The unpredictability of renewable energy sources like wind and solar creates reliability challenges for utilities seeking to balance power supply and demand across centralized grid networks. Policies compelling energy providers to incorporate more renewable energy into their portfolios make the challenge more urgent, but also create business opportunities for companies finding solutions. Those who crack… Keep reading →
FERC Order 784 revises regulations governing sales of frequency regulation services, thereby increasing the opportunities for energy storage projects in the ancillary services market. On July 18, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued FERC Order 784, which revises its Avista policy regulating ancillary-service sales at market-based rates to public utility transmission providers. The… Keep reading →
East Coast utilities are making big grid investments to prep for a hot and stormy 2013. Fresh on the heels of Hurricane Sandy’s destruction last year, East Coast utilities are girding their grids for future storms, including a 2013 hurricane season that’s shaping up to be a tough one, according to the latest forecasts. That spending… Keep reading →
Last week luxury electric sports car company Tesla Motors announced a major charging station build out, but a Cornell University researcher has cautioned that further scrutiny may be required. Two of the greatest barriers EVs need to overcome in order to compete with gasoline vehicles are range and charging time. You can fill your gas… Keep reading →
One of today’s most-attractive investment opportunities – large-scale energy storage – is more than just an exciting business story, it’s a technology play that can help scale up renewable energy use, with knock-on climate change mitigation benefits. The first companies to commercialize utility-scale energy storage stand to make a fortune and pioneer some of the… Keep reading →
Storing large quantities of energy is one of the greatest challenges facing utility-scale renewable sources like wind and solar. Battery technology has significantly advanced in recent years, but still remains relatively expensive. Researchers have been working on various methods of storing energy, like vanadium flow batteries, and now engineers at the University of Missouri have made a breakthrough that allows them to create and control plasma, which could have wide-ranging implications for generating and storing energy.
“Besides liquid, gas and solid, matter has a fourth state, known as plasma. Fire and lightning are familiar forms of plasma. Life on Earth depends on the energy emitted by plasma produced during fusion reactions within the sun,” MU said in a statement. Keep reading →
The sector will grow 9% per year
Quick Take:You’ll pull several insights from the new research report described and linked below. Note that they predict:
Asia will lead the way
Smart grid will be one of the key sectors along with transportation Keep reading →
Old Solar Decathlon houses don’t die; they gather together to form a neighborhood – one prime for some groundbreaking experimentation in taking advantage of clean energy source.
At least, that’s the case at Missouri University of Science and Technology. Four past decathlon entries comprise the Solar Village at the Rolla, Mo., campus – and an important new twist is coming to the village: installation of a microgrid that will store and manage the renewable energy the houses produce. Keep reading →
DOE’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative would accelerate manufacturing of clean energy products and strengthen competitiveness of the U.S. clean energy sector in the global energy market.
On March 26, 2013, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced a new program – the Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative – to support manufacturing of clean energy products in the U.S. The DOE announced the initiative at the opening of its Oak Ridge Carbon Fiber Technology Facility in Tennessee. The facility manufactures cost-efficient and lightweight carbon fiber used in electric vehicles, energy storage components, and wind turbines. According to the DOE, carbon fiber can reduce the weight of a passenger car by 50% and enhance fuel efficiency by approximately 35%. DOE estimates that the material could cut the weight of vehicles by up to 750 pounds by 2020. Keep reading →
