Gregoire's CleanTech Blog

Wireless Controlled Solar LED Lighting

One of the companies I follow quite closely is a rapidly growing solar LED company in Victoria, BC, Canada called Carmanah Technologies (TSX:CMH) (named after Carmanah Valley they tell me, which is apparently an absolutely gorgeous wilderness on Vancouver Island).

I had the opportunity to visit the company and its manufacturing plant some time back, and was quite impressed with the product and operations. Carmanah makes a whole line of productized solar LED systems. They sell these products to light airfields, marine buoys, traffic signs, and bus stops, as well as operating the largest solar systems company in Canada. What interested me recently, a few weeks ago, they announced the release of a fully centralized wireless controlled smart solar LED lighting product. Press release here.

The basic product for airfields has been a hardened, fully integrated solar module encapsulated in molded plastic with an LED array and rechargeable battery, and incorporating smart battery management technology. The key innovations are around the battery management, and brightness /range capabilities of the product. The product enables an airfield to light its runways and service ways without the cost of wiring and wiring conduits, or the cost of powering those lights. The product is currently working through FAA approval for runway lighting based on a system in use at the Truckee Airport, and the company is a major supplier to military and remote airfields around the world.

What Carmanah has added in this recent product (which I got to see on the test bed when I was there), is a wireless independent remote control of each of the lighting systems on the field. The protocol they are using is an 900 MHz RF (enrypted). As one of the companies I am involved in in wireless face a similiar set of technical problems in another industry, I was intrigued by the technology choices. Low frequency RF like this lends itself to the battery management (sends in databursts, not an always on solution, and not power hungry) needs, can be easily made to band hop, and is an inherently easier to secure compared to 802.11 solutions. They have incorporated pre-programmed and central control, handheld control and aircraft controlled programming and activation, meaning that pilots flying into a remote or unattended field could signal ahead for lighting. It looks like a great choice for general aviation as well as major hub airports.

Source : CleanTech Blog

A new role for fiber optics: efficient lighting

CNET's News.com has a piece about a company called Fiberstars, which makes lighting systems based on fiber-optic cabling. The company claims its system consumes two-thirds less energy than the best flourescent lighting systems on the market. Basically, an external high-intensity light bulb shines a light into the end of a cable and the lighting is carried along the length of the cabling toward its destination. Swimming pool makers like it because all the electronics is external to the water so all you have is a glowing fiber-optic cable in the pool. Click here for a pic.

Another piece profiles a company called Sunlight Direct, which does pretty much the same thing but uses natural sunlight (basically, a 40-inch mirrored dish that follows the movement of the sun all day) as the source light. This system provides internal lighting during the day only, so I imagine an existing lighting system is needed for night time. Click here for some cool pics.

I should also redirect attention to an article I wrote this spring about an Ottawa-based company called Group IV Semiconductor that is using fiber-optic technology used in telecom network routers as the basis of a new silicon-based light bulb design that the company claims will outperform LEDs and make compact flourescents obsolete.

Source : Clean Break

ATS finally files preliminary prospectus for solar IPO

Many of the specifics (share price and quantity issued) aren't yet known, but ATS Automation has finally filed its preliminary prospective with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company plans to raise $250 million (U.S.) by having an IPO of its Photowatt Technologies division, which would include France-based Photowatt (maker of conventional solar PV panels) and Cambridge, Ontario-based startup Spheral Solar (its next-gen technology based on silicon beads). ATS issued a press release today to acknowledge the filing.

So far, the market seems to like it. By noon the stock was up by more than 12 per cent.

Les Etats-Unis, férus d'éthanol, cherchent une alternative au maïs

Tout en s'enthousiasmant sur les vertus de l'éthanol, les Etats-Unis cherchent aujourd'hui une alternative au maïs pour fabriquer ce biocarburant afin d'accroître son développement et, à terme, leur indépendance énergétique.

En début d'année, le président américain George W. Bush prônait, entre autres, l'essor de l'éthanol pour réduire les importations américaines de pétrole du Moyen-Orient. Il avait fait adopter l'an dernier une loi visant à doubler la production annuelle de ce biocarburant, de 4 milliards de gallons aujourd'hui (1 gallon = 3,8 litres) à près de 8 milliards par an d'ici 2012.

