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In this recent Blogpost Prof. Pitz-Paal from the DLR (German Aerospace Center) gives a personal view on the DESERTEC project. He points out that DESERTEC is not an idea to mainly produce energy for Europe but the DLR rather expects great advantages for the countries in northern Africa itself. 

Read the Blogpost in German. 

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In the United Arab Emirates, the world’s largest CSP plant begins operations.

 

The 100-Megawatt power station Shams-1 will provide electricity to thousands of households and lead to an annual CO2 savings of 175,000 tons. “Projects like Shams-1 move us forward along the path to emissions-free power production and represent a big step toward the realization of the Desertec vision. With desert power, the Middle East and North Africa will play an important role in this process, and Europe should recognize the contribution that its neighbors in this region are making. It’s time to connect the European, North African and Middle Eastern electricity markets in order to improve our energy mix. This is the only way to ensure the availability of renewable energy under the best conditions. Europe profits from this as well”, says Dii CEO Paul Van Son.

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An almost spring-like spirit of optimism currently prevails in the world of renewable energy. The various developments around the DESERTEC concept make us all hopeful, as the ideas’ implementation is truly gaining momentum.

No sooner the groundbreaking collaboration with DESERTEC Power in Saudi Arabia was accomplished than the newest reports from there give account of a technical milestone: The PFFC technology (Point Focus Fresnel Collector) is another technology in the spectrum of solar energy generation bringing many advantages. PFFC actually works quite simple: rows of flat mirrors are used that follow the path of the sun. Thus the insolation is being focused on the same area at any time of the day, guaranteeing maximum efficiency. We are talking about a “mini-tower power plant”, if you will, which might be of interest for small and decentralized applications just as well.

Somewhere else on the globe new insights are being gained on the subject of the “Global Grid", a world-spanning power supply network. Researchers at the ETH Zurich found that the transmission costs in a global network of suppliers of solar, wind and water energy will not be higher than for electricity generated from conventional power plants. This invalidates a key argument of the critics of suchlike approaches and concepts. And yet another prejudice gets tackled: energy from renewable sources does not necessarily have to be more expensive! Australia just announced that supply from renewable sources is already on a par with conventional energy production there.

We would like to conclude with a success message from Germany: Our partners at Dii welcome First Solar, an exciting new addition to the group of shareholders. First Solar has been fighting with great conviction for the DESERTEC idea and will continue to be a driving force on the journey from vision to reality.

The bottom line is clear: Spring is coming slowly, but sustainably.

These two wind turbines aren’t any turbines; these wind turbines set new standards: Measuring a staggering 120m in diameter and 148m high, the Siemens six megawatt generators will be able to produce more energy than any other. After all the media coverage of the crisis resistant wind energy sector, great European installation rates and a prosperous outlook, the installation of these two turbines is the next technological step in the large scale rollout of offshore wind power. The two turbines have been installed in Gunfleet Sands, UK.

Read the article: eadt.co.uk

The Chinese wind energy sector has been continuously growing and steadily increasing its share in the national grid. Wind power generation in China totaled 100.4 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2012, surpassing nuclear power generation. China had 60.83 GW of installed wind power capacity online as of year-end 2012, according to the Chinese Wind Energy Association (CWEA). A national target calls for 100 GW of installed capacity by the end of 2015.

Read the article: cleantechnica.com

The German Minister for Economy and Technology, Phillip Rösler and his Tunisian counterpart, Ridha Saidi, have agreed to collaborate in energy issues. Focal points of the partnership include among others close cooperation on efficiency, further bilateral scientific research and the political collaboration on renewable projects included in the DESERTEC Vision. The agreement with Tunisia is the second German energy partnership with a North African country. The North African country offers great conditions for wind and especially solar projects such as the TuNur project which is currently under construction.

(German) Read the press release: bmwi.de

The European Wind Energy Association has released a review of the European offshore wind energy sector in 2012. The offshore energy market steadily grew and 369 turbines have been erected during the last year. Of these 369 turbines, 293 turbines in 9 wind farms, with an average of 4 MW have been connected to the grid. Especially the North Sea has established itself as a favored destination for construction of offshore power.

Read the report: ewea.org

The Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN) has launched the next phase for the Ouarzazate CSP Project. Masen is currently implementing a five hundred megawatts (500MW) solar power complex located at Ouarzazate, Morocco. The next phase of the project will have an aggregate capacity of approximately 300MW, split up into a solar power tower of 100MW and 200MW of Parabolic Trough technology. Masen invites interested companies and consortia to apply for the next phase of construction.

Read the article: csptoday.com

The Midwest in the United States has a great potential for the large scale rollout of renewable energies. Not only is the potential to harness the wind unmatched but also there a plenty of research universities, strong supply chains and a high level of manufacturing know-how. A report released states that hurdles to an expanded U.S. clean-energy sector include a lack of a national clean-energy standard and longstanding tax breaks for oil, gas and coal producers. As soon as these and other issues are addressed, they could spur billions of dollars of economic activity. The wind energy industry is at a tipping point in the United States and globally. Investment is on the rise, prices for clean energy are falling, and more and more clean energy is being deployed.

Read the article: midwestenergynews.com

A 22.5 MW hybrid biomass-solar thermal power plant has begun operations in Les Borges Blanques, Spain. The facility combines solar power generation and biomass-fired power generation in a way that allows for continuous electrical production. The biomass portion of the facility takes in forestry waste as its primary feedstock. By usage of forestry waste the plant avoids the ethical problem of food vs. energy and therefore lives up to the DESERTEC sustainability standards.

Read the article: biomassmagazine.com

In Canada’s province Quebec, EDF Energies has announced the commercial operation of the Massif du Sud Wind Project (150 MW) and the first phase of the Lac Alfred Wind Project (150 MW). With a combined investment of close to $700 million, the projects together created more than 600 jobs during the construction phase, and will provide 20-30 permanent operations and maintenance jobs. Hydro-Quebec will buy the power under 20-year power purchase agreements.

Read the press release on: edf-en.ca

Energy ministers from South American and Arab countries have made renewable energy a top priority for cooperation between the two regions. The two regions have very different energy-prerequisites. While South American countries have a large share of hydropower, the Arab countries experience extreme scarcity. Both regions have in common that their renewable energy potential remains largely untapped (despite South American hydropower). Both regions have high potential to develop renewable energy.

Read the article: irena.org

Up to 700bn US$ a year, according to a report released on behalf of the World Economic Forum. This is the sum required to be invested in clean technologies. This sum is needed in addition to the $5 trillion a year countries must spend on infrastructure for agriculture, transport, power and water through 2020. “The G20 governments must accelerate the phasing-out of fossil-fuel subsidies, enact long-term carbon price signals, enable greater free trade in green technologies, and expand investment in climate adaptation,” the report said.

Read the article: bloomberg.com

Energy utility Masdar will begin a pilot project to desalinate water using power from renewable sources with the aim of building a full-scale plant by 2020. Masdar and its partners will test different technologies at the plants through 2015, with the aim of starting construction on a commercial desalination facility in 2016, he said. The full-scale facility may have capacity to treat 50 million to 100 million gallons of water a day.

Read the article: bloomberg.com

According to the Energy Research Institute of the University of Melbourne, Australia could, energy wise, be self-sufficient within ten years. About 40 percent of Australian renewables could come from wind farms, but key to the success of the project is the empty landscape and the almost constant solar power of the interior. Solar power would be produced by many buildings, but most power would come from vast towers containing energy storage systems (Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technology) According to the study and taking into account the assumption that electricity demand will be 40 percent higher than today, in 2020 it would still be possible to achieve 100 percent renewable generation. A total switch to renewable electricity would cost 3 percent of Australian GDP annually, about A$37 billion (US$39 billion), for 10 years, and an added 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour on the electricity price.

Read the article: dailyclimate.org

A large majority of Europeans (79%) think that the EU should propose additional measures to address air quality-related problems in Europe. A major survey carried out for the European Commission has fetched data suggesting that European citizens don’t feel fully represented by ‘EU-air-policies’. Against the backdrop of the rapid development of shale gas in the United States and the discussions in some EU-Member-Countries the findings highlight the trust European citizens have in the further rollout of renewable energies. Seven out of ten Europeans, for example, think renewable energy sources should be prioritized now and in all 27 countries, renewable energy is the most mentioned energy option to be prioritized now with a view to the next 30 years.

Read the findings here

The German Minister for the Environment, Peter Altmaier, is pushing his vision for a coalition of states at the Renewable Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi. The German shift to renewable energies is being scrutinized very careful by other nations and Altmaier’s hope is that the success will stand an example for other nations. Through a coalition, a transnational example of the large scale deployment of renewable energies will be set and can have an inspirational effect on others. Furthermore he doesn’t tire in highlighting the fact that renewable energies will not only have an effect on climate and environment but are an integrated solution with a currently underestimated economic effect for each country.

(German) Read the article on: tagesschau.de

have decreased in comparison to 2011 but still remain on a very high level. According to a report released on Monday overall investment was $269 billion; down from $302 billion in 2011 but still the second highest level ever. The sum is split up into various parts; the largest of these was asset finance of utility-scale renewable energy projects, such as wind farms, solar parks and biofuel plants. Considering the political headwinds the industry has experienced in the past year the industry has, once again, proven its future viability.

Read the article on: thehill.com

Despite high costs, experts say tidal power is more reliable than wind. An analysis says that estuary barrages and tidal streams could provide more than 20% of the nation's demand for electricity. The predictable nature of tides makes them an ideal renewable energy source. Essentially, engineers try to tap tides in two ways: one involves building barrages across tidal estuaries that use the ebb and flow of the waters to turn turbines - a major project of this type had been proposed for the River Severn. The other method involves planting turbines underwater in fast flowing tidal streams in areas such as in coastal waters around Cornwall and Scotland. In the past month, the EU has announced funding in the region of £30m for two UK tidal projects. Investors in tidal technology are currently rewarded with a payment of £40 per MWh.

Read the article on: bbc.co.uk

Technology giants Apple and Google have both announced investments in renewable energy projects, focusing largely on wind energy. Google made an approximate $200m equity investment in the Spinning Spur Wind Project, a 161 megawatt facility located in Oldham County, Texas. Meanwhile, Apple put forward plans to develop a wind turbine that converts rotational energy into heat, which is then used to generate electricity. The companies aim to cover all energy expenses by large investments in the green technology sector.

Read the article on: edie.net

Despite draconic austerity measures the renewable energy sector still has supplied 32% of Spanish electricity in 2012. The Red Electrica de Espana (REE) figures also confirm the emergence of solar-thermal technology, which last year provided 1% of Spain’s electricity. That compares to 3% for PV and 7% for hydropower. The further rollout of renewables has met serious obstacles, due to the financial debt crisis. While the overall electricity production became dirtier, renewables have managed to stay the largest source of energy in the country with yet a massive potential left unused.

Read the article on: rechargenews.com

More Solar power than ever before was installed in Germany last year. According to the BMU installations increased by 2% compared to 2011, translating in to 7,634 MW in 2012. This means that installations doubled the expected goals set at the start of the year. The expansion in installed capacity and relatively good weather during 2012 had resulted in a record 28 terawatt hours of solar electricity being generated during the year.

Read the article on: businessgreen.com

By 2025, 15% of the American population will live in California, up from just over 11% today. By 2050 the population will hit 55 million, requiring roughly double the amount of energy as the state consumes at the moment. Smart grids that can match supply and demand intelligently will no doubt solve part of this problem. California will also need a lot more energy storage before it can significantly embrace solar power, including CSP. Besides there are a number of other energy storage initiatives across the state; this increasing focus on storing power could help raise the profile of CSP with storage as a unique form of dispatchable renewable energy.

Read the article on: social.csptoday.com

This is the first operational solar thermal plant in South America, and it’s located in the Antofagasta region of Chile. Compared to other solar thermal power (CSP) plants its capacity of 10 MW doesn’t seem that much at all, but thanks to energy storage technologies the plant can deliver electricity every hour of the day. It’s located in the heart of Chiles mining area and will provide electricity for the mine Minera El Tesoro. Many experts see this project as the beginning of the extensive rollout of renewable energies in the region which offers outstanding geographic preconditions to harness renewable technologies. Especially the dry and hot Atacama Desert in Chile allows large scale deployment of solar thermal technologies.

Read the article on: cleantechnica.com

The Middle East and North Africa are obvious potential hotspots of future Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) development. Morocco is spearheading an ambitious movement and has worked hard to establish a phased site development plan, with the first 120-160 MW to come on line in 2014. Despite higher costs CSP is very desirable when it comes to domestic consumption as it has the ability to store energy, unlike PV. CSP industries can be a profitable part of the local economy and in turn create a successful employment sector, not just in terms of manual labour but also, to a greater or lesser extent, in terms of developing cutting edge technology thorough research and development. The aim is that CSP from these countries will eventually amount to about 15 per cent of the projected global pipeline and provide a two-fold increase in the current global installed CSP capacity.

