The South African Wind Energy Association (Sawea) has called on the government to set an ambitious 25% renewable energy contribution to electricity consumption by 2025.

The industry’s call for a bigger contribution of renewable energy is an indication of the lobbying likely to characterise the IRP2 process, with representatives of the various energy technologies vying for a bigger share of the energy industry. The process will cover 25 years. SA’s current target is for a 10000Gwh contribution of renewable energy by 2013.

Sawea said its research showed renewable energy could provide 100TWh of electricity, or 25% of SA’s consumption, by 2025. The bulk of this would be delivered by wind energy. The association said wind energy could contribute 80% of the 100TWh. The development of this renewable resource would create up to 40000 jobs, it said.

The industry has also moved to counter criticism that renewable energy is unreliable. “Not in our view,” said Davin Chown, director of Mainstream Renewable Power. The association said wind was a predictable resource. Modern international forecasting methods enable system operators to predict the available wind and solar resources between 24 hours and 72 hours ahead.

If a nuclear power station brought down by a stray bolt doesn’t meet the definition of base-load power. By comparison, the outage of one wind turbine due to a technical fault will barely dent overall supply.

“One 1000MW coal station competes with 125000 homes annually for access to running water. Wind power does not need water. Without this investment in renewable energy, SA will not meet its commitment to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 34% by 2020,” Tanton said.( Mark Tanton – deputy chairman of SAWEA)

Source: All Africa.com; Business report.

Wind farms

Twice this year Germany’s 21,000 wind turbines pumped out so much power that utilities lowered customer bills for using the surplus electricity. Since the first rebate came with little fanfare at 5 a.m. one October day in 2008, payments have risen as high as 500.02 euros ($665) a megawatt-hour, about as much as a small factory or 1,000 homes uses in 60 minutes.

The wind-energy boom in Europe and parts of Texas has begun to reduce bills for consumers. Electricity-network managers have even ordered windmills offline at times to trim supplies.

After years of getting government incentives to install windmills, operators in Europe may have become their own worst enemy, reducing the total price paid for electricity in Germany. Germany has doubled capacity to generate power from wind since 2002 turbines producing about 7.5 percent of the nation’s electricity.

The solution may be expanding markets further. Tying European markets together, already done between the Netherlands, France and Belgium, lets temporary surpluses flow toward electricity-poor zones. Germany plans to join them on Sept. 7.

Source: Businessweek

The fluctuation in the electricity generated by renewable energy farms poses a potential challenge for utility companies and the energy farms themselves. Storing excess power for later use when wind or solar conditions are less desirable could balance electricity production. This could be done by pumping water to hydro-electric power stations during times of high electricity production for later power generation.

This article for USA Today.

FONTANA, Calif. — The view from a

Solar panels on warehouse roof

warehouse roof here is consistent. In every direction, there are blocks and blocks of warehouse roofs baking in the Southern California sun.

Rather than letting them sit bare, a California utility hopes to blanket roofs like these with solar panels to produce enough electricity to power 162,000 homes.

Southern California Edison has installed solar on two warehouse roofs and is working on another in the Los Angeles region. The utility expects to do 100 to 125 more, totaling about 1.5 square miles of roof space in the next five years.

The greater Cape Town area has many busy warehouses with unused roof space. With the current electricity concerns in the country wouldn’t it be great to utilise these roofs to secure a source of power.

Just as many of these building are ideal sources for generating electricity they have the same great potential rainwater harvesting. This water would other wise be piped to stormwater and then to waste.

This article from the Herald Scotland.

water wave power generation

After decades of rhetoric, developers have finally been given the green light to generate electricity from the power of the waves and tides around the north of Scotland and Orkney on a commercial scale.

By 2020, the 1.2GW of installed capacity at the 10 sites leased by the Crown Estate yesterday will be four times the peak output of Dounreay, and sufficient to meet the needs of up to 750,000 homes.

Six will account for 600MW of capacity from wave power, and another 600MW from four tidal projects.

Each will employ different technology, from giant snake-like structures that float on the surface to turbines resembling giant car wheels with an open centre that sit on the sea bed.

Scotland has been beaten by Portugal in the race for the world’s first commercial wave farm, which opened in September 2008.

One of the successful bidders was Aquamarine Power. The company’s Oyster generator is the world’s largest working hydro-electric wave energy device. A giant flap is pushed back and forwards by the waves, which in turn drives a hydraulic piston on the sea bed to deliver high-pressure water up through pipes to the shore, where it drives the same sort of turbines that are in any hydro scheme.

A prototype was turned on by Mr Salmond in November, but now a joint venture with SSE Renewables will be established off the west coast of the Orkney mainland with a installed capacity of 200MW, which could provide enough energy to power around 190,000 homes…

As South Africa is close to becoming a water scarce country it is becoming essential that we all use our water resources wisely. In Cape Town we are fortunate enough to have access to a vast coast line that has the potential to supply us with much renewable energy. This could relieve our reliance on less environmentally friendly energy sources.