Alors que le premier producteur mondial d'éthanol, le Brésil, le fabrique à partir de la canne à sucre, la quasi totalité de l'éthanol (97%) fabriqué aux Etats-Unis l'est à partir du maïs.

"Tant que le lobby agricole, très influent auprès des parlementaires américains de certains Etats, fait pression pour promouvoir l'éthanol et que les subventions étatiques subsistent (actuellement de l'ordre de 51 cents par gallon, ndlr), le maïs sera plébiscité aux Etats-Unis", souligne Phil Flynn, d'Alaron Trading.

A en croire la plupart des analystes, son utilisation devrait en effet fortement augmenter au cours des prochaines années, en raison d'une demande qui ne cesse de croître et qui aurait même été jusqu'ici sous-estimée.

"Il y a actuellement aux Etats-Unis 101 usines de production en activité et 36 autres le seront d'ici deux ans", souligne Joe Victor, analyste d'Allendale.

"Et pour la première fois l'an prochain, la production de maïs destinée à fabriquer de l'éthanol sera équivalente à celle destinée aux exportations", ajoute-t-il.

Selon différents experts, le pays pourrait produire jusqu'à 14 milliards de gallons d'éthanol par an à partir du maïs ce qui, rapporté aux 144 milliards de gallons d'essence consommés annuellement par les Américains, ne représenterait toutefois que 10% du total.

Mais "le volume de production ne peut être considérablement augmenté au-dessus de cette limite, sous peine d'entrer en conflit avec les usages alimentaires du maïs", explique Tien Nguyen, analyste au département américain de l'Energie.

"La seule manière de produire davantage d'éthanol est donc d'utiliser de nouvelles ressources, non affectées à d'autres usages, telles que les déchets agricoles: les résidus de maïs, les déchets de bois, la paille ou l'herbe", poursuit-il.

Pour les valoriser, il convient de "casser" chimiquement les chaînes lignocellulosiques qui forment les enveloppes des cellules végétales. Transformées en sucres par hydrolyse, celles-ci peuvent ensuite être fermentées.

Des procédés existent pour produire ainsi de l'éthanol, mais ils ne sont pas encore rentables.

Si actuellement le coût de production d'un gallon d'éthanol revient à environ 1,20 dollar, les analystes pronostiquent que d'ici quelques années, produire de l'éthanol à partir de la cellulose pourrait permettre une réduction de coût d'au moins 10 cents par gallon.

Plusieurs entreprises ont d'ailleurs compris que maîtriser ces technologies feraient d'elles de vraies poules aux oeufs d'or.

Ainsi Dyadic International, une société américaine de biotechnologie, a isolé il y a une dizaine d'années un champignon en Russie, produisant une enzyme qui permet d'accélérer la conversion de la cellulose en éthanol.

Si elle n'est pas encore commercialisée, "il s'agit d'une technologie d'avenir, qui permettra la fabrication d'éthanol à un coût moins élevé qu'aujourd'hui", prédit son PDG, Mark Emalfarb qui table sur sa forte rentabilité.

Source : Environnement - info

Projet d'usine de silicium près d'un site d'Arkema: 250 emplois à la clé

Nous l'avions déjà évoqué dans le dernier numéro de Plein Soleil, l'information a été confirmée mardi 29 août dans l'après-midi par les services de presse du conseil général des Alpes de Haute Provence. Un projet d'usine de production de silicium devrait voir le jour à Saint-Auban (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), dans le cadre d'un plan de revitalisation d'un site où Arkema a récemment supprimé 350 emplois, a annoncé mardi le conseil général.

Le projet est porté par un consortium qui réunit Econcern (holding de la compagnie Ecofys, Evelop, Ecostream et Ecoaventures), Photon Power Technologies (PPT fondée par quatre privés dont Philippe Veyan, le PDG, et Roland Barthez) ainsi que la société Norsun (start-up norvégienne créée en 2005 et spécialisée dans la production de support multicouches de cristal de silicium monomère). Dans un premier temps, l'usine de Saint-Auban devrait produire de 2000 à 3000 tonnes de silicium par an L'exploitation de cette usine pourrait créer 250 emplois (400 à plus long terme). Il est à noter que ce projet est lancé alors que le monde du solaire photovoltaïque connaît une grave pénurie de silicium alors même que la demande mondiale explose sous l'effet de la flambée des énergies fossiles.