Read the Article on: social.csptoday.com

The Department of Energy (DOE) has launched an innovative funding opportunity for concentrating solar-thermal (CSP) manufacturers. Like all renewables the costs for CSP power plants can be brought down by the economies of scale; but other than wind and photovoltaic the development hasn’t yet met the point of cost parity compared to fossil fuels. The DOE is aiming at bringing down costs of CSP by integrating the technology in already existing power infrastructures such as fossil fuel power plants. Estimates speak of 11 - 21GW of solar-thermal energy that could be integrated into existing fossil fuel power plants – enough to power between 3 and 6 million homes.

Read the DE-FOA-0000772 Funding opportunity on: eere-exchange.energy.gov

The German cabinet has finalized its decision to build new transmission lines. The highly emotional topic of constructing 2800 km of new High Voltage Direct Current transmission lines from the north to the south of Germany was decided today by the Bundesregierung. The German Länder have agreed to relinquish their competence in the field so the German state can accelerate the process of planning and construction. The exact routes and plans will be determined by 2014; costs are estimated to reach 10 Billion Euro.

(German) Read the Article on: faz.net

ABB has won a contract worth $130 million to supply a new underwater power transmission link between Finnish mainland and Åland. The link will be 158 kilometres long and will have a capacity to transit 100 MW of electricity. With the new HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) link, the province is expected to become independent from Swedish imports as well as the fossil fuel–based power backup. Additionally, the use of electricity from renewable energy sources is expected to go up.

Read the Article on:cleatechnica.com

The Castilla-La Mancha Solar Complex is located in Ciudad Real, Spain. The project is made up of two identical 50 MW parabolic trough plants and just like other solar projects in Spain, the power plant has had great impact on the local community. In peak times of construction the site employed 1,650 workers and has created 90 permanent jobs for the operation and maintenance of the plant. Adding to the local economic boost, locally manufactured components were used in building the CSP plant. According to Abengoa the plant will avoid some 63.000 tons of CO2 every year, compared to traditional power plants generating electricity with the burning of fossil fuels.

Read the Press Release on:abengoa.com

Very few details of the new policy are available in English. What is known is that the policy is a radical reversal of the previous direction in Jordanian energy policy and follows a festering dispute about the role of nuclear power. Often overlooked in the shadow of nuclear plans from Iran, the Jordanian government had planned to build as many as five nuclear power plants. It seems the new energy strategy will be much friendlier towards renewable energies with feed-in-tariffs by technology, allowing the country to set more ambitious goals regarding the share of renewable energies.

Read the Article on:renewableenergyworld.com

China is a regular guest in the renewable news. Newer and bigger projects are inaugurated every other month. According to talk out of China, the administration is about to lift its 2015 solar target to 40GW. Just 18 months ago, the 2015 target was just 5GW, but more than that has been installed this year alone. Analysts note that the updated forecasts suggest that more than 10GW of solar will be installed in China in each of the next three years. Assuming that solar deployment will continue to increase rather than slow; that suggests a cumulative total of well over 100GW by 2020.

Read the Article on:reneweconomy.com.au

China is a regular guest in the renewable news. Newer and bigger projects are inaugurated every other month. According to talk out of China, the administration is about to lift its 2015 solar target to 40GW. Just 18 months ago, the 2015 target was just 5GW, but more than that has been installed this year alone. Analysts note that the updated forecasts suggest that more than 10GW of solar will be installed in China in each of the next three years. Assuming that solar deployment will continue to increase rather than slow; that suggests a cumulative total of well over 100GW by 2020.

Read the Article on:reneweconomy.com.au

The German Energy Agency has published a press release in which it declares that the use of biomass in conventional coal power plants can increase the share of renewable energies to meet domestic demand. Biomass, be it solid or gas can be integrated into traditional coal power plants with heat-cogeneration (combined heat and power plant) and achieve efficiency rates of up to 79%. Biomass is worldwide available and therefore could be used on a global scale to decrease the share of coal in electricity generation. The sustainable use and production of biomass is one essential precondition. 

(German Read the Press release on:dena.de

Unlike other studies, this model focused on minimizing costs instead of the traditional approach of matching generation to electricity use. A computer model to consider 28 billion combinations of renewable energy sources and storage mechanisms, each tested over four years of historical hourly weather data and electricity demands has led to results which demand a change in energy policy. The researchers found that generating more electricity than needed during average hours — in order to meet needs on high-demand but low-wind power hours — would be cheaper than storing excess power for later high demand.

Read the Article on:udel.edu

The host of this year’s climate summit Qatar is reinforcing its intentions to invest a considerable amount into the renewable energy sector. While the summit couldn’t agree on concrete and immediate action the Gulf-Region has experienced a change in awareness: While the countries are amongst the biggest oil and gas producers they also experience great conditions to harness renewable energies. Qatar intends to build 1.8GW of large-scale solar by 2020 and has a 30 per cent renewables target by 2030. Abu Dhabi was the first mover in this space, taking $15 billion out of its sovereign fund to invest in solar. Dubai is building a 1GW solar park, and Kuwait, which already has a 50MW CSP facility, is aiming for 15 per cent renewables (almost all CSP) by 2030.

Read the Article on: reneweconomy.com.au

Britain’s economy would be better off if the government decided to invest more in wind energy. A report issued by the British think tank, Cambridge Econometrics, develops two scenarios. One involves gas as the core source of supply. The second scenario calculates with offshore wind energy as the main driver. The result shows that the British economy would be £20bn-a-year better off by 2030 if it favoured offshore wind over gas-fired generation. Whilst increasing the gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.8%, the carbon footprint can be reduced by 13% making it more likely to reach the legally binding 2050 emission reduction goal.

Read the Article on: independent.co.uk

Ironically the largest oil and gas producer in Europe has decided to become the lead destination for green technology and their investment. The Scottish government had adjusted its targets just a couple of months ago, convinced the country can achieve 50% renewable energy by the year 2015 and 100% by 2020. The minister for climate change and environment has announced to make Scotland the top destination for foreign direct investment. He stresses the great benefits for the country and believes with the potential the Northern European Country possesses (estimated to well above 100% of domestic demand), it can export clean electricity to England or even as far as mainland Europe.

Read the Article on: reneweconomy.com.au

Germany and Norway plan to invest on a subsea cable that will mark the first power link between the countries. The project will take the form of a 50:50 joint venture between Norway and Germany. A final investment decision will be taken in 2014, with the aim of bringing the cable into operation at the end of 2018, the two involved companies said in a statement on Tuesday. The agreement will entail an investment sum of approximately 2 Billion Euro and will be a next step towards a European Supergrid. Norway so far has already connected its grid to mainland Europe via the Netherlands.

Read the Article on: reuters.com

The question put out at first is: "We import oil and gas. What's wrong with importing electricity?" Son Masayoshi founder of the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation (JREF) understands himself as a visionary and a person promoting creative destructiveness by challenging existing power structures. Literally these power structures in Asia are ruled by a handful of companies dominating every electricity-related issue in their respective country. Son envisions an Asian Super Grid connecting the north of Russia with Japan, China, Korea and someday maybe even as far as Thailand and India. When he talks about his vision he sees competition between all nations forcing companies to offer the best retail price to the consumer. But not only can such an enhanced interconnected  grid bring down prices, it will also be able to accommodate the fluctuating inputs from various renewable sources and match them to fluctuating demand - thereby enabling renewable sources to be scaled up to a level exceeding incumbent fossil-fueled systems. As a footnote it is worth noting that many of the sources of tension within and linked to East Asia - such as disputes over territorial claims to the sea around remote islands involving China, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia - involve access to fossil fuels.

Read the Article on: asian-times.com

On the 13th of November 2012 the Director of the DESERTEC Foundation, Ignacio Campino, has met with a Member of Congress, the German Ambassador in Peru and a German consultant from the development agency GIZ representing the Ministry of the Environment in Peru. The four discussed the possibilities of renewable energy supply in Peru and the further rollout of existing energy infrastructures. Peru, up to now, does not have much experience with the large scale deployment of renewables and is seeking to achieve energy security and furthermore independence.

(Spanish) Read the Article on: alemaniaenelperu.pe

Despite its excellent solar insolation India has yet to develop large amounts of concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP). One of the main barriers to speedier development is cost. Now estimates from a solar manufacturer suggest that local manufacturing of components could reduce costs by up to 40%. To date, India’s first phase of CSP installations have mainly relied on the import of solar block components. This article suggests local manufacturing in a large market such as India could help to make CSP one of its standard energy technologies.

Read the Article on: csptoday.com

The concentrating solar-thermal power plant Shams 1 in the United Arab Emirates is in the very last phase of construction. The inauguration is scheduled for the first quarter of 2013. Extending over an area of 2.5 km² and a nameplate capacity of approximately 100 MW once commissioned it will provide enough power for 20.000 homes and will be one of the largest power plants in the world. The first utility-scale commercial solar power project in the Middle East will consist of 258,048 parabolic trough mirrors, 192 solar collector assembly loops with 8 solar collector assemblies per loop, 768 solar collector assembly units, and 27,648 absorber pipes. Shams 1 is a joint venture between Masdar (60 per cent), Total (20 per cent), and Abengoa (20 per cent).

Read the Article on: gulfnews.com

The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has published a study which analyzes the costs of renewable energies. It confirms that today’s renewable power generation technologies are increasingly cost-competitive and are now the most economic option for off-grid electrification in most areas and, in locations with good resources, the best option for centralized grid supply and extension. Photovoltaic and wind energy demonstrate what happens if the development of a technology is jump-started by political decisions to offer transitional support. The costs for PV have gone down by 60% in the last two years. Thanks to many new installations and increasing knowledge about processes and optimization options relating to technological issues, the costs for wind energy have also gone down. The study argues that the large scale deployment of concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) can also help bring prices down. Already solar-thermal prices per kWh in the best locations (such as deserts) range from US$ 0.14 to US$ 0.18. Solar towers appear to have a greater potential for cost reductions and their lower costs for thermal energy storage will make them very attractive solutions to provide flexible electricity generation and help facilitate the penetration of wind and solar PV.

Read the Article on: irena.org

China Daily reports that by 2015 China will have installed 3000MW capacity of solar-thermal power as part of an effort to reduce dependence of energy imports and make use of the excellent conditions for renewables. Most parts of China are very suitable for the development of solar energy. The dry western and hinterland regions have more abundant solar energy resources, as such areas generally feature terrains located at higher altitudes and less humid weather than eastern and coastal areas. Through HVDC the energy can be transported to the coastal centers of demand.

Read the Article on: chinadaily.com

Could Russia export wind power from its Arctic north west to Europe? The International Finance Organization (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, is conducting a study to answer just that question. Dubbed „RUSTEC“, and inspired by DESERTEC, the IFC study is based on the premise that as onshore wind farms in regions like Murmansk can generate more energy than offshore plants in Europe, Russia could export wind power at competitive prices. The energy could easily be integrated into the European grid via HVDC transmission lines. The project would face headwinds. Renewables have yet to make much headway in the Russian market but as Europe looks to meet ambitious energy targets this new take on the DESERTEC vision could be one for the future.

Read the Article on: themoscowtimes.com

The German Think Tank Agora Energiewende has published 12 hypotheses on how the German Energiewende can be accomplished and aims to promote discussion about the topic. Besides other central points the think tank identifies grid related issues as key to securing supply and the integration of renewables into the grid. Not only do the currently existing energy markets need a makeover, but also is it important to “think big”. With an European grid, the stability of fluctuating renewables can be balanced and brought to the centers of demand. Furthermore a pan-European grid could make new storage facilities obsolete. New energy storage systems would become an issue with a high market share of intermittent renewable energies of 70% and beyond.

(German) Read the Paper on: agora-energiewende.de

A financial commitment of €300m was signed in Marrakech by the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Development Agency for France (AFD), KfW Entwicklungsbank (KfW) and the Moroccan Energy Agency MASEN. The loan granted is determined to finance the construction of the Ouarzazate solar power complex which in the final stage of construction aims to generate 500MW; enough to power a city with a population of approx. 1.5 Million people. The project will be the first under the Moroccan Solar Plan and the largest project so far under the Mediterranean Solar Plan, whose aim is to deploy 20GW of additional renewable energy capacity by 2020. The commitment of the European investors indicates the faith and trust they have in the Moroccan transition towards renewable energies.

