Gregoire's CleanTech Blog

Sharp to Increase Solar Plant Capacity to 600MW, World's Highest

Sharp Corporation has increased annual production capacity for solar cells at its Katsuragi Plant in Nara Prefecture by 100 MW (megawatts) to meet burgeoning demand in Japan and abroad, and has constructed a system that will be able to enter full production by November 2006. As a result, solar cell production capacity at the Katsuragi Plant will reach 600 MW per year, the world's highest.

Source : CleanEdge

Avestor files for bankruptcy

Another Canadian energy-storage player bites the dust. Avestor, a Boucherville, Quebec-based maker of lithium-metal-polymer batteries, has let go of 260 employees and closed the doors of its manufacturing plant just outside of Montreal. The company, a joint venture between Hydro-Quebec and Kerr-McGee Corp. (now owned by Anadarko Petroleum Corp.), said it is making a bankruptcy proposal to its creditors and has appointed a trustee to oversee the process.

"Considerable sums were invested in developing a battery that could be marketed profitably to the telecommunications industry; nevertheless, the enterprise was not able to reach the break-even point," the company said in a statement. "Despite more than a year of active searching, Avestor failed to attract new industrial and financial partners to replace its current investors. Consequently, it is no longer able to continue operations."

It's not like Avestor wasn't selling product. In August the company proudly announced it had sold its 20,000th battery. At the same, CEO John Haddock was quoted as saying: "The future looks promising."

Source : Clean Break

2006 China Energy Rich List : Shi Zhengrong (Suntech) tops the list

The Hurun Report, a luxury business magazine known for its annual surveys of China’s wealthiest citizens, recently released its 2006 China Energy Rich List, which ranks the wealth generated from the nation’s booming energy sector. Shi Zhengrong, a solar energy tycoon, tops the list with a personal wealth of US$1.95 billion, followed by Jia Tingliang and Wang Suolan with the coal company Shanxi Datuhe Coke & Chemicals, with US$525 million.

While entrepreneurs from traditional energy industries such as coal mining, oil and gas distribution, and power generation still dominate the energy “rich list” (occupying more than half of the fifty spots), the share of wealthy Chinese representing the “clean energy” sector—which includes solar and wind power, batteries, bioenergy, incineration power generation, and thermal energy—has increased to 14, up from only 4 last year. Rupert Hoogewerf, CEO of the Hurun Report, concedes that “valuing the wealth of China’s Rich is as much an art as it is a science,” but believes the list offers a useful glimpse into the dynamics of China’s energy market and illustrates how private companies struggle to share the energy pie with their state-owned counterparts.

According to Shanghai Security Daily, the 2006 list reflects two main trends: the ongoing restructuring of China’s traditional coal mining industry, and the rapid entry of private companies into the clean energy field. The coal industry restructuring, which is being overseen by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), is intended to accelerate technological modernization and improve the industry’s ability to meet projected growth in demand—as well as protect the environment and improve industrial safety, according to Xinhua News. Under new policies, several large private coal companies have been able to merge, renovate, and regroup smaller mines, enter the overseas market with their competitive costs, and switch to deep coal refining. These activities have contributed to the emergence of several new tycoons.

Unlike those in traditional energy industries (also known as “black gold” industries), investors in the clean energy field have been able to strike it rich by adopting cutting-edge clean technologies. In addition to rich-list leader Shi Zhengrong, who has built Suntech Power into one of the world’s leading solar cell manufacturers, five other Chinese entrepreneurs have generated large amounts of wealth for themselves by investing in solar technologies. Another clean-energy giant is Yu Jianqui, the head of Gushan Group, a leading biodiesel producer in China, who ranks fifth overall with a personal wealth of US$400 million.

Dr. Wu Daohong, who heads Beijing Shenwu Thermal Energy Co., Ltd. (BSTET), a company dedicated to the research and development of energy-efficiency technologies, ranks 21st on the list. His firm recently became the first Chinese member of the Chicago Climate Exchange, a U.S.-based greenhouse gas emissions registry, reduction, and trading system. Clean technology has also fostered the emergence of “green” heroes in the power generation industry. Dou Zhenggang, president of Jinjiang Group and No. 11 on the list, owns China’s largest private company that generates power from waste incineration, with more than 10 facilities across the country.

