Solar power tariff dips to an all-time low of Rs 1.99/unit

Source: https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/

Solar power tariff has dropped to an all-time low of Rs 1.99 per unit in an auction of projects of 500 MW capacity by Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL) last week.

State-run power giant NTPC (200MW), Torrent Power (100MW), Saudi Arabian firm Al Jomaih Energy and Water Co. (80MW) and Aditya Birla Renewable (120) have emerged as the lowest bidders by quoting Rs 1.99 per unit tariff under the auction, as per the news published 

Under the SECI auction concluded last month, Al Jomaih Energy and Water Co. and Sembcorp Energy India arm Green Infra Wind Energy Ltd had emerged as the lowest bidders by quoting a tariff of Rs 2 per unit for 200MW and 400MW capacities respectively.

Discom Tata Power offers 50% discount on 5-star ACs in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Aiming to bring down power consumption in national capital, Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd (TPDDL) has launched a scheme offering up to 50 per cent discount on energy-efficient air conditioners.

The scheme would be available for 20,000 customers on first-come-first-serve basis.

Only the customers having an average monthly consumption of up to 1,200 units per month during April to September 2014 can avail this scheme, TPDL said in a statement.

Under the scheme, TPDDL consumers in North and North-West Delhi can get discount of 50 per cent on BEE 5-star rated ACs, Inverter ACs in exchange of their non-star ACs.

It is applicable for both window and split ACs of 1 & 1.5 tonnes.

The scheme is available on various models of ACs from leading Brands such as Voltas, Hitachi and Godrej.

TPDDL CEO and MD Praveer Sinha said: "...we have been constantly advocating energy conservation schemes. Our demand side management schemes not only aim to reduce power consumption but also help customers in reducing spending on their electricity bills."

The scheme has been targeted at households as the domestic sector accounts for almost 50 per cent of energy consumption in Delhi and ACs power consumption is a key component of the same.

TPDDL consumers can avail the scheme against their CA numbers (one AC per CA Number) mentioned in the electricity bills.

Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

IPCC: Renewables could provide 80% of global energy by 2050.....

by IPCC

When a cautious and conservative group like the IPCC goes this far, we can be certain that much 

more could be achieved by a society committed to ecological sanity

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. News Release, May 9, 2011

Close to 80 percent of the world‘s energy supply could be met by renewables by mid-century if backed

by the right enabling public policies a new report shows.

The findings, from over 120 researchers working with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 

(IPCC), also indicate that the rising penetration of renewable energies could lead to cumulative 

greenhouse gas savings equivalent to 220 to 560 Gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (GtC02eq) between

2010 and 2050.

The upper end of the scenarios assessed, representing a cut of around a third in greenhouse gas 

emissions from business-as-usual projections, could assist in keeping concentrations of greenhouse 

gases at 450 parts per million.

This could contribute towards a goal of holding the increase in global temperature below 2 degrees 

Celsius – an aim recognized in the United Nations Climate Convention’s Cancun Agreements.

The findings, launched today after being approved by member countries of the IPCC in Abu Dhabi,

United Arab Emirates, are contained in a summary for policymakers of the Special Report on Renewable 

Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation(SRREN).

The summary is a short version of a roughly a thousand page comprehensive assessment compiled 

by over 120 leading experts from all over the world for IPCC‘s Working Group III.

“With consistent climate and energy policy support, renewable energy sources can contribute 

substantially to human well-being by sustainably supplying energy and stabilizing the climate,” said

Professor Ottmar Edenhofer, Co-Chair of Working Group III at the report launch. “However, the 

substantial increase of renewables is technically and politically very challenging” he added.

Youba Sokona, Co-Chair of the Working Group III, said:

“The potential role of renewable energy technologies in meeting the needs of the poor and in powering the sustainable growth of developing and developed economies can trigger sharply polarized views. This IPCC report has brought some much needed clarity to this debate in order to inform governments on the options and decisions that will needed if the world is to collectively realize a low carbon, far more resource efficient and equitable development path.”