Read the Article on: eib.org

Already experiencing water stress, India and China are studying how to meet power demand that is projected to grow 70 per cent over the next 20 years. Like many others in the developing world, neither country can afford to replicate the US energy system. Nearly half of US water consumption is reserved for biofuels, coal mining, gas extraction, and generation. Aware of these challenges outgoing leader of the Chinese administration, Hu Jintao, said: “We should launch a revolution in energy production and consumption, impose a ceiling on total energy consumption.” The IEA says there are several options to address this: one is a greater reliance on renewable energy technologies that have minimal water requirements, such as solar PV and wind; another is to improve the efficiency of plants, and another is to deploy more advanced cooling systems.

Read the Article on: reneweconomy.com.au

Four wind farms with a capacity totaling 198MW have started operating in China’s Heilongjiang Province. These are just four of many more to become operational in the country. The Chinese wind power market is currently the largest in the world with a total installed capacity of 62GW. Against the backdrop of rising Chinese energy demand, some plans talk of installing 1,000 GW of wind power by 2050. The country - especially in the north - possesses excellent conditions for wind power. With HVDC the energy can be easily transported to densely populated coastal areas.

Read the Article on:cleantechnica.com

The first Asian concentrating solar thermal power tower has started generating electricity  Northwest of Beijing. The plant will save 2,336 tons carbon dioxide and 17.5 tons sulfur dioxide every year compared to an equally sized standard thermal plant powered by fossil fuels. According to the Chinese Academy of Science the tower is operating in stable conditions.

Read the Article on:chinadaily.com

Switzerland based ABB has announced a breakthrough in the ability to interrupt direct current. ABB has developed the world's first circuit breaker for high voltage direct current (HVDC)  solving a 100-year-old electrical engineering puzzle and paving the way for a more efficient and reliable electricity supply system. In simple terms this innovation will protect the transmission system and enable it to maintain power flow even if there is a fault on one of the lines. It combines very fast mechanics with power electronics, and will be capable of 'interrupting' power flows equivalent to the output of a large power station within five milliseconds. The development of DC transmission grids will enable the efficient integration and exchange of renewable energy. DC grids will also improve grid reliability and enhance the capability of existing AC (alternating current) networks. HVDC forms an integral part of the DESERTEC Concept making it possible to harness renewable energy where it is most abundant and transport it to the centers of demand.

Read the Article on: green-energy-news.com

Abengoa SA from Spain will begin the construction on the first utility-scale concentrating solar power plants (CSP) on South African soil. The company has signed not only project finance agreements with South African and international institutions, but also a power purchase agreement with the state-owned utility Eskom. The two plants will add 150MW to the South African Grid. Khi Solar One – a solar tower project – will have a capacity of 50 MW, making it the largest tower in sub Saharan Africa. The remaining 100MW will be generated with parabolic trough technology. To minimize water use, both CSP plants will employ advanced dry cooling technology. Both plants will be located in Northern Cape Province.

Read the Article on: cleantechnica.com

Iceland is an isolated Island in the north Atlantic blessed with abundant renewable resources. The country has achieved something most countries will probably need a few more years for: 100% renewable electricity generation (and 80% of total primary energy supply from renewables). Large hydropower projects and geothermal provide an excellent source to meet the country’s demand and discussion are underway to export controllable geothermal renewable power to the United Kingdom via an underwater cable. Even though Iceland is a fairly small nation with unique conditions, the country serves as an instructive example of how renewables can be harnessed.

Read the Travel Report on: reneweconomy.com.au

The state-owned utility, Sonelgaz is planning to build up 4.2 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022. The first phase, which is expected to start in 2013, will include 1.23GW from PV power plants, followed by 2.48GW of concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) and 516MW of wind energy by 2022. Sonelgaz’s plans form part of a national strategy to install 22GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030. The company emphasized that as much of the new capacity as possible would be manufactured within the country.

Read the article on pv-tech.org

Mexico's Sonora state, which has the highest insolation rate in North America, is working steadfastly to foster photovoltaic power research, generation and transmission lines for demand within the state and for export. Among other new PV projects being developed in the state is a $75 million, 22-MW solar park to be sited along the 60-mile road between the state capital Hermosillo and Bahía de Kino, on the Sea of Cortez. As well as PV projects and exploring the possible export of energy to several US States, Sonora’s plans also include a new national solar research center.

Read the article on renewableenergyworld.com

The bad news from the German solar industry seemed to have devastated the entire sector. Now a study carried out by the Bundesverband der Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft (BDEV) shows that solar power has increased its share, compared to last year, by 50%. The overall solar capacity of all installed modules and devices adds up to 31.000MW. More than a quarter (26%) of the German energy mix is generated by renewable energies.

(German) Read the article on klimaretter.info

The numbers for Photovoltaic (PV)-Installations in September have been published: The equivalent of roughly one standard nuclear power plant has been installed in Germany in one single month: 980 MW. This year’s PV-Installations already amount to approx. 6 GW, making Germany the number one destination worldwide. Despite its suboptimal geographic location for solar power, Germany installs PV ten times as fast as the US (estimated to approx. 3.2 GW in 2012).

Read the article on greentechmedia.com

The wind energy sector is becoming more and more successful in all aspects. Media reports every other day from improvements in reducing the necessary capital cost for installation while constantly increasing efficiency. On top of that, another new study, issued by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, reveals that the costs for operating and maintaining a wind turbine are also dropping. The operational costs for a turbine have fallen by 38% in the last 4 years.

Read the article on bnef.com

A consortium led by German company RWE plans the construction of a wind farm and a photovoltaic power station in Morocco. Between 2014 and 2016 three pilot-projects with a total nameplate capacity of 250MW are planned. The publication supplements this weeks revealed plans for the construction of many more solar power stations in North-Africa. On such a large scale the savings for the single consumer are difficult to calculate. But a study issued by the German BMU has shown that by the installation of renewable capacities in 2011, Germany has been able to save 6 billion € in fossil fuel imports.

(German) Read the article on welt.de

In 2011, Scotland beat its target of 31% renewables in the national energy mix by about 4%. Now the government has set a new goal. To generate half of the country’s electricity needs renewable sources by 2015. The evaluation of the national energy strategy has revealed that the 50% goal is ambitious but an achievable step towards the 2020 goal of 100% green electricity. The update of the Scottish roadmap contains figures for emission reduction, job creation and investment.

Read the article on bbc.co.uk

Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Morocco are willing to set the political framework conditions for the import of clean electricity from the North-African deserts. Too much political uncertainty and the fragmented European energy market have stood in the way of electricity transport across Europe. But it is not only an European interest to establish this framework. “The collaboration with Europe is an important axis in our national energy strategy”, said the Moroccan Minister for Industry, Amara. A memorandum of understanding will be signed in November to further push the plans for renewable desert energy in the region.

Read the article on pv-magazine.com

According to the published report in ‘Nature Climate Change’ energy efficiency is not receiving the attention it deserves. To mitigate emissions and therefore the effects of human-induced climate change energy efficiency should be one of the top priorities on the agenda. The report analyzes public spending, institutions and policies suggesting that the focus of all effort is largely aimed at the clean supply of energy neglecting the efficiency of already existing infrastructure, appliances and installations. The study highlights the many benefits deriving from efficiency and argues that a reorientation towards more efficiency is key in tackling climate change.

Read the article on uea.ac.uk

Commissioned by Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), the 2012 Energy [R]evolution report lays out steps towards almost carbon-free energy in the European Union. Curbing energy demand will be achieved by increasing energy efficiency. While investments in renewables are increased subsidies for fossil fuels are phased out. According to the report, investments of 99 billion Euros are required to achieve a carbon-free economy by 2050. This investment will lead to projected fuel savings of roughly 3 trillion Euros – mitigating not only emissions but also saving money and opening job opportunities in the energy sector for the EU. The report identifies binding emission reduction targets beyond 2020 as the first essential step to achieve the carbon-free- economy.

Read the article on trust.org

The combined effects of population (expected to double from 316 million in 2010 to 697 million in 2050) and prosperity (regional gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow from the current US$1.6 trillion to US$6.5 trillion by 2030 and to US$19 trillion in 2040–50) are projected to triple the total domestic water demand from current consumption of 28 km3 to approx. 88 km3/year during 2040–50. Conventional water supply options are fairly limited in the region. The non-conventional option of water desalination will be essential to meet the demand in the region. The trouble with desalination is that it is an energy-intensive undertaking. The study identifies concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) as the technology to provide enough secured energy to desalinate the sufficient amount of water to close the expected demand gap without releasing Millions of tons Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere.

Read the report on wds.worldbank.org

Oil-rich Iraq still suffers from chronic power shortages and blackouts. Now the ministry of energy takes initiative: Invitations have been sent to about 25 leading companies to manufacture and install solar and wind power plants, said Laith al-Mamury, the head of the planning and studies department at the ministry of electricity. Revealed plans number investments amounting to $ 1.6 billion USD aiming to add approx. 400MW of wind and solar energy to the national grid within the next three years.

Read the Article on reuters.com

The Ministry for Education and Scientific Research in Algeria and the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety have agreed to cooperate on the construction of the first North African Solar Tower CSP plant. The pilot project is to be designed mainly for scientific research and will have a capacity of 7MW. The plans include a plant powered exclusively by solar energy, as well as one in hybrid combination with a gas driven power station. The German ambassador in Algeria, Götz Lingenthal stated that this project will help to further improve the German-Algerian Cooperation between the countries

(German) Read the Article on dlr.de

This question might appear odd at first, but take a look at the technology: Many CSP developers have looked to gas as a way to boost a plant’s capacity to provide base-load power, by using it as a backup when the solar power input wanes. According to reports from Spain, lawmakers are mulling a change in the law that will penalize the use of natural gas as a backup fuel, potentially axing plant revenues by up to 15%. Although there are still a few obstacles (regarding biogas sources and the eligibility to feed-in-tariffs for certain classes of biogas) down the road it appears that a hybrid CSP-Biogas Power plant will be eligible for Spanish feed-in-tariffs.

Read the Article on csptoday.com

In the wake of the infamous summer blackouts that left more than 700 million Indians without power, the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) and the Indian Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) have released a study, which shows that concentrating solar thermal power can be the key to securing the subcontinents energy supply. The large-scale CSP projects now underway in India will provide a projected 500MW in energy capacity, a huge jump start from the 8.5 MW of energy capacity under CSP projects before the National Solar Mission began in 2010. The report identifies many challenges India still faces to become a prime CSP location, but the underlying message remains the same: CSP is the key technology to secure the Indian electricity supply.

Read the study

This paper models an interconnected Southeast Asian – Australian electricity grid. It envisions the harnessing of Australian solar energy through, mainly concentrating solar thermal power plants. The Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia despite their location in the tropics don’t experience the same solar radiation as the dry and sun rich deserts of Central and Northwest Australia. With a projected increase in per capita consumption of 5% p.a. these countries won’t be able to meet their demand by harnessing own renewable potentials therefore a connection to mainland Australia will be crucial. The scenario connects the two continents by High Voltage Direct Current distancing 4500km of which at least 500km will be undersea cables.

Read the study

Puerto Errado 2 (PE2) located in the sun rich City of Calasparra, Spain is now the largest solar power station using Fresnel-Technology.  PE2’s 30MW electrical output is generated exclusively by solar power and will produce approximately 50 million kW hours of electricity per year, enough to provide at least 12,000 Spanish households. Roughly 16,000 tons of CO2 are mitigated every single year. The PE2 solar boiler consists of 28 rows of linear Fresnel reflectors, each approximately 950 meters long. The mirrors, which are installed approximately one meter above ground, reflect the sunlight onto a receiver located eight metres above the ground. Sunlight heats up the water in the receiver and turns it to steam, which powers two 15MW turbine generator units. To save valuable water in Spain’s southern province the power plant uses air-cooled condensers to recirculate water back to the solar boiler. Mirror cleaning is performed by automated cleaning robots that use very little water.

Read article on: social.csptoday.com

The government’s Renewable Energy Resource (RER) program is a core element of a national sustainable development strategy in Peru. In Cupisnique in the La Libertad region and in Talara in the Piura region the government backed RER initiative is being implemented in an exemplary manner. Two wind farms with a combined nameplate capacity of 114MW are being planned. The generated electricity will be sold under the program as per 20-year power purchase agreements denominated in US dollars. These will be the largest wind farms in the Spanish speaking South America. The vast South American renewable resources remain largely untapped with a massive potential yet to be harnessed.

Read article on: cleantechnica.com

Lately we have reported a lot about renewable energies creating jobs – today Ireland:
"Ireland has the potential and resources to not only meet our own renewables targets but to assist other EU countries in meeting theirs." The side effect: Thirty thousand jobs could be created in the renewable energy sector if the Government implements a series of radical reforms, experts have claimed. The Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA) said the sector could rival Ireland's electronics, pharmaceuticals and financial sectors and the first target should be for 18,000 jobs over the next eight years.

