renewable

Europe’s Biggest Wind Farm Turned On

- Adam Clare

Today Portugal turned on its offshore wind farm, the wind farm will provide energy for up to a million people.

A total of 120 windmills are dotted across the highlands of the Upper Minho region of Portugal as one of western Europe’s poorer nations continues to forge its reputation as a renewables champion.

“Europe’s largest onshore wind farm is now fully operational,” a spokeswoman for France’s EDF Energies Nouvelles, which co-owns the farm, announced this morning.

The two megawatt turbines on each windmill deliver electricity to a single connection point with the electricity grid and should supply around 1% of Portugal’s total energy needs.

Solar Powered City in Japan

- Adam Clare 2 Comments

A community in Japan has put solar panels on nearly every house and they love it! A short article on the solar powered houses shows that in order for the system to be rolled out elsewhere more support from all levels of government are needed. It’s great to see pilot projects like this proving that these types of energy systems work.

Located 50 miles northwest of Tokyo, Pal Town dubbed “Solar City,” received free solar panels in 2002 through a 9.7 billion yen state-backed research on how to ensure a steady supply and avoid blackouts. Lots of small solar power generators are connected to the power grid.
Three-quarters of Pal Town’s homes are covered by solar panels, which are distributed for free and have become one of the main draw-cards for residents keen to minimize their power bills..

Energy Company Pays Customers for Solar Panels

- Adam Clare 2 Comments

Duke Energy, located in the USA, will start paying their customers to install solar panels, this is a reaction by the company to increased regulation. I wish Duke Energy would pay for a solar panel on my house.

“We’d love to have the panels — if we could afford it — and be completely green,” Durkin says. But given that his utility bill is only about $200 a month, he says “it made no sense.”

Then he heard that his local electric company, Duke Energy, wants to install solar panels on hundreds of customers’ roofs and vacant lots.

“If Duke could put them up and they’re going to get a better deal with it, then at least I’m helping the cause, and that’s what I wanted to do,” Durkin says.

For decades, Duke Energy has envisioned massive coal-fired and nuclear power plants as the best way to generate electricity for 4 million customers. But a new state law and the possibility of federal restrictions on greenhouse gases is pushing the 104-year-old utility to try new things.

Wave Energy for Desalination

- Adam Clare

CETO Wave Energy has designed a system that uses tidal power to both pump water and desalinate it! Desalination is a growing necessity in areas lacking fresh water that have access to sea water; however, it is energy and cost intensive. By using a renewable resource, it makes desalination a viable option.

Unlike other wave energy systems currently under development around the world, the CETO wave power converter is the first unit to be fully-submerged and to produce high pressure seawater from the power of waves.
By delivering high pressure seawater ashore, the technology allows either zero-emission electricity to be produced (similar to hydroelectricity) or zero-emission freshwater (utilising standard reverse osmosis desalination technology). It also means that there is no need for undersea grids or high voltage transmission nor costly marine qualified plants.

Free Flowing Hydro Power

- Adam Clare

TreeHugger has a post up that serves as a good reminder of all the tidal power generators that are being built in North America right now. Including Ontario’s announced tidal wave power feasibility study.

The Cornwall Ontario River Energy Project – 15 Megawatts
The province of Ontario is investing C$2.2 million into a project to demonstrate the feasibility and commercial viability of using free flow turbines to harness some of the St. Lawrence River’s kinetic energy and turn it into electricity.

This project is for 15 megawatts, enough to power 11,000 average-sized homes, but Verdant estimates that “there is enough potential power in the water currents of Canada’s tides, rivers and manmade channels to generate 15,000 MW of electricity using its technology”. That would be about the equivalent of 15 big coal power plants.

But we have to wonder… Did they pick Cornwall just because they could make a really cool acronym? The Cornwall Ontario River Energy (CORE) Project.

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