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15 Oct 2016

Enough Solar Energy To Power 1 Million Homes

A California company is planning on building the largest solar power plant in the world. The power plant, which is planned to be built in Nevada, will cost $5 billion and will be able to generate between 1,500 and 2,000 MW of power. That is enough energy to power 1 million homes.

This project should create about 3,000 jobs for almost a decade! With demand growing for clean, renewable energy, this is a perfect outlet for California’s job market. Along with creating thousands of jobs, the plant that is planned to be built is completely emission free.

For more information on this project, please visit: ecowatch.com

28 Jun 2016

ESNA 2016

Nominations for Energy Storage North America are now open for admission! ESNA has always been true to the idea and research of energy storage, market growth, and overall changes in solar-powered technology. To be eligible, your project must be some type of grid energy storage system in North America that is installed and fully operational on or before August 1, 2016. Nominations will be accepted in three categories: utility-scale, customer-sited (C&I or residential) and mobility (EVs and enabling infrastructure). Winners will be announced on October 5th, 2016 in an Awards Ceremony that will take place at the San Diego Convention Center.

“As the energy storage marketplace continues to grow and evolve, individual people and projects still play a critical role in shaping the direction of the industry,” said Janice Lin, Energy Storage North America Conference Chair. “With this year’s awards, we will recognize the storage champions and projects that are pushing the industry forward by developing and implementing innovative financing models, technology or grid services.”

To read more about the ceremony, please visit www.esnaexpo.com

11 Jun 2016

Solar Powered Cellphone Charger

Having a cellphone in this day and age is a complete necessity. Even for migrants crossing the Mediterranean and coming to Greece in search of a better life. But which such a long journey ahead, how do these people keep their cellphones charged? This is where a Greece-based solar technology company comes in. A company is called Entec and they have developed a solar powered cellphone charging station. This technology is able to charge hundreds of phone per day. And the best part? It’s all free of charge. Currently, the company has only produced two units, but wants to aim much higher than that. Using money raised from a crowdfunding campaign, their plan is to reach all the camps around Greece to provide help to people on making the journey a little easier.

To read more about this story, please visit www.bgr.com

Photo credit: The Huffington Post

09 May 2016
Floating Solar Panels

New Floating Solar Panels To Generate Green Power

Floating solar panels located in the Yamakura Dam reservoir in Japan’s Chiba Prefecture are stirring up environemental interest world wide. Renewable energy developers are planning to have almost 60,000 panels floating on top of the reservoir. That’s enougloatih solar power to genergate around 5,000 homes.

Floating solar panels are not just popular in Japan. They are spreading accross the globe with operations in Austrailia and the United States.

Not only do these solar panels produce green, renewable energy, but they also have other benefits. They help keep the water in the reservoir from evaporating, and the water cools down the solar panels making them more efficient than land-based panels.

For more information on this new technology, visit www.nytimes.com

19 Aug 2015
Solar Power Technology

Solar Power Breakthrough

Solar power technologies are always advancing and evolving. Recently a major breakthrough in solar power has seen scientists utilize the sun to create not just usable energy but solar energy materials as well. If the work of these researchers turns out to work with direct sunlight it will mean that the suns energy can only be collected and converted into electricity but that consumers and even those provide solar services will be able to directly produce solar energy materials.

So what exactly does this mean for those who are interested in solar power? In the immediate future not much. In the not-too-distant future however big changes to solar power will leave their mark on the industry. For one, if this breakthrough turns out to be as applicable as scientists hope the costs associated with solar power will reduce dramatically. This means that it will be cheaper to install and to utilize. It’s not difficult to envision a scenario where the tax credits and rebates associated with solar power will become even greater.

Not only will the cost of solar power be reduced but solar power will become much more efficient than it is even today. The rate at which sunlight is collected and converted into usable energy will increase exponentially making today’s standard rates look paltry by comparison. In addition to reducing costs and making solar power is more efficient this discovery will allow more environmentally benign materials to be utilized in things like solar panels and other parts of systems.

This breakthrough in solar power technology is a recent one and there is plenty of testing left to be done to determine whether or not it can be applied to commercial solar power products. These findings were recently published in RSC Advances which is a journal of the Royal Society Of Chemistry. Professor Chih-Hung Chan of Oregon State University was quoted as saying “this approach should work and is very environmentally conscious”. The work itself is based on the use of continuous flow micro-reactors that produced nano particle inks which in turn generate solar cells by printing. In this process simulated sunlight was focused on micro reactors that were rapidly heated. Researchers had precise control of temperatures to aid the quality of the finished product. Although this breakthrough was a result of utilizing artificial light the same researchers believe that the same effect can be achieved using direct sunlight at just a fraction of the cost.

While solar technology is always changing and evolving there are moments where it does so by leaps and bounds. This is one such moment and should further research demonstrate this breakthrough to be applicable to consumer solar power we can all expect big changes and more affordable solar power down the line.

Source: Science Daily