QUICK NEWS, June 9: ADVANCES IN HIGH WINDS; THE POWER TOWER AND PRICE; RELIEVING EV RANGE ANXIETY; BETTER PERMITTING FOR SUN

ADVANCES IN HIGH WINDS
Flying turbines tested for new type of wind power
Jay Lindsay, June 2, 2011 (AP via MSNBC)

"The world's strongest winds race high in the sky, but that doesn't mean they're out of reach as a potentially potent energy source…Flying, swooping and floating turbines are being developed to turn high-altitude winds into electricity…The challenges are huge, but the potential is immense. Scientists estimate the energy in the jet streams is 100 times the amount of power used worldwide annually.

"Cristina Archer, an atmospheric scientist at the California State University in Chico, said there's ‘not a doubt anymore’ that high-altitude winds will be tapped for power…The question is, when? Some companies project their technology will hit the market by the middle of the decade, but Fort Felker at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory says the industry is 10 years away from making a meaningful contribution to the nation's electricity demands."

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"No company, for instance, has met the basic requirement of demonstrating its turbine can safely fly unsupervised for prolonged periods of time…High-altitude wind power is similar to ground wind in the 1970s — facing questions but soon to prove its viability, said PJ Shepard of Oroville, California-based Sky WindPower…

"The lure of high-altitude wind is simple: Wind speed generally increases with its height above the ground as surface friction diminishes. Each time wind speed doubles, the amount of energy it theoretically holds multiplies by eight times…The world's most powerful winds circulate in the jet streams, which are found four to 10 miles (16 kilometers) off the ground and carry winds that regularly break 100 miles per hour (160 kph)."

Schematic of the concept (click to enlarge)

"The dream is to eventually tap the jet streams, but high-altitude wind companies are focusing for now below a 2,000-foot (600-meter) ceiling, above which complex federal air-space restrictions kick in…[Altaeros Energies] calculates winds at the 2,000 foot (600-meter) level are up to 2½ times stronger than winds that can be reached by a typical 350-foot (105-meter) land turbine.

"High-altitude wind advocates say their smaller, lightweight turbines will be far cheaper to build and deploy than windmills with huge blades and towers that must be drilled into land or the sea floor…Those savings would mean inexpensive energy. With wide-scale use, advocates see a range of prices, from something comparable to land wind's current 9 or 10 cents per kilowatt hour down to an astonishingly low 2 cents per kilowatt hour…"


THE POWER TOWER AND PRICE
Central receiver technologies power CSP toward grid parity
Bob Moser, 26 May 2011 (CSP Today)

"With a DOE loan guarantee offer now in hand for US$737 million, SolarReserve's 110-megawatt Crescent Dunes solar project may serve as a breakthrough example for molten salt receiver technology, and accelerate CSP's competitiveness with cheaper renewable options in the US.

"Construction should start… within the next few months in Tonopah, Nev., with operations set to begin in late 2013. It will be the world's largest molten salt tower project, and power 75,000 homes with electricity generation day and night. The electricity generated has been contracted by NV Energy under a long-term purchase agreement approved last year…"

schematic of solar power tower + storage (click to enlarge)

[Brett Prior, senior analyst, GTM Research/GreenTech Media:] “In my analysis, the most cost-effective dollars per kilowatt hour option is power tower with storage, and that is what SolarReserve is working on…CSP generally is having a tough time competing with PV on cost per kilowatt hour…It's more cost-efficient, but the only way this type of technology system is going to succeed is with a couple demonstration projects going forward to work the kinks out, get the learning going and their costs down, so they can really ramp up and make this mainstream.”