Read article on: independent.ie

The US finance- and infrastructural company Anbaric is scrutinizing investments in the German electricity grid which is largely operated by the Dutch state-owned company Tennet. According to reports from the media, investment sums will total 3,1 bln. €. In case the attempt is successful the connection of German offshore wind parks to the mainland will be feasible and the German shift to renewable energies could get a major push. The US investment corporation isn’t aiming at investing in Tennet but rather in single transmission lines connecting north-sea offshore windparks.

(German) Read article on: n-tv.de

For many people solar power means photovoltaics. But although it is expanding rapidly, the total global capacity of PV amounts to 50GW. In comparison, the perhaps less glamorous but at present far cheaper technology of solar thermal heat collection for low temperature and cooling needs is well ahead. In fact, globally, there is now more solar heat capacity in place than wind power capacity, and it’s still expanding. By 2010 there was 195GW installed globally (118GW of it in China), rising to 245 GW by 2011 - the equivalent of 245 nuclear power plants. According to a report issued by the International Energy Agency solar thermal heat could account for one-sixth of global low temperature and cooling needs by 2050 mitigating some 800 megatons of CO2 every year.      

Read article on: environmentalresearchweb.org

Morocco’s Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN) has chosen a consortium of Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power International and the Spanish contracting engineers TSK and Aries to build and operate a 160MW concentrating solar- thermal power plant. The plant will be located close to the southern city of Ouarzazate. The contract is worth  $1 billion US. ACWA has priced its offer at 1.62 dirhams ($0.19) for every kwh to be produced out of the plant.The revealed plan for the plant – which will feature a molten-salt facility with four hours of thermal storage capacity to cover peak consumption hours after sundown, is the first step. Masen is aiming at the further development of Ouarzazate into a 500MW complex of different solar technologies by 2015.

Read article on: reuters.com

In the course of diversifying the country’s energy supply, the mayor of Saudi Arabia’s most famous city, Mecca, has announced that solar capacity including a 100MW solar plant will soon be built. Due to the six million Muslim pilgrims every year the province Mecca is the biggest power consumer among Saudi Arabia’s 13 regions. The project in Mecca is one of many parts in a larger strategy: The kingdom aims to build up 41GW of solar capacity within the next two decades. With solar radiation of between 4.5 and 7 kW per square meter a day, Saudi Arabia is an exceptionally good location for solar electricity generation.

Read article on: bloomberg.com

The kingdom’s plan to build up 41GW of solar capacity within the next twenty years has drawn a lot of interest. What are the reasons for this massive $100 billion US investment? The country’s population is expected to grow to 37 million by the year 2020 – entailing an annual 8% growth in power consumption. The growing population will also need more water and Saudi Arabia is a desert country with no permanent rivers or lakes and very little rainfall. Water is scarce and extremely valuable. For the last 40 years, the kingdom has relied on underground reservoirs and desalination of seawater to obtain water. As water demand continues to grow rapidly, so will the fraction of national energy demand that is devoted to the energy-intensive desalination of water. The estimates figure that today approx. 1.5 million barrels of crude oil per day are used to desalinate a sufficient amount of water. As a result, Saudi Arabia has decided to gradually make all desalination plants run on solar power, and by 2013 the kingdom’s first solar-powered desalination plant, which will be the world’s largest, is expected to come online in Al-Khafji. Between 2013 and 2015, a second solar-powered desalination plant with a production capacity of 300,000m³ per day will be built.

Read article on: social.csptoday.com

Molten salt is used for heat storage and transfer, an application receiving a great deal of attention in CSP technology development. Yara International ASA in close cooperation with the Universidad de Complutense, Madrid has developed a new salt which offers significant cost reduction possibilities by expanding the molten salt’s effective temperature range. With a molten salt melting point of 131°C rather than 220°C, the company claims their product offers improved transport and storage performance. Because it is chloride-free and therefore much less corrosive than other existing solutions it is expected to last longer, also reducing costs.

Read article on: social.csptoday.com

On the 3rd of July a memorandum of understanding was signed in Berlin. Today, two and a half months later the official opening ceremony took place in Rabat. The German Ministry of Economics and Technology and the Moroccan Ministry for Energy have agreed on the points of cooperation and first joint projects of the two countries. In joint working groups, the countries want to coordinate economic cooperation and in doing so, support the implementation of the DESERTEC concept in the EU-MENA region.

(German) Read article on: bmwi.de

The British government has published three consultations on the coalition’s renewable heat initiative (RHI). The proposal rewards the installation of renewable heating systems. Householders who install a renewable heating kit such as biomass boilers, heat pumps and solar thermal in their homes can expect to get paid for the assumed amount of heat produced, once their heating system is up and running. Often underestimated, heating – especially in cold countries requires a considerably larger amount of energy than the production of electricity. The proposed indicative tariffs for householders range, depending on the way the heat is produced between 5.2 and 17.3p/kWh. With this instrument the government seeks to reduce reliance on fossil fuels meeting the own set emission reduction targets.

Read article on: decc.gov.uk

This year’s water shortage in the US has had severe impacts on the agriculture and food production focussing attention on the most precious of all resources. A report by the Civil Society Institute crunches the numbers and breaks down how much water different technologies need to produce electricity. What do we learn from the report? Providing they use a closed-loop cooling system nuclear power plants need at least 700 gallons of water per megawatt hour (700G/MWh with 1 gallon = 3.8 liters). In an open-loop cooling system each MWh requires a minimum of 25,000 gallons of water! Coal power plants have a slightly better record yet still withdraw 500G/MWh. In contrast renewable technologies such as wind and concentrating solar-thermal power using dry-cooling require very little water - approx. 80G/MWh.

Read study on: civilsocietyinstitute.org

SkyFuel Inc. has been awarded the Solar Paces Innovation Award 2012 for the development of a high reflectance, durable, silvered polymer film designed to reduce the lifecycle cost of parabolic trough solar fields. Due to their flexibility, the shatterproof sheets are much lighter than traditional mirrors. They can be easily transported and installed while delivering the same efficiency rates as glass mirrors.

Read article on: marketwatch.com

The French president, François Hollande, has called for a 40% cut in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2030 and a 60% reduction by 2040 at the European Union level, well beyond the 20 percent target set for 2020. The EU's current target is to cut emissions by 20% below 1990 levels by 2020. The European Union has said it would consider moving to a 30 percent cut by 2020 if rich economies followed. New tenders for solar and offshore wind power will help to underline the ambitious plans and are planned for launch in France before the end of 2012, Hollande said.

Read article on: reuters.com

The French president, François Hollande, has called for a 40% cut in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2030 and a 60% reduction by 2040 at the European Union level, well beyond the 20 percent target set for 2020. The EU's current target is to cut emissions by 20% below 1990 levels by 2020. The European Union has said it would consider moving to a 30 percent cut by 2020 if rich economies followed. New tenders for solar and offshore wind power will help to underline the ambitious plans and are planned for launch in France before the end of 2012, Hollande said.

Read article on: reuters.com

Just recently the ‘Green Tech Atlas’ showed how environmental protection and clean technologies can boost the German economy. A new report, ‘The Turning Point for Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy’ released by The National Wildlife Federation makes the same point for the United States. In a time of recession and economic struggle, offshore wind energy offers significant potential not only to mitigate carbon emissions but also to create many new jobs and investment opportunities. The report speaks of an overall US offshore potential of approx. 1.300GW – harnessing just a fraction of 52GW can create 300.000 new jobs,  power 14 million homes and lead to domestic investments up to $200 billion US.

Read the report on: nwf.org

Ireland-based Mainstream Renewable Power (MRP) announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the UK’s National Grid, Portuguese transmission system operator Redes Energeticas Nacionais and the chinese firm State Grid to develop “Energy Bridge” – a renewables-dedicated interconnector that will link Ireland to Great Britain. The company also revealed that it has already secured a 5GW grid connection offer in the UK. MRP envisages a vast onshore wind building program across the Irish Midlands, with the power produced then exported via Energy Bridge and sold on the UK market. MRP is nearly finished with its first onshore Irish wind farm, and in discussions with many other Irish landowners.

Read article on: rechargenews.com

Algeria is currently the biggest African producer of natural gas but the government has now announced an ambitious target to generate 40% of the country’s power demand from renewable sources by the year 2030. The country is looking for experienced partners in the field of renewable energies to reach this goal. With this strategy the government tries to create a large number of domestic jobs.

Read article on: bloomberg.com

Currently experiencing growth rates of 36MW of solar modules installed every month, Denmark has already reached its 2020 goal of installing 200MW of solar capacity. Experts are now projecting that installed capacity in 2020 will be five times as large at around 1GW. “The demand for solar cells has increased dramatically since net metering was implemented in 2010. Net metering gives private households and public institutions the possibility of ‘storing’ surplus production in the public grid, which makes solar panels considerably more attractive.” The share of renewable energies in the Danish system is already fairly high. This makes the energy system very suitable as a platform for smart grid technologies - a key element to fully exploit renewable energy sources like solar panels and wind energy.

Read article on: um.dk

A group of former statesmen including Bill Clinton and Nelson Mandela have issued a report identifying water supply as one of the major challenges of the future. The report estimates that 2 billion people lack basic sanitation and about 4,500 children die of water-related diseases every day. With the global population expected to increase from seven to eight billion by 2025 the challenges will grow. To feed everyone on the planet the agricultural sector alone requires 1000 cubic km of additional freshwater. Global warming, blamed on human emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, is likely to make things worse. The report also recognizes water as one source of potential conflict. Examples of water-related conflicts can be found between Israelis and Palestinians over aquifers or between Egypt and other African nations sharing the Nile. The group has called on the UN Security Council to get more involved to address the problem of water scarcity.

Read article on: reuters.com

For the second time the Dii awards outstanding scientific papers and journalistic work in the field of renewable energy. Together with the DESERTEC University Network the Best Paper Award and five Journalist Fellowships are rewarded to the winners. Application deadline for those interested is the 8th of October. The winners have the unique opportunity to present their work to scientists, experts from the industry and civil society, politicians and other high level stakeholders.

Read article on: dii-eumena.com

The U.S. Solar Market insight report: 2nd Quarter 2012 reveals that the second quarter in 2012 was the second-best quarter in history of solar installations in the US. A total of 742MW of solar capacity  was installed in the past three months. Despite a slow economic recovery the solar industry continues to create jobs and has grown for the fourth consecutive quarter. Experts predictions the overall installations for 2012 to total 3,2GW.

Read article on: greentechmedia.com

The APEC summit in October this year in Vladivostok is set to deliver an outcome that could boost a green technology trade revolution having agreed on a list of 54 green technologies that promote economic growth without harming the environment will be subject to import duties of 5 percent or less from 2015. The list includes equipment used in generating power from renewable energy sources such as the sun, wind and biomass; treating waste water; recycling and environmental monitoring. The APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) stretches all around the Pacific Ocean and includes many, very diverse nations accounting for 40% of the world’s population, 54% of economic output and 44% of the world’s trade. The United States is pressing ahead with efforts to create a green free-trade zone across the region.

Read article on: reuters.com

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved loans totalling $800 Million USD in the first half of 2012 to support Morocco’s ambitious goal to increase renewable energy to 42% of the country's installed capacity by 2020. One remarkable project in Quarzazate will generate a capacity of 500MW of solar power in the final phase of realization. In June 2012, the Bank made its largest project approval to date for 2012 with a loan for €359 million for a wind power and rural electrification project that will increase the installed wind power capacity by 1070MW and expand rural electrification to almost 80,000 households in isolated districts.

Read article on: afdb.org

You should be, says a study for Commerz-Real carried out by the Steinbeiß School in Berlin. Whilst the financial crisis remains the dominant topic in the Eurozone investors, shareholders are still looking for secure returns for their money. This study argues infrastructure in general and power grids in particular are worth a serious look as it offers stable, steady and secure returns. Last week the German parliament decided to protect investors against the curtailment and late-connection of offshore windparks to mainland Germany. The idea behind the political decision is to encourage investors to invest in the German grid and boost the transition to renewable energies.

(Germna) Read article on: manager-magazin.de

As part of the governmental “sunshot initiative” the US energy department has announced today an investment totaling US$ 10 million over the next five years. The initiative aims at promoting research and reducing costs of solar energies. One research team (led by the University of California) will investigate in the field of liquid metals as potential heat transfer fluids with the ability to withstand higher temperatures. The second team (led by the University of Arizona) will explore molten salt-based fluids as alternative heat transfer fluids.

