California accelerates energy storage deployment with new legislation Energy Storage News, September 28, 2016 California state legislature and governor Jerry Brown have signed into law four key new energy bills that are set to accelerate energy storage deployment in the Golden State. Bill AB 1637 follows up on the previous victory that storage experienced with recent Self … Read more
Jim Paull for Zondits More money has been pumped into copper indium galium di-selenide (CIGS) solar cells than any other photovoltaic (PV) technology. Less than a decade ago, CIGS was thought to be the heir to the future of PV: inexpensive materials only nanometers thick, deposited on glass or stainless steel foil. The “roll-to-roll” notion … Read more
Jesse Remillard, ERS, for Zondits In a small, coastal Maine town near the border of Canada, a group called the Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC) has been testing undersea turbines to generate power from the large tidal flows characteristic of the area. The units, which resemble vertical wind turbines, are undergoing testing to further refine … Read more
Jesse Remillard, ERS, for Zondits A startup company, Quidnet Energy, founded by Aaron Mandell and Howard Schmidt, has the potential to drastically lower the cost of energy storage. The pilot project implemented in 2015 uses excess electricity to pump large volumes of water into an abandoned natural gas well in Texas at high pressures. When … Read more
Gita Subramony, ERS, for Zondits CityLab takes a look at Hoboken New Jersey’s plans to develop its own back-up power supply. In 2012, Hoboken was one of the many communities devastated by Superstorm Sandy. Hoboken, just across the Hudson River from New York City, is a low-lying urban community, and it was almost completely underwater … Read more
Lisa Markowski, ERS, for Zondits Can beer make things clearer? It’s highly possible, although not necessarily through its consumption. Thinking about how microbreweries operate compared to large, national breweries can give the non-engineer a better understanding of the functions and goals of the modern grid. Writer/engineer/EnerNex consultant Sean Morash understands that “normal people” might not … Read more
Mathew Gard, ERS, for Zondits Off the coast of Block Island, 10 miles south of Rhode Island in the Atlantic Ocean, five gigantic wind turbines mark the beginning of offshore wind power in the U.S. The five turbines that will make up the Block Island wind farm are each capable of producing 6 megawatts (MW) … Read more
Governor Cuomo Announces Completion of $9.2 Million Energy Efficiency Project at Purchase College New York State Governor, August 15, 2016 Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the completion of a New York Power Authority $9.2 million energy efficiency project that will save SUNY Purchase College about $400,000 in annual energy costs. The completion of this … Read more
Chernobyl’s Atomic Wasteland May Be Reborn With Solar Energy Bloomberg, July 26, 2016 Ukraine’s looking toward the sun to put a radioactive wasteland back into business. Thirty years after atomic fallout from the Chernobyl meltdown rendered an area the size of Luxembourg uninhabitable for centuries, Ukraine is seeking investors to develop solar power near the … Read more
Mark D’Antonio, ERS, for Zondits This is the first in a multi-part series about solar PV systems that will cover several topics, including approaches to and considerations of going solar, actual installation examples, performance, details of system components, the economics thereof, and what is going on in the market. According to the Solar Energy Information … Read more