Our readers are aware through our previous articles on solar towers, they are an innovative renewable energy that uses giant mirrors to concentrate sunlight into a central to produce steam that drives a turbine, and it has an incredible potential to produce clean energy.

The new 20MW plant of power, called PS20, will open in the desert on the outskirts of Seville in January, and the developers plans to expand it to a capacity of 300MW; a report in The Guardian explains:

Spanish companies are moving toward the CPS (solar concentrators, for its initials in English). More than 50 projects throughout Spain have already been approved for construction by the government, by 2015, the country is expected to generate more than 2GW from solar thermal concentration (TSA, for its initials in Spanish) which exceeded current expectations. The companies are also exporting their technology to countries such as Morocco, Algeria and the US.

“TSA is just the beginning of a big boom” says Jose Luis Garcia, from Greenpeace Spain. “Spain is in an excellent position to develop and implement the technology of solar energy.

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A new laser fiber can both reduce wear and increase efficiency of wind turbines using a sensor that can detect wind one kilometer away. The product is called Catch The Wind, and it is a device that allows the turbine to adjust the strength and direction of the wind before it reaches the turbine.

Wind turbines lose efficiency of 1% every degree that the blades are not into the right direction. To have a sensor that detects wind speed and direction may help to protect the blades and increase efficiency. The company that makes the sensor claims that the efficiency can be increased by 10% and maintenance costs can be reduced by 10% when using this sensor.

The laser, which will enter production in 2010, works by sending 3 rays in front of the turbine to measure both horizontal and vertical speeds and changing direction. The turbine takes 20 seconds to record the information and get around, plenty of time for wind a thousand meters away.

The greatest disadvantage of wind energy is inconsistency, unlike solar power. This device allows maximizing the amount of energy produces when there is wind.

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Navy, Army Push to Meet Renewable. Energy Goals: The Navy is making headway in meeting its alternative energy goals over the next decade as the service partners

GE places solar bets on thin-film cells: General Electric, which has long made solar panels using traditional silicon, is converting to thin-film cells

Tropical frog inspires new way to convert solar. energy to b.iofuel: Natural photosynthesis isn’t as efficient as we would like it to be, and incorporating solar energy of into useful products is the subject

Water and Concentrated Solar. Power vs. Coal Water Usage: I urge everyone to listen to it to get a heads up on American support for utility scale solar.

Wind, Solar Energy IPOs May Rise This Year, Morgan Stanley Says: Renewable energy companies may tap financial markets for more funds this year instead of looking to mergers

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BKW Switzerland unveiled its plans to build a 20 to 30 m. long submarine that will use solar energy. The boat, which will be used as a tourist attraction, will have windows 70 cm wide in order to see the sea.

The project, called Project Goldfish, will be able to carry 30 passengers and 3 staff members at a depth of 300 meters in Lake Thun. As it will operate under water, it was useless for the team to put solar panels, so it will charge from a floating platform with 300 m2 of solar panels, with a capacity to generate up to 30 kW of solar energy.

When it is necessary, the solar platform is moved via GPS to the top of the submarine in order to connect and recharge. A ferry that will also use solar energy will be responsible for carrying passengers from the coast to the submarine.

Following a conducted study, BKW is forming a team of investors to carry out the project in 2012.

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Davis Cup Final to be held in Mar del Plata will have an addition. The Falkland Islands stadium will be illuminated by wind energy, making it a groundbreaking sporting event in the country because of this energy innovation.

Helix Wind, through Edale RE Inc., a company dedicated to power generation from renewable sources is the official supplier of the Davis Cup Final between Argentina and Spain that will take place in the city of Mar del Plata.

Part of the electricity to be used in the Davis Cup final will come from two vertical wind turbines installed in the Stadium, which convert wind into electricity.

This is a double novelty: firstly, is a pioneering experience in the country regarding the care of the environment in a sporting event with an international dimension. And also the use of renewable energies in major events is part of a global trend, the recent Beijing Olympics were an example of this by using solar energy to supply their plants.

This new technology, introduced in Argentina during the Davis Cup final will be officially launched worldwide later on.

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Energy revolution, a perspective of sustainable energy in Mexico. This is the name of the report submitted by CIEC (Ecosystems Research Center) written by Omar Masera Cerruti, where he commented on the support required from the government on renewable energy and solar energy to be at a disadvantage against non-fossil fuels.

He called to make decisions in Mexico to develop solar, biomass, geothermal and wind energy and that in the next 20 years will be a considerable demand for investment in new production facilities. “Since 2020, the increasing use of solar, thermal and wind will be complemented by electricity from photovoltaic energy, especially for the provision of housing in rural areas of the country,” said Masera Cerruti at a press conference, accompanied by Claudio Estrada Gasca, director of the Center for Energy Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico

Hydroelectric power, he added, is limited to small plants, reaching a total of 20,000MW by 2050, although its potential is greater, biomass will be limited to agricultural waste and will reach 12,000MW for the same period, although its technical potential is 10 times higher.

