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.
If you're interested in getting a more clear picture about the potential for harnessing tidal power as a source of clean energy, Georgia Institute of Technology has the right tool for the job. This unique database has a cool graphical interface allowing the viewer to visually comprehend just how much tidal power capacity could be harnessed with the right conditions for the development of this still nascent technology.
Bosch Solar announced an iPhone app that will allow anyone using their iPhone or iPad to assess the solar energy yield on the location of their choice. The app will allow us to get an idea of the potential for generating electricity from solar energy from open surface areas such as rooftops, but other open surfaces such as parking lots, open land areas and other locations, would also be covered we suppose. Based on the surface area, solar module type, and their orientation (tip 1: always try facing them South if they are stationery, for max exposure), the app will calculate the optimal energy yield along with the expected feed-in-tariff for that location (tip 2: subtract cost per kWh from grid from feed-in-tariff per kWh, and that's your profit).
Acciona Energia signed a License and Services Agreement with Acciona Wind Energy USA, which will expand its use of Versify's V-RENEW software applications and services to manage wind farm assets in the United States and Canada. The system features Versify's next-generation platform for data management, monitoring and reporting, aimed at wind farm developers.
Horizon Wind Energy has chosen SmartSignal's remote monitoring technology to secure the operation of its entire US fleet of wind turbines, totalling in some 1600 units, across 20 wind farms, with a total of 3.4 GW of installed capacity.
EDF launched Energy TaskForce, a "serious" game aimed at students and graduates, putting them in charge of the world's energy future. All the issues the players will face in the game, are real-life issues faced by EDF in the world today. Players will be able to manipulate resources and crises and try to find the best way to resolve problems and ensure a secure energy future. There are 42 available characters for players to choose from, which will be put under weekly tests and challenges with focus on EDF's global operations, and the future of energy production and consumption. Player teams will face five business cases each week.
IBM announced the company is going to collaborate with POSCO ICT on developing the first South Korean renewable energy management system, to be used together with a smart grid. The new management solution will be installed as a showcase on Jeju Island, at the Smart Grid Demonstration Complex.
Vestas launched its own iPhone app, which relies on the company's many installed wind turbines and weather data sensors around the world, to brings us up to date weather information.
In its announcement, the company said the app shows weather data based on specific GPS coordinates of the user's mobile phone, and relies on data received from sensors on more than 40,000 turbines installed around the world, which is quite impressive.
A specialist in Communication and Control solutions for Telecom and Energy markets, inAccess Networks, unveiled inSolar which is an integrated vendor-independent solution for managing multiple and geographically distributed solar parks.
inSolar focuses on production monitoring for online performance measurements of the plant as well as on monitoring the produced power quality characteristics. Furthermore, it provides enhanced security and safety through integration with alarm, access control, CCTV, fire and flood detection and protection systems.
In other words, inSolar immediately notifies the responsible personnel in cases of alarms or operational failures, allowing for prompt reaction. It supports most major brands and continuously adds support for new inverters, meters, protection devices, weather stations and various other parts of electromechanical equipment.
The solution features an online portal that offers secure and resilient data acquisition, support for multiple types of networks, conditional alarm processing, automatic notification and online reporting. Data handling and processing is fully compliant to IEC 61724 and provides fully auditable Performance Ratio calculation.
It comes with Onsite Equipment and a complete Service Center… Additional information is available from this page.
[source: inAccess Networks]
There's a (relatively) new website made for those folks who like to keep up with all the PV solar installations across the U.S. It is a part of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Website (openpv.nrel.gov) and there you can find a dynamic time map showing installation activity from 1998 to 2009.
In addition, you can see graphs on the number of PV installations, cost and capacity over time in any State or even ZIP code, using the so called "PV Market Mapper."
The Open PV database is the brainchild of geographers in the Data Analysis and Visualization Group within the Strategic Energy Analysis Center at NREL. So far, it has catalogued more than 64,000 systems with a total capacity of about 733 MW, and it doesn't surprise that it has been embraced by the two largest solar trade groups – the Solar Energy Industries Association and the Solar Electric Power Association, both of which are encouraging their members to use the maps and graphs as tools to grow their businesses.
Finally, there's an option for those who want to contribute data via the "Share Data" page.
[Via: NREL]