With not that many days to go before the 2010 FIFA would cup and the influx of visitors that will accompany the soccer world cup. South Africa and Cape town’s water reserves will be put under strain as more people will be using our very scares commodity. This makes it essential for every South African to educate others and to implement system that will help us all save water. This can be done by reusing shower and bath water (aka. grey water) to either irrigate gardens or flush toilets.

Contact me for details.

• These are some of the projects that as on the table already.

•  Eskom has a 3.2 MW demonstration wind farm at Klipheuwel in the Western Cape.

• The 4-turbine, 5.2MW Darling wind farm in the Western Cape started producing electricity in 2008 and remains the country’s only commercial wind farm.

•  Irish company Mainstream Renewable Energy, in partnership with local outfit Genesis Eco-Energy, are planning to build some 18 wind farms in the Eastern, Western and Northern Cape, including 30 and 40 MW projects near Jeffrey’s Bay and Colesberg respectively.

• Eskom has proposed a 100 MW wind farm at Koekenaap near Vredendal in the Western Cape.

• Belgian company Electrawinds recently announced a partnership deal for a 25-turbine wind farm at Coega in the Eastern Cape.

• The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality plans to build a wind farm with at least 10 turbines.

• UK-based Renewable Energy Systems has proposed to install around 300 MW of wind energy projects in the Western and Eastern Cape.

• The planned St Helena Bay wind farm on the West Coast is expected to produce 50 to 80 MW of electricity.

• A 300 MW wind farm project near Caledon in the Western Cape was announced earlier this year.

• The Tsitsikamma Community Wind Farm project in the Eastern Cape aims to produce about 40 MW by 2013.

• In October last year, government and the Clinton Foundation signed an agreement to establish the country’s first “solar park”, which is to deliver up to 5 000 MW of solar electricity to the national grid.

• Cape Town start-up Aurora Power Solutions is developing a 200 MW portfolio of solar power projects.

• Eskom is planning a 100 MW concentrated solar power demonstration plant near Upington.

• A factory for thin-film solar panels is to be built in Paarl.

For household water saving ideas and systems click on these links for more information, grey water reuse, rainwater harvesting.

or

Contact Alje van Hoorn for obligation free quotes on grey water reuse and rainwater harvesting systems.

2.  New GE Study Shows Canadian Wind Farms’ Profits Would Exceed Government Investment – General Electric has released a study which shows if the Canadian federal government invested $1.5 billion CDN in developing wind farms, it would recoup its costs and earn revenue within 25 years.  Stimulate the economy and generate clean energy, not a bad political move.

3.  Italian Solar Market is Hot – Last November the Italian solar market grew by more than 10% alone.  This growth has not been lost on solar companies. SunPower Corp. recently purchased SunRay Renewable Energy in large part because of its strong connections in the Italian solar industry.  Analysts expect Italy’s solar capacity to increase 50% by the end of 2010.

4.  Fuel From Fish Tank Residue: The Latest Look At Algal Biofuel’s Potential – Sandia Laboratories has stated that algae has the potential to displace large amounts of diesel and jet fuel in the near future as long as it can crossover some key obstacles.

5.  UNEP Report Shows Current Emissions Targets Are Not Enough to Prevent Devastating Climate Change – The United Nations Environmental Programme has released a report which indicates that the emissions pledges made in the Copenhagen Accord will not prevent a global temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius — the tipping point for global warming.

6.  Pepperbox Studio Makes Music Using Renewable Energy – Ever wondered what it would be like to live completely off-the-grid?  Well, musician Kristina Stykos from Vermont can let you know.  Stykos runs her home and recording studio on energy generated from solar, wind, and biomass.  She also has incorporated some important energy efficiency measures.

7.  U.S. Department of Energy Reports on Environmental Effects of Hydropower – Marine energy technologies such as wave and tidal power are viewed as a gold mine of untapped energy potential.  Yet, there are still many questions about the nascent technologies, particularly if the machinery will hold up.  The U.S. Department of Energy looks at an important question that has not come to the forefront:  the environmental effect of putting massive machines in the oceans.

8.  American Utilities: Hot for the Smart Grid and Warming to Renewable Energy – A new survey shows that American utilities are investing more capital and resources in information technology and smart grid development than ever before.  They are also increasing their renewable energy portfolios, albeit with a little less enthusiasm.

9.  ADM: The Greening of Big Agro – ADM has made a name for itself as the middle-man in the agriculture business.  Now, it wants to become the super-man of the ethanol business.  It is the world’s largest corn ethanol producer and it is now engaged in serious development of advanced biofuels.

10. Government Study Shows U.S. Wind Resources Larger than Previously Estimated – The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has discovered that American wind resources are enormous.  The NREL’s study revealed that America’s continental, onshore wind resources could generate almost 37,000,000 gigawatt-hours annually.  This is more than nine times current U.S. electricity consumption.  Imagine what the wind resources would look like if the U.S. ever got moving on its offshore wind development?

This story from energyboom.com

For household water saving ideas and systems click on these links for more information, grey water reuse, rainwater harvesting.

or

Contact Alje van Hoorn for obligation free quotes on grey water reuse and rainwater harvesting systems.