As mentioned in my 2012 solar energy expectations yesterday, I think India’s got a good chance of shooting onto the solar power map this year. Following up on solar in India, a recent report by Bridge to India estimates that the country will have 33.4 gigawatts (GW) of solar power installed by 2022, far more than the 20 GW that are targeted by India’s National Solar Mission (NSM).
The Zibo city of China is ready to share expertise for setting up solar energy projects in Hyderabad, according to Dr Wang Jianzhong, deputy director of the Zibo Municipal Foreign Affairs Office.
Speaking at a reception given in his honour by the Hyderabad Chambers of Commerce and Industry (HCCI), he said Zibo was one of the most important industrial cities of China.
He said that in the trade with Pakistan, Zebo mainly imported cotton and exported medicines, industrial equipment and other goods.
The Düsseldorf International Airport is about to flip the switch on one of the largest solar arrays in Germany. The 8,400 panel, 2 megawatt solar array spans the space of six soccer fields, and it was finished in time to start feeding power to the grid before the clock strikes 2012. To prove the solar array’s everyday worth, the airport has installed a real time statistics ticker in the airport lobby so passengers can see how much energy it is creating and how much carbon dioxide is being diverted from the atmosphere.
The German Solar Industry Association (BSW) has announced that German solar power producers have increased electricity output this year by 60 percent over 2010 to 18 billion kWh. This is more than three percent of total power output volumes.
BSW’s managing director Carsten Koernig stated that “solar energy has become an indispensable ingredient of a successful energy strategy shift”. The solar sector has already produced enough electricity to power approximately 5.1 million households. This accounts for about one-eighth of all households in Germany.
A project that involved 1.8 megawatts (MW) of solar power, 500 geothermal wells, and fuel cells could potentially reduce energy consumption at a Cornell University campus by 75%. The campus has the name “NYC Tech Campus” and is a project of Distributed Sun.
From taking high-polluting nations to task for climate change to setting up a Mongolia-sized sanctuary for marine mammals, the tiny island nation of Palau, located roughly 500 miles east of the Philippines, has long been punching above its weight when it comes to environmental issues.
It’s latest venture is sending a clear message to the world—working with solar panel manufacturer Kyocera, Palau International Airport has just installed the nation’s largest solar array. Sure, its size (226.8kW) is not huge compared to the multi-hundred megawatt solar projects we see appearing around the world with increasing frequency, but it is still an important step forward.
BP Solar is suffering a slow death that is hard to watch and reflects the cutthroat competition that marks an industry that used to be a lot more Pollyanna. The company is closing down and on Tuesday its joint venture partner, Tata Power, said it will buy out BP’s share in their enterprise.
Tata said it will purchase the 51 percent BP had in their Tata BP Solar joint venture, which was formed in 1989 and makes silicon solar panels and offers solar system design services. Tata didn’t disclose the purchase price. The joint venture is among the top three solar cell and panel makers in India, according to GTM Research.
The deal gives Tata total control of an operation that could benefit from India’s emergence as a sizable solar market. India’s central government wants to see 20 gigawatts of grid-tied solar energy and 2 gigawatts of off-grid uses by 2022, and it launched an incentive program in January 2010 that has auctioned off projects. A few states in India also run solar incentive programs. All these efforts are recent, so whether India can hit its goals still remains a big question.
The technology for harnessing solar energy to generate heat or thermal energy is called solar thermal energy (STE). The US Energy Information Administration has classified the solar thermal collectors as low, medium, or high temperature collectors. Low-temperature collectors are used to heat swimming pools, while medium-temperature collectors can be used to heat water or air for private or commercial purposes.
Korea-born, Eindhoven-based Joon & Jung‘s Origami Solarcell is a polygonal low-energy LED lamp that is completely powered by the sun’s energy. The pendant lights are made from a flexible photovoltaic material that is folded into a 3D lamp using origami techniques. The flat-pack multi-faceted lights are still in the prototype stage, but we hope to see these innovative, energy-efficient designs hit store shelves in the near future.