By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-09-01 05:30
Massive investments in wind and solar energy projects
China is well on track to surpass the US as the world’s largest market for wind turbines. While the European Union is struggling to reach its renewable energy targets, China is surpassing its own targets with ease. At the beginning of 2008, the target of the Chinese government was to have 5,000 MW of wind power installed by the end of 2010. Only a few months after proclaiming this figure, it was doubled to 10,000 MW. As of today, it looks like China is going to have 30,000 MW of wind power installed by the end of next year.
A favourable regulatory climate
The Chinese government has mandated that electricity companies must generate 8% of their power from renewable resources by 2020. Combine this figure with the enormous, steep, and ever expanding energy consumption in the country, and you realise that only a development of renewable energy at an up-to-now unseen scale will accomplish such a goal.
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By Sergio Ferreira / Published on Wed, 2007-03-28 17:15
The European Commission has drawn over a map of Europe the potential for electricity production using solar energy. The red spot – the biggest potential – lies over the south of Portugal, where the sun shines up to 3300 hours per year.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Fri, 2006-12-22 08:30
Due for commissioning in Póvoa de Varzim, Portugal
The world's largest wave powered electricity generation plant is almost ready to go into operation on the coast of Póvoa de Varzim in northern Portugal. It uses the same Pelamis system from Pelamis Wave Power (formerly Ocean Power Delivery Ltd) that was successfully tested at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney. It consists of three 750 kW units, for a total of 2.25 MW. Two units have already been installed at the site. The third unit is currently being assembled at the Peniche shipyard.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Fri, 2006-12-22 08:30
Pietersaari, Finland
Pietersaari on the west coast of Finland hosts what is believed to be the world largest dry biomass fired cogeneration plant. The plant, operated by Alhomens Kraft AB, has a capacity of 240 MW of electrical power, 100 MW process steam, and 60 MW district heating. It burns biofuels such as bark, sawdust, wood chips, and cut peat, along with 10% coal or oil. Commercial operation of the unit began in December 2001.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Fri, 2006-12-22 08:30
The Geysers, California, USA
The first geothermal power plant built at The Geysers in northern California dates back to 1921. Back then, it had a generation capacity of 250 kW. In the years preceding 1989, new capacity was added, finally reaching an installed capacity of 2043 MW. Since then electrical generation has declined and then levelled off. The Geysers still generates more electricity than any other geothermal field in the world. Current active generation capacity is close to 1000 MW.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Mon, 2006-12-18 08:30
Typical values and world records
What are the typical electrical power output values of various renewable energy installations? The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) published a table of these values in their paper Environmental Effects of Electricity Generation (see paper page 49 table 11). The given values apply in the context of the UK. For your interest we added some world records to this table:
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Sat, 2006-10-28 09:29
This 1.6 MVA transformer, with an amorphous iron core, was produced in 1998 for use in an engine plant in Waterford, Ireland. The load loss for this transformer is 18.2 kW, and the no-load loss as low as 384 W (80% lower than the typical figure of 1.7 kW for a good transformer).
At 70% loading, the super-efficient transformer saves 13.3 MWh annually, paying back the GBP 2,500 additional investment within 3 years, for an equipment with a 30 years lifetime.
Meanwhile, transformers up to 5 MVA have been produced with amorphous cores in Japan.
Courtesy: Pauwels
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Fri, 2006-07-21 05:54
First year of operation of a mega wind turbine
In the past decade, wind turbines have been growing quickly, both in height and in output power. The most recent generation typically has a tower height of 120 meters, a rotor diameter of 125 meters, and an output power of 5 MW. The first of these “mega turbines” that became operational was the REpower 5M onshore wind turbine in Brunsbüttel, near Hamburg (Germany), inaugurated 2nd February 2005.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Tue, 2006-06-27 05:51
The challenge of Belgium's new Research Station in Antarctica is 3-fold:
- Design and build the first ever polar research station fully relying on sustainable energy for energy supply and with a minimal ecological footprint: the choice and the tests of materials and technologies will respect the principles of the eco-construction in order to reduce the environmental impact of the establishment of the base. The greatest part of the energy needs will be satisfied by means of renewable sources of energy, which will make this new Belgian base the first in the world in this field.
- Without compromising on the scientific programme, living conditions, efficiency, safety or operational costs: the target will be to demonstrate the feasibility of sustainable construction in extreme environments, creating opportunities to export the Antartic solutions to 'normal' world situations.
- With a high level of adaptability to future needs: the processes of water treatment used on the sites will be studied to determine the most effective methods making it possible to prevent any pollution to the environment and to facilitate the drainage worn of the Antarctic continent.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Sun, 2006-06-04 12:10
Continuing our series on unique power stations crossing new frontiers, the International Space Station is powered by 9,600 sq.ft, 892 sq.m. of solar arrays. This large array provides electricity at 160 V. Batteries are needed to store electricity for powering life support systems when the station is shielded from the sun. Through the combined PV-battery system, 78 kW power is continuously available in the station.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Sat, 2006-06-03 12:13
According to Guiness World Records, Japan's Kashiwazaki nuclear plant, with 7 operating units and total capacity of 8,212 MW is since 1997 the largest station of its kind in the world.
This power station produces sufficient energy to cover the domestic electricity use of 16 million households. Considering that a 1.5 MW onshore wind turbine covers domestic electricity use for a 1000 families, the Kashiwazaki's annual energy output is equivalent to 16,000 wind turbines.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Mon, 2006-05-22 12:54
Thanks to Dr J.R. Camacho for pointing this out - for over two decades, the world's largest dam and hydro power station is in Brazil: the Itaipu power station, with a 196 m high, 7.76 km long dam, generated more than 93 TWh (a TWh = Terawatt-hour or a thousand million kWh), a world record, and more than the 3-Gorges dam is expected to produce when reaching full capacity.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Sat, 2006-05-20 14:14
The Three Gorges dam celebrated the completion of the construction of its dam today. The 22 GW project, 185 meters high and 2.3 km long sets over a hundred world records.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Sat, 2006-05-20 05:43
Via Treehugger, we learn about the world's current largest solar power plant (10 MW) in Pocking, Germany, inaugurated April 27 and costing 40 million euro. It takes over from PV array formerly known as the biggest in the world (6,7 MWp) in Mühlhausen, Germany.
In a world where small is considered as beautiful, a contest seems to be open on who is building the world's largest power station:
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Thu, 2006-05-18 11:39
Since 1967, the La Rance tidal power plant, near Mont Saint Michel, generated annually 600 million kWh using its 24 turbines of 10 MW.
During the first 30 years of operation, the 24 turbines of the Rance facility has operated without major incidents or breakdowns for 160,000 hours and generated 16 billion kWh at the price of 2.8 cEuro per kilowatt-hour, a highly competitive price and one that is lower than Electricité de France's average generation costs.
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