Bloomberg reported last week that a number of solar developers in Spain have applied for permits to connect to the country’s electric grid and sell solar power at market prices. Taken together […]
100-Megawatt Power Plant via Variations in Ocean Temperature
A barrier to advancing the development of the massive ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) resource is its potentially adverse biological impact, but a new DOE-funded study carried out by Makai Ocean Engineering […]
China’s Wind Market: Growing, But Challenged by Grid Realities
For the Chinese wind industry as a whole, 2012 appears to be another year combining elements of the best of times and the worst of times. China surpassed 50 gigawatts of grid-connected […]
The Year In Solar Power: Prices Crash, Sales Soar, Industry Restructures, Saudis Leap In, CSP Suffers
This year was a big year for solar, both domestically and globally, with some unlikely players throwing their hats into the ring and upping the ante on achievable power generating capacity. Here’s […]
How About 99.9 Percent Renewables?
Combinations of onshore wind, offshore wind, and photovoltaic solar, paired with battery and hydrogen storage in a widespread grid system, could meet 90 percent to 99.9 percent of expected 2030 demand at […]
Uprates can increase U.S. nuclear capacity substantially without building new reactors
Currently (as of July 2012), there are 104 commercial nuclear reactors in the United States. In 2011, these plants provided 786 billion kilowatthours of electricity, or nearly one-fifth of total generation. The […]
Perverse Economics of the Electric Grid: As Generation Gets Cheaper, Transmission Costs Soar
Electrons are cheap – at least electrons are cheap to create. Until recently, it was also cheap to deliver electrons from power plants to customers. That is no longer the case. The […]
New Study: Concentrating Solar With Storage Can Benefit the Grid : Greentech Media
The evidence is piling up that when the real value of energy is considered, electricity generated from concentrating solar power (CSP) plants with storage capability outperforms solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind power. […]
Cost of combating climate change surges as world delays – study
An agreement by almost 200 nations to curb rising greenhouse gas emissions from 2020 will be far more costly than taking action now to tackle climate change, according to research published on […]
Electric generator dispatch depends on system demand and the relative cost of operation
The variable operating cost of electric power generators is a key factor in determining which units a power system operates (or “dispatches”) to meet the demand for electricity. Other things being equal, […]