The 377 MW Ivanpah solar plant started up in California today amid controversy over wildlife apparently killed by the intense heat emitted from the solar receivers located on top of the facility’s “power towers.” 3,500 acres of specially-designed mirrors focus the sun’s radiation on the towers, which convert water to steam used to spins power-generating… Keep reading →
Energy companies love to brag about being the world’s largest, first or producing the most of something and the bragging is about to begin. The Shams 1 concentrated solar plant located in the UAE’s Western Region is currently the world’s largest, but not for long, as an enormous project in the US western desert is… Keep reading →
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR), a rocket-engine manufacturer based in Los Angeles, Calif., has marked a major milestone in technology that will provide reliable solar energy on demand – even when the sun isn’t shining.
The last of 14 Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) receiver panels and heat shields have been installed at the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy project, and construction of the 10,400 articulating mirrors, or heliostats, on the 1600-acre heliostat field is underway in Tonopah, Nevada. PWR has provided the worldwide exclusive license to SolarReserve, a developer of large-scale solar energy projects based in Santa Monica, Calif., for the molten salt power tower and heliostat technologies. Keep reading →
The Shams 1 concentrated solar power plant was inaugurated earlier this week in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi, UAE. At 100 megawatts, Shams 1 is currently the largest operational CSP plant in the world. The project is noteworthy because it is a major step forward for renewable energy technology, and CSP in particular, but also because it was developed in an Opec country. Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, partnered with French oil major Total and Spain’s energy infrastructure company Abengoa. Breaking Energy attended the proceedings, along with several other international journalists, as Masdar’s guest. Masdar is a subsidiary of Mubadala, a UAE government-owned investment vehicle.
“With the addition of Shams 1, Masdar’s renewable energy portfolio accounts for almost 68 percent of the Gulf’s renewable energy capacity and nearly 10 percent of the world’s installed CSP capacity”, according to the company. Keep reading →
An enormous solar power plant is taking shape in the desert, and Breaking Energy is there to see it.
The project’s importance to the country and region, as growing economies and populations in the Middle East and North Africa require increasing amounts of energy, is self-evident. The fact that an Opec country has taken this step underscores the need to generate electricity from all available sources, particularly sources other than valuable hydrocarbons. Keep reading →
As increasing numbers of renewable energy generation facilities are installed in the U.S., the realities of their operational impacts have sometimes been surprising. While renewables in general, and solar power in particular, have been touted as generally benign with regard to environmental impacts, some solar projects that have recently been placed in service reveal that… Keep reading →
A new report has stated that energy-focused apps being offered by utilities and other vendors have the potential to save customers an average of 8% on their energy bills. [Clean Technica] Linn Energy announced some preliminary results for the third quarter of its 2015 fiscal year, releasing the business did report an impairment charge of between $2… Keep reading →
LAS VEGAS –President Obama today announced more than one billion dollars in Department of Energy (DOE) initiatives to drive innovation and accelerate the clean energy economy. As part of the President’s Clean Power Plan, DOE’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) is making up to one billion dollars in loan guarantees available to support commercial-scale distributed energy… Keep reading →
US renewable energy sources continued to grow in 2014, as reported by Breaking Energy, with data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission showing that “15,384 megawatts of new generation went into service in 2014, and 49.9 percent of [all that capacity] came from wind, solar and other renewables.” According to the International Renewable Energy Agency… Keep reading →
A new study conducted by the University of Texas at Austin in conjunction with the Environmental Defense Fund and 10 oil companies pinpointed methane emissions sources at natural gas production operations. “Researchers found 19% of pneumatic devices accounted for 95% of the emissions from those devices. Meanwhile, 20% of the wells that vent emissions to… Keep reading →
