Is solar power environmentally acceptable solution for California?

Sunny California is one of the U.S. solar energy leaders, and certainly one of the states that is doing the most for renewable energy cause in United States. Renewable energy sources such as solar are not only needed because fossil fuels will eventually become depleted but also because they can help reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere thus reducing the climate change impact.

Is solar power completely environmentally friendly source of energy? No, because such source does not exist. Is it a better solution than fossil fuels? In most cases, yes, though there are still certain environmental factors which cannot be overlooked.

California, or to be more precise Mojave desert is California is an area with tremendous solar energy potential but there are some environmentalists who fear that the construction of new large-scale solar power plants in the Mojave Desert may harm the biological diversity in the area.

A most recent study by he Carnegie Institution for Science and Stanford University showed that solar power developers in California have been using mostly undeveloped desert areas with sensitive ecosystems as sites for new solar power plants instead on focusing primarily on less sensitive, previously developed open lands.

The researchers fear that the ecological footprint of solar power development could grow to more than 27,500 square miles if U.S. were to adopt a more ambitious climate goal. This could cause significant damage to many sensitive ecosystems in the area.

The researchers warned that of "161 planned or operating utility-scale solar power developments in California, more than half have been or will be built on natural shrub and scrublands."

Solar energy development cannot become a driving force behind the loss of California’s natural ecosystems. Something has to be done to prevent adverse effects on nearby environment.

Solar power plants require plenty of land to be installed, and science and technology might have to start looking for solutions that are able to decrease massive land requirements for new solar installations.

Read more...

Solar power needs more efficient materials than silicon

Solar power industry is the fastest growing industry in the whole world but solar is yet far away from fulfilling its destiny in becoming a world's primary source of energy. One of the reasons why solar power still finds it hard to replace fossil fuels is the solar panel efficiency.

Silicon is material predominantly used in solar panel production. Today's solar panels made out of silicon can achieve maximum efficiency of around 24% which means that majority of sunlight gets wasted and is turned into a heat instead of electricity.

The researchers are in constant search of new materials that could replace silicon. The latest interesting Bloomberg study claims that this new material could be perovskite, a calcium titanium oxide mineral composed of calcium titanate, that is found in Earth's mantle.

The experimental solar cells made from perovskite are already nearing the level of those made out of the silicon. Considering that this is an experimental technology the rate of progress in the lab has been astonishing.

The experimental solar cells made from perovskite were able to convert more than 20 percent of sunlight into power and the potential is enormous. In fact, researchers already believe that using perovskite in hybrid solar cell should result in efficiency of more than 40%.

The perovskite solar cells could be produced by using a printing process and researchers claim that the cost of manufacturing process could be reduced to below a third of silicon-based cells.

Solar cells made out of perovskite can absorb the spectrum of light that silicon-based cells can't reach, meaning that a hybrid cell could convert close to 30 percent of sunlight into electricity.

Read more...

Is solar power still too expensive in United States?

Solar power industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the country but is solar power still too expensive for consumers across the United States? Overall, the prices of solar power installations have been steadily declining but general conclusion is that solar power systems are generally lot more expensive in United States than in much of the Europe.

The recent Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report which utilized data from more than 300,000 different residential, commercial, and utility-scale solar installations concluded that solar power prices in United States have fallen year-over-year by $0.7/W, or 12-15% depending on system size range.

Though this is positive trend, it is still considerably behind prices in major EU markets, most notably Germany and United Kingdom. This, however, has a lot to do with the very favorable solar power incentives in Germany and United Kingdom. For comparison purposes installed price of residential PV installations in 2013 was $2.1/W in Germany, while in United States the same price was $4.7/W.

The lowest median installed solar power prices in United States are not in California as many might think it is but in Florida. California has $4.9/W as compared to $3.3/W in Florida.

It also has to be said that according to this report the falling trend has continued through the first six months of 2014., declining in average $0.2/W to $0.5/W.

Is there a room for further decline in the upcoming years? Judging by the broad international experience the answer is yes, because many large European countries have significantly lower prices than those in United States. In 2013, United States added approximately 4,800 MW of new PV capacity, being the third largest PV market in the world, behind China and Japan.

Read more...

The "Chinese situation" on US solar energy market

China, the world's largest solar panel producer, is often taking their trade of solar panels into a gray area, with the most recent example being the official US investigation which showed that China had distributed solar panels onto the American energy market at illegally low prices.

In order to counteract these dumping methods the US Commerce Department plans to introduce much higher anti-dumping duties on Chinese solar panels at the end of July this year, in order to protect domestic manufacturing sector. These new duties should be 18-35% higher compared to the initial duties that were introduced in 2012.

It has been reported that 35.21 percent taxes will be placed on products by Wuxi Suntech Power, 18.56 on any imported material from Trina Solar, and 26.89 percent on other Chinese producers.

Whether this is the right move for US solar industry it is still too early to say. On one hand this could lead to a more developed domestic solar manufacturing sector but could also lead to, as critics argue, increase of solar power prices across the entire United States.

