Energy – Page 19 – Impact Lab

China, Energy, Latest Trend, Solar Power, Space

Supersized solar farms are sprouting around the world (and maybe in space, too)

August 24, 2018

In a quest to cut the cost of clean electricity, power utilities around the world are supersizing their solar farms.

Nowhere is that more apparent than in southern Egypt, where what will be the world’s largest solar farm — a vast collection of more than 5 million photovoltaic panels — is now taking shape. When it’s completed next year, the $4 billion Benban solar park near Aswan will cover an area 10 times bigger than New York’s Central Park and generate up to 1.8 gigawatts of electricity.

That’s roughly the output of two nuclear power plants combined and almost double the planned capacity of the vast Villanueva facility now growing in the Mexican state of Coahuila — currently the largest facility in the Americas. (The largest solar farm in the U.S. is the 580-megawatt Solar Star facility near Los Angeles.)

Continue reading… “Supersized solar farms are sprouting around the world (and maybe in space, too)”

Energy, Latest Trend, Solar Energy, Solar Power

Power worth less than zero spreads as green energy floods the grid

August 7, 2018

Wind and solar farms are glutting networks more frequently, prompting a market signal for coal plants to shut off.

Bright and breezy days are becoming a deeper nightmare for utilities struggling to earn a return on traditional power plants.

With wind and solar farms sprouting up in more areas — and their power getting priority to feed into the grid in many places — the amount of electricity being generated is outstripping demand during certain hours of the day.

The result: power prices are slipping to zero or even below more often in more jurisdictions. That’s adding to headaches for generators from NRG Energy Inc. in California to RWE AG in Germany and Origin Energy Ltd. in Australia. Once confined to a curiosity for a few hours over windy Christmas holidays, sub-zero cost of electricity is becoming a reality for hundreds of hours in many markets, upending the economics of the business in the process.

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Breakthrough Thinking, Energy, Engineering, new technology

Will Lockheed Martin change the world with its new fusion reactor?

August 1, 2018

TEXAS, USA – JUNE 21: A F-35 fighter jet is seen as Turkey takes delivery of its first F-35 fighter jet with a ceremony at the Lockheed Martin in Forth Worth, Texas, United States on June 21, 2018. (Photo by Atilgan Ozdil/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Lockheed Martin’s secretive Skunkworks laboratory registered a patent in March for a revolutionary technology that could solve the world’s energy problems for good – but don’t pop the champagne yet. The design is for a compact fusion reactor (CFR) which theoretically produces cheap, clean, near limitless energy – all from a device that could fit on the back of a semi. If it sounds far-fetched, that’s because it is. The sustained generation of a fusion reaction has evaded scientists since the idea was first conceived over 70 years ago.

Lockheed Martin thinks they can change that.

Continue reading… “Will Lockheed Martin change the world with its new fusion reactor?”

Batteries, Battery, Breakthrough Thinking, Energy

A new flow battery prototype aims to store vast amounts of renewable power for the grid

August 1, 2018

This ‘flow battery’ could power green homes when the sun goes down and the wind stops blowing.

With solar and wind electricity prices plunging, the hunt is on for cheap batteries to store all this power for use around the clock. Now, researchers have made an advance with a flow battery, the type of battery being developed to soak up enough excess wind and solar power to fuel whole cities. They report the discovery of a potentially cheap, organic molecule that can power a flow battery for years instead of days.

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Breakthrough Thinking, cutting edge, Energy, Solar Energy, Solar Power

These living solar cells make energy, even in bad weather

July 24, 2018

When it comes to generating energy from sunlight, unusual solutions have been shown to make the process more efficient.

Now, a team of researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC) has demonstrated how solar cells made of living organisms can generate energy even with limited sunlight. Known as “biogenic” solar cells, these cells could offer an alternative to synthetic cells currently used in conventional solar panels, providing an energy source despite bad weather. A paper detailing the research was published this month in the journal Small.

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Batteries, Elon Musk, Energy, Tesla

Tesla and PG&E are working on a massive ‘up to 1.1 GWh power pack battery system

July 10, 2018

For the past few months, Tesla and CEO Elon Musk have been teasing a giant battery project that would dwarf even the company’s 129 MWh Powerpack project in Australia.

Today, we learn that Tesla is working with PG&E on a massive battery system with a capacity of “up to 1.1 GWh” in California.

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Batteries, Breakthrough Thinking, Business, China, Energy

Where 3 million electric batteries will go when they retire

July 3, 2018

GM, Toyota and BYD are part of a potential $550 billion industry.

The first batches of batteries from electric and hybrid vehicles are hitting retirement age, yet they aren’t bound for landfills. Instead, they’ll spend their golden years chilling beer at 7-Elevens in Japan, powering car-charging stations in California and storing energy for homes and grids in Europe.

Lithium-ion car and bus batteries can collect and discharge electricity for another seven to 10 years after being taken off the roads and stripped from chassis—a shelf life with significant ramifications for global carmakers, electricity providers and raw-materials suppliers.

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Energy, Environment, Ideas, Solar Energy

Pioneering ‘liquid air’ project can help store excess electricity

June 7, 2018

A pioneering project in north-west England will turn air into liquid for energy storage to help electricity grids cope with a growing amount of wind and solar power.

The world’s first full-scale “liquid air” plant is based on a technology that advocates say is cheaper and able to provide power for longer periods than lithium-ion batteries.

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Analysis, Energy, NASA, Space Flight

NASA’s ‘impossible ‘ space engine tested-here are the results

May 25, 2018

The first independent tests of the EmDrive suggest there’s a mundane explanation for the wildly controversial device.

Spaceflight is hard. Blasting heavy cargo, spacecraft, and maybe people to respectable speeds over interplanetary distances (not to mention the luxury of stopping at destinations) requires an amount of propellant too massive for current rockets to haul into the void.

That is, unless you have an engine that can generate thrust without fuel.

Continue reading… “NASA’s ‘impossible ‘ space engine tested-here are the results”

Batteries, Energy, Latest Trend

A 100% renewable grid isn’t just feasible, it’s already happening

May 25, 2018

New study debunks myths claiming renewables can’t be integrated into electric grid.

The ongoing debate around whether it’s feasible to have an electric grid running on 100 percent renewable power in the coming decades often misses a key point: many countries and regions are already at or close to 100 percent now.

Continue reading… “A 100% renewable grid isn’t just feasible, it’s already happening”

China, Energy, Solar Energy, Solar Power

Breakthrough solar panel can harvest power from raindrops — day or night

May 22, 2018

In a truly remarkable feat of innovation, scientists have figured out how to create “hybrid” solar cells that generate power not just from sunlight but also from raindrops. This means we may soon see all-weather solar panels that work when it is cloudy and even at night, if it’s raining.

Solar has soared in recent years, as panel prices have dropped so fast that solar keeps crushing its own record for the cheapest power “ever, anywhere, by any technology” — even without a subsidy.

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Automobiles, China, Ecological Products, Electric Vehicles, Energy, Solar Energy

6 solar roads shaking up infrastructure around the world

April 17, 2018

Roads aren’t just for walking or driving anymore. Solar road or pathway projects around the world are showing that streets can both provide firm footing and generate clean energy. Inhabitat rounded up six projects in places as diverse as China and rural Georgia to highlight potentially game-changing technologies in the solar road sphere.

Solar Roadways use modular solar panels covered in tempered glass

Continue reading… “6 solar roads shaking up infrastructure around the world”