Currently, renewable energies provide about 19% of the primary demand for heat supply and larger contribution of biomass is used for cooking and heating, mainly in rural areas, which have no access to the electricity grid. He explained that in a few decades, the industry will replace with biomass, biogas and geothermal those heating systems powered by conventional fossil fuels.

Claudio Estrada Gasca said that Mexico needs a change of energy, so it is necessary to reassess the current development model and forms of consumption, especially in big cities. The country, he said, is plenty of renewable energy resources and human resources capable of generating research and development to create necessary technologies to promote a domestic industry.

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IMOMEC, associated laboratory of IMEC, located on the Hasselt University campus; developed a method to stabilize the morphology of nano-solar cells, and it resulted an impressive improvement.

With these stable solar cells efficiency can be compared with the standard ideals of organic solar cells. This discovery paves the way for commercial solar cells with a lifespan up to 5 years, with an efficiency above 10%.

The efficiency and operation of organic solar cells strongly depends on the nano-morphology of the active layer, for example, a mixture of stable organic compounds that can trap the light’s energy and transport to an electrical plug. IMEC already reported such cells based on P3HT: PCBM with 5% efficiency. However, at this point, the lifespan of these cells is too short for commercial applications, of which 5 years is seen as the minimum.

Under the long-term operation, all solar cells based on a mixture of organic semiconductors deteriorate. This is due to segregation of the mixture of compounds that tend to separate into different phases and consequently reduce the efficiency of converting light into electricity. IMEC has shown before that this phase segregation refers to the mobility of organic polymers and the attachment of the nano-morphology of the polymers could result in a prolonged operational lifetime.

Experiments in most of the heterogeneous organic solar cells are based on this new material showed no degradation of the efficiency after more than 100 hours whereas reference cells degraded already after a few hours. This means that improving the lives of at least a factor 10 can be obtained and the efficiency of the cells reached about 4% which is comparable to the prior technique.

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Next November 12th and 13th the 2nd Solar Thermoelectric Concentration Meeting will be held in Seville, Spain, and the following points will be addressed:

• The latest stuff in storage – Latest solutions for concentrated solar thermal energy. Discover the future of thermal energy storage for large-scale plants.

• Royal Decree – taking into account the model of the new premiums for FV, that can be expected from the Royal Decree on thermoelectric roof after reaching 500MW.

• Experience of Thermoelectric Solar Millennium, Acciona, Iberdrola Renovables, ACS SCE Torresol – what they have learned from their experience and which are their future solar energy projects.

• Reducing Costs – A whole year has passed now, but the challenge of reducing costs is still on pending. Study the possibilities of hybridization, Automation, Storage.

• Project Finance – Hear how to ensure the funds you need for your CSP plants.

• Plus! Hybrid plants, supply chain, new markets, and success in Project Finance.

For more information visit http://www.csptoday.com/eu/es/index.shtml

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These new solar cells, with the size of a 12 letter from the computer (as in Microsoft Word when you use font size 12), are being tested to supply energy to microscopic machines.

Researchers from the University of South Florida said that these are the smallest solar cells in the world; it takes 20 aligned cells to get a panel of 2.5 centimeters. Typical solar cells measure 5 cm each and those structure the solar panels we see on the roofs.

A panel, made from organic materials, without sillicon, does not generate enough solar energy to power a small sensor, which is what the researchers are using as evidence. However, it can already be used as a source of 7.8 volts, which can operate devices such as a cell phone.

The leading researcher, Xiaomei Jiang, said the mini-panel will be optimized to deliver higher voltage to the end of this year. “I believe that these materials have more potential than the traditional silicon, these can be sprayed on any surface exposed to the sun,” he said.

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Articles about renewable energies like solar energy or wind energy from this week.

Solar Energy Investment Tax Credits

The buzz around the extension of federal investment and production tax credits has

EU Approves Plan To Boost Production Of “Green” Energy

The European energy ministers on Thursday approved a strategic plan for the European Union (EU)

Solar Energy Performance

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A Fair Held In Rio De Janeiro Reunites The Technicians Of The Future

Over 600 students from 13 countries competing this week in Rio de Janeiro in a scientific

EU Countries Are Obliged To Notify Brussels Investments In Energy Infrastructure To Identify Gaps

The countries of the European Union must notify Brussels their investments in energy infrastructure in the sector of oil

Festival Promotes Sustainable Consumption

About 150 businesses and microenterprises and rural producers eco artisans gathered at the

Nuclear Energy

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The First Solar. Car

American Greg Johanson developed in 1981 a car tricycle with photovoltaic solar cells half

The Energy Label For Thermal Systems Will Be Approved In Less Than A Year

Red for bad, green for good. European consumers have long been aware of the energy labels

Build your Own Solar Concetrator

This is a simple solar furnace, the type of concentration that can it generates is a temperature

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