Pour l'heure donc, Saint-Auban s'affiche comme le site préféré des investisseurs car doté d'un profil idéal de par notamment la proximité d'un site chlorié d'Akerma qui pourrait fournir du chlorure d'hydrogène purifié (HCI) et de l'hydrogène utilisés pour la production de silicium. « Nous espérons fermement avoir l'unité sur Saint-Auban, reconnaît Philippe Veyan. Cela donnera une impulsion pour de futurs développement d'une « silicone vallée » à la française ». « Nous sommes confiants dans la possibilité de commencer la production de silicium solaire à partir de 2008 » conclut Alf Bjoserth, PDG de Norsun.

Source : Plein Soleil

Plankton for Biofuel

A Spanish company, Bio Fuel Systems, based in Alicante, Spain claims it is on the verge of producing an limitless source of biofuel based on plankton (algae).

BioFuel Systems was formed earlier this year after three years of research by scientists and engineers connected with the University of Alicante. The company has been researching the potential of breeding the tiny sea-borne plants then extracting oil from vat-grown phytoplankton.

They have been able to extract the unrefined oil, but has been unable to refine it into a usable fuel.  The plan on being able to refine it within 18 months. Bio Fuel Systems has drawn up industrial plans to make the fuel and says it will be able to start continuous production in 14 to 18 months.

They hope to sell the fuel for $0.25 pear litre, with a sales price of 1 euro with distribution and taxes added in.

its main benefit will be the speed at which the fuel 'crop' can be grown and harvested.

Bernard Stroiazzo-Mougin, president of the company, believes the product is a strong candidate in the race to find a fuel to replace gasoline. "It shares its advantages but not its disadvantages, and the price will be lower," he said.

Mougin also said "the system will produce massive amounts of biopetroleum from phytoplankton, in a limited space and at a very moderate cost." He said that the photo-bioreactor to be produced by his company is not the same as the biofuels being produced by other countries.

While the performance of the plankton oil is expected to be similar to other biofuels with comparable environmental advantages in terms of emissions, the fuel is expected to make significant cuts in CO2 emissions as the plankton absorbs all the CO2 which is released when the fuel is burned, although there will be emissions associated with the production process and transport of the fuel.

It is also expected to have half the emissions of carbon monoxide of petrol and no sulphur emissions

Source : The Energy Blog

A Spanish company, Bio Fuel Systems, based in Alicante, Spain claims it is on the verge of producing an limitless source of biofuel based on plankton (algae).

BioFuel Systems was formed earlier this year after three years of research by scientists and engineers connected with the University of Alicante. The company has been researching the potential of breeding the tiny sea-borne plants then extracting oil from vat-grown phytoplankton.

They have been able to extract the unrefined oil, but has been unable to refine it into a usable fuel.  The plan on being able to refine it within 18 months. Bio Fuel Systems has drawn up industrial plans to make the fuel and says it will be able to start continuous production in 14 to 18 months.

They hope to sell the fuel for $0.25 pear litre, with a sales price of 1 euro with distribution and taxes added in.

its main benefit will be the speed at which the fuel 'crop' can be grown and harvested.

Bernard Stroiazzo-Mougin, president of the company, believes the product is a strong candidate in the race to find a fuel to replace gasoline. "It shares its advantages but not its disadvantages, and the price will be lower," he said.

Mougin also said "the system will produce massive amounts of biopetroleum from phytoplankton, in a limited space and at a very moderate cost." He said that the photo-bioreactor to be produced by his company is not the same as the biofuels being produced by other countries.

While the performance of the plankton oil is expected to be similar to other biofuels with comparable environmental advantages in terms of emissions, the fuel is expected to make significant cuts in CO2 emissions as the plankton absorbs all the CO2 which is released when the fuel is burned, although there will be emissions associated with the production process and transport of the fuel.