Ramon Pichs, Co-Chair of the Working Group III, added:

“The report shows that it is not the availability of the resource, but the public policies that will either expand or constrain renewable energy development over the coming decades. Developing countries have an important stake in this future—this is where most of the 1.4 billion people without access to electricity live yet also where some of the best conditions exist for renewable energy deployment” .

Also speaking at the launch, Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC, said:

“The IPCC brought together the most relevant and best available information to provide the world with this scientific assessment of the potential of renewable energy sources to mitigate climate change. The Special Report can serve as a sound knowledge basis for policymakers to take on this major challenge of the 21st century.”

The report will feed into the broader work of the IPCC as it prepares its Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). The AR5 Synthesis Report is scheduled for finalization in September 2014.

The SRREN, approved by government representatives from 194 nations, has reviewed the current penetration of six renewable energy technologies and their potential deployment over the coming decades.

The six renewable energy technologies reviewed are:

• Bioenergy, including energy crops; forest, agricultural and livestock residues and so called second generation biofuels
• Direct solar energy including photovoltaics and concentrating solar power
• Geothermal energy, based on heat extraction from the Earth‘s interior
• Hydropower, including run-of-river, in-stream or dam projects with reservoirs
• Ocean energy, ranging from barrages to ocean currents and ones which harness temperature differences in the marine realm
• Wind energy, including on- and offshore systems

Over 160 existing scientific scenarios on the possible penetration of renewables by 2050, alongside environmental and social implications, have been reviewed with four analyzed in-depth. These four were chosen in order to represent the full range. Scenarios are used to explore possible future worlds, analyzing alternative pathways of socio-economic development and technological change.

The researchers have also studied the challenges linked to how renewable energy can be integrated into existing and future energy systems including electricity grids and likely cost benefits from these developments.

While the scenarios arrive at a range of estimates, the overall conclusions are that renewables will take an increasing slice of the energy market.

The most optimistic of the four, in-depth scenarios projects renewable energy accounting for as much as 77 percent of the world‘s energy demand by 2050, amounting to about 314 of 407 Exajoules per year. As a comparison, 314 Exajoules is over three times the annual energy supply in the United States in 2005 which is also a similar level of supply on the Continent of Europe according to various government and independent sources.

77 percent is up from just under 13 percent of the total primary energy supply of around 490 Exajoules in 2008. Each of the scenarios is underpinned by a range of variables such as changes in energy efficiency, population growth and per capita consumption. These lead to varying levels of total primary energy supply in 2050, with the lowest of the four scenarios seeing renewable energy accounting for a share of 15 percent in 2050, based on a total primary energy supply of 749 Exajoules.

While the report concludes that the proportion of renewable energy will likely increase even without enabling policies, past experience has shown that the largest increases come with concerted policy efforts.

Though in some cases renewable energy technologies are already economically competitive, the production costs are currently often higher than market energy prices. However, if environmental impacts such as emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases were monetized and included in energy prices, more renewable energy technologies may become economically attractive.

For most of them, costs have declined over the last decades and the authors expect significant technical advancements and further cost reductions in the future, resulting in a greater potential for climate change mitigation.

Public policies that recognize and reflect the wider economic, social and environmental benefits of renewable energies, including their potential to cut air pollution and improve public health, will be key for meeting the highest renewables deployment scenarios.

Increasing the share of renewables requires additional short-term and long-term integration efforts. Studies clearly show that combining different variable renewable sources, and resources from larger geographical areas, will be beneficial in smoothing the variability and decreasing overall uncertainty for the power system.

There is a need for advanced technologies to optimize the infrastructure capacity for renewables. Additionally, there is a need for balancing supply and demand, like advanced demand and supply forecasting and plant scheduling.

“What is unique about this assessment is that the IPCC allows us to draw on and bring together a broad spectrum of experts on each of the technologies reviewed in collaboration with scientists studying energy systems as a whole. It represents a systemic, broad, impartial and state of knowledge report on the present and future potential of a low carbon, more resource efficient energy path,” says Professor Edenhofer.

