Solar Thermal captures heat from the sun to create power. The heat can also be stored and used later. R&D now is focusing on computer-controlled reflector mirrors and more efficient ways to store the heat.
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Posts under ‘Solar power’
Solar thermal power. Recent advances
Biggest clean energy plant in world planned for India
It’ll be a whopping 13 GW, 10 GW from solar, 3 GW from wind. And China is planning a 20 GW site.
The US? Not even a contender.
Utility-grade solar requires “intelligent” management
Renewable Energy World discusses the nuts and bolts of getting solar power operational at utility-scale.
Dispatchability — The ability to be able to turn solar services on and off at a moment’s notice.
Stability — The ability to manage the fluctuation of grid currents caused by the introduction of solar systems.
Manageability — The ability to effectively manage [...]
Solar-powered plug-in charging stations
Carbon Day Automotive plans to roll them out nationwide. Users can access all info, like billing and locations, off mobile devices.
California announces solar water heater subsidies
My first post on the California Independent Voter Network is about the new California solar water heater plan.
California okays tax credits for solar hot water
With the various tax credits now available, payback for installing solar hot water is now just three years. If widely adopted, this will save huge amounts of energy, cutting down on greenhouse emission as well as costs.
Australians could make $10,000 a year supplying grid from rooftop solar
The New South Wales government has just introduced a Solar Bonus Scheme that could have residents earning as much as $10,000 a year to send clean electricity to the grid from solar panels on their own roofs.
The incentive is a Feed-in Tariff like the one that was so popular in Germany that they ran out [...]
Sun, wind and wave-powered: Europe unites to build renewable energy ’supergrid’
A proposed $50 billion grid of underseas cables connecting renewable energy sources in nine European countries may become a reality – and offer a reliable, weather-proof supply of clean energy from sun, wind, and wave.
The US should do something like this too. We have the technology. All that’s needed is the will. Europe wants to [...]
Toyota developing solar-powered electric vehicle charging stations
They will install 21 of them soon. The stations can put power back into the grid when the batteries are full and no cars need charging.
Solar lamps that power mobile phones in rural India
It’s a game-changer for them. No walking long distances or paying to recharge mobile phones. Kerosene lamps and their attendant fire hazards have been eliminated. Rural dwellers spend much less now on fuel, and have figured out how to power tiny TVs with the lamps too.
There are probably hundreds of millions of people now who [...]
World’s first small scale solar thermal launches in Hawaii
This test project by Sopogy will hopefully be the first of many as Hawaii continues to be leader in renewable energy.
The 2 Megawatt thermal energy project which spans across 3.8 acres in the hot Kona desert utilizes 1,000 Sopogy proprietary MicroCSP solar panels. Through the use of mirrors and optics and an integrated sun [...]
Rooftop solar = 4% of Sonoma County’s power
This is staggering. In just over six months; Sonoma County’s Energy Independence Program has received 375 applications for more than $17 million worth of solar loans. Since Sonoma County went live with its PACE model of solar funding in March; applications have been pouring in daily, and the county intends to make loans indefinitely by [...]
Solar-powered space ship could travel 100,000 mph
The propulsion mechanism for the spacecraft is photons striking the structure of the ship, which is a very large aluminized Mylar surface area made up of four triangles forming a giant kite-like body. When photons strike the sail-like surfaces they will transmit momentum to the ship, and propel it. Because the spacecraft is powered by [...]
Solar-powered micro turbines
US company Capstone and Israeli firm HelioFocus plan to develop a micro-turbine that runs on concentrated solar power. It will use super-heated air to drive the turbines.
“The ability for solar projects to generate energy more efficiently and at night is the value proposition driving this joint product development effort between HelioFocus and Capstone,” said Darren [...]