It is also expected to have half the emissions of carbon monoxide of petrol and no sulphur emissions

Source : The Energy Blog

Xantrex to Supply Solar Inverters to Germany

Xantrex Technology Inc. of Vancouver, British Columbia, has received an order to supply 500-kilowatt solar grid tie inverters for three projects in Germany. The inverters can convert 500 kilowatts of DC electricity from solar panels into high quality AC electricity. The deal is valued at approximately US $1 million.

Source : Renewableenergy.com

Sharp sees solar power costs halving by 2010

Japan's Sharp Corp., the world's biggest maker of solar cells, expects the cost of generating solar power to halve by 2010 and to be comparable with that of nuclear power by 2030, Sharp's president said.

"By the year 2010 we'll be able to halve generation costs," Katsuhiko Machida told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. "By 2020 we expect a further reduction -- half of 2010 -- and by 2030 we expect half the 2020 level.

"By 2030 the cost will be comparable to electricity produced by a nuclear power plant," said Machida, speaking on the fringes of the IFA trade fair in Berlin, the world's biggest consumer electronics fair.

Asked how the costs were likely to compare with those for producing electricity from fossil fuels such as coal, Machida replied: "Fossil fuel resources will be totally out by then."

Solar electricity currently costs about $0.50 per kilowatt hour to produce, more than eight times as much as that produced from fossil fuel.

The market is growing at a rate of more than 30 percent per year but solar power still produces just a small fraction of one percent of the world's energy.

The solar industry in general expects the cost of producing solar power to fall by about 5 percent per year, on average.

Machida said he expected that a shortage of solar-grade silicon, the raw material from which solar panels that harness the sun's energy are made, would ease by 2008 as silicon makers step up production to catch up with soaring demand.

"In the first half of 2007, supply capacity will be increased, so once we go into 2008, supply will be catching up," he said.

Sharp has also been moving toward producing more so-called thin-film solar panels, which use less silicon but are less efficient than traditional solar panels.

Machida said the cost to produce solar energy from thin film was still around one-and-a-half times as high as making it from the normal, multicrystalline type.

"The mainstream will still be multicrystalline," Machida said, but he added that demand for thin-film would also continue to increase, for example, for specialist varieties such as see-through panels for window glass.

Machida said the sun could send enough energy to Earth in as little as an hour to provide for all the world's energy needs for one year.

"We're wasting a lot of energy," he said.

Source : Reuters.com

La demande de silicium explose : un frein pour l'industrie solaire

La production de matières premières (silicium) pour l'industrie solaire ne progresse pas aussi vite que la demande. Par conséquent, les fabricants ont des difficultés à y répondre.Le silicium constitue le semi-conducteur de presque toutes les cellules solaires. En 2005, 32.000 tonnes de silicium ont été utilisées pour les puces d'ordinateur et l'industrie solaire. Les 2 secteurs utilisent chacun 48% du silicium pur produit sur le marché.Depuis 1995, la production de cellules solaires augmente de 35% chaque année. Déjà en 2004, Fawer avait mentionné, dans son étude annuelle du secteur solaire, une pénurie de silicium à venir. La production prévue pour 2007 est de 1800MW. Le prix du polysilicium a doublé ces dernières années, d'où une augmentation de 10% du coût des installations solaires thermiques.

En avril, 700 experts du secteur solaire se sont rencontrés à Munich pour discuter de la pénurie de silicium. Les producteurs de silicium - quelques entreprises de chimie dans le monde - ont sous-estimé l'explosion de la demande. D'après les experts, la situation devrait commencer à se détendre en 2008.

En effet, la construction de nouvelles usines de production de silicium nécessite 2 à 3 ans et permettra d'augmenter la production à 54.000 tonnes. Le producteur numéro 2 mondial de polysilicium, l'entreprise allemande Wacker, a prévu de passer de 5.600 à 10.000 tonnes.

Parallèlement, les efforts se portent sur des méthodes de production des cellules plus efficaces, moins gourmandes en matières premières. De même, le rendement des cellules, de 15% pour les cellules actuellement commercialisées, peut encore être amélioré (22% en laboratoire).

Enfin, il est envisageable de remplacer le silicium dans les cellules solaires par d'autres matériaux moins rares. Ainsi, l'entreprise Würth-Solar utilise la liaison cuivre-indium-disilane comme semi-conducteur dans ses modules CIS.

Source : BE Allemagne