State-owned companies continue to dominate China’s fossil fuel industry, making it difficult for private enterprises to make their mark in petroleum exploration and refining (though they are involved to some degree in distribution). However, the Chinese government has encouraged broad participation from all sectors in developing the nation’s renewable energy market. On February 28, 2005, the State Council (China’s parliament) passed the Law on Renewable Energy Resources, which came into effect on January 1 of this year. The goal of the law is to “improve China’s energy structure, diversify energy supplies, safeguard energy security, protect the environment, and realize the sustainable development of the economy and society.”

Source : China Watch

Solar Systems (Australia) will build the largest solar PV power station

A Melbourne, Australia-based company called Solar Systems has received government funding to proceed with construction of a 154-megawatt solar PV power station in north-west Victoria. The Australian government will contribute $75 million and the government of Victoria will contribute $50 million toward this $420-million (Australian dollar) project, the company said.

The technology will be deployed at a number of locations, and will be based on "Heliostat Concentrator Photovoltaics." In other words, fields of sun-tracking mirrors will be set up that focus the sun's rays on ultra high-efficiency solar modules. Solar Systems is working with Boeing's Spectrolab to optimize the system -- typically used in space applications -- for use on earth. "The resulting photovoltaic cell arrays are three times more efficient than typical solar panels," the company said.

The Australian has an excellent article about the announcement. I urge you to give it a read.

What I find interesting is that nearly $1 billion (Canadian) is being spent to build an 880-megawatt combined cycle natural gas "peaking" plant in Ontario. That works out to about $1.15 billion in Australian dollars.

On a per megawatt capacity basis, the natural gas plant is costing $1.31 million versus $2.73 for the solar plant. But if you consider that you don't need any fuel for the solar plant, and that the solar plant is ideal for typical peaking situations, then over time it does appear cost competitive with natural gas.

This, of course, is just a rough calculation. But it gets you thinking about the potential, particularly in an ideal climate like Australia. This meshes with Vinod Khosla's belief that big solar power plants is where the biggest opportunities for solar lie.

Source : CleanBreak

Advanced Biorefinery & Dynamotive Energy Systems turn residual biomass into renewable oil through pyrolysis technologies

Tyler Hamilton's feature in Toronto Star is about a technology that turns residual biomass -- everything from forest slash to industrial wood waste -- into a renewable oil for heating and power generation. Two companies are the focus of this piece: Advanced Biorefinery and Dynamotive Energy Systems, with each targeting a different part of the market. Advanced Biorefinery (which Tyler Hamilton has written about before) has designed a transportable pyrolysis system that can go to where the biomass is, for example, out in remote logging country where there's plenty of forest slash to process. Dynamotive prefers to build larger, more permanent plants beside a feedstock supplier, such as a wood-flooring company in West Lorne, Ontario.

The end result of their process is "bio oil," a carbon-neutral alternative to conventional fuel oil that can be used for industrial heating and power generation. It's a fascinating area, unfortunately overshadowed by the hype around alternative transportation fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel.

Source : CleanBreak

Capital 4E : Place de marché de la valorisation de la recherche, du financement et de l'entrepreneuriat pour l'éco-innovation

Saluons l'organisation la semaine prochaine (le 8 et 9 novembre) de la première édition de Capital 4E, première place de marché de la valorisation de la recherche, du financement et de l'entrepreneuriat pour l'éco-innovation.

Au programme deux jours de conférences sur l'énergie, la convergence entre les TIC et les questions énergétiques ou l'entrepreneuriat dans le domaine...

Du beau monde dans les intervenants et le comité de programme...Encore un signe que le secteur des cleantech / nouvelles technologies de l'énergie continue à se structurer en France.

Au plaisir de vous y croiser !

Proposition 87 "Oil Tax" - Quand la Silicon Valley entend résoudre un des principaux problèmes de la planète

Quelle est la responsabilité de la Californie, sachant que l'Etat Fédéral refuse d'approuver le protocole de Kyoto ? Que peuvent faire les entrepreneurs de la Silicon Valley pour aider...C'est aujourd'hui ce qui est au coeur du débat autour de l'adoption de la Proposition 87 : ni plus ni moins augmenter les taxes sur le pétrole et dépenser $ 4 milliards pour développer les carburants alternatifs...et au passage un certain nombre de start-up.

Il y a six mois déjà, j'indiquais lors de la réunion de Tremplin Recherche que la Valley s'était remise en marche sur un nouveau cycle d'innovation...après les PC, les réseaux, l'Internet...les CleanTech.

Une manifestation de plus de tout cela....

