Japan Growing in Renewable Energy Sources

A man watches waves break into anti-tsunami barriers after a storm in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture on September 16, 2013. Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), operator of the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, said on Monday it released what was believed to be untainted rainwater around the storage tank areas into the ocean in order to avoid flooding near the tanks due to heavy rains by Typhoon Man-yi

        According to new research released by NPD Solarbuzz, Japan has become one of only five countries to have achieved 10 gigawatts of cumulative solar capacity. While aiming to diversify its energy mix, Japan is developing its renewable energy sector, especially as it steers away from nuclear power following the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011. The development of solar power in Japan slowed in the mid-2000s, partly due to a 10-year energy plan that favored nuclear power.
       With a shifting of focus toward renewable energy, and after a new law approving feed-in tariffs for renewable energy was passed last year, the Japanese government is giving incentives for the use of solar energy. The policy requires utility companies in Japan to buy electricity from renewable sources like solar and wind at a premium price for the next 20 years.

India + Renewable Energy = Positive Consequences

     India is growing in its expanding its clean energy opportunities, specifically solar, wind and other renewable energy projects, throughout India. In the last month, the Indian government had announced a $7.9 billion investment is to double its transmission capacity, which was designed to increase access to power from wind and solar projects. For instance, India's installed solar energy capacity has jumped from a mere 17 megawatts in 2010, when India's National Solar Mission was announced, to over 1.7 megawatts. Not only do these renewable energy projects increase India's energy supply, but they also help create much needed jobs.

Grid-connected concentrated solar power project under construction in India

 
     The Indian government and businesses around the country are making significant investments in renewable resources. The investment in transmission capacity and the next phase of the National Solar Mission are example policies to drive clean energy development. The motivations for these investments, in part, are to continue to power India's rapid economic growth and increase energy access by providing modern electricity to the nearly 400 million population in India without access to modern electricity.

Solar "Power" Couple Wins Award

        Dr. Jianhua Zhao and Aihua Wang were joint recipients for an Advance Global Australian Award for contributions to the field of clean technology. The award ceremony, organized in partnership with the Australian Government and the Australian Financial Review, was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney on March 21, 2013.
        The pair, who are the first Chinese-Australians ever to receive this award, also won a special Australia in the Asian Century Award for their contribution in the Asia region. Australia's Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, also made a video speech to them to endorsing the award. "Jianhua and Aihua were excellent students and staff members here at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), and prolific researchers," says Scientia Professor Martin Green, Director of the AFC Photovoltaics Center of Excellence, and who nominated Dr. Zhao and Dr. Wang for the award. "They took us to the position where we can now make the most efficient cells in the world and nobody yet has been able to catch up. They are both well-respected internationally and have played an influential role in establishing China as a major producer of solar power and PV technology."
        In 1999, the pair developed the high efficiency crystallized Silicon PERL cell and set a new record, demonstrating 25% energy conversion efficiency, which remains the highest level achieved in the world so far.
       In 2004, Zhao co-founded the Chinese solar cell and manufacturing company China Sunergy, where he is now Chief Technology Officer and Director. Wang, who also completed her Ph.D. degree and worked at UNSW for more than a decade, is the company's Vice-President of research and development.
       The duo are now leading China Sunergy's participation in an 863 program, a National High Technology Research and Development Program in China that supports and encourages the development and commercialization of solar cells with a high efficiency rate (over 20%) and a low production cost.

Source : UNSW

China is leading; no surprise there

       China begins to expand the most towards the $77 billion solar energy industry and is being featured as providing global solar installations to a heaping record. Recent researchers have claimed that this new generation capacity has reached estimating 14% this year to 34.1 gigawatts, whereas in the previous year, it was 4.4% growth due to the government subsidies being cut in Italy and France.
       After constructing many factories, China has been able to cut solar panel prices down 20% in the past year and, in turn, has become the largest consumer of the devices. These price cuts essentially are helping many installers such as SolarCity Corporation, SunPower Corporation while also drastically hurting manufacturers including LDK Solar Company of China and Norway's Renewable Energy Corporation.
        Studies are proven that solar demand is steadily increasing in its growth as European markets slump for SolarCity and SunPower have indeed been gaining 38% and 109% of installations. These low-cut prices may be driving many installations to be done but they are not aiding manufacturers much help in terms of their profit margin cuts. As China had opened many factories and the prices for solar panels dropped, manufacturers' profit margins crashed, stock markets drastically changed and, in result, pushed companies into the option of bankruptcy.
       Even Germany, which has been the country that prospered in being known as the largest solar market in 2013, may be getting unsettled by the thought of China possibly taking over the reputation. However, many sources have claimed that projects have been multiplied in providing financial aid services to its fellow solar companies in a bid to help diversify Germany. Shi Dinghuan, government advisor, has commented that China plans to install 35 gigawatts by the year 2015, compared to a previous goal of 21 gigawatts.

