California solar home to be first with battery technology

Set to be complete this summer, a Lancaster, Calif., home will be a test case for a first-of-its-kind residential solar system with backup battery technology.

Los Angeles-based production builder KB Home has started construction on the prototype dwelling that not only will run on solar power but also capture it in a lithium-FE battery for future use.

[Source & read more: Builder]

Tags: KB Home, lithium-FE, solar

Ontario’s Solar Power Nearly Exceed Nuclear Reactors

Solar power in southeastern Ontario has the potential to produce almost the same amount of power as all the nuclear reactors in the United States, according to two studies conducted by the Queen’s University Applied Sustainability Research Group located in Kingston, Canada.

These studies, led by Queen’s mechanical engineering professor Joshua Pearce, are the first to explore the region’s solar energy potential. Professor Pearce was surprised by how many gigawatts could be produced.

“We came up with enormous numbers and we were being conservative. There about 95 gigawatts of potential power just in southeastern Ontario — that shows there is massive potential,” says Professor Pearce, who specializes in solar photovoltaic materials and applied sustainability.

One study, accepted for publication in the journal Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, discovered that if choice roof tops in southeastern Ontario were covered with solar panels, they could produce five gigawatts, or about five per cent of all of Ontario’s energy. The study took into account roof orientation and shading.

“To put this in perspective, all the coal plants in all of Ontario produce just over six gigawatts. The sun doesn’t always shine, so if you couple solar power with other renewable energy sources such as wind, hydro and biomass, southeastern Ontario could easily cover its own energy needs,” Professor Pearce says.

A second study, published in May issue of the journal Solar Energy, looked at land in southeastern Ontario that could be used for solar farms. The study considered land with little economic value — barren, rocky, non-farmable areas near electrical grids — and concluded it has the potential to produce 90 gigawatts.

“Nuclear power for all of the United States is about 100 gigawatts. We can produce 90 on barren land with just solar in this tiny region, so we are not talking about small potatoes,” Professor Pearce says.

The professor conducted the studies to provide policy makers solid numbers on solar energy potential, as well as find possible solar farm locations for developers.

Also contributing to the studies were Queen’s civil engineering student Lindsay Wiginton and mechanical engineering student Ha Nguyen.

News from http://www.sciencedaily.com.  Joshua Pearce. (Credit: Image courtesy of Queen’s University)

Tags: solar, solar energy, solar power

Abener develops solar melted salts storage in Spain

Abener will develop a molten salts storage project for parabolic trough solar collectors and gas chambers (CCP) in an experimental solar plant in Almeria, Spain.

The solar storage technology is based on the use of two salt tanks to store the heat.

[Source & Read More: Renewable Energy Focus]

Tags: molten, salts, solar, Spain

Axion Power to develop solar power storage system

Axion Power International, Inc., the developer of advanced lead-carbon PbC® batteries, announced that it has been awarded a state grant to develop a renewable solar energy storage system based on its proprietary PbC™ PowerCube battery technology.

The $300,000 grant from the Solar Energy Program of the state’s Commonwealth Financing Authority will be used to demonstrate the advanced energy storage technology of PbC batteries within a “Smart Grid” system where power is generated from renewable energy sources such as the sun or wind, stored during slower, overnight periods and then delivered to the grid during times of peak demand.

[Source & Read More: Axion Power]

Tags: solar

Solar power and batteries pair up

One of the most commonly cited problems about solar power is that it’s intermittent, meaning that it’s not always sunny when electricity is needed. That means customers can’t count on being able to generate exactly as much solar power as they need to meet electricity demand at any given time, and utilities must rely on conventional power plants to ensure that electricity is always available.

Screen-printed solar-cell manufacturer Suniva and battery maker GS Battery are teaming up to help solve that problem by pairing solar projects with batteries. It’s a common pairing for off-grid systems, which need batteries to have electricity at night, for example, or on cloudy days. But the companies also want to add batteries to systems that are connected to the grid.

[Source & Read more: earth2tech]

Tags: GS Battery, solar, Suniva