Al Gore devant le Conseil Economique et Social

Al Gore devant le CES
Vidéo envoyée par galadjidi

Lorsque le Conseil Economique et Social reçoit Al Gore à l'occasion de la sortie de son film "Une vérité qui dérange"

Miasole Inc, raised $35m in round B

Miasole Inc., a Santa Clara, Calif.-based developer of thin-film solar cells, has raised $35 million in Series C funding, according to VentureWire. No participant information was disclosed, although the company previously had raised over $21 million from firms like Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Bessemer Venture Partners and VantagePoint Venture Partners. www.miasole.com

Source : PE Week Wire

The University of Buffalo (New-York) works on more reliable power grids combining nanotechnology with wireless sensor network

The power grid is, for the most part, built on antiquated technology. When transformers and other equipment are installed, they are expected to work for about 40 years, replaced only when they fail. Additionally, components of the grid--from substations, to transformers, to circuit breakers in homes--can't signal to the local utility companies when damaged. This makes some power failures a surprise, and it protracts the fixing process, as utility workers need to physically identify the place where equipment is damaged.

To try to make a better grid, researchers at the University at Buffalo (UB), in New York, are investigating ways to retrofit the present-day infrastructure with some new technology and communication systems. They suspect that the recent advances in nano-sensor technology and wireless networks could be key to providing an inexpensive and efficient way to monitor grid health and help repair damage more quickly.

The idea is to disperse sensors with integrated processors and wireless capabilities throughout the grid, says W. James Sarjeant, chair of the electrical-engineering department at UB. The chip would be about the size of a pinhead, he says. The tiny devices wouldn't need to be built into the equipment, he adds, but would simply be placed near it so that they could pick up electromagnetic signals. As the sensors collect information, the onboard processor would churn through the data, and transceivers would send and receive data to and from other sensor nodes, or a central station.

Sarjeant and his interdisciplinary team are considering building their nano sensors out of conventional semiconductor material such as silicon, gallium arsenide, or gallium nitride. This way, says Jonathan Bird, professor of electrical engineering at UB, the sensors would be compatible with existing micro-fabrication technology. Also, he says, various types of sensors could be fabricated on the same chip.

In particular, the researchers suspect that a class of sensors called "quantum point contacts" could be a potential candidate for their system. They've shown that quantum point contacts can be used as compact nano-scale circuits that filter out particular electrical frequencies. This function could be useful because power equipment sometimes emits subtle yet distinctive electromagnetic signatures prior to breaking. The researchers are currently testing if their nano-scale circuits can effectively filter out the junk signals to help detect the signatures that precede the breakdown of insulating materials in grid components.

Another type of sensor that the researchers are exploring is called a nano hall-effect transducer. This device could sensitively detect variations in the magnetic fields generated by the system. When electric current runs through a power line, a magnetic field proportional to that current is produced near the line. If the sensor detects fluctuations in the magnetic field near a power line, this could indicate a problem.

The key to all of these sensors, says Bird, is that they only need to be placed in the vicinity of the components in a power system. This allows the researchers to "sensitively monitor the state of the power system without the need to tap into it directly," he says. This is advantageous because directly accessing the grid could be expensive and time-consuming.

But sensing electrical signatures and magnetic fields are only part of the monitoring technology. Communication between sensing devices is also important. The researchers hope to employ the sort of wireless technology used in ad-hoc networks (see "Souped-Up Mesh Networks") so that the sensors themselves can adjust to each other's status if one is running low on power, for instance, to more effectively monitor the entire grid. "The advantage to this is that if an element fails, or a portion of the [sensor] grid malfunctions, the entire network will reconfigure to keep monitoring the grid," says Bird.

Currently, there are other technologies, all much larger than the proposed UB system, that are being explored to monitor power grids, says Don von Dollen, program manager for the Electric Power Research Institute, in Palo Alto, CA. But the technology that will ultimately gain widespread adoption is the one that is the most cost-effective, he says. "It all comes down to price."

Within the past few years, there have been advances in the fields of data processing, sensor technology, and communication--all necessary aspects of making a grid monitoring system technologically reliable and economically feasible. Research on micro sensors and wireless sensors, von Dollen says, is "an exciting area because there's an awful lot of potential."

The UB researchers expect to have a prototype nano-scale sensor system within about five years, with a larger-system version coming in a few years, says Sarjeant. While the promise of nanotechnology is great, it is still a relatively new technology that's only received serious research attention for about 10 years, says Martin Moskovits, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California, in Santa Barbara.

He notes that much of this new grid monitoring project will probably be "very exciting fundamental research," and practical issues will most likely need to be resolved as the work progresses. However, Moskovits believes it's worth it. "The grid affects so many of our lives," he says, "it's an excellent place to put effort."

Source : Technology Review