If this move should lead to higher solar power prices, it will slow down the transition to renewables in many of US states.  Not to mention it could also mean loss of many new jobs in US solar industry.

Chinese are, of course, angry with this proposed decision. and have stated that this decision will by no means help the development of US solar industry.

Anti-dumping measures against Chinese solar panels are not only the issue for United States. The same problem exists in European Union and their governing body decided to set a minimum price for panels and a volume limit through 2015.

The war on global solar energy market has started. The battle is on with the winner still unknown.

Read more...

Energy storage is the right solution for solar intermittency

Many energy experts agree that intermittency is one of the biggest, if not the biggest of all, drawback of solar power. As you already know Sun doesn't shine all day long and thus can't provide electricity at evenings and nights.

This used to be true for all solar power plants but not anymore. For the first time ever, one commercial solar power plant in Spain, has been able to solve this issue. Spain's Gemasolar solar power plant has been designed to store enough heat to operate for 18 hours at full capacity without any additional power from the Sun.

We are not talking here about the large solar power plant, Gemasolar power station, in fact, has a capacity of relatively modest 20 MW, which should be enough to power approximately 25,000 of average Spanish households.

The working principle of this solar power plant is not that complicated. There are 2,650 mirrors, which cover an area of 185 hectares. These mirrors train the Sun's rays onto a central tower, where they heat molten salt to more than double the boiling point of water.

Using this principle results in more produced heat for maximum power, and with it the additional heat is stored in molten salt tanks until it can be used during cloudy periods or at night.

Using molten salt tanks as an energy storage solution is certainly one of the more noticeable designs to store solar energy and thus solve its intermittency problem. The well known organization Desertec has awarded this plant and labelled the design of this solar power plant as "a pioneer for future power stations".

This plant has been operational for three years now, working in summer and winter as well, and showing the benefits of this new energy storage technology. 

Concentrated solar power plants across the globe could use the advantages of this design and store the excess of heat in molten salts which can later be used to supply power on demand, when the power is needed the most.

Read more...

Redox flow batteries can solve solar energy intermittency?

Solar energy has almost unlimited potential because our Sun is by far the biggest source of renewable energy on our planet. However, there are several major challenges towards the global solar energy domination with one of the most demanding being the intermittency issue.

In order to counter intermittency of solar energy we need powerful electric energy storage devices that would be able to fix the resulting irregularities in the power supply.

Many scientific researches, from all over the world, are aimed at developing new, more cost-effective energy storage solutions. One of the latest interesting studies comes from the Fraunhofer scientists who have developed redox flow battery that reaches stack power up to 25 kW, with a cell size of 0.5 square meters. This is eight times larger than the previous A4-sized systems.

The researchers have explained that redox flow batteries offer an effective way to balance out fluctuations in the supply of solar (as well as wind) energy and thus guarantee its constant availability. The working principle of these batteries is as follows: „Batteries store electrical energy in chemical compounds, the liquid electrolytes. The electrolytes are charged and discharged in small reaction chambers.“

The batteries that are currently available on the market, roughly the size of A4 paper (can only generate 2.3 kilowatts (kW) of power and to increase the size and capacity researchers had to use brand new design that has allowed them to produce stacks up to 0.5 square meters in size.

Redox flow batteries offer several advantages; they are cost-effective, robust, durable, and can be individually customized. This new battery will be presented to public at the Hannover Messe trade show (from April 8-12).

Read more...

Quick guide to concentrated photovoltaic technology (CPV)

Solar energy industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Fast growing industry is always connected with new technologies and Concentrated Photovoltaic Technology (CPV) is certainly one of the newest technologies.

CPV is yet to be used on the wider scale as it currently accounts for only around 0.1% of global solar market. This is mostly because this new photovoltaic technology is much more complex compared to conventional photovoltaic technology and bigger complexity means bigger costs.

CPV is different than concentrated solar power (solar thermal). The main difference between these two technologies is in the position of lenses. In solar thermal power plants lenses concentrate sunlight to generate the temperatures needed to produce steam that drives a turbine while with CPV technology lenses are used to focus sunlight onto small solar cells. Focusing sunlight on small solar cells does not only improve the efficiency of the cells but also reduces the amount of expensive solar cell material needed to produce a certain amount of electricity.

Many solar energy experts claim that CPV technology is more effective compared to conventional solar power technology, and that it can produce significantly more power per acre compared to older PV technologies. But the big downside of this new solar technology is high costs.

Why high costs? As said before CPV technology is very complex because the lenses have to precisely track the sun. The one of the best ways to decrease the costs of CPV technology would be scaling up. Even despite this significant drawback in terms of costs this new technology is getting more attention in United States. The best proof to this is a 30-megawatt CPV power plant near Alamosa, Colorado that has started operating in April 2012. Under development is also a 150 MW CPV power plant in Mexico.

Solar power is currently the most popular renewable energy option in United States, and the strong surge in new photovoltaic projects in the United States will no doubt mean more money for new solar power technologies. CPV certainly has great potential but it will need some time to mature enough in terms of cost-effectiveness.

Read more...