laboratory (NREL) measured the efficiency of the cell and has gotten the same results 14.01% for the Ascent Solar CIGS material.

The monolithically integrated CIGS modules manufactured at the Fab1 (1.5MW) plant in Littleton, CO, have also reached a peak efficiency of 11.7%, adding to the positive news from Ascent Solar.

Dr. Farhad Mogahadam, President & CEO for Ascent Solar said, "This is a significant breakthrough in demonstrating our ability to achieve thin film CIGS cells with 14% efficiency from regular production machines. Ascent Solar's ability to manufacturer monolithically integrated modules with efficiency as high as 11.7% in regular production serves as a vital element to our low cost per watt manufacturing goal."

Fraunhofer CSE opens PV module innovation laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts

October 19th, 2009 | Posted in Solar

German Ambassador Opens CSE PV Lab (Image: German Consulate of Boston)

Fraunhofer USA's Center for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSE) has recently opened its first laboratory, a PV module innovation facility, in Cambridge, Massachusetts to enable research, development, testing and evaluation of new materials and production processes for photovoltaic solar modules. The goal is to increase module energy yield, reduce cost, and extend module durability. In that sense, a broad set of state of the art fabrication equipment and characterization tools has been installed at the facility.

The opening ceremony saw German Ambassador Scharioth and Massachusetts Secretary of Energy Ian Bowles joined by Fraunhofer USA Executive VP Dr. William Hartman, MIT Energy Initiative Director Ernest Moniz, and Deputy Director of Fraunhofer's Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), Andreas Bett.

The facility also serves as the latest link in the "Transatlantic Climate Bridge", an initiative launched by the German government in the autumn of 2008 in an effort to unite like-minded German and American institutions in the fight against climate change…

OriginOil announces the completion of CRADA Phase 1; Algae-based gasoline one step closer to reality

October 13th, 2009 | Posted in Biomass

OriginOil

The developer of a breakthrough technology to transform algae into a source of renewable oil, OriginOil, has announced that Phase 1 of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been completed. This being the first step to making renewable oil a viable competitor to petroleum.

INL and OriginOil have been working together to process a model for the production of algae for biofuels and other value-added products commercially. A comprehensive mass-energy balance of OriginOil's proprietary process was the focus of the CRADA in Phase 1. During this phase the company was able to develop its comprehensive productivity model, which was presented recently to the National Algae Association's Quarterly Forum in Houston, Texas. Core data on the project efficiency and recovery values for the steps involved in the algae-growing process was provided by INL researchers.

The scope and terms of Phase 2 and 3 of the CRADA are being negotiated by OriginOil and INL currently. Biological and chemical feedstock evaluation needed for systems integration design and scale-up demonstration will be looked at for the additional phases. Minor feeds, recycle streams, intermediate storage, utilities needed and waste streams will be determined with this work, and the same goes for sizes for equipment and the number of parallel units needed, all in order to allow for a more robust economic analysis of industrial scale systems.

The first-ever productivity model for algae production are represented by the results of Phase 1 according to reports from the company. Industry leaders readily received the model because the sets of data are comprehensive, assumptions are transparent and commercialization challenges are clear. Specialized calculators and a detailed model for researchers will be made available by OriginOil on the company's website.

Siemens collaborates with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia

October 7th, 2009 | Posted in General

Siemens in Saudi Arabia

Siemens announced the collaboration agreement with the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. The German company is a founding member of the KAUST Industrial Collaboration Program (KICP) which aims to intensify cooperation with industry on a regional and a global scale, focusing on renewable energy, environmental technologies, and material and biosciences.

KAUST will serve as Siemens' important partner in Saudi Arabia where the company has been represented for more than 75 years and currently has over 1,800 employees.

Commenting on the agreement, Siemens' CTO and CEO of the Healthcare Sector, Prof. Hermann Requardt, said: "The KAUST covers precisely the topics that help us in the development of sustainable solutions for our green technologies."