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Tag: solar pv

Masdar: Using technology to power a sustainable future

Posted on by dishanth
Masdar: Using technology to power a sustainable future
Renewable energy company Masdar has been making strides towards its sustainability goals by utilising the latest technology

As a global leader in renewable energy and green hydrogen, Masdar has pioneered commercially viable solutions in clean energy, sustainable real estate and clean technology in the UAE and around the world for over a decade.

Headquartered in Abu Dhabi, UAE, the business is currently developing large-scale renewable energy initiatives, in a bid to drive the progression of clean technologies and further grow technology in the renewable energy sector. In doing so, Masdar is focused on creating new long-term revenue streams for the UAE.

How is Masdar utilizing technology to boost sustainable energy?

Committed to advancing clean-tech innovation, Masdar utilises technology to enhance the renewable energy sector.

Masdar hosts a range of wind farms in its offshore project portfolio, including sites in London Array and the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm in the United Kingdom. The business has also partnered with Hywind Scotland, the world’s first floating offshore wind farm.

Additionally, Masdar deploys solar photovoltaic (PV) technology in utility-scale and off-grid solar power plants and rooftop systems, including monocrystalline silicon panels, polycrystalline silicon panels, and thin-film panels.

Depending on the solar potential, geographical location, and financial requirements of a specific solar PV project, a suitable PV system is implemented to meet the project’s needs.

Likewise, concentrated solar power (CSP) systems – which use mirrors to focus a large area of sunlight onto much smaller areas – are used to convert concentrated light into heat, to drive a heat engine connected to an electrical power generator. CSP systems have become known as a promising solar power technology for large-scale power generation.

When CSP and thermal energy storage (TES) are used together, it is capable of producing constant power for up to 24 hours a day.

Masdar’s sustainability commitments

With the aim of investing and actively supporting the development of young people, Masdar strives to help support the sustainability leaders of tomorrow through its Youth 4 Sustainability (Y4S).

His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi invested in the initiative, ensuring it aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to bolster the nation’s sustainability efforts.

By 2030, Y4S aims to reach up to one million youth, creating awareness of the skills needed for future jobs in sustainability.

 

 

 

 

Source Sustainability

Solar panel efficiency to increase 50% with “miracle” cells

Posted on by dishanth
Solar panel efficiency to increase 50% with “miracle” cells

A South Korean company has made a groundbreaking achievement as they unveiled the world’s first production line dedicated to perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells. These innovative solar cells have the potential to boost efficiency by 50-75% compared to standard solar panels.

The commercialization of perovskite-based solar cells marks a significant milestone after years of advancements with the mineral. It has widely been regarded as a “miracle” material capable of revolutionizing various industries, including renewable energy.

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The next-generation solar cell technology

Qcells, based in Seoul, has committed a substantial investment of US$100mn to bring this next-generation solar cell technology from the realm of lab tests and academic research to practical application.

A pilot production line to be operational by late next year will be funded by the investment at a factory in Jincheon.

“This investment in Jincheon will mark an important step in securing technological leadership,” said Justin Lee, CEO of Qcells.“With a global R&D network spanning from Korea, Germany and the US, Qcells will ramp up its efforts to produce high-efficiency advanced tandem cells.”

 

Improving sufficiency

Tandem solar cells offer a significant enhancement to the efficiency of conventional solar panels, by dividing the light spectrum and optimizing energy extraction from each segment to generate electricity.

In fact, the world record for solar cell efficiency stands at 32.5%, achieved with a perovskite-silicon tandem cell. In contrast, traditional silicon-based solar cells typically reach only around 22% efficiency.

This signifies that nearly one-third of solar radiation can be efficiently converted into electrical energy.

The development of tandem solar cells represents a promising leap forward in harnessing solar energy more effectively and surpassing the limitations of conventional silicon-based technologies.

 

 

 

 

Source Sustainability

 

Western Australia utility replicating success of 100% renewable energy town

Posted on by dishanth
Western Australia utility replicating success of 100% renewable energy town

The small town of Onslow, Western Australia, is now powered almost entirely by renewable energy, and the utility behind that project wants to roll out the same tech across the state.

State-owned utility company Horizon Power said today that it will deploy distributed energy management system (DERMS) technology that helps coordinate the use of different resources like rooftop solar PV, battery storage and electric vehicles (EVs).

In the demonstration project at Onslow, the entire town ran on renewable energy and battery storage for a period of about an hour-and-a-half last year, thanks to a microgrid system which allowed it to operate as a self-contained electricity grid.