Read article on: altenergymag.com

Australia is the developed country with the dirtiest possible energy mix – coal power generating three quarters of installed capacity. The report: “Realising the Potential of Solar Power in Australia” offers great insights into the country’s enormous renewable resources, how simple they could be harnessed and connected to the exisiting grid. The author sees potential for Australia to take on world lead in CSP technologies relatively easy and becoming a major player. The report concludes that with only modest grid extensions it would be possible to connect a capacity of 15GW, sweeping away fears of transmissions chaos and massive extension of existing infrastructure.

Read article on: renewableenergyworld.com

After the traumatic nuclear catastrophe of Fukushima in March 2011, the Japanese Government is seeking to diversify the nation’s energy supply. With financial incentives and the obligation for power utilities to buy electricity from renewable sources, it has triggered a number of projects. Tottori prefecture will be the location for Japan’s biggest solar power plant. The capacity of the park will exceed 39MW and construction should start as soon as next month. One of the companies behind the project, Japan’s third biggest mobile company, Softbank Corp has announced plans to invest in 230MW of renewable energy, mostly solar. Further solar projects are planned on the northern island of Hokkaido (111MW), in Osaka prefecture (18.9MW) and a wind park is planned off the coast of Kashima (250MW).

Read article on: bloomberg.com

Due to increasing renewable energy input and too few lines, the rollout of high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) transmission lines is accelerating all over the world. Currently China is said to be planning the biggest-ever HDVC lines avoiding transmission losses of some 30% compared to alternating current and entailing investments worth US$ 269 billion through to 2015. Other remarkable projects can be found in México, South Korea, Japan and the US. HVDC lines allow efficient transmission of energy over long distances. Renewable energies tend to be concentrated in under-populated areas like, for instance, deserts. HDVC makes it possible to connect isolated areas to the centers of demand, transport significant capacities and at the same time avoid massive losses.

Read article on: greentechmedia.com

Mexico has a lot more solar potential than it currently uses. The country is already one of the top destinations in the Latin American region for investment attractiveness and now Mexico’s northern state, Monterrey, is planning a free-trade zone for renewables. The idea is to acquire land and with the help of foreign investors, establish a green energy technology park. Foreign companies will benefit largely from existing infrastructure, a self-sustaining energy supply in the park, minimal rents and fiscal exemptions. With this model the local government is seeking to attract foreign green-tech-companies wanting to get a foothold in the Latin American renewable energy market.

Read article on: news.pv-insider.com

Why is German electricity so expensive? The recent debate about the German transition to renewable energy has also provoked discussions about the rising price of electricity. The producers calculate that production costs make up about 35% of the retail electricity price. Grid fees and taxes make up for approx. 20%. The German renewables feed-in tariff  accounts for 18% and more than a quarter of the final price is due to taxes and charges. The existing direct and indirect subsidies in Germany were originally designed to both power the economy and integrate increasing amounts of renewable energies. In the course of the transition towards renewables the entire system has to be rethought and restructured but due to many involved actors (and potential voters) German politicians are acting very carefully. The only thing consumers are left with to fight rising prices is to check their tariff and invest in energy saving devices.

(German) Read article on: n-tv.de

The Greenpeace study “What Electricity Actually Costs” shows that the costs of conventional energy sources such as coal- and nuclear power are not transparent to the German consumer. They are covered and hidden by questionable subsidies and windy ways of calculation. The study finds that if its costs were calculated in the same way as renewable energies, conventional energy wouldn’t be as competitive as it appears to be. The authors of the study come to the conclusion that if external costs and subsidies are taken into account (instead of financing them through taxes) the actual German retail price for electricity wouldn’t be 26ct/KWh but rather 37ct/KWh.

(German) Read study on: greenpeace-energy.de

Commentators from civil society and industry suggest that India’s renewable energy potential is yet to be fully tapped. During its recent blackout, small villages kept the lights on thanks to off-grid connections to local solar power plants. Despite being ahead the annual plan and already having installed 1GW photovoltaic modules, the government is also acquiring land for 34 coal-powered thermal power plants. Experts believe the country can accelerate its energy-revolution further by moving away from annual targets and disconnecting single cities from the thermal grid to power them from the vast renewable sources the country possess.  

Read article on: trust.org

Year on year solar PV installations in the US grew an impressive 120% during the first half of 2012. 1.7GW of solar capacity was installed in the US until June and forecasts predict a total of 4.3GW for this year. With these impressive numbers the US led worldwide PV installation, accounting for 40% of global growth, leaving it the third largest solar market in the world. Global installations until June exceeded 13GW. Analysts suggest that these numbers indicate a) that Chinese modules, profiting from dumping policies in China are not the cause for PV installations, but that there is a steadily increasing intrinsic PV demand in the US. Against the backdrop of reduced Chinese imports these numbers also show b) that the US solar industry is fairly robust and there haven’t been any negative impacts on employment.

Read article on: cleantechnica.com

Australian-based company Solastor is currently involved in various projects to rollout its small CSP plants in Australia, Europe and Latin America. The Australian government granted a loan worth AS$3.8m to its project in Western Australia which uses graphite technology. The project is the first one to use new-generation torodial-curvature heliostats (which reach higher field efficiencies; approx. 25%). Combined with a novel heat-storage technology, the project offers great potential to displace diesel and stabilize the electricity supply in the mining town of Morowa, WA. Solastor will soon employ this same technology in two projects in Cyprus and in three in Chile. Even Oman has shown great interest.

Read article on: rechargenews.com

The British government is looking again at plans to harness the tidal power of the Severn Estuary. In the revised blueprint from London-based Hafren Power, the company behind the plans, the turbines generate power, both during ebb as well as flood. The size of the facility would measure approximately 18 km and host 1,064 “low-head turbines” each measuring nine meters in diameter. If realized, the project has the potential to supply about 16.4 TWh, equivalent to 5% of UK electricity demand. Hafren Power is currently seeking sovereign investors to reach the US$ 39 billion necessary to realize the project.

Read article on: renewableenergyworld.com

A report presented at the National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society estimates that shingles that generate electricity from the sun could make a significant contribution to the future U.S. energy supply. Installed shingles on roofs are already a commercial reality. The new technology uses “earth abundant” materials rather than scarce rare earths anymore which could make the cells cheaper and more sustainable. The new so-called thin film solar energy conversion devices use copper oxide and zinc phosphide instead. During tests the scientist discovered record-breaking electrical currents and voltage. Due to the high efficiency of the shingles, electricity costs are almost as low as the production costs of a coal-fired power plant. The great advantage of shingles is that they can be installed much like traditional roofing.

Read article on: sciencedaily.com

The European Energy Exchange (EEX) located in Leipzig wants to bring a “Green Power Product” onto the market to respond to growing interest in different kinds of renewable energies in the first half of 2012. This year the EEX experienced not only an increase in trade on the futures market, but also the interest in natural gas power stations. The fluctuating feed in of wind farms and solar power could be an explanation for these phenomena.

(German) Read article on: wiwo.de

Wind power has become an established source of electricity but is facing extreme policy uncertainty with the Wind Energy Production Tax Credit (PTC) due to expire, the latest report published by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) states. Wind power is almost competitive without subsidies on wholesale markets in those states with the most abundant wind resource.
The wind market in the US is growing at tremendous speed, representing more than $14 billion US in investment and connecting more than 6.800MW to the grid in 2011. The total capacity to be connected in 2012 is expected to be substantially higher. Wind power already contributes more than 10% of total electricity generation in six states (in two of them even more than 20%) amounting to 3% of total US energy demand.The production of components for the wind turbines is mainly located within the US, making the policy uncertainty not only an environmental issue, but also a social issue leaving wind power related jobs in more than 500 US companies in jeopardy.

Read article on: awea.org

The world’s largest Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant is currently under construction in California. Costing US$ 2.2 billion, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS) is being constructed by 2100 workers who will set up over 173 000 Heliostats. Once the work is finalized, Ivanpah will have a capacity of 392 MW, saving up to 400 000 tons of CO2 emissions every year. The project in the Californian Mojave Desert which is part of President Obama’s ‘Sunshot-Initiative’ will double US CSP-capacities. Halfway through, the project remains on schedule and is expected to supply electricity to Californian homes and businesses from 2013 onwards.

Read article on: cleantechnica.com

The German Development Institute (DEI) has published a new study on the prospects for renewable energy in Egypt. The Study “Building Domestic Capabilities in Renewable Energy - A Case Study of Egypt” by Georgeta Vidican investigates which institutional and political obstacles need to be overcome in order to help Egypt develop into a leader in renewable energies in the MENA region while integrating local businesses and improving education.

Read article on: die-gdi.de

The German Wind Alliance has commissioned the Fraunhofer-Institute for Wind Energy and System Technology (IWES) to investigate possible development and cost-reduction opportunities for the wind industry. Amongst other issues, the institute will focus on improving the construction of rotor blades. Currently rotor blades constitute 25-30% of the total costs for wind turbines.

(German) Read article on: focus.de

Inspired by the DESERTEC Concept, Silvia Brutschin, geographer from Freiburg, travelled by Twike (a three wheeled electric vehicle) 2500 km across Morocco. By advertising electric mobility she met many Moroccan politicians. Now she wants to participate in the international rally for electric vehicles E-Miglia crossing the Alps. 

(German) Read article on: badische-zeitung.de

Fernando Ezequiel ‘Pino’ Solanas, an Argentine politician has proposed building 4GW of concentrated solar power (CSP) capacity in the next 10 years. Solar energy is abundant in Argentina’s desert regions. Nevertheless, the country is suffering from an energy crisis: 90% of its total energy consumption comes from fossil fuels. Largely imported the cost of these fuels doubled last year to US$9.8 billion. This bill is expected to balloon by a further $6.4 billion by the end of 2012. The current renewable energy support program offers $120 per MWh feed in tariff (FiT) for wind power and $200 per MWh for solar PV but there are no incentives for CSP. Solanas’ proposal is to introduce a $200 per MWh FiT for CSP to increase this technology to around 10% of the country’s energy in the next 10 years. This tariff would be applicable for parabolic trough, linear Fresnel and power tower technologies.

Read article on: social.csptoday.com

The International Economic Forum for Renewable Energy (IRW) calculates that renewable energies could become the number one power source for Germany in 2013. Renewables are expected to produce 140 billion kWh in 2012, which would take them into 2nd place renewable behind brown coal. The ongoing development of PV, biomass and the increasing amount of offshore wind production promise an even brighter future. Since renewable energies already generated 25% power share for Germany during the first half of 2012, Norbert Allnoch, director of IWR is confident, the German government should easily achieve its goal of renewables making up 35% of the country’s electricity demand by 2020.

(German) Read article on: wirtschaft.t-online.de

“We are planning to make available total loans of over 100 billion euro for renewable energy and energy efficiency over the next five years” said KfW (German state development bank) head Ulrich Schroeder. After already granting over 12.1 billion euro for environmental projects in the first half of 2012, KfW plans on lending the same amount in the second half. This money will be needed especially to invest in offshore wind and the power grid expansion – important steps in of the German transition to renewable power. The expansion of the power grid alone is calculated to require around 30 billion euro over the next 10 years.

Read article on: reuters.com

At the latest German Marshall Fund roundtable Michael Köhler, Head of Cabinet for EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger said, the EU has been considering the establishment of a Mediterranean Energy Community Agreement aiming to ensure a stable regulatory and investment framework for development of new, North African energy sources for export to Europe. Such an agreement would need to include elements for employment opportunities, vocational training, support in the regulatory process and infrastructural development. Moreover, EU funding or EU guarantees are necessary to enhance economic growth in the MENA region, increasing trading relationships and thus stabilizing the region. An institution similar to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development could be a possible way to fund projects in the framework of DESERTEC, Helios and Megrid.

Read article on: blog.gmfus.org

Many isolated hospitals and schools in Africa do not have access to energy. A startup company by a team of MIT students is now developing a new solar power technology to address this. It works like an air conditioner in reverse, using cold air and hot fluid to produce electricity. The first prototype has been set up at a hospital in a small village in southern Africa. Researchers estimate that this new solar thermal technology will have a lower maintenance cost than the commonly used diesel generators or PV arrays since its mirrors only require cleaning every 6 months.

Read article on: pddnet.com

The next Olympic village in Rio de Janeiro may receive power from a solar city tower that is connected to an urban waterfall which would use excess energy from the solar panels to pump seawater into the tower. At night, the seawater can be released to run a turbine and generate electricity. A glass sky walk at the top of the tower and shops underneath the waterfall are planned as well. Not a project for mass rollout perhaps but a useful demonstration of innovations in green building and renewable energy.