Key Findings from the Summary for Policymakers

• Of the around 300 Gigawatts (GW) of new electricity generating capacity added globally between 2008 and 2009, 140 GW came from renewable energy.
• Despite global financial challenges, renewable energy capacity grew in 2009—wind by over 30 percent; hydropower by three percent; grid-connected photovoltaics by over 50 percent; geothermal by 4 percent; solar water/heating by over 20 percent and ethanol and biodiesel production rose by 10 percent and 9 percent respectively.
• Developing countries host more than 50 percent of current global renewable energy capacity.
• Most of the reviewed scenarios estimate that renewables will contribute more to a low carbon energy supply by 2050 than nuclear power or fossil fuels using carbon capture and storage (CCS).
• The technical potential of renewable energy technologies exceeds the current global energy demand by a considerable amount—globally and in respect of most regions of the world.
• Under the scenarios analyzed in-depth, less than 2.5 percent of the globally available technical potential for renewables is used—in other words over 97 percent is untapped underlining that availability of renewable source will not be a limiting factor.
• Accelerating the deployment of renewable energies will present new technological and institutional challenges, in particular integrating them into existing energy supply systems and end use sectors.
• According to the four scenarios analyzed in detail, the decadal global investments in the renewable power sector range from 1,360 to 5,100 billion US dollars to 2020 and 1,490 to 7,180 billion US dollars for the decade 2021 to 2030. For the lower values, the average yearly investments are smaller than the renewable power sector investments reported for 2009.
• A combination of targeted public policies allied to research and development investments could reduce fuel and financing costs leading to lower additional costs for renewable energy technologies.
• Public policymakers could draw on a range of existing experience in order to design and implement the most effective enabling policies–there is no one-size-fits-all policy for encouraging renewables.

Fossil Fuel Reduction Strategy

There are three ways to prevent pollution due to dirty, fossil-fueled energy from entering our atmosphere: efficiency, conservation, and clean energy.  To some this is very obvious, but sometimes it helps “energy novices” to go over the differences so they can better plan their energy strategy and strengthen their ability to visualize energy.  The better you know your enemy , the easier it is to defeat (fossil fuel energy is our enemy here people).
Efficiency
Energy Efficiency means using less energy to get the same job done.  A CFL (compact fluorescent light)  is the perfect example of this.  As I showed in my lighting cost comparison between CFL’s and incandescents post, a 14 Watt CFL light bulb uses about 4 times less energy than a 60-watt incandescent bulb.  But while it uses much less energy, it puts out the same about of light, meaning that CFL’s are way more energy efficient than incandescent.
Other examples of energy efficient products are shown with the Government’s Energy Star program.  These are appliances that meet a certain level of energy efficiency.  Examples of energy efficient products that could save you a lot of energy due to superior design are refrigerators, washers/dryers, heating/cooling equipment, and other appliances that are used daily.
Conservation
While Energy Efficiency involves using energy smarter, Energy Conservation means not using energy at all.  As Amory Lovins says, Negawatts (not using energy at all) are the cleanest form of energy out there.  Examples of energy conservation in the home are turning off the lights (manually or using lighting controls) or turning off appliances when not in use (you can even use an automatic timer) or programming your thermostat to come on less when you don’t need AC or Heat.  Another example of energy conservation is insulating your home so your programmable thermostat controlled energy efficient furnace doesn’t have to work as hard to keep comfortable.  Like layers of clothing help you keep warm in winter, energy conservation layers (more insulation + programmable thermostat) help you prevent that much more fossil fuel energy from being used in the first place!
I’ve even shown in one post how energy conservation is a better investment than the stock market!
Clean Energy
Once you have installed energy efficient devices in your house and you have learned how to conserve the energy that you do use, the next step is using clean energy when you have to use it!
Clean Energy is energy that doesn’t pollute and is renewable.  The cleanest forms of this energy are Solar power and Wind power (which in itself is a form of solar power –> sun heats air, which causes temperature differentials, which cause wind).  Installing Solar or Wind systems can be expensive up front, but there are Federal tax incentives, State tax incentives for many, and sometimes even utility rebates.   While your very own Clean Energy generating system may be a longer term goal for some, it is definitely a pillar of getting off the fossil fuel strategy.
In a few years I hope to get a plug-in electric vehicle.  The motor powering the car will be energy efficient and by driving it I will be conserving gasoline (because it wont use gasoline, it will use electricity as it’s fuel) made from oil that came from the middle east.  I hope to eventually power the plug-in with clean energy from solar panels installed on my roof.
Getting our society off fossil fuel energy is not going to be easy.  It’s going to need a change in attitude by the public, a large amount of education, and the help of many leaders to show the “holdouts” how rewarding it can be to help lower our dependence on fossil fuel.   Let’s install efficient devices, start conserving as much as possible, and look at installing clean energy now.  Doing this will clean our skies, improve our national security, and fatten our wallets.
Sounds like a good strategy to me.