While that means Onslow still relies on natural gas engines and diesel generators, that reliance is greatly reduced, and the energy minister for Western Australia, Bill Johnson called the demonstration a “landmark step towards building a cleaner, brighter, renewable energy future for our state”.

The project showed that distributed energy resources (DERs) could be safely integrated at grid level, and Johnson, along with Horizon Power and software and controls providers PXiSE and SwitchDin, talked up the potential for it to be replicated widely.

Horizon Power said today that the technology enabled four times as much rooftop solar to be installed and integrated into the grid at Onslow, a town where more than 40% of homes have PV.

The DERMS works using predictive analytics to enable maximised penetration of renewable energy on the grid – predicting weather patterns, electricity consumer behaviour and so on – while also ensuring stability and security of electricity supply to homes and businesses.

It enables not just DERs but also centralised resources like large-scale solar PV and batteries as well as thermal power stations to act in concert together to meet local energy needs.

Horizon will introduce the technology into remote and regional parts of the state. The company’s general manager for technology and digital transformation said that around 60% of Horizon Power’s energy systems are already dealing with limits on rooftop solar.

The DERMS will “increase solar access for our customers, lower their energy bills, and help reduce emissions,” Ray Achemedei said.

The rollout begins in the coastal resort town of Broome early next year and the utility will progressively deploy the tech across all of its power systems by the middle of 2024.

“This is the technology that will underpin the transition to 100% renewable towns,” Achemedei said, noting that the paradigm shift from centralised fossil fuel generation sending power in one direction only to decentralised and decarbonised energy which is bi-directional or multi-directional in flowing around the grid presents challenges that Horizon Power is tackling head on.

Other initiatives from the utility include a tender for distributed microgrids for rural areas launched in October 2021.

Then in November last year, Horizon began Energy Storage in Regional Towns, a AU$31 million programme to equip nine remote towns in Western Australia with shared community battery storage.

That programme is funded by the state government and is adding about 9MWh of battery energy storage system (BESS) capacity to local energy networks. Western Australia’s government put battery storage and solar PV at the heart of its post-pandemic economic recovery plans, announced in June 2021.

 

 

Source Energy Storage News

Abu Dhabi confirms plans for record-low cost solar farm

Posted on by dishanth
Abu Dhabi confirms plans for record-low cost solar farm

Abu Dhabi Power Corporation (ADPower) has confirmed plans for a record-breaking new solar farm, confirming that its latest project is set to be both the world’s largest solar development and will deliver power at a record low cost.

ADPower’s subsidiary, Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC), yesterday provided an update on the bids from five consortia looking to develop the 2GW Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Independent Power Producer (IPP) Al Dhafra Solar PV project.

The company said the first-ranked bidder pledged to deliver the world’s most cost-competitive tariff for solar PV energy, set at AED 4.97fils/kWh (1.35USDcents/kWh) on a Levelized Electricity Cost (LEC) basis. The bid is approximately 44 per cent lower than the tariff set three years ago on the Noor Abu Dhabi project – Abu Dhabi’s first large-scale solar PV project, which set its own low cost record at the time.

The new Al Dhafra Solar PV project is expected to boast enough capacity to power approximately 160,000 households across the UAE. It will be almost double the size of the approximately 1.2GW Noor Abu Dhabi solar plant, which has been amongst the largest operational solar PV plants in the world since it started commercial operations in April 2019.

“Abu Dhabi has illustrated a remarkable step-change in the way the Emirate generates power through an enhanced focus on sustainability and renewable technologies,” said Jasim Husain Thabet, chief executive and managing director at ADPower. “The water and electricity sector intends to play a critical role in meeting the target of having 50 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s energy needs served from renewable and clean energy sources by 2030, as well as the reduction of the generation system’s average carbon intensity by more than 70 per cent, compared to 2015.”

Othman Al Ali, chief executive at EWEC, said the new project further underlined the cost competitiveness of renewable energy technologies.

“The cost-competitiveness of the bids received is truly remarkable – positioning Abu Dhabi as one of the world’s most attractive markets for solar energy development and reinforcing the economic benefits now achievable through renewable technologies,” he said. “Securing such competitive tariffs on our energy projects is fundamental to support economic growth across all sectors in the UAE. We look forward to signing the Power Purchase Agreement and to delivering the project in Q2 2022.”

The news came on the same day as influential analyst firm BloombergNEF published its latest report on global renewable energy costs, confirming solar and onshore wind costs continued to fall last year, meaning renewables are now the lowest cost means of providing new generation capacity in regions that are home to over two thirds of the world’s population.

 

 

James S Murray
Editor-in-chief of BusinessGreen