Read article on: environmentalleader.com

In April 2012, the first official DESERTEC supporters’ club came into existence: DESERTEC Austria. The group supports the concept of producing clean, renewable power for the world where renewable sources of energy are most abundant. However, DESERTEC Austria not only promotes the idea of harnessing desert power but also local initiatives for Austria. “The project is supposed to help Austria in the transition to renewable energy on the local and regional level.” said Johannes Zickler, president of DESERTEC Austria.

(German) Read article on: salzburg.com

Lauren-Jyoti has awarded Rockwell Automation a $1.9 Million USD contract to build a distributed control system with solar field local controller panels as part of  its project to build a 50 MW concentrated solar power plant for Godawari Green Energy in Rajasthan, India. The Godawari Solar Project is one of the first utility-scale solar thermal power plants commissioned in India as one of six projects in phase 1 of the Indian government’s National Solar Mission to deliver 20,000MW of solar power by 2020.

Read article on: evwind.es

In Australia, a major government report from the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE) has found that by 2030 the country’s cheapest electricity generation will come from solar photovoltaic and onshore wind. The report compares the levelised cost of electricity of 40 different generation technologies. Unfortunately, whilst confirming the potential of wind and PV, the report is also unjustifiably optimistic on the cost of new nuclear and makes pessimistic estimates on the future cost of concentrating solar power.

Read article on: reneweconomy.com.au

E.on has reconfirmed its support for the DESERTEC Concept. As a founding member of the initiative, E.on is convinced by the vision of winning green energy from the world’s deserts and continues to work for the realization of the concept, said Mike Winkel, CEO of E.ON Climate & Renewables.

(German) Read article on: welt.de

A study by the University of Southampton examined the use of virtual power plants to provide estimates of small and distributed energy resources (DER) to the electricity grid. With an increasing number of wind farms and solar panels it has become more difficult to schedule grid activities because these small DERs are often invisible to the grid or not connected at all because they are unable to meet the set generation targets.  Virtual Power Plants (VPP) make their integration into the grid possible by aggregating many DERs, enabling them to reach similar size and reliability as conventional power plants.  The study now promotes the usage of intelligent and multi-agent software systems to create VPPs including a payment system. Researchers suggest this method of integrating DERs would be more effective and less expensive than the currently used feed-in tariffs. 

Read article on: sciencedaily.com

A report by climate solutions think tank Beyond Zero Emissions calls for Australia to become a world leader in reducing emissions through two main sets of actions. Firstly, it recommends Australia should become a role model for reducing the usage of fossil fuels by establishing a norm of “non-exploitation” and fostering cooperation on replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy. Secondly, it advocates investment into renewable technologies, especially Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) with thermal storage. This investment would include building over 40GW of CSP in the next ten years, feed-in tariffs and more than US$3bn per annum for R&D. The researchers expect that these investment policies will cause a price fall in CSP, making it more affordable for other countries and cost-competitive with fossil fuel energy.

Read article on:http: evwind.es

17 zones of public land totalling 285,000 acres are now priority areas for solar development in the US. Found in the states of California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Utah, these lands could provide an estimated 23.7 GW of power generating capacity.  Already completed environmental impact assessments for the zones will speed the process of planning solar farms. In addition, the U.S. Interior Department promised faster and easier permitting, better mitigation strategies and economic incentives. Next to these special zones the agency also established a process for proposing renewable energy projects on another 19 million acres. According to Helen O’Shea, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, this is the first national strategy to establishing locations for such projects on public lands.

Read article on: bloomberg.com

High-Concentrating Photovoltaic (HCPV) is a new module technology using very small solar cells combined with concentrating optics that has shown to have efficiencies up to 41% - twice those of conventional monocrystalline silicon. Developer Semprius is now developing an industrial-scale HCPV concept with shareholder Siemens focusing on the tracker and system side. According to Karsten Heusser, CPV business manager for Siemens this will result in the “ultra-high-efficiency CPV farm of the future”. First installations are expected for 2013 and the construction of power plants could start by 2017. The advantages of HCPV are low costs and high efficiency. Due to parallel-printing processes the costs of producing the cells can be kept low and the concentrating effect of the lenses reduces the amount of semiconductor material needed. Siemens calculates that the technology will mean solar arrays with 25-50% higher capacity and four times lower temperature-related efficiency losses than conventional silicon PV making it an important innovation for implementation in sun rich countries such as in the MENA region.

Read article on: rechargenews.com

A published document by top Chinese government officials states that China is aiming for 21GW of solar power by 2015 as part of the plan to boost “strategic emerging industries”, such as IT and new energy. Officials not only believe the 2015 target is easily achievable, but that they will also exceed the 2020 target of 50GW. One problem China will face is grid capacity. Most large scale solar plants are in the northwest of the country, where the network cannot support large amounts of intermittent power.

Read article on: rechargenews.com

Despite ongoing global economic problems, Islamic lending institutions increasingly investing in both renewable energy and sustainable water projects. One example of many is UK-based Islamic investment bank, Gatehouse Bank, which offers investments in companies that offer sustainable technology, products and services in the water industry. Elsewhere, the release of the green sukuk for the financing of climate change investments and renewable energy projects or the Green Sukuk Working Group provide important financial support for the green development of the MENA region.

Read article on: nl-aid.org

After the bankruptcy of Solar Millennium, two of their projects in California are now likely to be taken over by US companies. While BrightSource is looking at the Palen Solar Project, the Blythe Solar Power Project may be taken over by the Florida-based solar firm NextEra. Both projects were planned to be built with parabolic trough solar thermal technology but the growing advantages of other solar technologies may cause this to change. NextEra may chose photovoltaic over parabolic trough for the Blythe project, whilst BrightSource will stick with concentrating solar power technology (CSP) but would change the Palen project into solar power tower design.

Read article on: kcet.org

The  US$9 billion Moroccan national solar plan is to deploy 2GW of solar power capacity by 2020. The first phase of the project is the construction of a 160MW parabolic trough CSP plant in Ouarzazate which will be expanded to generate a total of 500MW by 2015. Dr.-Ing. Hani El Nokraschy, Vice-Chairman of Supervisory Board at DESERTEC highlights how CSP plants could use waste heat for seawater desalination to help ease Morocco’s water scarcity. Whilst this first CSP project uses parabolic trough technology, Dr. Nokraschy suggests a different approach for the following phase. Whilst parabolic trough seems to be at the end of its evolution because of temperature limitations, complicated manufacturing processes and the toxicity of the heat transfer fluid, Fresnel technology holds several advantages he suggests. Using nearly flat mirrors, it enables a higher share of local manufacturing creating jobs and the shade could enable planting underneath the mirrors, saving on water for irrigation.

Read article on: social.csptoday.com

The little town of Grafenwöhr in Oberpfalz is just one example of many cooperatives founded all over Germany to produce renewable energy for their region without depending on major energy companies. While Grafenwöhr aims to become self-sufficient  in energy by 2030, many other cooperatives feed their energy into the grid and profit from the state-guaranteed feed-in tariff. Around 500 energy cooperatives have been founded since 2005 and together they have already invested €800 million mainly into solar power plants. Even though major energy companies, such as Eon, do not officially express concern over this development, some cooperatives still observe that that the big energy companies regard them as competition.

(German) Read article on: m.ftd.de

Chalmers University of Technology conducted a study showing that solar thermal power is unrestricted by materials availability. Unlike other renewable energy technologies, concentrated solar power (CSP) does not rely on materials such as rare earths or indium. According to the study, one of the few possible concerns for future expansion of this technology might be a scarcity of silver, which is used for the mirrors. This could be prevented if mirror manufacturers already start looking into replacements for silver such as aluminum. Dr. Erik Pihl, lead author of the scientific article, assumes that as the technology improves in efficiency material demands for the plant will decrease.

Read article on: planetsave.com

The Chinese renewable energy company Sky Solar and the Chinese Development Bank ARE investING $900 million USD into a 300 MW concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in Chile. Construction is due to start this year and will create one of the biggest solar power plants in Chile. This project was announced after the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited South America in June, when both countries agreed to develop a common structure for cooperation.

Read article on: evwind.es

The cable and wiring system producer Leoni is a new partner for the industrial network Dii. As well as being an important employer in Tunisia and North Africa, Leoni produces cables for concentrated solar power plants and thus is a beneficial new member of Dii.

(German) Read article on: focus.de

The German Minister of Economic Affairs Phillip Rösler and the Moroccan Minister for Energy and Environment signed a declaration for a cooperation of both counties to expand renewable energies. Federal Minister Rösler praised Morocco’s ideal conditions for solar and wind power plants in line with the DESERTEC Concept. Morocco would profit from the long experience of German energy companies and thus, facilitate reaching their goal of increasing the share of renewable energies from 5% today to 42% in 2020. 

(German) Read article on: bmwi.de

The NREL Renewable Electricity Futures study reveals that solar energy is the most abundant renewable resource in the USA. The technical potentials of Photovoltaic (80,000 GW), Concentrating Solar Power (37,000 GW) and Distributed PV (700 GW) are crucial for the US electricity demands. While several companies in the concentrating solar power industry focus on large scale projects, ESolar builds modules for a higher adaptability and will implement molten salt storage to reduce the levelized cost of electricity.  Through this innovation ESolar’s President John Van Scoter plans gain the advantage over the best-in-class PVs.

Read article on: greentechmedia.com

The North American company SolarReserve received the „Industry Choice Award” during the 6th CSP Today USA Summit for its beneficial impact on the Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) Industry. Their market-leading solar technology provides reliable electricity day and night due to integrated energy storage. This will be showcased for the first time at SolarReserve’s Solar Energy Plant in Nevada, creating hundreds of new green jobs.

Read article on: altenergymag.com

Seawater desalination is a promising solution to the problem of growing worldwide water scarcity and a key part of the DESERTEC vision. Now, MIT researchers have found a new way of making this process more efficient and less expensive by using sheets of graphene as a filtration material. By perforating this one-atom thick form of the element carbon with precisely sized holes and adding other elements which repel or attract water molecules, researchers showed it is possible to use much less power and thus reduce the costs of desalination. So far research has been carried out through computer modelling but first prototypes will be built this summer.

Read article on: web.mit.edu

A report by Pike Research provides market forecasts global construction and spending on HVDC transmission through 2020. It finds that global investment through till 2020 is likely to fall short of announced plans by around 50%. Pike Research predicts cumulative spending between 2012 and 2020 of $110 billion to $120 billion USD but to cover the expenses of all planned HVDC systems $217 billion USD would be needed.

Read article on: pikeresearch.com

Concentrating solar power (CSP) plants, just like many other technologies, need cooling systems to operate. The complexity of such a phase-change cooling process has remained a challenging research topic. But now researchers at MIT have found that relatively simple, micro scale roughening of a surface can dramatically enhance its transfer of heat with results matching the best results of much more complex techniques. The findings of this study could be improve the performance of cooling systems for CSP plants. 

Read article on: web.mit.edu

In the aftermath of Fukushima Japan said turned off 54 nuclear power plants losing around 30% of its generation capacity. With oil and gas prices increasing, Japan has now decided to concentrate on renewable energy and has now approved the world’s highest solar power subsidies, equivalent to €42 Cent/KWh. Despite this high financial funding and good geographical conditions this is just the beginning for the transition to renewables in Japan. Until today the country’s share of renewable energies is only marginal and thus there are high investments needed to build plants and storage facilities. In addition, the energy grid is not uniform across the county creating another obstacle for the shift towards renewable energies.

(German) Read article on: energie-fokus.de

The Dii Study “Desert Power 2050” show a scenario of how the MENA region and Europe could ensure a future with reliable, affordable and environmentally friendly energy.  The results show the realization of the DESERTEC Concept would cover up to 20% of Europe’s energy demand and enable these countries to reduce CO2 emission during energy production by up to 95%. The MENA region would profit as well. Middle Eastern and North African countries could cover all their energy demands with renewable energy and earn up to €63 billion Euro from energy exports. According to Dii-Director Aglaia Wieland, the crucial challenges today are to expand grids across national borders and to create a bureaucratic framework for the implementation of the concept.

(German) Read article on: solarcontact.com

Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s multi-faceted renewable energy company, has received this year’s United Nations’ Champions of the Earth Award. The award honors individuals whose actions and leadership have made far-reaching positive impact on the environment. The award highlights Al Jaber’s achievements in advancing clean energy technologies to mitigate the threats of climate change through Masdar. Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company invests in clean technologies, deploys renewable energy projects and is building a city that adheres to the most rigorous sustainability standards. Masdar also invests in intellectual and human capital through the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.

Read article on: khaleejtimes.com

High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) cables - or interconnectors - are becoming increasingly popular as the most viable option for delivering clean energy from renewable sources over long distances. The technology forms a key part of the DESERTEC vision since its beginning and the Norstec project - which aims to harness the renewable resources of the North Sea - is now following suit. Most recently, UK Energy Minister Charles Hendry has been undergoing discussions with Iceland’s state-owned energy company, Landsvirkjun, on the possibility of setting up an underwater HVDC cable between the two countries to provide Britain with renewable energy from Iceland.