WATCH THE VIDEO OF SMART GRID

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO OF SMART GRID:)

IT'S TIME TO TALK CLIMATE CHANGE

In April 2009 the Los Angeles Times ran the headline: “What will global warming look like? Scientists point to Australia”. Nearly two years on - the events unfolding in Australia – record-breaking droughts, killer bushfires and devastating floods – gave a snapshot of our future in a globally warmed world. now again in 2011 it shows the same.....

The floods that have led to most of Queensland being declared a disaster zone are a disturbing reminder that even one of the richest countries in the world is not safe from the devastation of natural disasters.

Though you can’t make a direct link between Australia’s killer floods and climate change, they do hold a warning for the future: Scientists predict such extreme weather events will increase both in intensity and frequency as the planet warms.

Raging floodwaters have swamped thousands of homes and businesses in Queensland, leaving at least 25 people dead and dozens more missing since late November. Rail lines and highways have been washed away in what is shaping up to become Australia’s costliest natural disaster.

“The Earth is delivering a message to us. And the message is that more extreme weather is becoming the norm rather than the exception,” said John Magrath, a climate change researcher at British charity Oxfam.

Droughts and floods are expected to become more severe as global temperatures climb. Less clear is the impact on wind patterns and ocean currents, factors that could alter climate in potentially dramatic ways not fully understood yet.

Most atmospheric scientists attribute most of the warming seen in recent decades to gases released into the air by industrial processes and gasoline-burning engines.

Australia’s floods, which started in late November, have been linked to the La Nina weather phenomenon, which refers to cooler than normal surface sea temperatures in parts of the Pacific, causing disruptions in weather patterns. La Nina occurs naturally, and the link to climate change remains unclear, said Omar Baddour of the World Meteorological Organization.

"Turning Trash Into Power"-Generate Natural Gas with Bacteria

HOW IT WORKS: In the process, food waste is collected from restaurants and institutions and then fed to bacteria that thrive in low-oxygen environments. It's called anaerobic digestion, a naturally occurring process of decomposition. One type of bacteria turns carbohydrates into simple sugars, amino acids and fatty acids. A second group of bacteria eats those compounds and turns them into hydrogen gas, carbon dioxide, and acetic acid -- the primary component of vinegar. Then a third group of bacteria takes those broken-down compounds and turns them into methane and carbon dioxide. Between 60 and 80 percent becomes methane. The methane can be used as fuel for an internal combustion engine that provides electricity.
TYPES OF DIGESTION: Anaerobic digestion is not the same thing as human digestion, since the type of bacteria that produce methane don't live in the human digestive tract. Industrial anaerobic digesters can also harness this natural process to treat waste, provide heat, and increase nutrients in soil. They are most commonly used for sewage treatment and for managing animal waste.
BENEFITS: The goal of SMUD is to obtain 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources such as wind, solar, and biodegradable matter by 2011. Currently SMUD derives 10 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, of which biomass accounts for 2.5 percent. The UC-Davis digester would keep food and other biodegradable waste out of landfills; food leftovers account for 18 percent of a landfill's contents. One tone of leftover food can produce enough fuel to power 18 homes for one day.
WHAT ARE EXTREMOPHILES? An extremophile is any microbe that thrives in extreme conditions, such as temperature (extreme heat or cold), pressure, salinity, low oxygen environments, or high concentrations of hostile chemicals. Most extremophiles belong to a class known as archaeobacteria, but certain species of worm, crustacean and krill can also be considered extremophiles.