MORE SUNDAY WORLD, 2-15 (TERI STUDIES INDIA SUN; OCEAN BED SOCKET FOR WAVE ENERGY; INDONESIAN POLS STOP BIOFUEL MADNESS; OCEANS DESALINATE THEMSELVES)

TERI STUDIES INDIA'S SUN
TERI team to study UT's solar energy potential
11 February 2009 (Times of India)

"…[A] team from The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) is now in [Chandigarh, Union Territory (UT)] to study its energy potential [as a “solar city”] so that a detailed action plan could be prepared.

"…[E]xperts are carrying out an exercise in Patiala Ki Rao to get an idea as to how much photo-voltaic energy could be tapped from the city’s green belts…"

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"…TERI was supposed to submit a detailed feasibility report this month, [but the previous year’s] energy database… was not available…[so] the study would be conducted in different parts of the city before the details are worked out…

"The project to prepare a Solar City master plan for Chandigarh was assigned to the institute in June, 2008. With growing concern on climate change, it has become imperative to utilize renewable sources of energy…TERI is now adopting an integrated planning approach…

"As part of the initiative, use of passive building concepts in new buildings and rating of new buildings would be promoted…[as well as] exploring…energy conservation and extensive use of renewable energy wherever possible…The solar city programme envisages optimum utilization of locally available resources like solar energy…"

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"After analyzing the land-use pattern and variation in solar radiation over the city area, TERI has already recommended that it wouldn’t be financially viable to install a single solar (PV) plant. Therefore a segmented approach would be adopted and size of each unit would vary from 1 to 5 MW…

"…12 gardens have been identified in the city, which are over 18 acres in area, for setting up mini solar plants…"


OCEAN BED SOCKET FOR WAVE ENERGY
Wave Hub “on course” for first devices in 2011
13 February 2009 (New Energy Focus)

"The Wave Hub scheme could be testing wave power devices off the coast of Cornwall by 2011…The prediction comes three months after the appointment of a project manager put troubled Wave Hub back on track, following a series of difficulties…the south west Regional Development Agency (RDA), which is leading on the project, applied for permission to construct a "Safety Zone" around the proposed 8MW wave power testing site 10 miles off the coast of Hayle in Cornwall…the eight kilometre square zone is to protect those in the maritime industry who may be operating in the area.

"The Agency said it did not know when it was expecting a response from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, which makes the final decision…

"[A management controversy and the] decision to downgrade Wave Hub from 20MW to 8MW, put the project's future into question."

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"But the RDA now seems confident that Wave Hub will be going ahead, and says it is actively working with four developers who are interested in deploying their devices at the site…

"Ocean Power Technologies, Fred Olsen, Oceanlinx and WestWave, a consortium that is using Pelamis technology, are all set to be leased a sea area of two square kilometres.
It is anticipated that up to 30 devices could be deployed.

"Designed to be a "giant plug socket on the seabed", Wave Hub will cost around £32 million and will provide a UK grid-connected site for developers to test wave power converters…The European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in the Orkneys also provides a grid-connected wave facility along with its tidal berths."


INDONESIAN POLS STOP BIOFUEL MADNESS
House Rejects Demand to Raise Biofuel Subsidies
Reva Sasistiya, February 10, 2009 (Jakarta Globe)

"The House of Representatives… rejected a government proposal to raise subsidies for the development of biofuels from an initial plan of Rp 774.47 billion ($66.6 million) to Rp 831.42 billion, arguing that it was irrational.

"Evita Legowo, director general of oil and gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, proposed an additional Rp 56.95 billion to support biofuel development…Under a mandatory scheme that started in October, there must be at least 1 percent biofuel in the fossil-fuel blends that Pertamina sells at the pump, 2.5 percent in fuel for industrial use and 0.25 percent in fuel used by state-owned electricity utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara."

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"The government now subsidizes Pertamina’s sales of premium, diesel and kerosene fuel…But benchmark biofuel prices in Southeast Asia have risen an average of 10 percent per liter since November, making biofuel producers less inclined to supply Pertamina with the biofuel it needs to make the blends, unless the state firm is willing to pay more.

"In January, the government proposed increasing the biofuel subsidy by Rp 1,000, in line with a projected increase in biofuel consumption this year."

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"In the revised 2009 budget, the government projects premium gasoline consumption to reach 20.6 million kiloliters and diesel consumption to hit 12.5 million kiloliters…Bioethanol consumption, meanwhile, is expected to hit 206,389 kiloliters and biodiesel consumption is expected to rise to 625,038 kiloliters, bringing biofuel subsidies to Rp 831.4 billion…

"Without biofuel subsidies, the biofuel industry loses an average of Rp 610 a liter on it sales of biodiesel and bioethanol to Pertamina…Lawmakers objected to the proposal to subsidize biofuel production because they said it would distort the fuel subsidy budget…"


OCEANS DESALINATE THEMSELVES!
Wave-powered desalination to be investigated in Australia
08 February 2009 (International Desalination & Water Reuse Quarterly)

"Australian cleantech developer Carnegie Corporation Ltd and the Australian government are to investigate the use of wave energy to power a desalination plant.

"The study was agreed in January through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Carnegie and the Department of Defence.

"The MoU involves investigation of the feasibility of a wave-energy facility at Garden Island, Western Australia. Carnegie believes that there is sufficient wave-energy potential off Garden Island to develop a project harnessing energy from the ocean to generate electricity and/or desalinated water."

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"The wave-energy facility would initially be used for testing commercial scale CETO units, which use an array of buoys tethered to the sea-floor, as part of the commercial demonstration phase. This could, in the future, provide the naval base on Garden Island with a standalone, sustainable, clean source of electricity and/or fresh water.

"CETO technology is owned by Renewable Energy Holdings, which has a joint venture license relationship with EDF in the northern hemisphere to own and operate CETO wave-power projects and in the southern hemisphere with Carnegie Corporation to develop the CETO wave-energy technology."