Read article on: ipsnews.net

A group of experts, responsible for advising the German Federal Minister for the Environment, recently delivered a 700-page report titled ‘Responsibility in a World with Limits’. The title alludes to the Club of Rome’s report ‘The Limits to Growth’ and echoes the notion that there is a pressing need for humankind to consider our impact on the environment and how we manage our consumption of exhaustible energy resources. In their report, the experts recommend a number of measures through which the German Federal Government could reduce its energy and resource consumption drastically. Peter Altmaier - the incumbent Minister for the Environment - pointed out that “growth at all costs is not accepted by our society any longer”.

(German) Read article on: welt.de

Ambitioned to prevent Iran’s government from further trying to build an atomic bomb, the German Green Party wants to offer a solar power program alternatively. Hans-Josef Fell - energy commissioner and member of the Bundestag - wrote a policy paper together with fellow party member and foreign policy advisor Omid Nouripour in which they suggest Germany and the EU could offer Iran massive help for developing the country’s renewable energy sector. CSP, PV, wind power and other types of clean energy sources could become a more cost-effective and faster-to-implement alternative for Iran’s energy sector expansion plans than nuclear power. Fell and Nouripour state “the argument that Iran’s further development is only possible with nuclear power is wrong and easily rebuted”.

(German) Read article on: fr-online.de

According to DESERTEC’s co-founder and director Dr. Thiemo Gropp, the foundation has become a globally recognized advocate for renewable energies and successfully fostered significant changes over the past years – especially in Asia and South America. Plans for large-scale development of the renewable energy sector in Chile’s Atacama Desert – which provides optimal conditions for solar power – are set to benefit from the expansion of the DESERTEC Foundation’s leadership. Chilean-born Dr. Ignacio Campino, the German Telekom’s former responsible for sustainability and climate protection, will become DESERTEC’s new second director. One of his initial goals will be to focus particularly on the implementation of the DESERTEC concept in South America.

(German) Read article on: welt.de

The German company Solarlite received the National Energy Globe Award earlier this week. Las November, Solarlite began operations the first commercial parabolic trough power plant using direct evaporation of water and steam. This innovative technology produces environmentally friendly and cost-effective power. By employing the direct evaporation of water, the 5MW capacity plant near Kanachanaburi, Thailand, avoids the use of an expensive and environmentally unfriendly combination of thermal oil plus heat exchanger. This considerably increases efficiency compared to current technology, as well as lowering costs.

(German) Read article on: pressebox.de

According to a new UN environment program report, the switch to green policies and a low carbon economy can create between 15 and 60 million of new jobs around the world. The study calculated net gains in employment for the world economy also taking into account any possible job losses.  Moreover, the right policies for a sustainable development could help lift millions of people out of poverty and especially provide better access for women.

Read article on: motherjones.com

For Energy Commissioner, Günther Oettinger, the current EU target of 20% renewables by 2020 has been a successful instrument to bring member countries on the right track. Nevertheless, this scheme is only relevant on nation state level and Oettinger hopes for better strategic coordination of the European internal market, with schemes and subsidies for renewables, and bilateral or even trilateral developments between member states. He believes this can be facilitated by new targets for 2030 including burden sharing and targets for all member states.

Read article on: europeanenergyreview.eu

Anneke Schippl wrote her bachelor thesis during a practical semester at the DESERTEC Foundation and investigated the best location for solar power plants and their potential to replace existing energy imports in Africa. According to Dr. Frank Schlüsser, Anneke’s Professor, the DESERTEC concept is “necessary and feasible in light of the German transition to renewable energy and global climate change”. With her thesis, Anneke Schippl has made a contribution towards the realization of the concept.

(German) Read article on: jade-hs.de

Political scientist Karen Smith-Stegen talks about the challenges facing renewable energies such as high subsidies and a strong lobby for fossil and nuclear industries and argues that the success of plans for a European-wide electricity grid and projects like DESERTEC are highly dependent on public support. Smith-Stegen puts doubts about dependence on imports of key materials and the vulnerability of infrastructure into perspective. The DESERTEC infrastructure is unlikely to attract terrorist attacks and dependencies on imports of critical materials such as rare earths are less severe than for fossil fuels. In addition, the development of renewable energies in the MENA region would create many jobs and promote socio-economic and political development.

(German) Read article on: derstandard.at

U.S.-based Infinia Corp., a developer of power systems that convert solar heat to electricity, said it won the tender for a contract to supply equipment to a 143 million U.S. Dollar project in Cyprus. According to Infinia’s Vice President for Business Development David Townley, the corporation will deliver so-called Stirling engines to a 25.5 MW plant on the east Mediterranean island. The modular units need little land and no water, which makes them particularly suitable.

Read article on: bloomberg.com

Germany’s solar industry is facing considerable change. The Federal Government at the Bundestag agreed on subsidy rate cutbacks for nearly all newly built solar power plants, feed-in-tariffs are declining and the photovoltaic industry is struggling with dwindling jobs. Nevertheless, the German solar industry remains optimistic. According to the German industry association BSW-Solar, Germany can continue to be a worldwide role model for renewable energies and a popular location for the solar industry, if the necessary efforts are made. A market analysis by McKinsey echoes the optimism of BSW-Solar’s assessment: “The current problems are merely growing pains, and by no means a struggle for survival.”

(German) Read article on: welt.de

Jayesh Goyal, Vice President for Global Sales at AREVA Solar, stated in an interview that the uprisings in the MENA region have – in some sense – helped the renewable energy industry. He said that there has been a heightened “recognition to provide policies for the youth,” adding, “it’s spurring the governments to provide policies and promote local jobs which encourages the renewable energy industry.”

Read article on: ae-africa.com

The latest solar technology CPV is becoming increasingly cost-competitive thanks to its high efficiency in comparison to other photovoltaic technologies. The first commercial CPV plants are under construction in South Africa and the USA. Semprius, a US company in which Siemens is a shareholder, recently built CPV modules which achieved the record efficiency of 34%. Both companies, Siemens and Semprius hope for large scale CPV projects within the framework of DESERTEC Concept.

(Deutsch) Read article on: ee-news.ch

On May 26, 2012 Wu Bangguo, Chairman of China’s National People’s Congress visited the the award-winning Gemasolar concentrating solar thermal power plant in Andalusia, Spain. The solar tower plant from Torresol Energy includes molten salt storage allowing it to produce power for 15 hours even after the sun has gone down. President of Torresol Energy, Mr. Enrique Sendagorta, stated: “we want to thank the Chinese Delegation for the time dedicated to discover our Gemasolar plant. This innovative plant, unique in the world, truly marks the beginning of a path that will lead to a future where solar thermal plants are fully competitive with other renewable generation sources.”

Read article on: evwind.es

With five CSP construction plans in Nevada, Arizona and California, stakeholders in the CSP industry want to see state policy changes to further support the development of this technology. The foundation of the CSP Alliance and the 6th Concentrated Solar Power Conference have raised expectations of a favorable future for the industry.  

Read article on: ecoseed.org

A new solar thermal power plant is now under construction in Villena near Alicante. The 50 MW power plant will produce 110000 MWh of electricity per year and create up to 750 new jobs for the region.

Read article on: evwind.es

On Thursday the chairman of the standing committee of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC), Wu Bangguo, and Mariano Rajoy Spain’s Prime Minister agreed to expand bilateral cooperation in trade and renewable energy. China wants to learn from Spain’s experience in power generation management and introduce cutting-edge technologies. In return, Rajoy thanked China for agreeing to support Spain should they run into financial difficulties and its support for Eurozone in the midst of its present crisis.

Read article on: evwind.es

Last weekend German solar power hit a record high and on Saturday was able to meet nearly 50% of the country’s midday electricity needs. With 22 GW per hour, Germany was the first country to produce such a high amount solar power. This was made possible by increases in installed this year and last and the sunny weather all over the country. Despite this exemplary achievement reliable electricity supply still relies on fossil fuels since solar energy can only be produced during day time.

Read article on: uk.reuters.com

The Swiss solar plane “Solar Impuse” will fly the next leg on its journey from Switzerland to Morocco on Monday. Its arrival in Morocco will coincide with the beginning of work on the first phase of the 500MW Ouarzazate solar power plant in Morocco.

(German) Read article on: spiegel.de

Recent studies by the Club of Rome, WWF and World Watch have all reached similar conclusions. The change towards a greener economy is crucial if we are to avoid the high economic and human costs of runaway climate change. Humankind already consumes more than 1.5 times the resources produced by our planet each year and we must change course. Experts have high expectations on the upcoming climate conference Rio20 in June 2012.

(German) Read article on: nachhaltigkeitsrat.de

A congress in Stuttgart, Germany on energy security and renewable energy focused on the question of how to make the transition to renewable energies with feasible costs and how, by 2020, the DESERTEC Concept should be ready to play a central role.

(German) Read article on: stuttgarter-zeitung.de

The African Development Bank has approved a loan of US$ 336 million to the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN) in order to help with the financing of the Ouarzazate concentrating solar power station project. MASEN president Mustapha Bakkoury stated: “The Ouarzazate first phase is a key milestone for the success of the Moroccan solar program.”

Read article on: evwind.es

India-based Maharishi Solar Technology has announced the launch of its parabolic trough, a technology which is the result of the strategic tie-up with Abengoa Solar from Spain. Maharishi Solar Technology’s CEO Pradeep Khanna said: “It is an efficient time tested technology that replaces expensive fuel and thus can save millions for Indian industries.”

Read article on: renewableenergymagazine.com

After years of denying the economic feasibility of photovoltaic, the German energy company RWE is now planning large scale solar power plants within the framework of the Desertec Concept and invests in photovoltaic power plants in the South of Europe. This strategic change was caused by the latest evaluations of PV which predict an even stronger decrease in production costs. RWE is also investing in offshore wind parks in the North Sea.

(German) Read article on: ftd.de

Jochen Flasbarth – President of the German Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) – emphasized the enormous development potential for renewable energies in the MENA region in his inaugural address at the 5th Middle East and North African Renewable Energy Conference (MENAREC). According to the UBA, the development potential for wind and solar power in the MENA region is so enormous that it is highly likely to suffice for extensive energy exports to Europe once demand in the MENA is covered.

(German) Read article on: raiffeisen.com

From progress in the DESERTEC project in North Africa, official talks about laying a cable to export geothermal power from Iceland to the UK, to the announcement of the "Norstec" partnership which aims at turning the North Sea into an offshore wind hub linking countries together – as the price of renewables drops, the enthusiasm for building a pan-European super grid in order to supply renewable energies is growing.

Read article on: ibtimes.co.uk

An assessment to determine the most efficient and cost-effective energy mix for Saudi Arabia has concluded the kingdom should build 41GW of solar energy capacity by 2032. Of that, 25GW would come from CSP and 16GW from PV – a budget of US$109 billion is going to be allocated to boost Saudi Arabia’s solar power capacity. Khalid al-Sulaiman, Vice President for Renewable Energy at KACARE, the organisation that conducted the study, told Reuters: "I'm confident Saudi Arabia will approve a diversified energy mix this year.

Read article on: evwind.es

DESERTEC Foundation co-founder Dr. Ulrich Hueck (ulrich.hueck(at)desertec.org) authored a "solar boiler" concept for further development of solar thermal power plants. The concept targets cost reduction and efficiency improvement for this technology, project development in small steps and close cooperation with local partners in countries with high solar radiation. The publication (2 MB) comprises an illustrative presentation, a detailed text with a technical derivation for the solar boiler and a short text, which covers strategic considerations and an easily readable description of the technical background. The next step will be the preparation of a feasibility study.

Switzerland-based energy supplier EBL recently announced the completion of its Tubo Sol PE2 project in Calasparra, Spain. The Fresnel technology-based CSP plant now has a maximum capacity of 30 MW – enough clean energy for up to 15,000 households in countries like Switzerland or Spain. EBL’s Project Manager Tobias Andrist stated: “The aim is to produce electricity at a price which is low enough to allow us to operate independently from feed-in-tariffs.”

(German) Read article on: tagesanzeiger.ch

3M’s Renewable Energy Division and Gossamer Space Frames unveiled a new parabolic trough solar collector technology designed to significantly reduce equipment and installation costs for CSP systems. The new design will reduce the installed cost of a parabolic trough solar field by over 25 percent – a world benchmark for the industry. “By combining 3M innovations in materials and Gossamer Space Frames innovations in structure and alignment, we are leading the industry on a new cost-reduction trend,” said Glenn Reynolds, President and Co-founder of Gossamer Space Frames. “Not only does this design revitalize CSP, but the entire system comprises U.S.-manufactured components that, in turn, helps to create U.S. jobs. We are thrilled to continue leading the way in CSP.”

