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Arabian University Goes Solar

December 15th, 2008 · 1 Comment


Conergy Asia-Pacific, the regional subsidiary of Hamburg-based Conergy AG, has been awarded a contract for a 2-megawatt solar power plant for Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Conergy Asia-Pacific is awarded the prestigious project under a consortium agreement with Saudi-based National Solar Systems, a leading solar systems integrator in the Kingdom, whose population is estimated at 27 million with energy demands growing at an annual rate of 5%. Under the agreement, Conergy will manage the design and components supply, while installation and operational management are implemented by National Solar Systems.
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Renewable Energy’s New Wave: Tidal Power

December 11th, 2008 · No Comments


With so much water in the world, it’s no wonder oceans are one of the possibilities of generating non-fossil fuel, cleaner power. It’s usually known as tidal power and in fact, a 500-kilowatt (kW) tidal power prototype that could be scaled up for ocean use will be tested next August in the Strait of Messina, near the island of Sicily, according to a report published in Renewable Energy World.
If the trial is successful, an even more powerful tidal power plant could be ready for mass production in about five years time, and installed not just in the seas off Italy but also in the Gulf of Florida and other coastal sites with stronger currents.
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Florida Launches First Hybrid Solar Energy Plant

December 8th, 2008 · No Comments


The Sunshine State is really living up to its famous nickname. Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), via its 75-megawatt Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center, has launched the first first hybrid solar energy plant in the world and the first utility-scale solar facility in the state.
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The Right Trash: Turning Waste Into Renewable Energy

December 5th, 2008 · No Comments

I came across two interesting posts about the recycling of waste into energy sources. First, Renewable Energy World wrote a piece about the topic with emphasis on municipal waste. The article says, “In 2007, the US produced 254 million tons of municipal solid waste”, and this ranges from “organic material in landfills to waste from the chemical industry that must be treated as hazardous material”. What to do with all this? Incineration is not the best option because of the toxic material produced by this process. A better option is the technology that InEnTec has developed, called Plasma Enhanced Melter, or PEM™, which consists of heating “waste to very high temperatures using electrically charged gas (plasma), breaking down organic material and creating a variety of products.” The company applied its technology for the first time on a commercial-scale production facility earlier this year where it converted household garbage into ethanol for cars and trucks. Elsewhere, the International Herald Tribune has an article about the experiences of different cities with turning trash into biogas, which is great because it does two things at the same time: waste disposal and energy regeneration. It sounds like the kind of stuff we should be aiming at and local governments have an important role to play in the production of biomethane. They should start taking it more seriously than they currently are.
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