Employees assemble photovoltaic panels (solar panels) at SunTech Power Factory

Argentina builds Most Powerful Solar Energy Park in Latin America!

      In the Argentinan province of San Juan, the government has authorized to develop what will be the most powerful solar energy park in Latin America. Already Brazil, Germany, and Spanish companies have been expected to invest in the project, which has an estimated price tag of $120 million, in which the provincial government of San Juan has agreed to invest $15 million to $20 million in the project.
      According to a Spanish news source Cronista, the solar park has been producing between 1500 and 2400 megawatts of energy, making it the biggest single producer of solar energy throughout all South American and Latin American countries.
       There is a landmark in Argentina that is also remarkable to many tourists; it is known as the Bueno Aires landmark, the solar-powered Floralis Generica. This landmark is a large metallic sculpture that opens its petals with the sun at morning and closes them at night. For a country that has not exploited its solar power potential to any great extent, it seems there is a promising future in terms of renewable energy for Argentina.

A Bueno Aires landmark, the solar-powered Floralis Generica

UPS, the delivery giant, gets involved with solar!

      

      Within these past few year, many companies have been getting involved with solar-powered technology as it is impacting the world on a global level. They have mostly been focusing on producing and installing solar panels to obtain electricity in a healthy cost-efficient way. One major corporation, known as the UPS, realized its benefits in this expanding time and has made it official by announcing its latest project, in installing solar energy installations in its locations in Parsippany and Secaucus, New Jersey.
      The project that was constructed in Parsippany, New Jersey, was a 1.2 megawatt installation that was completed last Fall in the year of 2012. The project in Secaucus is said to also produce a 1.2 megawatt installation that will be completed at the end of Spring this year. In a public statement, Steve Leffin, whom is the director of global sustainability at UPS, claimed that he and his team will be overseeing every aspect of the design and installations, which he believes to be extremely beneficial.
      "Federal and state government incentives and state government incentives encouraged our investments in solar energy sources," said Steve Leffin. "We develop, engineer, own and operate our solar capacity, which is a departure from contracted power-purchase agreements in which a company pays a solar power provider for a set price of electricity for 20 years. Under this arrangement, we not only benefit at UPS, but can also help community power grids by providing a hedge against possible energy price hikes during peak usage times."

Source : UPS pressroom

Wipe out your electric bills!

      Some countries have already begun piquing their curiosity and experimenting with solar technology. What about the United States? Are we also far behind when the countries around us are advancing their resources?

     No. It seems California is advancing as well, as we speak. Compared to the East Coast, the West Coast has more tendencies to support such technology. Due to the warm weather conditions, with the support of the communities as well as many government grants and programs, there has been many rooftop solar installations on residential and commercial buildings. They are even free of charge after incentives for businesses and  off grid rebates for homes that are struggling to pay their bills on time.

     The east coast, on the other hand, are not so Eco friendly. Therefore, Our fellow neighbors settled in the east coast took their matters into their own hands by purchasing portable gas powered generators, powering their own appliances through the use of gasoline. But these generators have no value outside power failures, especially when gasoline can never be produced but bought. For example, homes that were affected by hurricane "Sandy" had no way of getting their hands on gasoline when it was limited in supply. Therefore, the government had provided gas stations with limited amounts of gasoline. The government had no choice but to set up a gas rationing plan, "odd-even", restricting cars with odd-numbered license plates on odd days as well as even-numbers license plates on even days. The rationing had been going on for until weeks end.