MORE NEWS, 4-7 (WORLD’S FIRST THIN FILM SYSTEM WITH TRACKING; CHRYSLER PICKS U.S. BATTERY MAKER; ECO-MONEY – BIG VS. BIGGER)

WORLD’S FIRST THIN FILM SYSTEM WITH TRACKING
Conergy Brings World's First Known Thin-Film Solar Energy Tracking System to California's South San Joaquin Irrigation District; A Watershed Solution: Conergy Employs Former Military Software, Solar Tracker & Thin-Film Combination to Optimize Solar Energy Output On Sunny and Overcast Days
April 6, 2009 (Conergy via PRWeb)

"…Conergy Americas and officials at California's South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID) have installed what is believed to be the world's first single-axis solar tracking system featuring thin-film photovoltaic cells. The 419-kilowatt system went live in late March. It is the second phase of a 1.6 MW solar energy solution that will save the irrigation district nearly $400,000 a year in utility costs, allow it to reap millions of dollars in state cash incentives and stabilize customer costs in the midst of a state-wide water crisis.

"The project -- known as the Robert O. Schulz Solar Farm -- will also provide a unique cost-benefit analysis on how two distinct solar energy solutions -- crystalline panels and thin-film -- perform under a range of climatic conditions. [It will get $6 million in cash incentives from the California Solar Initiative program]…"

The Conergy/SSJID installation. (click to enlarge)

"SSJID is located in Manteca, between San Francisco and Yosemite National Park…[and] provides irrigation water for 55,000 acres in the surrounding area. The Solar Farm will handle nearly all the power needs of the nearby Nick C. DeGroot Water Treatment Plant, which processes 40 million gallons of water per day for 155,000 residents and businesses…

"The trend in enterprise solar emphasizing the economic benefits…California is in the third consecutive year of a drought…In addition to the project's $400,000 annual electric bill savings, the solar energy systems provide the district with a hedge against rising utility costs…[B]oth projects are hooked into the state's electrical grid, which means the district will be able to sell its surplus, peak-time energy (another precious commodity) back to the local utility."

The RayTracker single-axis tracking system. (click to enlarge)

"…Phase 1 features 6,720 Conergy 175-watt crystalline modules mounted on a single axis solar tracking system. Tracking systems can optimize peak-time output by as much as 15% over similarly-sized fixed-mount systems… by incrementally adjusting panel angles to follow the trajectory of the sun. This project optimizes its solar tracking capabilities using software whose origins are based in military tracking technologies. It took a mere four months to install.

"…First Solar thin-film modules were selected for the Phase 2 tracking solution because they perform at a lower cost-per-watt than traditional crystalline…Conergy installed equipment on the inverters that sends power generation information to monitoring and reporting company Fat Spaniel Technologies. This allows Battles and the SSJID team to log onto the Web and gauge system performance…[and] compare the 1 MW, Phase 1 SSJID tracking system with several [local] systems…"


CHRYSLER PICKS U.S. BATTERY MAKER
Chrysler picks A123 Systems Inc. to develop battery system
Ryan Beene, April 6, 2009 (Crain’s Detroit Business)

"Advanced battery supplier A123 Systems Inc. was tapped to develop and supply battery systems for Chrysler L.L.C.’s first-generation ENVI electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

"A123 Systems, based near Boston, Mass., plans to supply Chrysler with Nanophosphate Lithium ion battery cells, modules and battery packs from a plant in Southeast Michigan, which is still in the planning stages…"

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"The formal supply agreement announcement between Chrysler and A123 comes after the companies have been working together for roughly three years…Chrysler had also been working with other advanced battery suppliers during that time…but A123 will supply the first generation of vehicles from Chrysler’s ENVI electric car division.

"Five ENVI vehicles were unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in January. Plug-in electric versions of Chrysler’s Town and Country minivan, Jeep Wrangler SUV and Jeep Patriot SUV were showcased, as were the Dodge EV, an all-electric sports coupe developed with Lotus, and the Chrysler 200C, a plug-in electric concept sedan."

The Chrysler ENVI vehicles. (click to enlarge)

"Selecting a battery supplier is a major step for the embattled Chrysler to meet its goal of having the first ENVI vehicles come to market in 2010…A123 has yet to disclose where its planned battery plant will be located…[T]he Michigan plant will be the first in a national network of advanced battery manufacturing operations. At full capacity, the network is expected to produce enough battery systems for five million hybrid-electric vehicles or 500,000 plug-in hybrids by 2013.

"A123 has already applied for $1.84 billion in loans under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program…"


ECO-MONEY – BIG VS. BIGGER
Book Review – 'Eco Barons: The Dreamers, Schemers and Millionaires Who Are Saving Our Planet' by Edward Humes; In his book, Humes looks at the wealthy green elite.
Dan Neil, April 5, 2009 (LA Times)

"Eco Barons, The Dreamers, Schemers and Millionaires Who are Saving Our Planet…Edward Humes…Ecco: 368 pp., $25.99…Excepting the facts that the title is absurd and the premise conceptually fractured, this is a fine little book: a collection of starry-eyed portraits of environmentalists who have devoted their lives and/or fortunes to saving the Earth. And yet by invoking the industrial barons of the 19th century -- the dangerous men who amassed inconceivable wealth in railroads, real estate, steel -- Humes' title creates the expectation that his subjects will be farsighted ecopreneurs, who are profiting in solar and wind energy, biomass technology and sustainable farming. The wind and solar barons are out there, and they are making a bundle. In ignoring them, Humes fumbles the promise of his own trope.

"Humes devotes most of this book to conservationists such as Doug Tompkins, the fashion mogul who founded Esprit and then took his fortune to South America to buy up vast swaths of Patagonia, forming Pumalin Park; Ted Turner, the media empire-builder who is now the nation's largest private landowner; and Roxanne Quimby, the hippie-chick workhorse behind Burt's Bees products who, after cashing out in the 1990s with nearly $400 million, devoted her fortune to saving the Maine North Woods. God bless them all…"

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"…To suggest that a handful of chlorophyll-loving millionaires' fencing off paradise somehow spells deliverance for our suffering Earth is not only implausible but actually risible. Such a notion embraces, to an astonishing degree, a messianic faith in the world's financial elite that -- perhaps you've noticed lately -- is indifferent to the general welfare. …If we take no other lesson from the Wall Street apocalypse -- from the spectacle of inept, paper-pushing functionaries walking off from their ruined companies with tens of millions of dollars -- we should at least recognize our collective failure to stigmatize extreme wealth…

"Look, I get it. Tompkins, Turner and Quimby are using their fortunes to buy up as much of the remaining Eden as possible…I share their sense of urgency and salute their determination. Indeed, everyone profiled in this book deserves a crown of organic laurel, or a lifetime supply of arugula, whatever…I only object insofar as anything in this book gives readers the slightest reassurance that the financial ruling elite will save us. These few class traitors notwithstanding, rich people are the problem, not the solution."