"SolarReserve's molten salt concentrating technology had already been successfully tested in California in a DOE-sponsored 10 MW pilot project in the late 1990s. With a growing number of molten salt central receiver projects being planned around the world, this technology is slowly being established…"

eSolar's 5MW prototype power tower plant (click to enlarge)

"SolarReserve believes molten salt central receiver towers offer benefits of base load power generation by having its storage capability part of the inherent system design, as opposed to a storage system simply attached to the CSP base, which will require extra capital cost and lose efficiency with heat movement from a collection medium, like therminol, to a storage medium like molten salt…

"Operational advantages exist as well for a central tower design…because molten salt stored in storage tanks when the central receiver isn't in use lets the system drain into those storage tanks. It allows the operator to avoid any complications with using molten salt as the working fluid…"


RELIEVING EV RANGE ANXIETY
Recargo Releases Updated Mobile App for Electric Car Charging; Recargo 1.5, Developed by Internet Industry Veterans, Includes Real-Time Comment Section, News Feed and Photo Sharing
June 1, 2011 (ReCargo Inc)

"Recargo, the electric vehicle (EV) mobile app developer lead by the founder of Dictionary.com…[released] Recargo 1.5. Upgrades to the EV charger-finder app include the industry’s only real-time comments section, crowd-sourced from drivers for chargers coast to coast, a news feed and photo sharing.

"The upgraded app allows drivers to instantly warn others of faulty chargers, share eyewitness reports and photos to help locate chargers in maze-like garages and elsewhere, and leave tips about nearby amenities such as restaurants and malls. Recargo’s charger maps are accompanied by Google Street Views…"

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[Brian Kariger, founder/CEO, Recargo:] “Our goal is to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles by giving drivers instant access to the information they need to make range anxiety a figment of the imagination…Up-to-the-minute reports from the roadside are part of the answer. In addition, our news section keeps drivers and prospective electric car owners informed about every facet of the industry.”

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"Recargo 1.5 maps more than 1,000 EV charging sites worldwide that are compatible with current and upcoming cars such as the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt and Tesla Roadster. It is available as a free download for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users in Apple’s App Store…For the app’s news feed, [Recargo] partnered with PluginCars.com, which provides news and reviews by industry experts as well as EV journalists and how-to’s about owning and operating plug-in vehicles…Since [Recargo’s late 2010] launch, it has doubled the amount of data amassed…"

[Kariger:] “We recognized early on the need for a system that could scale to meet the needs of the electric car community as it grows from thousands to millions of drivers…We want to provide the ultimate experience for people who drive electric cars.”


BETTER PERMITTING FOR SUN
Vermont Energy Act Offers A New National Model For Solar System Permitting
Jessica Lillian, 26 May 2011 (Solar Industry)

"Gov. Peter Shumlin, D-Vt., has signed into law the Vermont Energy Act of 2011 (H.56), which is designed to promote the development of solar energy and other sources of renewable energy in the state…

"…[T]he legislation…[includes] a new solar registration process for installations 5 kW and smaller…Vermont-based renewable energy systems provider[s]…[say] this unique streamlined registration process will provide an example for the rest of the U.S. in successful permit-cost mitigation."

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[AllEarth Renewables statement:] "The process, which replaces permitting, allows solar customers to install the system 10 days after completing a registration form and certificate of compliance with interconnection requirements…The utility has 10 days to raise any interconnection issues; otherwise, a Certificate of Public Good is granted, and the project may be installed."

"In addition, the law expands Vermont's net-metering access. All residential, commercial, nonprofit and municipal system hosts will receive an incentive of $0.20/kWh - minus the local retail electric rate. AllEarth Renewables estimates that most customers will receive between $0.06/kWh and $0.01/kWh...[T]he maximum size of a net-metered project has also been increased from 250 kW to 500 kW, and groups participating in net metering can specify allocation for accrued credits through direct billing."

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"Further financial incentives for solar and other forms of renewable energy will be provided through a shifting and strengthening of the state's Clean Energy Development Fund (CEDF)…[B]ridge funding for CEDF initiatives…[will provide] grants in lieu of tax credits. According to the governor's office, this funding will lead to nearly $3 million in clean energy investment this year...

"Finally, Vermont's Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program has been ‘strengthened and updated,’ according to the governor's office…[T]he state is currently working on a broader energy plan that is due to be released Oct. 15…that will continue Vermont's move from fossil fuels to renewable energy…"