Read article on: news.3m.com

Grid operators Amprion and Transnet BW have successfully tested a new technique for the deployment of power transmission technology. Instead of building completely new power lines, which often upsets residents of the affected areas, it is now possible to make a simple upgrade. Grid operators can now rely on high-voltage direct current (HVDC) technology – a feasible alternative to the conventional alternating current (AC) solution.

(German) Read article on: strom-magazin.de

Germany-based reinsurer Munich Re has announced that it will insure performance guarantees of CSP plants for the first time in a move that will bolster investors’ confidence in such projects. The first customer for this new product is U.S.-based cleantech company SkyFuel which will cover the mirrors of its parabolic trough designs.

Read article on: munichre.com

Mexico looks set to pass a General Law on Climate Change that will include provisions to reduce emissions to 30 % below business-as-usual emissions by 2020, put Mexico into the focus of clean energy investment, and – most notably - increase renewable energy generation from its abundant wind and solar resources to 35 % by 2024.

Read article on: cleantechnica.com

An intelligent supergrid could be a vital addition to the plan of covering Europe’s energy demand through renewable sources. Josef Lutz, professor for power electronics at the TU Chemnitz, considers a European supergrid for renewable energies feasible: “The high-voltage direct current – or HVDC – technology is a very good fit for such purposes”. As one of many examples of such HVDC lines, Jörg Dörn, Product Development Manager for Power Transmission Solutions at Siemens highlighted China’s 800 kV and 6,4 GW HVDC line connecting Xiangjiaba in the North-Eastern Yunnan province with Shanghai over a distance of 2.000 km.

(German) Read article on: golem.de

India-based electricity supplier Reliance Power awarded the Californian company AREVA Solar the contract to build the largest CSP plant in Asia to date. It will consist of two 125MW units using Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector (CLFR) technology and is scheduled to start commercial operation in May 2013. The plant will help India to reach its goal of adding 20,000 MW of solar energy by 2022 and is going to result in the avoidance of roughly 557,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year compared to a similar sized coal-fired power plant. Reliance Power’s CEO J P Chalasani stated: "Reliance Power is proud to be a leader in India's clean energy future. Today's announcement is just the beginning.”

Read article on: evwind.es

Stormy weather, lots of direct sunlight and an increase in new facilities resulted in the first quarter of the year in significant increases in wind and solar power generation in Germany. In 2011, solar and wind power made up three and eight percent of the German electricity mix respectively. The solar electricity production increased according to the Federal Association of Solar Energy by 40 percent and wind power production by 35 percent compared to the same period last year. Wind will continue to be the most important renewable energy source in Germany and its energy transition will depend primarily on the further development of wind energy installations onshore and offshore. Storage and network expansion will be the crucial factors of the energy transition.

(German) Read article on: sueddeutsche.de

A team of researchers at Virginia’s George Washington University published a study in which they explain a groundbreaking way to produce lime cement that releases zero CO2 emissions – and it doesn’t cost the Earth either. Cement manufacturing is the second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases after coal-power plants. Every 10 units of cement release 9 units of CO2. Currently, the world consumes roughly 3 trillion tons of cement per year. Using CSP technology for the production of lime cement helps to avoid the usual carbon dioxide byproduct and an overall saving of US$298 per ton. Stuart Licht – one of the co-publishing chemists noted: “Solar energy can be used to efficiently make products without carbon dioxide, and at solar energy efficiencies higher than in photovoltaics.”

Read article on: cleantechnica.com

The European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger is supporting the plans of Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos to speed the economic recovery of his country by supplying Europe with electricity generated at giant solar plants. At the official introduction of the “Helios” solar energy program in Athens, Oettinger stated “DESERTEC and Helios are not mutually exclusive. DESERTEC is a vision for 2050, Helios is scheduled to produce at its full capacity in the coming 10 years. Athens estimates that it may only take 10 years to have a generating capacity of up to 10GW.”

Read article on: bloomberg.com

The emirate Abu Dhabi will soon be generating clean power at one of the world’s largest CSP plants. Shams Power Company is a multinational joint venture between Masdar Power (Abu Dhabi), Abengoa Solar (Spain) and Total (France) – the 450 million Euro CSP plant will be the biggest of its kind in the region to date. German companies from the mechanical engineering and glass manufacturing sector will deliver key components.  Desert-typical water scarcity necessitates the implementation of a costly dry-cooling technology; however, this is going to reduce the CSP plant’s water consumption by the factor 20. Shams 1 is going to have a total generating capacity of 100 megawatt (MW) and will supply up to 20 000 households with clean energy.

(German) Read article on: ee-news.ch

When it comes online later this year the 50MW Salkhit project will be Mongolia’s first wind farm. B. Byambasaikhan - Chief Executive of Newcom LLC which owns a 75 percent share in the project - stated that Salkhit “marks the dawn for Mongolia’s aspiration to becoming Asia’s renewable energy champion.” The wind farm will help to cover 5 percent of the country’s electricity demand whilst simultaneously reducing CO₂ emissions by around 164,000 metric tons a year. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is helping to finance the US$ 47 million project.

Read article on: bcmongolia.org

California-based SolarReserve has permission to proceed with the construction of a 200MW CSP plant in Colorado. The facility will consist of two 200m tall solar thermal power generating units based on CSP technology – each unit will have a total capacity of 100MW. The project will be completed in two phases, with commissioning scheduled for June, 2014, and June, 2015, respectively. The project will deliver power to the grid by connecting to the existing 230kV transmission line.

Read article on: alamosanews.com

The Danish government has stepped up its green energy and carbon reduction targets for 2020, hailing the plan as the "broadest, greenest, and most long-term energy agreement" it has ever reached. Under the deal, Denmark will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 34% by 2020 compared to 1990 levels and decrease energy consumption by more than 12% compared to 2006. It aims to supply 35% of its total energy from renewables, with half of its electricity delivered by wind farms. The agreement will help Denmark achieve its goal of supplying 100% of its energy from renewables by 2050 and prevent consumer energy bills from soaring, by reducing the country's dependence on the volatile price of fossil fuels.

Read article on: businessgreen.com

The construction of what is to become Africa's biggest wind farm will start by June in northern Kenya. A total of 365 wind turbines will be erected near Lake Turkana. After seven years of study and funding negotiations, the €585 million project is to take off in June. A 428-kilometer transmission line will also be built to link the wind farm to the national grid. The wind farm is expected to start production of the first 50 MW in mid-2014 and reach full capacity in early 2015, by which time it should have an installed capacity of 300 MW. The consortium for the Kenyan project has agreed to sell the power produced to utility firm Kenya Power over 20 years at a cost of 7.52 euro cents/kwh, which is - together with geothermal - the lowest price for energy in Kenya.

Read article on: omglobe.com

China plans to install 1GW of concentrating solar thermal power by 2015 and 3GW by 2020 after being given high priority by China's National Development and Reform Commission. In the next five years, regions with good solar irradiation conditions and adequate space and water resources will serve as pilot areas of solar thermal power projects to accelerate industry development.

Read article on: evwind.es

A Chinese newspaper reports that the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation (JREF) intends to benefit from the DESERTEC Foundation's experience in the MENA-Region to help it realize its mission of establishing an Asian Super Grid. As well as the MoU with the DESERTEC Foundation, the Japanese non-profit has also signed a cooperation agreement with the Mongolian National Centre for Renewable Energy to jointly develop the abundance of wind and solar energy in Mongolia’s Gobi desert region. To demonstrate the feasibility of an Asian Supergrid, JREF has begun a project to construct an over 250 km high voltage transmission line between Busan, South Korea and Kyushu, Japan.

Read article on: newenergy.org.cn

In a meeting this month between Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, the latter introduced the prospect of using €12 billion in unspent EU structural funds to get Greek solar projects moving. With that kind of backing, Greece could lay the groundwork for projects like the Helios solar farm, offering short-term output of 2 GW and a longer prospect of 10 GW by the end of the decade. Energy Minister George Papaconstantinou suggests the country could start exporting solar energy into the European market by 2015. Getting these projects on track remains challenging due to the lack of local financial support, foreign investors’ anxieties, and the capacity of the grid system linking Greece with the European market.

Read article on: forbes.com

The US Department of Energy SunShot Initiative aims to reduce the total installed cost of solar energy systems by 75% to 6 cents per kWh. Halotechnics, an early-stage solar-thermal startup, could help to achieve that goal as the company has developed new heat-storage materials that promise to not only make solar-thermal power plants more efficient, but also reduce the cost of storing energy from the sun for use when it's most needed. The materials include new mixtures of salts as well as new glass materials and could accelerate the process of making solar-thermal power plants cost-competitive with fossil fuels. They allow solar-thermal plants to operate at higher temperatures, thus improving their efficiency and reducing the size of the mirror array needed by up to about 25 percent.

Read article on: evwind.es

Now that Spain has discontinued its feed-in subsidies for solar power from new plants the free market is the only way for the realization of large-scale solar projects. Or this is the case according to the Zurich engineering company Jendra Power. They argue that the massive drop in prices will make photovoltaic solar power competitive in the near future in regions with high radiation such as southern Spain, even without political support. If Jendra Power can find an investor for their idea, it would be the first major solar power plant in Europe to deliver electricity without the financial support of state and power consumers.

(German) Read article on: vdi-nachrichten.com

The Japan Renewable Energy Foundation (JREF) recently announced its collaboration with the Desertec Foundation to share knowledge on the international transmission of renewable energy. The goal of JREF, a research organization set up last year in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, is the creation of an Asian "super-grid". This grid would connect the national grids of Japan, Mongolia, Russia, China and Korea, using high-voltage transmission lines that could send solar and wind power, generated in Mongolia, to power-hungry cities in Japan, Korea and China. The Gobi Desert, which extends through much of southern Mongolia, is said to be the world's third-largest potential source of solar energy.

Read article on: reneweconomy.com.au

One year after its democratic revolution, Tunisia’s Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali has asked Europeans to support the change by investing in the country. Merkel offered the government in Tunis additional help and close collaboration on specific projects. Jelabi expressed the hope that Tunisian engineers and students will soon be working on renewable energies projects such as DESERTEC.

(German) Read article on: europeonline-magazine.eu

The report includes analysis of photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies and reveals that the U.S. solar energy industry installed a record 1,855 megawatts of PV capacity in 2011, more than doubling the previous annual record of 887 MW set in 2010 and representing a 109 percent growth rate in 2011. GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association estimate the U.S. solar market's total value surpassed $8.4 billion in 2011. While no new concentrating solar thermal capacity was brought online in 2011, a total of 10 concentrating photovoltaic projects came online. As of year-end 2011, cumulative PV and CSP capacity in the U.S. represents enough solar capacity to power nearly a million households. The solar industry is the fastest growing industry in America for the second year in a row.

Read article on: evwind.es

Helios, a €20 billion solar power project in Greece, will be presented on 23 March in the Chamber of Commerce of Austria in Vienna. The aim of this project is to install up to 10GW of PV by 2020 with at least some of the electricity generated destined for export to other EU countries. The revenue from the solar PV project is intended to be used to reduce Greek debts. The project will be developed in line with European transmission infrastructure.

Read article on: renewableenergyfocus.com

A new Scottish Government report makes clear that the country can develop an electricity generation mix that is secure, affordable and decarbonized by 2030. Scotland will not need to install any new nuclear power stations. The report shows that low-carbon energy policies will not only benefit the environment and create jobs, but will also lead to lower household bills.

Read article on: cleantechnica.com

Leading concentrating solar power companies, Abengoa, BrightSource Energy, and Torresol Energy announced the formation of the Concentrating Solar Power Alliance (CSPA) in the United States. The new organization is dedicated to educating U.S. regulators, utilities and grid operators about the unique benefits of concentrating solar power and thermal energy storage as key elements for a reliable, low-carbon electricity mix and a driver of economic growth. The formation of the CSP Alliance builds on the momentum following the creation of the World Solar Thermal Electricity Association (STELAWorld), a consortium of industry associations representing the solar thermal electricity industry in Europe, Australia and South Africa.

Read article on: marketwatch.com

A new publication from the IEEE addresses intermittency, sometimes called the Achilles’ heel of renewable energy, an issue that has so far limited the penetration of renewable sources in most power grids. In it professors Pickard and Abbott show ways to render renewable energy reliable and dispatchable, particularly by using massive storage facilities for energy. CSP is considered as the main source of base-load power because it is the most realistic massively scalable future option.

Read article on: ieeexplore.ieee.org